Today we’d like to introduce you to Desirae (desiiTee) Tucker and Kyle (K-HiSox) Smith.
Desirae and Kyle, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
We met in college at Kennesaw State University while working at the radio station, Owl Radio. We both had our own radio shows and held positions . One semester he was in desperate need of a judge for one of his events and asked me to be a part. From that point on we got close and semester after semester we began taking classes together. Kyle graduated before me in 2014. After he graduated college, he moved to Vegas but we still kept in touch. Sooner then later Kyle moved back to Georgia, and I was next to graduate in 2016. We began talking about our after college woes and getting into industry. We just missed being behind the mic at the radio station. From that conversation, we began talking about creating our own platform and maybe creating a radio show to pitch to online stations. Our love for hip-hop debates, and emerging new talent always brought us together, so when discussed having our own show , we already knew what we wanted to talk about since this was literally our everyday conversations. We began to figure out our name, what we represent, and what we wanted to showcase.
Through multiple meetups at JR crickets over Kyle’s uniquely made nacho fries, and my hot wings, we came up with “The Rap Hippies”. We wanted to be the counter culture of Hip-Hop. We both knew we wanted to go against what was constantly played on the radio or what was popular. After we came to the conclusion of a name, branding, colors, and logo, it was time to get started. We shopped around some online platforms and came across an online radio station called BossFM that Our colleagues from KSU radio were working at. They introduced us to the owner/ program director for a quick audition as a duo on his show. He liked what he heard and placed us on their underground channel called ” The Freshman Class”. We were able to really get our feet wet working at BossFm. We did interviews of emerging new local talent, played new music, and talked hip-hop. It was a pretty good radio show that focused on what we represented. After about six months the radio station, unfortunately, had to relocate and we had to figure out what we were going to do next.
Of course, stressed and not sure what’s next we had a moment of panic and trying to decide if we wanted to shop around for another type of online radio station to place our show. After much deliberation, we just said: “Let’s do our own thing”. BossFM re-locating turned out to be a blessing in disguise for us because we now had time to focus on becoming the media company we are today. We literally took our show segments and turned them visual, which made for easy content. After the BossFM move, we also decided to create a team, with the help of one of our interns at the time, Taylor Collins. If it wasn’t for her latching on after leaving BossFM, we more than likely would not have realized the importance of a team. We now have about ten people ranging from photographers, graphic designers, writers, videographers, and correspondents. With this wide range of people under our team, we started to call ourselves a media collective.
Now that we decided to become a media company we got our website, LLC, equipment and began to work. Coming from behind the mic at the radio station we were able to get out more and people were able to put a face to the name. People heard of The Rap Hippies, but didn’t know who was behind it. As a way to get ourselves out with the brand and content, we then began writing music reviews and pieces on up and coming artist, along with creating show-like content for our youtube channel, Hi-Sox Hi-level review (Song/Mixtape/album reviews) or desiiTee Tips (60-sec music business tips) was the first of many segments we brought from the radio show to Youtube. Due to our written work on our website, we then got recognized by The Hype Magazine and became their digital content producers and correspondents. This opened up doors for us and we began covering big concerts, and festivals within the city. We were able to cover A3C, Afropunk, and Beats n Bars Festival. Aside from the big name events we also covered a lot of local, and up and coming talent. Being that up and coming artistry, and hip hop are what we represent it was easy for us to produce content for ourselves and most importantly for our city and the hip hop community.
Within our three years, we’ve managed to hit a milestone at least every month. To us, Small victories matter.
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?
It was pretty rocky and we’re still expecting it to be a little rocky within the start-up years. It’s been a challenge being that we really harp on being authentic and organic. Sometimes its hard to grow “Organically” when you want to do it the right way. We noticed a lot of people purchase followers, or do anything for clout just to get recognized and that was just something we were NOT GOING TO DO. We pretty much went against the grain and not conforming to what’s popular, that’s the purpose of The Rap Hippies and we knew that when we created this. But we also knew that there was a niche for our liking. Another challenge was, we didn’t go to school for business or entrepreneurship. We went to school to be creative and talk on the radio so jumping into creating a whole company brought on a number of challenges where we had to “DIY” almost everything with little to no budget. We really are the epitome of being self-made.
Other challenges and struggles were that we do this for the labor of love. It took a while before money became a question. It’s hard when this is a full-time hobby trying to turn it into a full-time business. We both have full-time jobs in media as well and focus on The Rap Hippies. We literally work our 9-5s and come home and work on The Rap Hippies.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Rap Hippies – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Our business is essentially a media collective. Meaning we house graphic designers, photographers, videographers, producers, writers, and correspondents. Collectively we create content and we cover all things music with a huge focus on up and coming artist and hip-hop. We want to be able to showcase what people do in Atlanta, and ultimately showcase like-minded people nationwide. Our business is the most ideal because we literally build this off of our passion for hip hop culture, the community and music. We didn’t start this business to make money, we did this to have a voice within the hip hop community. We wanted to do things for the culture. We enjoy covering events, artist, and entrepreneurs who are just as passionate about their craft as we are. We also like for them to focus on what’s real and what is parallel to our purpose and what we represent. We think this is something that sets us apart. Again we don’t conform to what’s popular. We don’t believe that things that happen quick and easy actually stick. We want real and raw.
Our music taste is what really sets us apart, and that alone sets the tone for the company. We are very particular in what music we stand by and who or what is allowed on our platform. We take music business very serious and anyone who wants to be on The Rap Hippies, we want them to take it just as serious too. Because of this, not only do we do reviews and write, but we are open to assisting artist. We really hit all aspects and this makes us different as well.
We are most proud of being a DIY company and in turn, it makes us more of a threat because we know how to do multiple things. Aside from having a team, Kyle and I have learned and done everything so we can lead by example and hold The Rap Hippies on our shoulders as the co-founders.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are always planning for the future. We already have our three months set up for 2019. We’re always trying to find a new way to create content and stay consistent. We are starting to dip into more events and creating those after much success to our first event in October. Now that we gave that a try we see what we are capable of. We are also beginning to find a way to incorporate other aspects of the hip-hop community and making sure it makes sense. For example, we are wanting to dip into R&B music and showcasing them like we do rap. We are just strategically planning to make sure everything makes sense to the brand and its content.
We really want to continue to shine a light on good music, and all things good for the culture within hip-hop and the black community.
Contact Info:
- Website: TheRapHippies.com
- Email: TheRaphippies@gmail.com
Image Credit:
AJ Simon, @HeyArnault
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
