We were lucky to catch up with Adrian Pope recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Adrian, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
The Struggle, but there’s beauty in the struggle. I have been through so much in my life that it is hard to even react sometimes. This has caused me to be able to keep going even in the hardest of times. Being from the Southside of Raleigh, I seen a lot of things I shouldn’t have seen at a young age. Seen a lot of things taken from people, seen a lot of lives gone way too early, but I have also seen success stories. Maybe, it’s not in the same lane I’m pursuing, but success stories nevertheless. This has caused me to be extremely thankful for the little things, but also helped me keep optimism through the hard times, because I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel and that it can’t rain forever. Also being a believer in God has helped as I know I am just being sharpened for the future.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a musician and a podcaster, and overall just a creative. As a musician, my goal is to be the greatest ever. I make rap/trap music as well as dabble in R&B. Music wise, I do not model myself after anyone specifically as I see myself as extremely versatile and can hop into any lane under the hip hop umbrella. I see rappers like Jay Z, Lil Wayne, and Drake as the greatest and I want to be bigger and better than them. As a podcaster, I want to be big as well, but I want to maintain my authenticty as well. I think I appeal to mass audiences as we cover an array of topics that interest multiple demographics. I watch other podcast like The Joe Burden Podcast, Broken Play, and Pour Minds and see them as inspirations. Music wise, I’ve accomplished a good amount as my first mixtape C.B.F.W. did over 25,000 streams. My song “Jayda Wayda” has over 20,000 streams. My other song “Oochie” has over 15,000 streams and I have all time 58,000 streams/plays. Podcast wise, we have 16,000 channel views on YouTube and over 30,000 plays on content through out multiple social media platforms.
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?
Resilience, Not Overreacting, and Networking. It is a long journey and that overnight sensations don’t happen overnight. Resilience is essential and without it, never can make it to the light at the end of the tunnel. Networking is essential when trying to do most things especially trying to be your own boss. Sometimes it’s not about what you know and who you know.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
Remaining positive and staying consistent. At times even when I am actually thriving, I can get into my own head about not being where I want to be, but I understand that everyone has their own journey and timing. So I must remain positive that I am exactly where I need to be. As well as just staying consistent, because consistent is what makes greatness. Anybody can be great once, but the hard part is keeping it and continuing to be at that level. That’s what I’m striving for.
Contact Info:
- Website: linktr.ee/mmlap
- Instagram: @mmlap23 @all.duerespectpod
- Twitter: @alpx23
- Youtube: @mmlap23 @allduerespectpodcast
- Other: TikTok: @mmlap23 @all.duerespectpod
Image Credits
@torch_da_mic_call_the_shots @validshotss
