Origin Story: The ONE Move that Changed My Life

Welcome to my very first episode! Get ready to hear the captivating story of how a single move transformed my life forever. I'll be sharing the exhilarating early stages of my journey, where I learned to embrace new challenges and new beginnings. I'll take you into the unique world of my Russian hustle that played a pivotal role in shaping my path. You'll want to be sitting down when I reveal the unforgettable moment of my first big break that led me to my dream job. 
This episode is a powerful testament to the incredible force of change, unwavering perseverance, and remarkable personal growth. Don't miss it! 
This story builds throughout my podcast so don't forget to subscribe and follow me on your favorite social media platform! 

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Wonderful Day by Chaz Langley
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Chapters

• 0:16 The Rundown
• 1:07 Where it started
• 3:01 Black Russian?
• 4:38 The Grind is Real
• 5:31 Eye on the Prize
• 6:39 The Call
• 8:38 No English No Problem
• 11:36 Braving the Storm
• 12:56 Much Needed Home Cooking
• 14:52 You've Got Mail
• 17:08 Why I Never Said No
• 17:54 Let's Talk
• 18:13 Reflection

Transcript

So Nashville really taught me a lot of things about myself... and there was a time where I had. In my bank account, about $14. I actually wrote with some of the biggest songwriters in the industry. One of the main things that I knew I wanted to come here and do was to be...  

Hey, this is Chaz, and welcome to my world, from my living room.

Today I want to share about where I'm from, and how it shaped me to be where I am today. I want to share about my first steps in New York, my early career struggles. My first big break and everything in between. So sit back, relax, and welcome to my world from my living room.  

Where do I begin? Um, first of all, my name is Chaz Langley.

And to get right into this, um,  I wanted to share a little bit about myself in hopes to inspire some of you all of my particular journey and to see if there's anyone else out there that feels the same way and essentially have a conversation. 
Welcome to my living room. This is my living room here in Brooklyn, New York, and I'm super proud of my journey thus far. 

So my creative journey professionally started in Nashville, Tennessee.  When I was in Nashville, I actually had an opportunity to be a singer songwriter, amongst other things, as a lot of creatives can. I waited tables.  I  wrote songs. I actually wrote with some of the biggest songwriters in the industry.

Pretty much honed my craft and kind of sat at the feet of some people that were really, really good. I feel like after my time in Nashville, I felt I was coming to a ceiling. I was modeling a little bit. I was singing. I was waiting tables, kind of like a training ground for, for the biggest city in the country, which is New York city.

When I felt that I was ready to move to New York, I was kind of getting really, really complacent. And being a big fish in a small pond, I felt like Nashville was my oyster and it was a place that I really felt like I was growing into my own. So I call that my training ground for adulthood. So Nashville really taught me a lot of things about myself, taught me about my social graces, how I was able to move and adapt in different scenarios and uh, It really, really helped me grow up fast.

I originally moved there from Virginia Beach, Virginia, after a few other cities in between, uh, with some entertainment endeavors, like cruise ships and theme parks and things of that nature. I've had an opportunity to travel at an early age, which was very, very cool. So fast forward, I'm ready to leave.

I'm ready to leave Nashville. I guess from my age back then, it felt really good to have that level of success in various arenas. Once again, songwriting, waiting tables at some of the nicest restaurants in  Nashville and, you know, making a lot of friends. But over time, as I've gotten more mature, I've felt that those left handed compliments of being the cool black guy in town kind of ran their course.

And it was time for me to pivot and adjust to my next step in life. So. After a stint on a cruise ship,  I met a young lady that eventually, when I got done with my cruise ship commitment,  I moved to New York. Now that's the short version, just so you know. She was of Eastern European descent, which meant she was actually in the Russian community.

In Brooklyn, New York, when I came to visit her one of the times before I actually made the indefinite move to New York. Now, when I went to visit her, she was working at a Russian restaurant, which was totally out of my realm of life and everything. And I was like,  what is this? I mean, we're talking tables that are just absolutely,  you know, opulence out of the wazoo.

I mean, there's alcohol at every corner of the table, there's a big hog in the middle of the table, uh, food and drink all night long. Everything that I always heard about, you know, because you hear about the Russian mafia, you hear about this, you hear about that and you know how much money they spend and how crazy they are and all that.

And I must say it was true. So given my entertainment background, my girlfriend at the time introduced me to the owner there. And they also had live singing as well. So on one of my visits, they said, Hey, in the Russian accent, like, Do you want to come and work for us for a job? I'm like, this is crazy.

Ultimately, it ended up being something that was a conduit for me moving here because I actually was able to land on my feet and have somewhat of a job when I first moved here. Although that sounded really easy right out the jump, it wasn't very easy. So my first few months of moving to New York, I lived with my cousin up in Washington Heights.

Now, if you know Washington Heights, and if you know New York, that's the Upper West Side of New York. Now, mind you, this new job is South Brooklyn. So by train, it takes about an hour and a half, almost two hours, every night. And we're talking late nights, because the Russians party till like two in the morning.

So I didn't get home at times to like five in the morning at times. Now I was only working on the weekends, thankfully. And during the course of the week, I'd be hustling and trying to find, uh, another way to make ends meet. But hey, that's the New York hustle. You just kind of do what you got to do until you can really open up the playbook of your life and really actively pursue what you're here for.

So while I'm working in the Russian restaurants, I'm also, during the course of the week, actively working on my resume and auditioning to try to get an agent. And one of the main things that I knew I wanted to come here and do was to be a first call kind of first tier vocalist, uh, for hire. Meaning sing background vocals for various artists, also be able to sing on jingles and commercials, which I felt was really, really something I could really be a chameleon with and really stretch myself creatively and kind of not be bored.

My thing was always to not do anything so long that I get tired of it. And singing has always been a passion of mine. I went to school for it. And so it made sense for me to actively pursue this. And I felt that it was the easiest type of career as well as the most rewarding. Because I came here with the notion that you record for like a half hour and you make a lot of money with residuals.

Like that was the game plan. Okay, I'm moving to New York. I'm gonna become a first tier vocalist. I'm gonna sing on all these commercials. I'm gonna live. a great life in New York. I'm not going to do the same way that everybody else. I heard about everybody else's struggles. No, I'm going to the front of the line.

I'm going to do this. Not quite. So three months on my cousin's couch, I finally get a call back. I get a call back from VAM Nation and Val Morris is the actual president of the company. Now, to say this was one of those New York movie moments. I mean, I felt all the vibes and the offices was near Times Square. 

So I got that New York moment where I'm right in the center of Times Square and I feel like I'm looking up in the air and you're seeing the buildings rotate around you and it looks like I'm walking in a circle. You know what I'm talking about. I don't know what it's called. Tell me in the comments what it is.

Anyway, so I had this whole moment where I'm like, Oh my God, I'm going in for my first meeting. And, you know, I always heard the whole ad is like, don't call us. We'll call you. So I'm thinking, okay, low expectations, but really, really feeling like after this much time that someone's had to look over my work that it would be worth the visit.

So I ended up having my meeting and it was the whole. Wait here, she'll see you in the moment type thing. I'm like, Oh my gosh, this is lining up just like the movies. And I finally get to talk with the owner and she was like, we really love your voice. Love this. Then the third, you know, um, we think you'd be a great fit.

I'm like, Oh my God, this is not happening. This is crazy. And yeah, there it is. I get my first. Representation. Now, I'll tell you this now, but I'll, I'm sure I will expound on this in a later episode, but I've been with them now for 16 years. I'm working in this Russian restaurant. I'm singing, making like, you know, two, 300 a night, which was fine.

Because I'm, Hey, I'm in New York and in two days, sometimes three days, you know, making two, 300. And then the Russians, they really tip. So it can go upwards of like four or 500 per night. So I'm like, this is great, man. What a sweet gig. And you know, like I kind of bypassed the whole traditional New York struggle and found a really cool niche in the Russian community.

And so people started to find out about me and I'm starting to get a little bit popular. And one time there was a special event that me and my girlfriend and the other dancers were invited to be a part of this international event where different restaurants in the Russian community were represented and they selected our restaurant and I got to perform a couple of songs There's media and stuff.

This is way, this is before social media. For the most part, uh, I don't believe even Facebook was around. Maybe it was, but there wasn't any posting or, Hey, come check out my gigs. There wasn't any of that yet. So it was really cool to be able to have the photographer say, Hey, go to my website and check out the photos that I took of you.

Well, I went to this random Russian website that was all Russian. I had no idea what I was reading, but because I was looking for photos, it really didn't matter. So as I'm scrolling through, I see our photos and everything, but then the only thing I see in English was a post about an apartment and I'm like, God, is that you? 

So I'm like, Oh my God. And it was like 800. And it's close to where I was working because keep in mind at the current time, I was living two hours away up in Upper West Manhattan. So any way to be closer and cheap just worked out. Now, the catch was this place was just above a nightclub. Now, not a traditional nightclub, more so like a lounge, but it was still a Russian lounge.

And I spoke with the owner. He said, Hey, sure. Move in. Now, this is where we get to the little bit more traditional New York sort of grind. There are roaches here and there.  The mice. Yes, the mice were very, very, uh,  prominent in this particular apartment because once again I was above a lounge, which also had a restaurant.

So hey, I got to know the, the owner of both the lounge and my landlord, which was the same person. We became friends over time,  but that was my first place where I was able to essentially make my own apartment. So I'm still working at the Russian restaurant.  There'll be sometimes where the restaurant will be slow.

So they kind of cut the staff and some of us were able to stay and work and some weren't. So now sometimes I didn't work. So I'd make 200, maybe 400 in a weekend. And although it was cash money and I didn't have to worry about taxes or anything like that. It wasn't enough to like live for food and transportation, all the other things that help you live in New York.

It still made things very, very meager, to say the least. So there will be times where I'm a little bit late for rent because I'm having to accumulate $800, essentially, probably a thousand dollars a month to pay rent on top of my living expenses. It got a little tight there for a minute, and there was a time where I had. 

And my bank account, about 14. So during this time where the restaurant was kind of slow, I had been auditioning and submitting for jobs through my management for the vocal work that I had now began to do. So one of my first sessions I got was with this, you know, music house. A lot of the music houses are the ones that do all of the commercials.

So you have the cool hip millennials, you know, kind of the producers with their beanies and beards, and they're doing all this cool music and they do music beds and then you come in and sing on top of the music. And then they submit that to different companies for commercials. So I got into that, uh, that niche.

My demo rate back then was probably about 150 or something like that. At this time, I really wasn't familiar with how the union was able to do the whole residual thing that I wanted to do as far as being a singer. I'm like, I want to work minimal, but I want to make maximum, you know? So I'm like, okay, I don't know when these jobs are going to pop off, but it feels like it's been forever.

I went in for a session. So my manager said, go in for this session for miracle grow plant food. I'll never forget it. And so I do the session. I meet the producers. They're all cool. Hey, nice to meet you. We've never worked with you before. Cool. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Nice to meet you too. Great. Thanks for the session.

Goodbye. Now there were moments where I had my New York moments of feeling inadequate, insecure. Is this going to work out? Did I make the right decision? All those things crept in my mind. And I believe I had a moment where I just kind of let that all build and kind of really permeate my soul just so that I can really feel it.

And I call my mom,  my mom is the center of my universe. She's amazing, but she cares about her son. So one of the things she told me when I called her. Essentially just kind of, you know, this New York struggle with the grind is real. And this, you know, the hustle is real and all those sort of phrases. And she was like, as a good mom would  good black mom would boy, come on back home.

Come on, get a good safe government job so that you can have consistent money and all this sort of stuff. And I'm just like, nope, I'm not made for that. I'm not made for that.  You know, that's fine. I mean, she said it in love. She wasn't saying that I was irresponsible and all this sort of stuff. She just really was like, She cared, you know, how I felt, but her answer and her elixir was to come and get a safe job. 

I'm sure a lot of you guys can relate to that. So, uh, I said, no, no, I'll be all right, but I need a ticket to get back home. Cause I want to come see the family and kind of get some homegrown love. Especially in the midst of me kind of moving to New York by myself and just really  embracing that new challenge in my life.

And so I went home.  Uh, I'll never forget it. And you know, mom cooked her, you know, favorite foods that I loved growing up and everything. And it was beautiful. You know, there was a moment where I felt like, you know, breaking down. But I didn't. I wanted to show her I was strong just so she wouldn't worry too much.

But I gotta admit, you know, I'm going home empty handed. Cause my family is not affluent at all. So it's not, it wasn't a matter of like, Oh, they're going to give me some money to hold me over.  That's not my situation. So I came back home  knowing that I was coming back to the grind and the struggle and, and all that sort of stuff and not really having very high hopes.

And the way that our mailing system was with the building, because the building and my apartment was attached. So there was one door that all the mail slid into. But when the mail slid in, it just fell on the floor, right? So I go. You know, I get home and I'm literally walking through mail through my feet shuffling and I, by chance looking through  rummaging through to see if anything was for me, you know, a card of well wishes or something about my move to New York or not sure what to look for.

But I look through and I see this thing. I see this piece of mail, it has my name on it. And I'm like, ah, getting bills and stuff already. And I'm kind of not really having high expectations. So I have to walk up my stairs to get to my apartment and I go,  and I just kind of open it up. And it was like paid to the order of, and I'm like, now keep in mind, no, I didn't know that the session that I did had gone final, which mean be the final selected session to make the actual commercial and to be. 

So I look at this and I see the first installment, the first payment  over  6, 000.  I cried  like a baby. I looked at that tears. I want to make sure the tears didn't wash off all the money, uh, off the ink, off the check. But I was so excited because it was my first  New York moment of success. And... I will never forget that.

And I called my mom. I said, mom, I came home and I got this mail and I got my first money for a commercial I did. And then I looked at TV and I was looking all over the place. And at this time, I really wasn't like Googling or really thinking about social media or anything or posting or anything like that.

That wasn't in my lexicon back in that timeframe. And I didn't have any friends because I was new to New York, but, uh, man. I'll never forget. And I'll never forget the first thing I bought. Some people ask, Chaz, what was the first thing you bought?  I bought studio equipment  because one of the things that I felt like being in a competitive city full of amazingly talented singers and performers, I'm not going to be the best of any of them, but my best ability was my availability.

And I knew that buying a studio would be the ticket to the freedom that I wanted. As far as being accessible for those opportunities, especially after getting my first taste. So I said, hello, high water. This was back in 2007. And I'm like, yo, hello, high water. I want you to be able to call me because you can depend on me to do a great job and also to be available.

If you have any stories that you'd like to share of some success stories of a move or transition or pivot, um, whether it be recently or years ago that helped shape the trajectory of where you are in your life, let me know. And I would love to respond back and continue the conversation on this particular podcast.

So when I look back on all this, you know, I really credit my time in Nashville. That really, really was the training ground for. Me being prepared to not have a plan B and that my efforts, my energy, my tenacity, my talent, and my time was better served in New York. And it's paid off so much so far. And it's just that belief that I have that has always been instilled in me from my mom.

That I was meant for something bigger. And so this is the first step in the process of this podcast. I hope that you've enjoyed this for this first time to present to you a portion of my life. It's been my sincere pleasure to share with you a little bit about myself, just to open this podcast up a little bit.

So you have a little bit of a backstory as to who I am and where I'm going. So until the next time, follow me on all the social media platforms and I'll see you next time. Oh, and one more thing. If you'd like this podcast, please feel free to share, like, and comment as well as subscribe to this channel.

I'm new to this medium and I've kind of allowed some time to go by before I jumped in, but I'm here now. I'm building. So if you'd love to follow this journey, I would greatly appreciate it if you smash that subscribe and like button and let me know what you thought about it and let's continue the conversation.