Blaze Your Own Trail - S2:E11: Feeling Good, Feeling Great With Ronnie Eriic

Episode Date: June 12, 2020

Deriving from a church-driven family, Ronnie Eriic grew up singing in the choir and learning to play the drums. Originally born in Plainfield, New Jersey but grew up in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. Ronnie Eriic’s love for music sparked a passion in him to further his career while attending Florida A&M University (FAMU). This is where he and three other students formed the popular Tallahassee rap group LOTD (Leaders Of The Dreamers). From there, Ronnie began working on perfecting his craft. Performing at various open mic nights became his thing, which eventually allowed him to perform for larger audiences like his alma mater Florida State University (FSU). After gaining a few more supporters, Ronnie was invited to open for artists like Currency and Pac Div. In 2014, he decided to move to Atlanta to further pursue his musical career. While juggling multiple jobs like Uber, Ronnie continues to chase his dreams. Ronnie started performing at different events and at local spots like The Music Room and East Atlanta Village. Touching these different stages would allow him to get his name out on the Atlanta music circuit. In 2018, Ronnie Eriic started to really hone in on his craft, he invested in himself by purchasing his first set of studio equipment where he started to learn how to record his own music. Ronnie enjoyed freestyling in his car, showcasing his rap flow, this allowed him to start to build a solid fan base. He also released his first album R.E.A.L (Recognize Everything Ain’t Limited) which he recorded in his home studio. In 2019, after his first studio debut album Ronnie released three singles “She Knows”, “Summer Vibes”, and his latest hit single “100 Grand” which is currently featured on NBA game highlights and a AT&T advertisement. Moving forward to 2020, Ronnie’s highly anticipated new album “REBIRTH” which he feels has raised the bar with infused R&B and Hip-Hop tracks everyone can relate to, learn something from and truly love every lyric and melody put on the project. The timeless nature of his music gives listeners something to feel. Ronnie Eriic’s vivid lyricism helps illuminate both his heart and soul to his growing fan base. Connect with Ronnie on all platforms: https://linktr.ee/ronnieeriic Like the show? Don't forget ton rate and review on Itunes! Check out our Facebook Community here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/blazeyourowntrailmastermind/ Installing strategic sales systems & processes will stop the constant revenue rollercoaster you might be facing which is attainable through our 6 Week Blazing Business Revenue Coaching ProgramBook a discovery call with Jordan now to learn more! Are you an entrepreneur?Join my FREE Group Coaching Community where we have live calls, Q&A and more! Our Trailblazer Ecosystem also enables you to network with other entrepreneurs and creator hub eliminates multiple subscriptions and logins creating a one stop shop to take action!Use code: FOUNDING100 for 12 months access FREE and Founding pricing for life! (While Supplies Last)Join now! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, looking forward to sharing this episode with Ronnie Eric. He's a hip-hop artist. He does a little bit of producing. He's a songwriter. He's got a lot of energy and he's got a really incredible story. So looking forward to sharing this with you and I will chat with you right after the episode. Hello, everyone and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. I'm your host, Jordan Mendoza.

And I've got a very special guest today. His name is Ronnie Eric. and I'm going to give him just a couple minutes to tell us all about him. Hey, hey, what's up, man? I appreciate you having me on the show. As he said, my name is Ronnie Eric. I'm from New Jersey. Live in Atlanta now.

I'm an artist, songwriter, entertainer, you know, and I'm just a feeling good, feeling great. That's my motto, you know what I'm saying? Awesome. And I love that motto, right? It's a very positive and an uplifting motto to abide by. So we're going to rewind real quick. and take a dive into, you know, where you grew up and how you were as a kid. So can you give the audience some context of, you know, where you actually were born in race?

Yes, I was born in playing for New Jersey. I grew up in Scotch Plains. So when I was younger, you know, sports was really big in my life. So parents put me in the basketball, football, track. That's what they pushed sports in school for me. Music wasn't. I did music like I was in my family's choir and did um you know and then our church I did that and I played the drums but it wasn't as big or pushed you know as it was when my dad did DJ and

my uncle was rapping back in the day you know what I'm saying so yeah so um what what do you think their big push to get you into sports was did did your parents play sports or maybe they didn't and so they wanted you guys to be involved in get those experiences? What was it, do you think, that kind of had them push you towards sports? I think it was my grandfather and grandmother, they had a football league where we were from in Plainfield. And so my mom and them grew up in that league. And so my mom and them took over and got their own league. And then when, you know, raises in the sports and, you know, football's really big in my family. Like uncles is cowboys, my dad's a dolphin fan. So it's like always

rivals and the team, you know what I'm saying? So Thanksgiving is crazy. So, yeah, sports is like we was you know I was I went to college I played all through high school and all that and I supposed to go play in college but I got there I was like nah I'm good I'm not you trying to wake up 5 in the morning like hell no you know what I'm saying so yeah yeah well you did them proud right you put in you put in the work for for as long as you could and tell you you know really went down the path of you know what your passion is right and I think that's that's super important to me and that's the thing I'm instilling in my kids is like whatever you want to do whatever you see you strengthen, let's go all in there.

You know, there's too many parents, I think, that focus on the kids' weaknesses. And what happens when you do that is their strengths actually start to diminish, right? When you focus on their weakness versus their strengths. So growing up in Jersey, so who were some of your biggest influences when it came to music, whether that was, you know, hip-hop, R&B, maybe you like some other styles of music. Who were kind of people you look up to? So my favorite artist is Lauren Hill. Looked up to Lauren Hill.

You know, she's from Jersey. Who else? Fabulous. Whitney Houston turns, because she's from Jersey. But she's just a powerful singer, man. Michael Jackson, my dad always played Michael. Like, that was like his favorite thing to do. So he played Michael.

He played, you know, he showed his old school music, like the, I think it's the high tops. And what else? high five and just a lot of great R&B and hip hop music. I think one of my first albums I ever had was Little Bow Wow, had Leah, and what else? I had some other ones, I had a couple of different joints, you know, that I had, but it was just so crazy because, you know, hip hop is born in New York and, you know what I mean,

those areas. So being able to have, best of both worlds living up there being raised there and then coming to the south and you know finding my own sounding way i think i'm appreciative of what you know i was born into and learned yeah yeah and no you know hip hop and motown you know that type of r&B i mean that was i grew up in the early 80s and that was super popular right and you there was just something about the the sound and the quality of that sound that you you you you know, it was addicting to listen to, you know, and you could tell that they put a lot of

effort and energy into into their craft for sure. So when did you discover and when did you think about, you know, hey, listen, I think one day I want to aspire to be an artist. I want to aspire to be a rapper, you know, and get into that side of things as far as a business side's concerned. So when did you have your first thoughts about that? It came, it happened when I was in, in college, my sophomore year in college, and my grandfather passed away, and I needed some way to, like, bent, you know what I'm saying? And the only way I knew how to was either go, you know, play sports or, you know, listen to music. So I just started listening. I'm like, man, I need to write something down on how I feel. And from there, just pinning how I felt,

I came across other artists in college where Charlie Sky, Chrissy Say-So, Martez, heard, we all formed a group called Leaders of the Dreamers. And from there, you know, I started building my fan base and it was all she wrote from there. So I was actually in a rap group. Okay. When I was, yeah, it was crazy. It was crazy dope. Okay.

Yeah, so that's good. So how did you enjoy being part of a group? You know, obviously, you know, playing sports as a kid and all growing up, you got that sense of teamwork and camaraderie and things like that. But, you know, when it comes to, you know, when it comes to, you know, to the music business, sometimes there could be egos, right? Or it could be, you know, I'm, I'm going to be the person in front or I want to have this, this, you know, part of the, part of the song, right?

So can you give the audience some context on how that was at first, right? Because, again, different personalities, different things like that that you're dealing with, especially when you're in a group. Yeah. So I think for me, I was fairly neutral. Like I said, everybody that I did join. They either had a couple years on me. They were doing music way before me and all that.

So when I came into it, it was more of a learning curve. And they were teaching me, you know, they were helping out. But once I started getting the hang of it, I'm very competitive. So it started, it wasn't a bad competitive, but it was like, oh, they brought a fire verse or a fire hook or whatever. I need to do something just as much or better. You get I'm saying? But so that it's either balanced with them or, oh, you killed that, bro. You know what I'm saying?

So it was fun, it was competitive, but then we also knew how to balance each other out. And we knew each other's strengths and weaknesses, right? So I knew I couldn't probably rap on a certain song, so we'll let somebody else rap on it. You know what I'm saying? If I didn't feel like it fit me. So it was cool. It was a cool learning experience. If I was to be in a group again, I would probably not because I love being solo.

And I think being in group, like you said, so many different personalities, styles, and then it's like time management. Like, let's say we try to have to do something and everybody can't make it, you know what I'm saying? Or some people are taking it a series and some people are not because life has happened and little things have happened between that, you know what I'm saying? So it's kind of hard to be in a group. Okay.

So, you know, we've talked off off air and, you know, you gave me some context into how you got into producing. And it was a super interesting story. And I think it would be good for the audience to find out because you don't, you don't only, you know, write your songs and perform your song, but you also are able to produce, to produce your tracks. And not everybody, not everybody has that skill set. So can you give the audience some context and the kind of how that came to fruition? So I, I don't fully produce. I engineered my stuff. So like 100 grand, my song, 100 grand, how we have it on the NBA, the Cavaliers Media Day and stuff like that. Shout out to United Masters.

My producer was sitting here and he didn't have nothing. So I was like, yeah, I was just leave it. I started playing on his keyboard or whatever. And I'm like, I had found this sound. And I just kept playing and I'm like, yo, this is the sound. Like, I like this sound. He came back, created everything around it. Then that's when I started humming.

You know, my cadences and melodies put it together. So I actually record, like I have an in-home studio, as you can see my mic, my interface and stuff over here. So after I wrote it, I recorded it. And then from there, I mixed and mastered it. So I basically, you know, sat here, chopped up the bead and took the drums and leveled it a certain way and made sure the reverb sounded good and stuff like that. So it's a long process. But once it's done, the manifestation of it is beautiful. Absolutely.

Yeah, it's, you know, because it's literally you're creating, right? You're getting to use that creative side and put all of these things together to turn into one one track, you know, and when I'm editing videos, you know, I get that. I'm like, oh, man, like, oh, if I do this, this will happen. Oh, what if I add this? No, that's not, you know. And you're able to really like see, you know, a hundred different versions of it before it actually comes, comes to fruition. Exactly. Exactly. Then it's like also taking in on opinions, right? So like opinions can help and sometimes not help. You know what I'm saying? So I think that also people should be open-minded to that, you know, having a group of people that won't just tell you yes. You know what I'm saying? It'll be, I'll keep a real with you. But like, hey, that's not it, man. Maybe you should try that better and say that better and do this better. So also you take that into heat when I do stuff. That's good. Yeah. No, it's definitely. good to have a circle around you of people that can for one support you and you know steer you in the right direction and i think uh you know as a creative type it's also important that you that you also stick to to what you feel is the right with that intuition or that that gut feeling so that it doesn't end up sounding more like their stuff versus your stuff right exactly exactly all right so um what was your first song that you that you ever

release. So when I say release, meaning, you know, it made it to Spotify or Apple Music. And I want you to just give the audience some context around how you came up with that song. And then does it align with kind of who you are and how you've grown since that time? Uh, no, so my first song was called Don't Play. And it was more of a trappy feel. Um, it was like, We don't play. It was basically telling how me and my friends don't play about a lot of different things. And, you know, I was in the time in my life where I was hanging around people. Hanging around people that, not saying bad or anything, but, you know, if you mess with them, you know, they're not playing with it.

You know what I'm saying? So I made that song at the time. So that was like 2000. I want to say 15 or 16. The next song after that was Feeling Good. great and that was really when I found like that's me I'm I'm Ronnie Eric I love to turn up I like to have fun I like the party and feeling good feeling great I recorded that like four different times not even recorded we changed the beat like so many different times until we finally got the one in

I like and from making feeling good feeling great you know I got the I had the brand made and stuff like that and you know so from there I started and that was still like Ronnie Eric but not devonable in telling how I really feel about situations right here. So those two are the first two songs when I first got to Atlanta, because I moved to Atlanta in 2014 after I graduated from college. So those two are the first two songs that I really released on any of those platforms. Okay. And so the one, so feeling good, feeling great, that's when you really thought that, okay, this can be a thing, right? This can not only be, I can create music, but I can have a brand, associated with it, right? So when, when you thought about that from like a business standpoint,

what was your next move? Did you say, you know what I want to get this trademark? I want to maybe get an LLC, right, so that I can actually distribute merchandise. Like, so what give us, give us some insights into the business side of things. Did you want to hire management? You know, what route did you kind of go down to get all that started? Um, so for first, it was shows getting people to repeat like Simon says and when I say feeling good y'all say feeling great you know what I'm saying so like having them have that in their head so anytime they see me or whatever oh this mr. feeling good for you I'm saying like that that's just my whole thing um from there it was uh finding out the best pricing and t-shirts and merge and stuff like that um I didn't have management for about I actually for

about maybe two years when I got here I didn't have management um no, I did. I had got management when I got here, but it didn't work out. I felt as I was doing more work than my management. So I was just like, eh. Um, because, you know, it was my dream and that's just how I go. So, um, from there, it was just get an LLC and all of that. But they got, I got, um, when I got here, I also got my master's degree and from full sell and entertainment business. So that also told me how to one market myself, um, make a business plan. Um, on top of that, you know, learn different contracts and things like that that you make sense or didn't make sense. So making feeling good, feeling great, I wanted it to be a whole entity, not just merge or whatever. I wanted it to be a thing when somebody heard or said my name, that was me. You know what I'm saying? Yep. So from there, and I still have to, you know, get an LLC for it and all of that.

But I did research on it to figure out how much it caused and what I had to do and things of that nature in order to make it, you know, be a staple for you. Okay. That's good. Yeah. And, you know, a lot of people that are getting started out in hip hop or music, they don't have that benefit of, you know, having higher education, right? Having that master's degree.

So would you say that that has been foundational in getting things going a lot quicker? Do you think it would have been taking less time or more time without it? I have a love and hate relationship with that. So, like, yes, it's beneficial because I know how to move and carry myself in a room and around people. And I know the knowledge that I need to know for it, right? But then if you, per se, somebody that didn't go to school for it, they can just sat on YouTube and took courses and classes and still be as adequate as me to know this information. But they're hustling.

I feel like hustles everything, right? thinking my on top of me having degrees and all of that my hustle still had to meet those people that didn't have it because those people that don't have it hustle most times hustle a lot harder because they know they need to figure out and get things right so I think for me was it's a conversational piece like people will be like oh um I even come to this day people don't know how to get on distribution they don't know how to do different things but learning from my degrees in terms of business and entertainment business, it showed me how to be determined and discipline and to finish things. I think that's my biggest out of it. I feel like if you could finish that,

you can finish anything. Okay. That's good. Yeah. And, you know, every degree has a certain weight to it, right? You know, whether it's a dollar amount or whether it's, you know, some of them could be priceless, right? Because in order to do that role or that position, you have to have it, right? And there's plenty out there. There's plenty of people that have them and they're nothing but something on somebody's wall that they have never used, right? But, you know, you can't really fault people for that. I mean, these are, you know, 17 to 18, 19, 20, 21 years old. You know what the heck you want to do?

I mean, there's plenty of people that are 30s, 40s, 50s that still don't know what they want to do. You know what I'm saying? Exactly. And so I think, you know, I have a very similar love, love-hate relationship with college and school. You know, I didn't go. I knew I didn't want to go when I was in high school because I didn't enjoy education in a formal way. But I love learning, right? And even though I didn't go to school, I have certifications.

Because I'm always investing in myself. I think professional development, personal development, you know, that is where you want your money to go. is how can I be a better version of me? Because if you're at optimal level of performance for yourself, it didn't matter what you're doing. You're going to do it really well, right? Exactly, exactly, exactly. And then I hate waiting on people.

So that also pushed me. Like, I had to figure out how to get on Spotify. I put in one of my songs and then set it off. Like, I did this shit without a manager. You know what I'm saying? Like, I learned all of this stuff without even having something. somebody or like i created my website myself and i feel as though like that term of accomplishment holds way bigger than having somebody do everything for you which a lot of people nowadays you know

don't they're not self-efficient which is kind of scary to me but yeah yeah no but it's all about the process right if you enjoy the process and the journey and you don't you don't really get upset when you don't get the w right like because it's going to happen like more more then not you're going to fail. You're not going to see the results that you want to see. But, you know, if you dwell on it or you give up, then you're not going to get to where you want to get, right? Exactly.

All about having that selective amnesia, right? This, you know, this door closed, but guess what? Another door is over here waiting for you that you didn't even think about, right? And so, you know, how do you position yourself with your business? So just to give the audience some content. Are you, I know you're on YouTube and on Instagram. So do you put out a lot of content and what type of content do you enjoy putting out the most? So right now I'm more heavier on Instagram.

I'm growing my YouTube right now. But for me, it's, I put more content in terms of videos. I think videos go really well. I feel like we're, we used to be in the, in the, in the world where you could post a flyer and all of that. And it would get some love. But now if you don't, if it don't have music behind that flyer, it's like irrelevant. You know what I mean? Nobody wants to sit there and pay attention or, you know what I'm saying?

So right now I'm working on more visual, visual content, whether it's learning. I'm actually trying to learn TikTok and, you know, trying to figure out ways to be more appealing. Because TikTok is new to me in terms, I feel like it's like a newer vine, you know. I'm saying. Bond was popping in my time. So I feel as though TikTok. So I use TikTok, YouTube, Instagram. You help me with LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is like a foreign language to me too. But it's very interesting. It's very interesting from a business and, you know, professional standpoint. And then my streaming platform. So my right now, Spotify and Pandora are my leading platforms. And thank God for Pandora. And their tools that they have,

know, the feature music, and they basically put the song on any, not any, whatever like-minded artists that they feel like it sounds like, they put it on their radio. And then, you know, those people come and check you out. And I was Spotify, you know, their playlist. So playlist is a very, very dope. And then Instagram ads when I, you know, get a chance, I feel like are definitely good. Yeah. And so for the audience, right, for somebody that maybe is like, you know what, I think I have

some, I get written of some stuff and I may want to perform it. Can you give the audience some context into how somebody can go from just, you know, having their audio tracks to actually getting it on the platform that they want to get it to so that it can start to be distributed out to the masses? Okay. So there's distribution companies that they can look at to. You have distro kit. You have United Masters. You have Tum Corps. I know those are the ones in the U.S.

and there's another one. I can't remember the other one. But I use DistroKid and I use United Masters. The reason is why I use those two, distro Kidd because I keep 100% of my digital sales, right? And then they do split sheets on the platform. So I don't have to worry about if I made this amount of money. I have to come back and give you that.

They're already paying that out. So, and it's only like $35 for the year. You upload as many songs you want throughout that year. And I only put my explicit versions over there. So now for my clean versions, I use United Masters because I know they have the NBA. They have a lot more sync licensing platforms, I mean deals. And I used them to get those deals like how I got the NBA,

how I just did AT&T with them, waiting for that corona, I wish it never happened, but, you know, waiting for that thing that pop off. And I like them a lot because they're very big on independent artists and showing love and helping on independent artists. artists, you know, so, and they'd have different playlists and stuff every week and stuff like that, too. So those are the two platforms I use. And it's easy, I mean, United Masters is free. You just got to upload, you know, sign up and upload.

So I feel like the biggest thing is getting your music mix and mastered correctly. I think quality, because you can put music out just from your phone every day, you know what I'm saying? But if it don't sound good, then why it's really going to pay attention to listen to it, you know what I'm saying? So with those two platforms, Distro Kid United Masters, are there people that are big like now they're big artists that are that use those platforms and that that you don't think will ever sign a formal like manager? Yeah. What's his name? I don't want to say it wrong. His name is chopper and in something chopper.

I can't think of his his name right now. But he was pushed on that platform and it's doing crazy numbers. There's another artist from New York that's being pushed on their platform and doing crazy. So I have like a personal A&R with them. And, you know, we talk and conversing opportunities come out. He'll look out and check out. Like, hey, this might be good for you or he'll just send it in. You know what I'm saying?

And like when I first got the NBA, I was actually Uber. Like didn't nobody tell me, no nothing. Like it tagged, they tagged me. United Masters tag me. cast it. It was like, hey, Tristan Thompson, a song, 100 grand by Ronnie Eric, you know what I mean, provided by United Masters. And I'm like, oh, this is crazy. Like something crazy big and all I had to do is, you know, submit. So.

That's it. Yeah, no, that sounds, that sounds easy and it sounds like a quick process, you know, with my podcast, that's the one thing that I like too about podcasting is you can distribute it to pretty much i think i'm on like 10 or 11 platforms right and and when you get started from day one uh depending on who you who's your hosting site you usually get two or three like that first day yeah and and that's what it's all about right it's about like first i got a i got a market on social to tell people that there's an episode so they they get driven where i want them to go to click the link and then to subscribe hopefully right so it's about it's about distribution and having the ability to be on multiple platforms is definitely a big advantage.

Well, you showed me something dope that was really easy. Link tree. I like Link Tree a lot. I appreciate you for showing me that because it's like one central link and they can go and choose whatever they want on that one central link. You know what I'm saying? So it's been really beneficial for me. Yeah, yeah.

I tell a lot of my clients to, if they don't have one, to build a link tree. Like it's like you said, it gets people where you want them to go. And so now I upgraded to pro not too long ago. So now I literally have every social link. I mean, you can have hyperlinks that drive them exactly where you want to go or you can create motion links that like shake or move when they when they get on. And what I like about it too is you can use that if you have a domain, right? If you have like feeling great, feeling good.com, you can send them there and then it'll you can link that directly to your link. link tree, right? So, you know, so for people that don't have a website or they don't want to

invest the time and energy and either YouTubeing it to figure it out or hiring somebody, link tree's perfect, right? And for six bucks a month, I think for pro or free, I mean, you can use the, there's plenty of people. Um, I think Gary V actually uses the free version. You know, so I mean, there's people out there that they're just like, all right, whatever. It's just a place for me to put links. So, yeah, that's definitely a good tool. So, so, so what do you have in the works? I know you just released your album Rebirth, right? And there's definitely some it's a great album. There's

some tracks on there that I definitely enjoy. So give the audience a little bit of context into that album. You know, what was the whole thought behind it? And, you know, what your favorite, maybe top two or three tracks off the album? Okay. So my album is called Rebirth. You know, it's on all-streamed platform. So go get that.

So basically rebirth I needed a title for the album. Couldn't really think of it so I asked my home girl, she was like, why don't you call it rebirth? And I'm like, that's dope. But why? She was like, well, the RE first of all stands for Ronnie Eric, right? If you look at it that way, Ronnie Eric

and then reberting himself. So I'm like, oh, that's dope. That's crazy, cool. I was going through, you know, love, situationships, relationships, self-doubt. Figuring out myself, like, I gotta be honest, it's really like a mirror. Me talking to myself, I'm like, yo, you gotta do better.

Like, I gotta be honest about the things that I'm doing to reflect because it's not doing, it's not showing, you know what I'm saying, doing real good. So I think it's a real big, vulnerable album showing my emotional side on how I felt about the situations that I was going through throughout the year. year and a half span of my life.

And some of those songs, like, she knows I did that, like maybe a year ago, but it just still fit, you know, the album and, you know, so it's a storyline. If you really listen to it straight through, it's not, so when I first did it, it's a different storyline. Then I sent it to one of my mentors and he was like, yo, this is how I should go, because it sounds great this way. And I started listening, I'm like, yo, you're right, like,

that's dope, you know what I'm saying? So we changed it up. But rebirth is definitely a visual into me wearing my heart on my sleeve and just talking about, you know, the goods and relationships, the bad, taking accountability on the situations that either I did wrong or the other person did wrong. And just making relatable music. I mean, that's my biggest thing is to make music that people can relate to. So right now, my favorites is a safe place. Like, that's one of my favorites. Like, everybody loves that song.

It's crazy. And it's a good time right now because everybody's home. So everybody needs a safe place, which I'm, thank God that it came out that way. Safe place. Another one would be mixed feelings. Mix feelings is another one just because of the lyrical aspect of it. I feel as though I really went crazy on the different types of lyrics that I said in the wordplay. And I think the last one for me would be, how can I trust you?

So those are the top three. That's my favorite off the album. How can I trust you? That's dope. Yeah, that's definitely, I mean, all three of those were definitely probably my top three or four as well. So really great album for those of you, you know, I listen to it on Spotify. Are you on, you're on Pandora? Are you on Apple Music?

Yes, I'm on Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Deaser, Iheart Radio, Amazon music, iTunes, basically everywhere. You know what I'm saying? YouTube. But real quick, how can I trust you? It was so crazy. We did it right here. My home girl pulled up. And the way we did it, it was supposed to be a whole different vibe.

Then it started raining outside. So I'm like, rain drops, okay. It's storming out here. And hey, so it just was like, I feel as though when I made music, it's prominent. So either what I'm going through at the time or what I've been through, and it just makes sense all the way. So I'm glad, like, you like that. Because on a rainy day in Atlanta, I feel like that's the best song to like.

Yeah, yeah. No, and, you know, it's great to hear the context, right? Because that was very organic, right? You're like, you're sitting around with your friends and you're going to record. And then all of a sudden something comes to you and it just makes it more meaningful, right? Because the effort that you're going to put into a track like that is you're going to want to hit it hard. You know, you want it to be so impactful so that people, like you said, they feel that emotion in that environment that you were in at the time, you know? That's definitely cool to get that that context.

So one of the things that I like about you, you know, I follow you on Instagram and you're always engaging with your audience. And so how impactful has that been for you in not only growth on the platform looking it from a metric standpoint, but just for you, for yourself, right? Because hearing people that are out there and they're like, oh man, like I can relate to this track or this is. me today or you know so how does that how has that really changed you rebirthed you right as a yeah um i love it man it's one is motivational because sometimes people share their stories with me

and why this is why they like this song because they might have went through a certain situation with a spouse or or uh an ex-lover or something like that or you know just their everyday life or their family so be able to hear those stories one it motivates me to hear that i and inspire people, which is just dope. It's crazy. And then just to know that, yo, I recorded this in the crib. Not anybody's big time studio. I did it at my own house.

And to see what I did manifests to something creator and people appreciate it for what it is. It's a beautiful feeling, man. And I've been praying on this for a long time. So just, you know, because before this album, I have an album called Real. It's called Recognize Everything Ain't Limited. Did the same thing recorded here. Outsourced it with the mix that time. But I can tell the difference between that album and this one and where I was at there and how came to where I'm at now.

And I feel as though music is what you go through. And I'm not done going through anything right now in life. You know what I'm saying? I still got more to talk about. So being able to, you know, see comments, like, especially the ones that are really, like, people really like, like, yo, I like that. that line you said about first prints and men in black you know what I'm saying like I'm like oh you really listen like it's crazy you know what I'm saying so and then it's also showing me core people core focus people that really pay attention and I can count on to anything I drop they're going to

listen that's good yeah you know I think that's important too whenever you know because like everybody starts with zero followers right everybody starts with an audience of them and their friends and their family. And so when you start to get that realization that you're making that, you're making a difference, right? You're inspiring people to be different or maybe you're getting someone that freestyles on one of your beat, you know, like when you start to get those things happening, it's got to be a good feeling. Yes, yes, man. It's, it's, I don't even have too many words for it. It's just a feeling that I can't even explain. I just hope anybody that does music or any type of creativity or anything with, you know, what,

they love to do, they keep this feeling because it's one of the best in the world. That's awesome, man. And so for the audience, let everyone know where they can find you, right? There's going to be people that listen to this and that are into hip hop. They're into music. And they've really got a sense of kind of who you are. They start to learn a little bit about, you know, why you're creating, why your last album was titled what it was, you know, the thoughts behind some of the verses in your song. So where are the best places for people to reach you? Well, you can find me on Instagram. My Instagram is Ronnie Eric, so R-O-N-N-I-E-E-R-I-I-C. Same on Snapchat. On TikTok, you just got to add a five after my name. I'm on what else? Facebook. I just got my like

page up. So I'm on there. I'm on LinkedIn. Just type Ronnie Erickin. I'm on there. I'm basically everywhere you need to find me, except for my Facebook. you know other than that that's good that's good all right well awesome this has been great i appreciate you taking the time i'm sure you've been writing and recording and always working on some things so i appreciate you taking the time for sure thank you man i got something about the job for this whole covid thing man i think it's going to uplift people's spirits like so i'm actually about to when we're done and finish writing it might make a video posted and get people tuned in Awesome, my friend.

Well, hey, definitely glad you were able to make it. And thanks for coming on the Blaz Your Own Trail Podcast. Hey, man, thanks for having me. Hey, what a great episode with Ronnie Eric. Make sure you head over to Spotify, iTunes, wherever you listen to your music. Check out his albums. His newest one, Rebirth has some amazing songs on it. So be sure to check it out.

You can also follow him on Instagram at Ronnie Eric. and listen, if you haven't subscribed yet, make sure you subscribe to the show. Our goal, again, is to impact as many people as possible all around the world. And if you could rate us and review us on iTunes, that would also help us on that mission. So thank you so much for listening. I can't wait to share the next episode with you soon.