Today we’d like to introduce you to Ivan Coleman.
Ivan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in Newport News, Virginia. My family at some point, seemed to be doing pretty good, giving the economy at the time. Both parents in home, two incomes, weren’t worried too much about financial stability as much then. I was very active in sports growing up especially football. Stepfather was in the military so we moved around a lot. Around ’02-’03 is when my mother and siblings experienced “REAL LIFE”. Parents were going through a very ugly and drawn-out divorce at this time. My mother was forced to be a single parent and become the mother and father for (at the time) 5 kids. As I started to lose focus in school because of the things going on at home, and continuously watching and hearing my mother breakdown and cry. Some times we had no electricity or running water. We had to live from hotel to hotel some times. I started turning to the streets, got into a gang, started selling drugs here and there, etc. I began to become out of control. I got kicked out of school at age 15, and from that point, I just told my mother I wasn’t going back to school. After seeing her tears and frustration day in and day out trying to make ends meet. I couldn’t stand by and watch. So I had to figure out my own source of income to provide for myself. As time goes by, as it always does, my girlfriend at the time became pregnant with our first child (it was a boy). Confused and happy at the same time, I was a kid having a kid. With no father figure really around, I didn’t know the first thing about fatherhood. I was still gang banging and in the streets, and still a child, I wasn’t mature enough to think the way I should’ve been. I had to learn how to be a man and a father on the go with life. So my family and her moved From Newport News, Va down to Durham, NC. Not knowing or ever hearing of Durham, thats where my family set up and lived from ’06-’12. I was back and forth between the two states as the mother of my child and her family decided to move back to Virginia. On September 3rd ’08 an exact week after my 18th birthday, our second child was born, it was a little girl. This time around, it was different. I knew I had to tighten up now. Not only did I have two kids now but I have a little girl who is looking at me and watching everything I do and say. I had full-blown responsibilities I had to make a move and FAST! I didn’t want my kids growing up how I did. I didn’t want them to experience some of the things I had to. So I made a choice to go get my GED and figure a plan out. After my GED, I worked for a few years then moved back down to Durham, NC. I went and enrolled into Durham Technical Community College after moving back to in ’10. The summer of 2010 is when I wrote my first rap verse, and I fell in love with the art of writing rhymes. Ive always been a fan of hiphop and music in general. My biological father was a DJ so I would hear a lot of different genres. From there, I would write verse after verse every day, practice makes perfect. Creating music and songs was therapeutic for me, loved it. That was my way to escape from everything and put things in my own words to express myself and who I am. And I still, till this day, have the same passion for being a composer. I started to meet other artists, do some tracks with them and even released a few collab mixtapes with artists. It became the time to take things more serious and create an everlasting movement. I started thinking of names and or phrases that would best describe what I stood for or what change I wanted to see in the world. After brainstorming a list of names, I still couldn’t find one that “STUCK”. I slept on it for a while and contemplated over and over. And one day it came to me to call ourselves Kings. It was so plain, boring, cliche, wasn’t original nothing. But I held on to it and kept working and thinking on it. A few years had past and I’m still sitting on just Kings thats it, nothing more to it. I wanted it to be more than Kings, different, something that stands out but still says the same thing. I needed something to identify us. Then the idea to replace the ( i ) with an ( e ) came about. That still wasn’t enough, so I looked deeper to add to it to make it stand out. We didn’t replace the ( i ) with any ( e ) but with the ( ë ). Këngs was born, and the ( ë ) is symbolic to the crown that a Këng wears. Këngs isn’t just a brand its a lifestyle. A lifestyle that you are rightfully entitled to no matter what others say or think. Just be you is what we represent. Authenticity, Honest, Bold, Different, Unique in your own way. Këngs Apparel is the official clothing line under the Këngs brand. I am now located in the Atlanta area.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No, its never a smooth road. Especially if its something great.
Some of the struggles I faced were finances, putting together the right team, unexpected life situations, downfalls, failures to name a few.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Këngs Apparel – what should we know?
Here with Këngs, we are an open community. We aim to get more involved with community service helping others in need. Këngs is an entertainment label for all kinds of artists and services. Këngs Apparel is the official clothing line under the Këngs brand. Këngs offers more than just a product/service. We look to bring different perspectives, not just through art and talent. But in every way, shape and form that’s possible. We are most proud of our own individuality. We allow you to be who you are and that’s what sets us apart from the pack.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
All of our supporters and customers deserve credit!
Contact Info:
- Website: kengsapparel.com
- Email: kengsapparel@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kengsapparel
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kengsapparel/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/tonemuzzik
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/tonemuzzik
Image Credit:
ToneMuzzik
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