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

Hi Tenichi, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I’m from Covington, GA. Like most other cities, Covington has it’s “hoods”, and I grew up in Jamestown, one of few hoods in Covington. Growing up in Jamestown, I seen a lot. I’ve seen shootouts, drug deals, high speed chases, etc. Seeing all of that at a young age definitely showed me it’s a crazy world out here. Made me realize what I DIDN’T want to be like. As I grew older, I really just wanted to change how my neighborhood was viewed. Hoods aren’t always violent and stricken with poverty, there’s actually a lot of unity as well. I still go back to Jamestown often. If it wasn’t for Jamestown and the community, I wouldn’t be me.

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.
I’m a renaissance man, I deal with a few arts. I make music, I customize shoes, I write poetry, and I also do photography.

The gap between me and others is that my art isn’t made for the peoples liking, It’s made for mine. And i’m proud of the fact I can continue to make my art to my own liking without being influenced by mainstream and social media. That’s a really big deal nowadays.

I am where I am today because of consistency. I isolated myself for so long to get my mind right from dealing with depression and deaths in the family to the point where I had no choice but to keep my mind busy with something. Musically, isolation helped the most cause I always had some kind of pain to put on a beat. Once I started getting into engineering and mixing my own music, my brothers Prince Scooter and Jae Major played a dynamic role in that with answering any questions I had.
As far as customizing shoes and photography goes, it came to me pretty easy. My cousin Mario inspired me to start customizing shoes, so when I started, he pretty much showed me the ropes and gave me all the advice I needed.

Lessons i’ve learned along the way is to never be too hard on yourself, and to never compare your situation to others cause everybody’s story is written differently. Don’t be discouraged when you aren’t getting the engagements you want, just push and go a little harder every time you have any doubt in yourself. The process may be slow, but at least you’re in motion. Slow motion is better than no motion.

One thing the world should know about Tenichi Jr. and the Tenichi’s World brand is that it was created off of my life story. Any design I create and any song I record has a lot of meaning and details that may be obvious, and some may be hidden but there’s always deeper meaning to anything I do. Art, to me, is self expression. What’s better to express about thy self if it’s not my story? I’ll continue to tell my story through my brand and my music for as long as I create it.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Not even going to lie, it’s not much going on in Covington that interests me enough to show friends around. I’d usually slide to Downtown Atlanta for any festivities. But don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely things to do in Downtown Covington. Vampire Diaries has like a little museum or something on the square. There’s a few bars you can hit as well. One place i’d definitely take a friend is a restaurant called ‘Little Phillies”. That’s the spot right there. Wings, Clipped Wings (basically tenders), and Hoagies that are probably the best outside of Atlanta, to me!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Everyone that is currently in my life deserves a shoutout! But a few in particular who needs a special shoutout Is Tawanna (my God mom), Teccey (My sister), and my Brothers (They know who they are). I wouldn’t be where I am today without any of them. Through every ache, pain, heartbreak, and death i’ve dealt with, they’ve been by my side. I Love them forever!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tenichi.jr/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3deEbzt7eb8BSZ7BsiTfVQ

Other: https://linktr.ee/Tenichijr

Image Credits
Instagrams: @playbook.us @ohplaymaker

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