They’re two artists with two different sounds, but together–– they are one group.
In less than 10 months, a local group was able to gain over 26,000 listeners and 30,000 streams. How did they do it?
Darnell Zachery, a 23-year-old from Detroit, Michigan, and Christopher Aviles, a 23-year-old Miami native, found each other in an unlikely way. Both moved to Tallahassee and came to the conclusion that college wasn’t working for either of them while they were employed at the same job. Constantly working side by side, their conversations became deeper, and the two realized that they share the same passion of making music.
Although they have a similar interest in music, both artists have two different styles. Zachery got his start in music in December 2019.
“Music has been in my life, especially since I was a little kid. I listened to a variety of music,” Zachery said.
While driving together, the two created their most popular song, “Chill…$Cott.” Zachery, whose stage name is NellyHenryxx, is a reference to his name Darnell mixed with the famous musician Jimmy Hendrix.
Meanwhile, Aviles is a big comic fan, so naturally, he was inspired by a popular comic book vigilante. TVPE.c, also known as Tape Crusader, stems from Batman’s nickname Cape Crusader.
He mentioned his mother listened to artists like Michael Jackson, Lauryn Hill and India Arie, while his Dad was into Tupac, DMX, Ghetto Boys and Easy E.
Aviles explained that his taste in music is derived from his upbringings. Growing up in South Florida and having a Puerto Rican lineage attributes to his sound and surroundings. His alternative rap sound is inspired by artists like Linkin Park and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
To save money, Zachery normally produces the beats for the group. On their upcoming single, this was their first time purchasing beats from an online producer. During their latest studio session, they experimented with the pre-recorded beat and tweaked it along the way.
“We’re trying to expand our sound,” Aviles said. “The stuff our friends come up with aren’t necessarily the sounds that we’re looking for, but we’re trying to include everyone regardless.”
Since both artists are geminis and couldn’t decide on a certain genre of music to produce, the word ‘indecisive’ rang a bell. N’dec$iv considers themselves pretty open-minded when it comes to music, since they agree that dubstep and international music influenced their style.
Their recording studio, Goldie Sound Production, has produced music for artists like Lloyd, Kodak Black and Lil Baby. Their 9- 12 hour days at the studio, tireless dedication and passion for music benefitted them in the long run to receive 30,000 streams in eight months.
In December, Beeper was released, which is a hip-hop collaboration with Niya Elan, a prominent Tik-Tok influencer.
“The beat was something that I stumbled upon when I was looking for R&B beats,” Elan said. I wrote the song with someone else in mind, probably someone with a deeper voice. When I got into the studio, NellyHenryxx and TVPE.c encouraged me to just record it myself, and it sounded better than I’d imagined.”
Elan continued to share that the lyrics were inspired by her previous relationship.
“I’m glad the stars aligned so we could make this song come to life,” Elan said.
“Aniya asked me to be on the song with her, and I took it as a challenge,” Aviles said. “I heard the beat and wrote the first four bars in 15 minutes. The rest took two months.”
Currently, they are producing “Midnight Summer,” a collaboration with hip-hop artist YVSN, and their album, “ALT.Universe” set to be released later this year.