Meet Azzan Porter

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Azzan Porter a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Azzan , really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

Music has always been something I have truly loved and been passionate in since I can remember. It’s the only thing that moves me and touches my soul in a way that nothing has ever before. I guess you can say it found me or always been something I know i was meant to do.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

My name is Azzan but I go by “Zaan6Below or “Zaan” . Im a music producer and also an artist. I’ve been making music since a child , starting off with the piano and slowly moving on to other instruments along the way like the saxophone , trumpet , drums , and the tuba. Jazz was the first genre I can remember being introduced to so I was always fascinated with live sounds and instruments in my earlier years of adolescence. It wasn’t until I was about 8 or 9 when I was first introduced to producing and making actual sounds from a computer or DAW , and that DAW was FL Studio. Around this time it was my uncle was producing and making beats for names like Lil’ Jon , and a atlanta duo at the time called YoungBloodZ. That was when I received my first laptop and started learning how to make beats on my own. It wasn’t until 8th or 9th grade year when I started actually taking producing serious and made my own SoundCloud , sending beats to artists who made music at my school and making small beat tapes. High School is when I started catching a little buzz and attention on SoundCloud a;long with other artists I was working with at the time and started really seeing numbers I didn’t think was possible. By the time I graduated high school is when I really knew this was something I wanted to do and was my only plan at the time. I went to a school called SAE in atlanta for audio engineering but ended up dropping out because I felt it wasn’t for me at the time. I needed to take a risk and I had connections and friends in LA that were on the same page I was on in terms of the risk taking and using our craft/connections to start a career for ourselves. I eventually flew to LA for what was only suppose to be a 7 day trip and it ended up being almost a 2 year stay. That was when I really started putting in that ground work and really building a foundation for myself, meeting talented producers and artists , even eventually connecting with names like Ian Connor. Now Im continuing to better my craft and working on music of my own along with other artists. One thing I can say that it is exciting doing what you love doing for work and having control over what you create. Yes it has it’s ups and downs but thats everything , Im just happy to say that Im doing something I have a true passion for because I love it.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I can say that learning how to play instruments at an early age was impactful because I feel like its a plus to producing knowing how to play instruments and adding live sounds. Meeting genuine people who work or was in the industry was impactful also because they gave me advice about going into the music industry and some what gave me a little bit of clarity because I use to be really timid at first being in big rooms with “big people” . My advice I’ll give is just to be yourself and have fun doing what you love, don’t let others opinions knock you off your pivot because trust me they will try , and just be confident in yourself and what your doing. You are your brand at the end of the day so be just as confident as the work you make or even more confident.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I would love to collaborate with artists and musicians outside of the genre of rap/hip – hop. I want to work with so many different genres of music. If you do want to work with and make some amazing stuff together just reach out to my social medias , Im always down to work with anyone as long as your genuine.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

shot by @mattsdemise

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