Today we’d like to introduce you to Rhythm.
Rhythm, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born in San Pedro, Ca, and moved to Chicago at age 3. I was always into sports, music and dance since an early age. My love for DJing began in a south suburb of Chicago, called Country Club Hills, Il. Around the age 12, I became fascinated with DJing. It’s funny, I used to get in so much trouble trying to mimic Jam Master Jay scratches on my parent’s old record player and albums. I listened to all kinds of music growing up ranging from Rock, Gospel, Pop, R&B, etc, but it was Chicago House Music that really touched my soul. I would listen the Hot Mix 5 on WBMX FM every day and night, studying their mixing styles. Around age 13, my next-door neighbor, who was a DJ, exposed me to the art and before you know it, I was hooked. I got my 1st job at age 14 as a golf caddy, so I could make money to buy records, which I had to play on my neighbor’s turntable since I didn’t have my own DJ setup. I wasn’t that good at first, but I practiced as much as I could, and wasn’t that good LOL. In the summer of 1986, my family moved to Atlanta and at age 15, it seemed that my whole world changed, but DJing never stopped. I would still just practice, practice, practice. By the time I was 18, I was spinning at teen and college nights all around Atlanta.
After graduating college, House Music spots starting opening up in the ATL and I was able to get back to spinning the music that got me into DJing in the first place, Deep House Music. Thankfully through God’s grace and meeting some amazing DJs, I was able to start getting some great gigs and some of the ATL’s hot spots.
In 1994, a new DJ entertainment company was opening in Atlanta and I was approached by the owner about DJing for them. I didn’t know much about the private event business, but I was intrigued. To my surprise, these events were like none I had ever DJ’d. Some of these events had over 3000 attendees, with big production budgets and over the top decor and lighting, I was amazed. The owner and I became great friends and he started me on the path of using my DJ skills for the private and corporate event markets in Atlanta.
I really enjoyed the DJing aspect of what I was doing, but I saw the potential to “amp things up” through adding some really cool and innovative stage set designs to our events. I always enjoyed coming up with creative ways to bring “Cool Factor” atmospheres to events and now that I had the owner’s ear, I could test it out. I started pitching to clients really cool ways of adding video and lighting elements to their set designs and they actually loved some of my ideas. They were loved so much, I was creating cool stage set designs for multiple events every month, which was huge for the company I was working for. In fact, we became the premier DJ entertainment company in Atlanta.
I became successful in energizing people to dance and have a great time at their events. More and more requests came into the company for me, personally, to be the DJ at functions all throughout the Southeast. During this process, I learned an important lesson, which was, that it not enough to be a great DJ if a positive attitude doesn’t exceed your skill level. This was so important for me to learn, because it would set me up for my next adventure, corporate marketing tours.
In 2002, a corporate client of mine asks if I had ever DJ’d a promotional tour for a brand before. I replied, no, but I would the opportunity to. That opportunity came and it came in a HUGE way. That brand he was asking me to DJ for was Coca-Cola. They were looking for a DJ to headline their national tour called, The Sprite Liquid Mix Tour. I was excited beyond words, since the headlining acts were Jay-Z and 311. After I was selected, I asked my friend, why me?, because they had actually never heard me DJ. He said, “they loved your personality and energy, and felt that if I could energize a round table of not “so cool” people, the fans would love me”. This began an 11-year span of me DJing national tours for such brands as Coca-Cola, ESPN, MTV, AT&T just to name a few. My mother always told that if you treat people right, right will come back to you, and RIGHT she was.
Also in 2002, the current owner of that entertainment company decided to explore other business opportunities and that left an opportunity for me to take a very scary step and branch off to start my own event entertainment company called, Abstract Rhythms, which later became Rhythm Entertainment. My vision to create a company that specialized in creating amazing, high end events that attendees would be inspired and empowered to party was finally upon me. With the help of some of Atlanta’s best event planners, who believed in my vision and trusted my work ethic, Rhythm Entertainment became Atlanta’s premier social and corporate event entertainment companies.
And if that’s not enough, I recently started an independent record label called, Beneath The Noise Recordings. It will be focused on bringing positive and spirit lifting Electronic Dance Music to music lovers worldwide. This all came about as i realized that I enjoy making music just as much as I enjoy spinning it. I’m blessed to know some amazing musicians and singer/songwriters in the Atlanta area and I can’t wait to collaborate with them on my debut project, as well as, future music projects. The Label’s first releases are scheduled for early 2018 and I look forward to sharing my music production side with world.
It’s been a long road with many challenges along the way, but it has been worth it all. It is great to dream big, but its greater to pursue that dream relentlessly, face the constant struggles life throws at you, build a solid and consistent good work ethic and then repeat it every day. I believed drams are never reached and if you do reach your dreams, then the dreams weren’t big enough… I feel dreams are there to give us something to chase and it’s that chase that makes life exciting and worth living. I’m still chasing my dreams and I hope after reading this, you will keep chasing yours!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has definitely not been a smooth road for me. I have experienced some challenges along the way, and unfortunately, I’m sure there will always be more challenges to come. Money was a big challenge for me. I started with business with $2000 in the bank and one client, so money was a serious challenge. I connected with some people that were smarted than me in the money department and learned from them how to better manage the money I beginning to make. Just keeping it real, I’m an artist not an accountant. In the beginning, gaining client support for a new company was also challenging. I got way more NO’s than YES’s which was very frustrating for me. Through a lot of praying and asking for help from those who trusted and knew me in the market, I was able to overcome that challenge.
Staffing was a big challenge. I have to find people that shared my same desire to give others an event experience that will always remember. I went through many people to find the core team of people I have now. We are only as strong as our weakest member, so choosing the right people to work alongside of you is so important. Especially, when you are getting started, since you only get one time to make a great first impression.
Working with other vendors can be a challenge sometimes. I am very much a “kill them with kindness” type of person, and that has proven to be a good angle over the years. Look, we may not like everyone we have to work with, but if you have to work with them, we have to put aside our differences for the greater good, our clients and our spirits.
I grew up hearing, that in business, “The client is always right” and I actually believed it until I got into the event entertainment business. This was a huge challenge for me, since there were a lot of times that the client was not right and others would still do what they said resulting in a not so great event. I learned from an amazing event planner who has helped me so much through the years, that the client is rarely right, that’s why the hire us, as professionals, to guide them to greatness. Learning this was huge for me and my business. My clients always come first, which means I would never let them make a decision that won’t lead them to greatness at their event.
Sometimes, you have to make the hard choices to gently help your clients to understand when they are headed for pitfalls and give them options to avoid them. They will not only love you for it, but they will trust that you will always have their backs.
The main undertone of all of this is that I didn’t make it on my own. It takes network to make it in America, so you have to surround yourself with other positive people that you can trust and that trust you. Doing this will allow you to get and give help so you all can grow together.
Rhythm Entertainment – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We specialize in creating impactful, well produced events that attendees would be inspired and empowered to enjoy themselves. We do this through designing engaging stage set designs and providing highly interactive DJ entertainment, which include highly accomplished DJs and amazing interactive dancers. I’m most proud of the fact that we are the trend setters of our industry in Atlanta. We really pushed the envelopes of design and interactive DJ entertainment, which allows us to push our industry forward. I feel it’s our vision that sets us apart. We are continuously seeking and creating that next new thing to bring to the social and corporate event markets.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I define success and waking up doing what you love to do every day and using what you love to do to brighten the lives of others. Money is not my marker for success, HAPPINESS is! Plus, there are a lot of people with a lot of money who are unhappy. Someone who truly loves what they do and figured out the way to make a living doing it, has already found success!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rhythm-ent.com
- Phone: 800-652-0573
- Email: info@rhythm-ent.com
- Instagram: iamrhythmbtn
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/rhythment
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