![[ IAMMUSIC*BLOG: DARNELL LEVINE ]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfj4Iyq_8HwAwm9c1vKXcihbXj3Mc3DK66vkdTL-jL_uir0Scj7OI-Hp0gBdQJo6vEveQvxW5LCsw9reVrhMsrHNfuVJ_OOb7OQlv81M-rRxbUmWayejWIMmOY9YKDXKtD25XGzirm0YPs/s1600/IAMblogheader12.png)
...has been a definite challenge, some successes, some setbacks. But I'm committed to letting you guys in on my story as it's happening. Real time! Real gangstas! Real life -ish! Real... (too much? Ah man, ok). So where do I begin. Well, I'll say right now I'm in Nashville. Just back from NYC for a week for conference by a new mutual friend and great producer Mike Winans. A friend of mine said "Hey, I've got a friend I want you to meet! I'm gonna send him your new demos." A few days later she connected us and we instantly hit it off by email. Then several weeks went by and I hadn't heard anything. that's usually the way it goes in this business...it's a chess game unfortunately - hurry up and wait, I hate hate hate it! But such is life - until I become the big dawg - which is only a matter of time - I'll be the patient aggressive guy.
Anyhow, a couple weeks ago I'm laying in bed in Nashville thinking about what my next move will be. Nobody has a map like -- "Hey Darnell Levine, so after you do this, next on the schedule is to do this! Let's go!" -- no. Not like that at all. I gotta make my own schedule, figure out how much money I have to spend, and where I gotta be and how to get there! So i'm laying in bed and the phone rings, it's Mike.
MW: "What's up bro!?"
DL: "Hey man! What's good man!? Glad you called..."
MW: "Man, I love your stuff bro. Just had to call and tell you that first of all. You've got a great sound. Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you..."
DL: "Ah man, thanks. It's all good I been busy (if you call going out my mind of lack of progression the past 2 weeks busy!:)"
..we talk for about 30 minutes or so, and he tells me to just "keep going". There's nobody out there that sounds quite like me and good classic songs like the ones I write are starting to be what's cool again. You can only have so many BEP four to the floor tracks. So many Katy Perry, Gaga, Rihanna, dance tracks out there...people are becoming numb to that sound. He said stay in my lane, do me, and it's only a matter of time, very soon, very very soon. He also told me about staying visible is key. The most talented guys don't make it b/c they lose the ability to stay visible! In people's faces! At awards show! At the studio! In LA, in NY. We kept chattin' for a second and he mentioned another event (that unfortunately I can't mention really b/c I don't know if I was supposed to know..blah blah.) Only thing is the event is in New York City, four days away, and well...I ain't got "four days away in New York" hookups yet so yeah, do the math!
He said all the songwriters, producers would be there and I should be there. Well, I have some Delta frequent flyer miles that I have stowed away -- I normally fly Southwest as most of you guys know -- for a emergency. I was going to use them this summer for my NYC & LA trips May - September. But I thought -- I"m not sitting in this bed any longer, I'm ready!!
So I used my FF miles and 4 days later I was front and center in NYC at the event. But wait...more hurry up and wait...turns out I can't get in. Even with my high profile producer friend in tow, nope...not letting me in. When things go TOTALLY opposite of how they should I start to smile -- b/c I know something crazy is about to happen. I step back, gather myself, and head to the side of the hotel area where I soon learn my friend Mike's family can't get in either.
Long story short, NOBODY can get in the stupid event but Mike's family said "Hey, woudl you like to come eat with us!?" What else was I really gonna do, so of course I went. At the dinner I met a woman from BET named Tonya Moore.
"Darnell sings and has great songs." Mr. Winans said.
"I do indeed." I said. You know I'm still shy on the inside, but played like I wasn't.
I got Tonya's information and she asks what everybody asks: "So you're good, now what do you want?" A record deal, that's what I want. A record deal.
Basically what I'm trying to tell ya'll is keep going...I had no idea I'd end up an honorary Winans for a week (or longer), and I met countless people outside the event that I never would've gotten to meet (JJ & Nicole George at ASCAP, my SESAC family, a NY major radio disc jockey, more connections to Stephen Hill, BET & Music Matters, --- so people, it's a proven fact! Even the bad ain't bad if you LOOK for the good in it!!
I'm still at the bottom in the big scheme of things, but I'm gonna make it -- and it's gonna be crazy. And ya'll are gonna read about me for years...and years...and YEEEEEEARS to come -- not an option. ...But I wanna read about you too just as much. So keep pushin' family...it's not a race, it's a journey. Start that business, be that DJ, make that new invention, be who you want to be, shake up the world!!!
And I promise...I'ma kep ya'll posted...good bad and ugly...you know how we do family --
(sorry, no spellcheck on this one guys...use your imagination lol)
Peace peace peace -- & love
#DL
Anyhow, a couple weeks ago I'm laying in bed in Nashville thinking about what my next move will be. Nobody has a map like -- "Hey Darnell Levine, so after you do this, next on the schedule is to do this! Let's go!" -- no. Not like that at all. I gotta make my own schedule, figure out how much money I have to spend, and where I gotta be and how to get there! So i'm laying in bed and the phone rings, it's Mike.
MW: "What's up bro!?"
DL: "Hey man! What's good man!? Glad you called..."
MW: "Man, I love your stuff bro. Just had to call and tell you that first of all. You've got a great sound. Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you..."
DL: "Ah man, thanks. It's all good I been busy (if you call going out my mind of lack of progression the past 2 weeks busy!:)"
..we talk for about 30 minutes or so, and he tells me to just "keep going". There's nobody out there that sounds quite like me and good classic songs like the ones I write are starting to be what's cool again. You can only have so many BEP four to the floor tracks. So many Katy Perry, Gaga, Rihanna, dance tracks out there...people are becoming numb to that sound. He said stay in my lane, do me, and it's only a matter of time, very soon, very very soon. He also told me about staying visible is key. The most talented guys don't make it b/c they lose the ability to stay visible! In people's faces! At awards show! At the studio! In LA, in NY. We kept chattin' for a second and he mentioned another event (that unfortunately I can't mention really b/c I don't know if I was supposed to know..blah blah.) Only thing is the event is in New York City, four days away, and well...I ain't got "four days away in New York" hookups yet so yeah, do the math!
He said all the songwriters, producers would be there and I should be there. Well, I have some Delta frequent flyer miles that I have stowed away -- I normally fly Southwest as most of you guys know -- for a emergency. I was going to use them this summer for my NYC & LA trips May - September. But I thought -- I"m not sitting in this bed any longer, I'm ready!!
So I used my FF miles and 4 days later I was front and center in NYC at the event. But wait...more hurry up and wait...turns out I can't get in. Even with my high profile producer friend in tow, nope...not letting me in. When things go TOTALLY opposite of how they should I start to smile -- b/c I know something crazy is about to happen. I step back, gather myself, and head to the side of the hotel area where I soon learn my friend Mike's family can't get in either.
Long story short, NOBODY can get in the stupid event but Mike's family said "Hey, woudl you like to come eat with us!?" What else was I really gonna do, so of course I went. At the dinner I met a woman from BET named Tonya Moore.
"Darnell sings and has great songs." Mr. Winans said.
"I do indeed." I said. You know I'm still shy on the inside, but played like I wasn't.
I got Tonya's information and she asks what everybody asks: "So you're good, now what do you want?" A record deal, that's what I want. A record deal.
Basically what I'm trying to tell ya'll is keep going...I had no idea I'd end up an honorary Winans for a week (or longer), and I met countless people outside the event that I never would've gotten to meet (JJ & Nicole George at ASCAP, my SESAC family, a NY major radio disc jockey, more connections to Stephen Hill, BET & Music Matters, --- so people, it's a proven fact! Even the bad ain't bad if you LOOK for the good in it!!
I'm still at the bottom in the big scheme of things, but I'm gonna make it -- and it's gonna be crazy. And ya'll are gonna read about me for years...and years...and YEEEEEEARS to come -- not an option. ...But I wanna read about you too just as much. So keep pushin' family...it's not a race, it's a journey. Start that business, be that DJ, make that new invention, be who you want to be, shake up the world!!!
And I promise...I'ma kep ya'll posted...good bad and ugly...you know how we do family --
(sorry, no spellcheck on this one guys...use your imagination lol)
Peace peace peace -- & love
#DL
