We were lucky to catch up with PAT STONE recently and have shared our conversation below.
PAT , appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
For me, music has always been a part of my life and I’ve had a passion for it since I was very young. I remember being like 5 years old banging on drum sets and strumming nonsense on the guitar but I knew I had fun with it. Rap had always been around me with my mom playing Tupac, DMX, and BIG but she also played RNB like Boyz II Men and Jodeci which let me appreciate more melodic songs. With all that in mind, I started finding my own favorite artists people like Kendrick, Isaiah Rashad, and Mac Miller which influence the way I make music today. I started trying to make my own beats when I was 14 and i was writing a lot more raps than before as a way to express my feelings without having to tell anybody face-to-face. This made me fall in love with the creation process of music and I had already done some guitar or drum performances up until this point so around 14 is when I knew I wanted to pursue music professionally as a rapper. I continued just writing raps and making beats without actually recording until I was 19 and got my first home studio setup then I started getting to work as I had finally built up enough confidence to talk into the microphone. I had battled with inner doubt and fear, scheduling, anxiety for 4 years and some people even said to me I wouldn’t be able to do it but for me, monetary success is not the end goal for me, I just want to be able to do whatever I want creatively whenever I want without the worry of financial problems. All this in mind has allowed me to finally be comfortable creating without anyone else’s or my own doubt stopping me and I hope the work I put in can give me a living where I get to fully pursue my passion and create while also supporting my people.
PAT , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I started making music with the help of my creative collective Melancholy Hill. My close-friend Cole Antoine started it in 2021 and we have photographers, videographers/directors, fashion designers, models, and musicians as well which is where I come in. We all collaborate together with our individual projects such as album covers, short films, music videos, photo shoots, etc. while also collaborating on group efforts as well. As executive director and founding member of the group, I’m very involved with the behind the scenes work and along with everyone else we are able to create and put our vision into reality. What sets us apart from other collectives is our passion and how well we work together. Since we were all friends before everything we have great chemistry and it makes working together easy. Nobody is in our group just to get to the next level, we all just have fun working together and we enjoy putting our creativity out in the world. I consider everybody in the collective my brothers and we have a lot of projects on the way in all those creative avenues I mentioned. As for myself and my own personal creative avenue with music, my passion and drive sets me apart from others. I think a lot of times people will start doing music for the wrong reasons chasing money, success, and clout, but for me it has never been about that. I just want to create and be able to make a living of what I love to do. That allows me to stay grounded in my morals and I think people who listen to my music can hear that same sentiment and it’s prevalent in my upcoming releases as well. I’m most proud of my collective I’m apart of and the growth we’ve had in 2025 alone and we are only just getting started so I’m very excited to put our art and creation out there for everyone to see. As for myself, I’m most proud of the fact that I started putting my music out in the world. For so long I was scared of how people would react or what some might say but at a certain point, it doesn’t even matter because the love I have for music is so strong I have no choice but to just pursue regardless of what anyone might say. If I’m able to give someone else to courage to pursue their passion whether it’s music, art, fashion, etc. then I’ll consider that a success over any amount of money.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the fact that no matter what success you may have, when you create and finish something, it’s out there in the world. A piece of you, your thoughts, your mindset, your culture, etc. is out there in the world and that can never be taken by anyone except the artists themselves. I want to be able to inspire people to do what they love. Artist like Kid Cudi, Mac Miller, and Tyler, The Creator had instilled this mindset into me and it allows me to have a true passion for what I love to do which is creating music. If I’m able to inspire others and help them whenever they may be feeling alone, left out, broken, sad, depressed, or uninspired then that achieves my goal at the end of the day when it’s all said and done.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
One of my main goals with my creative journey is to retire my parents as early as possible. My dad came to America a little over 20 years ago from Ireland as an immigrant and built a very strong foundation after working hard and going to school to provide my family and I with a great life. My mom is from the Navajo reservation in Chinle, AZ who also went through school and had to work a lot especially when my dad’s citizenship situation got in the way of him finding work in my early childhood. Both of them despite whatever financial situation we were in have given me everything and more while allowing me to pursue whatever I wanted to do with my life. Seeing the struggles they had to go through in my childhood and hearing about the hardships they went through in their own lives has given me the determination to one day be able to give back and retire them as early as I can. I hope one day they can say they’ve achieved the American Dream and I can provide all my people with the lives they deserve to live which is comfortably and happy. Whether it’s my bio family or my collective they’re all my family and I’m determined to make sure I can give back to everyone as they had always been there for me and they are who I do this for.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/xpatstonex?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=0617792d-b506-4f6f-a1a3-782091f4793a
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xpatstonex?igsh=OXJxdG15ajFpYWdo&utm_source=qr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@xpatstonex?si=XiklBHWKz6Qc02qu
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/opDvojL7S2K6iFqGEy
Image Credits
All photos attached shot by Cole Antoine and Marquis White