Meet Emmanuel Harrison

We were lucky to catch up with Emmanuel Harrison recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Emmanuel, so excited to talk about all sorts of important topics with you today. The first one we want to jump into is about being the only one in the room – for some that’s being the only person of color or the only non-native English speaker or the only non-MBA, etc Can you talk to us about how you have managed to be successful even when you were the only one in the room that looked like you?
So in my family, I am one of the only people to graduate college, get a bachelors degree, move away from their hometown and city, and I’m one of the only musical ones in the family. So far, it has been really natural to be the only one in the room that understands that what he wants in life is different from the rest of the people in the room. I find comfort in that because I understand that a lot of my family members don’t know what success looks like for me. Music is known to be very fickle, and so having a career in it is in, some eyes, asking for trouble. But for me, I like being different. I like the challenge of going after what I want regardless of what is comfortable and what drives me is I want to say I went after my dreams and accomplished goals that some people in my family or friends, or even neighbors were unable to do. I want to see what I’m capable of, and span my reach, travel across the world, make more money than I even thought possible, and touch peoples lives around the world. That to me is success, and that is worth chasing.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My name is Emmanuel Harrison, a.k.a. Mystro Productions. I am a Christian hip-hop and R&B, music artist from Cheraw, South Carolina. I’m 26 years old and I have been doing music professionally for about six years. As I grew up, my mom always played gospel in the house with names like Kirk Franklin, Marvin Sapp, and Yolanda Adams. I learned to play drums by myself by watching others, and became the drummer to our church, and at the age of 13, I took piano lessons and also played that for our church but gospel was the only thing I knew how to play until my friend at Church showed me a Christian rapper named Lecrae and that was the first time I realized that there was a Christian version of hip-hop. Immediately, I became obsessed because I loved the hip-hop beats but also it was a good message that my mom would allow me to indulge in. Later I was introduced to reach records which had more Christian hip-hop artist with different styles and cadences. I was inspired. I wanted to make music like them with the messages that they gave to me. I already knew how to play instruments, and I already had melodies and tracks in my head but I had no real way to bring them to reality. I went to a Christian college, called NGU, where I learned a lot about contemporary music and different styles of worship music. I hung around musicians and artist and producers. Who did the things that I really wanted to learn how to do and they taught me to invest time learning about every genre so that you have different inspirations to pull from. I went from listening to songs that was just Christian hip-hop to R&B, country, Indie, music, and rock ‘n’ roll. There was a class at my college and in the degree I was in that touch just a little on music production, but when I took the class, I took it so serious because I actually wanted to learn more music production than just what they offered. I was making my own beats and spent countless hours in the production room class, and even after school hours. it made me so happy to finally make things that I could hear in my head after about a year of making beats and short melody ideas I went for making my first song which turned out to be absolutely horrible, but it felt good to finish something. I never released it nor do I even know where it is but it helped me realize how much work it took to finish a song. I had to realize how much work being a artist was. This was something I either had to go all in on or it just be a side hobby that could have been great. It’s a constant challenge each release sometimes it is received well and sometimes no one hardly hears it and so after six years of releasing music and continuing to learn my own style after years of just making similar things to what I heard it is still a process to love the music wholeheartedly and it be a business as well

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Some of the biggest things I learned along the way, where always remember why you started because it’s so easy to get in engulfed in trying to make an income or trying to get out of the space that you’re in and you get frustrated with what you do when initially this was soothing and a space you came to for creative outlet. Another thing I learned was take your time. Success doesn’t come at a snap of a finger all the time even when you see people on social media blow up from one post it was the post that you didn’t see that got them to the post that you did see. The third biggest thing I learned along the way, was count your blessings. I think comparison is the biggest thief today and it’s so easy to get caught up in comparison because of social media but be happy with what you do have. It may not look like the person you see when you scroll but you do have the things you need around you and that itself is the most important thing. The biggest way I’m learning to improve these three methods and ways. Other people who are just starting can improve these methods of success is to continuously take small breaks from social media. There is a lot of consumption and unknowingly. You can catch yourself comparing to others or trying to be someone else. It’s good to send yourself with the people you love face-to-face and it’s good to put your phone down and continue to live life.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
2023 was the first year that I realized that I had anxiety. I was anxious because I was doing a lot and I didn’t ask for anyone’s help. There was a lot of things that other people could have done for me to help me, but I tried to carry everything on my own. I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t sleep at night and even if I did sleep seven or eight hours I woke up tired. The biggest thing I learned and that will help other people as well is to go all in on the things you can control and the things you can’t control. Let it go. Take breaks. Slow down and rest often even mentally. It’s very anti-cultural because culture says to grind and wake up at 3 AM and go to bed at 11 PM and just go go go until you succeed but that is stressful and seems to never end. Every day is a blessing and every day I can take some kind of rest.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Photographer Anna Melvin

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.

Sitemap

Categories