Q. Who are you and what company do you represent?
A. I am called Smile, aka Smiley and I represent “Conglomerate Management.”
Q. When did you fall in love with hip-hop?
A. I Loved Hip Hop Since day one. From the church to booth. I went from rapper to producer. I have produced for The L.O.X., Black Fame of Ruff Ryders, Amil and many more.
Q. It seems like you evolved 360*. So, what fueled the move into management?
A. The economy. I was working in the hospital; I had given up producing. When the economy went bad, a lot of jobs started laying off people. My advantage was that I kept my ear to the streets. I was never out of the Industry loop. My partner, Big Man and I started Conglomerate Management in 2005. When I lost my job in 2011, I was able to devote my energy full throttle to the company and my artists.
Q. From the late 90’s to current, the industry has changed so much. Where do you see your company fitting in with this ‘new’ industry?
A. Our goal is to become as large as Violator Management, R.I.P. to Chris Lighty. He was great, and one of the best that ever did it. We have a team in place, to help us reach that goal. Antwan Walker is also apart of the Management team. Then we have Big Man, who was an assistant A&R at Universal Records, Uptown, and Warner Brothers Records.
We are focused on our artist as long as the artists have drive. The attention we give to artists is reflective of how it was done back in the days. Many management companies want artists to come to them groomed, ready to pitch to the labels. We offer the Motown experience. Grooming, attention to detail and motivation.
Q. What artist are you currently working with?
A. Our first signed artist is Kadeem Scott aka “Deemo.” He is a solo artist who has a charm for hip-hop and R&B. Then we have “Newport Stress” which is our first, hip-hop/pop duo representing Dobbs Ferry, New York. Newport Stress includes “Mann D” and “Joey Christ” We have Twinn Poe, who is out of Mt Vernon New York. Our team of producers: Ash Loughlin out of the UK. Crystal Performance, Kha a.k.a. Khalid Brown, Genius Boy, Tunes, Mel-O-Dee from “Mel-O-Dee Production”, and Big D.J. Ock. We are Currently building our artists and fan base.
TRACEY-I thank you Smiley for your time and we look forward to hearing from Conglomerate. Is there anything you would like to add?
SMILEY-That’s it for now, but stay tuned folks! And you are welcome Trae
** If you are interested in submitting material to Conglomerate Management, please do so via email conglomerate1@ymail .com
