For Darryl Stephens, life once revolved around baseball. Growing up in Atlanta, he had his sights set on the big leagues. Centerfield was his domain, and he was good—good enough to be drafted by the Braves straight out of high school. But Darryl chose college instead, hoping to improve his game and raise his draft stock. Everything was built around that plan. Then came the letdown. Senior year rolled around, and the call never came. No draft. Just silence, and a gnawing question: now what?

During this uncertain time, Darryl turned to something that had always brought him joy—music. One night in his college dorm, with time to fill and no clear direction, he started exploring Curtis Mayfield’s 1972 Super Fly album using Napster. At the time, Napster was revolutionizing the music world. Launched in 1999, it allowed users to download MP3s for free—giving a generation unprecedented access to full albums and deep cuts. For Darryl, it was a gateway.

He already knew Mayfield’s big tracks—“Superfly,” “Pusherman”—but “Give Me Your Love” stopped him cold. The extended instrumental intro, the layering of percussion, strings, and horns, and that falsetto—he hadn’t realized music could hit like that. Though the lyrics were romantic, Darryl heard them as a love song to music itself. It was the spark that made everything click. He didn’t just want to listen anymore. He wanted to create.

He wrapped up his marketing degree and enrolled at Full Sail University in Orlando to study audio engineering. He hadn’t grown up playing an instrument, but that didn’t stop him. He absorbed everything. Soon after, he landed a job with EA Sports working on video game sound design. But the dream was always bigger than just a paycheck.

Darryl moved to Washington D.C., earned an MBA from Howard University, and started hosting music events for local indie artists—testing the idea of a shared creative space. That concept grew into Bass Parlour, first as a physical studio in Atlanta, then pivoting to an app after the pandemic. Today, Bass Parlour connects musicians globally, offering live workshops, collaboration opportunities, and even revenue streams through teaching and sharing knowledge.

Through it all, “Give Me Your Love” remained a personal anthem. Darryl played it on repeat during long, uncertain stretches—especially during COVID when the physical studio had to close. He slipped it onto nearly every mixtape he made over the years. It wasn’t just a love song; to him, it was a love song to music itself—a reminder of his passion for life when everything else felt uncertain.

Even his early musical memories circle back to this path. One of the first records Darryl owned was by Run DMC, the pioneering hip-hop group formed in the early 1980s. Known for their powerful presence and groundbreaking collaborations, they were his first musical spark. But Mayfield gave him direction. “Give Me Your Love” was the reminder that there’s always a way forward—even if it’s not the one you planned.

Today, Darryl is the founder of a thriving platform, a mentor to up-and-coming artists, and a voice in the conversation about what creative community looks like in the digital age. What started as one song on a college night has become the soundtrack to a life built on music, meaning, and momentum.

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Give Me Your Love (the song)