Young rapper TheGrandWy-Z is bringing everything new to the game. He has released a new upbeat single, ‘Shooting Stars’ that is gaining praise from worldwide music lovers. All components of the tracks are impressive in all forms. Starting from the emotive and expressive lyrics, and upbeat music, to his confident vocals, the music can easily become one of the most-streamed singles of the artist’s entire discography.
Alongside releasing banging music, the artist is also opening a new store, ESQUE XIII, and bringing new clothes and merchandise on his website, ESQUEXii.com. By improvising people’s taste in music, the artist is improvising their fashion statements as well. We recently had the opportunity to sit with him for an interview, so let’s see how that went…..
DMR: Welcome to Daily Music Roll. Hope you are doing well. First of all, a hearty congratulation to you for the release of ‘Shooting Stars’. How are you feeling?
TheGrandWy-Z: I haven’t been feeling the best to be honest, a lot of things have been happening behind the scenes that have been mentally challenging but it has most def pushed me to a different headspace. Like Ken Kaneki (from Tokyo Ghoul) said “The pain you feel today will be the strength you’ll have tomorrow”. A lot of times you try to keep the pain inside cause you’d rather it destroy you than to destroy those around you but really it’s good to let it out. & music has been my way of letting everything out. Recently I believe I’ve written & made the best music I’ve ever created in my life. It’s deep, it’s full circle, it’s realization.
DMR: The song, after its release, is gaining huge attention from music lovers from all over the world. Is this something you anticipated? Did you expect this kind of positive response from the audience?
TheGrandWy-Z: Crazy thing with me is I’ve always reached for the stars so if I ever fell I always landed on the clouds… that’s a Kanye West bar. But that’s a mentality I’ve always adopted, & so I actually expected this song to do even more numbers & be a lot bigger than what it is. I had felt like this song, Tara’s interlude, The Brink & Melody were songs that would make the whole world stop. I expect to accomplish that with my next single “DM’s” though for sure.
Shooting Stars is a double Entendre.
I believe what makes you a star is becoming mentally strong, connecting with people or somehow making people relate to your everyday hobbies, styles & personality which enforces influence. & lastly I feel like superstars always has a strong business sense or somebody in their corner who understands it to bring in the money. & I think my journey in life has taught me everything I’ve needed to become a Superstar in this game of life.
DMR: The song has an upbeat melody, and it seems like it is made for the dance floor. Was that your intention? Do you personally prefer upbeat hip-hop music?
TheGrandWy-Z: The dance floor was the last thing I was thinking about when I made this song. My ex Lindsey’s favorite rapper is NBA Youngboy & I forreal just wanted to make a hardcore track to match that. Kinda ask her who her favorite rapper is now? This song came with the intention for it the blow up, & display my versatility. Like we’re not playing games with y’all. We’re not playing games with Drake, Baby, Future, Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, I’m aiming for y’all top spot. Watch out, cause I’m coming.
DMR: Are there any other genres you want to explore in the future?
TheGrandWy-Z: Most definitely, I love artists who take chances like Lil Wayne on his rebirth album. So I most definitely want to tap into that. & my Tory Lanez Alone at prom vibes. But more than anything I feel like there are so many sub genres in hip hop/rap & R&B for you to touch on these days to where you don’t exactly gotta go pop-pop & still be the Greatest Artist On The Planet. Most of all I want to most definitely look to try to create & form my own Genre that becomes at the forefront of music. The best way I can describe it is emotional, cinematic, adventurous, Saudade is a perfect word to describe it in fact. I also want to tap into more songs that reflect songs like “The Brink” & also Drakes album “If You’re reading this now it’s too late” where all of the songs & beats transform as the song progresses. Most definitely one of the most beautiful albums I’ve heard & my personal favorite from him. I don’t know, there is so many songs I hear all the time that I love but there are a few where I’m like “I wish I made that!”. That list is led by songs like Dreams Money Can Buy by Drake.
DMR: Growing up, did you always want to become an artist or a musician?
TheGrandWy-Z: Like J Cole said when you a black kid from Fayetteville North Carolina, you wanna dribble & riddle on Mics. I’ve imagined myself in a multitude of scenarios as a child whether it was as an actor with Will Smith being a big influence for me who also had his own music. He showed me you can do a lil bit of everything in life & be successful & you don’t have to only be stuck in a box your whole life. I’ve even imagined myself as the biggest entrepreneur on the planet. One thing I always knew for sure is that I wanted to be somebody, doing something I loved & that would garner influence & the respect of the youth, my peers & my elders. I’ve always wanted to be the Greatest at whatever i decided to do. Basketball was my first love along with Music though. & so being the hometown hero on some LeBron James type of stuff for the Charlotte Hornets would’ve been a dream come true as well. Lebron is my favorite player & dudes story line I literally something you’d write out of a book. Like some Kō Kinō or Naruto type of full circle moment. I can’t wait for the ESPN 30 for 30 for LeBron. It’s going to be insane.
I had also seen my friend Dex Timmons, he’s known as the Violin Wizard. I remember seeing him making money from playing the Violin & for a short period of time I thought about maybe performing. I’ve played Piano since i was like 6 years old, performing at piano recitals at local churches. I was also featured on my first ever music video while in the E.E Smith Marching for no other than J Cole. He was recording his “Who Dat” Music Video & I was in it. It was most def a cool moment. I played Saxophone in the marching band & won 3 state Championships while I was there. People on the outside don’t understand that Marching Band is lowkey one of the most competitive sports to be In & it’s heavily team oriented. I think alot of people see us on that field & think we’re just performing for y’all… Like nah, we are competing to be the best & to stomp out the competition. I remember 71st Highschool used to chant in the middle of their performance, “we have 99 problems but Smith ain’t 1” & that used to get us Riled up.
So overall I think the mixture of the mind games from business, the heart & fire from basketball & the ear & love for music eventually made me who I am today as far as wanting to become a musician.
DMR: If you weren’t an artist or a singer, what would you have become in life?
TheGrandWy-Z: Most definitely an NBA Player. Basketball & Music both came at the same time for being my first loves In life. I had seen me being a successful entrepreneur & business man regardless of which path I decided to go in. I always had a love for creativity. I remember back in High school (Reid Ross Classical School) my business teacher Ms.McNeil had asked us to come up with business ideas for class, I came up with 3 of them. I had an idea for mood shoes. Shoes that change color according to your mood and so she had recommended that I go into “Young Entrepreneurs Academy” at Methodist University where I officially started my business got the documents for my business as well as getting in front of an investors panel similar to shark tank with a new idea for Convertible Heels and that idea had won me 2nd Place & a grand prize of $5,000 for my business. My favorite teacher, Ms.Dean was a business teacher at my highschool who had also Taught J.Cole when he attended Terry Sanford & so Business was always big for me. NBA would have been great but I tried out for the same AAU team that Dennis Smith JR was on and his father was the coach of & didn’t make it. Dennis Smith JR used to attend Reid Ross Classical school as well back when he was in 6th grade I was in 8th & he played more like Kyrie than Derrick Rose or Russell Westbrook. Dude always had the rock on a string and his handles was crazy. My school didn’t have any sports, which ultimately resulted in him leaving & also became a huge thorn in me trying to play basketball and get scouted. & I promise y’all I was a beast but life just wouldn’t let me be the next Michael Jordan so I unfortunately had to settle with Two Bachelor degrees in Entrepreneurship & Marketing at the University Of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) along with a minor in communications just in case I ever wanted to debate with Stephen A. Smith on who’s better between Beyonce or Rihanna.
So I think I would’ve most likely became a business man and entrepreneur. However if Dennis Smith JR ever wants to trade life’s for a day, let him know I’d be down to drop a smooth 26 for the 2-6. 910, Fayettenam, HopeMills We in the building!
DMR: You are opening a new store ESQUE XIII, are you exclusively designing the items?
TheGrandWy-Z: Yea most definitely. That’s actually been the most enjoyable part of this whole process is designing & getting into my creative bag recently from juggling Designing Clothes, Making Music & Editing Videos for Instagram Influencer Brie George founder of BeatByBrie LLC.
DMR: Making music, or designing clothes or merchandise, what do you prefer more?
TheGrandWy-Z: Making music is what I started life with & is what got me here. So i prefer music all day everyday for the most part. Designing clothes & if I ever had a Chance to design shoes would be a super close 2nd. It’s a huge toss up though. Some days I wake up like man let me get on this music. Other days I wake up and immediately start working on the store & designs. I think that dual dynamic is what makes me stay hungry & stay busy. The fact that when I finish the designing clothes or if i just need a break from it, I know I still have music stuff I need to handle. So to everybody out there, always stay working. It’s ok if you need a break from something, but make sure you are still crawling forward during that break or even hitting the ground running on a different topic or goal. I always kinda try to end my night on something where I can go to sleep knowing something is loading or I’m gaining some type of passive income etc. Starting up that Youtube channel & getting into stocks back in 2020 most definitely made me stress the importance of passive income.
DMR: What can your fans expect from ESQUE XIII? Will it be available worldwide?
TheGrandWy-Z: Yessss, my products is available worldwide. We ship everywhere. Like Trae Young, I have always believed that the best ability is availability. Check out the new clothes & swagger I’m bringing to the game on my new website ESQUEXii.com & keep up with all things TheGrandWy-Z at TheGrandWyZ.com.
DMR: Coming back to making records, do you have any artists that you want to collaborate with next?
TheGrandWy-Z: I don’t really have any artists in mind as of right now. Did want to work with Tayla Blazè, 910Rain & Yolo Ru but things kinda fell through. But Recently I’ve seen an Episode Of MTV Catfish that had this girl I used to Date back in 2018ish on there. Her name was Myldred. & I remember my last time speaking to her she was trying to make me jealous by claiming some guy named “KJ” had her on lock, & K.J was so much better than me. Turns out K.J ended up being a whole catfish & I just felt so bad for her. We didn’t end on the best terms, but we was young & with both of us being Taurus’s her birthday on May 14th, mine on May 8th we both had some stubbornness in us that we could’ve put to the side with Maturity & growth over the years. So I reached out to her & we’re most def gonna do a music video together for a song I got dropping soon. Can’t wait. We both got that Taurus in us & are similar in so many ways, we both work hard, into starting up our own businesses & don’t make us mad.
I also want to make sure I have Devin Louverture behind the camera for the video as well cause his videos is the best. He is built different. I want to tap different Influencers such as Malu, Tallie Spencer, & Alex Cross. He’s the Star Pitcher at Goldey-Beacom College @Alex30Cross on social media. I am working on an EP with producer PreezyBeatz 336 in the building! Also got something cooking with Chano on the beats too, those two producers right there is deadly. I don’t need to look up J Cole Type Beats when I know two of the best I’ve ever heard & more than anything they bring the best out of me too. You always want a producer who will do that for you. He’s been doing it big with music, rapping, producing and his own label HardKnoxx910. He’s been a big inspiration especially for me. I also spoke with Tallie Spencer late last year about collaborating on a podcast or something as well too. So I’m most definitely looking forward to using those connections I’ve made prior and since I’ve began this journey for to make these full circle moments we always dreamed of.
DMR: Are you planning on releasing an album soon?
TheGrandWy-Z: 100%. Everything I do is leading up for the album. I remember first coming into the game & everybody telling me I should start off with just releasing 3 song EP’s & singles. I love music too much, make too much music & love my supporters too much to half-ass this music thing. Ima always strategically put my best foot forward. Cause this music isn’t just for y’all but it’s for me too. End of the day I know better than anyone what type of work I put in & how much preparation & research & reps I put in everyday. Don’t nobody know better than me. I’m open minded I listen to everyone’s opinion, & I don’t mind even hearing what somebody has to say that’s never done it before cause any different perspective helps. But they don’t know I got over 200 songs & ideas in the vault. They don’t know the whole game plan & sometimes even if they did they probably would have to see it to believe in it.
DMR: What would you want to say to your fans and supporters?
TheGrandWy-Z: Following your dream is challenging, working a 9-5 you don’t like is challenging. Being in debt is challenging, being financially disciplined is challenging. Communication can be difficult, not communicating can be challenging as well.
So Everything comes with its own challenges. It’s time to pick those challenges wisely so we can live life with less regrets. So I will always put my best foot forward every single time. & it may be more challenging but the rewards is much greater. In the Bible it only lists 10 commandments but I believe there is really 11. The 11th being It should be a sin for you not to use the gifts that god has given you. So as long as he keeps giving me hotlines, ima make sure I’m always releasing music or contributing one way or another. So shout out to the music teachers, the performers & up & coming artists who are all putting their best foot forward & using the gift that god has given them.
Recently I have been pushed to the Brink. There has been alot of things going on but it will all be molded into the best music you will ever hear in your lifetime. And that’s a promise…
Follow TheGrandWy-Z:
https://soundcloud.com/thegrandwy-z
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7vpZL0Dw3CylMQTu5JfjoP
https://twitter.com/thegrandwyz
https://www.instagram.com/thegrandwyz/
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/thegrandwy-z/1636119194
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFY9CwZI12UjNbLNSrUgyvg
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