LaVoyce

Who are you?

My name is LaVoyce. I'm from Dallas, Texas, Triple D, and I'm a singer songwriter. 

How did you get into singing and songwriting?

My parents are in music. My dad is a sound engineer and a producer. My mom sang too when she was around my age. So I grew up in the studio cause my dad was doing a bunch of stuff. They owned a studio. I was literally almost born in a studio. I kind of grew up in it. I was 11 when I wrote my first real song and I showed my dad and he was like, “Wait a minute. This is actually kind of good for an 11 year old.” He's such a hard critic so when he liked it, I knew, I was like, “Yup, this is it.” And ever since then, I knew what it was I wanted to do.

How have you grown since your first project in 2018?

My growth has been much faster than I expected it to be. I released that first project and I wanted it to be good. I am a bit of a perfectionist. But I got really, really good like feedback from it. It was received much better than I thought it would be. So that really gave me the boost of confidence I needed to make other things happen. So I made more music. It's repetition. You keep on making it, you get better. I pulled up on people. I created more relationships. I also kind of tapped into songwriting for other people, and that opened up some doors for me. So it's been a process, but in my eyes it's happening much faster than I really thought because I grew up with parents in the music industry. So my dad always told me, like, do you love it enough to work at it for 15 years? I've always had that mindset. So I expected things to happen a little bit slower than they have, but I'm so grateful. So blessed.

How would you like to see the creative environment in Dallas blossom?

I want everybody to get on, that's really what I want. I want everyone to be successful in their creative fields and have influence globally so that people can say, “Whoa, Dallas is putting out a lot of talent.” I think that's why we should have the mindset of helping each other. Even with Kaash Paige, she's from Dallas, she's doing so dope like, she's great. I feel like she is helping us because that gets eyes on us. She don't even have to say she from Dallas all the time. It's a known thing and that brings eyes to us. So simply I hope everybody get on because that'll bring it back to Dallas. You low-key have to leave to bring it back. You have to get popping somewhere else and then bring it back to Dallas. Pay it forward, help other people out, give out a feature or something. That's really all I think it is. Somebody's gotta pop. A lot of us.

There's a culture that resides within Dallas that isn't claimed. What are your thoughts on that claim?

We do have a claimed culture. We got people like the Outfit Texas who's going crazy. He’s underground, but he does Dallas sound music. We have culture. I think because we live here, we don't realize it. You go to LA, they know they have culture because of the time, but we definitely have culture here. Even when you think of Erykah Badu, Erykah is so southern. You can tell she's from the South, you can tell she's got like that swag. It's not Houston. It's not Atlanta. It's Dallas. So sometimes I feel like culture can't be explained in words, either it's just a vibe and it's just a feeling. I understand that I can't necessarily acknowledge it or notice it myself, but I just know when interacting with other people that aren’t not from here, they say,  “You’re very Dallas.” So we have that. We just have to get someone. I think we have to have more people here that get to the next level for that to become more apparent. I even tell people, “Bro, y'all want to be like LA and New York. Have you actually been in LA bro? It's not that vibe you think it is.” I'm not saying they don't collab and stuff. They definitely do. It's just a different thing. It's harder to find the right circles out there. You can tap into stuff out here. Shout out to Romi Rae & vibes, Texas. She's created such a wonderful hub for creatives. Literally all of my creative friends I've met there or through her and someone from there. So like we have things like that that are really made to help people. 

So what is your view on the creative environment in Dallas?I think it's dope. I’ve found community in it. When I released my first project in 2018, I didn't really know anyone in the Dallas creative scene, even being from here. A lot of my friendsmoved and I just wasn't that in the scene. But I released my project and they literally came and found me and opened up to me with welcoming arms. It was great. I've met a lot of people. Everyone's supportive in my experience. Everyone has been super supportive. In any way they can help, they've been trying to help and I've tried to return the love in any way I can help. I just think everyone's kind of realizing if you really want to do this, you have to get together. You have to have other people involved. So instead of everyone feeling like, “Oh, well I want to be this. I want to be the best. I don't want to work with anybody,” you have to squash that. There's enough room for everybody, especially if you're supporting each other.