To start, please introduce yourself, tell us about your journey as a music
artist, and what inspires your musical passion?
My name is Credence, an upcoming artist from Dundalk, Ireland. I am a rapper,
songwriter, and producer. To be honest my music journey started from playing the
drums at my local church around 10 years old. Fast forward later I found myself
rapping in a group (DBA) with 2 of my other good friends (Credo & Jeoa). We
released our first group song ‘Moving’ back in 2019 and it really stuck with a lot of
people in the community, so we decided to just keep it going from there. In 2022 we
released our final project ‘Ipsum’. At this point I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do
with the music, but at the start of 2023 I decided to keep it going as a solo act.
I would say my primary source of inspiration for music just comes from the fact that I
genuinely love music. What I mean by that is l love the whole process from the raw
vocals to mixing to the creation of visuals all the way to the marketing. As an
independent artist you generally have your hands in multiple bags, it isn’t easy, but I
stay inspired just from the fact that there’s always something new to learn the jobs
never done.
How would you describe your unique musical style, and what themes or
emotions do you often explore in your songs?
I would describe myself as a melodic rapper with the ability to bend vocals in a very
unique way, an artist who tries to evoke and convey obvious and clear emotions
through each track whether that’s pain, happiness frustration whatever it might be I
use the music as an outlet to package those feelings.
One of the themes I often explore in my music would be my faith, I am a Christian,
so I always try my best to make that known. Aside from that I would say a lot of my
music is just emotions and vibes. I genuinely just rap about what I am feeling at the
time whether good or bad. Always looking to turn a current situation into a song or
turn maybe someone else’s situation who I am aligned with into a song.
Who are some of the musicians or artists who have significantly influenced
your music and contributed to your creative vision?
I think in my early days of making music (2020-2022), its quite obvious that I listened
to a lot of modern rap and my music from then reflects this. I would say in terms of
sonics I was influenced by rappers such as A boogie wit a hoodie, maybe a bit of lil
baby. I think at the time I loved the way these melodic rap artists were just able to
nonchalantly glide on beats.
Since then, my sound has evolved quite a lot. I go through phases to be honest and
right now I would listen to a lot more afrobeats than anything else and I think this
shows through my recent music. I would be inspired by the polished sound of Tems
or by Rema especially moreso in his early days. I would say I take a lot of sonic
inspiration from these artists but have crafted and moulded it into a way which is true
to me.
Can you share insights into your songwriting process?
My songwriting process is quite normal to be fair nothing out of the ordinary, I’ll listen
to beats, maybe try catch a flow and go from there, I’ll then record myself and just
start punching in each line. I often export the song out after each recording session,
listen to it on my phone, then go back and make changes until I am happy.
From time to time, I’ll write out all the lyrics to a beat before recording anything just to
switch it up. Overall, I don’t like giving too much structure to how I create as I feel
music is something that requires a flexible approach rather than a rigid one.
Looking back on your music career, what are some of the most memorable
moments or achievements that stand out to you?
I don’t have any grandstand achievements, but I do have a few moments that I am
truly great for.
I think with DBA I had a lot of memorable moments to be honest. I feel like me and
the boys made a lot of good music and were very underrated as a group. One of the
stand out moments I remember was when we dropped our first song ‘Moving’ back in
2019 it was a good time as we were blessed to get a lot of good support from the
community in Dundalk, another notable moment would be when we shot the music
video for a song we had called ‘Get Out’ at the time our people and the community
really showed out for us in the music video, also when we dropped the single ‘Taking
Off was a memorable moment for me as well, honestly we had countless
memorable moments that will stick with me for life.
Aside from that in 2023 when I had gone solo, I was living in Salamanca Spain and
was making a lot of music out there too. I connected with a lot of people purely
through music and was able to catch entirely different vibes and sounds just from
being outside of my comfort zone and collaborating with other talented musicians
who offered something musically different to me. During this time, I dropped a self-
titled E.P. with songs all recorded abroad. The music that came out from that whole
period was some of the best stuff I’ve made.
Have there been any noteworthy collaborations in your music career so far,
and are there specific artists or producers you aspire to collaborate with in the
future?
I don’t have any noteworthy collaborations at the moment, truly speaking I just want
to collaborate with more artists, producers, and videographers in Ireland especially
within the Dundalk community because there’s a lot of talented people out here who
all offer something completely different to me and to the rest of the world. The Dublin
music scene is growing and prospering a lot at the moment and seeing this has
inspired me. I genuinely feel my hometown has a lot to offer. What I want is to
collaborate with the peers in my space and to grow and build something for all of us
to be proud of.
How do you perceive your artistic growth and evolution since your early work,
and what creative directions do you envision for your music in the future?
In terms of my artistic growth and evolution. I would say in my early days my delivery
was quite rough around the edges but with growth and time I now feel like you can
hear more maturity and musical IQ in terms of the way I approach and present my
sound, nevertheless I still believe I have a lot to learn. In terms of creative direction,
as I mentioned before I would like to work with more people particularly in my space.
I am always looking to grow and learn, and I believe one of the keyways to grow and
learn is by seeing the way other people do things. My creative vision is to contribute
to growing the Irish scene, help other artists, make great music, release consistently
and enjoy the process. I think everything else will fall in place in due time.
Lastly, is there a message, philosophy, or piece of advice you'd like to convey
to your fans and to aspiring musicians who admire your work?
My message to people who like my work and continue to follow what I do is thank
you for the continued support. A lot of new music and collaborations coming soon. I
am looking forward to sharing everything that
