Johnell GipsonLast Thursday’s Connecting the Dots mixer and panel was one to remember. Powered by Level Up Atlanta, the event’s featured speaker was James Supreme, A&R for Universal Music Group and manager of the highly sought after producer, Bizness Boi. Moderated by event producer and brand strategist Trevon Williams, the discussion took place at Azjio Gallery.
I met James during my freshman year at Georgia State University in 2011, and I could immediately tell that he was going to be a very successful person. He’s an incredibly humble individual who never raises his voice and always seems to find the right thing to say. Having seen the early stages of his journey to success, it was an honor to be able to talk to him about his life and the progress he’s made.
What’s going on, man? Where are you right now, and what have you been up to the past few days?
I just got back in the States; I’m actually coming from Toronto. I was checking out an artist out there, named Anders. He sold out a 1,300 capacity venue, his first show ever. No one else in Toronto is doing that, so it’s impressive. I’m just doing my due diligence on him.
That’s crazy. I keep thinking back to the times at Georgia State, when we were living in the Commons, and then later on at Ashley Auburn Pointe. It’s amazing to see how far you’ve come in just three years. Can you tell me a bit about how things started for you?
Man, around the time we were living at Ashley Auburn, I was really preparing mentally for all of what’s happening now. I was reading a lot of self-help books; I fell in love with the books The Alchemist and Outliers. I was building on what I felt I lacked internally. I wanted to be responsible for the energy I was putting into the world.
Trevon Williams (left) hosted the discussion with James Supreme
What happened around that time that made you realize you wanted to work in the music industry?
I was interning with Macy’s in New York City. At that point in time, I thought I wanted to be a buyer for their corporate office. Me and a few of my friends really wanted to go to OVO Fest in Toronto that year, so we were really just trying to figure out how that would happen. I ended up searching Twitter to find a way, and that’s how I found Drake’s tour manager and my eventual mentor, Jamil Davis. I sent him and his assistant at the time a cold email, and he kind of shut me down. We’d already booked the Airbnb and set a lot of plans in motion, so I couldn’t really turn back at that point. I reached out to a friend I’d made on Tumblr who lived in Toronto and figured she could help us get there. I took a Greyhound bus from New York right after my last day of the internship, wearing the same suit I’d worn to work. She called me right when I was about to hit the border and told me she’d gotten the address and information about where to go. So I get off the bus—still in the suit—security takes me backstage, and to Jamil’s office. Everything kinda stops, he just looks at me, and then tells me to get out.
That had to have been a shocking experience, seeing as how you had done so much just to get in front of him. What happened next? How did you finesse the situation?
His assistant Tyler happened to walk in at that exact moment and recognized me. He told me I was good to stay, but that I had to take the suit jacket off. When we sat down and talked, and when I saw how he was navigating that space, I realized that I wanted to do what he’s doing. I’d had this twenty-year plan for my entire life that was just thrown out the window. Now I wanted to be a manager, and I didn’t even know what a manager was. That was really a perfect example of manifesting my personal legend.
How did the experience impact your choices after the festival, and what steps did you take to work toward your new goal?
Before I left the festival, I realized that I had to get to Los Angeles to continue building our relationship. There wasn’t really anybody I knew in Atlanta that was doing what I wanted to do. When I got back home before my senior year, I ended up using my refund check to buy plane tickets to a few stops on the Drake vs Lil Wayne tour. I would literally fly out and text Jamil and Tyler in the airport like, “Hey guys, I’m in town, is there anything I can do to help out?” At that point I really wasn’t doing anything glamorous; I was working the box office, a ticket runner, escorting guests in the venue. It wasn’t anything major, but at the time I definitely tried to make it look like it was something bigger.
That’s interesting. You mention how the situation looked a lot more glamorous on Instagram than it was in reality. With our generation, it seems like social media really fools a lot of people into thinking that everyone’s doing better than them, or that they’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing. Can you speak a bit more on that?
Perception is a funny thing. People would see me posing in pictures with Drake, backstage at these shows, doing this and that, not knowing that I was trying to compensate for the fact that I had no plan, no structure, and no formal job offer from his team. A lot of people will see the picture you posted and who’s in it, and they’re so impressed, but they really don’t know what you had to do to get that picture.
What’s one thing that you see a lot of your peers doing that you think we could all improve on?
I would say our obsession with instant gratification. We post a picture online and expect 100 likes, right away. You put out your first mixtape and expect to blow up instantly. You have one job interview and expect to find the perfect job. We’re so used to seeing people come from out of nowhere and become overnight successes; we keep comparing ourselves and try to follow other people’s paths. But you’re already where you’re supposed to be. Just relax and embrace the moment you’re in.
What was your next move after that tour ended?
I came back to Atlanta and really didn’t know what to do. I was stuck, and really didn’t have any opportunities coming in. Then one day, I get a random call from a Dubai phone number. I had no idea who it could be, but I picked up and it was Jamil. He told me he was managing a new artist named G-Eazy who was recording his album in Atlanta, and asked if I was interested in co-managing him. I had no idea who G-Eazy was at the time, I actually thought he was talking about Jeezy. But I needed something to keep believing in my dream, and this was that opportunity. So I met them at the studio, showed them around the city, and then got to work booking hotels for them, booking flights, just handling day-to-day responsibilities. From there, they invited me to a few festivals, BUKU Fest and SXSW. I took a Greyhound to New Orleans, rented a 15-passenger van, and kind of became their chauffeur. Although a lot of the tasks seem trivial, it’s really just about you building relationships, and building trust with these people so they know they can rely on you.
So I’m assuming that it was around this time you realized that you REALLY had to get to Los Angeles to make the moves you wanted to make?
At this point, G-Eazy would call me to do a number of things for him, so I really had to figure out a way to get closer to him. I ended up locking in an internship with NBC’s L.A. office, and drove across the country to get there. I lived with G for about five or six months, just sleeping on his couch. That was a really humbling experience because no matter what I’d done that day, or who I’d met, or what party I’d been to, I had to come back to that couch. It taught me a lot about perseverance, and that no matter what your situation is, you have to work that situation the best you can until you get to the next step.
Did you sort of turn the corner with your career once you built that relationship with G-Eazy?
Working with G opened the door for me to work with friends who were starting to make music. MadeinTYO had just dropped “Uber Everywhere,” and moved out there too, so I was able to help him out with a lot of shows and connect some dots. That’s how I met Lil Dicky’s manager, who I started working with as well. Those opportunities allowed me to get on the road and meet a bunch of people in a bunch of situations in a number of different circumstances. Through that I realized I’m good at putting people together and introducing people, and pitching ideas, and maybe I should get off the road to be more creative.
So by then, you were road managing pretty heavily. Was there something that happened that got you off the road?
I’d been doing tour management for about two years. I’m in this amazing city, I’m making money, but I realized that I wasn’t happy. That was a tough pill to swallow, because I’d given up everything chasing this thing, and I wasn’t feeling fulfilled at all. For me, it was time to take inventory and look at things I had to let go of and change. Mental health is extremely important, and I wasn’t doing things that were helping me achieve true happiness.
Level Up Atlanta
Mental health is definitely a huge issue that needs to be addressed more. Our generation glorifies the ‘no sleep’ mentality towards work, which really isn’t healthy. What are some things you do to maintain the balance between your professional and personal life?
I make a list of all of the things that make me happier. At that time in particular, I hired a personal trainer, became a vegetarian, got off Instagram for about six months, really just started creating more positive habits. Social media is tricky because so many of us make our money through it. But for me, I had to take a step back and focus on myself. I wouldn’t look at my phone first when I woke up in the morning, and started spending more time with myself and figuring out my own energy before taking on someone else’s.
So how did you start working with Bizness Boi, and explain who he is for people who aren’t familiar with him?
Bizness Boi is a producer who’s produced records for PARTYNEXTDOOR, Swae Lee, Elton John. He’s got four tracks on Swae Lee’s new album. I met him about two years ago through an artist named Ye Ali. He invited me to hang out at what turned out to be Bizness Boi’s house, where we watched the NBA Finals, listened to music, and just connected organically. From there, I invited them to open up on 24HR’s Open Late tour. That was his first real opportunity, and we learned a lot about each other during that time. He was making a lot of beats and working, but didn’t have a manager, so I stepped into that role. He really wants to be great—he really wants to be like Timbaland and Pharrell, and I really like that.
Did your relationship with him play a role in you earning your current position in A&R with Universal?
Yeah, it did. A lot of times, when these large corporations see a young personal of color that’s making moves and very connected to the culture, they try to take advantage of you. It got to the point where I would go into these label meetings and they’d really try to get over on us with these offers. I knew what my worth was, and I knew what we planned on doing, and we had specific terms for what we would agree to in business. They saw that we weren’t willing to compromise, and because I knew my value, they knew my value. They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, and the rest is history.
Do you have any advice for someone who may be struggling with their career, or hasn’t quite figured out their personal legend yet?
I would just say that it’s not too late, no matter how old you are. If you have dreams, just go and do it. If you’re not happy with what you’re doing, you’re the one with the power to make that change in your life.
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Instagram: @jamessupreme