How would you describe managing artists compared to managing producers? What are the main differences between the two?

It’s night and day. When you’re managing an artist, you’re managing every aspect of their career. That includes their emotions, their personal relationships, and their professional relationships. You’re often the liaison between the artist and the label if they have a deal. If they don’t have a deal, then you’re probably handling marketing, touring, strategy, and a little bit of everything else. Your job is also to make sure the right team is in place when something comes up that you can’t handle yourself.

Managing producers is very different. Your main responsibilities are handling incoming opportunities and creating new ones. That means managing placements, publishing deals, sync deals, and making sure all the business is negotiated properly so everyone gets paid and taken care of. Beyond that, you’re using your network to create opportunities by understanding who’s working, who’s looking, and how to best position your producers in those rooms. If they have publishing deals, there’s usually a creative team involved as well, helping generate opportunities and making sure the money is being collected.

Managing producers is generally less stressful. That doesn’t mean it’s less work. It’s just a different type of work. With artists, the responsibility feels heavier because you’re overseeing every moving piece of their career. Some people are better at managing artists, and others are better at managing producers. I’ve done both, and I realized I was stronger at managing producers, so I decided to stay in that lane.

What’s your opinion on the current state of the music industry, especially in rap and R&B, and where do you see it heading in the next few months or years?

I think the music industry, from a business standpoint, is in a healthy place. You’re seeing companies consistently break their own revenue records year after year, and artists are continuing to achieve major success. More artists now have the ability to cross that threshold into becoming household names, and a lot of that starts with the internet and their phones. Access has changed everything.

The flip side is that the overall quality of music can feel diluted because there are so many more active artists and so many more people participating in the business. Without traditional gatekeepers, anyone can go straight to platforms like TuneCore or DistroKid, release their music, catch a viral moment, and suddenly find themselves sitting next to an artist who’s been building for ten years. In that sense, it’s a gift and a curse.

Rap is in a unique place right now. We’re coming up on almost 50 years of rap as a genre, and I don’t think the people who started it could’ve imagined where it would be today. It’s hard to predict where it’s heading because it changes every day. The business will likely continue to grow, but sonically and culturally, it’s always evolving, and I’m along for the ride like everyone else. I try not to predict the future because that can make you look foolish.

Overall, though, I believe the music industry is in a very healthy place. There’s a lot of money to be made in music, and I wouldn’t listen to anyone who says otherwise. The challenge is figuring out how to access it. You’re splitting a much bigger pie with far more people than before, and everyone is competing for the same attention. No matter how many artists exist, there are still only 24 hours in a day. We all have a finite amount of time to listen, so everyone’s fighting for the same ears, and that’s what makes it feel tougher.