Latest / The Scene Projects / FlyBoi Rich on Music, Mentorship, and the Evolving Industry Landscape
Transcript
- 0:17Welcome in to another exciting episode of the scene.
- 0:20I'm your host, Bubba Starts.
- 0:22And with me today from the beautiful city of Detroit, Flyboy Rich.
- 0:26What's happening, Flyboy?
- 0:27What's going on, Bubba?
- 0:28What's going on, man?
- 0:30Oh, man.
- 0:30I'm glad we could get together and do this.
- 0:33Obviously, we were hanging out together, when we were visiting Detroit for the Midwest Talent
- 0:38Awards.
- 0:38A great time had by all.
- 0:41But, definitely wanted to get you on the show, talk about everything that you're doing, this
- 0:45community that you've been building around yourself, you know, in the city, new stores
- 0:50opening up, all kinds of good stuff happening.
- 0:53Before we get into all that, though, I I really just wanna give you an opportunity to, give us
- 0:57a little bit of your back story and how you got started in music and, why you keep going.
- 1:03Little backstory on me.
- 1:05I grew up in the East Side City, Detroit, Michigan, you know, seven mile area.
- 1:10I started when I was younger.
- 1:11I started in high school, actually.
- 1:13I started recording and producing people more, so first, and then I branched out to the music
- 1:18more.
- 1:19I was working with my cousin John Boy.
- 1:21I learned from, like, people like hella little kid, the producer, stuff like that.
- 1:25I end up getting picked up by a bizarre and M and M team, by a lady named Christina Campbell.
- 1:31And then from there, I just moved up to Empire and started working with the radio stations,
- 1:35unsigned hype, and people like that from the beginning.
- 1:38And, yeah, we branched off now, and now I'm with Empire doing some stuff with Rock Nation
- 1:43and doing some stuff for Universal as well.
- 1:46Yeah.
- 1:47Pretty incredible.
- 1:47You know, a a kid from Detroit being able to climb.
- 1:51Know your Spotify, you know, monthly listeners up around the 90,000 mark.
- 1:56Pretty incredible, to see the success that you're having.
- 2:00But what what really attracted me to you is the way that you give back to your community and to
- 2:06new artists.
- 2:07Right?
- 2:07I know you got a club that you, you know, kinda run a weekly at.
- 2:11Now you got the store where you're able to, you know, have events and everything there.
- 2:14So go ahead and kinda shout those two places out and tell us about each one of them.
- 2:19Yeah.
- 2:20So shout out, Club Tame.
- 2:22That's right there in Redford.
- 2:23That's my guy, Tame the Nail.
- 2:24He actually worked there.
- 2:26He actually the owner there.
- 2:27He actually gave me opportunities to put people different there, so I actually been working
- 2:31with a lot of people like the radio station.
- 2:33Shout out to Akisha Baker and Big Dog Blast and a couple more people.
- 2:36And then, yeah, we got the two four eight hot spot in Pontiac.
- 2:39That's the new clothing store.
- 2:42We got clothing there.
- 2:43We have a barbershop there.
- 2:44We have a recording store there, and we have a event center downstairs.
- 2:48It's close to the area, around the Crowfoot and electricity.
- 2:51They usually do a lot of EDM and hip hop shows around there too.
- 2:54So it's big in Downtown Pontiac.
- 2:56And, yeah, that's the main two areas.
- 2:58And I'm working with a few more people like, a guy named Gladiator.
- 3:01We got a few spots like Nikki's Nightclub.
- 3:04We got a few spots actually, probably, like, over, like, 10 different spots.
- 3:07So we got multiple spots that we're working in and trying to bring new artists in and, show
- 3:11new, opportunities for people.
- 3:14Is there someone in your career along the way inspired you to help others?
- 3:21Because I don't know that, especially in the hip hop community, that there's a lot of people
- 3:26that are about others as much as they are about themselves.
- 3:30Right?
- 3:31And like I said, that's really what attracted me to you is that while you have a big
- 3:35following and you have your own career, I always see you talking about everybody else and
- 3:39putting other people on.
- 3:41Was there somebody in your career when you were starting out that really kinda, like, taught
- 3:46you that, or is that just a part of who you are?
- 3:50It's maybe so the experiences I was going through.
- 3:52Like, having to wither around two situations when you, through the industry, like, dealing
- 3:59with certain people, like, out who trustworthy.
- 4:01So I kinda made it, like, that foundation for me to be, like, more trustworthy or more so the
- 4:05person that can help the, independent artists not go through the situations that I went
- 4:09through when I was younger.
- 4:11Yeah.
- 4:12And having you know, I I've never had major labels sniffing around my music or anything,
- 4:17and I haven't had those experiences.
- 4:19But I've spent most of my life producing, promoting my own shows, and performing on
- 4:25stage.
- 4:26And exactly where I am, and maybe it's just where we are in life.
- 4:29I don't know how we woke up one day, and now we're kind of the OGs of the scene,
- 4:34respectively in our areas.
- 4:37But you look around, and and there's so much young talent out there.
- 4:42But they're coming into a much different industry now than when we grew up.
- 4:46You know?
- 4:47Early two thousands, a lot of us were still chasing record deals and getting out there, and
- 4:51now those are pretty much nonexistent.
- 4:53Right?
- 4:54Unless you're already creating records and have built a following of your own, nobody's coming
- 4:59from the industry to give you a big pile of money.
- 5:02So it's so much different now.
- 5:04But the the skills and the opportunities for independent creators and people that can
- 5:11develop skills and be about their business, not just their art, the opportunities are ripe out
- 5:16there.
- 5:17Yep.
- 5:18Absolutely.
- 5:18I feel like they should, brighten their horizons, like, learn different stuff,
- 5:21especially learn about the business of the industry or learn about marketing plans and
- 5:25stuff like that.
- 5:26Stuff like that kinda can, like, get you a actual leverage with the, industry and stuff
- 5:30like that.
- 5:31But I believe they should come back to actually looking for talent as well because talent is
- 5:36what's bringing the most money now.
- 5:38They see they losing a lot of generations of the money, and the streaming and stuff is going
- 5:42down now because they really looking for just online talent instead of really actual talent.
- 5:47So they're just looking for somebody like this online personality, I mean, not as talented.
- 5:52Yeah.
- 5:52It definitely feels like the pendulum is swinging back.
- 5:55Right?
- 5:55Mhmm.
- 5:56We you know, since 2010 and Spotify really taking all of the money away from the record
- 6:03industry that you you feel like it's coming back.
- 6:07People want ownership again.
- 6:08The people don't wanna have to worry about losing their entire library of their favorite
- 6:13songs because they didn't pay Spotify this month.
- 6:16Right?
- 6:17And I think you're seeing a cultural shift back to ownership, and it's really leaving the door
- 6:23open for the independent.
- 6:25I mean, we've we've been in this game a long time.
- 6:27We've all seen the guys out there slinging their CDs.
- 6:31You know, for me, I I saw it a lot when I was in Vegas and playing around in there and guys,
- 6:36you know, putting headphones on you and trying to sell their CD on the, you know, on the
- 6:41walkways and, you know, out of their trunk of their car, Afro man style.
- 6:45Right?
- 6:46And not that Afro man ever stopped doing that.
- 6:49I saw him last year.
- 6:51He was traveling around with Kid Rocks, a big music festival, Rock the Country.
- 6:56And that man got off the stage and went back to the merch booth, and he was back there taking
- 7:00pictures with everybody.
- 7:02Everybody.
- 7:02And I was just like, man, after all these years, you never forgot who you were, and you
- 7:08are still the same man out there on your grind.
- 7:11And that's why he's still so culturally relevant today when, you know, we're still
- 7:15vibing to his hits from, you know, the the early odds, man.
- 7:19But you see, everybody from that golden era, they all still trying to come back now.
- 7:23So they see what's going on, and they're like, oh, yeah.
- 7:25We still make an impact now.
- 7:27Like, for example, the Ludacris', the TIs that's coming back out now.
- 7:30So all them dropping albums now showing you that the real hip hop is back and not just the
- 7:35regular norm things that you wanna listen to.
- 7:38And I think that's, it's really good to see.
- 7:41It's good to see artists coming back and making, you know, not just a song to go viral
- 7:47or a TikTok dance and seeking that short flash in the pan fame, but really being about their
- 7:54artistry again.
- 7:55And it's why we liked the artist, that we did.
- 7:58Obviously, I I grew up you know, graduated high school in o four.
- 8:01Eminem was everything.
- 8:02Right?
- 8:02And especially for a a white kid in rural state.
- 8:06Right?
- 8:06I grew up in the middle, you know, the Black Hills Of South Dakota.
- 8:09Not a big urban influence out there.
- 8:12But all of a sudden, the you know, our community had someone to look up to and
- 8:17appreciate the art form without feeling that you weren't, you know, that that you were
- 8:21appropriating someone else's culture.
- 8:23Right?
- 8:24We had someone to look up to.
- 8:25And, obviously, the man's skills speak for himself, but I think something that gets
- 8:30overlooked because of the superstar that he became was the marketing and the business and
- 8:37and the vision that they had.
- 8:40And not to get too far into the weeds about this thing, but in a in a society that is
- 8:46fueled sometimes by outrage, I don't think anybody knew how to capitalize on that more,
- 8:54than Eminem, especially in
- 8:56the music game.
- 8:58Absolutely.
- 8:59Eminem had the most unfiltered music I ever heard.
- 9:02I was like, oh, wow.
- 9:03I was like, okay.
- 9:03This is this is exciting.
- 9:06He got people going for sure with his music for sure, and he was very lyrical, and, yeah, he's
- 9:12very talented for sure.
- 9:14Well and and I think something that we touched on as well is that he never forgot where he
- 9:18came from either.
- 9:20Right?
- 9:20And bringing along the crew in D 12.
- 9:23Can you talk about that as someone from Detroit?
- 9:25And in that scene, what, you know, the explosion of that what effect that had on the
- 9:32city and the the scene inside of the city, you know, in that moment?
- 9:39Yeah.
- 9:39Eminem and D 12, they was a big breaking point for the city.
- 9:42It was a lot of people that was on their way up, like Blade, Icewood, and people like that,
- 9:46but they made a bigger impact through the city, them, and I say, like, worse to five nine.
- 9:50And when they collab together, that made it even better.
- 9:53So the d 12 scene, that made it real big for us, and it blew up, and it gave us a lot of
- 9:57notice on there.
- 9:58And Eminem was already giving us a lot of notice with, you know, with him and doctor Dre
- 10:02working together, so that was kinda already a big move.
- 10:05But once that did, it kinda branched off and made a lot of more stuff happen, like, with the
- 10:08t grid, it's at least the big shines and everybody else.
- 10:11So it kinda made us, like, broader wise, and then we start getting the people like the ice
- 10:16wear bezos, the side of babies, and everybody else, the baby face rays, the v's, you know,
- 10:20and me.
- 10:21And we all just start branching off and moving around.
- 10:24Well and and now you're ready for this next wave of artists.
- 10:28And I think that's where you're kind of the the tip of that spear because you're reaching out
- 10:33and you're bringing these be these young men and young ladies on and putting them on stage
- 10:39and and teaching them the ways of how they're going to be successful.
- 10:43You know, it it is such a long road.
- 10:45It's a hard road being an artist.
- 10:48And that overnight success, while it appears that way, is very often the culmination of
- 10:56decade or more of being in the game and and really dedicating yourself to it.
- 11:02Yeah.
- 11:03I feel like people who feel like the, made it overnight thing, they don't see the work that
- 11:07was getting in years before and years before, like, the grind that was put in.
- 11:11Like, a lot of people, I can probably even say, like, the sexy red.
- 11:14I'm pretty sure she grinded a lot before.
- 11:16I've seen a lot of stuff she did before before she started popping off and stuff like that.
- 11:20So there's a lot of stuff we do behind the scenes that took a lot of time.
- 11:24They don't be understanding that part of it.
- 11:26Like, it's not a overnight thing.
- 11:29No.
- 11:29And and that's what, you know, we are constantly trying to educate artists on.
- 11:34And a big part of the Midwest Talent Awards for next year, which we wanna bring in, is more of
- 11:40that networking and kind of education portion of it for these artists to realize that, you
- 11:47know, you don't don't go out seeking that overnight success.
- 11:51Because even if you get it, if you don't have your business right, you're not gonna be able
- 11:55to capitalize on that moment anyway.
- 11:57So going after, you know, that early in your career isn't really what you want.
- 12:03You wanna build a catalog.
- 12:04You wanna have your business right.
- 12:06You wanna know how when you do get that time, you know, that spotlight shine on you that you
- 12:12know how to get out and tour and you have the pieces and the people, the team in place to
- 12:17actually make all of those things happen because this industry is full of sharks, man.
- 12:21If you're coming out there and you get that moment and you don't have people good people
- 12:25around you, you're gonna get swallowed up by this game.
- 12:29Yeah.
- 12:29You don't wanna be finding Nemo in the world full of sharks right now, and that's gonna be
- 12:33terrible for you.
- 12:34I'm trying to tell you.
- 12:35That's why I tell people, like, learn the business side.
- 12:37The business side is gonna be very important for you because all the stuff that you're
- 12:42saying, like, yeah, you're need that team around you.
- 12:44You don't want the label to just get everything and be like, oh, just give me my money.
- 12:48You don't even know how much money you're making.
- 12:52Yeah.
- 12:52And and that's where, I think because of, you know, a a lot of success stories and
- 12:58nightmares.
- 12:59Right?
- 12:59Success nightmares.
- 13:00Yeah.
- 13:00Big stars that that they're broke.
- 13:02Right?
- 13:02I think, you know We heard it from everybody.
- 13:04Even two years ago.
- 13:05That was empty hammer.
- 13:06Right?
- 13:06That everybody knew.
- 13:07Yeah.
- 13:08The biggest one of the biggest artists in the world, and and, you know, four years later,
- 13:12he's filing bankruptcy.
- 13:13And that's probably because he had some spending habits that weren't real.
- 13:17Can do Yeah.
- 13:18I can believe that one for sure.
- 13:20But but, you know, there's been a a a thousands of these now, right, or people that get signed
- 13:27and think that the label's gonna do everything for them, and then they get dropped, and
- 13:31they're back not not even back to square one.
- 13:33They're back in the basement trying to figure out how they're doing it because they let all
- 13:37of their rights go, and they signed bad deals and really trying to keep our you know, these
- 13:42young artists from ever making those mistakes is a big, you know, a big part of why I do what
- 13:48I do and what I wanna continue to do for that world, and and I feel like you're you're in the
- 13:53same boat there.
- 13:54Yep.
- 13:55And I it ain't just like like you said, it ain't just, hip hop either.
- 13:58There's multiple artists in multiple genres.
- 14:01Like, I work with EDM artists, pop artists.
- 14:03I work with country artists.
- 14:05So it's multiple artists that I work with just to show them, like, it's different avenues and
- 14:08different ways.
- 14:09Like, everybody got their different type of path that they can take.
- 14:12You know what I'm saying?
- 14:13Like, everybody don't have to be, like, a major label.
- 14:16Everybody don't have to be, like, do, like, go through certain stuff through the industry
- 14:22either.
- 14:22So it's, like, multiple things that you can do and multiple ways you can move around.
- 14:26Just learn the business side first so you can decide what you can do.
- 14:29Maybe your songs deserves, like, sync placements or TV movies so you don't have to do
- 14:33a lot of different things like the Spotify and stuff like that.
- 14:36So it's different options for different people.
- 14:38It just depend on your genre and the type of music you're doing.
- 14:42Well and some people can build extremely successful touring careers without having the
- 14:47the millions of followers and listeners and streams on your Spotify.
- 14:53Right?
- 14:53And I think that's, that's a key to me because that's probably you know, we get paid fairly
- 14:58well up here in the Upper Midwest to go out and perform because of the lack of talent that is
- 15:03around and just the lack of bands, but still just as much of a need for them.
- 15:08So a lot of Midwestern artists can do very well touring and don't spend a lot of time even
- 15:13recording their original music.
- 15:15Now Mhmm.
- 15:15Bands and country and and rock bands have the advantage of having the ability to cover other
- 15:21music and to to do that.
- 15:23And sometimes for us, I feel like the hardest thing to do is to balance that artistry with
- 15:28the well, we can go out and make a few grand this weekend performing, but they want us to
- 15:33perform other people's music exclusively or, you know, a a balance that is maybe more tipped
- 15:39towards the cover music than the other.
- 15:42But you can still be building your artist career even as a mostly cover artist.
- 15:48Right?
- 15:48You can still be releasing your your own original works and selling your merch and all
- 15:54of those things even as a mostly cover band.
- 15:56So there's just so many avenues in this day and age.
- 15:59And I know that you get out and play a bit and, you know, obviously, Cleveland came out to the
- 16:05Midwest Talent Awards and represented your exile.
- 16:08I was really blown away with the scene that they're building down there.
- 16:12What are you doing to kinda get yourself, you know, not just building the scene in Detroit,
- 16:17but reaching out to bring new artists from out of the city into the city and you yourself
- 16:22getting out and touring at least regionally?
- 16:25So I've been moving around recently.
- 16:27So I just did a show in Atlanta with, Diamond and King of Diamonds and stuff like that.
- 16:31So we're crying mob.
- 16:33I move around to Charlotte a lot, North Carolina areas.
- 16:36I'm going to Los Angeles, June for the BET Awards and the Empire Branch and stuff like
- 16:41that.
- 16:41So, I work with a lot of people in Ohio as well.
- 16:44Dayton, Ohio, I was I work with a lady named Boss Lady Music.
- 16:48My guy, Marquise, he worked with, Benny the Butcher, Rick Hide, and everybody like that.
- 16:52We partner up and do a lot of stuff.
- 16:54I just partnered with somebody else in Dayton, Ohio.
- 16:56They want me to come down there and do a show.
- 16:59So, yeah, I'm working on a lot of stuff.
- 17:01Just moving around.
- 17:02Las Vegas, I got my guy Tommy Corvette out there.
- 17:05He throw a lot of shows.
- 17:06He worked with, Morgan Wallen team, Lefty Gunplay, and all them like that.
- 17:10And, yeah, I got a guy in New Mexico, actually, Albuquerque area, and he throw a lot of shows
- 17:15there as well.
- 17:16He got a venue there.
- 17:18So it's got named Unique.
- 17:20Yeah.
- 17:20That that world tour is right on the verge.
- 17:23Right?
- 17:23Yeah.
- 17:23Moving around the whole country, and we just came home from so Detroit was actually, the
- 17:29start of our tour, and, we can't mention the state of Ohio without, talking about our girl,
- 17:35Michelle, and everything from power of Divas Network and everything she did to bring to
- 17:39fruition the Midwest Talent Awards.
- 17:42I'm so Absolutely.
- 17:43So appreciative of of her and being, you know, invited to come in and to bring my skills and
- 17:50my crew together.
- 17:51And, really, that's what the Midwest Talent Awards were about is not just one city, but
- 17:57about bringing this entire group that, you know, this entire region that's, you know,
- 18:02several million square miles full of amazing artists that just gets completely overlooked on
- 18:08the national level.
- 18:09If you ain't from LA or New York, then you people act like you don't exist, and Texas
- 18:14realized that a long time ago, and they're just kinda like their own country out there.
- 18:18And I I got to dip in and to see some more of that, but what we're growing is so much bigger
- 18:23than ourselves and our cities.
- 18:25It's really in bringing this entire area together.
- 18:28Now one one thing that I wanna touch on because you have a pretty good following on your
- 18:34Spotify, Are you using data from your Spotify to help you dictate where you'll be touring and
- 18:41knowing where your fans are at?
- 18:43Yeah.
- 18:44So I learned that, kinda early on when I was doing the music stuff, basically actually
- 18:48through SoundCloud first, and then it just kinda, like, branched off to Spotify.
- 18:53So I learned that I got a lot of fan bases in a lot of multiple areas.
- 18:57So I was actually looking at a lot of overseas stuff too because overseas like me a lot too,
- 19:02and I was trying to do something in Austria before the, COVID thing hit because they was
- 19:06liking me out there, and I was supposed to do a show with Jaquan, I believe it was.
- 19:11But, yeah, I actually look at that a lot.
- 19:13So, that's why I was heading to, like, Miami areas, Atlanta areas like that, Chicago areas,
- 19:19Ohio areas, and, you know, most areas like like that, LA areas.
- 19:23That's why I kinda branch out there.
- 19:24I actually did, like, Rollin' Loud.
- 19:26It was, like, back in 2016, 2017 before XPASS or something like that.
- 19:31It was around that time.
- 19:40Oh, he's back.
- 19:41Alright.
- 19:41Good.
- 19:41I was like, oh, no.
- 19:42We lost him.
- 19:43Yeah.
- 19:44So, yeah, that's when I found out I had a big fan base there.
- 19:48Yeah.
- 19:48Well and I think that's something that a lot of artists don't even realize, that you have
- 19:53access to this data.
- 19:55You can see where your listeners are at and start to identify and to build your touring
- 20:00career around where you have listeners and using your social media as a marketing tool.
- 20:06Now it's not an end all be all to your career, but it is a tool and it's a very valuable one,
- 20:12especially with TikTok being a great place for new artists to get discovered.
- 20:16And learning how it all weaves together is so important, and that's why, each of us are, you
- 20:22know, constantly educating, new artists to to get out there and do it, and to do it right.
- 20:29And I I think that's a great thing that you got building out there in Detroit, and, look
- 20:34forward to working with you again in the future, maybe collabing on some music here too.
- 20:39I think that'd be super fun.
- 20:40Oh, yeah, man.
- 20:41I definitely can't wait for that.
- 20:42I do production and stuff as well.
- 20:44So, yeah, we could do that.
- 20:45I love it.
- 20:46Well, Flyboy, tell everybody how they can find you, both online and around the city, and, I'll
- 20:52let you get out of here.
- 20:54Okay.
- 20:54You can follow me everywhere at, you know, Flyboy or just type in Flyboy Rich.
- 20:59Everything should pop up for you.
- 21:01You can get my email at bookingflyboy,flyboi,@Gmail.com.
- 21:06I answer everything there.
- 21:07You need any help, anything, like, as far as marketing, anything with promotion, anything
- 21:12just like collaborations or just anything you need, just hit me up.
- 21:15I'm kinda like a cool person to help you through the industry, so I kinda like I'm open
- 21:19to everything.
- 21:21I love it, man.
- 21:22Well, thank you so much for, giving me some of your time today.
- 21:24It was great to catch up after, me getting to meet you a few months ago there in your city,
- 21:31and, thank you for being part of the scene.
- 21:33Absolutely, Bubba.
- 21:34You're always a solid guy, man, and I appreciate you for everything you've been doing
- 21:38and everything you've been doing behind the scenes for everybody too, man.
- 21:40So thank you for everything you got going on.
- 21:42And scenes project, I like this, man.
- 21:45I like the scene, and I like everything you got going on.
- 21:48We'll see you.
- 21:49Appreciate you.