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Exclusive Interview with “The Great Raw”
Exclusive Interview with The Great Raw
The Great Raw is an exceptional songwriter, producer, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of the brand’s T.G.O (Trust God Only) and DV4L(DvrkVybez 4 Life). Born in Cincinnati, Ohio however raised the majority of his life in the DC, Maryland, Virginia area which he considers home.
Commuting back and forth between the State’s of Ohio & Maryland Raw has encountered much adversity while overcoming homelessness twice. Raw style is very versatile incorporating sounds of Industrial, Hardcore, Nu metal, and Mid-West Rap flow. This new upcoming artist in the digital streaming world has made a few rising singles alternative hip hop music fans crave such as “Fxrnicate” “We already Dxed” & the most recent “Galore”.
On March 14, 2019, he received airplay on Titan Radio, a college radio station located in Fullerton, California. On March 23, 2019, he participated in the Beats Planet Talent search where he was the top pick for weeks 3 & 4 of the search.
One of his previous singles “BDSM” is also featured on a new IOS app called Upbeat, a platform that allows fans to discover new music and rate songs in which his single was a nominee for song of the year on the app. The Great Raw has also been published in Independent Magazines HBTMagazine, World of Goth & GasMask Magazine.
I heard you wrote all the songs for your Ep.using an app called SongWriter can you tell me more about this?
Songwriter is a trusted app that I use and has been using for a total of two years now, it is very convenient for me because I am constantly on move based on my particular line of work and whenever I need to write down a line or set of lyrics this app is located on the home screen of my smartphone, so I never miss a single line.
You managed to overcome self-doubt and depression using self-hypnosis do you mind elaborating on how you did this?
I enjoy doing many research and studies on the power of the mind and I am aware of the Hermetic Principle of Mentalism “The mind is all the universe is mental”, so once I found myself slipping out of balance mental I applied a form of zen meditation letting go of the clutter thought in my mind but before initiating this technique I wrote all “I am free of all negative feelings” and “I am confident in the infinite potential of my entire being”. I repeated for a series of 3 times verbally and silently in my mind.
The key is to free yourself from judging yourself if that makes sense, just let the thoughts flow until there is a silence that’s when I embed the programming I desire and this programming allowed me to create my Ep using the energy of being hype and exposing some of my very own shadows I hope to encourage others through this act of creativity.
You said that the movie Bill & Ted Bogus adventure sparked your interest in Extreme Heavy music. What scene of the movie inspired you the most? Was there a particular song that was played?
Through the movie, these two friends did a lot of air guitar play and as a kid, at the age of six, I believe I remember mimicking them and performing a whole air guitar show in my grandma’s living room, then towards the middle of the movie I heard the song by Kiss “God gave Rock n Roll to you” that was the first Hard rock song my ears was introduced to and I have been a fanatic of heavy music ever since.
For a living you do independent contract deliveries have you ever tried to pitch yourself as an artist to customers when you had the opportunity?
There were actually a few times and I waited for each opportunity based on customer interaction, one customer actually said “You are a rockstar” to me based on my excellent service and I replied I actually am a type of rockstar.
I incorporate metal elements in my music. This customer replied “wait that’s you” and told me they listen to Goth Bxtch a few times a day. I can not tell you how happy I was to hear someone in the local area was already familiar with my music and they now follow me on my social media.
Missing out on 3 months of online schooling had to have been very disappointing for you, though you used the skill that you acquired during your time of enrollment can you say that what you have learned has paid off in reference to your career?
Yes, definitely I no longer have to worry about depending on the artistic ability of a graphic designer which in turn saves me more money to invest in my career. furthermore an additional bonus is I am able to take control of my brand art style and make amazing ad content which allows me to bring more people into my musical world.
How did you come by your stage/brand name?
Before I actually finalized my brand name it was actually Raw Deal which I derived from an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie as seen as a teenager, I thought it would be pretty cool for a rap stage name at the time referencing it to my Raw rap style. When I started hanging out with my friends in the streets they started just calling me “Raw” and later on in my twenties I discovered inner greatness based on my spiritual study and there came the name “The Great Raw”.
When did you discover your love for your craft and what made you realize you wanted to pursue a career in it?
My mother had a cd collection of Hardcore Hip hop from artists like 2pac, Westside connection, Bone thugs n Harmony, Snoop Dogg, and many more. I remember how everyone during the house party get-togethers felt when hearing rap music and I wanted to be able to have that same effect on others bring them together based on artistry.
I started writing lyrics full page by notebook literally and did my first recording on a Deluxe Talkboy, yeah I know amateur-level work here lol. I eventually met with one of my best friends who also liked to rap and we started recording at his house downloading a program called Mixcraft and I have been creating music ever since.
To what or whom do you accredit your sense of style?
I come from a background of hearing multiple rap styles such as three six mafia, Lord infamous, Big L 2pac, wu-tang & then Metal bands like Korn, Slipknot, Lamb of God, Disturbed, etc. Listening to these many talented individuals has served as a template to my style. I managed to incorporate my own signature once I tested out my own vocal ability on the microphone and presto you have the type of music I create now.
On your current project, how did you come up with the concept?
The Book Ov Shadows is yet another one of my esoteric type of musical compilation, it is said that man is “The Book Of Life” well everyone has a shadow that also occupies them while they spend a brief incarnation here on the planet earth, so I wanted to present an inversion of the book of life by exposing some of the shadow aspects of my self. Majority of all my works are inspired by my occult study and this project is nothing short from my Dark studies and speakings. To be honest I just hear the ideas in my mind and do the work to bring them forth.
What are some of your greatest challenges, and what is your greatest attribute when it comes to your work ethic?
My greatest challenge is holding still in terms of production. I can literally make a song one day and be on to another new one while one is currently on the market and I think I can be a little over-productive and release music too rapidly.
I have really been working on being patient and giving listeners a chance to feel out my song archive. My greatest attribute is my time management skills. I discipline myself to rest no later than 9:45 or 10:30 pm in order to wake up and pitch to bloggers, curators, adjust some music, research the music market and study more ways to increase awareness of my brand. In short, the dedication is real.
Are you the best at what you do in your opinion? What are your plans for the near future?
Yes, I am the Greatest at how I do my work this is not an opinion this is factual everyone is unique and no one can express how another person expresses no matter how much they attempt to duplicate there is also something that makes what each individual does special.
So I am not speaking from a perspective of competition or superiority but from that spark in me, that drives me to express to full potential and offer nothing shorter than what I am capable of accomplishing. I am a person who lives in the current world, so as of now I am working on offering more content on my website such as short stories which I’ll be including in the blog section of my website that can be accessed by website members.
I plan to have my tribe increase and all my website content being shared, broadcast a few virtual concerts as well so stay tuned.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank, any shout outs?
I would love to give a shout out to my mentor and teacher Kristen Mirelle who I am actually still being coached by in terms of bringing awareness to myself as an artist, and the following producers including myself who helped make The Book Ov Shadows Ep possible Luwr, C2, Yazukashi, and RXK.
How can fans find you?
Supporters of my music can find me at my website www.thegreatraw.com and join my mailing list to receive an exclusive version of the ep with an unreleased bonus track that only subscribers can receive. I am also highly active on Instagram but my website is a better way to get more personal with me.
What suggestions do you have for other artists like yourself?
The best suggestion and only suggestion I have is for you to apply the ancient principle “Know Thyself and Do as thou alt wilt” control your mind and make your reality, utilize your entire to be a great artist, and make no room for discouragement from yourself and others.
WEBSITE: www.thegreatraw.com
Instagram:www.instagram.com/thegreatraw_tgo
Facebook:www.facebook.com/thegreatrawdv4l
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