“Uncredited, Unstoppable: Dame Taylor’s Untold Story in the Music Industry”, Pt. 1

Journalist: “You started working in the music industry as a teenager, producing behind the scenes for major artists. What was it like being they consider a “ghost” producer at such a young age, and how did that shape your career?”

Dame: “It’s trippy looking back at it, because you don’t even know what’s going on. I was just pressing buttons and happy to be in the room, and the next thing you know, that little loop you were working on, the loop they just asked you to send stems for, it’s on the radio.

At seventeen, I was in rooms I probably shouldn’t have been in yet. People underestimate how far just being a good person gets you. You hear people say, ‘It’s about who you know.’ That’s not accurate. 

If you know someone who is in a position to help or change your life, and you can get that person to trust you, feel comfortable around you, and believe you don’t want anything from them, they’ll take you wherever they go, especially when you’re a kid.”

Dame: It’s not easy to be genuine. 

I could teach an entire class on how to get someone to trust you, and you can still be untrustworthy. I could write a playbook on how to get into rooms, and it wouldn’t work for most people, and then they’d be mad at me.

I was taught how to respect elders and gain respect from OG’s when I was eight or nine years old. Getting people in position of power to trust me came naturally. I genuinely care about relationships and nurturing them, and I also genuinely do not care about money or opportunity. If you do your part as a good human, money and opportunity will always find you, and they did for me.

And with all of the trust I’d build with people and with all of the rooms I’ve worked in, that still didn’t often translate into credits.

If I walked into a room with 100 people and placed $100 on a table and walked away, would someone take it if I walked away? Would they find me and thank me if I didn’t tell them that was a condition for taking the money? Would they pay me back if I didn’t ask them to? That’s exactly what happened during most of my young music career. I walked into rooms, brought value, and left without caring or asking for anything.

In the moment, that foundation was more valuable to me than a name on a credit line.

If I could go back, I would do it all over again - the only thing I’d do different is speak up. f I ever would have said anything, I would have credits for MOST of the records I’ve worked on. At the end of the day, I was there, and I am proud of the memories I’ve created in music. My family never gave AF anyway, and because of that, I never felt I had to prove anything or owed anyone an explanation.”