Founder

Nathan Prescott Barksdale, also known as Nate Barksdale, is an American producer and songwriter. He was Chicago Tribune's Spotlight Artist in 2020 and his  music has been described by The Reader as "a supple blend of neosoul melody and hip-hop percussion".  Before beginning his music career, Barksdale graduated from University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Fine Art and Design. Nate went on to teach Music Production for the University's Early Outreach Program. He is credited as a songwriter alongside prolific Netherfriends, Melvin Knight, Defcee, Chris Crack and many others. 

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Early Life

Nate was born on the Southside of Chicago in 1995. His mother and father are both African American teachers who work the Montessori School of Englewood.  Nate grew up in a very creative household and began pursuing his artistic interest as a teen at Whitney Young High School. He won an iPod in a student raffle and his musical obsession grew. As 1 of 5 children he had little to no money to purchase his own musical equipment. He decided to design and sell customized clothes to his fellow students. This decision proved fruitful and allowed him to invest in enough musical equipment for his home studio. By 2019, the self taught musician had a song featured on the radio and Nate Barksdale earned a slot at Chicago's annual Soul Fest. ​​

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Digital Media

What started as a quick way to make cash for studio equipment Nate's digital media passion turned into an academic and professional journey. In 2015, Nate got a certification in Digital Media studies from London South Bank University in England. Since then, Nate has done design work for The University of Michigan's Music Department and Chicago Votes. In 2022, he received Special Recognition from Designing a Better Chicago for his Meditative Transport Project. His passion for collaboration and creative direction has always drawn him to work with organization's focused on fostering a creative environment.  In 2023, he took his experiences working for other companies to form his own, the9ardenstate. The company specializes is content creation and creative direction. Our goal is to offer our branding services to "help your business grow". The services range from Creative Consultations, Project Management, Merchandising and Video Production but all share the same goal; to water the ever growing Chicago community. 

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