My name is Josh Dean and here is the backstory to my song Impatient.
Who Am I?
I’m a multi-disciplinary artist based in Atlanta and Los Angeles. I grew up on my family’s farm in a rural town in the south-east region of Alabama. My grandmother introduced me to music. She was the choir director at a church in our neighborhood and started teaching me how to sing as early as I can remember. Singing duets with her at family dinners on Sunday nights invigorated my passion to perform.
My mother passed away when I was 13, so I moved to Florida to live with my dad. The high school I attended was 3 times the size of the town I’d come from in Alabama. Although music remained present in my life by way of marching band, creating imitation senior badges introduced me to visual arts & graphic design in a way that changed my life forever.
When I arrived at Morehouse College, I interned at music and photo studios throughout Atlanta, designing cover art among other things for the artists that would visit. It wasn’t until I met the Wondaland Art Society, that I decided to consider singing and writing my own music. I never would have imagined graphic design being the segue to becoming a recording artist, but it did and I am grateful.
Web 3 Me
Before my life in web3 I was immersed with the idea of signing to a record label. I did tons of research, nurtured the right relationships and recorded my first 5 songs. I sold out my very first show at the SohoteI in NYC and later partnered with EverydayPeople to perform shows all around the island, all with hopes to sign a deal with a major label. Eventually, I did. In 2018, I was the first artist signed to Hitco, a major indie label by LA Reid & Charles Goldstruck. There I made some lifelong connections with new colleagues and mentors in the industry; the deeper I got into my journey, the more I realized how giving so much of the creative decision making process became an obstacle in my ability to create. I came to the conclusion that it was time to re-evaluate my approach and explore releasing my music independently.
In January 2022, my friend Vikaden introduced me to NFTs. Before sending a link to RSVP for my first Zoratopia, he told me about artists like Blackdave, Latashá & Iman Europe. These artists took a chance on themselves by adding their works to the blockchain and giving their fanbase & supporters the opportunity to assign more value to their creations. This intrigued me deeply so, I began sitting in Twitter Spaces like those ran by Biba, Commander Crypto & Khufu that were dedicated to teaching people the ins & outs of web3 and music NFTs.
These spaces were phenomenal and gave me another way to share my story and my gifts with others. They’re moments where music lovers and other artists can get advice and in-depth point of views from their favorite creators. I’ve gained so much insight from these moments that I’m finally prepared to share my music and my art with you and so many more.
Hence my first offering, Impatient.
Impatient: Behind the Music
I released Impatient in September of 2020 when every aspect of our world was changing. Times were filled with large fragments of uncertainty & restlessness; I happened to be in a long distance relationship that seemed to only get more distant. Yet, I clung on to the hope that this lack of proximity wouldn’t lead to the end of our relationship. Unfortunately, it did.
It Was Written
When Impatient was written in 2019, she and I had just started dating. Carl Devonish and I frequented the studio often at the time. After a brainstorm, we came across a track by Russ Chell and got to work. Some of our friends, Lucky & Dab, stopped by to listen and graced the record with some vibes and beautiful background vocals. After the initial demo we knew we had something special so I sent the song to Bhushan Govilkar, a mix & master engineer from India, whom I’d met on Instagram. From my point of view, the song was meant to be a gift; a proclamation that my heart was committed to making the best of a special union. Now, a year later, it seemed more like a desperate plea for a once thriving love now confound and separated by borders. With so much going on, I felt this was something others could relate to.
& Inspired By
I knew I had to share in a special way but, how? What would inspire the art? She and I had been in a long distance relationship for a little under 2 years now. About 6 months into the relationship, she’d forgotten her ring at my place. In an attempt to return without losing the ring, I placed it on a necklace my mother had given me before she passed away and wore it around my neck. A while later she gifted me a sterling silver necklace with an engraved Femme pendant. For better or for worse, I placed sentimental value in wearing these items, especially when we weren’t together. COVID-19 and the closing of the border placed even more emphasis as to why I’d hold these things so close.
I shared these ideas with friend, Stijn van Hapert, a budding creative director and designer from the Netherlands, and he introduced me to Elsa Hanneke. Elsa is from the Netherlands, too. She’s a kind and phenomenal visual artist who crafts digital imagery mostly characterized by ruptured visuals and uncanny landscapes.
Be it that we were unable to travel due to travel bans and closed borders, Facetime, Zoom calls and Slack channels helped us stay connected. Elsa had me take tons of very detailed photos of the jewelry and after a bit of trial and error, she perfectly matched the renders identical to the real thing.
It took a little over a month to finalize the visualizer. In the meantime, I’d design additional artwork and merchandise like a website, tee-shirts and posters. Riot Muse, a photographer from House, did remote photo shoots with me via Zoom calls from my home in Los Angeles.
These experiences were truly one of a kind. Sometimes, I felt as if I were quarterbacking a team of elite creatives from all across the world from the comforts of my bedroom lol. Given the circumstances, we were all forced to come up with unorthodox ways of communicating & executing our ideas if we really wanted to make them work, which only affirmed the notion that anything is possible.
Impatient NFTs
The “sad, romantic backstory” of this song brings me to my genesis NFT project- a culmination of my work in art, music and merchandise. Each NFT includes intricate item(s) somehow involved in the making of this story- some more than others.
To hopes to build a broader relationship with my listeners I am releasing collectable items and perks as ‘unlockables’ in a series of NFT drops on platforms such as Mirror, MintSongs, OpenSea & Zora. These NFTs and their utilities are defined in more detail below:
Visualizer NFT - 1ETH Reserve (1 Total)
The 5-day auction ends Feb. 21, 2022. The collector of this 1/1 NFT will receive the following:
- Sterling silver necklace w/ engraved Femme pendant. As seen in the visualizer and pre-worn by me.
- MP4 of Impatient visualizer
- WAV of Impatient song
- Signed poster + handwritten note
- Early access to future drops and private listening events
Song - 0.1 ETH (5 Total)
- Available via OpenSea
- WAV of Impatient song
- Signed poster + handwritten note
- Early access to future drops and private listening events
Poster - FREE (150+ Total)
- Collect this free poster by clicking HERE
- Early access to future drops and private listening events
Team & Collaborators
The people below were tasked with bringing Impatient to life. None of this would have been possible without their support.
- Josh Dean - Me
- Carl Devonish - Songwriter
- Russ Chell - Producer
- Bhushan Govilkar - Mix & Master Engineer
- Dustin ‘Dab’ Bowie - Additional Background Vocals
- Lucky Daye - Additional Background Vocals
- Elsa Hanneke - 3D Visual Artist & Director
- Stijn Van Hapert - Creative Director
- Riot Muse - Photographer
- Mikael Moore - Mentor
- Yasmeen Teslem - Strategy & Marketing Consultant
- Amber Mayfield - Administrative Assistant
- Joy Young - Management Consultant
- Gillian Williams - Artist Relations Admin
- Jonathan Leonard, Esq. & Associate - Attorney
Closing Thoughts
Be patient.. the story doesn’t end here.
I’m grateful that you’ve chosen to take this journey with me. It’s not lost on me the time and effort it takes to show your support. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
Talk soon ✌🏾