We’re looking forward to introducing you to Dez Nado. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Dez, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: Have you ever been glad you didn’t act fast?
Musically, for sure. I came back from an out-of-country vacay this past summer super inspired to create and recorded and finished one of my favorite tracks that I’ve ever recorded called “Klyapratt”. Great record, but a completely new direction for me as an artist. I liked it so much myself that I was ready to drop it and push (start a campaign) for it right then and there. But, one thing I think not just me but plenty of artists do with their music that’s something to avoid is get too amped up and anxious about releasing new music that you kind of rush into the screening process that most artists usually go through to see if the music they think they should release has any potential outside of their own minds. So, I sought opinions from my network of industry insiders and experienced music pros, and decided better– to move forward with another single, “Shot Time”, which immediately did better in early reviews and test markets. It actually is doing better support-wise already within just one month of its release, so definitely would invite those who are looking for some new new to check and out add to playlists to press play on it. Shot Time, Dez Nado, streaming on all platforms! Trust the process, don’t rush the build, for sure. Never too old to learn and re-learn lessons the easy way, not the hard way.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
What’s good y’all, I’m Dez Nado, recording artist, TV and music producer, content creator, entrepreneur. Born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida where I’ve hosted annual mini music fests and community events to support locally based artists and community members in need since 2014. Vision Is Power is my brand and my label, all about artist centricity, all about putting the power and control back in the creatives’ hands, all about community driven energy pushing the under-connected and often overlooked to the forefront of entertainment consumer channels.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I think that I thought I loved sports first, but I really was just following my brother’s footsteps playing tee ball, baseball, and basketball eventually as an elementary kid. But looking back, I think I really just loved being creative. Coming up with storylines and characters who me and my friends could pretend to be on the playground or who me and my cousins could act like when filming an imaginary TV show, coming up with scenarios on the court or in the field to try and score last-minute shots or touchdowns and get another imaginary championship trophy, coming up with superheroes and superpowers I thought would be something new and never-before-seen in movie theaters. I got into music early on, too, of course influenced by my siblings and family, but I fell in love with it when sports kinda became less of a thing for me. As you get older, it becomes more demanding, and my heart wasn’t really into it like that. I loved competing, though, and being creative, so when music started to become my main thing, those two qualities made rapping the natural path. I’m sure me developing an inflammatory condition that made it difficult to do any demanding physical activity for longer periods of time definitely aided that transition from sports to music. I developed rheumatoid arthritis around 1st grade as a 6 year-old. My diet and genes made it worse over the next few years. So, just imagine going from being able to play freely outside, jump, run, lift, bend like normal 1st graders, then boom, joint pain makes all of that impossible without medication. That’s been my life for the past 30 years, but music and my faith, and what I’ve been able to accomplish in spite of it all have made this ride a helluva journey, for sure. And I feel like the best is still yet to come, God willing.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
I always wonder what I’d be doing right now if my life went how I wanted it to go before I slowed down. I got a homie who was deep in the church and he had some rough patches and now it seems like he doesn’t even believe in God any more. I’m reminded of Job, who in the Bible lost everything, but still kept his faith and in the end he was blessed with twice as much as he had before. To me, if you lose everything and your faith goes, too, then it’s hard to say you ever truly had real faith, which I’m not downing or shading. Hell, some of us get a little shaken up in life, lose a family member, or lose a job, or fall out with a boyfriend or girlfriend and stop believing in destiny, or purpose, or just simply stop believing in ourselves. If a little fire in the kitchen is all it takes to shake your faith in yourself, I don’t think you really ever had faith. True faith, like true love, is unconditional. My opinion.
I mean no shots or disrespects towards anyone and I truly mean this outta love, but I think we just gotta be a little stronger collectively because times won’t always be good– that’s something we can never control, but what we can control? Our faith, because all that is is a choice we make every day. Choose to believe, every single day. That’s real strength. Believing when everything around is you trying so hard to get you to believe the lie that believing is pointless.
If I pursued sports and never developed a condition that limited my physical activity, would I have ever become aware of my heart murmur or that could’ve caused me to collapse mid-game or mid-workout and possibly never recover, or live through the collapse? If I never was slowed down by my condition, I would’ve probably never taken music and community issues seriously and missed out on countless opportunities to impact and influence lives through my content and my events the provide direct support for underserved students, families, the homeless, and up-and-coming talent. If I wouldn’t have survived getting shot in 2009, I would’ve never lived to earn two college degrees, never lived to create Jacksonville’s first cable reality TV series and other TV shows/platforms that gave so many creatives and small businesses a platform to connect and earn support, would’ve never earned collaborative opportunities with major networks like BET, TVOne, and Lifetime, would’ve never gotten to release some of my best work, which has earn well over 1.5 Million streams, downloads, and plays since 2010, never lived to become a 3rd generation member of Phi Beta Sigma and have my father, who’s also a member, see me and my brother join, to his surprise, before my father passed away in 2020– would’ve never lived to see myself become a father and start my own family. There’s literally so many things that would’ve been different had I not persevered through my struggles, I’m kinda glad I went through what I did, in a way.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
Having a good time, but keeping balance overall. I don’t think anybody’s just one thing. You’re this to this group of people or in this situation, but in another atmosphere or scenario or with another group of people you’re something else, get what I’m saying? Not that you’re not yourself around some people, just that people are multi-faceted. As long as that’s real to you, then that’s natural. I got a group of folk I step out with and they know I’m a very likely get lit and get everybody else lit, responsibly (most likely), then I could link up with those same folks and be focused on knocking out a video shoot or coming up with some business goals for us to tackle in the next quarter. Or, I could be the voice of reason around a bunch of Litty McLitfaces, keeping us focused and not getting in too much trouble, then I could be the party starter around another bunch of Laid Back Larrys and Lauras. My closest friends have seen me in all scenarios and would definitely say having a good time but also being productive when it counts is what matters to me, work hard, play hard type of guy. The scenario dictates whether you see the work me or the play me.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
I think about the future a lot, so I’d say most of what I do will pay off in a decade. I don’t believe that saving just to save pays off, instead saving by investing is what I’m on. Also working on building a music catalog that can generate royalties for years to come, and creating other forms of residual income is mainly where my focus is these days.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://VIPSquadNation.com
- Instagram: @deznado
- Twitter: @deznado
- Facebook: @deznado @LIVEfromNewJaxCity @LifeGrindDuval
- Youtube: Youtube.com/deznado | youtube.com/@newjaxcitylive
- Other: https://linktr.ee/deznado
