Tomiwa, Del, Jacob

 

Del (Chinua Ofulue) is an RnB and alternative soul singer, rapper and writer. He recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics from Western University.

In this episode we talk about is Drake the smartest and greatest rapper alive, advice for breaking into the music industry.  How to market and grow your personal brand as a creative and much more. Why Del chose to go to university and wants to go to law school while wanting to be a music artist?  

 

 

 

 

 

Timestamp

  • Del does a freestyle rap live on the show! 44:00
  • Why Del wants to go to law school while pursuing a music career? 7:37
  • Does Drake write his own music? - 17:00
  • What music are you listening to and what are your influences 19:00
  • The genius of Drake’s music and marketing  - 23:00
  • What can aspiring artists learn from Drake? - 29:10
  • Advice for breaking into the music industry - 33:20
  • Marketing ideas and strategies for growing your personal brand - 37:05
  • What is the biggest challenge you have right now? - 39:20
  • Finding inspiration from Anime 46:10
  • Why go to school? Why not just pursue your passion right away - 52:40
  • Where does Del see himself in 25 years - 1:03:25
  • If you could have dinner with anyone who would it be 1:12:46
  • Del’s music artist Rowan Makes Art   - 1:26:50
  • Letter to my younger self and the importance of self-confidence 1:28:05

Full interview and video: https://bit.ly/atila-tv-del

Watch on Youtube: 

Listen On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0m74ZmCPgjvp5WGOMg3P9C

Listen on Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-atila-podcast/id1440531021

Del’s Music: https://delmusic.net

Del’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/delgotgame/

Del’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/manlikedel

Rowan Makes Art: https://www.instagram.com/rowanmakesart/

 

Atila Tech’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atilatech/

Tomiwa’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tademidun/

Jacob’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-munene-4561a4153/

Atila LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/atila-tech/

Tomiwa’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomiwa1a 

Tomiwa’s twitter: https://twitter.com/tomiwa1a

Jacob’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/munenejr

 

Interview

 

Why Not Go All In On Rap Career?

Tomiwa Ademidun: If you want to be an artist and you want to be a rapper why not go all in, why do you need university? Why do you want to be a lawyer? [7:37]

Del: I feel like education would be good. Well, ok, I guess, would I say 3 reasons. First is education is important. I want to know something and not just feel like I know it. I want to go to school and  be like ok I’ve done enough courses and this is why I feel I’m comfortable with this set material. Learning anything you can build a skill set in which you can transfer over to anything else, like you know discipline, perseverance, resilience, all these kinds of skills. The other thing I would say is networking.

 I don’t know if there is a better place you can meet like minds like university, especially, like a guitarist I work with a lot, his name is Chris Oday, shoutout Chris Oday. I met him at western, we were both Sophs, the volunteering program where you help a lot of first years get into university culture and stuff. We were both sophs, we met and we have been performing since. And we still perform together now. It is interesting to me just looking back and thinking would I have met someone who does this outside of university or would I have been able to build a relationship? I don’t know about that.

 And even from the people we know, like our mutuals,  people who play music or are into it I don’t know if we would have done those things if we were at other universities, doing other things. That’s something I saw with hindsight but looking back I feel like looking back on it, it was a very good decision as it pertains to music.

Who you listening to or influenced by?

Tomiwa Ademidun:What are you listening to right now? What are some of your influences musically? [19:05]

Del: Have you heard of Anderson Paak? I listen to him a bunch, not the most, but he is probably my biggest influence as far as  a performer. I saw him at echo beach, he was here with J.Cole a while back. But I saw him before that, I saw him with a, I think it was called Manifesto, if I’m not mistaken. I saw Daniel Caesar that day, I saw Katryn Nata and I saw Anderson Paak. Those guys were good. Katryn Nata, that was the first time I saw a DJ perform at that level, like I’ve seen good DJs before but it was more like you know a chill vibe. I was like this guys is a legit artist, this is ridiculous.

Tomiwa Ademidun: What do you like about Katryn Nata and Anderson Paak?

Del: Katryn Nata, his sound. It just sounds so, like I like house music and dance music and stuff like that. But he takes it to another level, its that original thing. I haven't heard everything he has done. At the mainstream top tier level, I haven’t heard anyone do this sound and break new grounds like the way this guy does.

Tomiwa Ademidun: Anderson Paak?

Del: Best performer I have ever seen. In my mind, Michael Jackson, Andersoon Paak,

Jacob Munene: Really he is up there with Michael Jackson?

Del: Aghhh not up there. I feel like its Michael Jackson and then a lot of space, a lot of wind then we have Anderson Paak.

How to Break Out In tThe Music Industry

Tomiwa Ademidun: If someone thinks they want to be a musician but they sort of struggle with, how can I break out? How can I put myself out there? Do you have any advice for them? [33:44}

Del: Ok, there are two ways to do it, if you are in the big city or somewhere close to Toronto, you have to put it on yourself to go into the spaces where you want to perform at. Talk to the people who are organizing things, network with them, see what's possible. Even in university, I would talk to some people who I knew were good. 

And I would ask them, ok why haven’t you put out anything? Not the right time, or I haven’t gotten the right song or I’m not sure how I would do X,Y and Z. And to me, sometimes I think I have an advantage of not knowing how tough it would be on a day to day. Because, before I had even any kind of connection, I was just looking online , is there any music place close to oakville. I found one, I went to talk to them, they put me in contact with an engineer. I had already written my first EP by then, I recorded it there and I dropped it on soundcloud. 

Through there I was able to meet some producers on soundcloud. I asked if they want to work. Worked with a couple from there, then I got more beats for my second EP. You see and things just kept scaling up. At the same time I kept doing shows. I’m not even stressing myself or killing myself about how I can be the best. 

It is just one small thing and the next and the next and looking at what can I do in this space that I am in. You have to do that in real time in real life like network with real people.

Outside of Music What Inspires You?

Tomiwa Ademidun: So what kind of stuff is inspiring you right now, even beyond music. What kind of stuff are you finding inspirational right now? [46:10]

Del: Anime, I am very very big anime fun. It is the best stories I have ever seen. The reason I say that is they are not limited by anything. What you can imagine is what you can create. If it is like real life, you can’t really do everything or make it look believable. What have I seen that's amazing?

Full Metal Alchemist phenomenal, Hunter x Hunter ridiculous, Cowboy Bebop. And these series break ground in the sense that, not only has there been a show like them before, it mixes things in a show that has never been brought together. There is this anime called Samurai Champloo that brought together hip-hop and samurai sword fighting that whole thing. It was like the early 2000s when I watched that. And i was like WHAT? This is Jay Dilla, New Jobs on some anime stuff and the level of detail, the care, the way the story progresses, you really get sucked into the thing super quick. It is easy to get emotionally invested, so that is a big inspiration for me.

25 Year Plan

Tomiwa Ademidun: Where would you like to be 25 years from now? [1:03:25]

Del: If music goes the way I think it can go and I hope it does go. Then I want to have my own label and I want to be in the music industry. I can see myself as an executive, because there are somethings I know for the rest of my life, I won’t lose, like the passion for music and the passion for real and tangible things.Saying these things is much easier said than done, but if I manage to make a success of myself like Jay Z, Drake or whatever, build a brand make a label. Then it becomes can I identify talent putting in the same things I was doing when I was doing on the come up myself.

And I feel like that is something I can do. Even going to Western and watching people like, he has it, she has it, I can see it from the way they [carry themselves]. It doesn’t take much, even talking to some of these people, I was like ok, funnily enough, I haven’t done anything much in the industry but they look at me as someone who has done something. In the release, I have put stuff out, but numbers wise I haven’t gotten anywhere near as crazy as I could. It’s coming.So, when I spoke to them about their dreams and aspirations, I was able to guide some people and say oh you thinking of this, this is what I did when I was in that position. 

And I was like huh, I really enjoy this part of the process. Not that I have to spend all my time coaching people through things but if it was like, I had like say 5-10 artists. I’m trying to watch how they navigate their different industries and their different niches. I feel that is something I can do really, really well, but then that's a long term thing so, we’ll see how that one goes.