Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kendrick Allen . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kendrick , we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
I’d say I developed my confidence and self-esteem by looking inward on what I wanted to change about myself. It wasn’t I had to ask myself what I really felt I could be doing better to better myself. Whether it was cutting off certain people, being more active, or setting personal goals for my self, big or small, I realized confidence comes from within. It’s important to have people around you that support you but if you don’t have that internal sense of belief in yourself then what’s the point you know? The other big thing for me was just being happy for myself. I belief in the work I put in my craft and i’m proud of the results I have. You’ll never be able to please everyone so the faster you realize if you happy with what you do then all that outside noise matters less and less. Once I started telling myself that and truly practicing it I felt much more comfortable and confident in what I was doing.
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 make music! That’s first and foremost. I go by Big Irie, you can find me on spotify, apple music, really anywhere you stream music. I’m currently working on my first full length album titled VARSITY and I cannot wait to share it. I’ve been growing and getting better with music every year so these upcoming tracks and visuals are my best yet. VARSITY is going to be all about getting to that point in life where you’re at the top of your game no matter what field/ industry you’re in. VARSITY is gonna be all about that moment where all those hours working on your shit pays off and you show everyone how dope you are. Aside from my album I’m working on creating more events where creatives can get together and present their projects and find people in this industry to collab with. So look out this upcoming spring/ summer for that!
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?
The three I’d say are mental toughness, work ethic, and holding yourself accountable. Mental toughness because being an artist isn’t easy. Theres no textbook or roadmap that works for everyone 100% of the time. Not everyone blows up overnight or super quick sometimes it even takes decades before you reach the point you want to reach. It’s very rarely an instant gratification field which is why you gotta be tough mentally. Its very easy to see someone or something online and have feelings of jealously or resentment because you feel you should be further along. I know I personally was a victim of that because I felt my work ethic is better than anyone, which is the next big thing that’s been impactful for me. Theres enough time to work on what you really want to it depends on you at the end of the day. What are you willing to sacrifice or take advantage of? Because somewhere someone out there is going 100 to get to where they wanna go, so what are you gonna do? I work on my music constantly. Sitting in traffic, when I’m watching TV, sometimes even in conversations my mind is working on music in some aspect. I don’t necessarily mean lyrics or melodies- sometimes its even concepts I want to create visuals for or its a new way to promote songs. I feel like you gotta be kinda obsessive about it personally. As well as holding yourself accountable. Like I said at the end of the day its on you. You can be as successful as you want depending on your accountability. Its important to own up and take responsibility for your own actions. No excuses for why you didn’t meet a deadline or can’t commit to what you saying you wanna do. My advice for everyone else is simple really, put your work hat on and grind. Grind when you don’t want to, grind when you feel you’ve done enough, and grind through success and failure. I’m a firm believer of if you really give something your all the results will come, there’s no age or look or way that’s right or wrong to succeed it comes down to the amount of work you really wanna put into something.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
My biggest improvement in the past year has been the songs I’m making now and my mindset. I’ve gotten to the point where i’m super confident on the mic and am willing to take chances and step out my comfort box. I used to freeze up and get nervous recording or even performing in front of others but as my confidence in myself grew those things faded. Theres only one Big Irie and he brings his own flair to music. I now know that I’m really nice on the mic and can create shit that I think is dope and stands differently from all my peers. Thats why VARSITY is so important to me, its that mindset of knowing you can go step for step, bar for bar with anyone.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tell.ie/bigirie/whototrust
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigirie_/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendrick-allen-83a45521b/
Image Credits
live photos by @picturesinthemail (IG)
