Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Versell “VERSEatyle” Motley. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Versell “VERSEatyle”, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
A series of events led me to start using my hobbies to approach my artistic path professionally, such as performing at paid gigs, being in a dance crew signed under a parent company, auditioning for shows such as “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Americas Got Talent”, performing at numerous venues including The House of Blues, Mardi Gras, fairs, parties, and many more. I noticed my talents started allowing me to meet people and create bonds along with being able to monetize little by little from certain events, in which life directed me to all of the settings where I ever performed that prepared me for my future business endeavors. After accomplishing personal goals in my career past such as military, wildland fire fighting, etc. I then wanted to strive for what people would consider a “dream” to actually pull off, which I am well on my way with doing.
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
I started dancing in my early childhood, but one prominent time that I remember when I started was when I was watching the movie “Breakin” with my parents and after the movie ended I started mimicking moves from the movie and my parents bet me $50 if I could dance for an hour straight- which I was able to complete with whatever made up moves I thought of on the spot. From there on freestyle dance became something I used as a self development and growth tool which would then pave the way throughout its usage through my life. From there I would have many people who influenced me such as “Boogaloo Shrimp”, “Poppin’ Nam Hyun Joon”, “Jabbawockeez”, and many others, which would then be around until the era where I started to write down lyrics and rhyme and rap to myself. From all my influences, Poppin’ Nam Hyun Joon is someone who broke boundaries by doing graffiti, music, and dance all at the same time- which gave me inspiration to start making music. I also have to heavily credit my father “V-Skony” who was a big time street dancer in the early era of Hip-Hop and music producer which always helped me maintain the aura and energy of the culture around me at all times from adolescence. One of the biggest things I’m most proud of is that even though I grew with others along the way in my journey, when it came to all my personal skill sets- I did everything by myself. No classes, no guidance, no group, just me left to figure everything out. Now I’ll be able to help others with their journey from the ground up.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
There are many rewards that come with being an artist, you just have to be willing to make it a lifestyle and work to receive the fruits of your labor for this type of career path. Depending on what you’re looking to get out of being an artist, it varies what you will get in return in due time. Some of the things I can name off the top of my head is obtaining the accessibility to socially connect with others of your craft, watching yourself grow overtime through your art, being able to express your creativity and mindset through your own originality, being able to learn and grow from a beginner level to find yourself being the mentor helping others grow in your skill set, acquiring the ability to brand, market, and promote products- including yourself for further business deals and negotiations. I’ve learned so much information that I wish I had known when I started so that I would have made time for other accomplishments, but with this I now help other upcoming artists and people in general with any knowledge or opportunities I am aware of presenting so that they can save time and energy and head towards the right direction for their goals and dreams.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Nowadays with there being so much people that are easily enabled with becoming an artist, there are times where support is definitely needed and appreciated by artists from their support system. Knowing this, I always present the idea that being a “fan” is actually a skill, and everyone has different levels of supporting others they know, and things they admire. The average fan for example, will repost one of their favorite artists songs/albums as a representation of what they admire for others they’d like to relate and convey that image to. Some of those same people will have someone or people of theirs who are upcoming artists but won’t exactly share or repost anything of theirs, but will still listen, like and or comment on their posts seldomly. Even though the fan admires both artists, not everyone morally leans towards sharing their support system the same way to both artists in that situation. Which brings me to say again- being a fan is a skill. I also advise upcoming artists not to take anything personal if someone you expect to support you doesn’t do it right away or at all in the time being. People are learning, growing, and some things take just time. If not now, then later will be a better time for them, you’ll never know until then. People will be people. Artists give it their all when it comes to creating, performing, and living their art, and there are ways that anyone can uplift all artists, equally. Some of the best tips I can give would be to like, comment, and share when they post (even doing one of those helps, and its free), share their music as much as you would share your favorite artists (or share both at the same time), fully stream their songs when played without skipping to help their algorithm spread their music, word of mouth about them, communicate with them about their art (artists deep down love discussing upcoming plans with the correct people), pre save their songs on music platforms so the algorithm can expand their product, and enjoying their craft all together definitely helps.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2WtPCQH4MX8LfBirFZrHU8
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iiverseii/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VERSEatyle
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/iiVERSEii
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgcdeeUKDXS2WWOOztAYF4w