Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Kleindienst.
Justin, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was raised with a single mother who didn’t own a tv. We had music playing through the house 24/7 when I was growing up. At the age of nine, she bought me my first drum kit and I played it every single day. When I was about ten years of age my mother’s musician friends would come over and play their guitars while I kept along on the drums (I loved every second of it). By the time I was twelve years old I was given my first guitar, and I spent every minute of every day after school learning to play my guitar. My favorite bands growing up were Modest Mouse, Foo Fighters, Dance Gavin Dance, and Linkin Park. The first time I had heard rap music was Biggie Smalls’ album “Ready To Die”.
At the age of eleven, my cousin introduced me to Fruity Loops. He would produce beats, rap on them and teach me how he did it. I fell in love with production once I learned there’s a way to make a full song by yourself. I was a thirteen-year-old kid from Marietta who spent his days producing beats, writing lyrics and perfecting my flow. My mother took notice of my drive for music and bought me a home studio set up. If we weren’t outside skateboarding, we were gathered up in big groups working on music at my mother’s house. She used to cook dinner for us and was always very supportive of us making music under her roof.
By high school, I was listening to artists like Kid Cudi, Mac Miller, ASAP Rocky, and Kanye West almost religiously. I was always self-aware enough to know I needed work on my craft, so I didn’t release any music until I reached the age of eighteen. By that time I found interest in Electronic Dance Music and become a pretty well-known local act under the name Yung Deaux. I had releases with prominent music blogs Trap N Bass as well as DoAndroidsDance.
I was still focused on my rap, but still weary of releasing anything because I didn’t feel I was up to par. When I was twenty years old I started working with MOREDOPE, LLC and producer/engineer Wes Green (formally of Zac Brown’s Southern Ground Artists). We have been working on my upcoming project since March of 2014, and have come a long way since then. We’ve released singles “Gold” and “Cook”, which have garnered over 100,000 spins on Pandora Radio.
As we’re reaching the end of the production phase of my project, I feel that I am now a professional artist with a bright future ahead of me. At the age of twenty-two, I’m a self-taught musician of the guitar, bass, drums, violin, mandolin, and the piano. I now sing, rap, produce, and DJ…and there is still so much more room for me to grow and incorporate all my talents for the world to enjoy.
Has it been a smooth road?
I grew up with a single mother who did everything she could to help me mature into a respectable adult, and she did everything she could to help further my passion for music. When I was a kid. I hung around the wrong crowd and made terrible decisions. Many of my friends have died from drugs, or crime or they’re in prison. Since my mother worked allot I was without supervision and roamed the neighborhood with my friends causing mischief and having confrontations with police on many occasions. My friends were drug dealers and gang bangers and I thought that lifestyle was cool coming up. there were not many positive influences around me coming up, but my eyes were opened to my true worth and that the way I was living was wrong when I started working with More Dope Music.
What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?
The proudest moment of my career has been finishing up this first project. This is the first official album that I have ever done, and it fully expresses my talents and feelings through music, and I’m very excited for people to hear it.
Tell us more about the struggles you’ve faced along the way.
My biggest struggle has been the test of patience on releasing and showing the world the music that I’ve created. I feel it will help and inspire many people, but it has to be released timely.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Atlanta is like a boiling pot for talent. It used to be New York or Los Angeles, but I feel that for movies and music Atlanta has become the center for a fresh start. This is the easiest time in the rap world to be able to start an indie career and rise to the top as an indie unsigned artist, and Atlanta is the place to do it.
Contact Info:
- Website: Deaux.net
- Email: moredopemusic@gmail.com
- Instagram: @iamdeaux
- Facebook: @iamdeaux
- Other: Twitter: @Iamdeaux
Image Credit:
Gabe Vazquez (personal photo & the only non performance photo under “Photos of your work.”) , Veronica Pennix (Three perfomance photos)
