Today we’d like to introduce you to Keenan Stone.
Hi Keenan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born and raised in Tupelo, Mississippi. My musical journey started in church. I grew up playing drums in a gospel choir and praise teams in various ministries. I’m also classically trained and played violin in my high school orchestra. After graduating college at the University of Virginia, I returned home and jumped in the usual rat race of trying to find a job. To make a long story short I found one, got fired then got inspired to work for myself. I ended up falling back on my passion for martial arts and took over ownership of my local taekwondo academy and taught. During that time, I was referred to play drums for an alternative rock band called “The Woodland.” My time with the band gave me exposure to the gig life and I fell in love with it. We played at all major venues in North and Central Mississippi, including college towns such as Oxford (Ole Miss) and Starkville (Mississippi State University).
The band broke up in 2019 as the lead singer went off to American Idol to pursue a solo career. I still wanted to do music so tried my hand in songwriting after a crush broke my heart before the holidays, December 2019. I wrote a few raps about what I was feeling at the time, found a few beats online, and got a family friend to record me. I dropped the songs on Soundcloud and then performed them at an open mic in Berlin, Germany during a New Year Holiday trip. I loved the feeling of being on stage as a solo act and from there, the rest was history. I moved to Austin, TX in March 2020 to pursue a creative dream in hip-hop music.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It’s been a curvy and bumpy road to say the least. There isn’t a strong Hip-hop community isn’t in my hometown in MS, so there weren’t a lot of people to work with. I also knew nothing about the actual music business starting out, so I took a music business 101 course to learn about licensing work, copyrights, splits, royalties, etc. It was an ongoing struggle to find a consistent and good quality producer and engineer. I made the move to Austin in hopes of getting plugged in with the creative community, but it was a week before the pandemic.
Throughout lockdown, I had to leverage social media (IG) to make connections. As a result, I found a few producers to record songs that weren’t scared of opening their studio. I even managed to record my 1st music video in fall of 2020 and found everyone through Instagram. As far as finding gigs around Austin for hip-hop, it’s been hard. Austin’s hip-hop community is smaller compared to other cities, so it’s a harder sell to well established venues. Most of my stage time has been open mics/showcases. I’ve managed to put together a band to make myself more marketable to venues and as a result, I just booked my first paid gig for 2021.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m an artist, full circle. Musician (Drums, Violin), Martial Artist, and Hip-Hop Artist. My music is best described as conscious yet catchy, and my mission is to truly motivate and inspire my fans to be who they are made to be.
What sets me apart from other artists is that I don’t reinforce the same tropes (sex, drug culture, disrespecting women) in my music. My goal is to write songs that use strong, provoking language to make a point without being vulgar. I bring high energy to the stage and like to incorporate a little martial arts in each performance. I also find it important to have a live-band experience at my shows. People come out to hear real music and want to be entertained, so I think it’d be disrespectful to the audience to come out and perform with just the songs on the record playing in the background. What’s the point of live music if you don’t perform it live? People can stream the record at home anytime. I want to bring musicality back to Hip-Hop.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Books: The Bible – Various Authors (Inspired by God)
Outwitting the Devil – Napoleon Hill
Slight Edge – Jeff Olson
The Art of Work – Jeff Goins
How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
The Lean StartUp – Eric Ries
The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell
Crushing It – Gary Vaynerchuck
Podcasts:
Max Out – Ed Mylett
Real AF – Andy Frisella
Dropping Bombs – The Real Brad Lea
The Worksmart Podcast: Morgan Debaun
Impact Theory: Tom Bilyeu
Other resources:
BMI & Tunecore Articles on music
IG accounts: Gary Vaynerchuck, Russ, UnitedMasters, Tobe Nwigwe
Contact Info:
- Email: keenan.stone90@gmail.com
- Website: keenanstone.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keenanstone_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keenanstonee
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamkeenanstone
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrwIn0VFSULa94CW9ubLsXg
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/keenanstone
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2XgMTXoDL4eAIhKzVU89oU?si=YvUVXJTgSymSlU60B22_fQ
