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

Thatdeadpoet, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Well every project I work on is incredibly meaningful to me, in the sense that each project is an extension of myself. I have five albums that I am currently working on, all of which are at different stages in development, and are also significant in representing different stages of my life.
“Lost & Found” set to be released on 5/20/24 represents the hardest time in my life In trying to climb back up from rock bottom and getting clean and sober from drugs and alcohol and trying to rediscover myself and relearn my creative process while fighting withdrawals. It is a coming of age album for me.
“Best Kept Secret” set to be released in July of this year, is me after I found my groove again, settling into fatherhood, and stepping into the role of a husband.
“The Conversation” release date TBD.
Expands on the similar themes of best kept secret with maturing as a man and also maturing in music.
“ICBM Collaboration” the fourth project release date TBD, is a collaborative effort between French producer ICBM and myself. With an insane level of production quality and creativity. Paired with a wide range of song themes, intricate lyrics and high energy delivery.
“The Collaboration” the fifth project currently underway, release date TBD,
Is an effort at expanding my horizons in that I’ haven’t done much work with other artists. I’ve been reaching out to local talent and artists that I’ve admired throughout the years. I’m eager to share and continue working on this one.

Thatdeadpoet, 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?

I began writing music when I was 13 years old, I had gotten into trouble and wrote an apology to my mom in the form of a song that I would sing to her while playing guitar. Later that year I heard hip-hop music for the first time and was head over heels in love. I began writing rhymes and raps as often as I could, in the hopes of having something new everyday to rap for my friends at school. By the time I had reached high school I was well recognized by my peers as a real MC and rapper that could also freestyle with the best of them. Nearing the end of my high school career I met my long time collaborator, friend and now brother in law JakeWalker. After freestyling over one of his beats in the parking lot of IHOP we decided we wanted to work together and began feverishly writing music together and performing as often as possible with the hopes of new material for every performance. This of course helped us really hone our craft and understand each others work flow. We played many shows together all over the west Michigan area. From house party’s to festivals and we were even the first rap performance at a venue in Memphis. Furthermore, we also managed to perform at our local open mic night weekly to really develop our stage presence and live performance. With the height of our local popularity and my presence on instagram really starting to take off I began to loose myself to alcohol and drug addictions. I was at the end of the road and it didn’t look good. I had lost my passion for music and my will to live. Without my now wife I wouldn’t have been able to get up from that fall. I took two years off of music to just focus on my sobriety and rediscover myself. When I returned to the writing table it was like learning to walk all over again, but I persevered. Since then I’ve written about four and a half albums and am excited to start putting music out again and reentering the local music circuit.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal has always been to be able to pay all the bills with my music. I would also love to take care of my parents expenses so they can retire and travel if they want. My wife and I have always wanted to travel the world and to be able to do that with our two boys without worries of expenses would be ideal. Also, I have many very specific goals within my music career most of which are artist I want to work with and/or venues I want to perform at, although there’s far to many to name at this moment.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I’d have to say the reactions and feedback I get from people are the most rewarding for me. When I’ve spent countless hours, days sometimes even weeks on a piece of music and finally let it see the light of day in a performance I’m watching what the crowd is doing, facial expressions, body language, I’m analyzing everything from the moment I begin the song to the time I get off the stage. I take all the comments and feedback into account and try to constantly learn and improve. Although, I do believe that music is therapy and I believe I’ve healed myself many times by writing and recording songs. While that aspect is tremendously rewarding and a main driving factor in my desire to create, I feel that it’s good if my music heals me but it’s great if it can heal you.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: HTTPS://Instagram.com/thatdeadpoet
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thatdeadpoet?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Twitter: HTTPS://www.twitter.com/thatdeadpoet
• Youtube: Thatdeadpoet
• Soundcloud: HTTPS://www.SoundCloud.com/thatdeadpoet

Image Credits

Jesse Rios
Heidi Driesenga
Jessica Walker