Start Of A Long Journey: How Faith Carried DMV Artist 3L From His Darkest Season to His Debut Album

Some artists name an album to sound good. When 3L called his debut Start Of A Long Journey, he meant it literally. The DMV based musician is out now on all platforms with his first full project, and the road to it runs straight through the hardest season of his life.

Life after college hit him hard. In the early part of 2023, by his own account, 3L found himself in a dark place, sliding down a path that took a toll financially, spiritually, mentally, and physically, to the point that he struggled with self-harm and felt like he had lost everything. It is not an easy thing for a young Black man to say out loud, and he says it anyway, because it is where the story turns.

The turning point, he says, was his roommate. I truly believe God used him as a vessel in my life to reassure me that everything was going to be okay, 3L shared. And that is really what this journey has been about, understanding that even when you can't see how things are going to work out, you still have to have faith that somehow, some way, it's going to be okay.

That faith is the engine behind everything he makes. Asked about the mission driving his music, his answer was as direct as it gets. God's will, he said, to please God using my voice, just that simple. He is not chasing a sound or a trend so much as trying to be honest, and the discipline that takes is exactly what he is proudest of. He says he is proud of himself for not letting self doubt, overthinking, or outside noise dictate what he wants to do.

He is also clear that music is a dream he is building on top of a life, not in place of one. He speaks with gratitude about the job that funds the dream, the bills that still get paid, and the growth that comes with getting older, framing the risk of pursuing his art as no real risk at all when it is rooted in purpose. It is a grounded, grown perspective from an artist just getting started.

And he is moving. Start Of A Long Journey is streaming everywhere now, and 3L says he has two to three more EPs planned before the year is out. He was also invited to compete in a Timbaland competition, and he is asking his city to show up for him there, with details to come on his page. For an artist who was not sure he would make it to 2024, a year this full is its own kind of testimony.

You can find 3L and his music through his Linktree at linktr.ee/3LOfficial, and he keeps the door open, telling supporters to send a DM anytime and he will respond quickly, no matter the hour. He splits his time across the DMV, with stretches in Atlanta and Alabama through the summer. Wherever he is, the message in the music is the same one that got him here. Hold on. It is going to be okay.