Today we’d like to introduce you to Willie J.
Hi Willie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
The worst way for a person to fail is to not make an attempt for the opportunity to succeed.
I believe that art is a valuable part of life and being an artist is all about expressing myself through creativity, emotions, experiences, and interpretation.
In my early impressionable life, I had the pleasure enjoying various evolutions of older media. I loved listening to various types of music while bearing witnessing to the times where music videos became wildly popular and creative art and storytelling. In those days, music was a huge part of the soundtracks to movies and often felt like a guest star of its own in the movie or show when it cameoed. Also, as gaming was evolving with really captivating art and gameplay, the memorable and stylish music accompanying it enhanced the experience even more. There is a lot of talent, imagination, and TLC that the creators had put into it and received much deserved praise representing the brands. This was a really fascinating time that I wish could have lasted forever. But while things are done to a greater technical level today, things were bound to change and evolve into something… different.
With that in mind, I had a huge interest into games and digital media and I wanted to do my own works making magic from my imagination. I was truly blessed to own a copy of a simplified creative studio type of game titled “Mario Paint” by Nintendo for the SNES. It gave me some starting tools and set me on a path to proceed toward that dream. I spent many, many, MANY days making various projects but it was something that I only shared with my closest family. While making art and animation projects with the game was fun and open-ended, it also was limited.
Mario Paint included a music maker mode which, on the surface, was very basic. However, as I kept working on projects, I completely fell in love with it. Years later I would experiment with other DAW-type apps, such as MTV Music Generator. I felt right at home and I made numerous beats and songs with it. Later on, a friend gave me a tip of an app called then Fruity Loops gave it a try around the mid-2000s. However, my PC was problematic and I just felt that I wasn’t capable of being a professional or independent producer.
However, in late 2017 I finally took action to getting back on track with my personal goals. I decided to try and put up a few videos with my old tracks on YouTube. This rekindled my drive to get back into being a creator and in the following year I had invested in buying studio equipment to get back into creating music. I picked up FL Studio 12 and jumped right back in my lane again.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Yes and no.
I invested a great deal of time and money into getting my studio started and building a capable library to have a good palette and variety of options. I’ve studied from other producers, trainers, and creators to learn many new things. It is tough gaining the momentum but I am very proud to be a part of it.
I have the biggest challenge with time management. I work and get stuck on doing multiple projects of my own. Completing something and posting them to my satisfaction is something that I need to improve on.
I hope to become recognizable but not predictable. There are times that I have creative blocks and focusing issues when I want to be my most creative. Coming up with something fresh can be tough, especially when I hope to do it for a video short for example. It pays off when I do have an idea, change things up a bit, and it all comes together. However, it does sting to lose what feels like a great idea because I did not record it to apply when I am working on projects.
Finally. I have greatly reduced spending a lot of free time doing other things. It is very important to me not to waste any more time not fulfilling my dreams. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to express myself through my style of music and have spaces to show it.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a digital producer and composer. I am the owner and founder of Curb Beats LLC, which is the brand generally used to compose, produce, record, and publish.
I believe that Curb Beats can and should be a smart, well-rounded, and unconventional risk taker for the sake of art. My early works leaned heavy into house, hip hop, and chip tunes of which I have a few posted on my social media accounts. I worked to expand my scope for a long time and nowadays delve into styles of music from ambient to jazz to R&B to cinematic, a mishmash, or unknown because I don’t even know what it’s called.
I have many inspirators from greats like Stevie Wonder to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alph Lyla to Nujabes, Organized Noize, Robert Klasper, and many others. I often make music with chill, mellow, dark, sad, hard, and seductive vibes.
I occasionally make beats for artists collaborations and sync placements. These are great opportunities to build and expand relationships with artists, other producers, major studios, etc. However, my primary focus is with composing and experimenting on music pieces, many being instrumentals and others with layered vocals added. I often make these available for streaming and for sale through publishing administrations. Finally, I use my music for the background of my art showpieces and animated shorts under Crude Arts which is the entire reason I wanted to be in this.
What does success mean to you?
Having a fanbase who connects with and is supportive of the brand is a great show of success. If I can display a complete piece of work with everything in place, give the audience something it wants and have them engaged and, in their feels, it means that I have accomplished what I needed. Also, on another level, if I have inspired anybody to help give meaning and even go for their dream to be a creator, that is the most flattering kind of success!
Thank you for sharing my story.
Contact Info:
- Email: curbbeats@gmail.com
- Website: www.curbbeats.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curb.beats
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/curbbeats
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/curbbeats
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2k6Wpcd5VTwOSC4eXxru4w
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/curbbeats
- Other: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/curb-beats/144696885
Image Credits
Crude Arts LLC
