Meet iNTELLECT of Perspective Productions in Downtown

Today we’d like to introduce you to iNTELLECT.

So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
From as I can remember, I’ve always been a writer. In my younger school days, I used to win scholastic writing contests for my short stories about fictional comic characters or creating narratives using my family and friends as roles about growing up in the South.

As I got older, my writings transformed into more detailed hardships about growing up in the inner city urban areas of my hometown, Montgomery, AL. Writing has always been my outlet dealing with the everyday struggles and life issues like poverty, problems at home/school, and of course the everyday street life in my neighborhood. Not necessarily to glorify, but somehow alleviate the pain using it as my personal way of escape.

I never had ambitions of becoming a rap artist, but I was always around music because most of my friends and closest relatives were aspiring rap artists. Even to this day, I’m still getting comfortable with referring to myself as a rapper, but I’m learning you can’t avoid what’s already written on our quest to find a purpose here in this realm. To me, I feel as if my lyrics can be used in a school course curriculum and as a matter of fact, they have been. Well, according to a close friend of mine, her mother used my first music video as a subject for one of her college teachings.

Backtracking and fast-forwarding a bit, I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 2013, back when I was young, 20 years old to be exact. I’m 27 now, but I always joke around about an old owl. Wasn’t the best, nor worst of time, but every life venture has its ups and downs, so my coping mechanism was of course to write. I say about the tail-end of 2017 and beginning of 2018 during my last deployment with no phone service, lack of internet at times, and with most of my military friends discharged, writing for me was just the natural thing to do. That’s when it became intense, I literally wrote from the time I woke up, in between work, on-break, and before going to bed. And even sometimes waking up with my pen and pad in my hand, or on my face. Even to this day, I use some of the material I wrote almost 3 to 4 years ago to shape lyrics in my music.

If I were to say I missed anything about being enlisted, it would be the views onboard, and that’s it! The view at night was breath-taking, stars gleamingly in the beautiful night skies, watching every sunrise and sunset, and actually staring at the endless oceans depths cleared my mind enough for a good thinking space whenever I had time to myself. Listening to music one day, the then seemingly insane idea to attempt to rap sprung in my mental. Even then, it was just to pass the time and to have fun. I recorded myself rapping one day in my phone at with the voice recorder just to hear how I would sound. Then I let one of friends hear the recording, and he jokingly suggested that I should make a song. Deployment ended early for myself because my contract was due to expire, so I had to fly back to America from Bahrain, but I was still enlisted. Once again, kind of solo, the few friends that I had were still on deployment, and my closest friend G was set to leave America the day that I flew back to the states. The day I got back, I let him hear some of the recordings I made, and he said the same thing, record it over a beat, so of course I proceeded. Nothing like that genuine motivation from your closest friends, it drove me search YouTube for a beat and at least give it a shot. Found a beat, googled a studio in San Diego, and recorded my first song. (Knowledge Freestyle) on my debut mixtape ‘Different Perspective ‘.

I let my hometown friends and closest relatives that were into music hear the song, and yet surprisingly again, I got great reviews. From then I used that motivation to write, rap, and create more and more music. That’s where the alter ego, iNTELLECT was created.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Transitioning from a writer to rap artist hasn’t been the easiest road even though the two personas would seem to correlate perfectly from an outside perspective. The biggest struggle to date would be actually making my writings sound like music. It’s still new for me, so learning the ins and outs of audio become an everyday challenge. Every studio session I learn something new, and with me being a creative, I can’t help the curiosity wanting to experiment with my music. Finding the perfect audio details is a mental conflict on a daily basis. Satisfaction with myself is another struggle, but that also drives me to work more because I can never be comfortable with one style, sound nor flow. On the contrary, I’m learning that’s the beauty of the art.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Perspective Productions – what should we know?
Perspective Productions is previously known as iNTELLECT Music, but since I literally do everything from photography/videography, graphic designing, audio engineering, recently creating a clothing brand apparel (Perspective Clothing Co.), and of course music, I didn’t want to have such a narrow name for my business. It’s waaaay more than music now, though it all started with a notepad and pen, and that’s what makes me most proud knowing so. ” Never Forget Your Roots “. What sets Perspective Productions apart is that it’s more than just rhymes. Eventually, my brand will become a global symbol of independence to do whatever it is that you strive for, regardless of what journey is decided to be embarked upon. For myself, it’s more like an entrepreneurship, believing and investing in your own ambitions and goals.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Humility is key. Every song won’t be a hit and every idea won’t be ingenious. There will be hard times, you can’t avoid the inevitable because that’s just apart of life. Not everyone will gravitate towards your movement, but you can’t let that deter you from doing what you love doing most. Your passion is your passion, and my passion is mine, so regardless if I’m recognized for doing what I do anyway; the same blood, sweat, tears, and sleepless nights will be applied to my craft, and I would encourage the next person to apply the same principles.

Contact Info:

• Email: itsintellect334@gmail.com
• Instagram: _itsintellect
• Other: https://youtu.be/bb7PD_Cuy3U

Image Credit:
Perspective Productions

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