Meet Stanford Reid

What’s your name and where are you from?

My name is Stanford Reid, and I’m originally from Baltimore Maryland. I spent my formative years in Atlanta Georgia and lived in NYC for 5 years before traveling to Vietnam for a festival performance and remaining there as a full time musician from 2016 - 2021.

Why do you love what you do?

I love doing what I do because I feel it so deeply and you’re feeling it gives me the experience of sharing what I feel with other people. I’ve been playing music since I was a child. I learned various instruments growing up in church, however saxophone was my favorite because I choose this instrument and I didn’t know another person who played it. I’ve cried while playing on occasions and I imagine if I was to die doing something I love, I would rather just burst into flames while playing saxophone. That’s how much I love it.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

In five years, I see myself having really awesome networks of friends working on many creative projects having many streams of inspiration. I’d probably be living outside of the US again. Or at least touring and traveling often. I’ll be somewhere raising my children and fostering their creativity. Not just my children, but the children in whichever community I find myself.

What do you bring to your industry?

I know i bring my whole self, that’s for sure. Especially the fact that I’m back here in New York I feel that I bring a particular worldview and values that I gathered from my time in Southeast Asia. I think that the industry kind of got away from home values. While living in Vietnam I performed consistently, until lockdown, even getting a few performances at prestigious hotels during the brief breaks beginning of quarantine. Lately I’ve been balancing my time between production, engineering, and performing. I find myself using the things that I’ve picked up, the smallest of things, I give them more significance when I fuse them with my art. Like I said , my whole self and everything I’ve experienced.

What do you want to be remembered by?

My life goal is to accomplish something that will carve a way into the future for the upcoming generations and generations far to come. Something that they could look back on to say this was a pivotal moment that everything changed for this particular type of door to open up for everyone. I stick to simplicity for that reason. Statements like “Power Our Planet”, “WAFFL Records” or “HipHop NevaDie” hit an accord, they inspire curiosity! Growing up I always wanted to be cool, I never knew why, I would however always learn something about myself in the process of trying. As I got older and learned more about what I actually wanted I found myself in places I had only seen in movies.

Being here and making the most of every opportunity that comes my way in a timely manner has taught me a lot about life, which I impart to others through my music, sound philosophy and behavior.

I heard it once said that you only get two lives, the second one begins when you realize you only get one.

My grandfather gave me a second chance at 18, when I almost landed myself prison. From that point, having to build my life from scratch, I thought my future through. And began living towards that end with no worry of the path.

I live my life as a testament, you live your best life when you put 100 percent in.