We recently connected with Shandell Crutchfield and have shared our conversation below.

Shandell, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

One of the most meaningful projects I worked on was a song called ” T.O.E.” Trauma over everything. I hadn’t written in about 5-6 months due to my father’s death. I remember sitting in the car which I often do for a piece of mind, I was listening to Shade45 on XM radio and a song came on called “Wakanda Man”. I had never heard the song before, but I was drawn to it, the lyrics, the beat, just everything about the song was dope! I just started freestyling and I had my phone at the time on me, so I turned on my recorder and started freestyling words to this beat. I started to cry so bad because I missed my father so much, I started thinking about traumatic situations with major industry professionals that held my career back simply because I didn’t want to open my legs for them.

After I recorded my freestyle I went searching for the artist of the song and realized it was Denaun I remembered from D12, I went to his Instagram page and realized he had created the beat, and that he had a page with beats he produced. I came across this beat he did and knew right then that it was made for me. I took my freestyle, pieced it together, and came up with “Trauma Over Everything” a self-reflective song about some of my trauma and my healing. Shout-out to Denaun he is such a humble person man, very influential in my journey.

Shandell, 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?

Well for those who have never heard of me before my name is Shandell and I am a songwriter/singer/rapper/boss lol. I have professionally been in the music industry for about 10 years, but I have been into music since I was a child. I ended up really getting my name out there with a song called “Changes- dedication to Baltimore” a song I created within the inspiration of the death of Freddie Gray, a young man who was killed by police here in Baltimore, MD. The services that I offer to labels and studios are songwriting and making professional reference tracks for television and artist. I also offer songwriting to up-and-coming artists who need help with completing projects.

Some of my musical inspirations are Jamiroquai, Missy Elliott, Michael Jackson, Outkast, Aaliyah, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, and Elton John..The list can go on and on! The one thing I am the proudest of as far as music goes is… Never giving up! There have nee times when I really wanted to stop doing music because I felt I was wasting time, I was confused about the route I was supposed to take with music, but never gave up.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I feel like society can disconnect from the internet for a while and actually get up and get out. I feel like we are so plugged into social media and the internet that we forget to live and experience things hands-on. If we had more people going to local shows and participating in the music scene it would be so much easier for artists to be heard. It’s like now if you don’t have a million followers no one cares to even listen to your art. I feel like the hustle mentality for artists has dwindled honestly because now they are focused on popularity and not creativity. Society has people compromising who they really are for some likes and views, that’s sad and unfortunate to me.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

So I built my presence on social media by interacting with those who supported me, staying current, and speaking to people I don’t even know. You have to build connections with people, not just follow someone and never speak to them, that’s not how it works. I also use marketing tools, like ads and boost on social media so that my music or videos are seen by a bigger audience, then I take the new lookers and interact with them. Marketing is the biggest factor in building a follower, you have to have something people want to see or you have to appeal to them. You have to learn what people want without compromising who you are as a person and artist. Make youtube your friend! There are so many marketing tips and tricks online for free that a lot of folks do not utilise!

Image Credits
Myself, and CBeautyArtisty: Crystal Pryor