Today we’d like to introduce you to Pierce Washington.
Hi Pierce, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My music journey started as a love and respect for production and cinematic score. I was really into video production as a kid, always loved to play with the ambiance and background noise. I was very good at making artificial score sound natural. It was interesting to see how such small sounds could change a viewer’s entire prospective.
For most of high school, I wasn’t always the best student. I would often be distracted, listening to music in class or not showing up at all. Getting in trouble a good amount eventually forced me into being more reclusive. So, in my alone time (during class), I would practice making beats on Magix Music Maker. Most of my first beats were Kaytranada or 40 Shabib remakes. A lot of that was me learning how important the kick drum was to the music I enjoyed.
A few months later I was pretty decent at chopping samples but still had no idea how to record, mix, master, etc. I played around with the wired iPhone mic until I figured it out. At the time, I was no rapper, so I got one of my friends to freestyle over a beat I made. He ended up talking bad about a guy at another high school as a joke. We thought it would be funny to post it as a diss. Sure enough, it got a lot of attention. So, I decided to send the other guy a different beat so he could retaliate, all in good fun. 3 songs in, the guy switched producers and dissed me as well. This is when I felt I needed to step in. I responded within a day. Both schools went crazy. The verse that ended it all. There was even a group of guys from that school that came to ours so we could fight it out. After hearing about all of this, my football coach at the time said something I’ll never forget. “You said something on a song that made people waste gas to come find you and fight. That’s amazing”. That stuck with me. At that point, I felt I had to try.
A year later, I released my first project, ‘Resrvd’ fully produced by myself. Days of trying to perfect something I had no idea how to do. But when you have no reference point, you have the ability to create new methods of doing things. The project racked up north of 75k SoundCloud streams the first year of its release. This pushed me to immediately work on my second project ‘Bonita’ which didn’t do as well on streaming platforms. The goal was to display flawed beauty. In relationships, people, music, etc. It really taught me how to conceptualize ideas.
5 years passed before I finished my next project, ‘PAST DUE.’ I moved to Baltimore for a stent, lost friends, went through break ups, evictions, depression, job loss, COVID. The whole nine. It took time to live through moments, write about them and record that raw feeling. I created 3 iterations of the album, lost all of the music to a corrupt hard drive then remade the album again. It still never felt ‘ready’ until I moved back to Dallas. My roots. Collaborating with great artists like Michael Ferguson to bring a unique sound to the city was the refresher I never knew I needed. ‘PAST DUE’ was released March 31 of this year and is already near 250k streams. Beyond thankful for this craft. A gift that keeps giving to me and hopefully allows me to give to others.
Today I juggle a music career, a media career, a corporate tech career, a small business, and a newborn. It’s a balancing act, but all it taught me is that work yields results and sleep is overrated. You can’t let your family suffer due to passion, nor your passion due to finance. You have to figure out how to make it work until one makes room for the other. I just fill in the gaps inch by inch, day by day.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Most of my bumps in the road have been related to resources or self-doubt. Resources can be found, so learning to network is key. But self-doubt lives in comparison. Comparison to your idols, peers, or even past versions of yourself. Part of that journey is learning to not compare but to accept truths. May it be defeat or a win, it’s all evolution…and that is forward movement.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am an artist. I rap, sing, produce, compose, and engineer. I push to produce songs that convey a feel before you even hear a word. Then write lyrics that connect the dots in ways that are fresh yet familiar. I want to create an experience for the listener. Not just a beat. Not just some raps.
I also do my own visuals, cover art, photo editing, creative directing, marketing, and managing. I cover the creative and business side of things for myself. Not many artists can say the same.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
All collaboration inquiries go through my email. I listen to every track sent my way and give honesty. If I like it, I’ll gladly collaborate.
As far as support goes, stream PAST DUE!
Contact Info:
- Website: piercewashingtn.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/piercewashingtn?igshid=MmIzYWVlNDQ5Yg==
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5fq0bQm3FphiZFDFsqni5M?si=ikCImz30Te-t0fTVylQIaQ
Image Credits
Nicholas Ighade
Criiipa Creations
