Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis “Travisty” McKoy.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I’m an only child, but I grew up around two people I consider my older brothers. One of them is K.Green and the other is L. K.Green was the first person I ever heard, outside of the industry, that had album. I was probably 12 or 13 years old at the time. L is my barber and we would freestyle back and forth while I was in the chair getting a cut. They were lyricists and I wanted to be like them. But when you’re from Atlanta and you market yourself as a rapper, people don’t really care to listen. I love Hip-Hop, but I grew up with old school R&B. At 17, I figured I could use the same lyrics in my raps in R&B songs. I couldn’t sing at the time, but I would make demos anyway on my computer. No mic, no equipment, I barely knew how to use GarageBand, and I would get beats from YouTube. I sang into the Mac’s built in mic while the beat played in the headphones. I used to put pillows, books, or whatever I could find on the sides of the computer to block out the extra noise. When I felt I had a decent number of songs, I went to SoundCloud. I looked up covers of popular songs and emailed artists I thought were dope. I’d be like, “Hey, I’m Travis, I go by Travisty, I think you have a great voice and could bring my demos to life. The quality was absolute garbage, but the lyrics are what shined through for the artists listening. Next thing I knew, I had songs with people I never met before, and the final product was better than I imagined. It was the start of something incredible for me. I was making great music with great artists. I still stay in contact with some of them today. I started telling people I’m a songwriter. Then, people wanted to know who I wrote for and if I could sing. People wanted to listen now.
Please tell us about your art.
I’m a songwriter and recording artist. I make mostly r&b and pop records but I try not to limit myself in the type of music I make. If the instrumental sounds good, I’ll at least make a demo and try something new. I believe lyrics are important. It’s very easy to write a love song or a sad song. It’s more difficult to capture the reasons why you feel those emotions. I like to write about what I don’t hear often or at all. Love is something I write a lot about. It’s an emotion a lot of people can relate to, but can’t express all the time. I like to write about specific situations. I write about specific people, or what my friends are going through. When I write for someone else, I usually lead with a conversation. I ask what makes them angry in a relationship, tell me about a crazy situation you went through. After the conversation, I try to capture the moment(s) they were most passionate speaking about. I write about that specific emotion they described and why they felt that. My music, for myself and for other artists, captures the moments that we tend to overlook while we’re living in it. Think of it like a short film but for your ears.
As an artist, how do you define success and what quality or characteristic do you feel is essential to success as an artist?
Success is when you love what you do, can do what you love to do every day, and get paid to do it.
I think for success in anything, you have to be obsessed with what you do. You have to have more interest in what you do than the majority of people. That’s the only way you’ll get better, keep up with it, and catch other peoples attention to the point where they’ll want to pay you to do it.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
You can find me on all social media @CompleteTravisty.
My social media keeps all my supporters up to date with music I’ve put out myself as well as any music I’ve written for other people that’s available.
If you’d like to hear music, I co-wrote:
Know U Know ft Young Dolph by Dre Murro is also on all streaming platforms.
If you’d like to hear my personal music:
Work It Out by Travisty is also on all streaming platforms
Contact Info:
- Email: completetravisty@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/completetravisty/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Travisty__
Image Credit:
Tatyana Watkins
Jai Springs
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