Conversations with TK Crazy

Today we’d like to introduce you to TK Crazy.

Hi TK, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Thank you for reaching out and giving me this opportunity! As you know my name is Gary Brennan, also known as the rap artist TK Crazy. I am the founder and CEO of TKstudios. Every since I can remember, I have been obsessed with music. It provides an escape from the harsh realities we deal with in our lives, it has the ability to bring people together and adds so much beauty to the world.

I began listening to rap music in 1991 when my sister showed me “it’s tricky” by RUN DMC. The second that Hi Hat started and that first kick drum hits, I was hooked. In 1999, I started writing my own raps, gave myself the name TK Crazy, and didn’t really do much else with it. As the years passed, I went through ups and downs. I became addicted to pain killers, I got married, I kicked the pain killer addiction, and had some kids.

While still making music in private as a hobby, I went into Human Resources at the College Of Western Idaho. One day I was at work and while sitting at my desk I was scrolling Facebook and saw an article with the headline “Idaho’s Best Rapper Does It Again”. I played the music video and did not agree that this artist was Idaho’s best rapper. I had this strange feeling come over me, it felt like I had been in the dark my whole life and someone shined a light down on me.

I immediately left work, rushing over to Guitar Center to buy a few pieces of recording equipment, and recorded about a third of a verse and put it on TikTok. 31k views later, I realized I was onto something. Almost as if I became possessed, I invested about $4000 into all-new recording equipment and a new iMac. I spent countless hours studying sound engineering, musical composition, business management, advertising, and marketing techniques, anything I could learn I was teaching myself.

As I was studying the local artists and businesses they all run, I took note of every accomplishment and every failure that each one of them has encountered to make sure I did not make the same mistakes. Finally, on January 1st of 2022 TKstudios released its first single “Resolutions” and the response was incredible. TKstudios then released TK Crazy’s “Kill eM” which was the final version of the original 12 bars that went semi-viral on TikTok.

Again, the response was all positive, with a lot of people complimenting my professional-sounding vocals. At this point, I tasted success as a rap artist but craved more. And more was coming! One day, I again was scrolling Facebook and saw a post from a promoter out of Boise Idaho saying she was looking for artists for the Idaho Loves Afroman Tour in February of 2022. I reached out, sent my music and the promoter put me on the tour. I couldn’t believe it, me, TK Crazy on tour with AFROMAN?!?!

Then reality hit me, this is for real. This is what I have been waiting my whole life for, and I had 3 weeks to prepare with basically nothing. Then I realized I need more than just my music, I need an empire, and I needed it in 3 weeks. Only having two songs, I went to work on my next single “Tonight” which would give me the 10 minutes of music needed for my set.

At this same time, I had reached out to an artist in Ghana Africa named Bany, and he asked for me to be featured on his song “Money” and if I would do the mixing and mastering. I did my verse, mixed the song, and sent it back to Bany, and the final product was something so amazing I teared up the first time I played it back. Wow, “Am I a producer now?” I asked myself. The next thing I know, I wake up with the name TKstudios in my head. I design my TK logo, took some pictures of my studio, signed Bany as my 1st artist, and started promoting.

With my company created, I began prepping for the tour and designing merchandise to sell at the shows. I didn’t want to just do shirts as most artists do. No, I was special, I was different, and I wanted to reflect that in every aspect of my new TK brand. Needing inspiration for merch, I looked at the Insane Clown Posse’s marketing strategy from the 1990s. I’m not sure if anyone realizes, but ICP was killing the perch game in the late 90s.

I thought of everything I remembered seeing at their shows as a teenager. The lighters I would spend $5 on that probably cost $0.15 for them to produce, the special edition “tour only” sampler CDs fans would fight over in the parking lot. So, with the help of my girlfriend JoAnna Sedano, we started slapping my TK logo on everything. Shirts, stickers, pop sockets, lip balm, business cards with a QR code that would take you directly to my website, and pressed Idaho Loves Afroman Tour TK Crazy Set List CDs.

I researched social media advertising and began paying for targeting ads on Facebook and Instagram. I reached out to Dennis Healy of DMH Digital Media, whom I went to school with as a kid. I asked Dennis if he would help make a music video and if he would accompany me on tour to film my sets. So with my brand established, merchandise pressed and ready to sell, my ads and promotions running and my team assembled, we hit the road for the Afroman Tour.

As the toured Idaho, I noticed a lot of the others on the tour was asking me questions about my merch, my music, and my advertising techniques. Did I really know what I was doing? No. But, did I present myself like I did, of yeah! As my sister used to tell me with my depression, fake it til you make it.

By the end of the tour, my music streams skyrocketed, and I began selling merchandise through my online store and in person at concerts I performed at. I began selling beats, producing for and recording other artists, I signed two other acts to my label, Beau Stringer aka Crowd Killa, and DeadLoX (MC Pine and Apxllo A$tro). TKstudios now offers artist management services, merchandise production, graphic design, and we have even branched out into event promoting. Our 1st event as a promoter is our TKstudios Presents: DJ Clay Live in Caldwell ID, which will be June 12th 2022. In May of 2022 we opened TKstudios Texas, which is hosting its first event, Worlds Collide:Twisted Insane And Carolyn Rodriguez in San Angelo Texas in August.

For video content, we are teamed up with Dennis Healy and DMH Digital Media for our music videos, video promos, etc.

So all that began basically because I saw a Facebook post calling some local rapper “Idahos Best”. Challenge accepted and completed.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Oh boy, smooth? Not at all. I have been tested every step of the way. If it can go wrong it will, but what matters is how you handle those moments. It is just the universe seeing how much you want it. I know merchandise was a huge pain point.

For example, I was spending $12 plus shipping (about $7 per shirt) and selling them for $20. That’s only a profit of $1. As with everything else, I then taught myself how to produce my own merch. A month later, it now costs me $2 per shirt, for a profit of $18 per shirt sold.

I know it can be difficult or near-impossible to invest a lot in something, but I highly encourage every business owner to invest everything they can in the beginning. If you won’t invest in yourself, why on earth would anyone else, regardless of your talent.

The other main struggle, which I still face is my relationships with those I care about. I work 7 days a week now, I wake up every morning at 7:30 am and put in 16 – 18 hours a day. I am running 3 social media pages, and a website, constantly reaching out to established artists for features, and managing two other artists.

I am performing multiple shows per week and traveling to other cities to be on other artists’ tours, all while trying to maintain those relationships. It is difficult to find that balance. Everything I am doing I am doing for my family, and hope one day they will understand the sacrifices I have had to make.

If I don’t accomplish a goal every day, then feel like I am moving backward.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Most know me by my stage name. TK Crazy. TK Crazy was created as a defense mechanism from the violence and trauma I endured as a child. He was a stronger more confident me, nothing could hurt him.

As a Rap Artist, TK Crazy is a versatile artist who struggles between good and bad while battling his depersonalization- derealization disorder.

With the ability to sing and switch his rap cadence and rhythm from fast midwest “chopper” style raps to slow chill flows (what I call head-bobbing music) TK Crazy is able to bring his boundary-pushing lyrics and unique sense of humor to any song he is on, regardless of genre or style.

TK Crazy is known for its energetic and animated live performances. One promoter was quoted saying “If you want to get the crowd involved and hyped up, put TK Crazy on your show.” I look forward to working with more artists and continuing to create the best music I can.

Music is life, why do you think our heart beats to a rhythm?

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
To be honest, there wasn’t much one would want to remember from my childhood. But I do remember this one time my family and I were in Salt Lake City. I was 5 years old and like any kid in 1990, I was all about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

One day my Dad, mom, my two sisters Mikka and Kristi, and I were walking downtown and I saw a manhole that was open in the middle of the intersection. Now, this was the first big city I had been in, and I didn’t know the difference between SLC and NYC. So I started freaking out, pleading for my dad to take me into the sewer to find the ninja turtles.

Well, my dad was always down for doing wild and crazy stuff to make people happy (he is definitely who I got that trait from), so he picked me up and carried me through traffic into the middle of the intersection. He made a traffic stop and everything, and then grabbed my ankles and lowered me head first into the sewer. He lowered me all the way down. It smelled horrible and I couldn’t see a thing.

My dad and sisters were yelling down asking if I could see the Ninja Turtles. I was trying so hard to listen for or see any sign of the turtles, but nothing. I remember walking away and even though I didn’t see not one regular turtle, let alone a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

I was still so excited and my mind was blown that my dad had stopped traffic and lowered me into what I believed was the real “secret lair” of the Ninja Turtles. I think I might have to go back and investigate further now that I am an adult, this time in the right city though.

Contact Info:

• Email: tkcrazy@thetkcrazy.com
• Website: thetkcrazy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_tk_crazy
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetkcrazy
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG1H7mfYoGmFidycaEZGy3g
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0zddq0cjG0Ex1CWWPIm3TD?si=kUxKws-yQxyGtQq9waH2Uw

Image Credits
David Stephen