MARC.MADE has been applying a lot of pressure. From creating a game, to constantly dropping new music and visuals, we were fortunately able to catch up with him and ask him a few questions regarding his mentality, aspirations, goals and much more!
Boston Culture: Where are you from/ did you grow up? How was that like?
MARC.MADE: I was born in Detroit, Michigan and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. I was young in Detroit, so I didn’t get to experience much but Atlanta -my second home- is love, the culture, people and beauty there are something that all people, especially black people, need to experience.
Boston Culture: Talk to us about "BLUEPRINT”
MARC.MADE: BLUEPRINT is literally what the name says, and is about me recognizing that I have to be the base/platform for my future generation to stand. Generational wealth is important to me, and setting an exemplary example and stage for my legacy is necessary to achieve that. In the song I have vocal snippets from Malcolm X, Nipsey Hussle and Martin Luther King Jr. that address the importance of understanding your atmosphere/society, investing into assets instead of depreciating materials, and creating the foundation for your future and future generations. In the music video, I wanted to give the sense of starting from the ground-up during the music process, so you see the song being written and recorded, the discussions in the studio and on the set of the music video, components like a director and behind the scene operations, and finally the execution on-screen from these different perspectives.
Boston Culture: Talk to us about CHOOSIN. How did you get the idea?
MARC.MADE: CHOOSIN is just a dope ass drinking game. Officially, CHOOSIN is the game of shooting your shot. I originally created it in my undergrad while at Kennesaw State University in Marietta, GA in 2010, with the intention of getting people together to make a fun, first impression at my house parties. Eventually while obtaining my Ph.D in Miami, FL at Florida International University in 2016, I ended up letting people play the game (which was just a deck of notecards with card tasks and games) and they had a blast, which led to more and more plays overtime, and I decided to make it official in 2018 with a full design, website, packaging and the whole sha-bang!
Boston Culture : What was the best advice you got early in your career?
MARC.MADE: To be honest, I never really got advice early in my career in any of my ventures. Many of the people I knew weren’t musicians or artists, a lot were in school but not Mechanical Engineers like me, and no one had businesses/products they created and tried to sell professionally. With that being said, my parents always gave guidance, and homies always told me just “do dat shit”, so I did. Something that resonated with me however, my father always told me “90% of the battle is mental, and that the best story tellers are the wealthiest people.” So I try to implement that hunger of figuring it out myself/ being the first, passion to remain consistent and storytelling through music and lyrics.
Boston Culture: What do you dislike about the art world/music industry?
MARC.MADE: The ever-trending imposters and scammers preying on people’s hard-work, passions and dreams, while not contributing much to the culture of music and hip-hop. On an underground artist level, the lack of professionalism artists display when it comes to execution, punctuality, organization and communication, as if they are privileged and celebrity already.
Boston Culture: Who or what are some of your biggest influences?
MARC.MADE: My biggest influences musically are Cassidy, Jay-Z, Eminem, Drake, Kendrick, J.Cole, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, Jeezy, Logic and Dipset. Outside of them, my experiences with my family, homies and environment.
Boston Culture: Talk to us about your younger mentality.
MARC.MADE: I have always been a creative competitor, seeking ways to progress in the most unique and smartest way. When I looked around, I always knew I could be the scholar, the entrepreneur, the musician and the investor, and participated where I could in those avenues. Now that I’m older, I acknowledge that I have a ways to go, but I think I display my growth at a high-level in all the avenues I pursued when younger, and I am up for the challenge when it comes to any of the aforementioned or pursuing something new.
Boston Culture : What do you think of the music scene in the State? Are there any other Boston producers or artists you'd potentially like to work with for the next project?
MARC.MADE: To be honest I have only worked with one other artist in Boston since moving here in March 2020, could be the pandemic, could be a personal thing. I’ve reached out to dozens of artists, but 95% don’t seem to be as passionate nor have a genuine want to collaborate. It’s cold personalities up here, and in my opinion, explains why so few artists make it out of Boston into the music scene when compared to other cities like NY, Atlanta, LA, Chicago, etc. But I would love to work with anyone creative and serious about putting content out, whether that’s a producer, artist, videographer or whoever.
Boston Culture : Tell us about your goals for 2021.
MARC.MADE: My main goals are to be more efficient in my ventures (MARC.MADE, CHOOSIN, Full-Time Scientist, and Investing) while hopefully getting my music onto digital and streaming platforms, and CHOOSIN into more homes and major stores like Walmart, Target, Spencers and Hot Topic.
Boston Culture: Did the pandemic affect any of your plans?
MARC.MADE: Sheeeit, if anything it showed me all I can accomplish and learn while at a disadvantage. I went from dropping a song once a month or so, to releasing music to all platforms every week through MADE MONDAYS and going from 100-1000 streams to 100,000s streams, with more social-interaction and loyal fans. Seeing other artists (in other locations) have the ability to go out, perform at shows, do interviews, utilize their hometown fans and not delivering more content and/or releasing music to listeners opened my eyes to the lack of consistency of other artists, thus made me want to go harder to create noticeable distance between them and me (because the market is saturated with hella artists) and I feel like my sound is too catchy and conscious to be overshadowed by the cliche’ “release every few months” artists.
Boston Culture: What brands should sponsor you?
MARC.MADE: I love Nike shoes, video games like Battlefield and NBA 2K, Netflix and Amazon, and Microsoft Xbox so any of those would be dope to partner with MARC.MADE music. For CHOOSIN, I would like Spencers or Hot Topic because I feel it fits well, but also alcohol brands like Hennesey, Effen, Svedka, Ciroc or Jack Daniels, and maybe some event and party organizations.
Boston Culture :Anything else we missed you want to tell your fans?
MARC.MADE: I release a song every week for MADE MONDAYS (currently on week 33- PARTY LIKE THIS, which is a dope west coast bop), so check that out! To any one reading this, I hope you reach out to collaborate, check out MARC.MADE music and play the CHOOSIN party game, YAY-YAY!
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