Finding Your Identity with Cools Miliyan

You ever meet someone and right away, you know they're crazy outgoing and hyper? There are always those people throughout your life that wear their personalities on their sleeves and even sometimes go as far as to push it on other people around them. You may even wonder why you can't be that outgoing or that sure of yourself that you can present it so forwardly. But this isn't always the case with everyone.

Even in the businesses of acting and being a musician, people have to become some sort of "label". They have to create a pricetag for themselves giving a description of them as a product and what they're worth to you. But for one student musician, being "cool" is that description.

“When you’re doing music, like Marques tells me, ‘you gotta make people know who you are before they even know you’. I’m not used to that.”

While sitting and talking with Denard Ashby, AKA Cools Miliyan, I never would have guessed he had attended three different High Schools. Or that he has a micky mouse piano given to him by his Dad when he was about eight years-old.

“I’m trying to open up. It’s really hard. I’m so used to being new everywhere. That’s why I did sports and music. It was my way of connecting with people. I mean, I went to 3 High Schools. I was always the ‘new guy’. Every time I went to a new school, I was always known as the rapper or that football guy.”

For Denard, he always loved music. But he was moving around so much that music wasn't just a love, it was also a way to gain friends and connect with people in High School. And not only is he a talented musician, but he was a talenta football player. While his friends thought he would go far with football, his family was oblivious to his love for making music.

“Honestly, I’ve always seen myself doing music. No one else really knew. No one really knew I was gonna do music. No one in my family did, and people outside of that thought I was gonna be a football player.”

But when I asked him what made him pass up football, he gave an insightful answer.

“They wanted me to do college football. But I couldn’t because my heart wasn’t all in it. Then when I came to college, my major was business administration. But I wanted to follow my heart and I changed it to music. I told my parents. Let my Dad listen to one of my songs. And my brother didn’t know how into it I was, and he actually cried when he first listened to my stuff."

Most adults consider college to be the time of everyone's life that helps propel them into the world with a solid identity and an idea of what's important to him or her. It's not always the easiest when starting off in this transitional phase. Most go on and do things they don't feel completely sold on, while others risk everything and go with their hearts.

“I can’t see myself doing anything else besides music. My Dad told me if I’m gonna do something, I gotta put my heart into it. ‘You gotta put everything you have into your music’. And honestly, I feel like the greatest thing that happened to people in general is music. There are so many things that go on in the world. So many people are different. I can’t think of one soul that doesn’t like music.”

“We [Marques Boykin and Anthony Bryce] all met here, and I trust them with everything I got. We’re working together because we got the same dreams. Nobody can tell you what it is you want or what it is you can’t do.”

So although many people assume "Cools" is a s hy guy that's new to things, he's got more insight than people give him credit for. And to those who "know who they are" and "know what they want 100 percent", well I'd have to argue that Denard has more "identity" than many others I have come into contact with.

For a look into this artist's world, check out his music under the Artist tab at the top of the blog.

“I don’t want you to just listen to my music. Or listen to one song. I want you to experience it and I want you to see what I’m seeing. Feel what I’m feeling.

If you see me around campus, just holla at me and I’ll speak to you. I’m always willing to talk whenever. I’m a good person. You never know what someone goes through. I appreciate a lot, and I appreciate people. Don’t think I’m a mean guy when you see me. I’m just cool”.