We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Keilyn Davis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Keilyn, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I honestly believe you’re always learning when you’re being an artist, I will forever be a student. When I first started making music I had to buy my own equipment and learn how to record myself because I didn’t have access to a studio.

In that process I wasn’t just being an artist/songwriter, I was a recording engineer by default. When it came time to arrange my songs and sequence my projects I became a producer by default.

One of the obstacles of learning by yourself is the amount of time it takes to figure things out opposed to having people you can ask for the knowledge directly. I didn’t have any mentors or peers when I first started taking music seriously, I had no choice to rely on trial and error along with YouTube University, hahaha.

All in all, I continue to learn things every day. The possibilities with music are endless. There’s always no boundaries to cross and soundscapes to explore.

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’m a Rap artist/producer that focuses on telling my story the best way I can.

If you take time to listen to my “Dope Never Dies” series you’ll hear plenty of details of my journey from a personal level.

At the moment I’m putting a lot of energy into producing a sound that I believe to be authentic to me as an artist. A lot of my music samples old soul records, or loops that replicate that 60-70’s era of R&B music but I’ve been pushing myself to incorporate other genres and styles of music to sample.

I’m stepping outside of the box but not outside of myself.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the high I get from completing and performing the music I’ve created it.

It’s a feeling of relief in a way, making art can be nerve-racking at times and when you complete one of your creations you get a sense of purpose followed by self-validation.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I don’t think non-creatives understand that artists are born to do what we do.

Whether someone is making a living off their art or just creating as a hobby. Our creations are like fires that’s burning inside of us that we have to let out into the world in some way or another.

Many people romanticize what’s like to be artists because a lot of times their perception is skewed because of mainstream media. Everybody thinks being an artist is “cool” and that’s the whole point of creating art.

Nobody who really loves their craft does it to be “cool”. It’s about the creation at the end of the day, that’s the prize for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: dopeneverdies.com
• Instagram: @DopeKeilyN
• Facebook: KeilyN
• Twitter: @DopeKeilyN
• Youtube: DopeKeilyN