

Today we’d like to introduce you to Armend Kaleshi.
Can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today?
My name is Armend Kaleshi; I go by the artist name “Armend Hammer”. I was born in Prishtine, Kosovo on March 23rd, 1995.
When I was about 4, a war broke out between Kosovo and Serbia due to Serbia’s desire for control. This led to driving over 600,000 refugees out of Kosovo; My immediate family and I included.
We first moved to Fort Dix, New Jersey, an Army Support Activity, and immediately began learning English while we applied for citizenship. After about 6 months, my mother and father found jobs in college park Atlanta, which happened to be a greatly Kosovar-populated area. It felt nice being around other families who had been through the same struggle of having to create a new life from essentially nothing. At first, it was pretty tough. My dad was always working at least 2 jobs; my mom worked a day job, while also making some extra cash cleaning houses. I was picked on in school for as long as I remember for being different than most of the kids. Naturally, this was something I began to accept at a young age. I even started to fit in. I wore brands like “And 1” and “FUBU”, partly because it’s what we found affordable but mostly because it looked really cool! I found myself listening music such as Outkast, Lil Jon, Ludacris, etc. I had no idea why I liked that style of music so much; later to find out it was the energy that these artists gave and how well they complimented the beats.
Unfortunately, after some time, our property began getting broken into. By the time I was in the 3rd grade, my mom and dad had put together enough money and moved us out to Peachtree City, a suburb about 30 minutes south of College Park. They kept the same 9-5 jobs and made the commute every day. Going from an inner city school to a school in the suburbs was an extremely weird transition for me, personally. Again, I didn’t fit in… However, this time, the desire to fit in wasn’t really there for me. I was really content with who I was. I only grew to be more open to new music styles. Around this time, my best friend in Elementary got me into Linkin Park and Blink-182. While jamming out to those bands mixed with hip hop produced by Timbaland, Dr. Dre, and so on, I quickly fell in love with unique drum rhythms that my brain loved dancing to.
Going onto middle middle school, living in the same area, I made a new friend who lived down the street, Ryan, “Alli Beats”. We always hung out; pretty much played a lot of video games and listened to music. I always noticed he had a music keyboard in front of his computer but never questioned it until one day, I watched him make a beat… I was blown away. The way he pieced different sounds together into a loop, layering piano melodies, percussion, & drums got me really intrigued! I never understood how simple it could be to take a musical idea in your head and export it into a physical thing that you could hear, instantly! It was at that moment, I fell in love with making beats. Of course it took some time and practice until I was savvy enough to create and finish my own beats. In retrospect, what I fell in love with was the amount of different concepts I had to learn and get better at over time with such as music theory, recording, mixing musical elements together, designing sounds from scratch, and so on.
With time, and tons of youtube videos, I got better and better at producing beats. Around age 16, I discovered “electronic music” through my friend who would DJ house parties all the time. I tagged along with him and quickly learned the art of DJing; another instance where I fell in love with a new way of looking at music. I started listening to a bunch of artists like Bassnectar, The Glitch Mob, & iLL Gates. This opened a new door of opportunities for my creativity. After turning 18, I started getting opportunities to DJ at dance clubs in Atlanta, here and there. I was getting better and better over time, making new friends through the underground bass music scene, and doing everything I could to get my name out there. It got to a point where I was actually getting paid decently to DJ for people!
However, later that year, things took a turn. I was told that I had A.L.L. (acute lymphoblastic leukemia). I became emotionally drained as I was getting chemotherapy treatments week after week. I tried so hard to keep the momentum going. After playing a show in Athens, opening up for some friends who played in a reggae band, I realized I had to stop and take care of myself. This was about a year and a half long journey. I was getting treatments frequently and after finally going into remission, I received a bone marrow transplant from my sister, Gjyljeta (Jules), to help ensure the cancer wouldn’t return. The transplant was a success itself, but it took quite some healing time to recover from the harsh chemotherapy and radiation. As one could imagine, I had a lot of time during these journey to reflect on who I was and who I wanted to be.
I began to understand and cherish the second chance I had been given at life. Over time and the with the help of my incredible physical therapist, I was back to feeling “normal”; it felt like a miracle. I decided to go back to school to study music, audio engineering to be exact, as I turned my passion into my only option. I wanted to learn and absorb everything that I possibly could from production, live sound, managing a studio, understanding analog gear, etc. I took full advantage of the audio institute I went to by never missing class, spending as much time working on labs as possible, and trying to interact with every other student I came across. I ended up graduating as the valedictorian of my class with over 1,000 accumulated lab hours. I was getting involved with local studio work and started interning for a really knowledgable engineer. I helped him run recording sessions, mix his music for TV shows, set up gear, etc. I was involved in an entirely different realm of music. It was during this time that I realized I wanted to start learning and training myself to becoming a mastering engineer. I understood that this was a craft that took a lot of time and ear training to become an expert in. Since then, I’ve built my own clientele of artists that I love working with; I’ve gotten my music placed on the radio, performed for hundreds of people, and have even gotten to work with people that I looked up to as a kid.
After taking the steps needed to learn how to wear all the hats, so to speak, producing beats still remains my true passion. It’s something I do every day that I could never see myself relinquishing. With so many styles of music that have yet to even be discovered, I find myself trying to push my creative boundaries day by day.
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s been pretty difficult at times. I think the hardest part about staying true to yourself as an artist and keeping the motivation going is fighting against any doubts or feelings of weakness. There have definitely been times where I thought that I should just quit since I didn’t see any return. But the fact of the matter is that the return means more than just the end outcome. To me, the return is the journey; the struggles along they way that I can learn and become better from. I think one of the main struggles was having to take essentially 2 years off right after being on a good, progressive incline in my music career; having to rebuild from the ground up. However, I took this as an opportunity rather than a loss. I came back with more knowledge, more motivation, and a better, more clear vision of what I wanted and what I have to do to achieve my goals. I find it very effortless to be able to pull positive, constructive lessons out of unfavorable situations.
Tell us about your business/company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
“Armend Hammer” is a bass music and hip hop beat producer. Even though I am involved in plenty of behind the scenes projects, the person I like to represent myself as is a guy who loves sequencing frequencies. The love for the art of combining musical elements in a way that compliment each other is something that will always be imbedded in me; getting the chance to play my original pieces of music in a live setting for people is always a major plus! When I do have said opportunity, I like to plan in advance so that everyone that comes out is able to have an experience to take with them and tell their friends about. I feel most appreciative/proud of my work when I see people dancing to my tunes that I put so much into; the feeling of someone being able to understand and appreciate my musical perspective. I think what ultimately sets Armend Hammer aside is self-motivation. After my battle with A.L.L. in 2014, I told myself that I would work as hard as possible to make a change and inspire others to do what they love.
Who else deserves credit – have you had mentors, supporters, cheerleaders, advocates, clients or teammates that have played a big role in your success or the success of the business? If so – who are they and what role did they plan / how did they help.
Ultimately, I give my parents the most credit. I feel like the amount of empathy I’ve inherited from my mom and the work ethic from my dad is disproportional advantageous. Even though they are a bit more traditional and don’t fully understand what I do, they always show their utmost support and encouragement. My sister, Jules, also plays a big role in how far I have come. She’s always there to give me advice when I need it, comes to all my shows, and plays my music for all of her friends. And last but not least, I like to give credit to myself as it has not been the easiest journey but I know what I’ve had to do over the years to stay motivated.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://soundcloud.com/armendhammer
- Email: armendhammermusic@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armendhammer
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/armendhammer
Image Credit:
Sergio Saleh, Alexis Robinson
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