Roland & RYSE Present CHANGE THE GAME Featuring Dave Yaden

GRAMMY® Award-Winning Yaden Searching for Rap Talent

GRAMMY® Award-Winning Dave Yaden featured in CHANGE THE GAME Rapper Talent Search.

The Search

Roland and RYSE present CHANGE THE GAME featuring Dave Yaden: GRAMMY® Award-winning songwriter, producer and piano player, Dave Yaden, is searching for a talented rapper with bars to create fire on a compilation track. Artists can submit their tracks and display their abilities on the RYSE APP and learn more about the contest here. Peers and fans will review them and vote for the MC who will CHANGE THE GAME. Check out Dave Yaden’s discovery as part of the ROLAND and RYSE Discovery Series.

Video: Change the Game with Dave Yaden

The Scorecard

The best and hottest will be featured on the RYSE leaderboard, where Dave Yaden will personally review them, give feedback, and crown the winner. He or she will receive the opportunity to create an original track with Dave Yaden, win prizes, and to have their work heard by future fans all around the world.

Dave Yaden

Dave Yaden has worked with artists like One Republic, Lady Antebellum, Josh Kelley, and Tyler Hilton, and he’s performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with Dave Letterman, Good Morning America, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, to name a few you may have heard of. Yaden does a variety of music genres and chooses not to categorize his music in order to push his creativity new heights. He also believes that diversity in musical style draws people to an ever-changing and versatile sensibility. Dave’s band, The Weight, released their debut record, Home, in March of 2006, and he released his first solo album, Bear Me Up, in 2008. His most recent work is his EP called Move, which was released in 2016.

RYSE Interviews Dave Yaden

RYSE:  What influenced you to become an artist?

DY: My favorite artists have had a profoundly positive influence on my entire existence, from when I was a kid all the way until today. I’ve always had the desire to achieve that same positive influence in the lives of others. 

RYSE: Who are your musical influences?

DY: I find that is always a bit of a difficult question. As artists, we have many people that we look up to and that we listen to a lot. While they all infer on our art in some way, I feel like we don’t have as much of a choice in which of those artists actually come across in our art. I also find that these influences change as the art that we take in changes. Lately I find myself listening to David Bowie, Beyoncé, Stevie Wonder, Daft Punk, Supertramp and Kendrick Lamar.

RYSE: When are you most inspired?

DY: I find that inspiration comes at all sorts of times and generally I don’t have a choice! However, listening to and/or viewing art that I find deeply moving always inspires me to create.

RYSE: What are you looking for when it comes to fresh talent?

DY: Raw expression. A direct link between talent and the heart. Honesty. Willingness to work hard!

RYSE: What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?

DY: I was both a gymnast and a ballet dancer in my younger days!

RYSE: If you were an emoji, what would you be?

DY: A Cowboy Jedi.

RYSE: Why RYSE?

DY: Nathan Chandra has a deep desire to change the world for good with great art. How could anyone not want to be a part of that?