Today we’d like to introduce you to Glenn Deeezel.
Hi Glenn, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I got my start in music from my church as a child. New Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in West Baltimore at 1907 Poplar Grove St. Im what most people tend to call a PK, preachers kid. At that church I was in the choir for a few years and eventually went on to manage the church’s sound room alongside one of my cousins under the supervision of our mentor Mr. Brian. Being at church all the time at choir rehearsals really gave me an interest as to how the music was created. I already had a lot of interest in music prior to that because my father was a DJ in his younger days. He eventually passed along some of his skills and knowledge to me. While being in the choir at my church, I was also in the choir at school so it seemed like no matter what I did or where I went, I was involved in music. I had already tried my hand at writing raps by the time I was in the sixth grade. My father found my raps around that time and told me it was terrible and the stuff I was rapping about was a lie. He was absolutely right LOL. I wasn’t a criminal or anything of that sort. I was just an honor roll student with a serious interest in creating music. Music has always been an outlet for me because I had a lot of energy that needed to be put somewhere positive otherwise I would be in a lot of trouble easily. By eighth grade I was learning to produce music. My entire life had been fully taken over by music production. The craziest part is that it started on a video game. MTV Music Generator on XBOX is how I started making beats. At one point I was on that game making beats so often that my father took interest and was trying to figure out how to import those beats from a game console to a cd. That never happened. Closest I got was getting some of those beats poorly transferred to a cassette tape. By ninth or tenth grade I had finally gotten FL Studio on my home computer. While my childhood friends were joining gangs and doing illegal activities, I had finally found my safe space. I eventually started producing music for my cousin that rapped. The cousin from the sound room at church, Ruck is his name. We worked on music together for years. Ruck and I eventually went viral for a song I produced for him that he made about Carmello Anthony that made it on to Sports Illustrated’s website and Worldstar Hiphop if I remember correctly. I eventually went to work on producing music for myself under the name Young Glenn. I put out two projects but never saw much success from them outside of early social media during that time. By 2014 I had began collaborating with a collective by the name of Tunez Nation. We’ve done a lot of work together and even toured together on the east coast. The times with Tunez Nation were great. Just a group of guys out on a similar mission and they all loved smoking weed. We eventually put out a project entitled Crab Cakez which featured production and a few features from myself. By 2017, I put out my first project as Glenn Deeezel entitled, “The Weekend.” I now have 8 projects available for purchase and streaming on all major platforms and SoundCloud with my most recent project being “Sour Deeezel” which is fully produced by myself.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Absolutely not. My journey has been far from smooth. Just full of ups and downs. So many what if moments. So many, “Im this close” moments that have happened. So many talent shows, open mics, and showcases over the years. Ive lost so many friends during this journey and only a few of them are actually dead. The biggest struggle for me was the split up of my cousin and I. I felt like we were so close and then I eventually find out he didn’t even want to work with me and he wanted to produce music on his own. That situation crushed me because I felt betrayed honestly. I eventually got over it and found new artists to work with but it took time and trust. Rappers are some of the most unreliable artists to work with sometimes. It’s like they never want to pay you, they just want to shout you out. The most money I made was from producing for other genres of music. I just love rap music LOL.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My name is Glenn Deeezel and Im a producer/rapper. Im a producer before anything. I just love the foundation of music. I feel like producing and recording my own music sets me apart from others. I wasn’t the best engineer and you can hear the growth in my music as far as clarity goes from the first project to my most current project. I purposely kept my older projects available for streaming just so you can hear the sound difference from old to new. I feel like Im most known for my bass heavy music and lifestyle raps. I may exaggerate a little sometimes but I don’t lie in my raps like I did when I was a child and my father threw away my rap books LOL. The work that Im most proud of isn’t even released yet. But as far as released material, the most proud of piece of music is the song I produced for Reina C The Spicy Queen entitled, “New Hair, Who Dis.” That song got me a placement in the movie, “Bundles” a drama film about high school friends who turn a revenge plot against a rival into a lucrative business, all while dealing with issues like violence and substance use. I still remember Reina calling me telling me the song would be in a movie. One of the most exciting moments of my life because my mother went and told everyone I was in a movie and not a song I produced which I found extremely hilarious.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Advice Id give to those just starting out is, just be you 100% and stay consistent. We live in a time now where people expect new content regularly and thats not always the easiest thing when you want to be genuinely you. One thing I wish I knew from the start was that the friends you start with might not be the friends you’re successful with. I fought way too hard for some relationships that I should’ve let go of years ago.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justcallmedeeezel?igsh=OGI2cDRiNHg5NTlw&utm_source=qr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@glenndeeezel?si=yoLQJUxReYkVf4DT
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/OAERgZn95EUpsCgxSd
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@glenn_deeezel?_r=1&_t=ZT-97F8ecclAuk
