Meet Daniel Woods IV | Musician & Producer & Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Daniel Woods IV and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Daniel, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Taking risk is something a lot of people are scared of doing. Taking the most comfortable route that is safe and not worry about any consequences. And just to end up not enjoying the life that they lived. I believe in high high reward. But if you are going to take a risk, you have to have things planned and work for it. I tried to go the safe route in life. Go to college, get a degree, get a job i have to work for the rest of my life, then retire and not know where my life went. But I decided to make a living off of things I actually like to do. That’s the risk I’m willing to take. A lot of people think, “Oh just another musician/filmmaker that won’t make it” because they think we don’t put the work in and not do anything with our life whereas I think we’re harder workers because we have those people doubting us on top of the extra work we have to do. But that’s all part of the risk.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Everyone has their own story. Music brings back memories to people. And that’s what I love about it because those memories are chapters of that persons story. With this album I’m releasing, I didn’t want too many lyrics in it. I filled it with beautiful melodies and cinematic elements to make it easier for people to build their own story. To help people realize that they can still create their own story because it’s their life. Learning that at an early age for me made a big difference in my life, even though there are ups and downs, it still feels lime you’re not doing something for someone the whole time. When people realize that it’s too late. People will judge you or doubt you but it’s still your passion and not anybody else’s. That’s also the reason I never really likes hopping on trends or what’s popular, because I feel like people are only doing it for the attention. I love rap and hip-hop but for me it’s not something I’d make. I wanted to show people that you can make your own sounds. And the struggle with that is that people expect me to be a rapper or a bunch of 808s n high hats in my songs. But when they listen they realize it’s a little different. When I first started showing my projects to people they would make fun of it because it’s not something they’re used to hearing and would be quick to start judging my content. So ever since high school I was scared to show people my work. But Iv’e learned to not care because I still like it so it doesn’t matter. And learning not to care or overthink about sharing my projects helped me learn to not worry about what people think of me in general.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I love this one wingtruck called “Just Wing N’ atl”. Their wings are on point. But other then that, just walk around downtown. See something new. The city has so many spots that I probably haven’t discover yet. So many abandoned buildings or just chill in Buckhead or the Beltline. Riding Birds around the city is always fun with a group of people. Just going around having fun at multiple spots is honestly the move for me. I couldn’t chill at one spot when I’m in the city.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are a lot of artists that inspire my vision and my person. They taught me to do me no matter what anybody thinks of you. It takes a lot of stress off of you and you will be more approachable because you don’t seem like your’e forcing it. That’s a pet peeve of mine. I have one particular friend named Gabriel who’s a musician himself. He taught me to not give up on a dream that you truly want to pursue. A great person overall as well and his wife Kia is amazing and can relate to a lot of the things i went through growing up. Musically artists such as Porter Robinson, Tyler the Creator, Kanye, Lauryn Hill, Rex Orange County, Queen, Prince, Smino, Basically anybody that has an amazing creative aspect has inspired the sounds I make at the moment. But of course everything changes.

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