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

Rashad, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

I would start exactly where and how I did. I began my journey as a musician in college. The one thing that I would change is my mindset of understanding that even being a musical artist that it is still a business. All I care about was making the music and not really promoting it or having a hand in controlling my own destiny. I was with a label and they did promote me but I was an artist amongst other artist on the label. Had I known then what I know now, I would have utilized the machine of the label more to my advantage and been alot more involved in my own narative for the future.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I first got into the music industry in college. A close friend of mind was the local DJ and used to make mixtapes to sell to students and local customers out of his mom and pops music store. He would let me and a couple of guys rap on the instrumentals of popular beats and put them on the mixtape as an added surprise. That was the start of my love for music and wanting to eventually turn that love and passion into a business. It started as a passion to just make music and lead to me wanting to start a business in order to help others create also. I am most proud of the respect and support that I still receive from fans. Sometimes a simple message of appreciation makes the many years of invested money and effort worth every minute.

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

Probably the most important thing to remember when its your creative journey is that it is just that…”Yours'”. You will hit many obstacles and/or many people who will not see or understand your vision but it will always be up to you to paint the picture for them creatively. There will be moments where you will question yourself but what I have always done is take some alone time and reflect on why I love doing what I’m doing and listen to my past and present creations and inspire myself again. Sometimes it’s just hearing the strides I have made musically over the years and appreciating how much better I have gotten that will put me back on track. Everyone has moments of self doubt but you just have to really find that love that made you create in the first place to restart your engine.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The goal that has driven my creative journey has always been to get others to visualize my words and make them feel what I’m describing verbally with my music. I always have felt that music should make you feel something or want to do something. The best music taps into peoples’ emotions so it should emotionally drive you towards something, even if its just get up and just dance.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pomemusicgroup.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/tite1205
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/tite1205
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/tite1205
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/Tite1205

Image Credits
Bryant “Bizzy” McCain & Jose Marroquin