We recently connected with Trevon Mosby and have shared our conversation below.
Trevon, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made (either in terms of time or money)? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)
My first (and best) investment into my creativity was purchasing the Focusrite Scarlett Home Studio Pack (2nd Gen.). To this day, it exceedingly serves my needs to express myself; mix the audio I record with it; and tend to my growing family without losing opportunities to rest in creative productivity.
I’ve been writing and recording Hip Hop music since I was 14 years old. A few months into marriage, I had finally returned to thoughts of becoming a recording artist to provide financial stability for the family I dreamt of having. I created an investment plan and began saving money from each of my paychecks until I had enough to order the Home Studio Pack online. Here’s how I did that:
First, I found the total cost of the Focusrite bundle on Guitar Center’s website and marked that as my savings goal. Then, I calculated how much money I could afford to pay myself from each upcoming paycheck – household and family needs always come first! In Microsoft Excel, I mapped out how many paychecks it would take for me to save enough money to meet my savings goal. What I learned was that my goal was well-within reach and all that was required of me was patience, consistency, and discipline.
If I got paid and put too much money to the side to see my goal met sooner than planned, bills would have gone unpaid, putting my family and I at risk of losing hot water, electricity, or air conditioning that summer. If I wasn’t consistently paying myself, I would not meet my savings goal. If I hadn’t stayed committed to meeting that goal while meeting the needs of my household, I wouldn’t have been able to wait for bills to be paid every month – I would have sacrificed my family’s comfort for my own gain. But I stayed in position. I watched the progress I made with each paycheck that came in. Then, I finally placed my order and picked it up when it arrived at the store.
Making this investment – seeing that savings plan through to the end – allows me to do the work required of a recording artist from the comfort of my Home. I get to spend as much time as I want with my family and enjoying my craft. The process of making music – writing, rehearsing, recording, mixing, mastering, releasing it – starts and ends in the place I’m most comfortable.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m a husband. I’m a dad. I’m a creative entrepreneur. I’m fearfully and wonderfully made in the image and likeness of the holy triune GOD. I am Prophesee Levi. Through anxiety and depression, I’m humanizing greatness.
I wrote a verse at 15 years old that I went on to perform at a high school talent show. The positive reception of my writing and the delivery of it in my very first stage performance started in rehearsals for the show and continued into my college years. That first experience of sharing something so personal to me being received with love, validation, excitement, and support propelled me into this journey as a lyricist & recording artist.
We discover ourselves and one another in spaces we’re willing to share, like music, where everyone speaks the same language (with different dialects!). I help my fellow creatives and our audiences to find healing and human connection by sharing personal experiences with them in creative spaces. In the southern-style-dominated sub-genre of Christian Hip Hop, I offer an East-Coast style without sacrificing the vulnerability, spiritual insight, and introspection being a Christian demands. While any music artist can boast of providing therapeutic songs to a hungry and thirsty generation of humanity, the life experiences and thoughts I share in my music and content are designed to nourish those in need – like me.
I’m most proud of the character development I allow GOD to complete in my life as I adapt to fatherhood and marriage. Being a man wearing many hats is strenuous. I don’t always have space or time to create in, let alone rest in. But I’m a dreamer, tired of postponing seeing my visions come to life. No one else decides when it’s my time – I do. I’m learning that as responsibilities and demands and needs pile onto me, I will not break character. Instead, I’ll use all of those as building blocks to get me to places of better balance in my life, accomplishing my goals.
What You NEED to know about Me (if nothing else): I love GOD, my family, myself, and the Arts. I’m a writer and in every space that’s suitable for me, my voice will be heard.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I’ve wanted to be a performing & recording artist since I was in high school, but I’ve also always dreamed of being a husband and a dad. Though I saw local success in bringing my artistic dream to life early on, I got married before I finished college and we immediately got pregnant. My wife’s needs, the demands of parenting, and learning how to husband became first on my priority list. While figuring all of that out, we got pregnant again shortly after I got a decent grip on those responsibilities.
I didn’t quite pivot away from music, but I did have to revisit how I was going to go about making my career happen. I have two babies and a wife now – I don’t have a bunch of free time like I used to. I can’t just invest most of my paychecks into music opportunities and music production. So I have to return to patience, consistency, and discipline to get to where I see myself.
I refuse to sacrifice the needs of my family to elevate myself because when I reach that plateau, I want them standing on it with me. As long as we’re breathing, our dreams don’t die. And if you share it with the right people, your dreams will live past your lifetime, in places far beyond you. I’ll get to where I’m going. And I won’t lose my footing to get there.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
If you want to see more from an artist, reach out to them and ask how you can help them move forward. Your time, your money, and your helping hands are what any creative needs to get going and keep going.
Creatives who embrace collaboration and reject unhealthy competition will thrive in this ecosystem. Fans are powerful. Creatives are powerful. Working together powers the ecosystem and raises the voices of people that should be heard – it reveals the faces of people that should be seen.
Organizations and institutions aren’t entirely necessary to get this done. Socialize on social media. Follow through on what you say you will help with. Show up for the artists you love and are interested in. Engage in the content they put out. Invest in them and their craft so they can keep going and you and others can keep seeing them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://patreon.com/leviprophepsy
- Instagram: @LeviProphepsy
- Twitter: @LeviProphepsy
- Youtube: @LeviProphepsy
- Other: https://trevonmosby717.systeme.io/WRNKA (A Community for Creatives) https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wrnka (My Helping Hand to You) https://www.audiomack.com/leviprophepsy (Where You Can Find My New Music)
Image Credits
Robby Fischer