The Playground Meets: Chris Patrick
Written by: Brianna Nestor
“Don't let a fear of failure hold you back from being successful. A lot of the biggest people you see who are successful, are built off of the failures. Sometimes the breakthroughs you see, that first one you see, usually comes from 10 L’s prior to that. 100 L’s. 1000 L’s. You might not be a winner the tenth time around, but I promise you if you stick through, you're eventually gonna get that win. And depending on how many L’s you take, that first W could be the W that changes your life.”
“What’s meant for you will be for you”.
- Chris Patrick (@xchrispatrick)
Chris Patrick is a living testament to the power of manifestation and grind. So far, his music career has been unconventional, unexpected, and unprecedented.
Originally a collegiate track star at Rider University, Chris went from jumping the high jump and hurdles to suddenly catapulting into his artistry.
In 2016, the university held a talent competition called ‘The R Factor,’ which Chris went on to win. From there, he started making noise on social media, enough to catch Travis Scott’s attention. With only four live performances under his belt, Chris was offered the amazing opportunity to open for Travis on his Birds Eye View tour that followed his album, Birds In the Trap Sing McKnight. In just a month in a half, Chris went from 0 live performances to suddenly performing in front of a crowd of over 2,000 people. From this point on, his potential was validated and it’s been all gas no breaks.
The 24-year-old reigns from East Orange, New Jersey, and he aims to put Jersey rap back into the spotlight. Rather than compete with other NJ artists, he wants artists to start viewing the game as Jersey vs. the World. With this mindset, he believes he’s been able to open more doors, and that the same can happen for others.
Many of us idolize artists who have come before us but never get the opportunity to know them on a personal level. Chris is the lucky exception to this rule. For him, meeting one of his idols was a monumental moment in his journey.
Chris Patrick is a longtime J Cole fan, and credits Dreamville artists, especially JID as his inspiration. When he decided he was going to meet JID, he stopped at nothing to get in his presence. Their first encounter was at Made in America, where Chris approached him and said: “I promise you someday, I'm gonna literally be in the same place you are in,” he told him. Chris met JID again at a show and gave him a flash drive of unreleased music. Chris asked him what he thought the most important piece of advice was for a young new artist. “You have to work your ass off,” he said - a mantra that Chris was definitely familiar with.
Eventually, their third encounter was the turning point. JID invited Chris backstage after a Philly show during Logic’s The Confession Of A Dangerous Mind Tour. This third time was vital for Chris and he went into the encounter with an open mind. “I’m not asking you if you remember me, I'm not asking you to listen to my mixtape, I'm not asking you for tips. I'm asking you to literally just speak your piece and tell your story,” he said of the interaction. “I want to listen, because now I know what I'm looking for. Before, I didn't really know anything about music, or even this artistry as a whole. But now I was like, I want to sit down and listen. I want to figure out what it is that you did to get you into these positions, how you are keeping the buzz up the way you're keeping it, and how you're moving with the momentum.”
After this encounter JID followed Chris on Twitter and they’ve stayed in contact, with JID acting as a lasting mentor.
Twitter was the gateway to the next chapter. When Atlanta artist, Deante’ Hitchcock tweeted “Who should I work with?” and after getting Deante’s attention from being tagged, Deante’ started creating a verse a day each for 62 days. This experience challenged Chris to hustle to expand his lyricism and expression. On just day two, they created a song together called “Typical Shit,” - which eventually became the first song of their joint project, featured on NPR’s Heat Check. Amazingly, what started as a simple Twitter post by Deante' Hitchcock turned into the standout track on his latest project, From The Heart, Vol.2 with over 850,000 streams to date - becoming another turning point in the blossoming career of Christ Patrick.
“‘Typical Shit’ embodies the typical shit that we go through every day as Black people,” he said. “It ain't easy waking up every day, and just expecting to walk outside thinking shit about to be groovy. Dealing with all the shit that we've been dealing with in this past year alone. Hip, hip hooray for change, I'm all for it, but we also can't put all the shit that has happened to us behind us.”
The “Typical Shit” video can be seen here. Their 62 day streak paid off and now provides listeners with the highest level of everything Chris had put into the music. Music goes beyond planning and experience and comes down to collaboration, something that Chris values deeply.
Another opportunity presented itself when United Masters approached Chris about a sync placement for EA Sports’ NBA 2K21. His song “Swish” was chosen for the soundtrack, which also includes tracks from big names like Lil Baby, NBA Youngboy, Roddy Rich, and Jack Harlow. As if that didn’t provide enough validation, the song also received recognition from celebrities on social media and TikTok, including a highlight reel moment from Quavo and Ben Simmons.
Chris is hungrier than ever. Despite difficulties he faced during the pandemic, there was never a moment this past year where he wasn’t focused on music. Even when unsure of what the future held, he went with his gut and proceeded to perfect his craft in between shifts as an essential service worker.
Two months into 2021, Chris Patrick and his team are already well on their way to accomplishing the goals they set for the entire year. Not only did From The Heart Vol. 2 already surpass 1M streams since it dropped in December - Chris’s Spotify is approaching a hugely impressive 200K monthly listeners. Between the big numbers, the big placements, and big collabs - it’s clear this is only the beginning for Chris Patrick, and we can’t wait to see the path he’ll take going forward.
To close out, Chris left us with his thoughts on chasing your dreams:
“If you wait on your dreams, your dream ain't gonna wait on you. It will keep moving and it will find the next best thing every single time. We all have the ability to achieve our dreams, but an opportunity that I miss is an easy opportunity for you to seize on and I can't be mad that I missed that opportunity if I didn't proactively act upon it. If I fail, I fail, but what I can't say is I didn't try, right?”
- Chris Patrick (@xchrispatrick)
PLAYGROUND Q&A WITH CHRIS PATRICK
Q: Tag or Hide and Seek?
Chris: Tag, once I got my groove I was moving.
Q: Capture the Flag or Parachute?
Chris: Capture the flag 100%. I ain’t hesitate on that.
Q: Hopscotch or Double Dutch?
Chris: Hopscotch, I was ass at jumping rope.
Q: Basketball or Football?
Chris: Basketball, easily.
Q: Red Light, Green Light or Leap Frog?
Chris: Red Light, Green Light, Yeah that was my shit.
Q: Telephone or 7 Up?
Chris: Damn, that's a hard one. I'm gonna go with Telephone just because I used to be a fucking fool when I used to pass the messages. I used to go out of my way to purposely fuck them shits up. They’d be like ‘Johnny just stole the apple’ and I’d be like ‘Johnny stole the apple and ate it and put it back in the teachers bag.’ I was killing that shit.
Q: Tug of War or Dodgeball?
Chris: Dodgeball.
Q: Red Rover or Duck, Duck Goose?
Chris: Duck, duck goose. Once again, anything that involved running or moving around, that was my shit. I was with it.
Q: Finally, Mother May I or Simon Says?
Chris: Simon Says. I worked at a summer camp for my first two years of college and I used to play Simon Says with the kids all the time. I hated Simon Says, but I learned to love that shit when I had to play. I'll tell you that right now, I learned to love it. The kids were always smiling and happy every time we played, so it changed my mind.
Be sure to check out Chris Patrick’s latest release, From The Heart Vol. 2 - out now and available everywhere - featuring fan favorite tracks “3am” and “Typical Shit” feat. Deante Hitchock; as well as his latest release “Good Days” below.
Stayed tuned for more big moves from Chris Patrick in 2021.