YoungReela

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kenny Noel.

Kenny, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started out by actually battling at lunchtime when I was 13, but I have been following the craft since I was very young. As far as like 4, 5 years old, since my two eldest brothers and my sister (who happens to be my manager right now) really loved the genre. After a while, the battles weren’t enough and I picked up a pen started writing to popular beats. My first ever rap, I wrote was to Drake and Lil Wayne’s So Far Gone track “Ignant S**t”, and after I wrote that, I knew that I would be penning tracks for a very long time. When I felt like I learned, researched, and divulged so much into rapping, I then shifted my focus to production, which I have been doing for 4 years now.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It hasn’t been a smooth road at all for me, I know that sounds cliche because we as artists want to sell you that I have been broke and down bad like the majority of America to give off that, “I relate to you” feel but in all honesty it hasn’t been, if you are an inspiring artist who truly takes your craft seriously, you know what it is like to attempt to make your passion your form of income. Politics, finances that you have to put into the craft such as studio time, production, composition, etc. added onto the self-doubt I struggle with, due to the fact that I am thoroughly uncomfortable about where I am. Balancing personal time, music time, education, and working my 9-5, it isn’t the easiest thing to do at all. However, in that same instance that I tell you that I struggle through doing this music, I would also tell you that, there is nothing else I would rather be doing, because so many people chase the status instead of what they truly love, and I’m blessed to have found it at a very young age.

We’d love to hear more about what you do.
Well, I am an emcee and a producer. I am most proud of my last two projects, “2 Sides” with one of my best friends Arone, and “ReelSeason 2.” Those two projects have two totally different avenues of creativity and creation. 2 Sides was so organic and we created moments from just meeting up in person, discussing our trials as human beings first, then our failed attempts at love. Those moments were channeled throughout the entire creation of 2 Sides, having seen as we had the complete product done in a week. “ReelSeason 2” was the most stressed I have ever been about music. I have 2-year-old tracks I refreshed and threw on there and just the composition of it was like I have to show people that I am a force and to show myself and other people that you should believe in me because I am going to give you quality content. I believe what sets me apart, is that I am a true student of the game, and I can sit in multiple pockets seamlessly. A lot of lyricists get so caught up in trying to outbar the next artist when being an artist is so much more than a metaphor, punchline, or rapping fast. It’s channel whatever element is presented to you and to make the listener as comfortable and or as hype as possible depending on the track. Added to the fact that I do not have to rap a bar, and I can produce a record, not only hip hop records, but R&B records. I definitely have Dre Major and Arone to thank for bringing me towards that side though.

Do you feel luck has played a role in your life?
I personally do not think luck played any part in my life. When you understand the purpose, and you understand the big picture, you come to realize that luck is such small pollen in an endless fabric, you will then agree that you’re here for a reason. I was actually having a conversion about this about 2 weeks ago. I said “How long is time?”, and the person couldn’t give me an answer. Obviously, we now know how large the earth is now, so you can give a definitive answer to that. When you look at the time, you could’ve been born at any point in time, but God chose to allow you to be birthed at this very appointed time. Not only are you placed in a specific time, but you are also from a specific culture, and you live a particular pinpointed area. Not to get all spiritual on this publication, but I truly believe purpose, losses, bouncing back from the same losses, builds character. So, if I sat and said that luck or bad luck played a part to my career, I would be disingenuous to those hard times that helped build me up into the man who is doing this interview with you guys.

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