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

Vincent, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

My first paid work in music was as a songwriter for a rapper in 2017. Shoutout Chyna Doll! As a creative director and designer, my first gig was co-designing a fashion collection for a local brand in 2021. Shout out to Intention!

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?

I do many different things with my skills, and I used to identify them separately. uglyVNC is my songwriting and singing brand, v.clipse is art & design, and freequincy is creative production.

Throughout my childhood, I was surrounded by a surplus of creativity, so the arts came 2nd nature to me. My father is an artist and general contractor and my mother used to sing in acapella choral groups all the time, so I think I just became the manifestation of those two talents. As I grew older these talents became passions and I then began to study and learn all I could about them which further heightened my interests in art. I used to poke at the piano for hours and sing whatever was on the top of my head until I liked something. Later, I would make mixes for my high school dance team and make remixes to my favorite songs by writing my own verse to the beat. That led me to creating my own compositions and once I had about 8-13 songs, I would mockup an album the way I liked by designing my artwork, organize the track list to tell a certain narrative, give the album a theme and title, then uploading it to my iTunes library with all the metadata so it looked like a legit release in my library. I didn’t realize what manifestation was then but now I see that’s what I was doing.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I had a rough time finding my place in music and art. Growing up I sang in choirs in both church and at school. I even got a music scholarship for college from my high school choral teacher who was also the professor at the college. Eventually I dropped out of college and lost the scholarship because I didn’t have the confidence or discipline to train the way I needed to be my best. After dropping out I struggled a lot with keeping a stable income and relationships were just as rocky, so my confidence and disciple almost disappeared. I was at my lowest and then came the pandemic. Thankfully I took the time to focus on my craft again and try to rebuild the inner void that caved in on itself. Out from that came uglyMIXTAPEvol.1. This project isn’t something I’m too proud of but the story behind it is so sentimental that it holds a special place in my heart. After that release, I tuned back into myself and dug deeper into building the discipline I needed to really reach my potential which finally led me to enroll back in college. At the time of writing this I’m halfway through my degree program and finalizing my second body of work. The work ethic I have built is something I’m most proud of because despite all I went through in 2023, I conquered all my challenges and became the person I dreamed of being by truly putting my all into everything I do.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Supporting artists/creatives is simple, so I’ll break it down in three ways.

1. If you admire an artist, let them know in the most sincere and genuine way you can think of. Many creatives love to hear from those who admire their work and sharing some love with them fuels their passion to continue sharing their work.
Also be cautious of the pressuring comments like “We want more!” or “Where’s the album”, etc. that pressure can be motivating to some and overwhelming to others. If you know they won’t take it to heart, give them pressure but if you’re unsure how they’ll take it, just be more endearing.

2. For those who have creative friends, be their brand ambassador, tell the world “My friend is awesome, what they do is amazing! and you deserve to experience this awesomeness as well!” Sometimes creatives have a hard time getting seen beyond their inner circle because their friends don’t show love or share that often or ever at times. True friends brag about their friends so don’t be shy, yell it to the sky. Lastly don’t worry if you can’t afford to pay for their makings, if you share, you could be earning them more money than you would have spent. This brings me to my final idea to supporting creatives.

3. It doesn’t matter if your best friend/acquaintance is an artist or if you just admire some random persons work. Support them financially! Making anything in this economy is not cheap and some people that’s how they make a living. If you can’t afford it, do number 2, and share it with someone who has the income and interest in something like that. It’s all about being an active supporter in the best way you can. There may be other ways that I didn’t mention so do whatever your heart inclines you to do because we need to start moving out of love more as a society.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/freequincy
• Instagram: @v.da.tree / @v.clipse
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCukIEcoZrJo-eoh0jAbVttw

Image Credits
Ashante Lanay, Mason Kalei