Meet Kentorey Johnson, Alan Love and Mike Manning of UND in Dekalb County

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kentorey Johnson, Alan Love and Mike Manning.

Kentorey, Alan and Mike, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Kentorey: When I first thought of the UND, it had nothing to do with the career we are in today. I was playing college basketball, at the College of Coastal Georgia, when I first thought of it. The acronym UND means ‘UNDISCOVERED.’ For me, it was the meaning of my life from a basketball perspective. Coming from a small town where the population is only 6,000 people, I always felt that I had to prove my worth to even make it into any conversation. I’m competing against players from different high-schools that I felt I was at-least just as talented, if not better than. And these kids were receiving Division 1 scholarships from some of the top universities. However, I was very limited to exposure in my area. This was a time before the internet is what it is today. I had never heard of AAU basketball and if I had, my mother couldn’t afford to pay and travel because we lived too far away from any major city. Luckily I was able to receive a scholarship, on the behalf of my uncle who would film every game and send the film to different colleges. I ended up signing to a junior college In Brunswick, GA.

For the next five years, I enrolled into college and competed my freshman year, was removed from the team due to academic probation, transferred from Coastal, moved to South Carolina, transferred back to Coastal, competed the next 2 1/2 years, dropped out, played professionally, enrolled back into Coastal, worked 3 jobs and, eventually graduated w/ my BA in Psychology.

After graduation, I continued to live in Brunswick. I wasn’t necessarily interested in getting work in my field. Somewhere in between dropping out and pursuing basketball professionally, I started making beats just as a hobby. I would send beats to my friends that I knew were making music just to get an opinion. After-while, I noticed that I was starting to get better pretty quickly and the feedback was starting to get better also. So once I decided I was done playing basketball for good, I knew that I wanted to produce music in some fashion.

One of the friends that I would send beats to was Alan Love. We met in college in 2009. He was making music just for himself back then and he would often play it for us to listen to. Fast forward to 2015, he comes back to visit Brunswick for something regarding his family. He comes to my apartment and sees my setup. By that time, I had my computer and my midi keyboard in my room making beats. Alan decides he wants to move back and start making music along with me and that’s how we got started.

After dealing with a lot of setbacks and a series of unfortunate events, eventually we decide to move to Atlanta with another teammate from that same Coastal Georgia team. His name is Mike. He was already living in Atlanta at the time and was looking for roommates for his new place. Once we made that move, Alan and I immediately started back reinvesting our time and money into making music and production. We would make a song, upload it to SoundCloud, then shoot a music video and upload that to YouTube. We would get feedback here and there but it wasn’t the attention we felt it deserved. One day I was on YouTube and seen a video of some guys making reaction videos. Their videos were receiving millions of views by them reacting to someone else’s music. It then clicked to me that we should take that approach. So I asked Alan and Mike if they were down to shoot reaction videos, showed them what it was and the rest is the beginning of where we are today.

Has it been a smooth road?
Alan: In the beginning stages of figuring out how to approach our music journey, Kentorey and I was trying to figure out where we were going to live in the meantime. His lease was almost up at his apartment and we had to find a place immediately. We packed up the car and moved in with his former teammate, who at the time had two women roommates living with him. Me and Kentorey would rotate from sleeping on the couch and the lazy boy recliner. We moved all the music equipment into the bathroom downstairs and recorded music from there. After about three months, one of the roommates got tired of us being there and basically kicked us out. So we ended up moving in with another friend, who at the time also had two other roommates. But, they had a storage closet that was connected to the house from the outside. We paid $150 month to live in that tiny space. It could only fit a futon on the inside. Mind you, we are both tall. I’m 6’5 and Kentorey 6’8. We could reach out our arms and touch one wall to the other. We then would rotate who slept where. One of us would take the futon and the other would bring couch cushions from inside of the house and put them on the concrete floor right beside the futon and sleep there. We never once complained! We just installed our music equipment and recorded from there. After about seven months, we both decided that Atlanta would be our best option.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Kentorey: UND is a(n) independent brand and collective of diverse talent that ranges from musicians, videographers, photography, abstract artists, health & fitness, graphic designers, etc. There are currently six members apart of the UND collective (K3ntorey, Alan Love, UND Mike, Kevin Bradshaw, Otis Heard III & Marcus Humose). We have 353,000+ subscribers on YouTube and 67+ million total views. We have an independent label, UND Records, where Alan Love released his debut project “Ferris Wheel” under, with two singles, both gaining over a million streams each. Alan also produced a bulk of the project himself. We also launched a clothing/merch line called ‘UNDTHEBRAND.’ Kevin Bradshaw is our health and fitness enthusiast. He recently launched a FREE 16 weeks workout plan available online. UND Mike is an aspiring DJ, and Marcus Humose is an aspiring actor. They are both currently working towards their goals. Otis is an artist/painter born and raised in the Atlanta, GA. He sells his paintings to supporters from all over. And I’m also a recording artist/producer/videographer/photographer/ editor/graphic designer/etc. I have filmed/directed/edited every video and music video on behalf of UND (462 total). I’m currently working on music to release of my own.

What I’m most proud of as a company is us coming together to accomplish goals as a collective and individually. It’s a display of brotherhood that is not very common in our community and where we are from. Being able to think outside of the box and not conforming to what society expects from us black men.

I’m not sure what sets us apart from others because I’m not that invested in what other people are doing from that aspect. I just know that we are doing our best to become the best version of ourselves while being ourselves with hopes of inspiring those who support UND. Everything is fairly new and in the works. We’re taking our time to properly do things the way we see fit.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Mike: For our business specifically, Atlanta is a good fit for what we do. Whenever we plan events, the availability is here and it’s a nice location for supporters to come visit. However, a bulk of our business is on the internet. We built our support system via YouTube. Most YouTubers that are successful lives in LA or eventually move there because that’s where the most support is. The YouTube headquarters, VidCon events, collaboration with other YouTubers, and networking is key for LA residents that are YouTubers. Atlanta doesn’t necessarily have that scene for us here in particular but it’s a great alternative if you are looking to start a career via YouTube and/or social media.

Contact Info:

• Address: 3828 Salem Rd.
  PMB 21
  Covington, GA, 30016
• Website: www.shopundthebrand.com
• Email: goodkidscautious@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/undthebrand
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEhb2Cpf1sFUt8OX5vvv3uw?sub_confirmation=1

Image Credit:
Katherine Malay, Victoria Renee Carter, K3ntorey, Marcus Humose; K3ntorey solo (cred. Katherine Malay); Group photo from left to right: Alan Love, UND Mike, K3ntorey (cred. Victoria Renee Carter); Alan Love solo (cred. Katherine Malay); UND Mike solo (cred. Victoria Renee Carter; Group photo from left to right: K3ntorey, Alan Love, Otis Heard III, UND Mike (cred. Katherine Malay); Kevin Bradshaw solo (cred. K3ntorey); Group Illustration (cred. Marcus Humose)

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