2Rare is also gifted with $250k in a Louis Vuitton bag full of cash after signing with Second Estate.
Music Executive Mel Carter signs 2Rare for $800k on the spot at the Second Estate Records Launch Party before gifting him with $250k in a Louis Vuitton bag full of cash. Over $1million in one night.
Mel Carter hands rapper 2Rare $250k in cash
“There’s a lot of police here so don’t try nothin’ funny,” Carter said jokingly to the crowd.
A&R veteran and entrepreneur Mel Carter, has entered into a worldwide joint venture with Warner Records after creating Second Estate Records. With a focus on developing young talent, Second Estate’s first signing, breakout Philadelphia rapper 2rare, has already seen success thanks to his viral hit “Q-Pid” featuring Lil Durk.
Philly artist 2Rare holding $250k in cash at the Second Estate Launch Party
The launch party for the label was held at the Standard Hotel, East Village in New York on Saturday evening. Guests enjoyed complimentary food, open bar and music entertainment by Sounds of Reality. The packed out event had a lot of support. Carter’s Bonjangle’s franchise business partner Coach K came out to the event to support along with billionaire Mike Novogratz.
Under the terms of the deal, Warner Records will provide the full spectrum of marketing and distribution services for Second Estate’s artists and recordings. Carter will also serve as a consultant to the A&R team for Warner Records’ wide-ranging artist roster, working closely with Steve Carless (President of A&R) and Karen Kwak (EVP and Head of A&R). For more on Mel Carter, make sure to follow him on Instagram @MelCarter.
From appearing in your favorite rappers instagram content and your favorite R&B singers music videos, throwing her own show, producing records, and over all creating her own lane – Sara Kawaii is making her mark on the music industry. Sara Kawaii is a 23 year old harpist, producer, and beatclub A&R, who currently resides in Los Angeles, California. The creative spoke more with RemixdMag about her musical journey and how she got started.
In a recent interview, Kawaii tells RemixdMag that her journey in the music industry began when she picked up the harp at 8 years old.
“I didn’t like it at first,” Sara explained. “I had a really scary Russian teacher but I just stuck with it for a while. I started doing orchestra and that’s when I really started to enjoy playing the harp. I liked playing with other people and I never liked playing alone so playing with other people was better for me. I just did that throughout high school and college.”
However, the classical music space wasn’t her end goal.
“Since I was in middle school I wanted to play with cool artists and not just do Orchestra all day,” she said. “I think that’s the same with a lot of other people who do classical music just because I think our generation is starting to realize how racist and white the classical music side is. They can be very judgmental and put you into a box so it’s hard to be an individual.”
In college, Sara got her opportunity to branch out as she began producing for hip hop, pop, and R&B artists, as well as creating covers of popular songs in those genres in collaboration with Sparky.
Her first big session was with R&B singer Umi and her first big cover video was in collaboration with Los Angeles artist Blxst.
“I love Blxst a lot,” she continued. “That was a crazy experience because I literally just dm’d him. I was like, ‘Yo do you want to do a video with Sparky?’ and he was like, ‘Bet,’ and then he pulled up to the shoot.”
Sara has gone on to appear in videos with 24kGoldn, Sabrina Claudio, Kehlani, Blxst, Shordie Shordie, Kalan.FrFr and more. She also has worked with numerous artists and producers as a studio musician and producer as well.
“I just love rap,” Sara told RemixdMag. “It’s cool bringing an instrument like the harp into rap music because the harp is so delicate and pretty and rap can be on the edge – just kinda…hard. Bringing those two together is really cool. Just to add femininity to rap because I feel like they don’t have enough of that.”
However, Sara’s success in bringing femininity into rap has not been without some struggle. The lack of femininity and women in music in general is a reality Sara says that she is faced with everyday.
“It’s hard being a woman in production just because we don’t get as much respect as our male counterparts … I’ll pull up to a session and I’ll play something that I made and they’re so shocked that it was made by a woman,” she said. “I don’t like that feeling and I mostly work with female artists at the moment just because we already are so misjudged in the industry that it’s better to work with women in solidarity.”
This struggle hasn’t stopped Sara from achieving at a high level or imagining a better future for female musicians.
“The main thing is that men have to be the ones who support women and bring them into new opportunities. I feel like it’s just not enough men who take women into consideration first. It’s always their homey or someone they know that’s a male. I feel like just making the space more comfortable for women will make women want to pursue those kinds of careers more.”
Miami Gardens, Florida artist Keemo is up next. Fresh off the release of “I Hate U” on Soundcloud, Keemo is showing listeners why he’s one to watch.
Combined with his pugnacious flow and witty punchlines, Keemo offers a futuristic vibe to his music, offering a range of different sounds and tones that keeps people on their toes when listening to him. His debut project, Delayed, just serves as one example of that.
“I can rap like they need me to rap,” he says. “But I’m in love with the melodies in music and when you’re dealing with melodies you gotta sing.”
Growing up between South Florida and Jamaica, Keemo was first inspired by his mother’s love of soul (Freddie Jackson, Bobby Caldwell, et. al) and influenced by a life wanting more.
“I alway say, you have poverty, the ghetto and the struggle,” explains Keemo. “The struggle is mom trying to get by. You don’t lack a lot of things, but you don’t have what you want. And that’s how we came up. So, we always had to be tough. Especially in Miami. We might not have had gangs like Bloods and Crips, but you had to grow up tough and every man for themselves. That aggression, it’s just naturally me as a result.”
Soon after following in his older brother’s footsteps, Keemo pivoted from hoop dreams to hip-hop during high school. Soon, Keemo found himself studying his favorite artists online and searching YouTube for beats he could rap on. He’d try on styles from T-Pain, OutKast, Chris Brown and Drake, among others. He ditched his college plans after a couple semesters and explored his craft until he started finding his voice and penning original material.
Keemo says that he wants to make real music, feel good music, timeless music.
B1GJuice is an artist to to keep a close ear to. The Ontario based artist with a unique voice is here to let the world know he’s not a force to be reckoned with. “I use my uniquely powerful voice, captivating storytelling, and smooth, memorable flows to create Soul-Hop; an emotion-filled genre of music that combines elements of Soul, Jazz, Blues, and Hip Hop”, B1GJuice tells Remixdmag.
Music wasn’t always a part of the artist’s gameplan. B1GJuice originally wanted to pursue a career in football, however due to unforeseen circumstances, he redirected his passion to music. “I found music and it gave me the ability to express my hurt and my pain; things I was never able to do without football.” However, pursuing music helped the artist affirm that he made the right decision due to the overflowing support from his fans.
That hurt inspired B1GJuice’s latest project Shadows. “Shadows captures the sense of loss and psychological demons that have plagued B1GJuice as he navigates fatherhood and the cutthroat hustle.” With songs such as “Dusk”, “City of Angels”, and “Dawn”, B1GJuice really encapsulates the meaning of healing traumas and through his music. He wants people to know, “keep pushing. It doesn’t matter what you’ve been through, where you currently at, or what you got in front of you. If you are readying this, you got life and that should be enough to motivate you…because one day you won’t.”
As for what’s next for B1GJuice, has an upcoming album on the way before the year is over. Read more on his interview below!
What city are you from/ Where are you based now?
Born in Toronto (Rexdale), Ontario and am currently based in Brampton, Ontario.
What is your artist name? What is your real name? How did you get your artist name?
B1GJuice is my artist name and my real name is Tyreek (nothing close I know). My artist name came from the fact that I’m usually one of the biggest people in any room and coming out of highschool I was know to “juice” more than usual still (not steroids, the other “juicing” lol). If you came up in my era and are from the GTA you know what I mean.
How would you describe your sound to readers who may not be familiar with you?
Never done this before, let’s try. I use my uniquely powerful voice, captivating storytelling, and smooth, memorable flows to create Soul-Hop; an emotion-filled genre of music that combines elements of Soul, Jazz, Blues, and Hip Hop *Morgan Freeman voice.
What’s one reason you are passionate about music and what inspires you?
Music saved my life. I know it sounds cliche but it’s true for me. Football was my everything, so when I lost the ability to pursue that passion, I lost a piece of myself. I was in a dark, deep hole when I found music and it gave me the ability to express my hurt and my pain; things I was never able to do without football. Now I’m inspired by the messages I get from fans that tell me how my music is helping them get through dark times. This music thing has come full circle for me and I just want to continue to help folks by telling my story.
Who are some of your main musical influences?
I am heavily influenced by golden era hiphop (Rakim, Notorious B.I.G) and Jazz/Soul (Otis Redding, Duke Ellington). Expression wise I am heavily influenced by acts like Queen and Bob Marley. Any artist that has the ability to express and evoke true, raw emotion with a message has always gravitated towards me.
Tell us the name of the project you are currently promoting? What inspired this project?
My latest project is titled “SHADOWS” and my past trauma is what inspired this project. My journey from that hole I spoke about earlier, to the top of the mountain is what pushed me to write this project. I accumulated the stories and lessons learned along the way and turned them into a project I could share with others who may able to find some solace in it. I stillI suffer from depression and anxiety, but I push daily to be better; there was a time when I didn’t have the energy to do so though. So now that i am in a better place, I thought it best to shed some light on how I got here.
Date that this project dropped or is set to drop?
The project released last month and is available on all streaming platforms. I also released a short film and a scrapbook for purchase. Currently the short film is only for private viewing through a QR Code link that is inside the scrapbook. They are available for purchase here – https://b1gjuice.bandcamp.com/merch/shadows-scrapbook
What is this project about in your own words?
Let me plug my PR people in right here LOL – “Shadows” captures the sense of loss and psychological demons that have plagued B1GJuice as he navigates fatherhood and the cutthroat hustle. With production/engineering from Toronto talent Bitter & Broke, and Colin Ong, the album provides a strong blend of classic and contemporary sounds to provide a timeless narrative of pain endured. Funded in part by FACTOR and Canada Council for the Arts; “Shadows” is a long-form meditation on healing through art, and combatting self-destructive tendencies as an artist, through mixed-media creations in addition to the album itself.
What’s next for you? Are you working on any upcoming projects we should be on the lookout for? Include some dates if you have them.
Lookout for another project before the year is over with, trying to go three for three. I have an event I will be producing and hosting on November 11th at Bar Cathedral (54 The Esplanade, Toronto) at 9 PM so if anyone reading this trying to turn up, pull up! Other than that just stay locked into my socials.
What message do you hope fans take away from your music and from this project?
Keep Pushing. It doesn’t matter what you’ve been through, where you currently at, or what you got in front of you. If you are readying this, you got life and that should be enough to motivate you…because one day you won’t.
Where can we follow you on social media? Include links.
Anywhere you can find music my name is “B1GJuice” and my social media pages are
“@b1gjuice” except for twitter “@b1gjuice905” (my man wouldn’t give up the name).
