By Brick Mason
Staff Writer
On February 15, Myles Grantt, AKA SELYM, released his debut single “can i tell you.” Grantt is a senior criminal justice major at Langston University. The song is about trauma in a past relationship, and for Grantt, making music is about freedom, relatability, and therapy.
“One thing I like about music is there’s no limits…there are no rules bro,” Grantt said. For him, it really is the same thing as life. Whatever you want to make happen, make it happen. “A lot of times you try and talk to people and talk about your problems, talk about relationships to people and sometimes they just don’t understand it. So it is a way of me just getting out what I need to say on the microphone,”said Grantt.
He says that is why he likes being relatable in his music. “Being relatable helps to like being able to touch other people that might have gone through similar situations. See that’s the beauty of music…its therapy for yourself and its therapy for the listeners…It’s amazing.”
I met Grantt doing an assignment for my class “Writing for the Mass Media.” I had to take photos of students here at Langston and interview them; this is how I found out he had an interest in making music.
Grantt began coming to the studio in my dorm on February 10th, when we began exploring his musical ability and love for the craft. “I was trying to find somebody who was on the same tip as me when it comes to this shit bro, and a lot of niggas just want to, y’know, record sounds and not make music.”
Myles says that people who fear the world’s opinions on their art should break out of their shell and release their music. As an artist, you have your own ways of expressing yourself that other people don’t have to understand. “At the end of the day, I have my purpose, I have my reasons, and I have my why’s bro,” Grantt said.
After a couple of weeks of coming in frequently, we built a bond off of creating music. I feel that when creating music with somebody you get to truly see who they are as a human.
Grantt said “It’s like we also build a bond there to where I’m focusing on my craft. I’m still working on my craft while trying to improve so that I can work with him better as a producer.”
Grantt’s grandma used to play the drums and his family enjoys different types of music, so music has always been an interest of his. It was only a matter of time before he would enter the studio for the first time and work on his ideas.
There is something magical about music that brings people together and even helps with many things like concentration, motivation, or even workflow. Which is why it’s such a beautiful thing when a group of people come together to create music. “Music is like a good weapon bro,” Grantt said. “I feel like everybody should equip somebody.”
Brick Mason is a sophomore broadcast journalism major.
Message from the Editor
Profanity Disclaimer: In the above article, there is a direct quote that explicitly says the n-word. For journalistic purposes, there are a few reasons we chose to keep the word and use only slight censorship. To keep journalistic integrity, it is not often that direct quotes are changed. In this case, since the word is not used in a harmful or disrespectful manner, we saw no reason to change it or take it out. After thorough discussion between myself, the editors, and members of the newsroom, we decided that because we are at an HBCU and the n-word is frequently used in our everyday language that it was unnecessary to censor the word completely. We felt that due to the n-word being normalized within the community, that censoring it would put a negative connotation over the usage of it. Our intent was not to offend anyone. If you have any comments or concerns, email us @thelugazette@gmail.com.
