meet Uriah Garrett

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Uriah Garrett. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Uriah below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Uriah with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
I believe, I received my work ethic from both my parents. The first years of my elementary schooling, I was able to witness & experience my mother taking the last couple of semesters of her college stint. She went through a lot of trails & tribulation between taking her final exams and raising a toddler. This was my first encounter with resilience; seeing it first hand. Seeing failure & triumph.

From my dad, he taught me resilience through football. I wanted to play football almost my whole life growing up. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to see the field until high school but during that time my father, his friends & some of his associates personally trained me. In the sessions with my father I always recall one message that cut through the rest and became applicable to any situation I put myself in. “Which wolf do you want to feed? The one that’s willing to push further or the one that’s lazy?” This stuck to me subconsciously, until it became a natural thought, on the field and off.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’m a man of music through and though. I started playing the drums at a very young age & dabbled in piano. I played the drums on sunday mornings at church, school concerts & at home. I turned that love for instruments into a passion for writing in middle school. It was difficult at first, writing my first verses and it seemed like it took forever, but that was just preparation for the next step. In highschool, we received iPads to help our curriculum & I downloaded Garageband; a basic DAW for creation. I started making beats. It felt easy to hop into because in reality I had been making beats all my life, just on a physical kit. After months of practice and seeing my classmates & peers try to compete, I took on the task fully and started calling myself a rapper. Which seemed like a jump because I was still rapping verses that I wrote in middle school & trying to strengthen those. Once I got serious I started to write more verses, and then hooks, and then eventually they turned into full productions. See ing the difference between what I was making & what others were was all the fuel I needed. I knew I could do it. Since 2018 I’ve been working & cultivating these skills. Both beatmaking & writing.

I’m on any major streaming platforms under “YungRye”. You can see/hear where I started & where I am now. Last year, I joined a band to continue growth behind a drum kit and still, I’ve gotten better. My band’s name is Rebel’s Revenge. We’re based in Philly and we specialize in all genres.

Throughout all of this, I also learned how to use my DAW to mix & master. Those are the inner workings of making a good song. It’s something I picked up over time, working closely with and watching the engineers that helped create me and my sound. I’ve dabbled here & there and even had a projects released from other artist with my mixes. This year I’ve been tasked with handling my own mixes & mastering. So far, most of the music I’ve released in 2024 has been recorded, mixed & mastered in my living room.

I continue to work all these skills everyday, whether it’s making a new song or playing along with my favorites. Again, I’m on any major streaming platforms also, check out my website: ryenotwheat.com. I appreciate any support!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I wouldn’t be here without my start on the drums. I was comfortable in many different types of situations at young age & that definitely carries over. Playing in church helped me see what singers/performers do to push crowds. From the small inflictions in voice to stage presence which is a blessing because not many people would pick that up from behind a kit. I was able to experience a flow state real young & I can now tap into it whenever I like. There are still artists & musicians who haven’t seen or don’t even know what that is. I can admit, I still haven’t gotten there behind a microphone though, just on drums. But that’s something I continue to chase & will obtain one day.

I’ve always been very observant too. Throughout many different sessions recording at studios and having my vocals mixed, I unknowingly picked that up too. I always had the ear due to my time put in behind the drums, but seeing someone process my voice through different machines and applications helped sparked that itch to figure out how to do it myself. That truly helped with me finding the sound I have today. Once I moved out on my own I was able to make any music I wanted & I tried it all. This forced me to try new things and hear how terrible I could make my voice before I felt comfortable to work with others. Believe it or not, the first song I truly felt like it was a good vocal mix was a birthday song I wrote 2 days after my 21st. It was a modern sound with a slight auto tune behind it, but it still sounded like my real voice and it felt good to accomplish.

Lastly, I have to go back to the resilience. My parents were good examples for that and taught me well, but growing up I always had the trait. I was very independent in school and didn’t need much to understand the ideas being taught. Even out of class, when I was tested with something I just wouldn’t quit. It feels wrong for me to give up after saying I will accomplish something. And no matter how difficult the task I keep a level head and power through. I can’t even explain it at times. I could be ready to take a nap for 10days straight & still come home from work and practice every skillset I named back-to-back because this is something I want to do. Something that I said I would do, for life.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
Last year, I stumbled upon a book called ‘The Creative Act: A Way of Being’ written by Rick Rubin, a musical genius. He’s a co-founder Def Jam records ad worked with many artist from Beastie Boys to Kanye West. The book was written for everybody. It shared how anyone can tap into creativity, no matter the medium. For me it really helped, because as I’ve come along on this journey I’ve learned many things and forgotten even more. This book showed that the more you learn about anything the more you develop a certain way to go about things. It may not be wrong, or right, but because you hop into that specific train of thought every time you leave out a lot more. Creativity isn’t supposed to be hindered, or boxed in & Rick showed multiply ways to bring yourself back to a primary level to make sure you don’t leave any stone unturned. Your greatest ideas could come from somewhere you least expect and that’s what the book was trying to explain. Try every possibility before you settle.

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Image Credits
Shawn Handy – Handid Viewss

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