Rising Stars: Meet Kollin Smith of Victoria

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kollin Smith.

Alright, thank you for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us how you got started?
After soul-searching and eye-opening experience in the USMC, I’ve finally discovered that I may have the best talents to do. My overthinking to my excessive talking moods I get into music is an outlet for all those habits I once found negative.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Like all aspects of life, nothing is ever as smooth as you think it will be. Obstacles and adversity will always stand in your way to testing your will and love for what you’re attempting. Having the funds to make a dream go is always a tall task for someone who hasn’t had the easiest living. If you were struggling before pursuing your dreams, you’d struggle nearly 2x as much until you find your rhythm and methods of turning it into income.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As a musician, you have a large community to stand out in. Everybody is working their way towards something, and when you take days off, you can bet that others are in the grind putting in that time to make it happen. With a full-time job, it’s hard to find the time and energy to do this, but I guess that’s one of the obstacles you have to overcome on the journey that makes it all worth a while. I love that I can keep my passion for the traditional hiphop era in my music and try to reproduce that vibe for the ones who may miss it. Including myself, considering I just turned 29 early this year in February. Lyrics are my focal point. Growing up as a kid without a father and a minority in school, many emotions built up and overwhelmed me all along the way. The writing was my outlet for poetry. Though the passages weren’t always positive, I was putting down what was bothering me; in hindsight, I’m proud of that. I try to stay true to that young man by not forgetting that pain, remembering what I came from, and trying to be who I needed for others across the globe.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Good luck has been one of the main things keeping me on track all these years—faith, perfect timing, and good karma. What goes around comes around, and when all you do is screw people over, it will come back to you. And there’s too much of it in this industry so that no one will feel sorry for you. You must keep your head down, stay on the grind and hope to get lucky. I’ve gotten lucky quite a few times.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Killakollin
• Facebook: Kollin Smith
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC-aRkFseo1BwzThG3Cml5tQ
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/fvUjUT4aYngzcrYFA
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1avUMuBiExuRC86vRrD2yz?si=DKKzai5dTHqG3sUWjR2qAA

Image Credits
Kelby Duque