Haylstorm Hangs with Daniel Laurent

to talk. I love it. You got something really exciting coming up with Rodiga on the 21st here in Maine. But before we get into all those shows and everything you got coming up, could you start from the beginning and maybe talk about how you got started making music? You know,

very cliff notes version. I just always have been, you know, fascinated with rap and just changing words and manipulating words. And, you know, I always got A's in English, not so much in math. But, you know, it just was something. And as a kid, I would read the dictionary. So I was one of the weirdos that was in a corner just reading a dictionary. So, you know, I've done different things with like groups. I realized that I don't do well in groups because I'm usually the one that's the most focused and showing up on time for rehearsals and everyone else is slacking off.

So I've just been doing a lot of things on my own solo artists, put out albums, did 12 inch vinyls and, you know, pressed them myself and, you know, did like a CD, DVD back in the days and sold that. And, you know, it's always just been important for ownership and just for me to be. So the one thing that I'll say, I think a lot of artists, especially in the independent space, they try to conform with, you know, national kind of artists and regulations and stipulations. And it's such a shame because when you're independent, that's when you have the most freedom to say what you want, create how you want to create. If you want to put out an album on Wednesday morning, you can.

If you want to do it on Sunday at midnight, you can. There's no like, I want to put it out like Rihanna. And it's like, so anyway, it's important to me to be an artist and to be authentic and to show the side of someone who grew up in not so lovely conditions. I wasn't, you know, I don't have the typical rapper story, so to speak. And I grew up in a lot of things, I've seen a lot of things. But for me, I always reflect back to a mentor of mine that said, a true artist paints a picture of a better world. And it's not about me telling you, I see crack mouths on the corner and I see junkies and everyone's getting shot in front of me. And it's like, yep, we know. Yep. Got it. Now what?

So that's, that's what my artistry is about.

What we love about you, Daniel. And you're a New England guy, right? You're from Boston. Yep. Yep. I'm from Boston. Do you still live in Boston to this day?

Yep. So I live in Boston. I'm in Mattapan now. I'm originally from Roxbury. And growing up, I never visited Mattapan and didn't really like Mattapan. And just as life would have it now, that's where I live and bought a house. So it's just funny. God has a very sense, very funny sense of humor. But I'm in Boston right now. And when I'm done talking to you, I'm going to jet set over to get a train to New York because we have the Brooklyn show tonight.

So yeah. Love that. What would you say the hip hop scene is like in Boston right now?

It's interesting. I think, I think there's, there's some guys that's really doing it on a national level, you know, that's, that's obviously drawing attention to those that are not on that space. I think that there are more people working together, which is dope in different parts of the city and people that maybe had beefs once upon a time, the music is bringing them together. together. And, you know, I don't know if we have like a Boston sound, but I, you know, I think with the way hip hop is and rap music is, I don't even know. It's such a melting pot where somebody from New York sounds like they're from Tennessee and someone from LA sounds like they're from Canada.

And it's like, you know, but there are, you know, and it's so cliche. There's so many talented people, um, who either a, were really grinding at a certain point, but life gets in the way and you kind of lose that hunger. And then you have kids and a family, you move on. You have people who are not the most, and I'm going to preface this, not the most talented skill wise, but they're determined and they never give up. And the consistency is what matters. You have those and you have people that kind of just started and they're trying to figure it out. And then you have people who are doing it simply as a hobby, but they know they have a gift. So you have

all those entities kind of, you know, circulating around. Sure. Well, as you mentioned, after we speak, you are headed to New York, kicking off the run of shows with Rod Digger. How do you feel about kicking that off?

It's just, oh, Rod Digger is someone who I always, you know, thought was really dope. And I would have loved to have seen, you know, the, the, the peak of where, but again, I think probably life gets in the way. Right. But she's so dope and she's so authentically herself. Um, and especially nowadays with women. And I, you know, there's always, uh, um, I always love that women have a platform and they're able to be themselves authentically and I'm not approved. So, you know, sexual talk, I'm all for it. Right. I love it. Give me more of it.

However, it's like, you know, I just love having, so back on Rod Digger, you had Rod Digger, you had Missy, you had Trina, you had little Kim, you had Foxy. It was such a variety of like, ah, I can go here for this. You know, it's like going to an all you can eat. And it's like, I'm gonna take a little shrimp, a little chicken. Um, so it's so dope to, to see her live as a fan and then to share the stage with her. And I'm taking this very, very seriously. I've been rehearsing every single day, multiple times a day. Um, you know, I just finished rehearsing before I got on with you. And, um, there's actually a track that was done to help promote the tour.

And so I'm actually on a song with Rod Digger. Um, they sent me a sneak peek of it last night. We're gonna shoot a video for it actually when we get to Connecticut. Um, so, you know, that's gonna be

dope. But I'm excited, super excited. You should be excited, Daniel. I know you've been getting ready for this. You're about to crush it tonight. Tell me all about the show that we get to see though,

this Saturday in Bangor. What are the details on that? Um, so I know, um, I just, uh, the actual name of the place. I completely, I believe you're at G force laser tag G force. Yes. So, and for any other information, feel free to go on my website, um, Daniel Laurent dot com, D A N I E L L A U R E N T. Um, or you could search up full blast booking, which that's the agency that's putting this together. And, um, shout out to Kenny Mercer, who's the man behind it. Um, the whole point of this is to gain awareness and support for mental health. So I believe that they're partnering with mental health Connecticut. Um, and they've raised like over $11,000 for them, which is like unbelievable.

Um, and it's, it's, it's dope to have great music, great artists, great energy, and you're doing it for something greater than yourself. And so I had to be a part of it. And so this, um, Saturday, um, to be completely transparent, I haven't created my set for Saturday yet. That's kind of exciting though. Well, because I mean, I think a lot of people not necessarily on this tour, but just in general, a lot of people do kind of the same set in every city. Right. Um, I just have a thing as an artist where I've never done the same set twice. Wow. Um, so even if it's like changing an order, switching a song, like what I'm doing in Brooklyn, I'm doing completely something different in Revere.

So I haven't figured out Connecticut yet. So, um, you know, let me ask you this. What's, what's one of your, um, just off the top of your head, what's one of your favorite, um, hip hop songs?

Oh my gosh. I guess the first one that snaps into my head is 99 Problems by Jay-Z.

Okay. Got it. All right. I'm gonna, okay. I'm gonna incorporate something.

Don't get me excited. That's amazing. I think that's so cool that you do it differently for each show. Always keep them on their toes.

Yeah. And I feel like, you know, that, that as an artist is just important. Um, now, obviously, you know, if you have like a full band and you have dancers and like, you know, that's probably a little more difficult. Um, but when it's just me and I have the power to do it and I can figure out whatever, um, I just feel like customization is important. Um, and also, you know, I think with this thing, because there's so many different artists and the way it's arranged, you know, you have to kind of send in your, your set per se ahead of time. Right. But I'm used to having two sets that I bring with me to a show and depending on the crowd and what's going on, I'll pick one.

So like, if the crowd is like, you know, 99 guys and one girl, I'm not going to do a full set of, Hey, beautiful lady. Hey, cause it's kind of goofy. Right. Um, and also if there's a bunch of women, I don't necessarily want to be talking Rob, get you in the head with a hammer. So, you know, there's a bunch of school teachers. I don't want to be talking about the crack files on the corner. So I try to just make it so it makes sense. And I think a lot of artists don't read the crowd and read the room. Um, so if you have kids in the audience and you start saying bees and Fs and it's like, yeah, so, you know, that's important to

me as an artist for sure. That's really cool. Well, I'm glad you talked about that. And also that you mentioned the fact that it is a fundraiser, um, proceeds going to help mental health. What inspired you to do something for that cause in particular? Um, I think, you know, I've definitely, I've done

therapy, um, probably seven, eight years out of my life. You know, I I'm not currently doing it because, you know, I think a lot of times people just say therapy, you know, now it's, it's, it's still a stigma attached to it, um, especially in a black community, but it's not as stigmatized. Thanks to certain people. Um, I know Taraji P. Henson, um, Charlamagne, the God, um, Shanti Diles, what sounds to shame. You know, there's a lot of people doing a lot of great work in that space. Um, but you know, there's a caveat to it. And I think finding doing therapy, right. It's only good if you have a good therapist and it's a good match, right?

If you just go through the phone book and you pick a therapist, you might hate that therapist. And then you might feel like therapy doesn't work. So I think that part of the journey of therapy is finding a person that is a good match and it makes sense and works. Right. Um, and so I say all that to say, I'm not in therapy currently, um, because I decided that the person that I was using wasn't the best match for me. Um, and with everything happening, especially with COVID there is a shortage of, um, of therapists. Um, but you know, it's dope that you can do stuff online too. You can do a lot of telemed and stuff, but I say all that to put it in a, put a bow on it. Um, I, I believe in it.

I've been an advocate for for it in my music, just in my conversations. And so it made a perfect sense. What like, oh, this is the opportunity and this is what it's for. Oh, sign me up. You know, so it was, it was dope. Um, and you know, I, I, again, I love Rob Digger. If it was another artist that was on it, I might've maybe done like a spot date here and there, but I'm like, oh, I get the chance to be in different cities with her. Oh my God. So, you know, anything short of like bringing her coffee

and donuts, like sign me up. I love that, Daniel. You guys are gonna have so much fun together the next few days for sure. I know in addition to music, you also have a podcast called Wedlocked and Loaded.

Yes. I love the name. Yeah. So thank you. So Wedlocked and Loaded, um, is a podcast that, um, I'm doing with my wife, Leah Nicole. Um, you know, we've been married and gone through a lot of turmoil, um, probably, you know, over seven, eight years, right? We've been married 11 and a half, but we've gone through a lot and maybe like seven, eight years. And we've also done marriage therapy. Um, and also individual therapy. And I think one of the reasons for doing a podcast, one, I think it's time for it. Um, and we are in such a space where it makes sense and we are genuinely friends and we have dialogue on people around us. They really like are entertained.

They're like, you guys need your own show. You guys need something, blah, blah, blah. So a lot of what we try to do is we'll. Infuse the things that we learned in therapy and have that in a conversation for people that either a are going through therapy or have no interest or don't think it's for them. We try to put the medicine in the candy. So, you know, even the episode and it comes out every Wednesday. Um, it's on all streaming platforms. It's also on, um, podbean.com. Um, a new episode just came out this morning and we don't really talk about a lot of hot topics per se.

We'll talk about like relationship stuff or things that's kind of affecting us personally, but we did talk about the Tory Megan thing, um, in a way, but we also deep dived into it in a different way that only we could deep dive into it as. Um, so, you know, I think, uh, I don't know if you, if you heard about the Martin Luther King statue. Um, yeah. So that's a big hot topic in Boston. And so I think we'll address it and it's, it's yeah. So I think that's going to be the next episode, I think.

Oh, good. I'm excited for the next episode. I can't wait to listen to that. And it's today's

Wednesday of all. Yeah. So, so it came out, it came out this morning. Um, you know, and we, we're only doing audio now every now and then we'll do, um, lives on Instagram, but we are working on getting a setup where we have a space to record video. Um, it's just quality is really important. And if you guys go and check, um, I have a video outside that won like over 23 awards. It was in 34 film festivals. Um, it features my son. So outside is the name of that. And then I have the outside remix and then I have soul intact this out. So if you look at like the quality in which I'm doing things, it's important to have quality over quantity. And so the same thing applies for the podcast.

I don't ever want to have a podcast where we have like a camera and we're sitting in like some basement and you, it's not really well lit and it looks weird and crazy. You know what I mean? Even you behind you, you have the branding, like that stuff is important. Right. So, um, once it's right, we'll do it regardless of people say you need to do it. Like when it's right, we'll do it.

Yeah. Um, we're not going to do anything janky. Yeah. I love that quality over quantity. Always. I look forward to that whenever you guys get it up and running. That's really cool. Thank you. Unrelated Daniel, but I discovered, and I'm wondering if you knew that Britney Spears follows you on Twitter. Are you serious? Yes. If you knew that, and if there was a story of you you two being friends back in the day, but she's watching, Britney's following you. That's very

interesting. And that's, that's interesting for a few reasons. A close friend of mine is, you know, I don't know what her age is and she would probably kill me if I put it out, but she is the diehard Britney fan. Um, and so anything Britney she knows about, if you say anything disrespectful, she will punch you in the throat. Right. So, um, it's funny for me to be close to her and then for that to happen. So maybe our connection manifested that. I don't know. But quite frankly, I have, I have stepped off of Twitter for a little bit. Um, you know, obviously it is, it's just a lot going on and it's super important for me to protect my peace. And it's not really a new year's resolution.

Um, but definitely like the end of last year, there was a lot of stuff going on and not health wise, but I think that I have a tendency to insert myself into stuff to help people. And it's not always warranted and reciprocated. And so I'm protecting my peace. So one of those things is social media, obviously. Um, it's no point of like going on your phone and opening something and getting upset for the rest of the day when you could have controlled, you know, um, so, but I will go on there and say hi to her. Yeah. You know, because I think that's very, um, that's very interesting.

Yes, that's a fun fact I had to deliver to you today, Daniel, because I got a hoot out of that when I saw it. That's amazing. That's very interesting. Okay. Well, after your run of shows with Rod, they go, what are the rest of your plans and goals for the year, Daniel? So, um, my aunt, who I love,

I just talked to her a couple of days ago and she said to just be mindful of putting stuff out until it's a thing because energy and all that type of stuff. And I'm like, you know what? That is true. That's a good reminder. Um, so I, so I'll answer it this way. So I have the tour, the video, the song is attached to the tour. Um, there is a short film that, um, that I already shot that start that co-stars Leah and it's called cry for me and it's centered around domestic violence and sexual abuse. And that was inspired by tragic situation to happen with a young woman here. Um, her birthday is actually tomorrow. Um, shout out to Cheryl Pringle and her family. I didn't know her.

Um, but I met her and just that story just, you know, it just, it changed me for the rest of my life. Um, so I was inspired to make this piece of art that's going to be being done. I'm going to have a release for it in the movie theaters. Um, maybe March ish. I don't know. Um, uh, I can say I'm going to do a residency for three days in, um, Vermont. Um, and that's going to be February 13th or something like that for like three days. Um, and then I have some other shows that I have that I just kind of confirmed and booked. Um, and then, uh, black dollar, which, you know, is on my hat.

Um, that is, um, an idea and something that, um, I'm using clothing and music to help brand it, but it's really an idea and a concept, you know, the dollar circulates in the black community seven hours or six hours actually, as compared to 15 days or 17 days from other communities and his reasons behind that. Right. Um, and it's not all necessarily, um, racism, you know, and, and, and structure, but it's a lot of mindset. So if there's plumbers, you know, and is, uh, a white plumber, a Hispanic plumber, a black plumber, you know, there are a lot of black people that would just bypass the black plumber and go right to the white plumber and maybe the Hispanic, maybe.

Um, so anyway, um, short, short version of that is, um, um, it's, um, it's small business consultations that I'm doing. Um, cause there's a lot of businesses, small businesses that don't focus on the customer experience and the customer service. And what is your return policy like? And what does it mean when someone comes in a store and they have a complaint? So that's something that's in my wheelhouse and I have over 20 years of experience in, um, and so that's what I'm really doing. And I'm going to lean into that more this year also after the show stuff wraps up.

That's awesome, Daniel. Good for you. Lots of things to look forward to. And you're just out here changing lives and being followed by Britney Spears. That's awesome. Well, last but not least here in Maine, our state motto is the way life should be. So I would like to know, according to you, what is the way life should be? The way life should be. Um, I think people,

the way life should be is everyone is intentional about being kind. Yes. And you know, it sounds kind of cliche like intentionality is the only option is, is the black dollar, um, you know, model. Um, but being kind doesn't mean that you're a doormat, right? And that you're being abused by everybody. But just being kind is something that I think people are not intentional about doing. So it could be anything from opening a door for elderly person, helping someone cross the street.

If you're in line and someone like doesn't have enough change for their groceries and you can give them three dollars, you know, if you see someone that's having a really bad day and you simply smile and say, how are you? You know what I mean? Um, I think being kind is, and it happened in the beginning of the pandemic, um, I believe, but then it's all back to get out of the way, take your mask off, blah, blah, blah. Yep. So I think, you know, um, intentionally being kind is something that I would, I would,

I would say. I love that Daniel. We all should be more kind intentionally. That's, I think, key to that sentence too. That's really special. Well, thank you for that. Thank you for your time today. And we obviously cannot wait to see you perform with Rodiga this Saturday in Bangor. Thank you. I can't wait.

And, um, again, I'm not just giving, um, lip service 99 problems will be incorporated. I'll just leave it

at that. Daniel, you're awesome. I am so excited for that. And it was so great to meet you until we

meet again. Thank you. Pleasure to meet you. Thank you so much. Have a great day. You too.