Meet RETROi$AWESOME | Recording Artist, Fashion Designer, & Actor

We had the good fortune of connecting with RETROi$AWESOME and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi RETROi$AWESOME, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Throughout my journey I realized that risk is one of the biggest paradoxes of life. Its what separates the biggest winners from the average everyday person. Most people encounter the concept of risk & are automatically met with the feeling of fear/pessimism, which is understandable to some degree given that a risk is a 50/50 chance. But what makes risk such a paradox is that if its met with fearlessness & a positive attitude, you’re guaranteed to succeed, as if its not even a risk anymore. Taking risks have played a huge role in my life. When the entire world told me to go 1 way, I tuned everyone out & went with my gut. When it comes to my career, I’m taking constant risks when it comes down to who to trust when it comes to handling business for certain things. The phrase “No risk, no reward” is one that I believe in whole-heartedly. While there still is security & stability available in this world for those who don’t take risks, its just enough to get you by & if majority of people can have it is it really a reward? Or just a participation trophy?

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am an all around artist, I have my hands in any & all things creative but I lead with the artform of music. What sets my music apart from others is that my lyrical content is limited to only my truth, experiences, & perspective. I know for a fact there isn’t another person walking this planet who experienced life on earth the same way that I did. Even if I had an identical twin they would still have their own experience that would be unique to only them. Thats the beauty of life, we all have a sequence of experiences unique to us but our experiences can overlap & thats how we end up relating to each other on certain situations. I’m most proud of my growth as a person throughout this journey, & because I’m a recording artist, the growth is documented. Its amazes me to listen to different songs that I’ve created throughout the years & see the evolution in my perspective/thought process in the lyrics of these songs. I got to where I am professionally by never giving up & staying consistent. It was not easy at all, but I just always had this sense of belief that when I create music, I’m doing something great. No matter what someone else had to say, or even when my lifestyle didnt reflect 1 of a successful artist, I always had that sense of belief & thats what kept me going when I was faced with the challenges of life. Some lessons I’ve learned along the way is 1. If you’re not treating what you do as a business then its just a hobby. 2. Remaining humble & patient can take you far. 3. The effort that goes into presenting your product to the consumer should be just as much if not more than what it took to create the product. What I want the world to know about my story & my brand is that I grew up in a broken home, just like many other Americans, & found myself being misguided by bad influences that were normalized by society. As I grew older & was able to realize this about myself, I made the decision to give the correct perspective (to the best of my ability) to the next generation of misguided lost souls all over the world through my art. My brand is only here for positivity & the betterment of the next generation. Im not perfect & I have my flaws that came from living a life of distorted perspective for so many years, but the flaws have to be displayed too, so when you see me overcoming them you see that I live it & not just talk it.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Im still fairly new to the area as I’ve been in Atlanta for about 6 months now, coming from New Jersey. I need someone to hook me up with an itinerary haha. But if one of my friends from New Jersey came by I’d take them to Cookout to get some food. We have nothing like that in Jersey. I’d take them to Little 5 Points to experience the cool artsy culture & to go shopping for some cool new clothes. Then at night I’d take them to Edgewood to check out some of the bars & experience some Atlanta nightlife

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First & foremost shoutout to God for leading my steps & navigating me to success through this crazy place that we call Earth. Shoutout to my team SWISH for the constant support, & shoutout to my family for keeping me grounded. I’ll also shoutout 50 Cent’s book “Hustle Smarter, Hustle Harder”. He talks about certain winning traits in there that can I relate to which gave me some confirmation that I’m on the right track, but he also dropped a lot of gems & opened my eyes up to a different perspective. Good job 50, respect.

Website: retroisawesome.com

Instagram: instagram.com/retroisawesome

Twitter: twitter.com/retroisawesome

Facebook: facebook.com/retroisawesome

Youtube: youtube.com/retroisawesometv

Image Credits
Demoie Montego MagiTheProphet ShotxDre