Well it all started with my cousin, He used to rap he built his own studio and kind of let me rap in it. after that I made my own studio and since then it’s been a domino affect.
Bio: The artist, Romero Gulley aka Romero Say10 was born and raised in Akron, OH. He started writing at the tender age of 6, then completed his first song at 9, and would later- after learning about home recording from an older cousin – go on to record his first song at the age of 13. At 16 the precocious talent put together his first full project – the mixtape titled “Untamed” which was released via Datpiff, as well as physical copies which was distributed in high school.
Official Website: romerosay10.onuniverse.com
1.) What elements and/or characteristics made you say to yourself that you wanted to do music for a living? Who are your influences/heroes/role models?
Well my influences are mostly all the greats and the people around me. They’ve helped me build this unique sound that’s different from most, similar to some. I will have to say my favorite influence and hero would be Goku from Dragon Ball Z. Also my family, my mom is always kind and motivating me, my dad always told me I can do it; both of them tell me that.
2.) If you could compare yourself to an already established artist, who would that be and why? If you don’t like to compare yourself, then music-wise, what separates you from other musicians?
What separates me from other artists is I’m building my own industry. I can say I’m versatile, I go from genre to genre, from Beat to Beat and instrumental to instrumental.
3.) Everyone in life goes through adversity of some sort. Is there anything in your life that has any influence on the kind of songs you write? What is the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure on your path to becoming a musician?
Something that has gotten me through the days and still gets me through is having a brain tumor and having brain surgery. I survived and they said it could’ve been cancerous.
The most difficult thing I’ve had to endure on my path as a musician is people misunderstanding me, being belittled for attempting to make a better life for myself, by creating music hopefully others love. It’s kinda hard to please a universal audience.
4.) How do you prepare yourself to write certain songs? What is your song-writing and recording process?
Well my process is random because it’s all over the place I get motivation and I go to work. I
get inspiration I go to work, I get depressed I go to work. I work on music 24 seven and if I’m not working on music, I’m working on marketing and promoting because I do everything in-house, so that’s my process.
5.) Unfortunately the music industry is full of talented individuals who just don’t get any recognition for their talent and/or hard work. What do you plan to do to make sure you stand out and get noticed? Would you rather be on a major label or would you rather stay independent? Why or why not? In regards to the music industry itself, do you think that the traditional music industry model as we know it is dead?
How I set myself apart from the other artists is I come up with authentic lyrics. I rather stay independent because there’s more control and I don’t like no one stopping my creativity so for the long run I believe I will stay independent. The industry is forever changing so that’s something that we may never know.
6.) Are you able to make a living with your music? If so, how were you able to attain a career doing what you love? If not, what do you do in order to fund your music career? What advice would give to someone who’s interested in pursuing a career in music?
Making a living is something that I am just now starting to do. I have my own merchandise and I’m working on life, so everything is to further my career but I’m taking it one step at a time and day-by-day.
I continue to grow day-by-day. I have my ways to fund my business. The only advice I would give to another independent artist is work hard and forget what they say.
7.) How do you think the internet and social media affected the music industry and how musicians are able to market themselves? Social media is obviously an extremely important element in today’s world, especially when it comes to business, branding, marketing, etc. With that being said, do you think an artist will be able to survive in today’s music industry if they’re not social media savvy?
Social media and the Internet changed the whole industry, because now everyone has more access to the tools you need to succeed, so now the market is bigger I just hope it doesn’t get oversaturated.
8.) Artists who try to make music for the general public and make more money are usually seen as “sell-outs.” Do you see it that way and if so, what do you plan to do to make sure your music stays true to your brand and make a good living at the same time without having to “sell out”?
I don’t see artists who do what the have to do as sell-out because at the end of the day they still have to feed their family. Most of the time people who call other people sell-outs are people that don’t have a full understanding of the industry, which is OK and artists would be nothing without a listener so yeah.
How I’m going to stay true to my brand is by staying independent.
9.) Professionally, where do you see yourself 5 years from now?
Honestly only God knows.