Meet Skylar Carden | Mr. Oye the Music Producer and Songwriter

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

Hi Skylar, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Honestly, for the simple fact that I truly love what I do. I always have. I’ve always had a passion for creating music and it has always been a mental release/outlet for me, whether it was beatboxing, writing song lyrics, or making beats in the studio. It wasn’t really until the last year or two that I truly considered this my career path.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I have a recording studio in the Florida keys, ran by two other producers and myself. What makes me different from other producers is my willingness to try new things in my music. I like a good challenge when I’m creating. I live in key west, Florida where these allot of live music, so I have access to plenty of people who play instruments from a very broad spectrum of genres. So for me I like taking someone who plays live county music, for example, and turning their guitar loops into a Hip-Hop banger, that whole process excites me. I got to where I’m at professionally by all the time and work invested. Nothing about it was really easy. I’ve sacrificed allot of time away from friends and family to get where I’m at today, even lost a few along the way because of it. I hold back from taking allot of trips and vacations because I would rather re-invest my money in building my studio up and promoting what we are doing. A lesson I have learned and now live by is that you HAVE to make sacrifices and take risks in order to achieve your dreams. There’s no shortcut around that. With great risk comes great reward, and with that you may loose people along the way. But to me a persons internal happiness with themselves is everything, and you have to be willing to accept the things and/or people you have to sacrifice to achieve that. At one point in my life I was homeless and couch surfing, reached one of the lowest points in my life and writing lyrics was pretty much the only thing I had left at the time. Having that outlet really helped me keep pushing forward. Before to long it pretty much turned into an obsession, so I saved up just enough money to buy my first laptop and midi keyboard then started recording myself and making beats. From there I started recording friends of mine, then friends of friends. There’s never really been much of a Hip-Hop/ Rap oriented studio here in the keys so It didn’t take long before I realized I needed to get out of my house with it and invest into a studio space. I got lucky enough to meet some people with the same vision, and out of that came Smokeface Studios.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
First thing I would do is head to Fort Zachary Taylor for a day on the Beach.

They’ve got one of the cleanest beaches down here in my opinion. After that hit up Mallory Square for the sunset Festival that happens every night. They’ve got street performers, vendors, and the best sunset you will see here from the land. Lets say you went fishing and were able to get some fresh Mahi or Yellowtail, do yourself a favor and take it over to Kaya Island Eats and have them cook it for you. By far the best fish I have ever had prepared at a restaurant here. As far as drinks, you’ve got all of Duval street to look after you on that. You’ll have no problem finding a bar to get you where you wanna be. After the day is done, come check us out at Smokeface Studios in Stock Island!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Definitely got to give a big shoutout to Zingg The Chef and WaveyOnDaTrack, my partners over at Smokeface Studios. Without them the recording studio we built in the Florida Keys would be nothing but a dream. Shoutout to Tweak for always bringing new inspiration and creativity every time he steps foot in the studio. It’s rare to meet people that put the amount of hard work, drive, and energy into something that seems so impossible for some, all out pure dedication for the craft itself. Also, I have to thank my mother and girlfriend for always being supportive of me and my music and never doubting my vision. I’m Truly blessed for everyone in my life at this moment. I love and Appreciate all ya’ll!

Website: https://www.smokefacestudios.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mr.oye_music_official/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smokefacehippies

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIH08i5C49-MNQsIycTpzFA