StaJe: Artist, Author, and Business Owner

StaJe is a musical artist turned author who is now sharing his knowledge and journey through his star-studded path to Lalaland with the release of his first book “5 Easy Steps to Success In Music,” which ranked #1 New Release on Amazon. The 20-page page-turner is FREE and has the “secret sauce” to achieving self-made music stardom. The nifty easy-to-read handbook is short, sweet, and gives the inside scoop tailored to short attention spans of the current day, and comes in a variety of forms, broken down clearly, and pushing the narrative for music artists. All forms of artistry should follow, adapt, and implement these simple keys to success, including actors, comedians, and musicians. The book will help artists put together a better body of work and content to propel their careers, with super-simple steps, over a short amount of time. 

StaJe fell in love with the City of Angels and started out acting for Buzzfeed and doing commercials for HP Computers, was an extra in “The Originals” T.V. show, and a feature in the movie “Bloody Hands” with Orlando Brown. Eventually, he got signed by Aqua Talent doing runway shows and hosted L.A. Fashion Week in 2018. StaJe realized after ghostwriting for artists and not being credited for songs that were getting major deals (being forced to sign N.D.A.s) that he wanted to pursue music with the first duo single “In Your City” with artist Nick McClaughlin, followed by “U.C.C.M.” and released his debut single Swedish Tuck in 2019. Other songs: Edge, Afraid, and Nightmares are about hardship as a child and being raised by a mother who sacrificed it all for her family. The collab single with L.A. native Goddi, under Gvng Green with the song “GutterB****” landed a free recording session with Grammy Award Winning producer David Kim aka “Yougin”. He produced the next release “War” and released the first album “Gang Green” in early 2019, which got signed to distribution by Stockholm Label Rexius. After the album, came a trio collab single “Redlight” with Insecure star Elle Loraine and Goddi. The song also got picked up for distribution by A.M.W. Group. Over the past few months of COVID-19, he released single “4 am in Ktown,” “Jimmy Choos,” and started record company Fam Entertainment and clothing line Black Genes.  His new single “It Ain’t You” will be a Summer Smash for 2020.  

He says, “Over the years, I have wanted to help artists understand the business of music. It’s important to teach the younger generation how strategizing selling and marketing your music is. Just the simple things like; what sound are you going with, what style of fashion, to understanding that they need a job. What really brought me to write my book “5 Easy Steps to Success In Music” was noticing there are a lot of talented people putting out music, but not receiving the views or recognition they deserve. I immediately took note of this and discovered that most of these artists don’t understand the analytics of music marketing in today’s music world. My mission is to put knowledge in these artists’ hands at the price of nothing to start generating real sales and revenue for themselves. Most people think they know their sound, their image, or themselves, but overlook these key elements that truly make them unique. “

 

April B: How would you describe your Swagger? What makes StaJe, StaJe?

StaJe: My swag is the complete southern gentleman. With my cultural background, I like to show many flavors of myself through my different genre-based music and diverse fashion sense. I have two sides to me. There’s the suit and tie guy, and there’s the hoodie and sweats. It just depends on my mood and the atmosphere. What makes me StaJe is just being me. The southern kid from the back roads in Columbia South Carolina who was so full of ambition and persistence. Those traits have carried over into my adulthood. I like to be me. Right or wrong, I stand by that.

 

April B: What are some of the challenges you’ve overcome to get where you are today?

StaJe: Well, I think my whole life, like most, has been a challenge. Being raised by a single mother of five has its challenges. She did her very best and raised five dope kids, but not having as much growing up had its own share of challenges and obstacles. Never having my own bed was one of them. We had bump beds till I was 17. Never having one on one time with my mom has been something I’ve looked back on a wish I had. She’s just such an amazing woman who did everything she could for my siblings and I. She’s my number one fan. I’ve always wanted to buy her, her dream home and car. This has pushed me in recent years to start taking music seriously so mom can stop working so hard after all these years. I guess my biggest challenge I’ve overcome has been doubting myself. Letting go of my fear and anxieties of failure or unworthiness. I started taking yoga classes that help to strengthen my mind and my focus. We are all our biggest obstacles, I think.

 

April B:  What sets you apart from others in your industry?

StaJe: I’m real! Not to say who isn’t or who is, but I’m real. I speak it how it is, and I work very hard. There are many talented artists, such as myself, who don’t get the opportunity to be heard. I speak louder for them. I’ve worked my 9-5 at Mercedes-Benz hustling to make a check to pay my bills then clock out to go clock in at the studio for a few more hours to record a track I wrote the night before. Day in and day out, this was my routine. I’m a natural-born hustler. So many artists think they can make one song and blow. Nah, man! You need to get a job and invest in your craft, your marketing, or even collaborating with other artists. Keep in mind, me and Charlamagne the God are roughly from the same city. He’s preached to me multiples times that southern artists are built differently. Just facts.

 

April B:  Why is it important for artists to understand the business of music?

StaJe: If you think you’re going to last in the turning cycle of this industry without understanding some of the ins and outs as an independent artist, you have a long road ahead. It’s vital to know how to market yourself and your music. For example, you just wrapped up the dopest music video ever! You put the music video up on YouTube. Now what? You only get all the millions of views!? No! You have to strategize a budget. Small or big. Start a YouTube ad with 50 bucks for seven days. With this, you will get critical insight into some valuable data. This is where you can see your listeners, their age, locations, household income, and much more. For only 50 bucks, you get the world handed to you! But do you stop there? No! Now that we have this data, we can narrow some things down for a more niche ad sponsor. Do $75 this time for a week and so on until you have narrowed down your audience. You use this for same scheme for IG sponsored post/Facebook post. There are so many different ways you can find your way in this business by merely reading and investing in yourself.

April B: What led you to write your book “5 Easy Steps to Success In Music”? 

StaJe: After reading my answer to why knowing business in music is so important, you can see what led me to create a short-guided book. I want to help the uneducated artist reach their full potential. It’s bigger than just me! Why would I help and even give my input on crucial information if I truly didn’t want to help other independent artists? Music lives on without our souls and body being here. It’s here forever! If I help one artist change their thinking and concepts, I’ve done my job. The book speaks on five key elements to start your career off successfully. Of course, there are other factors and elements that need to fall in place, but without these five keys, you don’t stand a shot. I remember lying in my bed at 2 am, after writing a song, thinking, “What can I do right now before I go to sleep to maximize this ending to my day”. I opened my notes app on my phone and just wrote. I felt like I had so many things I wanted to share, but I didn’t want to overdo it. Some people spend years writing a book. I spent six hours writing this book that literally just came to me at 2 o’clock in the morning. I fell asleep right after I finished. When I woke up, the book was on top of me, so I went through it and decided what the heck, I’ll publish it. Twenty-four hours later, the book was ranked #1 new release on Amazon, and it stayed there for one week. Crazy.

 

 

April B: What is your mission in your work to empower artists? How can you help empower them?

StaJe: I want to share my story. I feel so many people let alone artists can relate to the craziness of my simple life. Given kids in the country or on the streets hope that I was there too. I slept on the grounds on 5th and Main in downtown Columbia Newark Franklin park. I was told I’d never been anything but a cellmate to a jailbird. I wasn’t tall enough! I wasn’t fast enough! Whatever the reason, you can change the outcome. I want to empower young kids with simple direct knowledge that they can translate into their everyday lives. I feel like we are moving to the laziness era. Everything will practically be handed to us. Robots will make us coffee in the morning, and cars will drive themselves. The ones who will survive in this world and always come out on top are those who worked the next person and did it with knowledge and grit.

 

April B:  When did you discover that you had a passion for music?

StaJe: I would say I discovered my love for music when I was eight-years-old. My youngest brother Chris and I was always into sports. We were very competitive with one another. But there’s this point in my life when all I wanted to do was dance and sing like Usher. I remember jumping on my bed with my old school kango hat on and doing all the dance moves while singing, “It’s 7 o’clock on the dot I’m in my drop top cruising the streets….” I always knew that I’d be an artist. Even while playing college football every week, I would dedicate time to writing songs. Music is and will always be everything to me.

 

April B: You own a Record Company and have your own Fashion Line. What inspires you to be an entrepreneur?

StaJe: I own Fam Entertainment record label with two other entities Andy Jin and Hamilton. My co-partners brought me into the idea in mid-2019. Shortly after, I would go on to launch my self-funded fashion line Black Genes. Being an entrepreneur is so much harder than I thought it would be. There are so many little things that take place that you don’t get to see from the outside. It’s still very exciting and keeps me growing as a person and an artist. The inspiration comes from never having anything. As I said, I never had my own bed until I was 21. I’ve been sharing things my whole life, and it’s been humbling. I appreciate the little moments and small goal accomplishments so much more. Also, no millionaire in this world only has one stream of income. So it’s important not to sell yourself short of all your goals and ambitions in life. Yes, I’m an artist, but I’m a person first. Dream big, and never let your beginnings dictate your future. You are great and meant for greatness.

Connect With StaJe Below:

Website: www.Stajeofficial.com

Instagram: @Stajeofficial

Facebook: StaJe

YouTube Channel: Stajevevo