I started Official Creator Space for selfish reasons. Since I was sixteen years old, I had always been frustrated with not being a part of the “blow up” of artists – I was watching from the sidelines, seeing all the key players (other artists, managers, brands, collaborators) move into position before a musician became popular. And, like a stockbroker who couldn’t invest, I’d look through the glass at the bullish market — alone in the dust. This frustration bubbled over and I started to build Official Creator Space. I realized that artists themselves are being exploited by the industry, so I pivoted from an investment platform to a fundraising platform.
After this, I pivoted once more in method but not in mission. Now, Official Creator Space creates opportunity for upcoming artists through well-researched interviews.
One semi-successful fundraiser later, I saw a poster for a DJ coming to campus. After researching heavily throughout the week, I had a plan to approach her and ask for an interview for the Instagram page. Inside the frat house in which she was performing, I sat in a room, buzzing with pre-party excitement. I was experiencing a different type of buzzing – pre-interview anxiety. I asked a friend to come upstairs to the green room with me.. He followed me up the steps, and I knocked – carefully, but assertively – on the door the DJ was behind. The entire methodology of the startup was about to change. The door opened and I met my fate.
Since that day, I have completed interviews with twenty artists in the hip hop or rap-adjacent niches, ranging from upcoming talent to solidified legends in the game. I ask about their art, but also about the artist as a person, their goals, their upbringing, and anything unique about them. The purpose, though, is always the same – a way to create opportunity for upcoming artists, and to go against the grain of the music industry which uses artists as pawns for their profit incentive.
