Proppa is Turning Adversity into Advantages: Elevated Frequencies Episode #10

Olivia: You have always been very entrepreneurial. I remember back in high school when you literally would throw like events, like for people to win an event basically for you to come and DJ there.

Proppa: Mm-hmm.

Olivia: So how did that start? Because nobody at the time... was DJing, let alone like building a business around DJing in the mid 2000s.

Proppa: Yeah, I mean, it was really stigmatized at the time. It was basically just like, you were either somehow in the electronic music world, which was so small, or you were like a wedding DJ. If you weren't from the city, you pretty much had one of those two options. And my buddy and I started kind of doing the wedding bar mitzvah DJ type thing in high school. It was just something I started doing too after getting tired of working in bands and trying to... work with other people in music, I really liked the solo approach of DJing. Or the, you know, you could do it in a group or you could do it solo. I kind of liked that I can do my own thing with it. So, yeah, I mean, in high school, I didn't really fit in too much. I was a little bit of an outsider, so was my best friend at the time. So I feel like DJing was our way to bridge the social gap between us and, you know, other people around us. And so we kind of used it both as a social tactic, but also For me at least, it was a way for me to dip my toes into something that I would maybe want to do in the future. So.

Olivia: You said something that maybe, I don't know if there's a correlation here, but I'm asking you. You said that you were in bands and I remember you learning the drums and piano and everything. Is that a thing like DJs who learned and who came up around the same time you did, I feel like more so we're in bands versus now where people just go straight to DJing.

Proppa: Yeah, well,

Olivia: There's

Proppa: I mean, it

Olivia: not

Proppa: wasn't.

Olivia: that pipeline.

Proppa: Yeah, the electronic music at the time didn't have idols, right? Like it was very, you know, like any new genre that kind of comes and really shakes up the scene, like electronic music was seen the same way that maybe like punk rock was seen when it first came out or like hip hop. And there wasn't really. You know, it just wasn't there, those influences weren't around when you were younger. So growing up where I grew up, it was really punk rock and metal and classic rock. So yeah, a lot of us were starting in bands. And I think some of us, you know, a lot of the guys who started in bands and transitions just really wanted to be either the center focus of the project or wanted to do their own thing. It's really hard to get four or five kids in high school together. and serious about a specific goal, whereas it's easy to get one or two people together to accomplish something. So that's kind of where I feel like that transition happened for a lot of people.

Olivia: Yeah. And like you said, there was no idols. Like nobody was really doing this. So they, you know, had kind of, like I said, like a pipeline introduction into music. Whereas now people are just, it's everywhere. It's on TikTok. It's on Instagram. And,

Proppa: Mm-hmm.

Olivia: um, you know, you can get a starter controller for pretty cheap. So it's like, Hey, mom and dad, can you get me one of these? And I think parents probably like it better because... I remember when you were playing drums, it

Proppa: Yeah.

Olivia: was pretty loud versus like

Proppa: Yeah.

Olivia: you can like, you know, DJ in your basement at a much lower decibel.

Proppa: Yeah, 100%. I think they definitely were happy about that switch. Not that any parents are happy when their kid tells them that they want to be a DJ when they grow up, but you know.

Olivia: They should be. If you are passionate about music and you're in it for the right reasons, then any parent should support that.

Proppa: It's true.

Olivia: So you've stuck with this since day one. You've never taken a break. Your music projects have evolved from like the first, I think it was Splash, right?

Proppa: No, it was

Olivia: That

Proppa: a duo

Olivia: was

Proppa: called Splash, yeah.

Olivia: your duo and then you eventually transitioned into Prappa. How has, like talk to me about your journey because you were kind of ahead of the curve, so to speak, like for our age group, what's it been like just watching the scene change?

Proppa: Oh man. It's hard to really pinpoint if it's a positive or negative thing because there's just so many different aspects of it. I think a lot of people complain about how the scene isn't underground anymore, which I couldn't disagree with more. I feel like the scene, we wanted this stuff to be mainstream. We want it to be profitable. We want it to be a viable career path. So the only way to do that really is bring it into the mainstream. So... Seeing that it's much more widely accepted, seeing that there are parents who are listening to it with their kids and going to festivals with their kids and stuff like that, I really love that. And on the flip side of things, if you go to my Twitter recently, I articulated it in a very negative way, but other DJs have, large DJs agreed with me on my tweet and then have also, a bunch of other large DJs have articulated it in a much better way than me on Twitter about how this... most recent push for us to become not only musicians, but also like social media actors, is becoming extremely toxic for the career path as a whole. You're no longer focused on the music these days entirely because you can't be 100% music focused. You have to be focused on a social media marketing campaign. or like a visual angle that you're taking or some kind of gimmick approach. And so there's positive and negatives that go into it. I think that the funny thing is the two things I listed, the positive and negative are actually direct results of each other, right? So like, because of the now kind of fake social media stuff that's going on with music production, all these new people are being brought into it. But because all these new people are, which is a good thing, but all these people are being brought into it and there's more of the social media BS, which is a bad thing. So it's really hard to say whether the state of electronic music is better or worse than it used to be. But I do love that so many more people are interested. Even people are looking to learn as a teacher. It makes me really happy that people are definitely excited about it. So, yeah.

Olivia: Yeah, and I mean that complaint and observation is valid in every creative industry, not even just creative industries, all industries. You have to be an expert at your craft and then you have to be an expert at marketing it. And I think a lot of people still think that like social media is just you make a post and you post it and like 500 people are going to see it. Like it's not like the old days where it was just the wild west of the internet. Like there's so many strategies and tactics that go into it now that constantly change. and a lot of it's pay to play. However, that being said, you really have nailed the content game and that is, I think, one of the, you can attribute a lot of your success to that. It's not just that you have good music, it's that you have very creative content. And many people have approached me and said that about you. So are you just playing the game or

Proppa: Yeah, I mean...

Olivia: like, where does that come from? You're not exactly like resisting, I'll put it that way.

Proppa: I mean, I definitely resisted for a long time. Um, I was, it took me until my Missy Elliott remix last year. Was that last year? It took me until my Missy Elliott, gosh, was that last

Olivia: Two

Proppa: year?

Olivia: numbers, like a 2021, no?

Proppa: Yeah, it could have been 2021. Yeah.

Olivia: Yeah.

Proppa: Wow. Time flies. Up until that point, though, I mean, I was very anti-social media. I would make a post a week, and I wouldn't get great engagement. And I just, it's so weird to think back to a time where I didn't see the importance in it. I mean, and maybe that's just because I do think for all artists, it is so much more important to focus on the music. to put 99% of your effort into making good music before you start worrying about social media. Because the social media, you can only sidestep the music for so long until it comes back to bite you. You can sidestep the social media for as long as you want. Everyone's still gonna think you're a great producer. So at the end of the day, that's what it comes down to. But yeah, I mean, up until the Missy I Remix, I really didn't wanna do the social media thing. I play the game. I don't necessarily play the game. as by the rules. If you look at my TikTok, I definitely satirically play the game. I do like to make fun of the game while I'm playing the game in order to kind of get my worth out of it. I've found that that's maybe the only way for me to be motivated to play the game is to find new ways to clown the game while I'm playing it. And I think that more artists, one of my favorite guys doing it right now is a guy I was on a remix EP for Bijou with, his name's All Talk. Oh my gosh, he makes the funniest content that just, he makes those videos, you know how people are like, these two songs together in the club would be amazing. And they'll just like play like a pre-made mix. Well, he'll do it, but it'll be horrible. And like, it'll just like every video is increasingly worse. And I just

Olivia: Awesome.

Proppa: think that's so fantastic that we... You know, because it doesn't take any effort to make those videos. The only effort isn't coming with up with the idea,

Olivia: Like

Proppa: right?

Olivia: the worst songs ever, yeah.

Proppa: Yeah. So, um, that's the way I am starting to kind of try to play the game a little bit. Um, you obviously still have to be like, Hey, this is my song, whatever. But, um, and if you go to my tech talk, when I released my most recent track, I was very satirical with my promotions for it. Like you can't just post a video of you eating Cheez-Its to promote your song, but that's exactly what I did. Um, stuff

Olivia: Okay,

Proppa: like

Olivia: well,

Proppa: that.

Olivia: wait. And you're saying that it's low effort, but it's not because you still have to have the creative brain. And what you're doing is like making it actually easier for yourself, but it's the thinking that... What I'm trying to say is you have to think of the creative thing to get to that point, and then it's easier for yourself. You're not like implementing this huge strategy and budget or whatever,

Proppa: Yeah, it's

Olivia: but

Proppa: conditioned

Olivia: still,

Proppa: thinking. I think

Olivia: it

Proppa: it's just,

Olivia: is.

Proppa: you know, like it's when you, cause I have students, I teach, um, lessons part-time for music production. I have students who are so afraid to make content and I try to tell them like, you, you just have to start because if you don't start, you're never going to, it's just like anything else. You get conditioned to think as a content creator eventually. So I can't help it. I look for like, I see opportunities and what I can make content with in my everyday life. and I try to capitalize on them and make it as easy as possible. But that's conditioned thinking. It's not just something where, you know, you've never made content before. All of a sudden you have an idea for some content. Like it doesn't just come out of nowhere. A lot of these creators who are big on TikTok too, you can scroll back to their, you know, early days and they have those 200, 300 view videos that, that weren't funny at all or weren't interesting at all, you know?

Olivia: Okay, wait, that's a really good tip. So you said that you go about your day and you think of things that are just already in your routine that can be turned into content.

Proppa: For sure, yeah. I mean, like brushing my teeth. You know, like I had a video like, hi, I'm a house DJ and this is how I brush my teeth. And I just did a video of me brushing my teeth. And I mean, just stuff like that, you know?

Olivia: That's really smart. So I think that that's a really good actionable tip somebody could take if they're trying to make content, not just DJs, but anybody. Think about what you're already doing and how, because people want relatable stuff anyway. And if it's funny, that's a bonus.

Proppa: Yeah. I mean, like, I think, um, one of the other things is like, we take, you see a lot of people take themselves too seriously on social media too, and I feel like we just need to like, we need, there was an era when electronic music first got big where it was so robotic, right? And it was on purpose. It was by design. You, the big Swedish DJs, the big Amsterdam DJs coming out and they were very, you know, Hey guys, my new track is out on blah, blah records. And it was all very robotic by design. Um, and I think there was a little era there where we started to loosen up with vine and stuff like that, where we stopped taking ourselves so seriously for a little bit. Um, especially when like trap music first got big and stuff. And I, and I'm starting to feel like with the current content push, like people are getting so robotic again, you know, point their finger up in the air. This track is the biggest song of what I, you know, it's just like, it's so

Olivia: Yeah.

Proppa: robotic. So I feel like anything we can possibly do to just like inject some personality. into our doom strolling is just going to do good for all of us as viewers and as creators, you know?

Olivia: Yeah, yeah, that's so true. I think people resort back to that because it's easy and because it's like formulaic, like you're saying robotics literally is fitting a social media algorithm. But

Proppa: Yeah.

Olivia: at the end of the day, authenticity and personality wins. Like you

Proppa: It

Olivia: might

Proppa: does.

Olivia: get the quick hits off of those videos where you're just pointing at different songs. Like I don't want to call out there's a specific DJ duo that that's like all they do. And they're pretty big. and people love it, fine, whatever, but like that's showing no personality. And that's not who I, okay, Fisher, why does everybody love the guy? Because

Proppa: Well,

Olivia: he

Proppa: I was

Olivia: jumps

Proppa: just gonna

Olivia: around,

Proppa: bring him up. I was

Olivia: he

Proppa: literally

Olivia: jumps

Proppa: just gonna

Olivia: around,

Proppa: bring him up.

Olivia: he's so happy. He's

Proppa: So

Olivia: like,

Proppa: much personality.

Olivia: oh, smiling. That's

Proppa: Yeah.

Olivia: what people want. They want to connect with an artist, a creator that is making them feel something.

Proppa: Yeah, you want to feel like you can have a funny conversation or like a cool conversation with that person right away without ever meeting them. Like it's, and I think one thing people don't realize there was a recent story I saw of like, there was this TikTok influencer that had 280,000 followers or something on TikTok and there was this, you know, they do meet and greet expos where you sign

Olivia: Okay.

Proppa: up as a creator, you pay a fee and then people come in. Um, and she did this thing where she did a meet and greet and literally zero people showed up, even though she had like 280,000 TikTok. followers. And it's because it's all, you know, it's get ready with me content. It's, you know, it's, this is how I cook this food content. There's no topic of substance on the page whatsoever. And there's no personality. And it's like, the same thing goes for DJs. If you are just making videos, this is the top five tracks of this week, you know, and that's the only thing I see in your TikTok, then I don't have to go see you, DJ. I'm seeing you DJ on TikTok. You know what I mean? Like there's no, I don't think you're gonna surprise me in any type of way with, you know, unreleased

Olivia: Okay.

Proppa: music with, you know, I mean like and I think that's so important and right now my numbers aren't doing influencer numbers on social media. Sometimes I hit the algorithm a little bit But I think it's so much more important that the people who follow me The people who comment on my videos are the same people every video and they're not like my homies they're my the same fans who are like they are following up on the personality that I'm putting out there. You know what I mean? Like

Olivia: much

Proppa: they

Olivia: more

Proppa: feel

Olivia: valuable.

Proppa: the connection with me and that's growing and it's like every week there's two more people that are always the same people that are in on my content. So it's so much more important to me than hitting an algorithm and 50% of the people trolling and the other 50% being bot comments, that little 0.5% of people actually supporting and following and clicking on your links and stuff. So. You know, it's a slingshot effect, in my opinion. You.

Olivia: It's so valid because what's more valuable? A smaller fan base on social media that truly loves everything you do or like you said, just a random grouping of people who aren't actually there for you. People get obsessed with vanity metrics and they focus exclusively on them and if their video or whatever doesn't do tens of thousands of views, they feel like it's a failure. First of all, it's not true. Second of all, it could be the best video in the world and TikTok just wants to give you the middle finger. Instagram wants to give you the middle finger. There's so many things that go into it. So

Proppa: Yeah.

Olivia: seeing that community that you build as the win, like that's what helps keep you grounded and not obsessive over the wrong things.

Proppa: Yeah. I think going off that, people pay attention to the wrong engagement too. I think people pay attention to views and they pay attention to likes, which is if we're getting technical, so views and likes are a sign that you are algorithmically making the right content. and that is resonating with people and you just need to continue to grow off of that tangent. So like for me, my biggest thing that keeps my imposter syndrome away, that keeps me like really satisfied with how my brand is going is that like my comment and my view and like to comment ratio is always very good. Like I have a high amount of comments that are not just emojis that are like actual people engaging with me. as compared to my likes and views, whereas you'll see a video that has a million views, you know, a hundred thousand likes, but it still only has like 45 comments. And to me, that tells me that content is not, maybe that is real likes, but it's not resonating with people enough where they're ever going to click on anything other than the like button for it. So for me, it's like when I have a video that does a thousand views, does, you know, 200 likes and does 50 comments, I feel really, really good about it because it's like, not my comments, 50 other people commenting on it saying like, yo, I really like this song because you could see that same number of views and likes with two comments on videos. When you have to create content that gets people engaging with your page constantly,

Olivia: Mm-hmm.

Proppa: not just liking it, constantly clicking on your videos, commenting, clicking on your short links, stuff like that.

Olivia: Yeah, because anyone can mindlessly scroll and just like a bunch of things, but taking

Proppa: I like,

Olivia: the extra

Proppa: I

Olivia: step,

Proppa: do that.

Olivia: same,

Proppa: Yeah.

Olivia: taking the extra step to comment means they actually give a shit.

Proppa: Uh-huh.

Olivia: And two points I want to make, you make a great point about the way we need to be looking at metrics differently now. I think about that as somebody who works in marketing, that it's almost like... It's more of a challenge now to marketers and people who are creating content because it's like, yeah, you could get all of these likes and all of these views, but what does that mean at the end of the day? And I'm looking for a social media manager right now. So thank you, because now that's going to be a criteria in who I hire.

Proppa: Yeah, like what metrics are important to you when you're like looking at how to grow a page.

Olivia: Definitely.

Proppa: It's like so important

Olivia: And also, one thing that I found that is in my realm, because I'm doing a lot of like knowledge on mindset, you know, mindset education, manifestation, entrepreneurship, that sort of thing. I will get videos with like 50 likes, okay, and like that couple thousand views, but that shit has like 90 to 100 saves.

Proppa: Yeah.

Olivia: And that is how I know I'm like, okay. this content slaps, nobody can see that it had these saves, you know, whatever, I don't look cool, but people are saving this because they wanna come back to it later to implement the knowledge that I just offered to them.

Proppa: Yeah, dude, it's always those ratios that you have to pay attention to because like, there's a huge difference in your ability to get eyes on something and your ability to convert those eyes into fans, followers, you know, substance. And yeah, I think, you know, that goes to any artist who's like putting out music. SoundCloud is such a great way to gauge those metrics because, you know, like I have remixes that get 100,000 views. and they'll get 12,000 likes and whatever amount of comments. And then I'll get remixes that have 5,000 views, but the same exact or higher ratio of comments and likes. And that tells me that my fans still care the same amount. The music is still at the same level. It's not popular music. It's not hit music. So you can really get an idea of if you're going down the right path with your sound. you know, if your fans are still engaging with it. But yeah, I mean, it's a long tangent, but.

Olivia: So, but well, yeah, and to just wrap this up, it really is just don't focus on the vanity metrics. You really have to think about what's important to you as a creator. And you know, each situation is unique now. We know social media isn't a one size fits all.

Proppa: Yep.

Olivia: Going back a little bit because this reminds me of a post that you caught a little bit of heat for, but I loved it. We're talking about... DJs that don't have personalities. You're not even gonna remember this one. This one's from like a while ago. We're talking about DJs that don't have personalities and you hate when DJs just stand there while they're playing.

Proppa: Oh yeah.

Olivia: You remember that one?

Proppa: Yeah. I don't understand why I got heat for that. It was a personal Facebook post and some DJs got mad and it's.

Olivia: Because they feel called out. You know, if that, I don't know, if that is your vibe, fine, but similar to how we want to see people's personalities online, like you are the main, as a DJ, you're the main reason people are going to a show. Some of the best sets in my life have not had any visuals, not had any fancy bullshit, whatever. It's just the artist and their energy. That's what I was feeding off of. And that's what made it memorable.

Proppa: Yeah, 100%. I mean, if the DJ is not dancing, what the hell reason do you have to dance? You know what I mean? It's like, if they're not vibing to their own music, then there's just, there's no reason to. I think that there's a big ego problem in some DJs, which is definitely getting shut off to. To me, it's like, if they're paying you money to go and stand there and play music, you better look like you're having a good time at least. You know what I mean? It just blows my mind. But I mean, I always try to like my whole thing in shows is if, and I'm a busy DJ, like when I'm on stage, I'm very busy. I don't just let songs ride. I'm very much like layering and looping songs over each other, but I'm always interacting. And I feel like it's so important to interact and dance and just look like you're having a good time. It's... Unless you're DJing so horrible that there's nothing you could do when people are in a room and they see a DJ dancing, it's hard not to dance with him, right?

Olivia: Totally.

Proppa: The room is full, the vibes are there, the music's loud. It's like, how are you just going to watch him dance and just stand there unless he's doing a horrible job? But

Olivia: Well,

Proppa: um...

Olivia: I want to point this out to you because I know with this career and every career, there are downsides and there are parts that are very frustrating, which we've just talked about. But I think that as the artist, dancing and having a good time shows that you are grateful for the opportunity because it really is such a cool career. You have the responsibility to make people's nights better. People come to see you. And like... everybody feeds off of that energy. It shows me that you are literally grateful. Everybody wants that. You want to see a DJ up there who's not too big for their britches and is too cool or whatever. That gratitude is just, I don't know, makes that person seem more humble and accessible and you just feel a deeper connection to them.

Proppa: Yeah, I mean nobody likes the kind of guy who just sunglasses, doesn't talk to anybody, straight face, no smiles, no time of day for anybody, just in his own world. Nobody likes that man. Like, I mean, I'm not saying nobody likes the guy in sunglasses, I'm saying nobody likes the whole, the whole, the whole get up, you know what

Olivia: Yeah.

Proppa: I mean?

Olivia: And I think that those artists get weeded out,

Proppa: Yeah, for

Olivia: like,

Proppa: sure.

Olivia: eventually. You know what I mean? Like, you can't keep a bad attitude in a scene that is still so small.

Proppa: Mm-hmm.

Olivia: You and I have talked about this before off podcast, obviously, about how it's just so off-putting and people see through that shit.

Proppa: Yeah, it always comes back to bite you too. I've learned luckily in small lessons and small doses and now I know and I've seen it happen firsthand and I've seen people who have it coming for them. Negative interactions and trying to be the coolest guy in the room, trying to be the best DJ in the room at all times. Calling out other DJs when they don't deserve it, stuff like that. It always comes back to bite you no matter what in your career. You always got to be careful how you're talking to people, who you're talking to, and just be happy, wear a smile, and focus on your own success.

Olivia: 100%. Anybody who's truly happy with themselves and their trajectory of their career and their life don't need to do that. I've never met somebody who does that who is truly happy on the inside.

Proppa: Yeah,

Olivia: So

Proppa: no, I mean,

Olivia: it's projection.

Proppa: yeah. And it's wild. Cause like, dude, I make music full time. It's like the coolest thing I could ever say out loud in the world. You know? So it's like, how can I ever, you know, disrespect anybody that shares that either that job with me or like, you know, the passion with me, I don't know. But you know, it's. Those people get weeded out. And I'd say of all the industries, the electronic music industry is probably the most loving and accepting out of like all genres. Like

Olivia: Yes.

Proppa: without a doubt, the nicest people involved, the most accepting, open arms. And that's probably one of the things that's drawn me to it in the first place, you know?

Olivia: Yeah.

Proppa: There's no like, you don't really get that bully factor. You don't get that like, you don't belong here factor. Like you always feel like you belong, you know?

Olivia: You can go to a show by yourself

Proppa: Mm-hmm.

Olivia: and like have a great time, meet people. That's not something that I've ever done because I'm a chicken shit.

Proppa: Ha ha ha.

Olivia: But I know that if I ever did it, I would have a good time, which I don't think I could say the same about, especially club environments. This is the only place you can go to a club and like not be bullied.

Proppa: Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, like, you know, I've worked at a club that did like open format, pop, hip hop, you know, all that on one floor, and then did electronic music on another floor. And you can definitely see it's also like the open format pop hip hop kind of club scene has had such a long time to develop and like grow its own pockets of clicks and popularity and But you know, there's something different about electronic music. Maybe it's where it came from Maybe it's because it came from like the communities, you know house music came from the LGBTQ and black community It like came from such a loving place. So like that could very well have something to do with How it's kind of fostered this family-like environment around it But it's definitely what has kept me attracted to it and why like what we were talking about. It's so rare that you really have to deal with prima donnas in the music industry because we just don't accept it. You know, like it's just not like and you know getting into it, like, you know, you can't really be that person.

Olivia: Yeah, a hundred percent. Okay, so I want to talk about, I meant to ask you this like five questions ago, but we got on a really good tangent about social media. So you said that you really popped off in the content game and gained some more popularity with your Missy Elliott remix. And a lot of the music that you do, your proper treatments are old songs from the eighties, nineties, and early two thousands. You know, you've done Tainted Love, You've done Missy, you've done a lot of old Lil Wayne songs. Talk to me about where that came from. I already know, but tell everybody else because it's a very cool story of how you basically took a shitty situation and made it something amazing.

Proppa: Yeah. I mean, the remix thing was going on for a little bit. I had made a few remixes, put them on SoundCloud, and they did way better than the originals I put out. And the goal was always just to remix songs that meant something to my childhood, songs that my parents would play for me or like you, that I learned from you, or just songs that I heard from school dances and stuff like that. Stuff that reminded me of high school and grade school. And I was... kind of doing it semi consistently. I had a breakup in my life that caused like an emotional charge of like, okay, now I'm gonna like go hard in the remixes. And I started to do it and then I needed a surgery. So I had surgery on my ankle to replace some ligaments. And during that surgery, I also had a previous injury interrupted where I had my teeth knocked out as a kid with a baseball bat. And while I was getting out of the sleep in the surgery, the anesthesiologist accidentally pulled my fake teeth out. So I woke up in the morning in October of 2021 with

Olivia: one.

Proppa: no front teeth on the top of my mouth. I wasn't able to walk and girlfriend-less. And I was in a really low place. So I was

Olivia: Ugh.

Proppa: sitting in bed. The day I came home from surgery, I was definitely supposed to be sleeping because I was under a lot of drugs. And I was like, no, I'm just going to make music. So that day, um, I started by making a remix of, I don't even know what the original song is called, but it's, you know, that like, keep me hanging on. You know that

Olivia: Yeah.

Proppa: song? Um, I did a remix of that, which is now sitting on my Patreon with like a snippet on my SoundCloud, and I did a remix of Diamond Girl, um, which

Olivia: Yes,

Proppa: is kind

Olivia: I love

Proppa: of

Olivia: it.

Proppa: a VIP in my sets, I've never put it out. But then the next day I did the Eminem ass like that remix. A week later I did, like, and then it became this thing where like almost every other day I was starting to finishing a new remix. And over the course, and I would take some breaks, work on originals, I was also working on a ton of originals. And over the course of a month, I built up like something like 18 unreleased finished remixes of popular songs. So I just decided I was gonna release one every two weeks. And I started doing that. I got out of surgery. The day I got cleared by my doctor. I, I flew. So I went in the morning to the doctor's office, got a clearance note because I was on, um, workers comp two as a bartender at the time. So I needed a doctor to clear me to do anything. Um, got a clearance note, jumped on a plane and went and played my first ever headlining show in San Diego, um, because I had started releasing those remixes halfway through my recovery. and they started getting popular online. So I got a booking. And yeah, from there, I kept it up for a solid year. I don't know if you heard that car going by my place.

Olivia: It's probably going to go by mine now.

Proppa: Yeah, exactly.

Olivia: We live three minutes away from each other.

Proppa: Not even, so like whatever car goes past me, it goes past her. But yeah, I caught up to myself halfway through the year eventually with the remixes and I was like, okay, I can stop now or I could keep going. And I decided to keep pushing. So I was like, okay, I just, every two weeks, I got to finish a remix while, you know, I was working a full-time bartending job, was teaching lessons part-time. I was playing a residency every Friday and I was DJing out of town at least once a month. So it was a lot, it was a really busy year, but it is the reason why I am where I am now. So, yeah.

Olivia: It's pretty incredible. I mean, again, like you've had that entrepreneurial spirit since you were young and you know, it's just really come full circle for you. And anybody who hasn't checked out your music yet, I highly encourage them to do so. And also look at all the artwork that you made for each of those projects because they're super fun. I think the new shoes I can't wait is my favorite. You just

Proppa: Really?

Olivia: use a lot of fun colors and they all like. They're for someone who, I mean, you literally have no professional graphic design, videography background, but you've managed to make such a cohesive work of art in every way, shape and form, you know that

Proppa: Thank

Olivia: I'm

Proppa: you.

Olivia: your biggest fan. So

Proppa: I appreciate it.

Olivia: you're awesome. And thank you for coming on my show.