We’re looking forward to introducing you to Justin Hoard. Check out our conversation below.
Justin, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
You know i fell back in love with skateboarding. And what i’ve learned returning to it is that it holds all of the qualities and trials of success within it and in practicing it again it’s trickled over into other aspects of my life. Those lessons being consistency, learning good form, repetition of that form, success through failure and to remember to find the fun with your challenges and achieving something that’s hard. A lot of my work are things that I enjoy and are considered outlets but when business gets involved it’s easy to get in seasons where you can start to view those things more like work than passions and a dread can come with that. Or unintended consequences of pressure. But to have an activity where there are no stakes but still take effort in progression feels really healthy. It keeps you in motion and habit of bringing your best to everything.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Justin Hoard aka Deepnthcut aka Eyessow and i’m a musician, producer, photographer and visual artist Born in Kingsport, TN now residing in Dallas, TX. For all honesty I recently started taking these brands more seriously and I work to make a brand that explores the complexity of human emotion and character and the battles within that. Also to take a microscope to my current surroundings/culture and give an honest and wide documentation of that.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who taught you the most about work?
My dad was a big factor in that. Just like.. I don’t know he was always a hard worker. He started working really young and always had a project and made sure to take us with him on as many as he could even when we didn’t want to haha which i’m thankful for. Just an early insight into “there’s always work to do and that’s always gonna be a thing”. Also drumline. I marched through high school and that schedule was no joke. First one in, last one out, Hurry up and wait, Precision… They ran a pretty tight ship and had a hard regime and a lot of sacrifice came with that. But damn looking back it was pretty spot on preparation for growing up. If you want to excel you gotta put playtime aside a lot. I’ve seen both sides of the coin now and yeah way too much play can stunt you and get you behind. But you can always get something going. If you’re up and breathing you can go get it if you want it.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Shew… I guess that depends on what you call success. I think it’s actually taught me more about what I want my definition of success to be. Once you start dissecting whats wrong with you and you choose to sit with it and stare at it you say “Ok, what’s really up? I feel these things, I do these things, I have this view. Why is that? What are the deep reasons behind it? What happened?” So with finding out your personal discontent, whatever that may be, you discover the sources to the problem which van be the flame that ignites the search for solutions and answers 0n what’s important to you and what you need to do to get to where you want to go and do what you gotta do. And everyone suffers in some way that’s just in the game of life so it’s a reminder of grace too. People get hot at each other really quick these days but we have no clue what someone’s really dealing with until you ask. And they could be a big crazy thing or a small little thing. And they could handle it well or handle it poorly but either way that’s that persons stop in their journey. Maybe they’ve matured out and maybe their seed is just getting planted and at a baby stage. And everyone cries when they’re a baby. So it definitely keeps me conscious of working to practice healthy empathy. If you don’t clique with someone yeah get out of there if you feel you gotta. But i believe in giving someone something to chew on as kindly as you can. Nothing wrong with checking someone or getting checked yourself it’s also part of the game and, ultimately, makes you stronger. That can suck. It’s not fun but necessary.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Whom do you admire for their character, not their power?
Man… Dave Chappelle. That dude is just an ideal celebrity to me. And i mean that by this…. Love him or hate him, agree or disagree, he always has his point. And he’s his authentic true self and mind all the time and is very consistent. And he shares the ugliest parts about him. Patrice O Neal is right there with him. They just share views that can be seen unpopular and a part of me really admires that in celebrity. I don’t know man celebrity seems hard putting your job in the hands of the public and having to weave through to please people with all this stuff you potentially don’t want to say and don’t want to do and kind of be a puppet. So to see people come up and say “Man… Fuck this” is the coolest thing to me. And not only that but so that and say “And here’s why” and have a valid and solid point worth talking about and thinking about. To be challenged viscerally. Dude’s like that are prophets in my eyes they’re s0 important. They set off thinking and conversations and discourse which ultimately has the power to bond people and release some understanding in the crowd.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What will you regret not doing?
Living completely fearlessly but i plan on achieving that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://eyessow.bigcartel.com
- Instagram: @deepnthcut, @jhoardsongs, @eyessow
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/deepcutofficial
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/deepcutmusic
Image Credits
Image 1: Hayden Redmond
Image 2: Rush Urschel
Image 3: Jackson Cox
Image 4: Myself, Justin Hoard
Image 5: Rico Deleon
