ATLANTA — Dozens of talented, and eager artists, producers, creatives and attendees united for day one of the Perfect 4 Mula Summit held at the Culture Lab in Atlanta on Saturday evening.
The summit was curated by cohort 4 of the Atlanta-based Go Dark organization. Go Dark is an Atlanta-based music internship pipeline program that focuses on providing students with the knowledge, support, skill sets and resources they need to thrive in the music and entertainment business.
The Perfect 4 Mula Summit is described as Formulate Leverage All.
Panelists for the summit included Ja’Mese Jones, Cortez Bryant, Marina Skye, Johannes Escobar, and Troy Carter Jr.
The summit was hosted by Amir Nasiruddin, an intern at the Culture Lab ATL. Nasiruddin is a recent Jackson State University graduate and aspiring music executive from St. Louis.
Jones, a senior Psychology major at Clark Atlanta University, did a great job moderating the event and keeping the energy flowing throughout the night. Jones asked the panelists great questions about the ins and outs of the music business, developing relationships, standing out from the crowd and brand awareness.
Jones is currently an intern at the “We Need to Talk” podcast with prominent journalist and personality Nyla Symone.
The panelists discussed how they got their first start in their careers and how the business has evolved over the years.
Bryant, an iconic music executive and philanthropist, helped to create Go Dark several years ago with Kyle Campbell. Bryant spoke about getting a call from his best friend Lil Wayne in 2004 to be his manager. Bryant had just graduated from Jackson State University at the time and had an offer from CNN as an entry-level editor. Despite not having previous experience as a manager, Bryant learned things on the go.
“I had to be a sponge and learn about the business,” Bryant recalled. “When I came in, I worked with Wayne as my only artist. We had a friendship and developed a business relationship where he trusted me. On Tha Carter 3 and all of these albums he would give me 100 songs and tell me to pick the album. That was the managerial style that I was learning.”
Bryant managed Lil Wayne from 2004-2020 and helped to create the Young Money empire.
Marina Skye is a creative director at the underground Atlanta and Saint and Citizen.
“I didn’t know what I was going to end up doing in the creative field as a kid. My brother was killed at Morehouse University and that took a lot out of me,” she said. “That was a wake up call for me to figure out what I wanted to do in life.”
Skye said she started creating a clothing line based off her love for fashion. She also designed Culture Lab.
“I created an internship for myself. I created a nightclub in Trinidad called Daydream. That got the attention of TIP and then I started working at the Trap Music Museum,” she said.
“The most difficult thing in this business was figuring out how to adapt to all of the projects that I was doing,” said Skye.
Escobar, a Clark Atlanta student and Go Dark intern, said he moved to Atlanta from the Bay Area of California in the middle of Covid. He visited Atlanta during the NBA All-Star weekend in 2021 and knew he could find a great opportunity. He eventually began working with a Def Jam artist.
Six months after he moved to Atlanta, he started working on building different brands for artists he admired growing up, including hip-hop icon Kanye West.
“He is a trailblazer and an amazing artist,” Escobar said.
“This is your community,” Skye told the audience. “Make sure you are utilizing your resources and network.”
A big topic of discussion among the panelists was how to stand out in an industry full of many other aspiring artists.
“The first thing that appeals to me is differentiation,” Bryant said. “What sets you a part from everyone else. Singing a song, music talent, lyrics, a lot of people can put words together.”
When hip-hop icon Drake asked Bryant to be his manager, he only had one managerial style and had to adjust.
“The first introduction I had to Drake was his “Comeback Season” mixtape that Jas Prince Jr. brought to me,” Bryant continued. “I was like wow he’s so articulate. Jas told me he found Drake on Myspace and he’s from Canada. That was enough for me to get him a flight. I told Drake in the very beginning before he dropped the “So Far Gone” mixtape if we do this the right way you can be the biggest artist to ever do this. He had all these good character traits, he had the Young Money stamp, and he knew how to work the rooms.”
Carter Jr. added the importance of finding your niche and working on getting better every day.
“Most of these labels don’t know culture,” said Carter Jr. “I heard this analogy a couple of weeks ago that stuck with me, we all have the same ingredients now that you’ve got to make your own recipe. Don’t feel pressured to be on everything. If TikTok is your thing, go all in on it, if streaming is your thing then focus on that. Build your community. Its about niches and you have to find your niche and go from there.”
Eager artists, creatives, and attendees lined up to ask questions from the panelists after the discussion concluded.
APSTL Paul, a talented writer, producer and hip-hop artist from Providence, Rhode Island, said he attended the cohort so he can network and soak up the knowledge they offered. He asked what advice would you give your younger self about making it in the industry.
“What I would tell my younger self is its okay to be smart,” Bryant said. “I grew up in the hood in New Orleans and my friends were doing other things. In 6th grade, I knew that working hard and studying was going to take me somewhere, even though people were laughing. Being smart was looked at as a bad thing back then. I gained confidence by middle school and high school and my younger self would be proud because it paid off.”
Among other attendees was popular hip-hop artist Domani.
Day 2 of the summit begins Saturday afternoon at Culture Lab, where music enthusiasts will get a first hand look at the process of creating music.
For more information about Go Dark, visit their website.