by Indo | May 1, 2019 | FEATURED POST, MUSIC, Op-Ed
Pop music sweetheart Lawand, (@LawandMusic), is painting the town gold with her infectious new single. The fresh-faced songstress slid onto the music scene late last year, with a combination of upbeat singles and dope covers. As a result the 21 year olds music is a medley of captivating sounds and rhythms. Lawand is creating a niche lane in the music industry by being featured on legendary music platforms such as The Source and indie platforms such as #MusicCrushMondays with @DyeTai of New Yorks Hot 97. Her fans, or âWander-ersâ as the singer affectionately calls them, have surpassed the 50k mark on IG with the help of eye-catching visual campaigns like #SheAintGold. A campaign for her latest single that featured women and girls of all ages beautifully displaying their self-love and empowerment.
Today I caught up with
Lawand as she filmed an interview at the famed Stronghold Shop, a fashion and
cultural hot spot in the heart of Bloomfield, NJ. Scroll down to see how it unfolded:
This Interview is edited for clarity and length.
All Photos by Bruce Arthur Jr. @MagitheProphet
Notez: So
Lawand, what started your love for sneakers?
Lawand: I
always liked the way sneakers looked they were just cool. They always had a
bunch of designs and they’re really comfortable. So like whenever you just
needed something to put on you just got a pair of sneakers!
Notez: What
was your first pair of kicks?
Lawand: My mom put me in
whatever she felt like putting me, like these little baby Jordans or something.
But the first pair of sneakers that I bought with my own money, I got these
Nike Air Force Ones, the black and gray ones.
Notez: Okay, thatâs actually
my first pair pretty crazy.
Lawand: Really? And I had to
get them boyâs size.
Notez: Thatâs the thing about girls, you can wear our
sizes and its cool.
Notez: So I gotta ask,
sneakers or heels and why?
Lawand: Iâd say heels,
because I’m really tall, so heels accentuate my height. But it depends on the
day but overall I would pick heels. Well If I had to go pick up money from
somebody, Iâd put my sneaks on.
Notez: Yo if you owe her
bread son, you betta pay up !
Lawand: That is the vibe
(Both Laughs)
Notez: How would you describe
your style?
Lawand: I would describe it
as street/glam because I do like to wear sneakers and heels. So heels is more
glam, sneakers is more street and I kinda like to combine the two. Iâll wear
heels with a street graphic tee and make it a dress.
Notez: Yeah you have to
switch it up on them. I actually like the fact that we both have the pink vibe
going right now.
Lawand: On Wednesdayâs we
wear pink and today is Wednesday!
Notez: Whatâs your go to
kicks?
Lawand: Converse. Yeah, these are actually Converse yea that have a lil fuzz and a lil platform. I love Converse. You can do anything with Converse.
Notez: Obviously the converse
they are the kind of go to versatile sneaker. Shout out Chuck Taylor one time.
Lawand: Their stylish, their
functional, they cover your ankles if you didnât put lotion on. You should
always put lotion on!
Notez: So when you put that
drip on, are you looking for more lifestyle or function?
Lawand: I feel like my
lifestyle and my function is style.
Notez: So they coincide its
one thing?
Lawand: Yeah so my function
is to be stylish. So I gotta put on something thatâs fly, like walk out the
door and just be fly to death.
Notez: Walk out the door and
just take off?
Lawand: Like Red Bull â
Wings!
Notez: Sheâs always on point;
youâll never catch her lacking. So now that youâre becoming a young drip lord
do you only go out to the new items or do you still rock some older pieces or
you prefer older pieces?
Lawand: I really like old
stuff honestly; vintage is really cool to me. I feel like new fashion is all
just vintage stuff making a come back. Iâm all about the overall look and
getting a certain style and feeling across through an outfit. So I donât think
it really matters if itâs old or new.
Notez: Whatever the look
requires, thatâs what weâre going to do.
Lawand: Yea âcause if I
already have it in my closet, why would I go out and buy something new!
(laughs)
Notez: Alright so I gotta ask
you, what you got going on for yourself?
Lawand: I just dropped a music video called Gold.
Notez: Let’s get it!
Lawand: My singles out also
called Gold.
Notez: Fire! Go get that! All
Platforms!
Lawand: Every platform, all
of them! My EPâs coming out in like a couple weeks. Weâre having a party that
we’re going to do for the EP. So lots going on all the time.
Notez: She’s already saying
summer is hers fall back. Nobody’s working harder to her right now in these
streets. STAMPED IT! STAMPED IT! LAWAND!
Lawand: What do you have
going on? What are you doing?
Notez: Who Me? Honestly Iâve
got some really cool things, like I have this interview with this girl Lawand,
you feel me. Sheâs supposed to be here but you know girls ha-ha sheâs always
late. (laughs)
Lawand: She late! Go get her,
ha-ha, go get her. She ainât never late! (laughs)
Notez: So I got that going
on! And this! The Strong store! The Strong Palace! The Drip Factory! What ever
you want to call it!
Lawand: The Ice Box!
Dripping, Icy! Gotta come through!
Notez: Itâs your boy Notez, I
want to thank Lawand for pulling up on me today at the strong factory.
Lawand: Thanks for having me
Notez: Today we talked drip; make sure all of you out there, everybody viewing this, and they friends, and they friends friends friends friends! Make sure you use that hashtag #SneakersToHeels and go check out my girl music. Its lit baby!
Watch the interview below and drop a comment to let us know what you think!!!
https://youtu.be/_ccADNnE9Cg
by Indo | Oct 14, 2018 | ARTIST OF THE WEEK, MUSIC, NEW RELEASES
Peso The Misfit Interview
Hey Indo!, the Golden Boy, sat down with Peso the Misfit for an exclusive one-on-one interview about his come up, new music and what he feels he has to offer to the rap game. Check out Pe$oâs music and story here:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pesothemisfit
IG: @pesothemisfit
Music: https://fanlink.to/NewTone
Â
How long you don’t know how long you’ve been making music?
Peso the Misfit: Well I’m 21 now. So I started making music when I was 15. I was in a relationship at the time when I was from like 13 to 15; it was a lot going on. I like rap, let me start writing about this shit.
How did you get started?
Peso the Misfit: I bought me a little interface and then from 16 to 18 I practiced my production, mixing, mastering, so that I could do it myself. And then from 18 to now Iâve just been being real solid with everything. So putting out my own music, writing myself, producing most of it myself. All of its getting mixed and master by me. And now Iâm handling all the paperwork, [the] copyrights, and legal stuff. Iâm trying to do as much as I can, so Iâm never in a position where I have to depend on somebody and I get taken advantage of.
Who are some of your musical influences?
The people who I really liked were people like 50 Cent. He was a big influence on me. Nas, Cole, Kendrick, Drake, Mobb Deep. Wu-Tang you know. So I was looking at them, mainly 50 and Cole, and I was like âAlright, I see how they approach their business. So early on I realized from a lot of my other peers, there is more than just making music.
What influenced you to have this business savvy to want to go into it like that?
PTM: Well before even doing music, I used to want to act. More like just do something since I was real young. And my dad has his own business, and he and my mom would always tell me especially, my dad, heâs like whatever you do make sure you’re the boss. You never want to work for another man or another woman. You always want to be in control of you, because you know working for other people you have to do what they say, and come in when they want you to come in. When you are your own boss, you work around your own schedule. So that always like really stuck with me.
You know it’s not just about writing all these bars, making the beat hot, then boom! Put it out then blow. This is business. You’ve got to think about marketing and all that stuff. I used to study a lot of what people did, and the moves they made business wise, watch interviews, and try to pick up on some gems they dropped.
So then I was like âAll right, the best thing to do is learning it for myself because the best way to learn something is through experience.â So I figure, it’s better me doing it my own way because all the people I look up to, they did their own way and they on top.
Talk to us now about what you’ve got going on now. You put in all this work. You grinded, you learned all these skills and so that has resulted in what?
PTM: I stopped putting music out a lot like around two years ago. Because I got excited and I had so much shit to write about, I put out like five tapes in one year and then a bunch of singles the next year. I was real excited I was like âYo I can record myself!â I was going off, and then I realized it’s not just rapping, I need songs.â Then after I’ve got all that out and all the singles I was getting a lot of love. But it’s not what I wanted. You know I realized it was local love and this is cool but I need to attack this in a better way. So I took some time off, got better with my song making ability, got better with writing songs, learning people, seeing whatâs out, whatâs popping, because I donât really like the new music.
How do you feel about the current state of hip-hop music?
I donât really like the new music because like I feel like it doesn’t resonate with me. I like stuff that gets me into it. So I was like you know let me fall back, regroup, and make a plan, a strategy so that once I do attack, you know, itâs just execute. I donât have to worry about the plan; I just have to execute what I already thought. So I got the songs done. I put myself in a position of money where I could start off, I’ll do what I’m doing, make some connections. My name is out there already. Not big, but like people know who I am.
I got a producer in Nebraska, I got a cameraman from Boston, and I got fans in other states hitting me up all time. Theyâre always asking âYo when you dropping something?â. I’m not big but I got love. So now everythingâs in place and I got my strategy done. Now Iâm putting out my first official single when everything else was just on Youtube.
INDO: But you canât make no money off that
PTM: Exactly, and not everybody want to go on Soundcloud all the time. So now, I got my first official single everywhere.
INDO: Whatâs it called?
PTM: âNew toneâ. The song and the video are already out; I’m getting love from it. People really love it and I got everything else lined up. I got a 30 clip of just singles ready to go, and I’m working on two to three projects. Now I’m just about to get the videos done and then Iâm pushing that out.
Where can people find the new single?
PTM: Itâs on Apple Music, Itunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, Youtube, Tidal, Napster, haha if n***as still use that
INDO: (laughing) On everything, haha that shit is out
So whatâs next for Pe$o the Misfit?
PTM: I got the singles for the music done. So I just got to make sure everything is set and just stay consistent with it. And that’s where I’m at right now. I think I’m heading in the right direction.
If you could tell the people that support you one thing, what would it be?
PTM: I would say the number one thing that I would want you to get from me is, âLearn to appreciateâ. You know, when you appreciate stuff, especially life, everything expands. Your value and happiness will grow. The opportunities will grow when we appreciate things. So, you appreciate life because there’s a lot going on, especially with mental health nowadays. It’s always been an issue, but it’s a lot bigger now. Â So when you appreciate people and appreciate life, you’ll treat people better.
So I deliver pizza, I worked for my dad and he does construction and recycling. A lot of times I clean out houses, like garbage and stuff. Â We do s**t that people don’t even want to get paid to do you.
So I was doing that and delivering pizzas, and going to college. I took a semester off for financial reasons and for my music career. I’m like damn yo, I just want to make music. All this is taking away time. But then at the same time, I had to take a step back and be like, you know this is what life is. I can’t complain because I got to live through this. I got to learn how to say I appreciate the fact; I have a job that is giving me money, to support my music. Also it’s giving me experiences to talk about in my music, and that influences my artistry. So it was a whole new level, even though I know this is not what I want to be doing. I know it’s not permanent, it’s temporary, so Iâll appreciate it while I have it because I’m going to look back later, when I make it and be like damn, I used to deliver pizza.
INDO: It made you stronger, thatâs deep bro, thatâs deepâŚWell you know I want to thank you for coming through and sitting down with me. I learned a lot about you in this little about of time. It was dope bro dope but if it’s anything that you want to leave the people at home, you know, I know we just talked about appreciation and definitely staying consistent stuff. But if it’s anything that you want them to know about Pe$o the Misfit, now’s the time you know
PTM: Iâd say they should definitely follow me on IG and Twitter. @pesothemisfit. From there yâall can find my soundcloud, but Iâll give it to you anyway, Pe$o The Misfit. I got a lot coming out, I’m really excited. This first song I just put out is only the beginning. I got a lot of other music on Soundcloud and Youtube. This music will help you, itâll touch you. It will help you get through stuff. Be on the lookout, follow me and just remember the name.