Today we’d like to introduce you to SlideRide Funk
SlideRide, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’m SlideRideFunk and I’m a 23 year old Artist From Charleston, South Carolina where I attended Burke high School & was apart of the marching band. When we’d have fire drills In school, a group of us would always circle up and have rap battles. So my love for music and rap stirred from those times. I blew up on the trombone first, and later down the line I picked up rap again getting better at that. After Graduating High School in 2019, I attended Benedict college for 2 years being apart of the Trombone Section. In 2021 I left school to go further in my trombone career. Shortly after leaving school, A band called “DrumlineLive” called me to tour across America with them to play my trombone. DrumlineLive is the band that played behind Beyoncé during her Coachella performance. I’ve been apart of the group for 3 years & I’ve probably traveled to over 43 states. Off season, I’ll play my Trombone on the streets to put myself out there to let locals around the city know that I’m here. Outside marketing is the best in my opinion. On July 30th of 2023, I decided to Drop music on Apple Music and Spotify (SlideRideFunk). I didn’t have access to a studio at the time so I was creating songs off my phone using an app called BandLab. The idea to mix Both of my talents came to me so I tried playing my trombone over Trap beats. The genre is called Trap Jazz. Overtime, I got rid of self fear and decided to rap on the beats as well. 3 months after starting my rap career, I was called for an interview and had my song “Sacrifices” being played on a radio station in Tallahassee Florida; the capitol of the state. After having that interview, Most of my Fans started to grow, my music started to get more recognition, and more shows and performances were coming in. I honestly felt like my dreams were coming true and they were.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In the beginning, it was very tough. Many hardships and losses came across my path. It’s hard to get people into entrepreneurship or even share it on social media. You’ll get opinions thrown at you like “you should probably focus on something more realistic” or “This isn’t stable enough for you”. Often times, you may catch yourself believing these opinions, especially if you’re just beginning in entrepreneurship. But once I found a consistent niche, it became a little easier to maintain the status of my business. A lot of times people will just watch you to see JUST how good you are at maintaining business, won’t even help. But you prove to not only the people around you but yourself that you have what it takes. Traveling has its pros/cons as well. Buying equipment for shows, networking with people, consistently promoting your music so you can stay relevant in the talk, how to distribute your business, etc. Proper preparation and good timing can solve almost all of your problems. Keeping that in mind, you’ll always be 3 steps ahead of the game.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My name is SlideRideFunk and I’m a Touring musician and a Recording lyricist. Most of my motion comes from the trombone, but in some performances I rap after I’m done playing. It really depends on the type of performance or artists that are attending. Like mentioned before I play my trombone on the streets to get more people to tap into my music. The tips I get out there varies but I almost always make over $100 a day playing my trombone. In Places like Charleston or even Florida, I’m identified as “The Trombone Guy”. Im most proud of the fact that I took time aside to think differently from the crowd to become a unique individual with my own style. Trap Jazz is a genre that I want to bring to Charleston because it’s not in the city. I’m also proud of the fact that literally a day after I was called to do this interview, Famous WestCoast rapper “The Game” texted me on Instagram asking what type of album I was working on… but that’s a story for another article.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
1 thing I love about my city, is that Charleston has its own indigenous Culture, Language, and History that sets us apart from the WHOLE country. The landscape of the peninsula reminds me of Africa and I’ve never even been. Food is another favorite thing I like to dive into when I visit.1 thing I hate about my city is how Charleston made laws prohibiting our culture, like it being illegal to sell roses Downtown in certain areas. Indigenous Gullah and Indians have been doing that since the 1700’s. I also don’t like how people call the police on me when I’m playing my trombone on the streets of king and queen. Due to that problem, I had to move to Florida and not once did the people call the police on me. The music Scene isn’t really horn dominant either, so it’s difficult having shows there in my experience.
Pricing:
- Weddings – $400
- Night Clubs- $350
- Birthday Parties – $350
- Rap shows – $20 per ticket $10 to buy early
- Trombone Sessions $50 for every 30 minutes
Contact Info:
- Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5E1tC9XpPyWyGywAVsYNzj?si=hrdsNzyISbuie9fsBJIWsg
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slideride_funk?igsh=dzd1a2Z1Nmp3azM0&utm_source=qr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@kevvotbonenation?si=9ctQ6PCoM_3b28Zw
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/auxEiM7qTL1tCU126
