Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Maurice P. Kerry. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Maurice P., appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
Gosh, I had to be about 10 years old. I was in the 5th grade and got a chance to get up in front of the entire Fitzhugh Lee Elementary class and do a rap song about nutrition, or dental health, or something. Man, I was so excited! I and two other students were given the lyrics and we spent weeks practicing and practicing. So when the time came I was READY… then my verse in the song came last my adrenaline was pumping, electricity surging, then BOOM!
NOTHING … NO-THING. The track keep playing and I went full Dragon Fly Jones *SI-LENCE!* Folks, I cried so hard!
The moment itself was an epic 10-year-old fail, but EVERYTHING leading up to the moment before the freeze was amazing. The roar of an entire school, the electricity of feeling like a star and entertaining the crowd. I didn’t know exactly what it was I just knew I wanted more.
Long story short, I was 10.
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?
Always been an entertainer at heart. Music runs in my family (R.I.P. DeeJay Dana). I did plays and talent shows in high school.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I’ve always been an entertainer, I just spent most of my life unable to name it. First I was in a rap group in the 8th grade (Shouts out to Justin Barnett aka J-Smoove) then I swore I was the next Usher (the can’t dance version) meets Brian McKnight in high school. I was in an R&B group (shouts out to Tempo Slow). After high school, I started working in Greenbriar Mall where I worked directly across the mother of the Godfather of Atlanta bass music, Raheem The Dream. Show you how dumb I was as a teenager, she owns a smoothie shop and has posters of her son, who LOOKS JUST LIKE HER, all over the shop and it took me SIX MONTHS to figure it out! LOL, Once I told her I was a songwriter and a singer she set up a meeting for me with her son at the offices of Tight 2 Def Records. At this meeting (which took place outside in the parking lot) I was greeted by Raheem The Dream and then in-house producer Carl “Cooly C” Dorsey (GOOGLE HIM!)
After singing, acapella, some of the songs I wrote Raheem turns to Cooly and says, “What do you think? Can you do something with him?” Cooly C says “Yea man”.
I just KNEW I was about to be a star! Actually, I was brought in as an unofficial songwriter for Tight 2 Def / Tight 4 Life Records. I met A.T.L. stars like Big Gipp, Pastor Troy, and Fabo. I WAS IN!
Who would have thought a year later I would be in the U.S. Marine Corps and 3 years after that I’d be in Baghdad, Iraq in an out of combat zones?
At the risk of sounding oversimplified, Iraq was difficult. Not only physically taxing but mentally stressful, add in a failing marriage back home in the U.S. for the emotional weight, and there you have me at age 22. To balance this I turned back to my rhyme book (which I still have) and began writing to whatever beat I could get my hands on. Shouts out to my Uncle Dee Jay Dana, yea THAT Dee Jay Dana… R.I.P. (Ask me about the verse I wrote to Kelis’ “Milkshake” lol).
When I came home from Iraq I began pursuing a rap career with fellow Marines as a part of the rap group ‘SouthuNoyZ’.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The feeling of pride. My personal feelings of pride in my work is a biproduct, not of my work and therefore is not the source. The pride Im referring to is the pride that my kids feel when they speak of me. I’m proud that they are proud and have those feeling and memories in them connected to their dad.
I’m an athazagoraphobic, which is THE WORST thing to be when you are hyper-aware as well as self-aware. However, being an artist in film, television and music eases that fear for me. These mediums along me to live on and be looked at in the various stages of my life. What I do lets me know that when my time comes, I can be remembered, watched, seen, heard, with that pride by my children and their children. Leaving that not only eases my phobia, but is probably the single most rewarding part of being an entertainer.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/MauricePKerry
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mauricepkerry/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maurice.kerry.52
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/mauricepkerry
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MauricePKerry
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-YxBgu4wRM1wT_FsLtbd4w