We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Thomas Gonquoi. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Thomas below.
Thomas, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
Growing up as a kids in Minnesota music was a big part of my childhood. I remember summers of me and my cousins laying on the pallet early morning in my uncle living room watching MTV Jams and BET/106 N Park singing all the songs and watching music videos all day and this was almost everyday. Then moving to Illinois in the 7th grade not getting along with none of the kids, and I remember my study hall teacher taking a liking to me. Over time him and I bonded over music, we would listen to old Michael jackson, New Edition and other old artists. I remember one day I made my own little remix to you will be there by New Edition and before the class ended he told me “You’re going to be an musician one day. So the seeds were definitely being planted in me to follow this path, but it always conflicted with basketball which was something I also loved and enjoyed. I remember in highschool I was doing poetry club and playing basketball at the same time, it was tough. Ultimately though the turning point for me was losing my best friend CJ. We would always write songs and make songs even though we wouldn’t drop, but a few weeks before he passed we wrote a song and we said this would be our first song together we drop. Unfortunately we never got to drop it so i finished the song dropped it and promised my self and him that. would make it in this music industry and I’ve been working towards that ever since. June 15th 2019 was the day i knew i wanted to do this professionally.
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.
For those of you who have never heard about me I go by Saye TG( Saye Thomas Gonquoi). I am an artist, song writer, mixing engineer, and artist developer. I am also in a afro beats group by the name of WestSide Boyz representing Liberia and west Africa in general hence our name, although I am originally known for American music I have been gravitating more towards my roots as of late. combining an American style of music to the afro beat genre to create my own style/brand of music. As I mentioned before I got into the music industry when my best friend passed away mid 2019. Starting out was tough I often struggled finding places to record, was struggling paying for studio time and cover art, and being finessed by engineers… it was all bad. I remember paying $300 for my first 2 singles( which were mixed and mastered poorly) and just going through so much. I Worked my way through depression, no support and no recourses to building my own little following and seeing people finally believe in me. after 4 years in this industry i now mix/master all my own songs, do my own cover art/promo videos and run my own marketing. it feels good how far I’ve come but this is just the beginning for me especially starting over in a new genre and in a group, things are a little different, but the one thing I can say is I feel more connected to and proud of the music that I am making now and look forward to making more solo afro songs. I want potential listeners, future artists and supporter to know that I put my all into my music, every song has a meaning and a story, and i hope that everyone that listens can connect with and feel my music.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I think the mental aspect of being an artist or creative is the hardest thing for non-creatives to understand. As an artist you want to be liked, one of my favorite quotes which was at the end of Jcoles song Fire Squad is “Deep down every artist just wanna be loved” and mannn is that the truth. So as an artist especially trying to make a name for yourself its tough to keep your confidence high especially when you are putting out songs and its getting only 10 plays or the people around you who you love dearly aren’t supporting you, it makes you wonder and it leaves room for doubt as a creator. But you have to just keep going and keep creating, thats what we signed up for and as you put in the hours you will see the results.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I would say my whole journey illustrates resilience, but for me what really stands out was when i decided i was going to learn how to engineer my own music. It was very hard at first but i stuck to it found the plugins that made it comfortable for me and got good using those plugins and ultimately helped elevate my musical knowledge and career as a musician.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/realwestsideboyz?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=e6e1492b-512c-437a-ad6f-cd5cc6a41105
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tgg_25?igsh=MTh6Y3ZuemFkcm96bw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@RealWestSideBoyz?si=FhLrwQ5O8qwjbxcy
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@realwestsideboyz?_t=8jmWrDk53md&_r=1