Through his music and apparel line, BarsUp Dinero has found the perfect creative outlets to channel his emotions.
David Wynn, 26, lived in a household where music constantly bellowed through the walls. The voices of artists like Boys 2 Men, 112, Dru Hill, Tyrese, and Ginuwine inspired him to start making music.
"I've always been into music young, listening to mainstream songs pretending it was my song."
Inspired by the R&B and soul he listened to as a child, David tried making music as a singer but quickly learned that his talent lies elsewhere. However, learning Meek Mill's lyrics helped him discover a different avenue to showcase his musical talent.
"Shortly before I started making music, I listened to Meek Mill heavy. I got locked up as a juvenile and still listened to Meek Mill, and some songs and lines played back in my head a lot. It resonated with me, and I started to come up with my own words."
Still, he only saw himself as a rapper once friends and family encouraged and complimented him. Others started seeing his creative pursuit as motivation to pursue their own passions.
Fellow artist Jay Myers let him use his recording equipment to record his first song, and he was one step closer to creating a mainstream song that could play the radio like he used to daydream about.
Now that he had all the right tools on his belt, David needed a stage name.
"My name was YungOG Dinero, but after Fabulous came out with a mixtape called youngOG, I changed it to BarsUp Dinero, named after the music group BarsUpENT, that me and Jay Myers are main members of."
Dinero wasted no time creating a name for himself in the local music scene.
"After my first show, I felt like it gave me a spark, sort of an unexplainable feeling that I loved."
While on vacation in Miami, Dinero started recording his first album using beats created by producer NewYungCity. Dinero's lyrics naturally flowed, focusing on soulful feelings and processing personal emotions, making song creation and selection simple.
"Thinking about things and people that I lost, I feel like no matter how successful or big I get, it's things I would always feel broken over, which makes me Broken Beyond Repair. I wrote down "Dark Past Bright Future" as the title first, but then I thought of broken beyond repair and liked that name better."
Before the album's official release, Dinero designed a shirt as merch for BarsUpENT. The shirt helped build anticipation for the album with the BarsUpENT logo on the front and the album title on the back. When Broken Beyond Repair was officially released, demand for the shirt grew, inspiring him to expand from merch to a clothing line.
"I always wanted to start a clothing line but never had a name and logo I believed in. I made BBR its own logo aside from BarsUpENT and started BBR.NYC."
While working with a graphic designer to help make the BBR vision come to life, Dinero came up with the slogan "Don't Hide Your Scars, Wear Them." It's derived from the common phrase "wear my heart on my sleeve."
"I have always been the type to 'wear my heart on my sleeves.' A lot of men think that's a bad thing. Me personally, I feel like when you wear scars, meaning embrace it, don't mind showing it, accepting your flaws or issues, it becomes easier to deal with and easier to heal."
Despite finding creative outlets for his emotional healing, it has been challenging. In making music and becoming the creative director for his own clothing line, the biggest obstacle was missing out on opportunities due to discouraging and insecure thoughts.
Still, BarsUp Dinero constantly pushes through those obstacles and aims to "lay a blueprint" that will help motivate and encourage himself and others to continue to strive for success.
"[I want to be] able to take care of my family, put people in positions, motivate people, heal people, and help people."
BarsUp Dinero is only getting started. He's already working on making more designs to expand his apparel line and on his next musical project, "Emotional Gangsta.”
Fo" BarsUp Dinero, al" his hard work constantly reminds him to look inward and handle emotions with pride.
“Don’t hide your scars, wear them. Embrace your flaws, secure your insecurities, and beware of your self-inflicted wounds.”
Keep up with BarsUp Dinero here.
Listen to BarsUp Dinero's music on Spotify, SoundCloud, and AppleMusic.
Shop Broken Beyond Repair here.