Today we’d like to introduce you to Darrell Smith
Hi Darrell, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
It all started when i was 11 in 2005. My dad who had been incarcerated for the previous 10 years of my life introduced me to the writing and recoding process of music. We built our first studio that same year on the west side of atlanta on Dill avenue and i’ve been locked in ever since. From there when i attended high school i joined the marching band first playing the bass drum, then later mastering all of the instruments in the percussion section by the time i was a sophomore in college. The more i learned about the drums the more into rapping and producing i got when i was about 13/14 i joined a rap group with a few close neighborhood friends Called Gw@p Te@m. It was 4 of us when i joined we dropped a few projects just having fun like kids do for a few years then i graduated high school and went off to college on my marching band scholarship. While in school i studied music with a concentration in percussion/music industry. in may of 2017 i received My Bachelors of Arts Degree in Music Industry with a minor in Computing Science from Benedict College. I then moved back to my hometown of Atlanta, Ga to begin my career. I taught drums for about 5 years while still doing my music thing on the side but i never released anything until spring 2022. Thats when i dropped my first 2 singles “Lifestyle”, “On My Block” on all major platforms. That gave me the boost and confidence that i needed to officially start my music career in the industry. I produced and engineered both of those tracks myself then only thing i didn’t do was the final mix. A month later i Dropped an entire project entitled “No Turning Back” it included 5 new tracks and a bonus track that i had recorded for my grandfather when he passed away a few months before i graduated college. I dropped 2 more singles later on to close out that year. 2023 was a whole different ball game in May i dropped my Debut Album entitled “Nature Of The Beast”. It was an 11 song project with only 4 features on it. From there i have just been dropping singles and music videos for previous songs that have the best stats according to my distribution partner. the past few months ive just been bulking up mu portfolio and will be flooding the market with singles, features, and visuals very soon
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It hasn’t been a smooth road first everyone knows that your biggest critic is yourself, and that lack of confidence in self caused me to hesitate and wait to start actually dropping music.
Another struggle is not having the proper equipment that you need. Before investing into a home studio for myself it was very hard and got very expensive to record on my own time.
One of the main struggles as an upcoming artist are the People People People they make things more complicated than they need to be sometimes and ill just leave it at that and i mean (other artist , producers, engineers, hell even studio owners, and the worst of them all are the shady promoters and ppl trying to make money off you by doin the music reviews that don’t help and uplift the artist)
Last but not least its building your name/brand because ppl only promote whats popular regardless if they know you or not.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a producer/engineer/ artist/videographer
I specialize in everything music pretty much. if it has to do with music i can guarantee i know a little something about it.
I am know for marching in the band playing the drums i also was a drum major in college so that too.
I am most proud of being a father.
What sets me aside from others is my dedication to being different. its literally embedded into my DNA that i can’t be like anyone else if I’m even doing something remotely similar to someone else i immediately change course and do something different.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Where is (GYSG) Gwap from?
I’m from Atlanta …..what part will be everyone’s next question lol. Well from birth my family stayed on dill avenue on the west side of Atlanta off lee st. I started elementary school at sky haven theme school then later transferred to Bolton academy deeper in the west side off Hollywood rd if u from atl u know these streets I’m naming. I finished elementary at Bolton academy then moved to the east side and went to cedar grove middle stayed on the east side for a lil min til I graduated high school then went to college in South Carolina. Then once I finished college I moved to the south side so I claim the whole city the only place in atl I ain’t stayed is the north side
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dot.cards/gysg
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gysgofficial
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@3xtgmedia944
Image Credits
Damon Brown
Helping Hand Photography
@Helping_hand_photography
