I initially came across Alessia Cara about a month ago when I heard her debut single, “Here” on Beats 1 Radio. As soon as I heard the record, I instantly tagged it to add to my personal playlist. Other than the Isaac Hayes “Ikes Rap II” sample which was also used by Portishead and stems from the Wallace Collection’s “Daydream”, there was something about this record that reminded me of something that I heard in the past. At the moment, I just couldn’t put a finger on it. Now I know. “Here” reminds me of a record that was released about 6 years ago by an artist named Portia Monique entitled “Get To Know You.” It has a similar soulful feel and vibe to it which I love!
When I found out that Alessia Cara was signed to Def Jam, I reached out to a friend of mine who told me that they were very excited to have her as an addition to their roster. I myself am eager to hear more. On August 28, Alessia will be releasing her debut EP, “Four Pink Walls.”
Stay tuned for more!
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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Creative Consultant, Educator, and Music Publisher. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies such as Cornerstone Agency, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and their consumers. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe.
I’ve been following Lianne La Havas for a few years now since the release of her debut project, “Is Your Love Big Enough” back in 2012. Although I missed her performance at Afropunk last summer, as well as her set at Central Park SummerStage in 2013, I still have loads of love for her!
I remember when I first came across the artwork for her soon to be released sophomore album “Blood.” This was a few months ago while I was browsing through Pinterest. I liked the artwork so much that I had to post it on my Instagram account. When I found out that her lead single was “Unstoppable”, I made time to check the track out as well. After giving it a listen, I added it to my on-air rotation for a radio show that I co-host on Sunday evenings at Rutgers University.
Up until yesterday, I was yet to hear her song being played by anyone other than myself. It was Julie Adenuga over at Beats 1 who played “Unstoppable” yesterday afternoon that prompted me to revisit what Lianne had going on. Eventually, this led me to her video that was recently released. Granted…the video was released 2 months ago, but true artistry and quality music is timeless…enjoy!
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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Creative Consultant, Educator, and Music Publisher. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies such as Cornerstone Agency, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and consumers. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe.
Just a little while ago, I was listening to Julie Adenuga on Beats 1. I was really diggin’ her set as she played a few records that I have in my own rotation such as “Girl” by The Internet and “Unstoppable” by Lianne La Havas. A few spins later, I happened to hear a tune by the name of “New Americana.” When I first heard it, I thought to myself: “This sounds like it would be a perfect record for an American Apparel campaign.” It’s edgy, honest, and full of adolescent rage. On my first listen, I knew that it was just a bad a** record!
Without checking for any credentials, I initially thought that it was a new release from Lorde. I was soon proven wrong. After checking my phone, I found out that “New Americana” is actually from an artist by the name of Halsey who hails from my current state of residence…New Jersey. Although she’s from NJ, she actually identifies closely with New York…Brooklyn to be exact. At only 20 years of age, Halsey is already signed to Astralwerks and her debut album, “Badlands” is due out next month.
For more on the talented and burgeoning singer/songwriter, check out Fuse TV’s in depth interview HERE! American Apparel, I’m telling you now…if you’re looking to align and collaborate with any emerging artists for any future campaigns, I would definitely put my money on Halsey. She seems like a great fit for your brands sonic identity. If done right, this can definitely be a win-win!
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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Creative Consultant, Educator, and Music Publisher. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies such as Cornerstone Agency, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and consumers. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe.
In 2011, Doug Morris made the decision to depart as the Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group for various reasons. Under the mentorship and guidance of Doug was his successor, Lucian Grainge. Lucian was appointed as the Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group in March of 2011. When Doug spoke at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School in 2013, he mentioned that he was met with two job opportunities when making the decision to leave UMG. One offer was from Sir Howard Stringer, who at the time was the Chairman and CEO at Sony Corporation. Another offer was from a guy over at Apple by the name of Steve Jobs.
Steve wanted to bring Doug on board to open up a “Digital Record Company.” By the look of things today, it may have been Apple Music. Instead, Doug made the decision to become CEO over at Sony Music Entertainment. Steve was not very pleased. At the time, many people may have thought, why would Doug choose Sony over Apple? However, here is the part that I particular find to be very interesting. One of Doug’s very close friends is Jimmy Iovine. For those of you who may not know, Jimmy Iovine is a long-term record man and former chairman of Universal Music Group’s Interscope, Geffen, and A&M records division. He’s also the co-founder of Beats by Dre which was acquired by Apple last year. Jimmy is now an important part of the Apple team. Although his exact title is yet to be disclosed, we do know that he occupies an important space in a very influential capacity.
I would be curious to know:
What role did Doug play in any of the “behind closed door” conversations between Apple, Beats, and Jimmy Iovine?
Was Doug aware of Apple’s interest in purchasing Beats?
How likely is it that Doug may decide to make a move over to Apple Music?
These are all questions that I find to be quite intriguing. I guess we’ll see what the future has in store!
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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Creative Consultant, Educator, and Music Publisher. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies such as Cornerstone Agency, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and consumers. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and raise awareness to help uplift the condition of humanity.
In 2008, I was an intern for a wonderful woman by the name of Elise Wright. She was the SVP of Urban Music at Universal Republic. At the time, Doug Morris was the CEO at Universal Music Group. It just so happened that his office was in the same building that I interned in on 1755 Broadway in midtown Manhattan. One afternoon, Monte Lipman’s assistant asked me if I could bring lunch downstairs to Doug Morris’ office. As soon as I was gifted with the task of doing so, I knew that I had to handle this particular package with care. As ambitious as I am, I was delighted to make the delivery. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to meet Doug in person. Had we met, it may have led to a very interesting chain of events.
Flash forward 7 years. Doug Morris is now the CEO of Sony Music Entertainment. Doug was recently invited to speak at Midem in Cannes, France. In his keynote speech entitled “Visionary Talk,” Doug shares a plethora of insight that he has gained throughout his 50+ years of experience in the music industry. Throughout the interview, he praises his fellow industry icons and pioneers. These names include, Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, Berry Gordy, Jimmy Iovine, Suge Knight, L.A. Reid, and Steve Jobs.
Doug on The Impact of Urban Music
A few interesting stories that Doug shares includes his first encounter with rap music. The first group that he signed was 2 Live Crew. Shortly after, Jimmy Iovine was responsible for introducing Doug to Suge Knight. This meeting would eventually lead to Interscope signing Death Row Records which Doug mentions as an “Incredible moment.” Doug also goes on to mention that his strategy at Universal was to fill it with urban music. “I don’t think a record company can really be successful without urban music” says Doug. “We had Death Row, Def Jam, and Cash Money. Just with those three companies, we probably had 40-45% of all the urban music in America.”
Doug on The Importance of A&R + Content
When asked about the importance of content and distribution, Doug mentions, “If you don’t have a hit you have nothing. We’re all slaves to the brilliant people who are in touch with the culture and can spot an artist. The people who can spot a record that’s going to be important, that’s where we invest our money, in these people.” Although the people and titles may vary, the process of identifying and developing talent at an early stage is what we call A&R. To this day, I consider A&R to be at the pinnacle of necessity in regards to the future expansion and growth of our entertainment and music industries.
Words of Wisdom From Doug Morris
On Leadership – Doug has a philosophy that it’s important to be nice and treat people with respect. It’s important to make the people that work for you feel great. It’s important to make them know that you appreciate what they do. When Doug was coming up, people would degrade others and make them feel bad. Doug runs his companies based on mutual respect and loyalty. This is the culture that he believes in.
On Identifying Your Talent – Find what you’re good at. Some people are good as recording engineers. Some people are good at publishing. Some people are able to identify great artists. You have to look at what you think your strength is. Don’t listen to the naysayers. It’s your life, live it. Don’t be afraid of anything. When you’re doing something that you love, it’s fun. When something is fun, you actually get good at it. Do what’s fun. Do what you love going to work for.
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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Creative Consultant, Educator, and Music Publisher. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies such as Cornerstone Agency, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and consumers. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe.
Sebastian Mikael released his newest track entitled, “Mine” just in time for Valentine’s Day. When I checked out his Twitter profile he mentions how it feels good to put out new music. I feel you homie! I’m looking forward to hearing more throughout the course of this year. For now, let’s appreciate what we have. #Mine
Hello Lovers…Happy Valentines Day! NYC has been buzzing since earlier this week and the festivities will continue over the course of the next 24+ hours or so. Not only is it fashion week, it also happens to be NBA All-Star weekend. On top of that, Monday is Presidents Day; which adds another layer to the madness. With everything that is going on this weekend, what is there not to love?
Yesterday night, as I was making rounds through Jersey City and Manhattan, I received a call from one of my good friends. I couldn’t answer at the moment, but when I called her back, she asked if I heard about Kanye’s fashion show with Adidas. I told her that I did and she sent me an email to check out an article and some footage of how the show was received.
As I began to read the article, the number one statement that initially caught my attention is when Kanye mentions, “I want people to think awesome is possible.” I immediately identified with that philosophy. Too often we idolize the achievements of others to a point that we no longer believe that it’s possible to achieve great things in our own right. We become desensitized to mediocrity. We view greatness as an anomaly. We become comfortable with things being fine just the way that they are. I extremely disagree! I believe that our existence in itself grants us an opportunity to achieve profound accolades beyond our imagination. Why settle for anything less?
Push culture forward. Push creativity forward. Live legendary, leave a legacy!
I remember when I first came across India Shawn back in 2012. In fact, my post of her debut project, Origin was on this very website. 12/6/2012 was the date. “Sinking In” and “I’m Alive” are still some of my favorite tracks to date. Fast forward 2 years and here we are today. India Shawn…James Fauntleroy…Outer Limits. What more can we ask for?
India embodies an essence which is somewhat ethereal. Her music is angelic. Her state of mind is deep. She’s curious about life, and she’s super creative in her artistic expression. Listen to “No Saint” and you may understand exactly where I’m coming from! For now, let’s allow her to do what she does best…take us to outer limits. Look out for the EP in March.
I woke up this morning, meditated for 10 minutes, and took a look down my soundcloud timeline to see what new releases surfaced during my (undisclosed) time of rest. Uh ohhhhh…I see that Kali Uchis just released her debut EP, Por Vida! How did I miss this last night? I’ve been waiting on her project since I heard a few remixes of her single, “Know What I Want.” The ESTA. remix is fire!
So…what are some of my favorite joints? I’m really diggin’ “Rush”, “Ridin Round”, and “Speed”. “Rush” sounds like it can be one of the lead tracks off of her project in it’s own right. I would love to see visuals! “Ridin Round” offers a nice alternative twist to the fundamentals of trap and “Speed” gives me those breaks that Chad, Pharrell, and Tyler always seem to master so well. It only makes sense that Tyler produced it.
Where can you catch Kali? All over, she’s already blessed many of the major media outlets such as Billboard, The Fader, and Pitchfork just to name a few. I’m looking forward to following her career as she continues to take things to new heights! I would love to see her get in the studio with The Neptunes. I would also be curious to see how she sounds over some of their production. I’m sure that they have a bunch of tracks just laying around. She may be the right artist to make something out of nothing. Plus, it may make for a nice project or even mixtape. Can we make that happen?
Overall, Kali is an artist who definitely has her own aesthetic. She expresses her art, style, thoughts, and vision on her own terms…period! Not only do I have some tunes to take me into the summer, but most likely, this may also be a project to consider for a lot of year end lists come December.
On September 14, 2014 I received an email inquiry from Lekan Latinwo of Amon Creatives out of Bristol, UK. Lekan happened to see my 3 Lessons Learned interview with Jaha Johnson on behindthehustle.com. In my interview on BTH, Jaha mentions that he co-manages Common along with some other well-known artists and producers. Before reaching out to me, Lekan had obviously done his research. He requested an interview with Common knowing that he would be at the O2 Academy in Bristol, UK during his ‘Nobody’s Smiling’ Tour. All that Lekan needed from me was to connect him with Jaha. After collecting some additional information, I reached out to Jaha to see if he was cool with Lekan’s request. Thankfully, Jaha gave me the green light and I was happy to connect the both of them.
I wanted to share this with you all because it’s a great example of how to go about bringing your dreams and goals to fruition. If you have an idea, act on it! Find the people who can help you to connect those dots and make things happen. Yes, you definitely have to play your part. It’s also important to know exactly what you want while being strategic and smart about your approach. Once you have things together on your end, life becomes more simple. There are people in this world such as myself who do want to help others out and see them succeed. As Cortez Bryant, one of Billboards 2014 Top 40 Under 40 honorees once said, “I got into this business to help artists fulfill their dreams.” That’s the ethos of A Lovers Ambition. It’s more than a creative agency. It’s more than a lifestyle group. It’s an all around lifestyle based movement founded on helping to make others dreams and passions come true. We all have ‘A Lovers Ambition’ to achieve something in life. Ask yourself, what do you aspire to achieve?
A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group 