Paris Bryant shares what he’s been working on.
17-year-old Paris Bryant went from selling candy on the 4 train in New York City to signing with Cinematic Records. Bryant moved from Maryland to New York at a young age and got right to work.
Although Bryant’s family wasn’t very musical, his father used to sing and his mother wrote music. Growing up Bryant split his time between his mother’s and his father’s. At the age of 9, Bryant’s father bought him a guitar which he taught himself how to play and from there he went on to learn other instruments like the keyboard. After his mother was sentenced to a second five-year incarceration, Bryant moved to The Bronx to live with his grandmother. Although Bryant had been writing music since 9 years old, he was 12 when he moved in with his grandmother and it was at that time that he decided to pursue music. He even started a music club at his high school so he could spend more time focusing on his craft.
At only 17 years old, Paris Bryant has already caught the attention of Cinematic Music and signed with them earlier this year after having released two projects and two videos. Today Bryant joins us to share some of his recent releases including “Mad Mad” and “Proud of You” featuring Jay Gwuapo. Check out our full interview below:
The Knockturnal: How long have you been making music?
Paris Bryant: I’ve been making music for about 3 to 4 years now. As far as writing music, I’ve been doing that since I was 9.
The Knockturnal: How old were you when you first started experimenting with music? Paris Bryant:
Paris Bryant: It was most definitely around 9.
The Knockturnal: Can you tell us about your experience with musical instruments?
Paris Bryant: At the age of 9 my great grandfather had bought me a guitar from Toys R Us and from there I started learning. I’m self taught. Every instrument that I played was mostly self taught other than the keyboard which my godbrother had helped me learn how to play.
The Knockturnal: You started a music club at your high school, Did you know from an early age that you want to pursue music as a career?
Paris Bryant: Definitely, I knew that I wanted to continue music because I noticed that my dad was doing it. In my last interview they had asked me if I had a musical family, my mom got on me about it because I had forgotten that she had written music herself. She wrote some music, my dad, my great grandfather sang a little.
The Knockturnal: Were your friends / community supportive of you pursuing music?
Paris Bryant: My friends were, that’s why they’re my friends. The people who weren’t my friends were not always going to support but a few people did support. My friends never questioned it because everything that I wanted to do, I wanted to take it to the next level, I always kept going with it.
The Knockturnal: I also read that you used to hustle from a young age and sold candy on the train, do you think you and artists in general have more chances of being discovered in New York?
Paris Bryant: I’ve always heard this thing that says people will support you outside of your city before they support you in your city and I don’t think that’s really the case just for New York because people will really support you here. There’s people in New York that will go hard supporting me. Everybody here has been supportive.
The Knockturnal: How were you discovered? Who signed you?
Paris Bryant: I was discovered by Cupid, he put me on to some people who are now my team and I was signed to Johnny Shipes. Before I was with Cinematic, I had actually shot 2 videos and I guess they had attracted some people and from there I just kept going. I was releasing more and more music and then people were starting to notice that it wasn’t just a one song thing, that it was actual talent.
The Knockturnal: How do you maintain such a positive outlook despite everything you’ve overcome?
Paris Bryant: The way that I maintain a positive outlook on everything is just by seeing my success. Every single day I wake up there’s something new and there’s people who work so hard to get to where I am right now and still never reach that spot, but I never take that for granted.
The Knockturnal: Who’s your biggest inspiration?
Paris Bryant : My biggest inspiration as of now is J. Cole because ever since I was able to start listening to my own music I think I’ve never stopped listening to Cole. He’s probably one of my greatest inspirations.
The Knockturnal: Who are you currently listening to?
Paris Bryant: I’m currently listening to ABoogie, Roddy Ricch, Lil Durk, Lil Baby, Lil Uzi, just the more current artists.
The Knockturnal: Who do you want to collaborate with?
Paris Bryant: I want to collaborate with everyone. I don’t think there’s anybody in particular. The Knockturnal: Can you tell us about “Proud of You” and other collabs you have on the way?
Paris Bryant: As of now I have a collab with Jay Gwuapo. The song is titled “Proud of You” produced by DayOut and other than that I’m still working on a few things. I have a collab with RJ from Never Broke Again, one of NBA YoungBoys artists.
The Knockturnal: Can you tell us about your “Mad Mad” release?
Paris Bryant: “Mad Mad” was released earlier last month. Mad Mad is produced by 17ondatrack. When I first created “Mad Mad” I was actually just looking at YouTube beats, I was trying to make something that was catchy but at the same time had a little bit of swag in it, had some New York slang, so I wrote down a bunch of stuff, a whole bunch of ideas and from there. Once I kept flowing I heard the melody, the flow and then everything just started piecing together. I was recording in my godbrothers room because he had an inside setup. He turned his closet into a booth so I was recording in there.
The Knockturnal: What are you currently working on / what do you have on the way?
Paris Bryant: I think right now just with Cinematic I have about almost 400 songs, I record a lot and I’ve got more on the way.
