We recently connected with Markanthony Roman-Acevedo and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Markanthony thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
At first, it started with not liking music. A pure hatred for radioplay, and anything not Eminem or LINKIN PARK. I remember getting my first USB MP3 player from my dad when I was about 8 years old. It was a little incentive that came along with his new Toshiba computer he had just bought. I remember being so amazed that you could put music on such a small device and just press play wherever you were. That was the first time I ever remember listening to music on my own.
When I first got that MP3 player, I only ever had two albums and one single downloaded to it. I had “The Hybrid Theory” by LINKNPARK, “Recovery” by Eminem, and lastly the single “Go!!!” By FLOW; which was the theme song for “Naruto” season 4. At this point this was all I listened to, I remember refusing to listen to anything else because I didn’t think it was good enough. Over time my music taste had broadened. By the time I was in high school I was listening to artists like Joey Badass, ASAP Rocky, and Tyler The Creator. I was always obsessed with the way you can create with sound. When I first went to high school in 2013, I had no idea I would discover something that I would do for the rest of my life.
When I was in high school I didn’t know anyone. Usually when you enter high school you know someone from your elementary or the neighborhood, but not me. I had to make friends from scratch, and that was when I met an old friend of mine. My friend was into music, he was a DJ. My school was very art oriented, but it didn’t focus on music much compared to the “Arts & crafts”. All we really had was an orchestra with about 20 people at max. There wasn’t much interest in music at my school, but my friend wanted to change that. He came to me with the idea of making a DJ club at our school so we can have our “own” club, so that’s what we did.
I never saw myself being a DJ, but shortly I found myself messaging with the turntables. We would go into the “studio”; which was actually just a soundproof closet that could fit about four people, and practice our DJ mixes after school, sometimes even during school hours when no one was in the music room. Our school got us some basic equipment for our club and we were in charge of music for school events such as dances and DJ Fridays, where we could DJ during lunchtime. I remember always being so excited to DJ during lunch so I could show the whole school what I could do. My friends even said I had the best transitions from song to song and that made me feel good. It was fun for a bit because it was new to me, but I quickly got bored. New music comes out every so often, so eventually I would get bored trying to find songs to DJ with and thought to myself “Man, I can make something better.” I lost interest in DJing, but that was also the time my old friend showed me this new “recording” software he got.
One day my friend came to me with this very basic recording software on his laptop. I forgot what the software was, but you could only record “beats”, no vocals, you were only able to place MIDI on the digital keys to create a beat. The software was so limited, you couldn’t even quantize (align) your notes, nor edit the notes. This would be frustrating to the seasoned musician, but to us it made the world. I would make terrible beats but to me they were amazing just because I made them. I remember my other friends saying they sucked and were not good, but that’s only because I was just learning. I was having so much fun creating myself or with friends, I didn’t care if anybody liked them.
Again, over time, I grew out of the software we were using. I started to become frustrated at how hard and long it took to hash out simple ideas. My dad eventually grew out his computer too, he upgraded to a MacBook. I remember hearing about “GarageBand” being on the MacBook, so I asked my dad if I could play with it one day. I then found myself asking my dad for his computer every opportunity I had. I finally had a software that let me create all the ideas I had. I went through high school making beats as a hobby until it became one of the main pinpoints in my life.
After high school I studied to become a nurse in college. I got my CNA license while I was in high school and it was time for the next step. I went to the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh for a year. I dropped out because I realized I did not want to pursue nursing. It wasn’t fun at all and I was fed up with being a CNA by then. The only thing I got from Oshkosh was my wife, that is where I met her. My wife ended up dropping out the following semester as well because she missed me a lot. We both came back home and went to MATC together. When I was back home I was so confused on what I wanted to do in college. My wife helped me pick out a program, audio production. When I started the audio program I was so excited. By this time I was confident in making beats. College taught me how to mix and master my beats and how to make them even sound better. Sooner or later I was collaborating with other producers, artists, engineers, everyone. I was even starting to rap on my own beats, and you know I kept the best ones to myself. I graduated and got my associates degree in “Applied Sciences: Audio Production”. I’m still making music every day, I guess that’s how Dead BA$$ was born.
Markanthony, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
When I was in high school I didn’t know anyone. Usually when you enter high school you know someone from your elementary or the neighborhood, but not me. I had to make friends from scratch, and that was when I met an old friend of mine. My friend was into music, he was a DJ. My school was very art oriented, but it didn’t focus on music much compared to the “Arts & crafts”. All we really had was an orchestra with about 20 people at max. There wasn’t much interest in music at my school, but my friend wanted to change that. He came to me with the idea of making a DJ club at our school so we can have our “own” club, so that’s what we did.
As far as business side of things, I handle everything as professional as possible, whether that is recording, making a beat, or even handling some promotion. In the most positive way possible as well!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
One day my friend came to me with this very basic recording software on his laptop. I forgot what the software was, but you could only record “beats”, no vocals, you were only able to place MIDI on the digital keys to create a beat. The software was so limited, you couldn’t even quantize (align) your notes, nor edit the notes. This would be frustrating to the seasoned musician, but to us it made the world. I would make terrible beats but to me they were amazing just because I made them. I remember my other friends saying they sucked and were not good, but that’s only because I was just learning. I was having so much fun creating myself or with friends, I didn’t care if anybody liked them.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
My dad. Again, over time, I grew out of the software we were using. I started to become frustrated at how hard and long it took to hash out simple ideas. My dad eventually grew out his computer too, he upgraded to a MacBook. I remember hearing about “GarageBand” being on the MacBook, so I asked my dad if I could play with it one day. I then found myself asking my dad for his computer every opportunity I had. I finally had a software that let me create all the ideas I had. I went through high school making beats as a hobby until it became one of the main pinpoints in my life.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @proddeadbass
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@proddeadbass?si=hwy-Vha2yGjUip0w
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/KtBKpjTaUQSVkDx88
- Other: Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/dead-ba%24%24/1415446651
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7BbhzE4eD1CFjjEvkPUtau?si=Cx6b3OCtR2Oh_-9mLhq3bA
