The X Factor’s Marcus Canty Talks Music, Success & Becoming a Brand [Video]

Black Enterprise: Going into acting, what would be your dream role?

Marcus: Well, my favorite actor is Johnny Depp. I’ve never told anybody this, but I’ve always wanted to play alongside Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean. They gotta make one for me!

Black Enterprise: Coming in this industry at such a young age, what’s the hardest lesson you’ve learned?

Marcus: The hardest lesson for me was not to look at everybody else. It’s so easy for a person to see someone else’s success, and try to latch onto what they’re doing and try to be something that you’re really not. Going into this music business, there’s so many people trying to get on or trying to make it…so the hardest part is to find it in yourself who you are as an artist, and make it so people relate to who you are.

Black Enterprise: What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?

Marcus: When I was on X-Factor, L.A. Reid told me, “Never let anyone take away your joy.â€ That’s probably the best piece of advice I got. Especially being in this industry and being young. Coming into this industry and trying to fit in where I fit in, it’s so easy for your joy to be taken away from you, especially when you have money issues or different things that you wanna do right now but you can’t because you’re not there yet. But it has to be about the love of music first!

Black Enterprise: What advice would you give to kids coming up with dreams of singing?

Marcus: Whatever you want to do, [make sure you] study that craft inside and out so that you understand it, you learn the way it moves, you learn the way it feels, you learn the way it breathes. Anything in this world, you go out and learn to be the best that you can do. Learn how to be the best.