 Yo, my name is Tom DeMilleman, and I am an artist. I did it, I asked you for it. Tom DeMilleman was a switch from me. I would turn it on, and then I couldn't be confident in myself. I wanted people to not know what I look like. Not even to know what the music might be. So that's why I picked Tom, because Tom is a white name, I guess. I destroy all stereotypes. I was an anime kid. Growing up for sure, I did feel like an outcast. I'm from Monroe, Georgia, in the sticks in the country. For the first half of my life, I was controlled. You know, parents kind of want the best for you, and they feel like if you're doing exactly what they tell you to do, then that's the best course of action. My entire identity in high school is this is Sean Brown. He does track and basketball. They didn't really see it worth in me outside of that s***. I was raised by anime. I was raised by Naruto. I was in drama, a lot of high school, and then I did theater my freshman year of college too. Just being a black kid is interested in other s***. People kind of ostracize you. Hey, you should do this. I'm like, get off me. You try to put somebody in a box, and they're claustrophobic. Of course they're gonna spaz. I was trapped. 10th or 11th grade year, after basketball practice, I popped up at my friend's house. They had like this cool ass studio set up. It was really FL and just a mic, but to me it was like the coolest s*** in the world. Recorded a song and just fell in love with the process. I felt deep. When I started feeling like I had a purpose is when I did start writing. I was the kid watching and studying, learning the basics, learning rhyme schemes. How do you get to like the pen level of a Tyler the Creator or the pen level of a Drake? It's repetition. I made up a system to write a song at least once a day. I eventually have to get better. When I was a freshman in college, I came up with TDC, The Delivery Crew. You know, you grow up around the age like the OVOs and TDE's, these collectives. I wanted something like that. Now I was the base for my supporters. Anybody that is a part of TDC definitely wears it as a badge of honor. When I first started, I was strictly like boom bap, rap around like 2016, 2017. One of my friends had put me on the X. He was black and he was cool, but he was also like a weird kid like me. He'd get into the singing bag and then he'd get into, you know, the rock bag. Something that like, I guess resonated with my soul. And I was like, I'm like, so you can be yourself. Don't be trapped inside a box. Even be trapped inside your skin tone. Be free. I think that's what like really inspired me to open myself up to other genres. That's when I started the experimental stuff. A lot of people in my city didn't like really f*** with it, but I'm kind of thankful for that. It made me work so hard at the fattest chip on my shoulder. He got booked for a show by Daily Cheepers down off Metropolitan. Went all out, the crowd enjoyed it. Met Sam from there. I kind of started staying at his crib a lot, not a lot. Sam was trying to introduce me to Dan and Jamie and everybody I air with. Jamie had been trying to get Tom into sessions rages. I begged him, begged him, begged to work with him. Because of where I came from, I still was really wary of people. Like I didn't trust anybody. And I was like, I will stake my whole reputation with you on this, you need to get in with Dan. Like you have to. Sam called me and said, hey, Tom's ready. We need to go to a session. First time I came to Airways, I pulled up and it's a house and I'm like, okay. Jamie comes out with his hands out, he's like super f***ing nice. And then I get in the room and Dan is interested and he cares about working with me. Popped out, short-lived love song. Boom, we just like knocked it out so fast. And then we immediately make last night. His first real session in a studio setting, that was just so special to like be a part of. And then it got to a point where just like a lot of labels started hitting him up and stuff. And he was like, yo, like, can you manage me? I was like, hell yeah, like, let's go. Sam is the guy that's gonna check me when I need to be checked. And you know, it's my best friend. The goal of Airways is to just provide a space where creatives can come and get their artistry out and not have to feel pressured to be cool or somebody they're not. Everybody at Airways was a weird kid on some level. I was the kid wearing girls' jeans and pink t-shirts and f***ing listening to Slipknot. I was heavy into marching band, that was my s***. First off, we're all just close friends. I don't do anything for these people and I feel like it's reciprocated. We could have had a boss and I'd have somebody tell us what to do every single day but there's no fun in that. That's why we chose music. People come from all different backgrounds and create some insanely creative stuff with zero labels to it. It's the rap and the trap and the rock and the alternative all coming together under one roof. I feel like we just have our own pocket. We got Taj, we got Chase, we got me. Airways has definitely embraced who the f*** I was and helped me come into my skin more and figure out what direction I want to go. Those true friends kind of came in, came into my life. The mission is for Tom the Mailman to be a global superstar, for Taj Keaton to be a global superstar and at this stage for the memory of Six Dogs to be everlasting and important. He was just an insanely talented, beautiful person that really kept so many of us driving and so many of us alive. We lost Chase together. And that, you know, if you're not close before that, like you're close after that. And now it's like, you know, I'll go to bat for those guys. Tom the Mailman, when I was younger and coming up, it used to be a shield. Naturally, I'm a shy kid, I'm no tough ass guy. I'm a sweet person. But like that person gets abused and people take advantage of that and I would turn it on and then I couldn't be confident in myself and I couldn't talk to people in my chin up. Now Sean and Tom have kind of fused into one person and I do walk with that confidence. Finding other people who are different, you start to realize like, I don't care about what other people think because I love these people and I love what I'm doing and I want us to succeed. I think the reason a lot of the producers and artists at Air Waves are unique sonically has to do primarily with growing up in solar. That's why I chose making music over any other type of career. It was a possibility of true freedom. When you grow up and like, you say you do music, people are like, what, like, you can't do that. Your family are like, oh, this is never gonna work. I did a lot of things for other people going up. I'm trying to do this for me now. You know what I'm saying? I wanna have a happy life. I don't wanna be bitter when I get older. This is like it. I can't work at another job and like, I can't. I'm not cut out for it. I need to be doing something different. Sean's goal is to be the biggest artist in the world. He's chasing Drake. It's not like a disrespect thing. It's just like, that's the benchmark that we're aiming for. You go too crazy, man. Can't settle for a second. I must be the only one. No press is expected. I can't sell my soul to none. I got the pen. I got the versatility. I got the energy. Being bold is just being authentic, being yourself. That's how you become like a long lasting character in the game. You know, I've witnessed a lot of legends become legends. That's something that I want for myself. There is no what if. I've already manifested it. I won't fail. I cannot fail. It's not a thing. One of his real primary goals is to be, as he says, like glue, to bring people together, to show people that I can look like this and be like this and do these things and you will find something in my music that draws you together with other people. My next performance is, Life is Beautiful. I've never even seen what a festival looks like. You know, I'm from the country, so I ain't really seen no big stages or like, you know, big crowds like that. He's got the most work ethic and drive of anyone I've ever met. Believes in himself unfailingly, has a really strong moral compass and really wants the best for people. I'm happy that I trust in myself. I'm happy I have friends that trust in me. And, you know, to be here is like a celebration, almost. Like, you know, we all believed in the same thing and it came to fruition.