Check Out David Je’’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to David Je’.

Hi David, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story? 
I was born in Newark, New Jersey into a family that was heavy into church and faith. My father’s side of the family was full of singers and musicians, and I took after them. When I was 6 years old, my mom took me to see Michael Jackson live in concert, and that moment sealed the deal for me. I was mesmerized, and it made me realize who I was in this world. I ended up going to the same middle school and high school as the great Lauryn Hill. In middle school, I played saxophone and helped choreograph the school assembly dances. You could even catch me doing Michael Jackson moves in the hallway all the time, but by high school sports had taken the forefront. 

I got serious about basketball, so my singing and dancing took a back seat. I still had my gifts but chose not to use them as a career playing basketball was what I thought I wanted. Around my senior year in high school, my high school sweetheart’s mother passed away, and that really woke me up to the fact that life is bigger than basketball. I ended up going to college and playing ball, but by the end of the 1st year, I knew my passion for it was gone. I walked away from the game, and this was the true start of me walking my path as a creative. I made a commitment to focus on and grow my gifts that had been there all along. 

After spending years developing the skill sets to go along with my gifts of singing and writing songs, I began to hear instrument sounds in my head. This began my path of becoming a producer. I was fortunate to have some very close people in my life at the time who really believed in me and my gifts when I didn’t know how. Vertical Jones and DK Davall, or ‘Weezy’ as he went by then, were the 1st people in my life to tell me I was not just good but great. I call them my big brothers, and we are still very close to this day. 

I was blessed to have a couple of songs I worked on while still in New Jersey play on Hot 97. Fast forward to me moving to LA and having my 1st song on LA radio station 92.3 that I co-produced. This was followed by doing music composition on the Aaliyah movie that came out on Lifetime television network, which had the highest ratings that year for a television movie. A year later, I was blessed to be Grammy Nominated for a phenomenal R&B Album. From there, charting on billboards came along with having multiple songs featured in an Emmy Nominated show. I scored my 1st full documentary film last year, and now, going into year 11 in LA, I’m excited for what the future holds. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road has not been smooth, and there have been many struggles to overcome along the way. The biggest struggle in my case was my father passing away the day before my 30th birthday from cancer. He was my best friend and a source of light in my whole family. His passing hit my family really hard and me being the oldest meant I had to step up and be strong for everyone. I literally called myself Superman and didn’t even cry at his funeral because I felt I had to hold everyone else up. The thing I didn’t take into account was that I, too, was only human, and this ‘strength’ would take its toll on me. 

I ended up moving to LA to follow my dreams and start a new life a few months later, but all that pain followed me. Which led to my next big battle a couple years later when my mind and body started attacking me. I started having really bad panic and anxiety attacks and felt like I was going to die every day. Thanks to my faith in God, therapy, and the support of my family, I’m blessed to say I don’t suffer from panic attacks anymore. I take my mental, spiritual, and emotional health very serious now and start every day with prayer and meditation. The lesson I still keep with me to this day is I’m Human, and it’s okay for me to allow myself to be just that. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a Grammy-nominated producer, singer, songwriter, composer, recording engineer, and vocal coach. I call myself the Dream Walker. I came up with this because my favorite phrase is Dreams to Reality. Another reason is that my favorite artist of all time, Michael Jackson, was the Moonwalker. So, I combined the 2, and voila. My company is called Dream Walker Entertainment, and being that I currently walk out my dreams, I help others do the same. 

I have written and produced songs for Grammy-winning artist Mya and Grammy-winning artist Eric Bellinger. I have also been blessed to chart on Billboard with a phenomenal independent R&B artist named Nam Jonez. Currently, I’m excited about my new song ‘Human’, which I also produced and wrote. I currently have 6 songs (3 of my own and 3 I co-wrote) on the Emmy Nominated show A House Divided on Amazon Prime. 

I am also very excited about my clothing line I just released called The Dream Walker Clothing. It is about embodying greatness and living your full king or queen life. I call it ‘the fly comfy clothing for the dreamer.’ I have a plethora of items for men and women, from high-quality hoodies, joggers, and tees to yoga leggings and slides. I am a guy who likes to be comfortable and stylish while making my dreams a reality, so I created a line around that. I’m sure there are plenty of people in the world who feel the same, and this line is perfect for them. You can check out these vibes at www.itsdavidje.shop. 

My newest project I am working on is a short film that I am in and also the composer of. My partner in the project is award-winning filmmaker DK Davall, who has worked on projects such as the 2019 film ‘Shaft,’ along with multiple major award shows. This will be a phenomenal inspirational short film that we look to finish before the year is over and get it into multiple film festivals. 

The biggest problem I solve for my clients is providing something that doesn’t exist in the music industry anymore, which is artist development. In an era where being ‘popular’ or ‘viral’ has taken the forefront more so than actually being excellent at your craft, I teach artists just that. At my studio, which I call ‘The Spaceship,’ I provide an environment that helps artists build belief in themselves and their gift through consistent work. Excellence happens when you combine gift with work ethic, so focusing on these 2 factors, help artist operate at their top-tier level. 

What sets me apart outside of this perspective is that as a singer myself, I am able to vocal produce every singer I work with. Most recording engineers, while being great at what I call the ‘science’ of recording or operating the chosen program (DAW), are not able to hear where an artist should be singing. Because of my ear and ability to sing, I am able to not only guide artists on their lead vocals but craft full background vocals and harmonies for them. So, I essentially become an executive producer on every record I record whether I produced it or not. 

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Over the next 5 – 10 years I do see some shifts indeed in the music industry. 1st off I believe with the way streaming has affected how much artists are paid in a negative way, a direct-to-consumer approach will be more and more popular. I believe artists have to and will find creative ways to add more ‘perceived’ value to their art in order to sell it directly to their supporters. I say ‘perceived’ because the art is already very valuable, but because of the structure of streaming the ‘perception’ of that value needs to rise again in the eyes of the consumer or fan. Being able to pay only $10 – $15 a month to have access to every song ever has dropped the ‘perceived’ value of the music we create. 

So, I believe if artists take the time to find and connect with their true supporters, this can and will shift. I say supporter, meaning a person who will actually make a purchase to support your art and not just a fan that will like a picture or post. I talk to artists I work with about finding their 1,000 supporters at a time and duplicating that structure from there. 1,000 supporters buying a product or work of art directly from the artist will allow them to make a good living doing what they love. From there, if they treat that structure like a business and duplicate it, the only limits are what the mind conceives or work ethic produces. 

The 2nd shift I see is with A.I. I believe at some point, an authentication system will have to be implemented to ‘proof’ future music from artists to make sure the right artist are getting credited and paid accordingly. But I also believe that if we can learn ways to implement A.I. into our creative process in creative ways it can be an amazing tool for the growth of art. After all, we use our phones now to do countless things that were all different devices at one point in time, let alone the apps we use regularly that didn’t exist even 10 – 15 years ago. 

I’m sure other shifts will indeed happen, but these are the 2 big things I see changing over the next 5 – 10 years in the music business. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.itsdavidje.shop
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/itsdavidje
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/itsdavidje
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/itsdavidje
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/@itsdavidje
• Other: https://linktr.ee/itsdavidje

Image Credits
David Je’