We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vade a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Vade, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
My story starts at the age of 8 when my uncle Won and my older brother Leo introduced me and my younger brother Sha to being an MC. They would create raps from the top of their heads about anything which made me want to do the same, being that I looked up to them. So my mom gave Leo a Casio tape recorder and him and Won began to create mixtapes, rapping into the tape recorder while playing an instrumental that they looped from the ends of some of our favorite songs. After a few songs recorded I took my shot and hopped on a feature which prompted me to believe in myself enough to keep creating. As time went on we developed enough records as a collective so we branched out creating two separate groups. Won and Leo were the Delinquents and myself and Sha were the Lil Tykes. Making more and more tapes we gained the interest of our father who then took us to a real studio to make our first real song and that was the first time I knew I wanted to really pursue a creative professional career as a artist.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
For the people who has yet to discover me, I’m a music artist from Dayton Ohio. I was a part of a rising group The Lil Tykes back in the early 2000s. The group consisted of myself and three of my brothers, Leo, Sha and Coolie E. We took the Midwest by storm in a short few months landing a chance to be apart of a tour opening for The New No Limit Records flagship artist Lil Romeo. Touring for months and months we began to build a core fan base selling thousands of albums and becoming a hot ticket for record labels, with million dollar deals being thrown our way. We made it into billboard magazine on the charts as independent artists and were featured in magazines like “Word up” and “Right on” the more popular we became. At what seems to be like the peak of our start which spanned about 2 to 2 and a half years it all came to a holt due to our father being indicted by the feds. When this happened labels didn’t want to associate with us because they were essentially threatened to be indicted for funding a criminal enterprise. So all the tours and money stopped but we kept our eye on the prize and continued to stay focused and create music which is a big thing that separated us from the crowd. Even though we weren’t in the best situation we still made the best out of it, creating some of the best music telling the story of the one who had it, lost it and began the journey to get it all back with interest. Staying true to my real life story sharing my experiences that I know so many people in the world may have in common but feel as if they don’t have a person to represent them.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is helping other through their journey through life. Creating music that relates to the people that has been through things like heartbreak, life changing experiences like a death, being a child of a ex kingpin nobody talks about the people effected when everything falls down. When I can touch the hearts of people that designate with the music and make it the soundtrack to their everyday life, it means everything.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When my father went to prison we went from living in mansions in the best neighborhoods, driving the nicest new cars, going to the best schools and not wanting for anything to the total opposite. I e lived on both sides of the tracks, the suburbs and the hood. I’ve been rich and poor. I’ve had and been without. But throughout the journey I never stopped making music. I’ve always kept my dream alive even when life gives me the worst cards. I just put it all in the music and it makes for the best works I couldn’t imagine making without these experiences.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/Vadetmg?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=59e46813-ab07-417f-bed5-cad20eae1fe2
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vadetmg?igsh=M3lhM2lpYWxjbjkx&utm_source=qr
- Twitter: https://X.com/vadetmg
Image Credits
Getti images