Daily Inspiration: Meet Awfbeat

Today we’d like to introduce you to Awfbeat.

Hi Awfbeat, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
The most significant thing to note about our story is that we are unified by our love of music. Individually, Grant found his obsession through the sonics, instrumental complexities, and arrangements of a song, while Uni found his home in the lyrics, storytelling, and imagery that the artist presents to the listener. Despite our existence at opposite ends of this spectrum of appreciation, we realized that no one else we knew consumed music in the way that we do. We poured over every word, every production detail, and it took time for us to acknowledge how uncommon that was. When we reconnected after life had sent us in separate directions, we accessed that same mutual love for different aspects of music and harnessed it into creating songs together. The synergy within our process was so astonishing to us, that we couldn’t help but see what would happen if we kept activating it over and over and over again. Being true to our expression, communicating honestly with each other, and remaining present in our lived experiences has brought us to today.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Our road doesn’t even approach the idea of smooth. As of this moment, there are countless things that we wish we had more control over or more awareness of; plenty of opportunities we’ve missed and setbacks we’ve had. There have been multiple instances of people close to us engaging in manipulative or deceptive behavior with the intent of hindering us and our business. We’ve had instruments not work, distribution services not drop our songs on time, and people not do their job properly so the responsibility is then on us to pick up said slack. We’ve had the works. However, one of the most important things that we champion is learning from those situations and realizing which ones you can and cannot control. Working a standard 9-5 job is already difficult, let alone pursuing the “starving artist” entrepreneurial path that we’ve chosen. So, all we can do to achieve what we really want is our absolute best to give ourselves as many advantages as possible ahead of time. Then, if something catastrophic and out of our control occurs, at least we have the insurance. We have found that obstacles such as these are merely par the course and the fluctuation of life between moments of good and bad is a pattern that you can recognize and be ready for.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Officially, we are “Awfbeat” and we make HipHop-Inspired duets. If we are nomads that carry HipHop in our backs everywhere we go, then we might pull up to R&B’s house and sleep on their couch for a while or maybe, we’ll hit Latin Pop’s house and stay in their spare room. When it comes to making a song, Grant typically communicates through singing and the production, often utilizing a few of the 27 instruments he plays. Uni, on the other hand, takes the role of the wordsmith and ensures that the lyrics of the song carry the feeling, share the experience, and tell the story which we are conveying. This individual talent combined with our proclivity to teach each other things makes our synergy unmatched and at that point, we simply trust in our skills and intuition to lead us to great music. We are known for our genre fusions as well as our chemistry on the microphone and in performances. The best example of this is our song “Better Than Me” which was the first song we ever put out on streaming platforms and has amassed over 1.5M streams as of writing this. One of the things we are most proud of is our consistency in the face of life’s trials and tribulations. We’ve had a plethora of things not go how we planned and tons of time separated from each other, yet, we always find a way to common ground and our desire to push ourselves, outdo our peers, and make art that will last beyond our time propels us through the process of shedding skin into song.

Aside from that aforementioned consistency, we set ourselves apart with the way we represent our truth as simultaneously naked and curated. We love music and we listen to so many different artists with different demographics and sounds. The truth is that some artists lie. They talk about crimes they’ve never done, materials they don’t have, and lives that they don’t live. In turn, they lie to themselves and they lie to you. We do not stand for that because at every interval, it is better to be yourself rather than try to be someone else. We not only give our audience our true selves in the most creative and exciting way that we can, but we also pay respect to and study those who have come before us. Rather than bite your favorite rapper, we make it our mission to honor the reciprocal nature of art.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
A little bit of luck is likely present across the whole spectrum of events throughout our career. Every instance in which something wonderful happened to us, there was also a chance of something not happening or something worse taking its place. Anyone who finds themselves in a position where they can get rewarded for doing what they love should feel “lucky”. We are lucky that we have good people around us who spread the word and give us honest feedback, and we are also lucky that anyone at all takes time out of their day to engage with what we make. While some element of luck is always there, we also have to acknowledge that we have make very conscious and deliberate choices to sharpen our skills and carry ourselves in a particular way so when that luck decides to shine on us, we are prepared for it and can make the absolute most out of what we are given. We are incredibly lucky that the songs we’ve put out so far have been so successful. Also, they would not have been successful if we did not put in the time and the effort to create something unique to us and objectively good. In the same vein, “luck”, much like “chance”, is fleeting. It cannot be expected nor counted on, so we must be prepared for absence just as much as we are prepared for its arrival.

Contact Info:

• Website: awfbeatofficial.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awfbeat.official/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AwfbeatOfficial?s=20&t=biYATQAIjbUQ3eisb2mATA
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFjQVN59rgYwEM-Pn9sI88w
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/awfbeat?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
• Other: https://awfbeat.bandcamp.com

Image Credits:
David Timothy