Steven Victor sees the music industry as more than just a numbers game. In the world of Spotify streams and YouTube views, he needs to see the artist as more than just their statistics. As Def Jam’s executive vice president and head of A&R (Artists and Repertoire), Victor is always on the lookout for new talent. He oversees a staff of 20 people responsible for A&R. Together, they’re in charge of the task of finding each new breakout artist the label signs.
'When They See Us," has been the topic of nearly everyone’s conversation over the course of the last two weeks. The Netflix miniseries directed by Ava Duvernay touched on so many important subtopics, it’ll make your head spin. I know that not everyone has had the chance to see it, and some have even chosen not to because of how difficult it is to process the emotions that will be triggered. The story is about five teenage African American and Hispanic boys who were sent to prison after being wrongfully accused and ultimately convicted for a rape and sexual assault of a white woman that they did not commit. As a journalist, one thing that was troubling to watch was the media’s biased coverage of the events. While that part of the series was just a mere subplot, I couldn’t help but think how unfortunate it was that there was really no fair representation of those young men in the media. That probably wouldn’t have been the case had the North Star been around to speak truth to power. Giving the young men a fair representation in the media, rather than prematurely concluding that they were guilty.
Photographer/ Blogger Tommy Ton innovatively captures photos that fuel his obsession with fashion. Tommy Ton has the job that every fashionista dreams of, he takes photos of the fashion industry’s key players and posts them on his blog titled “Jak & Jil,” as well as style.com and gq.com. Ton doesn’t just snap pictures of celebs, but instead his blog is filled with photos of fashion editors, buyers and stylists.
With every stroke of his brush, admirers could easily understand his genius and creativity. Today is not necessarily a sad day, because of the loss of this great artist. It is a day of reflection, and remembrance of a great American emblem.
“The philosophy is to keep doing what we’re doing and to enjoy it. We’re coming from a working class background and a working class town, we’ve had to fight and work for everything we’ve got. We’re only getting started man. The fact of the matter is we’re doing a hobby and making it a reality day after day. We’ll just continue to work hard and achieve big things,” said Stevie Jukes in an interview with The Seventh Hex.
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