Cheat Codes I’m very comfortable writing so all of this return to blogging feels like riding a bike. Truth be told I was blogging before it was called blogging and an influencer before the term influencer. (Yes, I am Keyinfluencer on Twitter) In 1996 while I was an executive at Columbia Records I built an email newsletter that I worked on in my office, late at night and in between music video shoots and artist in-store appearances. New York City felt like a big high school to me and my desire was to tell the stories of those of who worked behind the scenes every day. My theory was that we were making the toys that the world played with and as toymakers we should know each other. We were the “Gepettos of culture” with each of responsible for items, icons, movements that were driving the voice or “urban America".” These people were my friends and we shared town car vouchers in New York City, bottles of champagne in Miami and suites at the Nikko in Los Angeles. There would be no Bad Boy, Def Jam, Fubu, Ecko, Alan Iverson, Missy Elliott, Destiny’s Child, Nas, Will Smith and even Jim Carey if not for the contributions of young, culturally plugged in executives like myself working tirelessly behind the scenes in thankless jobs with what seemed like never ending expense accounts. I chose to use a new platform of communication called “the world-wide web” as my platform of choice and instrument of disruption. Sure while there were things like Billboard Magazine and Hits, Vibe Magazine and The Source there was no social media and no way to get information out in real time outside of email. So I took to AOL and started scraping email addresses of executives behind the scenes of places like NBA, Vibe Magazine, La Face Records and EA Sports and built a database of 300 email addresses. Much like this platform, I was able to immediately share my thoughts and highlight the accomplishments of young men and women that I knew personally and I felt more people needed to know about. In 1996-1997, Soul Purpose was born with Andy Platnum, a fictitious character I created as Editor In Chief. I had a “day job” as Sr. Director, Marketing at Columbia Records and “side hustles” weren’t totally supported and plus a “anonymous character” could move around without anyone knowing. Truth be told my close inner circle knew I was Andy and the insider information was validated by some of the most trusted power figures in hip hop / urban culture, but they were sworn to secrecy. The newsletter grew in popularity (300 readers became 25,000) and eventually my contract ended at Columbia Records.
Culture Signals 1.5.20: The Origin Story
Culture Signals 1.5.20: The Origin Story
Culture Signals 1.5.20: The Origin Story
Cheat Codes I’m very comfortable writing so all of this return to blogging feels like riding a bike. Truth be told I was blogging before it was called blogging and an influencer before the term influencer. (Yes, I am Keyinfluencer on Twitter) In 1996 while I was an executive at Columbia Records I built an email newsletter that I worked on in my office, late at night and in between music video shoots and artist in-store appearances. New York City felt like a big high school to me and my desire was to tell the stories of those of who worked behind the scenes every day. My theory was that we were making the toys that the world played with and as toymakers we should know each other. We were the “Gepettos of culture” with each of responsible for items, icons, movements that were driving the voice or “urban America".” These people were my friends and we shared town car vouchers in New York City, bottles of champagne in Miami and suites at the Nikko in Los Angeles. There would be no Bad Boy, Def Jam, Fubu, Ecko, Alan Iverson, Missy Elliott, Destiny’s Child, Nas, Will Smith and even Jim Carey if not for the contributions of young, culturally plugged in executives like myself working tirelessly behind the scenes in thankless jobs with what seemed like never ending expense accounts. I chose to use a new platform of communication called “the world-wide web” as my platform of choice and instrument of disruption. Sure while there were things like Billboard Magazine and Hits, Vibe Magazine and The Source there was no social media and no way to get information out in real time outside of email. So I took to AOL and started scraping email addresses of executives behind the scenes of places like NBA, Vibe Magazine, La Face Records and EA Sports and built a database of 300 email addresses. Much like this platform, I was able to immediately share my thoughts and highlight the accomplishments of young men and women that I knew personally and I felt more people needed to know about. In 1996-1997, Soul Purpose was born with Andy Platnum, a fictitious character I created as Editor In Chief. I had a “day job” as Sr. Director, Marketing at Columbia Records and “side hustles” weren’t totally supported and plus a “anonymous character” could move around without anyone knowing. Truth be told my close inner circle knew I was Andy and the insider information was validated by some of the most trusted power figures in hip hop / urban culture, but they were sworn to secrecy. The newsletter grew in popularity (300 readers became 25,000) and eventually my contract ended at Columbia Records.