Episode 2: The Hangout Podcast - Dakotah Faye

EP 2 — DAKOTAH FAYE

🎙️ He’s been rapping his truth on Minot streets for over a decade. Now he’s on our couch.

Christine & Corey sit down with Ojibwe rap artist Dakotah Faye — music, identity, and the Magic City. 🎤

Made possible by Main Street America and American Express.

🎧 Listen now — link in bio!
#MagicDistrictPodcast #DakotahFaye #MinotND #LocalArtist #MainStreetAmerica #AmericanExpress #FastCasual #Mainstreet #Podcast 

Follow Dakotah Faye https://dakotahfaye.com/

https://www.facebook.com/TheMagicDistrict/ 

Transcript

Welcome

SPEAKER_03 0:23

Hey guys, what's up? This is Christine.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

I'm Corey.

SPEAKER_03 0:28

This is actually officially our second episode here on the Magic District Hangout Podcast. We're so happy to have you guys joining and tuning in.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Yes, it's gonna be a heck of a good time. I know.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

And we are actually so what we're planning to do, we're gonna start introducing some of the um artists, some of the builders, and some of the people behind the scenes that's helped us create this podcast because basically it's been a labor of love for quite a while. And because last year, this time we started something small.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Yep, yeah, we did. And it actually had quite a few hits, if you will.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Yeah. And this was our opportunity to finally say, let's try to go for it forever now. And um, actually, as a matter of fact, you already got to hear who this person is, but maybe you might not know who they are. And locally, they are well known for not only music, but around a lot of people. They hang out, support a lot of organizations and efforts. And I know him personally for a couple different things we could discuss. And then Corey, is this your first time meeting?

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Well, I've I've met him a few times, if you will, around Mindet. I mean, Mind isn't that big, but uh, you know, he is a legend in the rap scene around this.

SPEAKER_03 1:39

Now he's going national. He is so with further ado, no further ado, we want to introduce

Dakotah Faye

SPEAKER_03 1:45

he's got two names, Dakota Poitra and Dakota Faye.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

How's it going? I appreciate you having me on. It's it's cool to, you know, be not only do the music, but get to be a guest on here too. It means a lot.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

I mean, seriously, this is kind of what it's about. We wanted a just hangout area to talk about people's stories and just talk about what's going on on Main Street and what's going downtown and my not in the surrounding areas. And what better way than to invite you? I mean, you uh you've worked with me personally in business for a while, but I've I've known you throughout the years in different ways. And Corey, Corey, like I've done a couple different episodes with him, but when I decided to say, hey, let's get something we can work on this, you know, podcast together. I said, Who was gonna do the opening? I knew it was you.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Right. Well, it's an honor. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

It's the whole vibe.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:36

You know, your music is you got a lot of different aspects to it. So, and that's that's where I want to go into like finding out who are you? Like who who who do you live by during the day at night?

SPEAKER_02 2:49

Question on everybody's mind.

SPEAKER_03 2:51

Yeah, so go ahead and just

Who is Dakotah?

SPEAKER_03 2:53

start talking then, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

You know, I've been doing music for quite a long time. I grew up in Minot, uh, moved here when I was two, and um, I was always big into poetry, kind of an only child, introverted. And my buddy Eddie Mack introduced me to music, and it was like love at first sight. We started when we were really young, I was probably 14 years old, something like that. And it's just something that I consistently did all throughout high school. Got out, started doing shows, and just that independent grind of sure little by little, day by day, year by day.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Like at around town here.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Oh, yeah. My first um, I don't know if you guys know Jasmine Schultz.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

So my first show was in her basement with no shoes on, um, just a bunch of people sitting around uh uh crisscross applesauce style and staring at the ground. I was so nervous. And um, you know, ended up being, you know, they've had a lot of DIY uh venues from there, Pan G house, all that stuff. So I was doing those. I was playing at the bagel stop, I was playing anywhere I could, literally any anyone that had a microphone and a speaker, give me a chance to kind of show what I I did. That's that's what I did. So I grinded, you know, we were doing a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

So was so was that easy for you to find that community at that age and that time? Because this is before like real internet, like first stuff, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:10

I I I'm I'm kind of the generation where I saw before social media and after. I was kind of like born into it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Did you ever hear of a 701 click out of Fargo?

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Charlie Mizza. Charlie Miz.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Yeah, I think Charlie is like my OG, like the guy that gave me a lot of now. He's chasing storms. Absolutely, sure is. But he gave me a lot of tips and someone that I could ask questions about when I was young. So shout out Charlie.

SPEAKER_03 4:34

Yes, nice, yes, nice, yeah. So so it was easy to kind of find that sense of community early on.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

There's a ton of us doing it back then. Um and yeah, it was a little

How he found his community

SPEAKER_02 4:44

bit before the chronic online stuff. So there was a lot more shows. Um, there was stuff during the weekdays and people throwing multiple shows in in my not at the same time. You know, that is so cool. Nowadays it's you know, it's a little few and far between when it comes to hip-hop shows. But yeah, yeah, back then it was it was cool to like go to shows and meet other musicians in different genres and kind of you know, maybe do shows with them or collaborate or whatever. We're all just I'm sure there is a lot of um younger generation that are doing that now. I'm just kind of out of the loop. I'm more like at my house, homebody type person.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

But uh so at what point do you feel like because you're saying 14? That's a really young age. Yeah, right. I mean, like, not many people know what they want to do. Did you know at 14 you might want to do this seriously?

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Or yeah, it's been like 17 years of delusion from there. Just I thought nothing else but you know, doing music and becoming a musician. That was like the only I have no plan B. So it's just that's all I've known. So that's kind of what's pushed me through the you know, adversities of being a hip hop artist in North Dakota. Um, you know, there wasn't, there's not, you know, as many opportunities as say you go to a big city or whatever. So there's a lot of uh, you know, a doubt sometimes with when it comes to any any business avenue or creative thing they can do when you don't get the response that you like you feel inside, yeah, that you feel your worth is, it can hurt and you know make you like you know, kind of come back and maybe not pursue it as hard for you. There's plenty of people that I saw.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

How have you uh uh is there any particular show like that that that where you felt like gosh, should I keep on grinding or should I stop?

SPEAKER_02 6:20

Yeah, there's I mean hundreds of shows like that where you're playing for the sound guy or you're playing for the other musicians, you know, you drive you know 16 hours round trip to go play for five people, but um maybe you impress that that sound guy or you impress you gotta give it a hundred percent no matter what. So it's it's just yeah, that delusion has kind of tried me to continue to to to give it 150 no matter what the situation is.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

And do you feel like your community that you started with at from 14 on supported you all the way through, or was there ever like a point where you felt like you know what? You weren't sure you were gonna just maybe throw in the towel with it?

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Right. I've had the same friends, the same four friends, the same guys that are in my my crew of money sacks since I was that young. Rhett, uh Eddie, Callie, those guys have always been there for me, no matter what. Through all this stuff in my personal life that I went through, they were always there to support all my crazy ideas and and the delusion of grand. Sure, sure, sure. Yeah, it's like your channel, right? Still do to this day. So I was very lucky to have that stability um to keep me going because that is important too.

SPEAKER_03 7:27

So with that, is there any pivotal time in your life that you hit against

Pivotal time

SPEAKER_03 7:31

a wall where you felt like something wasn't gonna work out the way it was? I mean, do you ever go through any like adversity or anything?

SPEAKER_02 7:38

I mean, that that happens, I feel like weekly to this day still, where something that I that I maybe it's a video that I post or a show that I do or um anything like that. And it doesn't, it doesn't live up to the expectations that you have. Or the feedback or the commentary and all that kind of like it's a chink in the armor, but you gotta you gotta get up and do it again.

SPEAKER_03 7:57

That's a good question. I just want to pivot really quick. How do you get up from that? Because a lot of people don't realize that there's a certain skill set or some type of, you know, we could all go down the rabbit hole with that. Yeah, but what do you do to help yourself now dig yourself out of anything that if if it does hurt?

SPEAKER_02 8:13

I have to turn that into the reason, my fuel. Yeah. Like I said, it's I'm delusional up here about it. So when I hear negative things about me, yeah, they used to hurt when I was younger because they stuck a little bit more, but nowadays it's like, I can't believe you think like that. Like I gotta prove you wrong, you know. So I've just always been able to turn that negative energy into like the fuel that I used to keep going, which like some people might tell you to not do that because you don't want to feed into that negative energy, but like you can harness it and yes now turn it into your mind.

SPEAKER_03 8:43

It's like transmute it into like that propellant to like get you to go and say, and not because of them, but right it makes you keep going because you know you have something for sure.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

It's like you guys don't see it yet. I gotta I gotta prove it.

SPEAKER_03 8:53

But you also have you also have lovers too that love your stuff, so you're like you're working towards them, not the people who are the naysayers.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

No, exactly. That's the chip.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

I like the analogy that you put was the chip on your shoulder to keep on moving. Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Yeah, yeah. I've always felt like I've had a chip on my shoulder. You know, I was kind of uh an outcaster, dark horse in every situation of my life. Yeah. Um, so there's always just kind of been this like self uh fuel. I gotta fuel myself, you know.

SPEAKER_03 9:20

I think that's smart. So tell us a little bit about your heritage

Heritage

SPEAKER_03 9:23

because it's really unique in North Dakota. I'm not from here.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

For sure.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

But I didn't really know how prominent the native community is.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Yeah, because everywhere. Yeah, you go to a lot of different states around the country and you know you don't even you know, no, you don't pick up you might no, but not just that.

SPEAKER_03 9:38

Like in other places, you'll hear people from who are Hispanic or just it's just normal, but like there's really a certain area in certain areas of our country that are very isolated with native communities. Yes, especially. I'd love to hear about your story about that or anything because I know Corey also has some background in that.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

I'm a proud member of the MHA nation.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

Very cool. Shout out. I'm uh uh Turtle Mountain Banner Chippewas, that is my my tribe, Ojibwe First Nation. Yeah, um, I wasn't I didn't grow up on the res. Uh-huh. You know, my um And I didn't is that what you call it?

SPEAKER_03 10:09

The res on the Res. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Okay, that's the okay. So I don't have I I was kind of disconnected from that in my childhood. Not that my you know, my mom is is um half Native American too, my dad full. So I've always been a little bit of a a mutt no matter where I go. And Corey, I know you do get that, you know, you're too too native for the for the white kids and too white for the native kids. So there's a lot of situations where that arises. But music, it's crazy because through music I've been connecting a lot more with um, you know, a lot my heritage and that's being able to go play shows down um in New Mexico and Arizona at the Gathering of Nations and meet a lot of these incredible Native American artists.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

That's pretty cool to get that because the Gathering Nations is huge, huge, huge, huge, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

So getting to meet people that are more prominent in um in Native American culture and just learning from them. And I've just been observant. I'm you know I kind of feel like a guest, not just in hip hop, but also like my heritage as well. So I relate to the corner learning. Yes. That's that's where I'm at.

SPEAKER_03 11:09

I think that's fantastic. Yeah. So it's cool that you still find somewhat of a connection though, even if you do travel.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

There's I don't maybe it's something spiritual or whatever that case is.

SPEAKER_03 11:17

Mm-hmm. Oh my goodness. Would you say that some of that background, how you grew up where you weren't really a res kid or whatever, do you feel like some of that comes through your music? Or what was the influence in your music?

SPEAKER_02 11:28

For sure. It was just the the feeling of of isolation, I guess. That's the the feeling I I had as uh a teenager growing up through my from my growing pains or what, you know, because high school was like that too, especially when I started rapping. It was like then I'm wearing a scarlet letter on my chest or something, you know, everybody knows. And um for someone that you know kind of was very reserved, that put me on forefront. So I had to deal with a lot of these um mixed emotions about yeah, being introverted, but also having an extroverted kind of it's almost like two sides of your personality how to adapt to because we're multi-layered people, you know, we're not just one thing, you know. I might be socially introverted, but I, you know, some instances I'm quite the opposite. So it has to be.

SPEAKER_03 12:17

I understand because I did theater for a while and people are like, wait, you're doing theater? I'm like, Well, I always wanted to.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

Yeah, is it not me? It's like you get to express that part of you that you don't really get to show in normal social situations. Yeah, maybe I might not be the talk of the party, but at a show or like in that scenario, it's like a you know cocooning and uh butterflying into something else.

SPEAKER_03 12:37

Yeah. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Corey, tell me some of the questions you have.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Um I'm I can keep going. Right, right. Uh I guess uh, you know, what's harder making music

What’s harder?

SPEAKER_01 12:46

or believing in yourself consistently? Well, it's because we just kind of talked, we brushed up on that a little bit, you know.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

I mean I think the mental the mental hurdle is is is by far the most difficult part because it's funny because when I first started, I might say the actual making the music just because the the equipment and it wasn't so entry level. I remember recording my first songs on like a webcam that had a microphone, and me and Eddie were recording the instrumental out loud with our vocals. It was a whole mess, you know. Nowadays, you got 500 bucks, you can get yourself a pretty nice studio setup. I mean, kids are doing it on their phones now, yeah, and mixing it right on the phone. Exactly. So making the music is a lot easier nowadays. I think getting over that mental hurdle of like your own insecurity, sure. That that can be hard, right? You know, to get you in a different mind state to do to do anything with, you know.

SPEAKER_03 13:37

Talking about that, I saw a video of you like on MySpace.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

Yeah, MySpace. I've been around since MySpace. That was like the I was kind of at the tail end of MySpace. We you know, I started making music 2008, 2009. Okay, it was right when MySpace kind of stopped the main thing. But yeah, that's where I got my start. I remember posting music on MySpace and it would get like 500 plays or whatever, and I'm like, oh my gosh, it's like it's like amazing. This is the greatest day of my life, you know.

SPEAKER_03 14:02

Oh my gosh, I love it. I I was gonna say that um so you once you finally decide to go like legit, like I'm gonna be totally like I'm going full. So tell me about the name you came

What’s in a name?

SPEAKER_03 14:13

up with. Was that something you already already had?

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Portra is your your givea name. Your givea name.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Yeah, how'd you face so Faye is my middle name? Oh this is I've never gotten to tell this story. Okay, let's hear it. So great. So the name my name is Faye. So me and Eddie, Eddie Mac, my my brother that we started doing music together. We've known each other since we were you know 13 years old. Um, he always used to tease me, and he would when he learned my middle name was Faye, because I have two I'm Francis Faye, that's my two middle names.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

He would Francis is that's a quota Francis Faye ultra, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Okay, yeah. So he would call me Faye, like Big Faye Faye, as like a joke too to irritate me, which it did immensely. Yeah, but when we first started making music, you know, he had already been rapping at that point when he asked me to do music, and I kind of fell in love with it. So um I didn't have a I had no idea what to call myself, you know. I never been this is a monumental moment for an artist to get your name, you know. And um, I couldn't think of anything. And he's like, What if you just went by Faye? And I was like, that is so stupid. Why would I do that? I'll I'll change it when I think of something better. Well, yeah, here we are. And it's stuck 16 years later.

SPEAKER_03 15:20

And I always wondered why you had that name because I thought to myself, I'm like, it's interesting you have to choose a name sometimes, you know. Like, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

I wasn't cool enough to be bestowed upon sure name.

SPEAKER_03 15:32

So but it's actually not a bad name. Yeah, I actually have you learned to like it now.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

I yeah, of course. It's it's just uh part of who I am. Yeah, and the I think how personal I am in my music, my my stage name being my actual name kind of just it feels more right, you know. I'm not like like it's not a uh a character role.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Sure. So talking about like so really a lot of the a lot of a lot of your lyrics aren't made up, it's actual

Life imitates Art

SPEAKER_01 15:57

what's going on in your life.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Yeah, yeah, I would say so. It it's a little bit of both, you know. Sometimes you're you're writing stories, um, you know the delusional, if you will.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Yeah, yeah, it's yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

But it's always been my diary. Like I said, I'm only child introverted. So sure once I figured out music and writing, you guys got that in common. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was just that was my diary. That was just how I got stuff out. Right. Okay. So it's just kind of you know, art imitates life.

SPEAKER_03 16:22

Yeah, so with that said, how many albums do you actually have now?

SPEAKER_02 16:25

Officially. Oh.

SPEAKER_03 16:27

Oh, is that a loaded question?

SPEAKER_02 16:30

I mean over 10. Over 10 for sure. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 16:34

Ten.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

When your first one came out, how old well the first like four, this is back when free mixtapes were like the thing. Oh, I'll get those. Dappiff.com was like a big for you to upload free music and stuff. So I had a few on there. I wouldn't really call those. Um, those were just, you know, track training almost. Right. But the ones that I have on on streaming are ones that I would I would be like, okay, these are my albums. So I mean, that was 2014, 2015 is like my first, like I'd say like a body of work that I was I could present in a decade.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

Yeah, like 12 years or what like it, like yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Just in that time, over 10. I mean, I I released three last year. Yes, that was my and then I dropped, yeah. So some of them are collab projects, they're not all like solo albums, but I'd say six solo like main projects.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

But still, you're you're you're you're grinding, you're getting out, and you always have product to yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Well, it's just it's an addiction, you know. It's yeah, it's yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:31

I make music every day, so it's it's you So I'm gonna I'm gonna turn it the question to another thing. So one more thing that I think our listeners, if they've never met you or heard from you, there's something that you really that's really um hits home for you that really I think helps you now grind out better is that you have gone through an addiction that you overcame that just helps you focus.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

I hear yeah, it well it it built I build discipline, you know, to be able to to conquer, you know, uh habits like that that are so rooted, you know, with you know, childhood trauma or whatever the case is, being able to um, yeah. I just I have a lot more free time. I think that, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I have way more free time, but it definitely helped me uh build discipline and reliability of the best ability is availability. I've learned that right. You know, I'm I'm a reliable person that people, you know, so business is has gone better. Um, you know, business relationships, my relationships in my real life are mended and and healing.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

So it's you know showing up for yourself and and totally like a solid common.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

I mean, yeah, again, you know, um, you know, myself too, you know. I I I you know I I like the sober life. The sober life for me is something that that is I can do stuff like this peaceful, yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

Yeah, stuff that seems chaotic in this is nowhere near the chaotic stuff when you're in addiction. You know, this is like easy, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:54

Yeah, and you use your art to kind of help you through it too, which I think is yeah, fun, like huge because a lot of people don't think they'll ever get over something, but if there's something you were working on when you were younger, you probably fell back and say, I you know, I really want to do that. Yeah, right. And so that's really helped save you falling in love with it. Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

Yeah, I had an interesting perspective on it though, because I made music long before I ever had an addiction. So I I was basically documenting my addiction as it was going on. You listen to my music and and you can hear it out.

SPEAKER_03 19:23

How long is that?

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Well, my first album that I created after I got sober hell was boring. Well, I made half of it while I was still going through addiction. So in real time, you can you can listen to me go through my addiction.

SPEAKER_03 19:36

Oh, that's fantastic. I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Yeah. Oh so it's it's always been it's yeah, I have an interesting kind of discography if you listen to it.

SPEAKER_03 19:45

It's like a through line of different parts of your yeah, it's all bared out there.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

You can you can hear it all.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

Oh man, that's amazing. Yeah, I I I didn't realize that that, you know, because I know that like other artists I've listened to over my years of, you know, you hear, oh, this is that album when they worked with those groups, but they were in that. Like, you know, you think of the Beatles, right? When they went to like India or something like that. Right. You in your own personal journey is different than like them going in that.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Yeah, it was just me and me in my room alone figuring out my problems, figuring out what was wrong.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

Exactly. Yeah. Um, my other thing is we work together. Yep. So let's talk about that. First, I want to tell you how I I reached out to you at some point because well, it over a couple of years, actually.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 20:30

And yeah, I was But I saw you at one of the local um places to really get down and you know in a concert called the O. Yeah. And the not the original O, but the newer O. Yes, yeah. And it was for a really good reason. Can you tell us of what I'm talking about first and then I'll just talk about what we did together?

SPEAKER_02 20:46

Well, that was the first show that I I did after I was sober, and I really wanted to like give back. So I, you know, I was a poor kid where you know there was days where I couldn't get lunch because lunch isn't free for kids for some reason.

SPEAKER_03 20:58

Yeah, in North Dakota, it's a big hot topic right now, guys. So look into that if y'all don't know. Is that like that in Florida? Um, you know, it's been a while, but I don't think so. Okay. Florida's a very rich state too, but yeah, in a different way. And you can edit this, Adam. We don't want to get political. But but I don't know. With a question I should look into it. That's where I'm from, guys, if you don't know.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

But yeah, so I I wanted to raise money for the the school lunch debt. Um, it was just something that I I was really passionate about and felt passionate about. So I tried to make it as big a a deal as we could, and we raised like $5,000.

SPEAKER_03 21:30

So it was and that was part of the money the people coming to see you. So they were like basically kind of one show free.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

Yeah. That's yeah, I do all of the there was a ton of other artists on that show.

SPEAKER_03 21:40

Remember, that was great.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

I have some videos still knife for you. Shout out to all of them. Uh donated all of their money. That's a great show. And over the years, I've I've I've done smaller things, smaller scale, but always try to donate to that lunch fund for my hot public schools we can see. Yeah, I know what it felt like to be a kid that could eat lunch or get that. Free bagged lunch or whatever the case is.

SPEAKER_03 22:01

No, and I love that because that's one of the reasons why I reached out to you directly because for years I was like, we gotta work together. We gotta work together. And then he's so busy, everybody. I mean, gosh, this guy's traveling all over. He could tell you about that at the end. But um, I wanted to do something with him, and I always wanted to. I love creating, I have a sandwich shop, guys, and I wanted to create a hoogie of the month. And I thought, what better way than to get him on there and then create it maybe around something he was into? And then he said, Let's do it on one of my albums. So, what was the album?

SPEAKER_02 22:30

It was Dog Days. Yes. So the album or the sandwich was called the Dog House.

SPEAKER_03 22:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

And dude, it was a Scooby-Doo creation monstrosity, but it was very delicious, and I think it did pretty well.

SPEAKER_03 22:42

Yeah, it did. And we did it, we did a live like on Facebook.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

We like made it together.

SPEAKER_03 22:47

And it was so fun. I mean, taking him behind the counter and doing that was so much fun. Yeah. Um, one of the fun things though is that I I believed in this cause too, because during COVID, I was like, when the schools got shut down, I fed kids from school-age kids because you said kids don't eat sometimes, and that's the only meal they will get. They don't, yeah. So even it is a fact.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

A lot of kids go to school specifically to give to get fed. And it isn't, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:12

Yeah. And I knew that because my daughter had told me that when she went to school, she told me that. And I said, What? So when the governor shut down school, I was like, Whoa, what? Right. Forget about shutting down my restaurant. Like, I at least somehow feed the kids. So I already knew that that's something I wanted to embrace. So I think that's where I felt great. It was it was a great collab. And that's what it was. So I I definitely want to say that I was so appreciative of you finally coming in and hey, it was like it's it's a bucket list thing, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 23:38

That's such a cool thing to be able to collaborate and do just off the the back of music that I'm passionate about. Being able to meet with people like you and do really quickly.

SPEAKER_03 23:48

But you know, you have to remember that you are getting a little bigger with what you're doing, and I think people want to meet you and they want to see that you're a real person. So to taste something that's yours, your taste or like I feel like they have they they can get close to you.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:00

I mean, I remember when I was a kid, I'd look up to certain people. That's what people still do. Yeah. So some respect.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

I agree.

SPEAKER_03 24:05

Yeah, I love it. So, okay, so I'm I'm excited to ask him about what he's doing. What is there anywhere else you want to do?

SPEAKER_01 24:12

I I mean I got a ton of questions, but no, you can do it.

SPEAKER_03 24:14

First thing first, okay. You just came off a tour not too long ago. I did. Okay, tell us about that, and then what's up next with you?

SPEAKER_02 24:20

Well, I went down to South by Southwest for the first time. So me and my buddy Darrow, we got in a car and we drove all the way down to Texas, torn down on the way, and then and then came back. And it was it was a great experience, you know. I I again another perk of the job is getting to travel to places, you know. Basically, I get to vacation as well.

SPEAKER_04 24:39

So that's a good way to look at it.

SPEAKER_02 24:41

It is, it is. And trust me, it's not as glamorous as vacation, it's a lot of driving and gas station food and all that, but it was uh it's every tour has been incredible. And and I again I'm booking them all myself.

SPEAKER_03 24:53

You know, I I you're doing wait, you're doing everything yourself, still like a one-man band. Yeah. Oh my goodness. Guys out there, anybody sees this, he needs an agent. Only 10% though, guys, I'm telling you, nothing higher. He's a starving artist. But it's good.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

I think it's good to learn all of those job roles. Absolutely. Because if I ever wanted to hire somebody to do that, I want to know how to do that first.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

You don't want to be taken for the what kind of actual hustle that goes along with the colour. Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

And I feel like just where I'm at, I I have to.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Because there is a hustle behind that, booking everything, lining everything up. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

Again, it's it's it's building those relationships, being reliable, you know, with these promoters, venues, these other artists, right, and be able to kind of culminate and build and collab and do something like a because how you act is essentially what's going to get you to the next level.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Yeah, yeah. For Dakota before, yeah, great guy, class.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

Exactly. That's all it takes sometimes to get a way bigger opportunity. That's happened to me so many times over the last couple of years.

SPEAKER_03 25:48

And that's called not burning your bridges too and knowing leaving a door open. It can be hard.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

You have to you have to balance it all. You have to Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:54

And not everyone's nice out there. You know what? They're not all in it for like the passion of the music. They want the money, and I get that. Yep. But you have to know how to handle those people too. And that's great for negotiation to learn business. And the business side is what I've learned a lot of people who are artists don't know how to handle, and they don't have a good person in their corner, like a manager or an agent or a family member that knows how to run it. And that's why they never go on beyond their basement.

SPEAKER_02 26:15

Well, I gotta say, you've helped me a lot over the world. Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 26:18

Well, I just I think you have a lot going on with you, and I think I think it would be so sad to just isolate it in one place, as long as if you do want to go out and do other stuff.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

Oh, of course. Yeah, I mean, that's I I don't really play a lot of my not shows anymore. I it's once a year, maybe and you get purposeful.

SPEAKER_03 26:36

What's talking about that? Okay, let's talk about that. Where are you thinking about? You are mine playing the minot show. I have to do that. There is something that we have to announce because it's it's happening and it's happening in 250 years of our country. Yeah, by the way, did you know that my not's 140 years old this year, too? A lot of people don't know that, guys. You gotta look into that. It's kind of neat. Because if it wasn't for Minot, we wouldn't be here, right? No, no, shout out to the railroad shout out to you. So tell us now, tell the audience like what is going on. There's something really amazing happening, and you are the starting artist. I am so talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 27:11

So I got the pleasure, it's a little bit of a backstory. So last year I played at the Levit um amphitheater down in Sioux Falls, and um getting to play for all my relatives uh festival and stuff. I got to learn a little bit more about the Levitt Foundation. It what I thought maybe it was just a thing that was in Sioux Falls, but this is a foundation all over the country that provides free music to a tons of different cities. Sometimes it's amphitheaters, sometimes it's via a grant, right? Which we might not won last year's series to give us three summers of free concerts. Two summers of free concerts who's opening the first show.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

I am.

SPEAKER_03 27:45

He is yeah, guys, you guys have to come see him. What's the date for that one? June 4th. June 4th, downtown at Citizens Alley, right?

SPEAKER_02 27:53

Yep, at Citizens Alley. It's a huge honor to me. It feels like, like I've I've said before, it's like a culmination of those 17 years of playing at the bagel stop.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

A great shout out to the triple J team. Yeah Jasmine, Josh, and Jessica. That's true. Yeah, J3, man. They're J3. They're working. Yeah, they hustled hard on it.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

And yeah, they're bringing something cool to mind. It's beautiful, like you know, the backstory with Jasmine playing in her basement. Like she's been such a huge person in this city to bring keeping the music alive. Yeah, the why not festival every year. That's the first festival I ever played when I was 13 years or when I was 19 years old, you know, that was playing out at the Mouse Rivers Club. But so shout out to them. It it's a huge honor to be able to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 28:38

That's fantastic. So give us the day and time you're hitting the stage and any more information how to you know get tickets or whatever it's gonna take. Well, they're all free. Oh, they're all free. Guys, it's free. You guys heard it from no tickets, just show up. Just show up. You have merch being sold too? Of course I do. Okay, guys, you gotta support him. That's usually how a lot of artists make their money. It's merch, guys. Yes, he you do your own art too, right? You do he's just so awesome. Asked me to do that for my shirts for my shop, and I'm like, I ain't got time.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

So June 4th. June 4th. June 4th. Okay, Thursday, Thursday every Thursday for I believe the next 10 weeks after that will be art of concerts. Yep. Some are concert series. Some are some are local, some are regional, some are national. Right. And it's gonna be great. I you know, just more music for the city. I I uh it's an honor to be. I think it's pretty cool. And I think really cool that you're gonna be opening up.

SPEAKER_03 29:23

Yeah, yes. Well, listen, we I just want to say thank you so much for coming and sharing your story finally and chatting with us. Yeah, thank you. You're officially our first guest too.

SPEAKER_04 29:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

So, guys, support us, support Dakota Faye. And on this podcast, you'll see where you can learn more about Dakota. Follow him by his music and check us out as well. And if there's anything else.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

No, I think we're good. I want to thank everybody for tuning in. And yeah, thank you, Dakota, for being our first guest. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

We so appreciate it. Listen, you guys all have a great summer, and let's just hang out and chill and chat next time. We'll see you again, guys. Okay, take care.

unknown 29:56

You see, that's the magic of me, me, me.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

Am I here no tea now? You see, life ain't no ways. That's what you dream. It's the way that you make those things reality. You see, that's the magic of me, me, me, and then you're gonna be able