Photo By Jaxon Buzzell
For the last few years, TOB Duke has been on a steady path of growth, releasing breakout tracks such as Spaceship and Heartfelt along the way. Now heading into 2022 and his deal with Listen 2 The Kids, an upcoming record label, Duke started the year off strong with his single Hollywood Hills. This recent success has been a long time coming for Duke as he’s been making music since he was 15 years old growing up in Detroit.
“My older brothers used to tell me, ‘just keep going, you’re gonna be the reason why we get up out of here.’”
Duke recently made the move to LA at the start of this year, which has helped him make some major moves and grow in an entirely new landscape. He’s also collected cosigns from artists such as Polo G, Blue Face, Scorey, and moreover the last year. The transition of environments from any smaller city to LA can definitely be overwhelming, but Duke has been able to take it in stride and enjoy the change in scenery.
“When you’re from somewhere, it’s small to you. Even for people that are from LA. It’s small to people from here who know the ins and outs and are running into the same people everywhere they go. It’s different than Detroit for sure, we don’t get palm trees and nice weather all year round, so it’s definitely inspiring. Like paradise.”
Duke definitely seems to have been inspired by the LA atmosphere, releasing one of my favorite tracks from him earlier this month “Hollywood Hills“, speaking on escaping the drama and personal problems through music and enjoying his recent success. The majority of Duke’s music has had a strong moral compass behind it of striving for success, inspiring to any listener.
“My music’s intention is to make doing the right thing cool, in a sense. That doesn’t go for everything, but when it comes to morals, self confidence, and wisdom, and just reaching higher vibrations and frequency in life. I just want to make those things cool.”
It’s great to see an artist with strong intentions behind their music and image, that’s really taking their influence into account. With Duke coming into a pivotal moment in his career this year, every drop is crucial and the way he approaches his newfound momentum is gonna play a major part in his success this year.
“I want to be a little bit more humble this year, but the main goal is just to crush the charts. Five years from now I wanna be more into the business world, I know I’ll be crushing shit in music, but soon I wanna be doing more real estate and more business.”
With Duke becoming a more polished and confident artist with every drop, I don’t see anything slowing him down this year, especially after having the chance to talk with him and his team about what they’ve got coming up. Check out his most recent track “Hollywood Hills” accompanied by an impressive visual by Knight Visions and Brandon Jordan.
