BY: JAEQWON SUAREZ / MANAGING EDITOR
The Producer/Artist Teewiz is making his debut in the music industry with a 12-track project that will have listeners feeling every beat for weeks.
DYING TO PRODUCE is the title, and with about 27 minutes of listening time, the audience will be on the edge of their chairs waiting to repeat the project again and again.
A writer from Seawahaka got to sit down with the new artist to discuss the workings of the project, including scrapped songs, where the idea originated, and themes that many young people will relate to, especially in this day and age.
Teewiz started by saying that one of the first songs from the project originated back to last year, November 2023.
“I didn’t know it was going to be a project until… I would say February or March of that year [2023],” Teewiz explained.
Teewiz got the phrase he would later use as his title (DYING TO PRODUCE) from his mentor’s church. The pastor gave a sermon about the phrase, which Teewiz gladly explained to the Seawahaka writer.
“It was talking about fruits and seeds. You know how there’s pollen inside flowers? It [pollen] branches out to reproduce or die and either situation produces growth for the environment. It’s symbolical of the way people change and go through phases of life through rebirth.”
The story is apparent throughout the project and every song has meaning that isn’t necessarily talked about enough in society. Teewiz describes the story aspect of the project as something that came to him naturally, having a beginning, middle, and end.
Teewiz already knew what kind of story he wanted to give to his listeners, which is very telling through a few songs talked about in the interview that progresses through the project.
One of the songs Teewiz talks about is the fourth track “strive: AFRO AMERIKS CAN DREAM”, an almost futuristic 90s hip-hop song. The vocals work nicely with the drums, giving the audience a gritty underground sound.
The song then switches halfway through and suddenly has more alternative soul and R&B elements added. This part is reminiscent of facing reality.
“The fourth track is the principle of work. Progressing from Americorps (track 3), that was about the application of going to work,” he explained.
“There are three different instrumental parts [strive: AFRO AMERIKS CAN DREAM]. The first one is the pressure of how I’m going to make ends meet. Second is what’s my capability? Am I going to take somebody’s life in order to make ends meets?” Teewiz stated.
He summarized that the entirety of track four discusses morality among humans. The audience can hear this story pan out from beginning to end, as we feel the person make a decision right for himself.
“You hear factory sounds from Americorps but also in strive: AFRO AMERIKS CAN DREAM when he decides to do the right thing. But I feel like what’s not spoke about enough is that the right thing is also a difficult thing to maintain and follow through,” he continued to explain.
The message is clear throughout the song and compares to what listeners see in the real world, with people often having to make sacrifices to be secure, even if it means giving up on another part of themselves.
Though this wasn’t the hardest song the artist had to make, track four along with two others he talked to the writer about came naturally and he finished all three in a day.
The hardest song he explained was the opener to the project, a whimsical and bouncy track titled “PREAMBLE”. The track has the vibes of floating in the air, and one line that stands out in the song that listeners should keep in the back of their minds is:
“Do you know what it means to be Great?”
That one line carries a huge influence throughout the project, as almost every track references it in some way, either through other lines or through people, such as with tracks like “LIVE! (jackie rob pt. 2)” or “celebrats (gu hard)”.
“The first track had three different version because it needed to fit the rest of the story,” Teewiz starts off. “I love the third version because you're guided for the first 18 years of life, so when you go into young adulthood, you got to do things for yourself that’s not taught.”
The dependence that everyone feels when entering young adulthood is challenging to let go of, as most young people can relate. There is no one to hold your hand and tell you what to do with your life, that is something only the person can figure out within themselves, an idea Teewiz wanted to express through the opening.
“I came into the project thinking I didn’t want it to be a masterpiece, I wanted it to be an accurate representation of my life when I was in a different mindset,” he told Seawahaka.
With the lyric opening up the project and the track, listeners will be pondering their questions, like some that Teewiz and the interviewer pondered, giving “PREAMBLE” a multitude of meanings that all fall under the umbrella phrase of: “Do you know what it means to be Great?”
Teewiz also gave further details about the vocals throughout the project, which included his closest friends and his sister, who made the first line of DYING TO PRODUCE.
The project is riddled with both samples and vocals offering an even mix to keep listeners on their toes and engaged. Teewiz described the process through his synesthesia, a condition where one sense activates the other senses in unrelated ways.
Using Teewiz as an example, he describes his music-making process as seeing different colors. He used the term painter rather than musician for this project because of the different colors he associated with certain tracks.
“The first one [PREAMBLE] was light blue and lavender compared to the second track [dying to produce] which was green and brown,” he used as an example.
Not one track feels individual, it all seems to come together and form a sky of different colors, which many will enjoy especially when they listen to “celebrats (gu hard)” for the first time.
Being the seventh track, the feeling of celebration and love can be felt throughout the song. The track is upbeat, and one part that many will notice is the bass that carries the sound and adds flavor. When you add the vocals on top, the audience gets a track that many will wish was longer.
“It was really a celebration of self. A self-love track in a way. Being able to appreciate both strengths and flaws and different aspects of yourself while also at the same time thinking about moderation when it comes to that track, that’s why in parentheses it says ‘go hard’,” he explained to the interviewer.
While many hours went into producing, Teewiz stated that his favorite part of the entire journey was the thought process.
He describes how his thoughts and ideas built the creative direction that he wanted to go in, such as with his visuals and artworks to match the project themes. One thing he adored was the title naming because as with many things discussed in the interview, Teewiz has a natural talent to listen to his gut and make beautiful artwork that the audience will soon be able to hear.
“Whenever I’m creating music or a project specifically, it’s just like studying months and months of different artists and genres. I stim out to a different artist every other week,” Teewiz stated.
His dedication to his craft can be heard, as he takes inspiration from artists such as Ye, J Dilla, Jackson 5, and 2Pac. However, it’s not only his music, he also takes a deep dive into videos and interviews with the artists.
Teewiz describes this project as a “huge moment” for himself as he continues, “I’m impressed with myself because I was able to finish a project. I feel like it changed my whole perception of what’s possible and what I’m capable of.”
As he continues to process the completed project, he opens up about the excitement and how important it is to finish an idea from start to finish.
With the excitement, however, comes the anxiety and the unpredictability or fear of the unknown because the artist has grown and matured as a person.
“A prior version of me would have that hesitation or the mindset of ‘this has to be perfect’. What I love about this is that it’s authentic in the way that it’s an accurate representation of me and my experiences,” he discussed.
He explains that having a perfect project would not have brought him the same satisfaction, as the “perfect idea” wouldn’t have influenced him to grow and mature through the journey.
“I feel like I had the right tools this time. This was the right time to create an idea such as this, and I didn’t have that in the beginning. There’s been so many ups and downs to understand lessons,” Teewiz explained.
He continues on to say that he has a new understanding of himself, gaining confidence and grace while balancing those doubts that he feels and many may feel in their own lives.
“I didn’t know if I was ready or not, but I felt it in my soul. I felt like I had to finish this idea, it was in my heart, it was my passion really,” he told Seawahaka in a heartfelt statement.
As he closes out this chapter of his life, he states that he’ll be ready to work on new projects as he waves goodbye to the old era of himself.
DYING TO PRODUCE will be released to the public on Dec. 27, 2024, on all platforms. The world of music should keep a watchful eye on Teewiz, as his style and music will continue to expand the minds of all listeners as he creates imaginative stories inspired by all types of genres and artists.
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