We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joshua Gray. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joshua below.

Joshua, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

The first Dollar I earned as a creative was 50$ for my first live show performance of my career in Berkeley California at the Starry Plough. There were about 200 people in attendance. Initially I was nervous, not to perform, but to have my music judged by 200 people. My set was amazing and the host of the event grabbed the mic and screamed “A Star Has Been Born”!
I was paid $50 for my set time of 15 minutes.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I got into music after my brother had a need for beats. I was 19 with no direction or clue what I wanted to do with my life. My brother was an aspiring rapper that had done gigs previously at colleges in California. He complained about not having access to beats at a consistent rate. He asked me to start making beats for him. I had never produced before. My brother introduced me to one of Jamie Fox’s former producers. I worked and study various production styles with my new mentor for years. I cut off most interaction with friends and family for two years as I developed my skills and love for producing. My brother bought me a MPC2000. Two week later I took a trip to the casino, and won $1,000. I used the money to buy an ASR 10 sampling keyboard. After two years of practicing and sampling vinyl records, my brother started playing my beats for other artists. My confidence grew. I began selling beats for $200 per beat. Producing was just the start. I began writing to the track I produced for others in hopes that they would use the parts I wrote for their song. This fueled me to start writing my own songs. My first fully recorded solo song was called “MY TIME”. I received mixed reviews but the fact that people listened, drove me to create more. For a while people would say “when your writing catches up to your beats, you will be special”! I used those words as motivation. Fast forward to the present, I am 4 solo mixtapes in with two more to be released in 2025. I am proud for the 10,000 + hours I have dedicated to mastering the art of producing and song crafting.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

In the past I would attend concerts simply to catch established artist after their set. I have met J. Cole three times, Nas twice, and Talib Kweli. I was able to share flash-drives with all three artist in hopes of being discovered on a mainstream level. I received positive feedback from all artist but nothing materialized from the encounters. I used these events as motivation to continue working on my craft. I learned that no one is going to “put you on”. Each artist is responsible for their career.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I feel most rewarded as an artist when I am heard! Every time I get a view or a listen on any of my material I am excited because someone has either heard and enjoyed my music or I have hopefully gained a new fan.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @joshgrayway
• Twitter: @joshgrayway
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/mlfhWPzgyVg?si=AzVSNyuss1HR8GTA

Image Credits

@royalwestmp