MADE Magazine Issue 8 | Page 44

on the surface and the whole world sees it because he ’ s a celebrity . I feel for him a lot of times because he struggles with stuff in public and I know I struggle with ( or a lot of us struggle with ) things internally so the world doesn ’ t have to see it . But if the world saw the type of things that certain people struggle with internally , the world would be looking at us crazy too . With him it just takes place on the surface .
MADE : It ’ s interesting you mentioned inward and outward struggle , especially since it seems that your faith is so strong . How do you manage to stay true to your values while navigating in the entertainment industry especially in hip-hop ?
Dee1 : Yeah , it ’ s not easy . It ’ s like the people I ’ m naturally close to or naturally grew up with it , it ’ s gotten to a point where we ’ re on different life paths and it ’ s hard for me to keep growing when I feel like there aren ’ t people around who are challenging me . It is difficult and I just had to learn to embrace my circle that is not consisting of musicians . So a lot of my circle who I talk to is made up of people who are not in the music industry at all and that ’ s the people I draw my inspiration from . It ’ s college professors , it ’ s teachers , it ’ s people that are pastors , it ’ s people that are community activists , it ’ s people that work a regular 9 ¬ -5 who are not trying to be famous or popular at all , but they are just trying to be good human beings . I ’ ve always had those people , but I wasn ’ t tapping into them for a while because I was like , “ Man , what am I gonna talk to this person for ? They can ’ t relate to this studio time I had to book or this tour I ’ m about to go on .” But you ’ ll be surprised how you can still draw inspiration from people who don ’ t do the same thing you do . It doesn ’ t mean you can ’ t work together . I can ’ t make these people my managers , my producers and all that , but I can draw inspiration from them .
MADE : You and Lil ’ Wayne share the connection of growing up in New Orleans . And being artists , of course . Have you all sat down and grabbed a cup of coffee yet ?
Dee1 : No it hasn ’ t happened . I think it is going to happen and when it does , I just hope that I say all the right things . I ’ m so confident that I will and I ' ll be in the right frame of mind to
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