This Week We Feature Young Professional Maat E. Penn
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Teachers play a critical role in who we become, directly and indirectly influencing many decisions we make as young people. This is what happened with Maat E. Penn, who today is one of the Virgin Islands’ (VI) music engineers.
Maat tells Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) that he was born and raised right here in the VI. Like many others, he was educated in the territory, attending the First Impressions Primary School and then St Goerge’s Secondary School.
It was at secondary school, that his music teacher gave him “a little bit of motivation” in the form of an instrument.
“Music was one of my best subjects…I took it and I learned the instrument inside out. So it brought me to love music a bit more, as I was one of the few music students we did have” he said.
Maat took his interest in music and while he did attain an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration, he went on to pursue music studies at Folsom University.
His music course there was led by multi-Grammy Award winner Leslie Brathwaite.
It was one of his first ventures in Tortola as a recording engineer that motivated him even more to delve into the music production business fully.
Nice Day Music Studio
Maat started recording music in 2017, out of high school. His business, though, officially began three years later in 2020.
“So right around the cusp of COVID is when we were getting all of our equipment together and, you know, just crafting the sound and we have slowly but surely developed.”
He shared that the business operated unnamed for a while explaining that he did not want to name it after its location.
Maat explained that he focused on rap music initially, a genre where there can be a negative connotation associated with it, and so he wanted to give the studio a more inviting and conscious name.
“We [were] like, let's turn it exactly the opposite. Let's make a nice day. Let's come together and make music and have a nice day. So it was, I was trying to be more positive [about] the stuff that was happening around us. And I was just trying to encourage everyone to have a nice day.”
Receiving “minimal support” in the early days of his career, Maat said he kept his endeavours a secret for a while.
“I’ve been doing music production for over ten years. So right now the business that I’m running has been fully functional for about the last four years.”
Commercial success & producing a #1 song in the VI
While he has a passion for music and music production, Maat is also a pharmacy technician and when asked whether he runs his business for profit or for the love of music he replied, “I'm doing it for the love of the music, but I also see that there is very much possibilities for profitability, but we don't have an industry as yet. In order for you to have an industry, you have to have consistency, which we don't have at the moment. I'm trying to provide that so that an industry can be born”.
Nice Day Music Studio has experienced some commercial gains with the release of some of the projects it has perfected.
“We’re getting positive public reception.”
He has worked with many underground and young artists with a mission to assist them develop their sound.
Maat has collaborated with Stefan on a project that received Social media success last year, the Noi Project.
He has also worked with local rap duo Jefe Tunes. “We just released a dancehall project under Luh Jefe. It did go number one in the British Virgin Islands last year when it was released…we do have a lot more work coming with them.”
Maat has also collaborated with artists outside the VI.
While he carries the weight of the business, Maat from time to time, collaborated with engineers both in the VI and abroad. “I do basically a lot of production, mixing, mastering, [and] other services alike.”
Speaking of his frequent collaborators he said among them are his “now mentor and family member, Edward Crook [for] engineering, I have also received other mentoring from British Virgin Islands Grammy winner, Donelle Smith. I have also collaborated in production heavily with a close collaborator, Donaldson Layne, known to the public as Don G Productions.”
The younger generation may have something to say
While most of his work is in the Hip-Hop and Rap genres, Maat said he also has delved into all genres.
“What haven't I done? I've done so many, and many genres are intertwined based on the context of the content of the words. So, the instrumental could be rap, but the context could be gospel; the instrumental could be rap, but the lyrics are dancehall. I've blended a lot of different worlds in my field of production.”
During the course of his interview, he revealed that currently he is working on mixing dancehall.
Maat added that he tries to reach out to as many people as possible since the music space in the VI is small, especially in the rap genre where larger bands get more recognition.
While rap may not be what the international audience may look for from the VI, Maat explained the demand is there locally.
“Sometimes the younger generation may have something to say, but they don't know how exactly to say it and who exactly to say it to. So they express it through the music. Not everybody may be listening, but they do have an audience.”
This is where the services he offers are important he added, “The mixing and mastering process from beginning to end. Sometimes if persons send in projects, we do take those on. If things need to get redone, we assist in the coordination of such.”
Give yourself some grace & bet on yourself
Maat took the leap of faith, following his heart and passion for music and music production, and to others he said, “Even though the society, they like to depend on everyone else, I like to [tell them] give them[selves] some grace and depend on themselves. I don't want you to bet on somebody else's success. I want you to bet on yourself because you are the only person that can control your destiny.”
He also encourages people to start as early as possible whether to attain higher education or learn a new skill or craft.
“Try your best at it every single day to get better. So that when you look back 10 years later, you look back 15 years later, you'll see the amount of progress that you put in wasn't in vain, and the time that you wasted wasn't money spent on wasting time; it was money spent on investing in yourself. You know, making memories and useful memories that will be able to benefit your future.”
With hard work & consistency, anything is possible
In the next few years, Maat hopes to be working with more international artists while staying committed to the local artists, who have supported him.
“I’m hoping to see a lot more local support, but I'm also not seeking the local support because I have found that the locals don't support until everybody else supports. So I'm trying to really cast the net further away so that when I'm putting it back in, it brings everybody in full circle.”
He would also like to go on tours and create more music so that the world can recognise the VI is bigger than its physical size.
“We’ve had acts like Ayaz, who had amazing international success, but especially on a more independent stage, we like to try and see how much we can better impact all communities or families.”
Maat would also like to continue motivating the younger generation of artists here in the VI.
He said he would want them to know that they do not have to sign their rights or commission away to be successful.
Rather, “With a lot of hard work and consistency, everything will be possible”.
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20 Responses to “This Week We Feature Young Professional Maat E. Penn”
Very Proud of you. Matt
Maat you got it going on young man he is so friendly every time I go to Penn Medical