Please introduce yourself. What do you do? Why? What do you want people to know about you?
My name is SRE, pronounced “sorry”, and I am an emerging hip-hop artist from Toronto, Canada. I am an artist who creates music that reflects what I believe and experience in hopes that others are able to relate to and feel a certain way when listening to my music. I think the emotion of the audience is essential because as much as we may be able to fake how we feel in person, we can’t pretend what we make to the listener’s ear. I want the people to know that SRE is fearless with his art and is ready to stand out, the right way, by any means.
What qualities make you different and unique from everyone else in the industry?
Qualities that make me different and unique are my ability to translate how I move to how I present myself on records. As an artist, I first became a dancer at a very young age. I did not think becoming a rapper would be an option for me because it was something that never crossed my mind- dancing was and still is, my true passion. However, I’ve been able to take what I love the most and translate it verbally and sonically which would make me feel like I am “dancing with my words”. This allowed me to have a distinct approach when creating and releasing music.
Describe THAT moment when you realized you’re doing what you were born to do.
I remember performing in a bar for the first time and I was nervous. I had on a white shirt, cargo pants, and white air forces. I really wanted to make a good first impression but I also did not want to mess up. As soon as I went on stage, the nerves were still there and I wasn’t sure if the audience was rocking with me. SOMEWHERE in the middle of my set, I had the audience dancing and repeating my lyrics to me from the crowd. It felt surreal because as a dancer, you know what it’s like for a standing ovation, but as an artist and having people repeat your words is crazy. After the show, I even had older people come up to me and tell me that they don’t really listen to hip-hop music, but listening to me made them want to give it another try. That night, I went home and thought about my whole set and realized that I have to do this. I can’t be wasting my gift thinking about the “what if’s”.
What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve had to go through and how did you grow through it?
The biggest challenge I had to go through was re-learning the art of preparation. Again, as a dancer that was on a team on 20-24, there are set times you show up as a group and work on choreography to perform at competitions. I overestimated how prepared I needed to be to perform a live show. I’m thinking since I got it already, I just need to rehearse one time and I’ll be good. When it came time to perform, oh man, I wish I practiced more. I wish I came to sound check on time, I wish so many things to go right that possibly went wrong. Moving on from that experience, I learned that the key to great shows is greater rehearsals ahead of time. So I made sure that for every show I was booked for, I rehearsed like a mad man to bring out the best quality performance.
Who are the TOP 3 people you’d want to meet that could elevate your career or business? Â Why these specific individuals?
Tobe Nwigwe – I feel like he’s faced so much adversity and criticism (not saying other artists haven’t) that I feel like the wisdom people carry is said more when the conversation is personal
Russ – the power of being independent is overlooked and I believe he’s one of the pioneers that has really made it public of unfolding the benefits of it and I feel like it can really give notes on how to really maneuver in the industry
Connor Price – I feel like his engagement on social media has skyrocketed and learning to keep up while balancing life itself can be troublesome.
Drop your social media links.Â
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sreonly
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sreonly/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sreonly
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sreonly