Deezyy

Deezyy has been someone I’ve known for over a decade, and has always had the Jack of All Trades persona about him. Having the opportunity to sit down and talking about a era of music that will never grown out of style; and and going through life finding a balance in everything when things seem like a lot made my brain click like I’ve found that one puzzle piece to connect every all together. Deezyy giving motivating words in this interview that will surly help someone that needs a boost in their daily drive.

Where are you from Deezyy?

I was born in New York City, but I was raised in Nashville, Tennessee.

What brings you to Chicago?

I actually came to Chicago in 2012; I went to Columbia College for a while.

And you decided to stay here after college?

Yeah, I went to school for a while but didn’t end up finishing.  Sometimes I joke that real art school graduates don’t graduate [laughs].  So, I left Columbia, but I really enjoyed Chicago; So I decided just to stay, man. I was already working as a personal trainer at the time, I had a good group of friends here, and I still had a lot of things I wanted to accomplish here, so I decided to stay put so I could make them happen.

So personal training is something your passionate about outside of music?

Yeah man, I mean it's funny.  Training, fitness, martial arts. That's something I'm almost equally passionate about, you know?  Getting to help someone reach their goals, to watch them become stronger, more athletic, more confident in themselves, that really makes me happy.  Training doesn't really feel like something I just do in the meantime.  It's something I'm actually also really passionate about. I’m just lucky enough to get to do my passion for a living.   

What style of training/workouts you do, for people who wanna get into training or wanna learn more about training?

I have pretty wide base when it comes to training. I’m NASM certified and I do strength training, conditioning, mobility, sport specific athletic training.  I also coach boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, and MMA too.  I’ve trained everyone from professional fighters to NFL players to rappers and actors, to regular people like you and me that just want to get in shape and improve their health. A little bit of everything, man. Basically, whatever someone's fitness goal is, I can get them there.

What got you into Kickboxing and Muay Thai?

Man, I started in taekwondo when I was a little kid, you know, probably like 6 or 7, because I was always into martial arts, and we found a taekwondo school that was not too far away from where my mama's house was; and ever since then, I was just hooked you know. It ended up being kinda expensive, and I was super into skateboarding at the time. So I kinda traded taekwondo for skateboarding after a certain point. But then when I moved up to Chicago, I got more into boxing and kickboxing and Brazilian jujitsu and Muay Thai, and I feel like I really found the love for it again.

Have you ever competed in martial art tournaments?

Yeah, so I competed in Brazilian jujitsu at a regional level, I competed in a bunch of different cities, like in Indianapolis, St. Louis, in Chicago and Southern Illinois. And then in Muay Thai, I competed at regional level, in amateur Muay Thai. I competed in Brazilian Jujitsu more than Muay Thai, but yeah, I’ve got experience in both.

What got you into music?

Man honestly, I feel like music was kinda like martial arts, It was just something I was always into. Like ever since I was a little kid, I just remember being really really interested in music of a lot of different genres. I was really into rock music as a kid, alt rock, and rap music too. It's hard to pinpoint an exact moment. It just feels like I was always interested in it, you know?

Who were some artists that inspired you growing up?

Man, 3 6 Mafia, Project Pat, Nas, MF Doom was a huge inspiration on me. Madvillainy changed the way I thought about rap music when I was a kid. And then a lot of rock bands.  Bands like the Foo Fighters, Radiohead, Animal Collective.  To be honest, skate videos made a massive impact on my music taste too.  So much of the music that I loved as a kid came directly from skate videos, they really shaped my ear.  The first skate video I ever got as a kid was Mosaic.  I loved the music in it so much, it felt so mature and elevated compared to what I was hearing at the time. Bands like Dinosuar Jr., Spoon, RJD2. It really opened my ears to what was out there.  Now, most of my favorite skate videos also have amazing soundtracks that have inspired my music taste. But yeah, I’d listen to everything from Juvenile to Korn [laughs].  

Korn was one of my favorite band growing up in middle school.

They still give you that hype mixed with that nostalgia factor when I'm lifting man [laughs]. Every now and then when I gotta hit a PR in the gym, I'll throw on some Korn and it will usually do the trick.

So how did this, impact the way you make your music?

Man, I feel like I just try to take the things that I like from all of them and kinda sprinkle them in to what I like. I feel like I got a lot of my, like, whatever you wanna call it, like, rhyme pattern structure from a lot of  Memphis artists, like 3 6 and Project Pat. But I feel like I got a lot of my wordplay inspiration from MF DOOM. He had such a unique way of writing, he inspired me to think outside the box. Definitely reminds me that my music can be whatever I want it to be.

Would describe your type of music as more wordplay?

I think there's definitely a good amount of that in there, I think that's one facet of my music for sure.  I was rapping since a pretty young age, the first rap show I ever did I was probably 10 or 11. Funny story about that actually, I was on stage with a bunch of older kids and we were performing a song we wrote together. One of the older kids forgot his lyrics right at the beginning of his verse, so I rapped his verse, rapped my verse then rapped the hook [laughs]. But anyway, at that age wordplay was all I really cared about.  But as I’ve gotten older I’ve grown to appreciate all of the elements that go into making music, you know? It’s gotta be more than just one thing.  

So how do you mix all your day to day life together with, like, doing music, working out, strength conditioning, doing kickboxing? How does that work for you?

Man, so I have clients that I train throughout the day. You know, some in the morning, some in the early afternoon, some at night. I get my workout in between and I also get a lot of music stuff done afterwards.  I’m naturally a night owl so I really find my creativity at night, so I usually record music late after work.  I feel like it's actually a pretty good balance because I don't really get burnt out on one thing. I'm training someone and then I'm working out on my own and then I'm writing a song and then I'm training somebody else and then I'm playing guitar. I'm constantly switching back and forth between all these different mediums and focuses, and that keeps me energized. It makes it so I don't do one thing so repeatedly that I get bored of it. If I neglect one of them too much I can feel that something’s missing. It’s a balancing act but it’s worth it, you know?

So what's some type of advice you would give someone who needs help balancing their day to day life that wanna, like, focus more on music but doesn't have the time?

Man that's a really good question. I would just say use everything else you're doing throughout your day as motivation to use when you sit down and make music. So even if you only have 10-15 minutes, you have a lot of experience to draw on when it comes to having something to write/think about and having something to say when you're constantly doing a lot of different stuff. If you really think about it, you're using that as inspiration for your music, you can really optimize whatever time you have.  Life can be hard to balance, so don’t get frustrated.  

Your new single “Can’t Jog” where did that whole concept come around?

Man, so it's funny, last year I hurt my Achilles tendon running, and I was limping everywhere. So, obviously, I couldn't run at all, and I was super bummed out about not being able to run. So I remember one day I was at the crib and I looked outside my window and I felt like everyone and their mama was outside jogging that day. And I was so pissed that I couldn't I couldn't be outside running because it looked super nice that day.  It made me think, “Man, they're having fun and I’m in here chained up in the crib”.  So for whatever reason, I said out loud in a British accent, “Can’t jog cause my chain too heavy”  and I was like, damn, that's kinda hard [laughs]. So originally, I recorded the hook myself, and I was gonna try to find a British artist to perform the hook and I was gonna use my section as a reference.

But then you had change of heart

Yeah I decided like why not just do it myself?  So yeah that's actually me on the hook. From there, I just linked up with my boy Johnny, who's this incredible producer and engineer that I work with, and as per usual he whipped a fire ass beat for it, and we kinda just went from there.

Any big projects you plan on dropping?

Yeah man, I'm working on some new music with Johnny. I'm also working on some new music with my boy Billy Hoyle from Pittsburgh. He just sent me a bunch of beats that I'm really excited about. So I've been working on those a lot. I'm working on some music in a few different genres, like a little bit of alt rock, a little bit of psych rock. I'm not sure when that's gonna be out because I really want it to be at a stage I'm happy with before I release it. But yeah man, I definitely got a lot of stuff that I'll be working on. I'm also working on my next round of merch, and this batch is gonna be a little different. I kinda wanna fuse the worlds of music and fitness. I don’t wanna spoil it, but I’m really excited about it.

Do you have any words of motivation for the youth?

Just whatever you do, make sure that it's something you're passionate about. Make sure that it's something you really care about and trust yourself. Trust your taste, trust your vision, and make sure you keep people around you that inspire you.  Don’t be afraid to be different.  If you really embrace it, it can become your superpower. If you spend most of your time trying to make yourself better, trying to make the people around you better, and trying to make the environment around you better, the high tide raises all boats. If you really focus on those three things, you'll flourish.

Where can we find your newest single? What platforms?

It's everywhere you can find music. It's on Apple Music, Spotify, it's everywhere man. Just search “Deezyy - Can’t Jog” and you'll find it.

Thank you for your time.

Of course bro. Thank you, You're the man.

Thank you for reading about Deezyy, click the name to see more from Deezy! More photos from my time with him posted down.