Meet Joe Mason III and Joshua Cole of Gifted Handz Band

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Mason III and Joshua Cole.

Hi Joe and Joshua, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Our musical journey is rooted within the church, which has been a training ground for us to hone our gifts and talents. The church became a place where we would spend the majority of our youth learning and growing with our instruments. As we developed over time, we became leaders and instrumental pieces of the music ministries at our respective churches in the midst of growing and nurturing the concept of “Gifted Handz”.

While desperately eager to showcase our skills to the world, we started out playing at local talent shows. This led to us building up the confidence to promote ourselves and start doing gigs as the house band at community gospel concerts. Afterwards, directly following the murder of George Floyd we were on the frontlines using music to protest and heal our community. And finally, this past summer we were blessed with the opportunity to perform at the historical First Avenue 7th street entry, in addition to touring with afrobeat artist, Carolyne Naomi.

These experiences have allowed us to mold ourselves into the artists that we are today. When thinking retrospectively, we can only look at our story with pride and gratitude. Given the connections and influence we’ve built, we’re fortunate to have progressed as quickly as we did.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not.

Growing up as young black men in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, there are a lot of challenges that we face daily. We often hear about our peers and former classmates in our communities and neighborhoods losing their lives to gun violence and/or being thrown into jail as soon as they reach the age of eighteen. Given the proximity of these heartbreaking tragedies, we’ve dedicated our brand “Gifted Handz” to healing our communities and being an inspiration to our peers.

We make a conscious effort to discipline ourselves and build a mental fortitude that aligns with the standards of which our faith holds us to, which can be a struggle given the fact that we are still young, and are still in the process of finding ourselves;

However, our church background keeps us grounded and aids us in practicing resilience. We learn in church that God doesn’t give anyone more than they can bear, so we approach every “would-be” problem like it’s already been solved. There’s nothing we can’t handle.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Gifted Handz Band is a gospel-fusion music group that is devoted to engaging with music lovers through their performances, and creating art that is informative, influential, and inspiring. Joe and Josh are both first-generation African American teenagers, and have dedicated their time to utilizing their gifts and platform to uplift their peers, and striving to create social change. Its mission is to inspire young people to embrace their creative gifts and/or talents, and use their music to create a conversation that can break cultural, political, and racial barriers.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
What we love and admire about our city is that there is a growing community of black businesses, entrepreneurs, and musicians throughout our city. We have young gifted individuals located here with a vast amount of skill. Some are barbers, lash techs, photographers, published writers, and even clothing designers with a following of over twenty-thousand on their social media platforms. We make it a priority to inspire, be inspired, and most importantly, collaborate and uplift these individuals whenever we get the opportunity.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/giftedhandzofficial/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmVwa916nPWivW_n2kXrBeQ/about

Image Credits
Cyrus Jarjay
Prince Chin