Today we’d like to introduce you to Smurfo Freebandz.
Smurfo, before we jump into specific questions about the company, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My story starts when I got a message from a friend of mine while I was living in Portland, Oregon. He told me about a new studio that was opening in Buckhead called Loud House Studios. At the time I was attending audio engineering school in Portland. I was faced with a decision, I could either continue working my dead end Taco Bell job and going to community college or take a 74 hour greyhound bus to work for a new studio in Atlanta. I hadn’t been home in Georgia for the past couple of years and was sure that the music scene had changed and I was eager to see many hometown friends. I decided that the internship could lead to more opportunities than school seeing as my teacher always told me I had no reason to be in his class. I had been song-writing and engineering since I was around the age nine.
At the age of 20, I made the best decision of my life. I packed up all my clothes and all of the belongings I owned at my aunt’s house and threw them into my duffel bag and got a one-way ticket to Atlanta. The journey lasted about three days. I managed to get a job at Jimmy Johns from a woman who I was dating at the time. When I started my internship, it started off pretty basic, I would sweep, vacuum, and go on runs for artists and producers. I quickly made my way up to engineer and started running day to day sessions. It didn’t take long before I learned the ropes. I would get game and other tips from Turbo The Great (Producer), MattazikMusik (Producer) and DSims (Producer). They would help me enhance my skills until eventually I would be recording daily with artists, Hood Rich Pablo Juan, Gunna, and other popular artists. After a while Young Thug started to record at Loud House daily and it became a HUB for the development of his music group YSL. I would work 12 hour shifts every day with very little sleep, building relationships with some of music’s most significant artists, producers and djays. My mom who I was staying with at the time kicked me out because I was rarely home any ways. Again, I found myself packing up all my belongings to make another decision that would change my life forever.
After months and months of working as one of Loud House Studio’s lead engineers, I met a young artist by the name of Guap Tarantino. He introduced himself as Future’s younger cousin and asked me if I was looking to lock in with an artist. Before meeting Guap, I had only heard of him through mutual friends. Out of all the people we seemed to know mutually Quay Global would be the person to tie our relationship in a knot. In 2016, I released a mixtape by the name of ‘Little Foot’ that was hosted by Quay Global, at the time Quay Global was coming off the steam of Lil Baby’s ‘My Dawg’ record. I started recording with Guap almost immediately. We recorded daily for six months straight, when He officially made me apart of Freebandz. I would eventually record every artist apart of the Freebandz music group, from Casino, Young Scooter, Lil Wookie and Future. I decided to use the knowledge that I had learned while working in the studio with them to start a production company. Ciani World is a global network of producers and creative directors. We have placements with Atlanta’s hottest artists. To this day we have worked with Future, Young Thug, Gunna, Lil Baby, Desiigner, Lil Got It, Lil Keed, Guap Tarantino, Luh Soilder and plenty more. We plan on growing our company’s reach outside of just Atlanta and eventually open our own studio.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No, I have been kicked out of two homes, I slept on the Loud House Studio floor for a year and half. I had to sleep on my aunt’s couch for almost eight months. There were many times that I didn’t get paid for my work or wasn’t credited for my work. I went many nights without sleep or much to eat other than the food in the Loud House Studios vending machine. My relationship with my now wife, was put to the test and was nearly destroyed due to fake friends. When I started the company, I had five other employees but they weren’t doing anything to help the company grow, so I had to fire every one and start from scratch. Some nights I had to sleep at the Marta Station or even sometimes at parks and parking lots.
Please tell us about the company.
We are a production company who specializes in fashion and music. We offer services like talent development. project management, production services, and even creative direction. What sets us apart from other production companies is that we are a truly independent company who works with creators from all nationalities, religions, races and backgrounds. We plan on educating our team and even aspiring creators about the financial literacy and the importance of knowing the laws of industries that we are in.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We plan get investors and start our own studio to create high quality music, music videos and fashion.
Contact Info:
- Website: cianiworld.com
Image Credit:
@Nyyor_ & @ Chav.o
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