Exposed Vocals Interviews Mane Selassie
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Mane: I was born in Miami, Florida and moved to Fort Lauderdale in the 4th grade.Ever since I was a toddler I’ve been in studios and around music because both of my parents were aspiring rappers. I wrote my first song at 12 and recorded my first song at 14 and ever since then I’ve been hooked.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Mane: Long story short my name is Tramane and I’ve went through several names to get to this one which is spelled Mane Selassie after the Late King of Ethiopia Hallie Selassie I. But Mine is actually Pronounced Mane Selassie(Sell-us-eye) meaning Mane sells us knowledge or insight.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Mane: Online music sharing is a beautiful thing it makes getting exposure to a large audience easier and I definitely give music away for free. Mainly because I don’t think I’m at the point where I’m big enough to sell my work. Although I do make buy worthy music in my opinion.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Mane: I’m still local myself so I can’t really give much tips yet but networking is a big factor. Don’t overlook anybody because you never know what connections someone may have.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Mane: Since I do everything myself it can be a long process. My inspiration comes from life, competition in the hip-hop world, and new things that I learn on a daily basis. Usually I make a beat first, then write something to the feeling I get from the beat, go to the stu to record it track, take the vocals from my engineer and bring it back home to do all the mixing and mastering.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Mane: Not yet but I but I do have a huge project I’m working on for the fans so stay tuned. and I usually use YouTube, Soundcloud, Twitter and Facebook to get my music out there
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Mane: I’d invest it back into the music and turn it into a million dollars. It’s hard to make certain things happen when you don’t have full access to a studio so a lot of it would go into building my own studio and improving the quality of my music. Marketing is another thing I would use it on, and developing my merchandise because I do have a clothing line that I’m working on.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Mane: Twitter and Facebook have been the most effective so far if you can really call it that.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Mane: I’m working on 2 mixtapes right now and hopefully by the time those are done I would have created enough buzz to do an album and start selling my work on iTunes and things like that.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Mane: I do to many things to really say for sure but it would probably be a Videographer, photographer, or a music producer.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Mane: Its hard but I usually just multi-task as much as I can. Like sometimes i’ll write rhymes while i’m at work or hum the sounds of beats that I wanna make into the voice recorder on my phone. Anything to stay that 1 extra step ahead, I really need a personal assistant.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Mane: They should look forward to greatness in 2016. I looking to really step forward in the public eye this year and create a bigger fan base, and also make sure i’m always progressing. Better music, better visuals, better everything. Two new mixtapes and hopefully the start of my clothing line and website. I’m making moves!