Today we’d like to introduce you to Lapierre.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Lapierre. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve been writing and recording music since high school, though it wasn’t until I started college in Boston when my brother (producing) and I (writing) made our first EP that I began to see a future in music. It took a few years and a 10-day road trip moving to LA after college, but I found the direction that suited me as an artist and ran with it. With my best friend, Dan Knight, by my side, who also happens to be an unreal producer, I ventured to Ventura Blvd for the first time in my life with a goal of having my voice heard. After three years of living in the Valley, I released my first full-length record, THRIVE, in the middle of a pandemic.
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?
Picking up and leaving everything I’ve known was really tough, but the excitement of a new journey made it a lot easier. The difficult part of following a goal is sticking it out when it feels like it’s so far away. Cycling through odd jobs, learning new surroundings, missing friends and family, and simply being out of my comfort zone brought up plenty of doubts. But from those lows came so many experiences that inspired my writing and artistic approach. If I never had those challenges, I wouldn’t have found out who I was as an artist.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I’m an artist and I write hip-hop/rap music. I co-wrote a 13-track concept album with my best friend, recording live instruments on each track and not using any samples at all. We worked with a ton of creatives (musicians, graphic designers, videographers, etc.) to put together a multi-media experience for the whole record. And we did it all independently. But that’s not a completely unique story.
Lapierre is my artist’s name, but it’s also my last name. I’ve carried that name with me my whole life. If I wasn’t willing to put my life experiences, my personal struggles, and my whole self into my music, then every line and every song would fall short. I’m putting all of me into this, and putting my last name on each release is a reminder to myself and my fans.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I was fortunate to have an extremely close and loving family, so I’m also fortunate to have a lot of happy memories to pick from. The ones that stick out arguably had the most impact on fueling my passion for creating music. When I was in middle school, I used to type up raps in what I thought was a hidden folder on our home computer. My brother eventually found them, and instead of making fun of me for how lame they likely were, he told me how impressed he was and encouraged me to record them. In high school after a couple of years of making mixtapes, my parents offered to put up some walls and a window to build a small studio in the basement of their house. Every time I needed a bit of support to push me further as an artist, my family was there, and that hasn’t changed.
Contact Info:
- Website: mdashlap.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/mdashlap
- Facebook: facebook.com/mdashlap
- Twitter: twitter.com/mdashlap
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/MLapMusic
Image Credit:
Jake Southard, Jen Vivier, Kelly Freitas, Ethan Lapierre
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