Rising Above All🙏🏾
Swagger Dagger representing Valley Steam, New York. The Swagger part basically means having confidence and having faith in yourself and your dreams. And the Dagger part means rising above all your enemies, doubts and fears.
“I was on my 11th grade field trip and we went to see the play Macbeth. Towards the end of the play one of the characters pulled out this dagger, and that was how the name was inspired from. When your back is against the wall and you manage to reach your goals and keep breaking standards, rules and expectations. It's a double meaning within the word itself.”
There’s a variety of things that inspire Swagger Dagger. From being a part time sanitation worker that wakes up early in the morning, to being his own boss and managing himself from the writing, studio sessions, booking shows etc.,
“My creativity as far as my surroundings, even down to some of my artwork, it's just certain experiences and even down to my day to day routines and duties I have to fulfill. Plus at times when you get to know me more personally you see charismatic, funny and emotional sides as well. So basically there's a dozen layers to me that inspire my music and my lyrics.”
For the love of it, the hunger inside is never satisfied. His top 3 goals in life are to win a grammy, having my parents retire,and bring all the homies, close friends and day ones.
“I also do it for myself and the people who doubt me or didn't expect me to make my mark. And most importantly I do it for kids like me or can relate to me in any way and the people who I love and the people who genuinely support me like my closest friends that accept me for me and I try to just give out positive energy even if I feel worried or down.”
There are multiple artists that inspire his music like Eminem and Drake. Those two artists heavily inspired my first album.
“I take inspiration from many artists like Blackbear, Joyner Lucas, The Weeknd, Ty Dolla Sign, G-Eazy, Machine Gun Kelly, Lil Wayne, Ed Sheeran, Post Malone, Schoolboy Q, Chris Brown, Rick Ross, J. Cole, and Kendrick Lamar.”
His work aims to say chase your dreams and never let anything stop you from chasing your dreams. And of course life always happens and it can be discouraging at times but there is always a greater you than the you that you're facing right now.
“My elementary school music teacher. She pretty much sparked a love of music inside of me. She taught me everything I know from writing, recording and finding rhythm. She was such a major inspiration to me. She put me and my class to early greats like Ray Charles, The Beatles and John Mayer. She was like a second mom to me and when recess came around, sometimes I would try to stick around to help her clean the classroom or just keep her company.”
“What she did for me is just unforgettable, both her and her husband did so much for me as a kid. She encouraged me to chase my dreams. She always accepted me for me as a skinny kid who was so hyper and curious about the world around him. And she will forever remain the most influential person in my life. Without her I would never be doing what I love doing now and I know she's proud of me out there. And she will forever have a special place in my heart.”
How do you network?
I usually go around social media and the opportunities may pop up on an ad and I'll message them if I'm interested in doing a performance and then we talk about prices and try to be honest, transparent and genuine and show good energy, and if it doesn't work out then it doesn't work out. But overall I do my best to manage my money and handle business the best way I can.
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