Meet Dean Cee | Musician & Actor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dean Cee and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dean, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Why did I pursue an artistic career?, A question I never really thought about. It’s just something that’s always been. It’s like breathing or blinking, second nature to the point that I can not differentiate between anything else in life. I do not here save the best multitasking ability so I live my life very simply by asking myself one question. How do I survive right now in this moment? For me, it feels like I’m suffocating when I cannot get the ideas of my head into this plane of reality. So naturally I do whatever I have to in order to see my visions come to fruition and they typically do I work really hard. The fact a career or any financial gain comes is just bonus.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m just a jit from Indiana trying to show people that they can do whatever they want, regardless of their circumstance. I come from a place where people that look like me are not supposed to flourish but we do. A community limited by resources, and the lack of knowledge that we can go beyond our environment. That we have the capability to be more. With my art and life, I aim to show that there are no limits, rules or circumstances that can keep you from doing whatever it is you believe you can do. I packed up all of my things back in 2018 and moved to LA on a whim in January with $300 and a dream, been rocking it ever since. I’ve been making music my whole life, but didn’t start taking it seriously as a career until about 2019. I practiced and networked out in LA for about a year until I dropped my first official EP entitled “this is not an EP, the EP“ in 2020 at the top of the pandemic. It started to gain a little bit of traction off of zero to no marketing, so I began to start taking music seriously. I’ve been writing producing and throwing events out in L.A. for about three years now. My whole goal and platform is to give independent artists the same platform as any other popular artists. I’ve been doing open mics and shows all over and seeing the lack of spaces for indie artist and how the industry has perverted art, and made it hard for the average person to participate, let alone to get a piece of the pie. I created a platform called the “Dean’s list” where we review music sent to us from all over around the world and we graded on a grade point scale from 0 to 4.0 like in school. Allowing for a space for any artist to share their art, and to get feedback from real Artists and just another way to get their art out there. It’s my passion to give artist a platform to share their art not a lot of people care, but I do. I also joined a music collective called HiiiTriiibe. We are a bunch of guys from all walks of life join together by music. The three “I” in tribe stand for the individual. That is our whole message. If you don’t learn anything about anything, just know that you are an individual and you matter in the grand collective. HiiiTriiibe has been LLCd since 2020 as an official label and production company. We have thrown shows all the way from Palm Springs to LA County and all over California. We throw house parties and different showcases throughout LA giving platform to hundreds of artists. My main goal is just to let people know that they can do whatever they want and I mean whatever they want there are no boundaries holding you back. Not your race not your location not your age not your circumstance you are limitless potential. Just go get it

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
so the first thing I would do if you were visiting the city is, get some crazy food in that belly because LA is THAT place. Any type of food you can imagine and the ones you can’t you can find here. LA is like the Mecca when it comes to food every block every neighborhood every grandma pushing a cart has something that you ain’t never had before and will change your culinary journey forever! We would start with some killer breakfast at my favorite dinner then I hope you rested the day before because we definitely finna hit a hike after to show you some secret scenery then a light studio tour of my favorite places in LA to make music and with some of my favorite people. Then we definitely gonna have to reup on some food probably take you to my favorite ramen spot and not tell you the name so I can make sure I get a table every time! Then I gotta take you to the beach because how you come to LA and not go to the beach. Then probably hit a handful of open mics and shows. Then end yah trip with a quick run to Joshua tree for some spiritual relaxation before you gotta head back to whatever you doing!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My family deserves the most recognition. They’re the ones that help cultivated my craft. They gave me stories and resource material to bass all of my art off of. They support me when no one else does and they’ll tell me like it is no matter what I want to hear. They forced me to consider multitude of perspectives that’s why I am so open and for that I am extremely grateful.

Website: https://www.hiiitriiibe.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/dean.ceee?igshid=NzZlODBkYWE4Ng==

Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@TheDeanScenes

Other: https://linktr.ee/DeanCee?fbclid=PAAaZX7Zr3bAoAqiHcZFjePlCFX-dvYmDu2fw6ZMilp2LjykpCGlZUd3hsmrg_aem_AV-WcLR7q-WLX_Mqusg80nbmV-AAwRKzmyJek6lvOrT_FvDWoNdDtruzNz459N_QACg

Image Credits
Abigail Glenn (BadGravy)