Meet Rodney Hazard, the new age creative bodying every lane imaginable
There are few creatives whose talents can be spread across a wide spectrum of artistic abilities. Enter jack of all trades, Rodney Hazard. He is an art director, photographer, DJ, music producer, and graphic designer based in Brooklyn, NY.
The Massachusetts-native, who moved to New York 10 years ago, has been creatively crushing it for some time now with only one goal in mind — producing dope ass content. Kulture Hub had the opportunity to catch up with the visionary himself and let’s just say the many creative sides of Hazard are worth emulating.
Hazard is the epitome of the new age creative who uses social media to harvest dope collaborations. In fact, he was able to get his foot in the door using Twitter to land his first internship at Hot 97.
He explained how important it is for young creatives to get their names out there using social media platforms. He said,
“The way that I’ve used social media is very focused on pushing out content and gaining access to people I would otherwise never have access too at times. It’s SUPER important for young creatives to get their names out there using these platforms because now more than ever, there’s enough social currency to go around. Also, social media is about people, so much less about the big corporations or agencies and much more about the people upholding these brands, who they are, and what they bring to the table. This equals a level of access that our parents just didn’t have. For example, I landed my first internship at Hot 97 off of Twitter.”
From the internship Hazard rocketed to creative independence. He was able to snag the position of art director on one of the many meaningful projects of his creative career; the Smirnoff Equalizing Music project.
Through the Smirnoff Equalizing Music project, his eyes were opened. Hazard expressed how important the event was to his artistic career. He said,
“The Smirnoff Equalizing Music project was very eye-opening to me because of the lack of equal gender representation in the electronic music space. I was just happy to be involved from multiple touchpoints including photography, web design, art direction, etc. It was important because we made a difference and were recognized for it.”
It won’t stop there as Hazard will continue to work towards a level of creative completeness.
Hazard takes total control over his music too and you can tell his most recent LP Saint or Savage is an “abstract self-portrait” where he allows all parts of his personality to shine — including his savage NYC go get em’ mentality.
You wouldn’t know it but that same mindset helped him acquire his most meaningful musical collaboration yet as his work with Bipolar Sunshine directly influenced the birth of Saint Or Savage and an entirely new sound.
The visionary expressed how he dapped it up with Sunshine over social media. He said,
“The most meaningful collaboration that came from social media is the two songs that I have with Bipolar Sunshine on my most recent album Saint Or Savage. The reason really is that he and I didn’t know each other previously and just got in touch kind of out of the blue. I was already a fan of his and he had heard an instrumental or two online [that I had recently released around that time]. So we chopped it up online, eventually got on Skype and I played him a ton of music over video chat. He chose a few pieces of production and eventually had plans to stay in LA for a month or so. I literally popped up the last two weeks he was there and we got into the studio…
Hazard continued,
“When we got together we were on the same frequency, and cranked out a lot of music! This is really meaningful to me because it was the birth of Saint Or Savage and an entirely new sound that I was ready to explore.”
To Hazard, there’s nothing better than creative control as seen in his latest visuals for “Soul To Keep.” Proving his complete list of talents even further, the NYC creative performed alongside Boston-bred rapper Gio Dee and produced the track. In addition to being the co-director of the video.
Rodney gave a reason as to why there’s nothing better than having full creative control. He said,
“There’s literally nothing better than having full creative control. The ability to take something that started a quick sketch in my home studio to a full-blown production is really important. I believe in showing others their potential through actions and every time I take something from ideation to execution it just lets me know that the sky is not the limit and nothing is impossible.”
Peep the vision!
With so many creative responsibilities one can only imagine how much artistic pressure Hazard is under. Still, he is able to come out on top as he routinely focuses on keeping his drive at full speed.
Every day he looks forward to being different and tries to start each day on a positive note. Hazard explained what keeps him afloat mentally and how he stays positive when things aren’t going his way artistically. He said,
“What keeps my drive at full speed is routine. I love every day to be different but I need creative idle time to conceptulize, come up with new ideas. Also I need to work out, it not only keeps your body fit but keeps your mental state healthy as well…”
Hazard continued,
“I’m forever positive. Everyone has their moments but no matter what positivity promotes success. If something isn’t going my way I step away and ask myself a series of questions to make sure I’m taking myself down a path that I’m comfortable with…and normally that’s off the beaten path – I don’t want to know where the idea is headed. Most of the time I rather let the idea dictate my process.”
One might call Hazard a creative Swiss Army Knife. He is living proof that “it’s important to be multi-faceted in this day and age in order to become well-rounded as a creative.”
Waiting for no one to educate him about his crafts, he’s ready to show the world all of the talents he has to offer. Trust that he will as he works on more music videos. Plus, several collaborative EPs with artist such as Young Syrup, Sheila Carlito, and Meyhem Lauren. Not to mention a follow up to Saint Or Savage.
Continue to watch the young creative make his way to an artistic heaven and for all the young creatives out there…,
“Stop waiting for people. Art is never finished but you need people to hear and see your talent,” said Hazard.
Don’t relax, take notes, and get your name out there young bloods. It obvious that from Hazard’s perspective you can see what hard work and dedication can do for you.
There’s nothing worse than missing out because you were waiting on someone to put you on. Put yourself on and get your name out there.