Gritty Vibes//5

Photo Taken by @legendfrombrooklyn

   What is gritty vibes and who is responsible for it being created?
Gritty Vibes is a platform for talented people, particularly people of color but it's not exclusionary to anybody but a platform for people of color and just everybody really who's talented. I do athletes, artists, musicians and my name is Tyrel Hunt. I created the platform in March.
  When starting up did you already have a pretty high following?
Did i have a high following on the instagram? No, i started off, at first it was my photography page and i only had like 300 followers and i just wrote like 12 stories in a span of like 2 days. I was reaching out to everybody through dm's reaching out and explaining that i'm starting a platform. I was particularly going after people who are influences or had a high following account. I reached out to like 30 people and like 12 got back to me. I wrote like 12 stories and put them out like back to back and some of the people i wrote for beginning shouting me out and i got a higher following.
  What do you wish to come from all of this in the long run?
I've thought about this a lot and it would be a dream for me to turn this into a career, somehow make it a full media platform where i can monitized and profit off of it. Just make it my living full time but if not i'm actually content with just having a platform for artist. Alot of people i've written for never had an article or any type of media extensions. So even if i don't get to full time do this for a living i'm pretty happy with what i'm doing right now. It would be a dream to actually do this as a career and have it become like Complex or just something big.
  From one artist to another does it ever get overwhelming for you?
Yes it does, when you get caught up looking at how many views your site is getting or if you take a day off to do something else and your stats go down, you feel like you created something you have to keep up with everyday. Or you'll realize you haven't posted a story on instagram for awhile so you have to. At the same time it's what i love to do even before i was doing Gritty Vibes i was writing in the school newspaper and the campus radio host, it's what i like doing. It gets overwhelming for a little while so i'll take a day off and then get back to it.
  Do you feel the youth as a whole is doing what they can to uplift each other?
I think they can do a lot more. I feel like creatives and just the youth in general, like social media i feel like it has everyone in competition. A little healthy competition is good because it brings the best out fo everybody but at the same time people don't use their resources and other creatives to keep going. I just wnat everybody to make each other work harder but at the same time work together. I don't feel like we do a good enough job of that.
   As time passes are you open to new contributors?
I'm open to new contributors i was actually going to start reaching out on instagram and posting about being open to new contributors. There's really no boundaries i'm looking for writers, photographers, all of that. So yeah, i'm looking for more people.
  When reaching out to artist what are you looking for?
Thats a good question, i want to meet an artist halfway meaning that the artist is already putting in a lot of work and doesn't expect the platform to do everything for them. When they say check out my site or my bio i like to see a lot of work put in, that their hungry. I like the humble artist that just lets their work speak for itself and puts in a lot of work. It's really not that hard of a decision. I don't like cocky people that expect things to be handed to them. I don't like entitled people, i like humble artist.
   What advice would you give to anyone who wnats to get more involved in helping artist make a name for themselves?
I would say use all the resources that you have and don't be scared to get inspired by other people but at the same time, remain original and just remain yourself through your art. Don't be afraid to vibe but also have your own identity. Don't compromise because someone isn't up to their standards just keep doing your thing.
Would you agree that if people focused more on the underground artist, the ones who really deserve recognition and not just putting out the people who are alreayd up there that everyone would be a lot further than where they are?
I definitely agree with that and i hope more platforms can realize that. I feel like once that big platform gives you that cosign that's when other people give you that cosign and it seems like everyone wants to get on you because they see that you're already big but there's so many people that get passed up on and they just need that one cosign or write up. I seen first hand that a lot of underground artists are talented if not more talented than big artists. Just having a platform is a responsibility to finding good talent and there's a lot of good talent out there.
  Any last words you'd wanna say?
I appreciate this. I  Want to give a shout out to Migale Whyte, he's a hungry and talented writer and the most knowledgeable kid out there for NYC hoops. Terrelle Lue has done some amazing videos for the website. Megan Plain, Kyle Derrick and Marvia Hunt have all been great advisors, Amanda Morris for modeling our products, Jamal Douce for the photography and a special thanks to Realtalk4theCulture and everyone who supports the movement