The S.H.I.T.T.S Podcast
The S.H.I.T.T.S Podcast
Episode 177: Bridging Distances: The Influence of the Bass Parlour App in the Music Industry
Picture yourself collaborating with musicians from around the globe, right from your living room. That's a reality made possible by Darryl Stephens, the genius behind the innovative Bass Parlour app. In our recent conversation, Darryl gives us an in-depth look at how his app is revolutionizing the music industry by providing a unique platform for musicians, artists, and songwriters to work together, regardless of their physical location. Delving into his rich experience of hosting music showcases in DC, Darryl highlights how the app is bringing an antidote to the anti-social tendencies amplified by the pandemic.
Navigating the changing currents of the music industry can be daunting, but the Bass Parlour app is here to help. Darryl and I explore the impact of streaming on the music world, discussing how his app has become an invaluable tool for artists looking to keep their creative juices flowing and stay relevant. The app's success stories, from the creation of diverse collaborations to unexpected yet fantastic results, serve as testament to its transformative potential. Yet, launching the app wasn't without challenges. Darryl opens up about building a trusted team and the complexities of the music industry that his app aims to simplify.
As we wrap up our enlightening conversation, Darryl and I delve into the future of the Bass Parlour app and a topic close to his heart - creativity in education. Passionately advocating for nurturing creativity in traditional education systems, Darryl envisions his app as a tool to fulfill this mission. He also shares his experience of having his music played on 106.3 FM, highlighting the opportunities the Bass Parlour offers for musicians, artists, and songwriters to collaborate, create, stay relevant, and even earn money. This inspiring discussion is a testament to the power of creativity, collaboration, and embracing change in the music industry.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What up y'all? You're not tuned in to the shit's podcast, so we're either shooting this shit, starting some shit, or picking up a shit left off. I'm your host. My song's the Raleigh Coolest. Catch your heart. I heard it, that's fine. Aka, dj Booty Rubber like no other. If you don't believe me, man, go back to your mother. Hey, man, check it out. Y'all. We have a very, very special guest to the podcast today, tonight, wherever y'all at, and the reason why I feel like this gentleman is a very special guest to the podcast because he is a creator and he has created something that I think all creators need, and that's the way to collaborate with fellow creators or just on their own. So, with no further ado, I want y'all to put y'all hands together for the one, the only, darryl Stevens. Y'all, what up, bro?
Speaker 2:What's going on, man? I like the intro music, man, it's tight. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that it's for my man, Decker Dutters producer extraordinaire, I see, I see.
Speaker 2:He had shots out to him man. He made some good stuff.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much. So, on the podcast, man we like to do first man. We like to check in with, I guess, man and see how they've been so far. So how'd you week been?
Speaker 2:It's been good man, it's been really good Getting everything set for the A3C conference coming up in Atlanta the last weekend In September, so getting everything straight from that. Me and my company are going to be part one of the vendors there at their conference. So in addition to the vendors, you've got a lot of artists there, a lot of musicians there, and then you've got it's a lot of concert, a lot of concert sets there too. So you've got artists from all around the country coming in. So we just get ready for that. It's going to be tight.
Speaker 1:It sound like it's going to be a blast man.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you said that's in Atlanta, right.
Speaker 2:It's in Atlanta. I don't know about every year, but this is the first one. You know, since COVID is the first time they're getting back in actual, in person. You know, they kind of it was remote for a couple of years there during COVID, but now they get it back in person. So what's this going to be? I think everybody's ready to go ahead and do everything in person again. Man, I'm going to do it. So yeah, man.
Speaker 1:They're seriously like COVID. Covid messed us up. I think it messed us up like socially and it kind of, you know it made people become so anti-social. Yeah, so when, when all the restrictions and stuff lived, I think so many people were so appreciative of being able to get together in person and have those type of events, man, and it sounded like it's going to be a very dope event. Are you from Atlanta?
Speaker 2:I'm from Atlanta. Yeah, I spent a lot of time in DC and spent a little time in Orlando too, but I'm originally from the cater right outside of Atlanta.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, okay. So the name of the app is Bass Parlor, right, right, right. So I mean, can you tell us more about it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, my bad. Yeah, so yeah, bass Parlor, the Bass Parlor app. So basically what it is, it's Apple Musicians, artists, instrumentalists, songwriters to find each other wherever they are. So if you're let's say you're in Atlanta, you want to find someone to work with anywhere in your city, another city or another country.
Speaker 2:You can find anywhere anyone to work with you. Can, you know, find a, reach out to them, chat with them and then you know, y'all can collaborate. When we have now, we just launched a few months ago, we launched our monthly collaboration contest. So, whoever you find the app, if y'all create a song together, upload that song to our contest. If you have the most votes for the rest of the songs entered, then you win the prize for that month. So we've had some really good sponsors so far. This last month the winner had a spot to perform that song at a music fest that we had here in Atlanta, a hip hop music fest. Oh wow, before that we've had, you know, partnerships with software companies. Fl Studio. We've made, you know, FL Studio software. We've had a few more like software sent. So you know, we've had some really really good prizes, really good partnerships and sponsorships so far. So what it is is, yeah, the apps. It's about collaboration, you know, across genres, across cultures, across countries, across states. This collaboration.
Speaker 1:Okay, so how long has the app been up again?
Speaker 2:It's been up for about a year, about a year and a half or so.
Speaker 1:Okay, so what is what is prior to?
Speaker 2:it's a created man, that goes way back. So back when I was living in DC, I started throwing these music showcases. So a start off is like a past the auk showcase. So you know, dc's got a pretty solid music community. So I just, you know, partnered up with a cafe slash record store and say, you know, I've got this idea for this event and you know if I, if I hosted here, so they were down with it invited all the producers and all the artists in the city to come out and, just, you know, load the songs on the phone or a laptop and just play the stuff they've been working on. And so you know, I had that. Every single month more and more people came out and it's all love. You know, everybody was just giving great feedback for the songs. It's great networking event where people just get the stuff out there so people can hear it. So from there I threw that same event in Atlanta. Same feedback. It really got really popular in Atlanta.
Speaker 2:So I decided to open up a studio. It's called Bass, part of Studios and so basically it was like a. We work for musicians. So we had different stations set up for producers at a recording studio on the back and then once a month. We used to throw it like a showcase where, with all the musicians that come out, all the artists come out. I'll pair them up randomly. I'll be like, okay, you're with you, you're with you.
Speaker 2:And then getting like an hour and a half to create a brand new song from scratch. So they didn't know each other, never seen each other before, or anything like that. They had 90 minutes to go in and create a brand new song. At the end of it, whatever they got, they got a performance from everybody else. Yeah, it's been. It was some really good songs that came from that, some really good duos and teams, and so that got more popular and more popular and we ended up getting sponsorship from Samsung, you know so we start throwing that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, start throwing that every month, you know, along with what we already know in the studio, with the station set up for producers and artists and everything, and that was just something to add on to it. So it just got really pop. So we ended up being almost like a headquarters for indie musicians, you know, in Atlanta.
Speaker 1:Which was needed. It was needed Right, right and everything is the same concept.
Speaker 2:Everything's the wrong collaboration, network and collaboration Because, you know, a lot of times people don't know where to start. So they would come to one of our vests, meet you know a lot of different artists, a lot of different musicians, and it was pretty cool. Now I know people I can collaborate with and stuff like that. But so we would build momentum, growing, growing. Everything was going great and then COVID hit yeah, and so then we had to shut the studio down. But I saw the need there for collaboration and for the fine people to work with. So you kind of transition from the actual physical studio location to an app. So it took us about eight months or so to build the app. Once we got it built, we just kept working on it. Working on it Focus on just two cities at first it's DC and Atlanta, just knocking off some kings to get feedback and all that and, yeah, we just kept growing it from there.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Yeah, I was like during COVID man it's a buddy of mine, he's kind of like a mentor to me and he live in LA. Man we was having conversations and we was just saying that it seemed like COVID. In a sense, covid was like a blessing to creators. You know what I'm saying? Because it put you in a space where you had to like really look inside and like had a time to yourself, right, and what I get from your story, man, that's what it seemed like, that's what you did. Like a situation presented itself and it was like I got to make the most out of it and you did, and it was like that's really awesome. Are you a musician?
Speaker 2:No, I have a background in music. So I grew up playing sports and then when I stopped playing sports, I played college ball. When I didn't get drafted out of college, I had to have something to replace it. So I was always a music lover. But then when I stopped playing ball, that's when I started really getting to music production. So I spent basically all about 20s producing music. I was living in Orlando at the time for the most part, but this producer music had a background in audio engineering. Once I finished undergrad I went to a school down in Orlando called Full Sail, so I learned how to do audio engineering, learned a lot about music production and just started, you know, just working on music, and my first job out of undergrad was actually EA Sports as a sound designer. So yeah, oh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I was able to like work on no no, no, no.
Speaker 1:I was about to say, man, I got to apologize to EA Sports. I broke a lot of y'all games, man, real talk, I didn't throw a couple of them. Games against the wall, bro.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's expected, man, it's expected. Yeah, I mean, I was a big Madden fan back in the day. Oh, my college NCAA football Madden, you know. So I was. I'll just say the same thing, man. I broke some controllers, some games, some systems. I'm right there with you, man no-transcript.
Speaker 1:So did so. Did you play football, or?
Speaker 2:Play baseball, right okay okay, what position? Place in a field back then. Back then had a little speed on me, so play center field. Say back there's a little different story now, but yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, okay, um, so I'm guessing, I'm assuming, apologize, I apologize, my wrong. I'm assuming, as a person that creates an app like this and who has a studio and has something to do with music, that you have your ear to what's going on in the music industry and it seems to me Correct me if I'm wrong like nowadays it's more of a single Driven industry compared to an album. Yeah, I mean, like. I mean, do you agree with that and if so, what? Why do you think that is?
Speaker 2:Mass. It's a lot of reasons. I first one grew with that and we're thinking clearly. I agree with that completely. You know I grew up Loving like. I grew up on 90s hip-hop, you know. So I remember. I remember waiting at towers records For a line on Tuesdays for the, for the new releases, like when that new Wu Tang come out with a Wu Tang forever. We're in line Monday night till midnight until they released on Tuesday. Yeah, but you, but we didn't have any option. But I mean, you can still buy singles, but we'll be waiting on the whole album to come out. Yes, sir, so I get it. I read like who's produced it? Who wrote everything? The names of Trav, I swear everything. Yeah, bro, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that the whole that whole mindset, the whole game is gone, you know. So everything that I'm not saying it's better or worse, but you're right, like everything, singles based now, because you can stream individual songs. You don't listen to the whole album. Yeah, more options, you can listen to whole individual songs. I Think that's one huge part of it like the album. And then, you know, I talked to a lot of musicians too. In a lot of artists, especially indie artists, like you know. Why am I focusing on the whole album? I can just release individual songs. You know, talking to some artists who released a single here, released a single next week, released another single next week, and that's the way to keep continue getting buzz. You know, because there's so much music going out. I think one of the big things is, I think artists are, I'm worried about being irrelevant if they wait for you know create an album, wait for another two years, create another album.
Speaker 2:They just want to keep hitting your behavior when new singles which makes sense for how you know the music state today and with the stream it in, so many artists and you know, direct to consumers, so it makes sense, but you know there's positives and negatives to it also.
Speaker 1:It definitely. I agree with you. Right now, I think it definitely does make sense. And then that's why I was so interested in in your story, because the app that you have it's it seems to me like it's kind of geared towards the single. You know, I'm saying like well, you can collaborate With people and come up with a dope project I mean a dope, you know, I'm saying a dope record right there, and to me it seemed like it would help To to for artists to stay relevant, because not only do you have the opportunity to create those singles, but you have the opportunity to collaborate with people from different cities right, and branch out, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2:That makes perfect sense, and they're exactly right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly right, so we could. You can really take it wherever you want to go, because I've talked to people on the app who Find someone from another city and then they they really would like creating the song. So it usually starts as a single because you don't know how you're gonna fight with that person, so might start off as a single but they might lock in with that person. I thought of some people who like to lock in with that one producer, one artist and create a whole EP or whole album with that person.
Speaker 2:But, you can do it like that or you're right. You can just say, okay, I want to, uh, connect with this person this week, connect with this person next week, and you can just have a series of singles with different artists from around the country. You can, you can really take in whatever direction you want to take it in.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay. Have there been any artists? Have there been any artists that you you've Encountered with the app? That shocked you like? Probably, just looking at their profile, you thought I don't want to use the term there's gonna be garbage, but you didn't think they was gonna be as good as it turned out to be. You don't have to say the name, you know yeah yeah, nah, because I never.
Speaker 2:I never judge your book by its cover, you know I mean, so I never just look at it, because some of the best artists even before I opened an app just my experience of listening to music Some of my best artists might just look at them and be like, man, this, I want to expect much out of them. You know what I mean, right, right.
Speaker 1:So I never so when it comes to arts.
Speaker 2:When it comes to the arts, I can't. You can never really, in my, in my experience, you can never really judge how good the art is by how they look. Yeah, yeah. So I can't do it like that, but it has been. So I'll tell you one thing, though we have a, we have a show on youtube called the base part of man's show, and like the same concept that we uh, that we use connecting people we have on that show we connect people, we videotape the process of meeting each other, connecting, creating.
Speaker 2:One thing that has surprised me is because I take people from different genres Is how well they meshed, and I didn't. Sometimes I'm like I don't know how this is going to go. I don't know if they're gonna mesh well, not wish mesh well and then be spent being from two different genres. I'm like, uh, I don't know how this is going to go, but I've been really pleasantly surprised. Like you know, one of my favorite episodes is uh Is a hip-hop artist named Sable world, one of my favorite independent artists, and I paired him up with the uh afro beats producer.
Speaker 2:Uh name, yeah, named jr beat boy, and I wasn't sure how that goes to mesh, but it was one of the best songs on on the show, you know. I mean so you never know, you never know what's gonna go. Another one had a poet mixed with the uh, like an acoustic guitarist, and she, she came in. So it was really that those parents I could see it from scratching how they built this song those always surprised me because I don't know what they're gonna. They're gonna come up with.
Speaker 2:And and it's always like wow, they went in a whole different direction. The personality vibes a lot of times and then the music just vibes, and the fact that they don't have much time to think about I think that's one thing that really that really affects that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that. Hey, stop, I'm sorry about that. No, you're good.
Speaker 2:You're good. Um, I got my dog right outside the door, so I understand, I understand how many you got? This one, this one, this one. Yeah, one bit Belgium, l O Y, you know like it's like a cousin toa German Shepherd.
Speaker 1:Basically, you saw, you think it's a German Shepherd, okay, okay.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Um, let me put you on the spot for a minute. Man, two, three, three artists. That's in your playlist right now.
Speaker 2:Man, I'm a person listen to everything, so it's gonna surprise you. So, uh, kill the Mike's new album. Oh, I like that. Yeah, I like that a lot. Um, I still got. I still got. Uh, curse may feel. Man, I've been listening a lot of like that curse may feel super fire soundtrack. I still got that in my heavy rotation so I was listening to that earlier today. I love this song. They're called give me your love, the. The instrumentation on that song is one of my one of my favorites of all time.
Speaker 2:Okay and then, um, I forgot. I forgot the name of the album, but black thought just recently came out of the album would just do who, uh, I mean with this group it's like this they do all kinds of like maybe chur ha beats. They do all kinds of different kind of beats. I forgot the name.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry to cut short. I think I know you're talking about in the production set. To me the production sounds a little bit Like basement quality. Is that the one you're talking about?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's not. And it's not, it's not dangerous. That came out a couple years ago, last year.
Speaker 2:It's the one that came out this year and I can look it up real quick. But I was in there all day today. I was like in black. I mean, you know black dogs, a beast. He's always a Mount Rushmore as far as lyrics and flow, but like this one, and it's not even the band that was behind them. It's not like a hip-hop band or anything like. It's not like the roots. They do all kinds of stuff. I listen to some more of the like instrumental CDs, but this match right here and I'm a sucker for strings. They think they've got a lot of strings in it. Yeah, I'm all about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's dope, that's dope, um. So, speaking of speaking of the, the bass parlor app, right, and what can people find it?
Speaker 2:You find on google play, find on uh on apple, the app store, apple app store, google play, um. So wherever you get your apps from on your phone, you know you can find it. And, uh, we're constantly making updates and upgrades to it, so we're coming out with new things. We just add it. Like I said, we just added the uh, the monthly contest, but on top of that we just add the chat so you can chat with other musicians and you know if someone starts out like a chat post or thread, you can add to the thread and you know they can respond to your, to your chat post and and cause that. So we try to start. We are starting to brand a whole huge global community, whole music independent community.
Speaker 1:That's man, bro. I commend you for that. That is, that is so needed.
Speaker 2:That is so needed right now. Man for real.
Speaker 1:Um. What have been some of the challenges, man uh, of getting the app up and running?
Speaker 2:Uh, man, getting it up and running. The biggest challenge was the uh development team. Find a good development team that you trust. I'm not a developer, I'm not a coder or anything like that, so I had to find a development team that I really, really trusted a lot. Um, so I had a couple iterations of of I shouldn't say bad, but these people that are groups teams that didn't fit with what I was trying to do. So the development side is always, is always the toughest thing, because we don't, at this stage, you don't have an in-house development team, and so it's just finding, finding a team that we, uh, that we trust with our, with, with the vision, you know okay.
Speaker 1:Speaking, of this is a music industry. What do you, what do you think the music industry is doing?
Speaker 2:well, right now well from the perspective of the businesses and the um, the record labels. One thing they've shipped is those 360 deals. That's good for them because they're getting a piece of the marketing. They get a piece of everything. In my opinion, that's not so good for the artists.
Speaker 2:Okay, um, I think you know, as they had to make shifts and you know they're not getting paid as much off the album, so they had to try to other find other ways to supplement their revenue. Um, I think that, uh, they did a good job of eliminating for the most part, eliminating bit streams, eliminating, like you know, um, what was that? That was back in the day, uh, the bit torn and all the kind of stuff and getting paid off, like you know, spotify, apple ads and stuff like that. So they did a good job. They've done a good job with that. I think the artists are still getting, I should say, underpaid. They're not getting paid at the same level they were getting paid when they were selling actual physical albums, right, you know the mean so it puts more on us, on the, on the artists to tour, make money in other ways.
Speaker 2:You know marketing and I think the I think the marketing has become so strong and like Having brand deals and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, I think in a lot of times the music and the artist self has suffered because of that.
Speaker 1:You know so it's Right there. That's, that's the like. I agree with you that, especially the last part, um, and and that's the part, man, that that really concerns me is that, you know, like I think, and like you said, I don't think the artists are the ones that's necessary necessarily getting paid paid off the music nowadays. I think it's more the people behind the music, um, uh, but I, but I definitely feel like the quality of the music is suffering these days. You know, I'm saying I think I think it has become easier to get your music out to people, um, you know, because you can, you can do a single and do the paperwork and you know, load it up to something and it'd be out, and within two days, you know, probably even quicker than that.
Speaker 1:Um, I just think that it's it's, it's harder for me, it's harder nowadays to find that album, that whole album that you put on heavy rotation. So that's what I like. When you said about the killer mic album, I thought that shit was phenomenal, right, right, I'm not gonna like real. Just just to see, just to hear that dude go from um the runner jewels and to do an album by himself that comes out and sounds that dope, I was like man. That's what's up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I killed it, he killed it and it was good to hear.
Speaker 1:But yeah.
Speaker 2:I agree with you and I see we're both two over here pop heads. You know I'm saying so and then. So you know our parents was prior to listening to our music and saying it doesn't sound like the music they grew up on. So it's, you know. But I'd rather I grew up through as far as the quality of the music, but I'd rather be where we are now. As far as you know, you don't have the gatekeepers. You can go direct to consumer. If I'm already so, I can go direct to an audience and I don't have people in my way. You know I don't have to get signed, I don't have to do all that. So I'd rather have it now how it is, now that I was before, even though, in my personal opinion, the music as a whole I mean there's a million exceptions, but there's a whole might not be as quality, but I think it's going to rebalance itself. Is it's going to take time?
Speaker 1:Okay, so you, you, you spoke about the gatekeepers and not necessarily having the gatekeepers anymore. Um, so, with you being in Atlanta, uh, do you think Atlanta's music artistic scene Is doing better without gatekeepers? Or do you think, yeah, do you think they're doing better without having the gatekeepers?
Speaker 2:Yeah, uh, as a whole, yeah, I do, I do okay, um, atlanta is, I mean, the lab music scene is huge, especially when it comes to hip hop, r&b, okay, so it's huge, and so I think a lot of times, a lot of artists, there's a lot more independent artists, and all these artists are willing to work with each other. There's a lot of spots where they can find each other, meet each other. Like, like, bass parlor, we're trying to provide a place where they can meet each other in person and do an app, and there's, okay, you know, there's a lot more things popping up cafes and stuff they have, and all kinds of open Magnets and everything. So there's a lot of places for people to meet each other. There's a lot more musicians and, um, overall, I like it more.
Speaker 2:I just don't think that not just in Atlanta, but everywhere you don't have to get signed in order to make a presence for yourself. You don't have to. I agree, yeah, so I think overall, I mean, like I said, it's positive, but overall I think Atlanta's in a better position musically, not having those gatekeepers who call all the shots, you know.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay. And then I commend Atlanta for that man, because I think that when it comes to the music scene, especially like hip hop, of course, they always look at New York as top spot. And then it was LA, and then it was Atlanta, then it not, was New York, la, Atlanta.
Speaker 2:My mouth is I don't even cut you off One album. I forgot One album I forgot. I would have thrown it in there. When you said New York, I was like, ah, that Nas is being on the crazy run. The new one, yeah, the new one, the new one and the one before that. Magic, magic, yeah, and then KD3, off of back to back. Then KD3 is a beast. Nas is being on like a five album run now I'm like he's back. Trumper returned.
Speaker 1:And I'm glad you said that, bro, because I was just talking to one of my people's about, like, the importance of older artists still mentoring and showing younger artists that it's not about an age, it's about if you have something to say. You know what I'm saying and I think that it's interesting that we have in this conversation because you have an app that promotes and encourages collaboration, and Nas collaborated with a younger producer and in a sense, it's kind of like I don't even want to say it was a resurrection, bro, you know what I'm saying, but I guess a revived Okay, we'll go with that.
Speaker 1:We'll go with that. Yeah, like I wish. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. So one thing like I've always been a big fan of Nas and I kind of believe that the thing that kind of plagued his career is his beat selection. It was, you know, people always say like the beats that he choose, but the lyrics were always there. So him partnering up with with Hit Boy, I was like hey and like you said, like a five album run like dude. That's like. It's like I heard of man.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying yeah.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I definitely agree with you on that. One man In a mentorship. Do you think that the older generation of of hip hop is reaching back to the newer generation? And if they are, do you think the newer generation is even accepting that that reach back?
Speaker 2:I think it varies so much from case to case. I think the biggest mentorship I think that the older generation can do is something like how Nas is doing outside of, like talking to him about business. You know what to look out for in the business side of music. That's something that you know. You can touch people in division and talk to him about the deal and who to connect with and all that. But as far as on the grand scale, like, for instance, what Nas is doing, he's showing how to rap about what's relevant in his life in a current state, and so it gives you to me as an artist, it gives you options.
Speaker 2:I don't have to rhyme about this one thing. I like to remember this one thing I can. Oh, this is another option. He's doing it in a way that's real dope, it's true to who he is at this point in his life. You know what I'm saying. So, and then it gives longevity to you as an artist too. So the more you know, the older you get, like with Nas and Jay-Z coming out with great albums later on in their life or later on the music life, not overall, but the music life, you know what I'm saying. Like it shows other paths. I think that that's the biggest mentorship you can give to on a grand scale, to musicians, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:You know I've done that. That's a. That's a. That's a very good point, and I like the fact that you pointed out that he's touching on things that's happening in his life. You know what I'm saying Like things. That's really what's what I'm looking for, like geared or tailored toward him. So he's speaking his truth Because, like I'll be thinking about what older artists do release music Sometimes I think the problem occurs is that they try to do what a younger generation is doing and that's kind of like always look at it like, like that's the equivalent of an old dude trying to dress like he 20, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Like and then you just look foolish.
Speaker 1:Right Like you know, you, you, you, you got your look and you got your lane. So it's like you have to be comfortable with that, and so that's that's why I commend, I commend now. So what are you doing? Man, also a killer might do like that last album. It was just like that dude was speaking his truth. You know, I'm saying he did it in such a dope as fashion, bro, he didn't have such a dope fashion. Yeah, so you guys spoke about the conference coming up in Atlanta. Man, is there any things that you that you're looking forward to more than others with the conference?
Speaker 2:I'm just looking forward to this talking to musicians, artists specifically hip hop conference.
Speaker 2:But you know you have artists of all different genres company at just the network and and look at some of the, the panels and everything. But I really look forward to talk to musicians, getting feedback. We're always evolving the app. So getting feedback on what they want to see that go go toward the future, what they like about it, what they want to see added to it and just, you know, talking to artists about what they're seeing out there. As an artist, so we're always trying to be to have our interests, streets, understand what's going on and, you know, reflect in the, in the app. But that's the main thing just being out there with the people. And also the panels they got some great panels, panels and panels on the A3C concert, you know I mean. So that's always good to you know and I was.
Speaker 1:I was, I was looking at your Instagram post, your Instagram page. You had just did one and Big Tigger was one of the hosts for that. Am I correct?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that was last year. That was last September. It was a national black NBA conference and that was that was Atlanta. That was Atlanta last year, so I was one of the three startups that was chosen to make a pitch for $50,000.
Speaker 2:So yeah, okay, they had some yeah they had two really good other startups One, she's a lady out of Richmond and she makes hair products, natural hair products, and this is really it's really good. And then my homeboy, mark, out of Michigan. He's doing almost like a Kickstarter just to help the kids get to our not kids, young adults, I should say get through college. So if you're having a hard time with tuition, there's a Kickstarter page but it's not. It's not called Kickstarter, it's called light tuition. Shuffle up the market light tuition. And he actually took home the grand prize, you know. So he's a. He's a really good dude, really good startup, but yeah, it was. So all three of us presented on the stage or front of thousands of people's is a great experience and, you know, got to meet a lot of people afterwards.
Speaker 1:Okay, Um, so you heard. I heard you say like you got a chance to present in front of 1000 people. Did you feel any sense of anxiety or nervousness? Presented for all those people? Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2:I want to say now, I was all I was. I was cool, calm, clear, but it was uh, you know, I had to go through my, uh, my spook, as we didn't have any notes or anything, so it was just me talking and um, which which is which is good, but it's definitely. When you go look out there in the crowd, you see, you know, 3000 people. It's definitely, it's daunting. So it was just practice, practice, practice, getting getting used to being out there as much as I could, but yeah, it was definitely nerve.
Speaker 2:It was nerve wrecking the hardest part is the hardest part is being backstage for you. Go up, because you look at you peeking out from behind the curtain. You're seeing all these people, yeah.
Speaker 2:Like yeah, that's the hardest part going out there. You know, when you're walking out on stage you get you're like, damn, why can't I just walk, like you, thinking you're too conscious about how I'm, how I'm walking and all that kind of stuff. It's too conscious. But everything went well Once I got started. It was it's all muscle memory from there, you know, but it was. It was definitely a nerve wrecking for a little while there.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay. Like I said, I'm just blown away. I'm blown away by your story man because, like I said, when I heard about the app, I was just like man that's dope like and I think that it just it encourages and encourages People to be creative, and I think that's what's truly needed in our society these days. Man, thank you man. Do you think? Do you think, that our school systems encourage Creativity as much as they should?
Speaker 2:I don't, I'll be. They encourage creativity as much. I think that's kind of, I would say, by design, but I think it's kind of powerful, the course for, for a structured education like that I also I think. I think creativity can also come from Just Learning how to think, learning how to think outside of you know what's taught to you, right.
Speaker 1:So you don't have.
Speaker 2:You have the tools to figure out the problem on your own? Yeah, so not. I think a lot of times school focuses on at all levels, you know, focuses on memorization, memorization of facts. Yeah, regurgitation effects, not how to, not how to think, not how to apply the basis of what you learn to figure out something bigger. I think those are building blocks for creativity. You know I'm saying so, yeah, and they don't teach that, they taught how. I mean there's exceptions and there's a lot of church schools doing great things and you know, I think the schools is starting to make those progressions slowly but generally, I Think that it's all about memorizing and regurgitation of facts, right, and it's not. That's not how you think and that's not how problems are presented to you in the real world, you know right. So, yeah, I don't, and that's to be like I said. That's the building blocks of creativity. That's the building blocks of in all areas, like music, creativity, engineering, creativity at any fast of life, mathematics whatever it is.
Speaker 2:It's learning how to take your what you learn and build upon it and create something new based on what you learn.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I don't think that that's your question.
Speaker 2:That's a long way to way my bad of saying that I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:I think I think you said it. I think you it was well said. Yeah, I think it was well said. I mean especially the fact that it's it seems like it's more about Memorization. You know, sam, knowing what you know, knowing what to say when I actually is, you know, right, like knowing how to speak on cue. Say this when I say that it's that the critical thinking and Thinking outside the box and truly creating and I always tell people, man, like, In my opinion, the creators are the ones that are truly important because they create the world, everything that's going on.
Speaker 1:Somebody had to think of that and and see a point if, if you was just a person who was just memorizing and you know, spitting out what you memorize, compared to actually thinking, saying what's needed, you know, saying what's needed, what would help, what would help this industry, what would help the arts? And it seems to me like you came up with something which was a let me make it a way to where People can collaborate. And if you in Washington and you want to collaborate with somebody in New York, or you know in Atlanta you want to collaborate somebody in Chicago, here's a way that you can do it, you know, and then it's. I mean like, I just feel like Beautiful music need to make a huge comeback, man, because that's how we got to where we are, you know.
Speaker 1:I'm saying off a beautiful dope music that was impactful.
Speaker 2:That's how we got here in the first place. That's why we're here.
Speaker 1:True, you know, sometimes I think about asking my mother what songs was she listening?
Speaker 2:to.
Speaker 1:I don't want to you know, so I'm not my appetite.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, yeah, yeah something's. Just don't want to know some things, some stalls, a bit slept on turn man.
Speaker 1:I feel you know Exactly, exactly um when do you see bass parlor Within the next three years? What do you, what do you see bass parlor within the next three years, and how do you plan on making it happen?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so next three years, I see us being like the app for collaboration around the world. So what I want is I want, let's say, you're in Atlanta or you're in Chicago, I'm in Atlanta, you know we can pair up to do bass parlor. We can find we were like, okay, you know we like Flamenco guitar. We can reach up to guitar player in Spain, we can reach out to a drummer, let's say, in Ghana, and we can all create a track. You know, right to the bass parlor app, create a brand new track together, release that track on Spotify or Apple music. We all get a piece of the proceeds for it. You know I'm saying so. That's that's what I envision. It's like a our app, to be like the hub for collaboration around the world. And that's who. That's who. That's who we're building.
Speaker 1:That's dope. That's dope, man. Um, man, bro, I always tell people Time is way more important than money, because you can't get time back. Hopefully you got some big dudes around. You can get that money back, hopefully, um, I definitely appreciate you for your time, man, and your knowledge, man.
Speaker 2:I appreciate you. I appreciate you, man. I appreciate bringing me onto your platform. I love your show. Listen to a lot of previous episodes, man, and then you got a. You got a lifetime listener now, man, so I really appreciate you.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, man. Thank you so much. I appreciate, I appreciate you, man, and I appreciate what you're doing. Um, I'm definitely gonna keep in touch with you, man. I've been out to Atlanta like four times, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I Like Atlanta a lot. I can't say love just yet. I like Atlanta a lot, you know. So I like what they got going on out there. So I'm gonna be out that way, man, you might, I might be hitting the line up.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I'll show you a few spots. Make you fall in love with Atlanta, man.
Speaker 1:Yes, hey, man, nice speaking with you, man hey you know success. Success to you in the future and good luck at that conference, bro.
Speaker 2:No thanks, man. Thanks a lot, man. I'll talk to you soon for sure.
Speaker 1:Ah, peace, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yo, that was a man. There was Steven's man. Yo, check out the app bass parlor for all my, all my creators, musicians, instrumentalist poets, singers hit up Bass parlor and get the app. Hold on, I make sure I spell it right. It's bass. No, I spell base B? A S S parlor. P a R L? O. You are bass parlor. Look forward. And Google play, look forward in the Apple store. Make sure y'all get it.
Speaker 1:Man, y'all can collaborate with people all over. You can make a track with somebody you can be in your, you can be in your crib and you can make a track with somebody that's in another country. How dope is that? You know I'm saying you can't beat that. So, um, with that being said, man, um, thank y'all for tuning in to the shit's podcast. Um, yo, all my people in Chicago. Man, I got, I got, I got a, now something.
Speaker 1:So, your boy, my song will be on so one or 6.3 FM Every Sunday, 9 pm To 11 pm With the ownership club. Shout out to my man, shopblizz. Shout out to my girl, the, that girl, olivia, for even giving me the opportunity. I'm on there with some dope people, man Y'all, make sure y'all tune in To me and just check it out. You know we're gonna be playing that dope music and it's gonna be some dope conversations, great vibes. So one oh six point three FM every Sunday, 9 pm To 11 pm. Your boy, my song will be on there with the ownership club Y'all. Yes, yes, I'm happy about that. I'm very excited about that, excited about opportunity. So, um, shout outs to my man, dale Stevens, for coming on.
Speaker 1:Shout out to anybody that has rock with shit's podcast. Shout out to the family Joey Bryce, jalen, crystal, smoke, diggy dog. Shout out to my brother, shout out to my mom, shout out to Margie. Shout out to Deca Durres, shably's, that girl, olivia, the whole ownership club team. Um, anybody that, anybody that has supported any type of way, man, I truly appreciate it. So I'm Leo with this man, make fans, not followers, follows to get you cloud fans, get you work, trust the process, do something you believe in, do something to get you out the bed in the morning. Be passionate, be patient, be purposeful, if I said that correctly, and remember, the only thing that happens overnight is dreaming and Slabbing, and as my girl did, he let's just say M B B Is so on that note. Yeah, I'm out and I will holler at y'all next time it is, is the say it with me?