Local artist hopes his music will inspire change

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BUCYRUS — Derrick Myers has been making music since he was 6-years-old.

“My brothers and I used to get blank tapes that my dad had laying around and we would record for hours, acting like DJ’s from a radio station. I’m an 80s baby, so 80s music is in my blood, and it really reflects in my music,” said Myers who just created and produced his latest CD, “Derrick ForReal.”

The Crawford County based rapper, song writer and musician made the decision music was the profession he wanted to pursue when he saw the video of Aerosmith and Run DMC’s “Walk This Way”.

“That was the day that I said to myself, ‘I want to do something like this’,” he said.

Myers recorded his first album in his friend’s basement.

“I don’t like to even admit this one, but I actually used a bunch of other people’s instrumentals, and I recorded an album on tape back in 1997 in Todd Eidson’s basement. Half of the time, I was just freestyling, and wasn’t too serious about recording something solid,” he said.

Myers’ life and musical career has not been without troubled times.

“I was in a rock group that Tate Griffin started called Sour Mash, but I got into some serious trouble in 1998 and went to prison before my 18th birthday. I did a lot of writing there, and it was actually in prison that I decided I was going to do something with music,” he said. “I filled an entire three-ring binder with lyrics, and I have yet to use any of them. I consider it a learning experience, I suppose. None of it was radio worthy.”

Myers first performance on his own was at a club in Shelby called Triple Diamond.

“My brother still has the flyer. We brought the house down. They said they made more money that night than the entire previous month. Later that month, a club owner from Sandusky got a hold of my album and wanted me to perform at his club, The Underground. From there, everything just skyrocketed. We were doing shows with big names, at huge venues,” said Myers who has opened for artists such as Afroman.

Myers, who has gone by the stage name Voice, writes his own songs, many of them based on his life experiences.

“There are times that I sample other musicians, and a lot of the older generation seems to have issue with that. They don’t understand that, when an artist chooses a song to sample, it’s because that song has had a major impact on them in some form or fashion. It’s not a desecration of their music, its paying homage to it. If anything, it makes the song popular again,” Myers said.

It’s been a little over five years since Myers has completed an album and he is honest about why it has been so long which includes a penchant for cocaine.

“Everyone is strung out these days on opiates or downers, but mine was uppers. Speed. My mind goes at a 100 miles an hour, and sometimes it’s hard for people to keep up with me when I’m sober. So I had the idiotic mindset to try and make my brain go a 1,000 miles an hour,” Myers said. “I ended up doing two years for trafficking cocaine. Almost immediately after, I got into methamphetamine for almost two years.”

Myers became so depressed, he tried to hang himself.

“I was literally in the rope tied to the rafters when they cut me down. I should have been sent to jail or the hospital, but they didn’t do either. They made me call my dad to come get me and they stayed until I was gone,” Myers said.

The troubled artist eventually regained his strength and motivation for his music and recorded his latest album.

“The Derek Foreal in the movie ‘Blow’ is what gave me the original idea. The middle man who ended up cutting the ones that mattered out of his life, and eventually ended up getting cut out himself. My idea grew into this: if I’m going to create another album, it has to be real. And not just real, completely putting all your little dirty secrets out there and let people see you for what you really are, the true Derrick, completely for real about himself. And that is what this album is about,” Myers said.

Myers said there are controversial songs on the album.

“It’s literally like I’m playing Russian Roulette with my entire career. I’m staking everything we’ve built on the belief that my fans truly love my music for what it is- a relation to themselves-so that they know that they aren’t the only ones out there going through it,” Myers said. “Maybe, just maybe, that will be enough to give them the motivation that they need to change this world that we live in.”

Myers said when he was younger, his goal was to make a ton of money from his music but as he has gotten older, his goals have changed.

“I want to help those around me through my music, to make a change within individuals. One of my best friends, Gauge, said something to me once that changed my entire way of thinking. He said, you may not change the world, but maybe that’s not your purpose in life. Maybe you’re supposed to set off that spark in the mind that does. With that being said, my goal is simple, yet nearly unattainable: I want to spark the mind and motivate the one who is going to change the world to do so,” Myers said.

Local rapper and songwriter Derrick Myers is hoping to inspire others through his music. (Courtesy photo)
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2017/01/web1_2.jpgLocal rapper and songwriter Derrick Myers is hoping to inspire others through his music. (Courtesy photo)

By Kimberly Gasuras

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Reach Gasuras on Twitter: @kimberlygasuras

 

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