Denys: 00:01

What's up, y'all? For those who don't know me, my name is Denys, and this is this is my new podcast slash show called where you're headed. And I just wanna do a quick little intro. You know, I feel like everybody wants to believe that, you know, they're they're headed somewhere that they they have a path. They have a direction they're going towards.

Denys: 00:34

And excuse my voice, first of all, because getting sick. So I don't know if this was the best time to record my first video for this and my first episode, but here we are. But, yeah, I feel like all of us want wanna feel like we're heading somewhere. You know what I'm saying? That we all have a path.

Denys: 01:01

We all have a end goal that we're trying to reach. And, you know, that's kinda what this podcast is gonna be about. And I feel like I'm I'm constant I'm a person that's constantly searching with, like, just just searching. You know, searching for, I guess, a purpose or figuring out exactly what I wanna do and what I should be doing with my life. I feel like some people some people have an idea and and have an answer to that a lot earlier than others.

Denys: 01:51

You know, some people grow up and, like, at eight years old, they're like, oh, I wanna be a doctor when I grow up. I wanna be a fireman. I wanna be a a whatever. And and, you know, they're just locked in. They they believe in that from the jump, and they get there.

Denys: 02:10

And that's awesome. That's honestly awesome. And I never really had that. You know? I feel like growing up, yeah, I didn't I can't say I had one specific calling where I was like, yeah, this this is what I'm meant for.

Denys: 02:29

This is what I'm supposed to be doing. I loved a lot of things growing up. You know? I love sports. I still love sports.

Denys: 02:37

I definitely wanted to be an athlete growing up. Like, most most guys growing up wanted to be athletes. You know? I played soccer. I played basketball.

Denys: 02:46

I played volleyball and, like, whatever I did. I definitely wanted to grow up and be a professional athlete, but, you know, unfortunately, those I wasn't dealt those cards. One, because I feel like I didn't have that push when I was younger. I didn't push myself enough, and I didn't have anybody really pushing me towards that when I was younger. Like, being a professional athlete is not easy.

Denys: 03:18

Like, you gotta put in work day in and day out, especially early on. And it's like yeah. I didn't really have that push. And then on top of that, know, I I wasn't, like, incredibly gifted athletically or anything like that. Like, I'm decent.

Denys: 03:37

You know what I'm saying? And I wish I had that drive, honestly. I think about that a lot sometimes, and I'm like, damn. I wish I had that drive when I was freaking 13, 14, and I was training every day, and I was, you know, pushing myself. And because maybe maybe I could've made it in one of the sports that I loved.

Denys: 03:54

But, yeah, that it just wasn't meant to be. And then tore my MCL in high school, and that sucked. And I was honestly such a stupid kid because I didn't take my recovery seriously. I didn't really I don't know. I didn't I didn't take it seriously, bro.

Denys: 04:17

The injury was bad. I knew it was bad. I'm like, I literally like, it happened, and I was in so much pain. It happened during the basketball game, and I was in so much pain. And, like, I couldn't even couldn't even put my foot down.

Denys: 04:35

And, man, it just and I needed to go to physical therapy for, like, six months or even longer. I don't remember. I think it was six months. And I was, like, 16 at the time. And this was my last year on this basketball team with all my friends.

Denys: 04:54

This was our last year that we were eligible. And I just so I I was coming to the games while I was hurt. I was coming to the games to support the team. And, like, I just I literally couldn't stand not being able to play, not being able to contribute and help the team out. So I think after, like, a month, I pushed myself and and went back and was like, yeah.

Denys: 05:24

Like, coach, I'm fine. Like, I'm I'm cleared. I'm good to play. I don't think I told anybody how serious my injury was. You know what I'm saying?

Denys: 05:32

I don't think my coach knew or, like, my teammates really knew how serious my injury was. I think, like, only me and, like, my family really, really knew that I, like, I had a tear in my knee and it was and I was dumb. Like, it hurt. It hurt so bad. And I was just pushing through.

Denys: 05:50

I was pushing through practice, pushing through a game and everything like that. It was dumb. Point of that story is that, like, because I didn't take my recovery seriously back then, my knee still bugs me till this day. And that was that was ten years ago, so that's crazy. But, yeah, after that, you know, when it came to, like when it came to senior year and everybody was was submitting college applications and talking about where they wanna go and what they wanna major in, I didn't really I don't know.

Denys: 06:22

I didn't really have an a real idea or anything that was, like, calling me. Like, I thought about wanting to to go out of state just just to get that, like, big college experience. So I applied to, like, Syracuse. I applied to Arizona State. For whatever reason, I really wanted to go to Arizona State.

Denys: 06:45

I don't know why. And then I applied to some local colleges, CUNYs, and stuff like that. And but, like, I didn't have I didn't have a major that I was like, yeah. This is what I wanna study for the next four years and and then pursue a career in that. Like, I just didn't have that.

Denys: 07:09

So, like, I wasn't really that excited about college. Like, I was always a good student. You know? I always had nineties. Like, I was in AP classes during my last years of high school.

Denys: 07:23

And, like, I always did good good in school for the most part. But, like, college just wasn't calling me. And I was like, I didn't feel like I didn't feel like there was a point going to college for four years, studying one specific thing when whatever that one specific thing that I chose wasn't something that I'm so passionate and excited about. Like, that just didn't make sense to me, especially, like, how expensive college is. So I don't know.

Denys: 08:05

So then I ended up you know, like, I got into Syracuse, and I was super excited. But it was, like, $50 a year or something. And like I said, I was not gonna I was not trying to put myself in debt or put my mom and my family in debt for me to go to college when I'm not even, like, excited about college or, like, have something I really wanna pursue. I'm like, that's just a waste of money. I'm not putting us in debt when, like, I'm not even confident that I'm gonna wanna do the full four years.

Denys: 08:39

So I end up getting accepted into Baruch, which is a CUNY college in New York in the city. And I just I just I don't even remember how I came to the decision. I just settled and, like, you know, picked business management as my as my as my major. And I went to I decided to go to Brugge because, you know, with with with financial aid and then I had a few little, like, scholarships based on good grades and stuff like that. Like, I was basic I was going for free.

Denys: 09:14

I didn't have to pay anything out of pocket. So it was like a no brainer. You know what I'm saying? It just made it that much easier. And I guess at the end of senior year of high school, I decided to start a clothing brand.

Denys: 09:30

For those that know me, everybody that knows me should know about Tough Culture. I started a clothing brand called Tough Culture with a former friend of mine. And, you know, I was really excited about that. I was just really excited about clothes and fashion like that. So I just I like the idea of creating something and seeing somebody wear it.

Denys: 09:52

Like, even myself. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm wearing something that I created that didn't exist before. And, like, seeing my friends and other people wear it like that, that was amazing to me. It wasn't even like, oh my god.

Denys: 10:04

This is gonna be so, like, a lucrative business. I'm gonna be able to make so much money, and it could blow up. Like, I definitely wanted it to blow up and wanted it to be popular and everything like that, but it, like what really excited me was seeing people wear my stuff. Like, that was so cool to me. Like like, even even to this day, like like, that was what?

Denys: 10:27

Eight years ago that I started the clothing brand? Like, even to this day, like, I I still have all the merch. And then I sometimes see some of my friends, like, wearing one of the hoodies or something like that. Even, like, even now that that excites me. That makes me feel good.

Denys: 10:41

I'm like, yo, like, that's my hoodie. I made that. Like, it's so dope. And so I was like, I was focusing on that for probably like, I wanna say three, four years. And then I don't know.

Denys: 10:58

I don't know. It just wasn't fulfilling anymore. So I feel like I don't know if I was necessarily looking for something new, but I definitely felt like the clothing brand wasn't doing it for me anymore. So then I went over to my friend's house one time, and his brother was an engineer and a producer. And I was just I I just came in once to say what's up to him.

Denys: 11:35

And, like, you know, I was in the room and he was working with a couple other people and, like, you know, it was just a whole lot of music going on. Like, he was working on a beat or something, whatever. And I always had a love for music. Like, there's my mom has videos of me at, like, probably six, seven years old, like, singing my heart out. Like, literally a microphone in my hand, like, singing songs on the radio.

Denys: 11:59

You know what I'm saying? But I just always loved music, and I always enjoyed it. But I never thought of it as something I could do because I'm like, I don't have a singing voice. You know what I'm saying? I can't sing.

Denys: 12:12

Like, so I never really thought about it. And once I was in that room, I forgot who was one of them was like, yo. Like, you know, like, you ever thought about doing music? Maybe you should, like, you know, do music, hop on a song or something. And I was like, yeah.

Denys: 12:29

I mean, I was like, I mean, I've I've written lyrics before. Like, I had a notebook where I would just jot down lyrics. But I was like, yeah. I never really thought about it. I don't know.

Denys: 12:40

And then, you know, I went home and I, like, I really thought about it. I'm like, damn. Maybe I should do music. That sounds fun. That sounds exciting.

Denys: 12:46

And, you know, I think then I started, like, looking up YouTube beats and, like, actually trying to write to them and stuff like that. And probably I don't know the exact time, like, but probably, like, a few months later, I ended up putting together my first song. And then I was like, alright. Like, this is like this was exciting me. This was fulfilling me.

Denys: 13:09

You know what I'm saying? I'm like, it was an it was a new a new goal and a a new adventure for me to, like, seek out. And that's when I really started making music. And, like, luckily, you know, the producer slash engineer, shout out my boy, Baba, lived right around the corner from my house. You know what I'm saying?

Denys: 13:35

And everybody that was in that room working on music was all from the neighborhood. That's when I met Coco, my videographer now. That's when I met my boy Steven, who I've have a bunch of songs with now. So I met them all through that, like, basically stemming from that one moment. And then I started taking music more seriously with, like, just trying to work on stuff.

Denys: 14:03

Like, I was like, yo, I just wanna drop music. Was so exciting to me. And I kept dropping stuff and dropping stuff and, like, working on new stuff. And some stuff honestly, there's some songs I made during that first year that I had released and dropped and put out on Apple Music and Spotify and all that. They're gone now.

Denys: 14:21

I I took them down because I was like, yo, this this is not it. You know what I'm saying? Like, some of it, I listened back, it's like, oh, it's, like, cringey. Some of it is good. I'm like, oh, like, this is kinda this is dope.

Denys: 14:36

Like, it it's dope to see, like, my progress from then to, like, now. But some of it was, like, cringey as hell. So I had to take it down and, like yeah. So that's that's that's when the music journey started for me. And the thing I really love about like, again, what I love about music is is similar to what I what I really loved about the clothing brand is that I'm creating something that doesn't exist.

Denys: 15:04

You know what I'm saying? Like, I the way I felt about seeing people wear my clothing, I felt even better about seeing people listen to my music and enjoy it. Yeah. My music's not not for everybody. You know what I'm saying?

Denys: 15:26

I feel I love it. I love my songs a lot. You know? I enjoy them. And that was always the main thing and the most important thing for me.

Denys: 15:35

Like, I did it for me. If I thought it was fire, I'm like, yeah, I wanna drop this. I wanna share this with everybody. And if other people like it, if other people enjoy it, phenomenal. If they don't, it is what it is.

Denys: 15:47

I try I never really tried to I never really wanted to stress about, like, if other people, you know, disliked it. That was never me. I felt like I'm never one to really care about other people's opinions too much, or I try not to. But yeah. And it's like the another thing that's great about the music is, like, you know, the music's gonna be here long after I'm gone.

Denys: 16:16

Obviously, if if technology is only only going up and up. You know what I'm saying? Like, everything's in the cloud. Everything exists. Everything that's on the Internet, you it just, like, exists there till whenever, till forever.

Denys: 16:30

So it's like, long after I'm gone not that I'm gonna leave anytime soon. I plan I plan to live a very long and happy life. But it's just so dope that, like, you know, ten, twenty, thirty, forty years from now, me or, like, anybody else could, like, find one of my songs and, like, that's just a piece of me that's just out there that exists. And I think that's so dope. I also feel like each song each song is kinda like a diary entry.

Denys: 17:07

It's like a specific moment in my life. And some songs that I've released, I've released them very, very quickly after I wrote and finished them. So, like, for example, the New Year's Eve freestyle, which is one of my favorite songs that I dropped last year. I wrote, recorded that was the fastest I ever, like, finished the song. I wrote, recorded that song within, like, two, three hours.

Denys: 17:39

And then I put out a video of, like, the rough audio of me performing it that same day on New Year's Eve, and then I I left. Then I ended up releasing it on on platforms, like, two weeks later. But, like, that that moment, that song was exactly how I felt, like, in that specific moment and what I was going through. So it's like, it's literally it's so dope. Excuse me.

Denys: 18:06

So like, it's just so dope because like looking back at it and listening back to it, like, it takes you back. Well, it takes me back. You know what I'm saying? To that specific moment, it's like and how I was feeling and what I was experiencing is just so dope to like now now I'll have a different perspective on that situation that I did when I wrote that song. Then there's other songs that I've written and recorded and have been sitting on my laptop for, like, six months, a year, and, like, I released them then.

Denys: 18:35

And that's also dope because when I released them, I'll look back and be like, wow. Like, I I wrote this a year ago. And somehow, the lyric the lyrics still resonates me today. You know? And it's I have a different perspective on the situation, but, like, they still resonate.

Denys: 18:57

So you know? And then recently to start start this year, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed, and I needed to take a break. I felt like I was getting a bit too overwhelmed and a bit too stressed out. And I just need to take a break from the music. So I just took a pause and let my brain kinda relax and reset.

Denys: 19:24

But it's March now. It's been a few months, and I'm excited to say that that I think I'm getting back in into it. In the past, I'd in the past two months, there was two songs that really that that dropped that I was featured on. And then next week, I have I have a new single coming out. So I'm super excited.

Denys: 19:51

And this yeah. Sorry. This this was kinda all over the place. But, basically, the this podcast and show is gonna be about the journey and figuring out where we're going, where you're headed. And I'm gonna be bringing guests on.

Denys: 20:10

So it's not just gonna be me talking. I'm gonna be bringing different guests on that that are all pursuing a dream and going somewhere. So thank you guys for watching. Thank you for listening. I appreciate y'all.

Denys: 20:23

Peace.