Meet Tee Slaves | Tee Slaves is a songwriter and artist.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tee Slaves and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tee, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I was a manager for 7 years before launching my own creative/entertainment business. I worked with an actor and a musician in Los Angeles and I saw how imperative the business aspect of art was to a successful career. If you want to make money you need to operate as a business no matter what industry you are in. I had already had a management company so I needed to start a recording label, and publishing company, that’s how the music industry releases sound recordings to listening platforms, hold sync licenses for reuse of musical works, and collects royalties.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My music moniker is Tee Slaves. Right off the bat it throws off folks because its deemed “political”. That is the least of my worries. I wanted to have an in-your-face message /branding when it came to the listeners I want to grasp. I want the thinkers. The thought leaders. The activists. The warriors. The creative ones who need something real to live by. Before I made my own music, I was a dancer since age 7 years old. I love musical energy. I also work in tv and film which is a noticeable influential inspiration in a lot of my lyrical references. On my song, Memories, I start the second verse with a Lion King reference, which tons of people were able to relate too. Music is set in eras. I grew up in the best era of today’s artists. I was born in 1987. I started writing when I moved to Hollywood as a talent manager. My focus was meant to be screenwriting, but I found myself inside big-name studios with legit producers who had plaques from major labels. Jump in the booth Tee. It wasn’t until a bout of depression in 2019 that I found my musical voice. I put out a song called 2020, in hopes to leave the last decade behind us all, who could see the pandemic coming a few weeks later. Due to the times, I am creating in, I have a lot to talk about, from the growth of Black Americans from the days of slavery, to living within a Nazi-like regime under the last President. Art is a powerful tool as proved in the pandemic slow down, so I think this is a calling to a lot of folks, including me.

Music was never meant to be easy for me as I was looking for a challenge. It reminds me of being back in my science lab in High School. It’s chemistry, its biology, and it’s mechanical physics. I love the exploratory aspect of sound as well. I am just getting started but this dream has been dormant since my teen years.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I am actually heading to Atlanta in a few weeks. My close childhood friend recently moved. When I came to represent a media brand during Memorial Day weekend 2019, I wanted to stay for good. The vibes were strong and they were excellent. It is a vibrant community and even the heat seems to be something of its own.

Cliche or nah, the Waffle House in Atlanta is really good. I think its good everywhere but Atlanta and Charlotte stand out to me. There are a lot of burger spots with a high-end flair which reminded me of a cheaper version of a Manhattan steak house burger. Because it was a work trip I didn’t get that much time to explore but my cousin was also at the same event and we randomly connected. The event I covered was a Black creative professional weekend long industry, BYOB, Build Your Own Brand.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to shoutout social media fans for sharing the music and helping new listeners find my work. This includes Snapchat, Twitter, and TikTok.

Website: tahyirasavanna.tumblr.com

Instagram: instagram.com/teeslaves

Twitter: @tasterisk

Facebook: facebook.com/writer.dreamer.weirdo

Youtube: youtube.com/tahyirasavanna

Image Credits
Copyright Indie Circus LLC