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[Opening theme music]

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Hello, and welcome to this episode
of ArtsAbly in Conversation.

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My name is Diane Kolin.

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This series presents artists, academics,
and project leaders who dedicate their

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time and energy to a better accessibility
for people with disabilities in the arts.

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You can find more of these conversations
on our website, artsably.com,

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which is spelled A-R-T-S-A-B-L-Y dot com.

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[Theme music]

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Today, ArtsAbly is in conversation
with Deshaymond, a singer, songwriter,

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and producer living in Atlanta.

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You can find the resources mentioned
by Deshaymond during this episode 

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on ArtsAbly's website, in the blog section.

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[Prisoner by Deshaymond]

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Let me crying, oh.

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I'm crying, oh.

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I lie awake.

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I see your face at night.

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I call your name.

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Please hear my lonely ply

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'cause I indure the pain I feel 

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when I sleep alone at night.

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I try so hard to breathe myself and 

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all I can do is cry

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'cause I

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I

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the reason I no more

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You got me crying, oh.

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I'm crying, oh.

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I don't

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wohoooooo

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I don't want,

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I don't want to leave you.

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There's nothing enough you.

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I don't want to love you.

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It's nothing enough, oh.

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I don't want to be your prisoner no more.

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Your prisoner.

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Welcome to this new episode
of ArtsAbly in Conversation.

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Today, I am with Deshaymond,
who is a singer, songwriter,

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and producer living in Atlanta.

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Welcome, Deshaymond.

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Thank you. Thank you for 
having me. I appreciate it.

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Well, I've listened to your work and it's
really fascinating, a little bit of your story

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and we are here to talk about your
journey in your musical activities today.

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So I wanted to ask if you could

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tell us a little bit about your background,

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where you come from, where you grew up,
and also your first musical experiences.

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Where did music come from in your life?

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Oh, yeah.

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Again, thank you for having me.

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I really love your work, and I love 
what you're doing with ArtsAbly

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so thank you for doing it.

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My name is Deshaymond.

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I'm originally from Lafayette,
Louisiana, USA.

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And this is my...

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Music is my first act
that I'm going back to.

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So my second act in life,
but my first act.

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I've been studying music since I was
five years old, studying classical music

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since I was five years old.

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Just living in a neighborhood that

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studying classical is not necessarily

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the thing that a lot of people do.

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It It was a little bit hard.

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I didn't quite fit in.

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I was definitely one of those music nerds
and all of that stuff.

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But I did grow up doing that
and fell in love with music.

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I started writing songs at a very young
age, and I played a few instruments.

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One of my first instruments
was the triangle.

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Then it became the cymbal
and the woodblock.

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And then, of course, everyone's
first wind instrument is recorder, right?

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So I started playing that, and I moved up
to playing flute and piccolo.

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So I played a few instruments,
and I just love music.

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I went through high school competing

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and also college competing in music for voice

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and also instrumental music.

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And then life got real.

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Adulting became real,
you know.

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And I had a career 
in Corporate America

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in payroll and HR.

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How boring, right?
For an artist.

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But payroll and HR 
paid the bills while 

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I was going through life 
and figuring it out.

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And I had some great,
great opportunities there

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because I actually 
learned the business.

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I learned business as a whole,
which helps me now in my career

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as an entrepreneur, 
a music entrepreneur.

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The music business
is a whole new animal, but at least

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I have the business acumen now.

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In 2015, I lost my sight, my eyesight.

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It started deteriorating rapidly due to
a condition I have called optic atrophy.

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And it just led me to make
so many different life changes and

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I had to go and find myself again
and find what really moved me,

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what I was really passionate about.

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And it led me back to music.

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It really showed me that
I'm supposed to be doing this.

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And now I'm so in love with my career.

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I'm so in love with my art.

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I'm so in love with anything
to do with music that I'm on fire for it.

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So that's the long story of who I am

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and how I came to be a music artist.

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So you were trained in classical with all
these instruments, percussive instruments

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and wind instruments and everything.

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As a classical, did you do a lot
as a classical musician, or was it just

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during your studies, and then
you decided to go another way?

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It was mostly during my studies.

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I did it in high school
and also in college.

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But my personal passion

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was always RnB, soul, pop music

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with a little bit of blues
and Southern soul and rock.

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So that was always my personal favorite.

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And I leveraged everything I learned
classically, both as a singer and 

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just as a musician,
and just pour little bitty bits

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of classical into everything that I do,
whether it's like vowel placement 

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or it's how I hold a note or
my vibrato or something.

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I try to put a little bit
of my classical training in there

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while still trying to give soulful because
that's really where my heart is.

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Yes.

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I could hear that in your
last album, by the way.

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Thank you.

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Can you talk about what you're doing now?

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This this album, but also you're a producer.

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How long did it take for you
to produce this album?

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What were your challenges along the way?

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It took me... 

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I started working on this album 
years ago, actually.

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This album was supposed
to be here years ago when I first

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did music in my early 20s before
Corporate America and all of that stuff.

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But it was so good to go back
and pick up those songs, dust them off,

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re-imagine them, and bring it to life.

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I actually started rerecording
this album in 2021, December of 2021.

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I worked with with one
of my great friends, 

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Grammy nominated producer Supah Mario.

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He helped me through it.

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Literally, he called me out of the blue
and asked me to sing at his wedding,

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and I had not sang in years.

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And we just talked for hours.

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And I'm like, Rich,
I really don't know what I'm doing.

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I don't have the corporate career anymore.

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I don't know what I need to do.

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And I'm like, if I decided
to do music again, would you help me?

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And he said in a heartbeat.

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And the rest is history.

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Of course, I ended up performing
at his wedding, and he had

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such a beautiful wedding,
he and his lovely wife, Jacquelyn.

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And we worked on this album.

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He came to Atlanta.

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I went to Houston.

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We just worked and worked and worked
until we got it right.

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And we were happy with the sound
and everything that we created.

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And 2024, here it is.
"I am."

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Yeah.
So tell us more about this album.

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"I am" is, of course, my debut album.

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I hold it so close to my heart

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because it really is, 

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to me, in my very, very humble opinion, 

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a depiction of all 
of the little bitty

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parts of me that make me 
who I am, right?

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I'm a little bit sophisticated.

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I'm a little bit ratchet.

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I grew up in the gutta,
but I'm also a classical musician.

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I also sing opera and classical music.

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So I think I'm a good balance of both.

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And that's what this album is.

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The songs are real stories
that I've experienced in my own life.

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The instrumentation, the music,
I tried to do, of course, 

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some of the stuff in the 
dawn, new sounds that 

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really sounded like real instruments

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mixed in with live instruments,
which a lot of people don't do anymore.

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But I wanted it to have
that authentic feel.

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And what I think "I am" is
not only is it a depiction

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of who I am, but it's also human.

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It's a very human piece of music.

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I didn't want every song to be so perfect.

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You know how people record now
where they record line by line.

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And every little thing is so prim
and proper and perfect.

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I wanted to hear some rest,
and I wanted people to be able

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to hear when my voice broke.

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I wanted people to hear
me emoting in a way.

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If I was gravelly that day
or if I wanted to just push really,

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really hard, I wanted them
to hear every breath and all of that.

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So Rich and I,
we didn't use any auto-tune.

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We didn't use any of that.

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We left it as organic
as possible while still trying

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to make sure it was polished.

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And this album, the way it sounds and the
way it feels to me, I just want people to

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understand who I am and just really enjoy
quality human music because everything

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is so mechanical and computerized now.

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We're not feeling, at least for me,
I'm not feeling the emotion in it.

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So I really wanted to make
an emotional album that

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really made people feel something.

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And I really hope I did it.
[Laughs.]

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My opinion is that you did.

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[Laughs.]

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Thank you, thank you, Diane.

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Tell the world.

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We will post that for sure on ArtsAbly's
website so that people can listen to it.

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It's available everywhere now.

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It's above on Spotify and Apple Music.

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All over the world.

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It's available everywhere internationally
on all streaming services

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internationally.
So we're really proud of that.

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And the reception has been warm so far,
so I just want everybody to hear it.

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If you have not heard it, it's called 
"I Am" by yours truly, Deshaymond.

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And it's a great body of work.

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So I'm such an album artist
where I love the whole picture.

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Tell me a story.

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And I know people are moving away from
that now, but I'm such an album artist.

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I love it.
I grew up in the '90s, right?

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So where we had some of
the greatest albums of all time 

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in the '80s and '90s, in my humble opinion.

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So I wanted to make something that
had a little bit of nostalgia

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and made people remember that,
and it was a cohesive body of work.

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So yes, go stream it, please.

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And who are your singer's influences?

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Oh, my God.

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I have so many influences,
but it's pretty...

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I would say I have
an eclectic blend of singers.

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So when I tell you, you're probably
going to be like, huh?

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But you know,

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my favorite artist
of all time is Monica.

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Absolutely love Monica.

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I think that no one emotes
like her in RnB and pop music,

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and I think that's a dying art.

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So she is definitely one of my influences.

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Luther Vandross,
of course, I respect him so much.

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And knowing more of his story, knowing his
sexuality that, of course, came out after

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his death and rest his soul, it It just
really made me appreciate him even more.

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He taught all of us how to sing, really.

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But to know that he literally
had to sacrifice a piece of himself

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or hide a piece of himself
to have this career and to influence

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so many people is very humbling.

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And I am proud to be an openly gay,
disabled artist.

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I love to say that.

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Maxwell is another one of my influences.

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I absolutely love him.

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I think his cool and his smooth
and his sexy and his sophistication

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is what I really, really try 
to emulate a little bit, 

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a little bit of his falsetto, but definitely

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his smooth and the way he delivers.

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Lenny Kravitz is a huge inspiration to me.

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I just remember how bold
he was and still is, obviously.

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Very sexy, but he's so himself,
and there's nothing like his rock RAS.

243
00:16:07,466 --> 00:16:08,834
There's nothing like that.

244
00:16:08,867 --> 00:16:10,736
So I love Lenny Kravitz.

245
00:16:10,736 --> 00:16:15,607
Usher, Tevin Campbell, Brandy.

246
00:16:15,607 --> 00:16:22,548
Whitney Houston. Literally, I remember 
being six and seven years old and

247
00:16:22,548 --> 00:16:26,518
hearing Whitney Houston sing Miracle.

248
00:16:26,518 --> 00:16:29,488
I can't remember which album
of hers that was off of, but I'm like

249
00:16:29,521 --> 00:16:31,156
I want to hit those notes.

250
00:16:31,190 --> 00:16:34,827
And how does she just hold it like that?

251
00:16:34,860 --> 00:16:40,265
So Whitney Houston, her entire catalog,
is a lesson in breathing and power

252
00:16:40,299 --> 00:16:43,502
and tone and just goodness.

253
00:16:43,535 --> 00:16:46,739
So I don't know if there's a singer
on this planet that has not

254
00:16:46,739 --> 00:16:48,907
been influenced by her in some way.

255
00:16:48,941 --> 00:16:50,776
And the list can go on and on.

256
00:16:50,809 --> 00:16:55,714
Of course, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles.

257
00:16:55,748 --> 00:17:00,753
I pull energy from them
being a blind artist.

258
00:17:00,786 --> 00:17:08,060
How operating as a blind person and still
having to be on and be in front of people

259
00:17:08,093 --> 00:17:11,964
and you're not knowing what's going
on around you half of the time,

260
00:17:11,997 --> 00:17:15,134
or you're not seeing people
respond to you, but it's a feeling.

261
00:17:15,167 --> 00:17:16,435
It's an energy.

262
00:17:16,468 --> 00:17:21,073
So I definitely
tap into them when I'm performing

263
00:17:21,106 --> 00:17:23,475
because I know what it's like now.

264
00:17:23,475 --> 00:17:28,013
I can almost feel what they felt like
knowing that there's thousands of people

265
00:17:28,047 --> 00:17:34,219
looking at you, but you can't see them,
and you have to imagine their faces

266
00:17:34,253 --> 00:17:36,455
and feel their energy.

267
00:17:36,488 --> 00:17:43,095
So many great musicians,
I can't even name them all, but yeah.

268
00:17:43,128 --> 00:17:45,964
When I'm thinking of Stevie Wonder
and Ray Charles, it was

269
00:17:45,998 --> 00:17:52,204
this energy that was so powerful
that you could only react, right?

270
00:17:52,237 --> 00:17:59,011
You could only take it and have 
this joy of receiving and

271
00:17:59,044 --> 00:18:02,181
as an audience to give back.

272
00:18:02,214 --> 00:18:07,686
I mean, it's really to send
this energy back and to feel it.

273
00:18:07,719 --> 00:18:12,324
I always had this feeling with them.

274
00:18:12,324 --> 00:18:15,994
That's something that is impactful.

275
00:18:15,994 --> 00:18:17,996
It definitely is.

276
00:18:17,996 --> 00:18:22,534
And it used to light me on fire
a little bit because I loved the way...

277
00:18:22,568 --> 00:18:26,472
This is probably going to
sound crazy, but I love the way

278
00:18:26,505 --> 00:18:29,107
Stevie Wonder moves when he performs.

279
00:18:29,141 --> 00:18:34,813
He is so... it doesn't have to look like what
everyone else looks like, right?

280
00:18:34,847 --> 00:18:39,685
And I remember seeing him, and I remember
Ray Charles sitting down at the piano,

281
00:18:39,718 --> 00:18:43,055
and he's just moving his body
however the music moves him.

282
00:18:43,088 --> 00:18:47,493
And Stevie does that same thing,
and it just shows that it was really

283
00:18:47,526 --> 00:18:48,994
coming from a different place.

284
00:18:48,994 --> 00:18:52,531
That music was really
coming from a different place.

285
00:18:52,564 --> 00:18:56,969
They were playing it and it was coming
through them, but it was so organic,

286
00:18:57,002 --> 00:18:58,871
and I love that feeling in music.

287
00:18:59,171 --> 00:19:00,305
Yes, so powerful.

288
00:19:00,305 --> 00:19:03,142
One thing that we got from our generation

289
00:19:03,142 --> 00:19:07,179
of artists is that we are now more

290
00:19:07,179 --> 00:19:10,315
and more in mainstream media.

291
00:19:10,349 --> 00:19:16,622
At the time where us as artists, we didn't

292
00:19:16,622 --> 00:19:21,426
have necessarily role models to grow up.

293
00:19:21,460 --> 00:19:23,929
But now it's coming more and more.

294
00:19:23,962 --> 00:19:29,801
And also we start to see artists with
disabilities or artists with

295
00:19:29,835 --> 00:19:34,406
some health issues who don't have
any shame or any- 

296
00:19:34,406 --> 00:19:35,707
And they talk about it.

297
00:19:35,707 --> 00:19:37,743
They talk about it, exactly.
Yeah.

298
00:19:37,776 --> 00:19:38,243
Yeah.

299
00:19:38,277 --> 00:19:44,683
And I think that especially '80s, '90s,
artists had to be these obscure figures

300
00:19:44,716 --> 00:19:46,685
that were superheroes, right?

301
00:19:46,685 --> 00:19:53,592
But you didn't know that much about them
other than what was in their bio, right?

302
00:19:53,625 --> 00:19:58,297
But I love that music has opened
up, and it's real now.

303
00:19:58,330 --> 00:20:00,098
It's like people want know about you.

304
00:20:00,132 --> 00:20:02,467
They want to know who you are as a person.

305
00:20:02,501 --> 00:20:04,069
They want to know your heart.

306
00:20:04,102 --> 00:20:06,438
They want to know what you're thinking.
You know what I'm saying?

307
00:20:06,438 --> 00:20:10,642
And we don't have to be these superhuman
beings, even though they still

308
00:20:10,676 --> 00:20:14,613
see us that way because we get up
on stage and we come alive, right?

309
00:20:14,646 --> 00:20:17,783
But we can actually be
more vulnerable now.

310
00:20:17,816 --> 00:20:19,051
And it's so crazy.

311
00:20:19,084 --> 00:20:25,390
I didn't realize that Stevie Wonder
and Ray Charles and Andrea Bocelli,

312
00:20:25,424 --> 00:20:29,928
I didn't realize that they would be

313
00:20:30,662 --> 00:20:32,464
role models for me 

314
00:20:32,464 --> 00:20:36,435
because I never knew that 
I would be here in my life.

315
00:20:36,468 --> 00:20:41,907
But I pull from them so much now
because I saw them do it,

316
00:20:41,940 --> 00:20:43,942
and I saw that it was okay, and

317
00:20:43,942 --> 00:20:50,349
they looked like me, and I enjoyed
their music, and they made me feel the way.

318
00:20:50,382 --> 00:20:56,121
So I tap into them, to their spirit,
to their essence now, and just

319
00:20:56,121 --> 00:21:01,660
really try to give that same energy, not
worrying about how my body is moving or

320
00:21:01,660 --> 00:21:05,731
what people are thinking or if somebody
is judging me, I don't care about that.

321
00:21:05,764 --> 00:21:07,899
How - is the music being delivered?

322
00:21:07,933 --> 00:21:10,135
Am I letting it move through?

323
00:21:10,168 --> 00:21:11,269
That's what I care about.

324
00:21:11,269 --> 00:21:16,141
Yeah. And we are both - 
We know each other from RAMPD.

325
00:21:16,174 --> 00:21:19,678
And this organization
was co-created by Lachi.

326
00:21:19,678 --> 00:21:21,913
And speaking of someone
who is really- 

327
00:21:21,913 --> 00:21:25,884
Absolutely. Let me tell you my Lachi story, okay?

328
00:21:25,884 --> 00:21:26,518
Okay.

329
00:21:26,518 --> 00:21:28,920
I had... I'm so sorry.

330
00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:30,622
I don't need to cut you off.

331
00:21:30,656 --> 00:21:33,859
But my Lachi story is so cool.

332
00:21:33,859 --> 00:21:35,861
I was

333
00:21:36,161 --> 00:21:38,263
going through a huge depression,

334
00:21:38,297 --> 00:21:43,502
and I'm like, do I go back to Corporate America, 

335
00:21:43,502 --> 00:21:46,271
or do I really just
take another stab at music.

336
00:21:46,305 --> 00:21:48,307
And you know those voices
in your head that tell you, 

337
00:21:48,307 --> 00:21:50,542
Oh, nobody's going to pay attention to you.

338
00:21:50,542 --> 00:21:53,245
No one's going to take you serious.
You're blind.

339
00:21:53,245 --> 00:21:55,480
There aren't any blind singers right now.

340
00:21:55,514 --> 00:21:59,451
It's not in vogue to be a disabled artist.

341
00:21:59,484 --> 00:22:05,424
So I thought, and then I'm scrolling
through Instagram, and 

342
00:22:05,424 --> 00:22:10,896
I come across Lachi, and she was doing her 

343
00:22:11,897 --> 00:22:15,300
Black Blind Girl word of the day that she does.

344
00:22:15,334 --> 00:22:19,071
And I'm like, Who is this?

345
00:22:19,104 --> 00:22:19,738
Who is this?

346
00:22:19,771 --> 00:22:23,575
And I go and I go to her page
and I'm looking, I'm like,

347
00:22:23,608 --> 00:22:26,111
oh, my gosh, she's a blind artist.
She's actually a blind artist.

348
00:22:26,144 --> 00:22:27,279
Then I listen to her music.

349
00:22:27,312 --> 00:22:29,815
I'm like, okay, so she jamming, too.

350
00:22:29,848 --> 00:22:32,918
I'm like, this is my inspiration.

351
00:22:32,918 --> 00:22:39,624
She really was that catalyst to say,
if this blind black woman

352
00:22:39,658 --> 00:22:43,662
can do this, then I can do this, too.
It's possible.

353
00:22:43,695 --> 00:22:48,734
And I think representation
in music is so important.

354
00:22:48,767 --> 00:22:51,470
And she was that representation

355
00:22:51,503 --> 00:22:56,475
from an adult perspective for me.

356
00:22:56,508 --> 00:22:58,076
She really, really was.

357
00:22:58,110 --> 00:23:04,950
And her art, what she does,
and even RAMPD, her organization,

358
00:23:04,983 --> 00:23:10,722
they really showed me that we can be
taken seriously in the music business.

359
00:23:10,722 --> 00:23:16,595
We do have a place, and our art
is just as good or better than a lot of

360
00:23:16,628 --> 00:23:19,798
the stuff that's going on in mainstream,
and we should be mainstream.

361
00:23:19,798 --> 00:23:23,668
So I really applaud her with
all of her efforts with RAMPD

362
00:23:23,668 --> 00:23:28,340
and how she helps other disabled artists.

363
00:23:28,774 --> 00:23:29,875
Yes.
[Laughs.]

364
00:23:29,875 --> 00:23:34,413
Absolutely. I know I'm long-winded, Diane.

365
00:23:34,446 --> 00:23:36,515
I love it.
I mean, really.

366
00:23:36,548 --> 00:23:42,053
Then all this, RAMPD, I was

367
00:23:42,087 --> 00:23:45,924
speaking with Lachi just before she launched RAMPD.

368
00:23:45,924 --> 00:23:49,060
Then I spoke with her just
after she launched RAMPD.

369
00:23:49,060 --> 00:23:54,266
All the project she had in mind on that.

370
00:23:54,299 --> 00:23:56,735
Look at where it is today.

371
00:23:56,768 --> 00:23:59,004
It's a fantastic organization.

372
00:23:59,037 --> 00:24:00,906
It's an amazing organization.

373
00:24:00,939 --> 00:24:05,343
Yeah. And meeting so many 
fantastic artists. Wow!

374
00:24:05,343 --> 00:24:06,478
[Laughs.]

375
00:24:06,478 --> 00:24:08,647
See, I get to talk to you because of RAMPD.

376
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:10,248
You know what I'm saying?

377
00:24:10,282 --> 00:24:13,351
How awesome is that?

378
00:24:13,385 --> 00:24:19,825
Speaking of that, I know that - 
I like to talk about the place of disability

379
00:24:19,825 --> 00:24:24,362
in the arts and the fact that we work in
this environment where we promote

380
00:24:24,396 --> 00:24:30,869
the fact that artists with disabilities
are awesome, basically, because we are.

381
00:24:30,902 --> 00:24:34,506
Right. Because we are.
[Laughs.]

382
00:24:34,506 --> 00:24:37,576
So what does it mean for you to work in

383
00:24:37,609 --> 00:24:41,079
that environment where we

384
00:24:41,079 --> 00:24:43,782
promote disability in the arts?

385
00:24:43,815 --> 00:24:45,817
It means everything to me.

386
00:24:45,817 --> 00:24:48,787
I say it all the time that if I can

387
00:24:48,820 --> 00:24:54,492
inspire or encourage or just show one

388
00:24:54,526 --> 00:24:57,729
future disabled artist,
whether they're a little kid now or

389
00:24:57,762 --> 00:25:00,499
they're an adult or whatever,
if I could just move one person

390
00:25:00,532 --> 00:25:05,303
to just believe
and see that I did it and I'm doing it.

391
00:25:05,337 --> 00:25:12,010
And it doesn't have to fit into
the mold of what the pop star

392
00:25:12,043 --> 00:25:16,781
or the RnB star or the rock star
looks like, then I'm doing my job.

393
00:25:16,781 --> 00:25:18,917
I'm a black man first.

394
00:25:18,950 --> 00:25:20,418
I'm a blind man.

395
00:25:20,452 --> 00:25:21,753
I am a gay man.

396
00:25:21,786 --> 00:25:25,824
So I belong to a lot of different
intersecting communities.

397
00:25:25,857 --> 00:25:27,692
And I want to make sure
that I'm representing 

398
00:25:27,692 --> 00:25:31,029
all of those intersections in excellent.

399
00:25:31,062 --> 00:25:35,700
So I want to inspire, hopefully,

400
00:25:35,700 --> 00:25:39,604
little disabled kids or even disabled adults,

401
00:25:39,604 --> 00:25:44,242
just so they can see that we're doing
this and we are able, we're capable.

402
00:25:44,242 --> 00:25:47,646
So If I can inspire a little gay kid

403
00:25:47,646 --> 00:25:51,650
or LGBTQ+ kid, that 

404
00:25:51,650 --> 00:25:56,588
your version of LGBTQ doesn't have 
to look like someone else's.

405
00:25:56,621 --> 00:25:58,723
It can look just like you.

406
00:25:58,723 --> 00:26:02,894
If I'm inspiring them, if I inspire
a little black boy or girl

407
00:26:02,928 --> 00:26:06,765
or any person of color, kid
of color, then I'm doing my job.

408
00:26:06,798 --> 00:26:11,870
So it means the world to me to be able
to do this as a disabled artist

409
00:26:11,903 --> 00:26:16,308
and do it in excellence and really
represent for my community.

410
00:26:16,341 --> 00:26:17,976
It means the world.

411
00:26:18,009 --> 00:26:20,445
Yay.
[Laughs.]

412
00:26:20,445 --> 00:26:23,481
Sorry.
I love it.

413
00:26:23,481 --> 00:26:25,584
No way.
[Laughs.]

414
00:26:25,617 --> 00:26:29,054
I hope that was a good yay.

415
00:26:29,087 --> 00:26:31,222
Oh, my God.

416
00:26:31,756 --> 00:26:37,462
Well, speaking of inspiration and people
who might have inspired you in your career, 

417
00:26:37,462 --> 00:26:42,133
and maybe if you have someone in mind 

418
00:26:42,133 --> 00:26:45,437
who has guided you during your career 

419
00:26:45,437 --> 00:26:51,543
or has been specifically present
in your life, who would it be and why?

420
00:26:51,609 --> 00:26:59,451
You know, what I have to do is first
tip my hats off to my family.

421
00:27:00,218 --> 00:27:02,988
Deshaymond Media LLC is my business.

422
00:27:03,021 --> 00:27:06,057
It's my media company that
I release from and all of that stuff

423
00:27:06,091 --> 00:27:07,993
and all of my art comes from.

424
00:27:08,026 --> 00:27:13,698
But it's a family business,
and I have a family that loves me

425
00:27:13,698 --> 00:27:16,034
and believes in me so much.

426
00:27:16,034 --> 00:27:19,204
They inspire me to be the best me.

427
00:27:19,204 --> 00:27:25,677
Them just putting all of their time and
energy and their love and the attention

428
00:27:25,710 --> 00:27:30,648
into my dream is such a blessing.

429
00:27:30,682 --> 00:27:33,618
And I know people don't always have that.

430
00:27:33,652 --> 00:27:37,255
So they inspire me,
and they definitely influence me.

431
00:27:37,288 --> 00:27:41,860
But if it had to be on the art
side, from an artist standpoint,

432
00:27:41,893 --> 00:27:47,232
I think that most definitely Lachi
is very high on that list.

433
00:27:47,265 --> 00:27:52,704
Just in the short time that I've been
in her presence, been acquainted

434
00:27:52,704 --> 00:27:57,308
with her, it's so many things
that she's just, by watching her,

435
00:27:57,342 --> 00:28:00,845
has opened me up to and provided me with.

436
00:28:00,845 --> 00:28:03,682
So hats off to her.

437
00:28:03,682 --> 00:28:07,052
I love that I saw - 

438
00:28:07,052 --> 00:28:11,222
I got to really see Ray Charles 
before losing my sight 

439
00:28:11,222 --> 00:28:15,794
and Stevie Wonder, because I remember their 
music videos and I remember their performance,

440
00:28:15,794 --> 00:28:19,164
and I remember how infectious they were.

441
00:28:19,164 --> 00:28:22,934
And I think of those images
that I saw that was so powerful

442
00:28:22,967 --> 00:28:27,205
to me as a little kid, and I try
to put that into my live performance.

443
00:28:27,205 --> 00:28:30,475
And I want to make
people feel like that.

444
00:28:30,508 --> 00:28:37,515
So those three artists, definitely, but also
who taught me how to be an artist.

445
00:28:37,515 --> 00:28:41,219
And I told you it was going
to be multiple people, Diane.

446
00:28:41,219 --> 00:28:42,554
[Laughs.]

447
00:28:42,554 --> 00:28:48,493
But Monica, I have to say her because

448
00:28:48,693 --> 00:28:54,666
she is the epitome of being real for me.

449
00:28:54,699 --> 00:29:00,371
When I first saw her first music video
or heard her on the radio, I remember

450
00:29:00,405 --> 00:29:03,108
just saying, she sounds like my cousin.

451
00:29:03,141 --> 00:29:05,376
She sounds like the girls
in the neighborhood.

452
00:29:05,410 --> 00:29:07,178
She sounds like my sisters.

453
00:29:07,212 --> 00:29:09,547
She sounds like those people.

454
00:29:09,581 --> 00:29:13,518
And then when I saw her, how beautiful
she was, but she was just a black girl

455
00:29:13,551 --> 00:29:18,223
just twisting her neck and being
everything she was and confident,

456
00:29:18,256 --> 00:29:20,458
I pull from her confidence.

457
00:29:20,492 --> 00:29:25,763
She taught me how to be organic as an
artist and not care what people thought.

458
00:29:25,797 --> 00:29:31,603
You heard my album, so I say 
whatever I want to say.

459
00:29:31,603 --> 00:29:34,906
She taught me how to do that
and stand up in it, but still do it 

460
00:29:34,906 --> 00:29:40,011
with sophistication and class
and still do it at a very high level.

461
00:29:40,612 --> 00:29:44,048
She really did - Watching her,
listening to her, her interviews

462
00:29:44,082 --> 00:29:45,316
and all of that stuff.

463
00:29:45,350 --> 00:29:51,489
She taught me how to do what artists do,
the interviews for that matter.

464
00:29:51,523 --> 00:29:54,526
She taught me how to do
that by watching her.

465
00:29:54,559 --> 00:29:59,564
So, yeah, those artists
are who inspired me.

466
00:30:00,064 --> 00:30:01,432
Yes.

467
00:30:01,466 --> 00:30:05,003
Well, thank you so much
for this conversation.

468
00:30:05,003 --> 00:30:11,509
I wish you all the best for all your future 
projects, future albums, future singles, 

469
00:30:11,509 --> 00:30:14,546
and everything that will come.

470
00:30:15,113 --> 00:30:17,515
Thank you so much, Diane.
Thank you for having me.

471
00:30:17,515 --> 00:30:22,287
And big ups to the ArtsAbly. I love what you do 
with that organization. Keep it going.

472
00:30:22,287 --> 00:30:24,722
Thank you.
Have a great day.

473
00:30:24,756 --> 00:30:26,624
You too.
Bye.

474
00:30:27,725 --> 00:30:32,864
[Closing theme music]