Today we’d like to introduce you to Dez Niboh
Dez, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’m a first generation American and my family is from Cameroon, Africa. Growing up, I remember hearing makossa music around the house all the time. My dad also grew to love American soul music when he came to the States, specifically the 1960s & 1970s Motown era soul, so I remember him ordering CDs and playing that music on car rides. I think those things are part of what’s influenced my taste musically and the sounds I like to pull from in my production.
Growing up, I didn’t do music. I was an athlete and mostly focused on sports. I had always loved listening to music, but didn’t even really consider making anything until high school. I didn’t start actually producing music until I stopped playing football in college. From there, it was pretty much teaching myself how to produce. At the time, none of my friends made music, so there wasn’t much collaboration in the beginning. I watched a ton of YouTube tutorials on my own and played around in FL Studio. I would make a ton of beats, then watch tutorials on what elements I felt were missing. And just repeat that process. I also listened to my favorite producers’ music (Kanye West, Monte Booker, 9th Wonder, Timberland, J Dilla, Kaytranada, etc.) to identify what elements I liked about their music so I could figure out how to add those elements to my production in my own way.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think the biggest struggle for me has been finding my audience. It’s taken me awhile to get a people aware of my music here in St. Louis, and I still have a lot of work to do to accomplish that how I’d like to here. But even beyond St. Louis, I’m still looking for how I can get my music to the audience of people that are looking for the type of music I make. And I know that audience is out there. I think that’s been the frustrating thing. But I’m hoping that as I ramp up my social media marketing, find more live performance opportunities to share my music, & create more engaging events/spaces to play my music, I’ll begin to connect with more and more people that are looking for what I have to offer.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a music producer and have been making music for 8 years now. The genres I mostly work in are hip hop and R&B, but I like to incorporate elements of other genres like soul, jazz, & funk to give my production a unique feel. I’m starting to expand into producing other genres like house and afrobeat as well.
I think at this point, I’m most proud of the connections I’ve been able to make with other artists in and around St. Louis. Before I started making music I didn’t know anyone in the St. Louis music scene, but I was still paying attention and identifying the artists I’d like to work with. Fast forward to today, I’ve been able to collaborate with a lot of the same people I was watching/listening to years ago. I’m proud of the fact that I’ve been able to make music that resonates with my peers enough that they’d collaborate with me on the production or use my production for their projects. Sometimes I feel like an outsider in musical spaces because I didn’t grow up in music and only got to it later. But it feels good to know that despite that, I’m still able to make music that holds value.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
You can find all things related to my music (online beat store, all my released projects, music streaming site links, social media site links, etc.) on my website, dezniboh.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dezniboh.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dezniboh/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dezniboh
- Twitter: https://x.com/DezNiboh
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dezniboh
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dezniboh
