American Rapper RAFE FINESSE, CEO, creator and founder of beyouent.com Rafe Finesse life journey has been an interesting variety of adventures. From his upbringing on the southeast part of the western hemisphere, born in the state of Georgia and now resides in Denver, Rafe was known as a sort of gypsy, living a nomadic lifestyle traveling state to state, and after graduating High school in Colorado He moved to Orlando Fl to attend full Sail University pursing a bachelors’ of science degree in Recording Arts, shortly after college he continued his nomadic lifestyle which transitioned into him, working as an O.T.R Trucker, continue traveling all over the united states and performing and sharing his music when and where ever he could, his love for life and exploration has given him a multitude of stories and lyrics from his own experiences to share with the world. We could go on about his talents and accomplishments but to fully understand Rafe Finesse, it’s worth digging a little deeper.
From his hometown of Vidalia GA, He has also displayed a knack for entrepreneurship and starting his own record label B.Y.E. or Be You Ent Perhaps most importantly, Rafe Finesse volunteers in and teaching music and what he learned from his years at fullsail, it’s part of his mission statement to counteract suffering of the world with the joy of music. Rafe is currently working on his new project “PROGRESS” where he is visiting the sounds of his southern roots . search www.beyouemt.com’ to listen to his previous album, or watch his newest Music Video Release TOP ft LlzMusik” www.youtube.com/beyouent
Lisa: Growing up, how important was music in your life? Can you recall the moment when you decided that you wanted to be a musician? Was it an easy or difficult choice to make?
Rafe Finesse: Music was and still is apart of my everyday life, its a motivator for me, At the age of 14, my father introduced a digital recording and beat program called FL studio. I spent a lot of time throughout high school learning and using the program, recording myself and friends, so it wasn’t hard for me to figure out what i wanted to do once I graduated high school, I saw a commercial for full sail university out of winter park FL and that’s when I decided to get my bachelors of science degree in Recording Arts
Lisa: How do you balance the performative/creative side of making music, and at the same time being a CEO of a company?
Rafe Finesse: Well, being an artist and a Ceo of a company can be a lot to take on, and balance is everything, A lot of it is trial and error and research, but really it’s more like a puzzle that just fits into my life which makes me be able to create and set goals to carry out and manifest my vision. I’m a big believer of “ IF you want something done, do it yourself” no one is going to do it for you, and it is usually a Lil easier to get people to believe in your vision when they see it working, I mean its natural for someone to be apart of helping something grow and idea.
Lisa: What has been the biggest surprise so far about making music your career? What has been an unexpected or welcome challenge to it all?
Rafe Finesse: I think every artist starts off with the belief that just because they are doing music people should pay attention to them, and that they are going to get signed to a big label and blow up, obviously, that’s not the case. Unexpectedly it’s not about the music anymore it's more about the analytics and getting people to view your content, and really when it comes down to it, it’s truly about who you know. It’s all how you look at it and where you decided to spend your time and focus, I welcome the challenges of marketing and promoting and also building my contact list to expose my content to the right people.
Lisa: I really liked the single “Top”. Can you tell me more about it? What is it about, and how did you get inspired to write it?
Rafe Finesse: The single Top I actually wrote during the summer of 2019, at the time I was going through a lot of changes in my life, and a lot of challenges as an over the road trucker. We are all human and we all have a story, Top was more of a Motivational Expression to help me get through a new chapter in my life First came the composition and than came the lyrics.
Lisa: You say you’re working on a new project called “Progress” Can you tell me more about that?
Rafe Finesse: Progress is one of my first Studio Album releases courtesy of BeYouEnt (B.Y.E) partnering and partnering with Ditto Music. The Ep was Inspired from a traumatic event that occurred during the summer of 2019, I experienced an assault that left me fighting for my life, days after my surgery I left the hospital to get my daughter and I started working on finishing the Progress Ep which is coming August 28th, 2020 with the help of artists and guest ft on the Top Single, Jamal Scott @ LlzMusik via Instagram Vice president of B.Y.E. Marquis Willams @Bheeyou @ Khota Wolf, and last but not least Levi912King, I would like to also send a special thanks to producer @FranchisePro Of AML recording studio in CO Springs.
Lisa: Who are some of your favorite artists or rather, what musicians have continued to inspire you and your music? Who would you absolutely still love to work with in the future?
Rafe Finesse: Some artist who inspires me, just to name a few Russ, Young Dolph and Rich The Kid all which own artist who owns their own Label and Masters !! Ryan Leslie is another big inspirational Musician and artist who continues to inspire me because he does it all and he continues to search and plan for the future artist.
Lisa: If you had an unlimited budget and your schedule was free, what would your dream music video look like?
Rafe Finesse: It would have to be in a diff country may south America overlooking and showing what other people worlds and culture kind of like the Michael Jackson they really care about us video..
Rafe Finessing da beat pic.twitter.com/90w0etom7Z
— Rafe Finesse (@RafeFinesse) July 31, 2020
Lisa: If you were going to be stranded on a deserted island, what musical item would you take with you and why?
Rafe Finesse: That’s easy a piano, maybe if I play long enough I could sway the ocean to send me an SOS lol!!
Lisa: What non-musical entities and ideas have impacted your music?
Rafe Finesse: I’m inspired by life in general, but just the thought of being able to create and express myself musically, and then being able to show it to the world is enough for me to continue to create impactful music!
Lisa: What advice or philosophy might you impart to other musicians, be it in forms of creativity, technical stuff, the business side of it, or anything else?
Rafe Finesse: Have fun and don’t try to be perfect, Go outside create more experience in your life try things, and find balance or what works for you, once you got your idea down make sure you create a plan and be ready to execute that plan.i
Lisa: At the end of the day, what do you hope people take away from your music?
Rafe Finesse: Motivation to get up and manifest your dreams and thoughts into reality, Also Realize “How far you’ve come and How far you may still need to go”!
Thank you!
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