 Wow what's up everybody once again is brand man Sean and as you can see I have a very special guest for you guys. I can't wait to introduce you to this guy he is a staff writer currently at Elevator Magazine but he's written for publications such as Revolt Media and TV. He's been writing for a while we're going to go through not only the struggles of being a writer and just what that looks like in general for someone who might want to be a writer but also just how do writers look at content right and I know a lot of you guys are trying to get your content written about so there'll be a lot of value for that with you guys so without further ado I'd like to introduce you to Arman Sattler. What's up Arman? Hey man Sean thanks so much for having me it's great to first of all your platform is awesome and it's great that someone thinks my opinion is worth having on this platform so looking forward to the conversation and hopefully I can inspire someone who wants to be a writer or get into the music industry. Hey for sure for sure man so what just to jump right into it man first of all what made you want to be a writer? Yeah sure so it actually was a very random happening so I was looking for internships in the summer of my sophomore year of college I went to Cornell so there's a lot of pressure to find that investment banking internship or that big one where you can live in New York City and do all this fun stuff but you know me that was that was never really the path I wanted to go I was always a very creative person I came into college I want to be a sports broadcaster at ESPN so I was looking into the internships pertaining to that didn't really work out so a couple months before the semester ended my mom connected me with one of my cousins who worked at a place called musictimes.com in New York City when an interview was able to talk to her a bit kind of figure out what they were doing and what I would be doing at the company as an intern and yeah started there it was really cool being in an office where people are just listening to music talking about music interviewing artists like everything was music related and I had such a strong love for music throughout my life sang in the church choir would rap for fun with my cousins like you know just stuff that like everyone does but I never really thought of it being a career that I would want to pursue and I didn't know what my specific role would look like so being there and you know as an intern you do the typical making copies getting coffee stuff like that but they really gave me a lot of cool opportunities to write questions for interviews to post my own articles I was published for the first time in the summer of 2015 I wrote an article it was it was sports articles because they would do sports and music but just being around those people being around people who wrote for like some of them were writing for 10 years and they just had such such a wealth of knowledge to share with me and I was like you know like this is I really enjoyed my summer here and I've always enjoyed writing I would in college or high school when I was writing essays like those were the types of things I look forward to I hated exams I like presentations for public speaking but when it came to essays like just sitting down and just putting all your ideas on paper like that's an art and that's a skill and that's something that I took a lot of pride in got you so one second man one second so you basically didn't even want to get into music you knew you want to do some writing of some sort you didn't want to run do that DC investment baking like so many of course now people I do now do the music kind of happened haphazardly you were you were in this position and you said oh man this is nice right but yeah that's cool so once you made that career direction or that career choice as far as being in a writer what was that struggle to be a light because I know you can work one place but so many of the writers I know write for multiple places at one time explain why that is yeah so it was it was very tough for me to figure out like you know I obviously had the people at the internship who I worked with previously but in terms of people who were really close to me who I spoke with every day like all of my friends and colleagues and fraternity brothers they would all be doing you know those typical careers like law or finance so I was really doing a lot of it on my own in terms of networking in terms of learning stuff and then you actually have to know what you're talking about in terms of music like I see so many articles where you know people are giving their opinions on things but they're not necessarily covering everything that's permanent like you know what is the artist done lately what's coming out for them how what were the reactions like to their previous music like there's just a lot of things that you need to include in these type of articles and you know I got some of that experience at music times but a lot of it I had to learn on my own so I actually ended up writing for a startup called hand me the ox back in 2016 that that one of my colleagues at Cornell colleague peer I don't know the proper word he was involved with this so so he set me up and I was really happy there I didn't recognize then that to really get my name out there and to really land some dope opportunities like I needed to be putting out consistent content but I also needed to network I got very complacent writing for hand me the ox it was a fun group they gave me a lot of creative freedom they gave that I could write about literally anything I could it could be the longest article it could be the shortest article so I got really comfortable there but it took me summer 2016 when I saw one of my friends working for four different publications and how how much she was doing amazing things interviewing people going to events everything that I would have loved to do but I just didn't know how to go about it so upon speaking with her and I can't stress it enough networking and using people who you know who do what you do and don't use them like obviously build that genuine relationship take an interest in what they're doing do your research but the people closest to you who are your age and this person's actually a year younger than me so I felt behind looking at what she was doing but fortunately she was a really helpful person she gave me a lot of insight about how to network the going to literally going to events just going up to people and talking to them and and not being afraid to tell them what you do like it's not bragging you you you're just hearing information that that could ultimately help someone else so yeah and in terms of writing from multiple publications that's it's just a really good way to get your name out there and also to get a very different experience hand me the ox because it was a startup I had a lot of creative freedom working at the source magazine in the summer of 2017 I was basically told what to write and most of it I was interested in because it was hip hop but I do like you know the opportunity to kind of come up with my own things and put them on paper and find my own specific angles and in my most recent position as a staff writer at elevator I also get that creative freedom it's a balance I get the creative freedom within their things thrown my way so it just gives you a more diverse experience and you're really able to determine what you want to do whether you want to be somewhere that's a startup that's growing or you want to go to a super established magazine like the like the source magazine and kind of just be a part of it even though you're not necessarily affecting change there so it's all about personal preference but you know writing for multiple publications gives you that opportunity to really test the waters and a lot of different areas so as you started to get your experience in the game what have you decided in terms of the route that you want to go do you want to be a more so well known writer like household name are you just happy working for publications and getting a decent income good income maybe you work your way up to be an editor or something one day but it's not necessarily brand based outside of the immediate industry right you have those writers who are known by the general public and you have those writers who are known well within the industry and just do what they do and keep moving yeah so for me one of the most important things for me in my life is having options i want the option to pursue being an editor i want the option to say okay i've written enough now i want to pursue being a manager or an a and r at a label i love music has driven me to open myself up to a lot of different possibilities when i first started writing a hand with the ox it was fun like i said i got very complacent but then i realized that you know i wasn't necessarily getting the exposure that i wanted so i took a chance to apply to the source got that role now my articles are going out to millions of people daily um that's really awesome and you know again being able to write for multiple publications allows your name to stretch across various different networks so for me you know if if things go a certain way and i happen to become a editor at a publication that would be awesome if i happen to you know write for a long time and connect with certain artists and then and then and then become an a and r or a manager somewhere that would be awesome i tell people a lot of the time that i don't want to be a writer forever um there's it's it definitely doesn't pay the best and you know for me because music is my passion i'm i'm okay with that but i am looking to make money eventually so even like what does k typically look like um for a writer when when we talk about freelance then we talk about being a staff writer and any other variations what are the primary variations you've experienced it depends one like you said whether it's whether you're on staff or your freelance then it depends also on the on the publication that you're working for if it's a big one like uh the source or complex or genius then you're more than likely gonna be paid whether you're on staff or you're freelancing freelancing you get paid per article staff yeah there's like a flat rate typically um so and then yeah yeah it depends on where your company's at hand me the ox i started there in 2016 it started a month before i joined so i haven't gotten paid anything for it but because i get along so well with everyone who works there and because i've just enjoyed the experience and it's helped me become a much better writer in these last three years i'm completely okay with that and i'm happy well getting money from them when it comes but that's not something i'm concerned about with hand me the ox when it comes to you know the these bigger roles that i have and you know because i'm out going to events and networking and uh you know connecting with artists so i can secure exclusive premiers for us then you know i would like to be paid you know what i'm worth and that's something that i learned from joe budden i learned it from a lot of different people you know you have to know your value and i think people have this habit of of being too loyal to places and investing in the long term and also not really seeing their value you have to know really know your value and and when you know it take it with you everywhere you go and make sure that people recognize that i really enjoy my current role at at elevator because me and my editor we talk every day he shows me a lot of appreciation for the topics i come up with i try to put out you know as as many articles as possible i'm staying in tune with music culture and throwing different ideas on how to make the publication better so for me i see it as a long term investment and as much as i would like money right now i know that it's gonna come because i'm doing things actively to help the brand become bigger got it so what does that look like in terms of your personal brand though right because you say you want options and there's two major types of branding when it comes to this right there's once again that industry branding and then the the wider public have you started to focus on your branding of yourself as an as a um a writer whereas not just the people you happen to be working with that know your name but you start to integrate into other people who just happen to be peeping within the industry absolutely yeah i'm constantly attending different networking events in uh in a new york city just advertising myself you know i it's interesting too because i usually try to not come out immediately with who i write for because you know certain people that they'll only speak to you if they think that they can get something out of me so if i come from the beginning like alright for elevator or vault then obviously like someone who's an artist trying to get a premiere is gonna be like oh word you know like i love them blah blah this that and the third and it might not be genuine so i just tell people that i'm a writer i've got a passionate passion for music i tell them how long i've done it and then i usually try to throw out like a topic pertaining to music like oh did you check out this album or oh what do you think about this beef and just you know talk with people and i gain knowledge from them and i'm also able to give them my own knowledge and then you know we can get into oh these are the publications that that i write for this that and third but you know for me at the end of the day like i would rather people recognize me for me rather than who i'm associated with just in case they're only looking to get something out of who i'm associated with and i also try to show my knowledge and i don't know all there is to know about music their classic album that i need to revisit their albums that have come out more recently that i need to revisit but i try to really stay in tune and stay in the know so i can have these conversations with people and and and they can be impressed by you know someone who's very well read and and researchers and then i can come out with oh by the way this is who i write for so like you can check out my content there and then it gives it some some uh some i don't really know the proper word there but it just makes it more like realistic i guess i feel you and who are like what are the top projects in your mind right now they that have come out this year so far i would be interested to know which ones that have really resonate with you specifically yeah no it's uh it's a tough question i think about it every day because there's so much music coming out now that you can't really sit with an album for a week because there's something coming the following week unless it's one of your favorite artists so i would say number one this year is astral road travis scott uh still haven't skipped a song there phenomenal production uh great features the fact that he didn't list the features that was an amazing first listen because you just see the song titles and you're like oh frank ocean oh drake sway lee like wow this is like travis really put a lot of effort into this but he also he didn't want people to look at the track list look for their favorite artists and just listen to those songs he made it a very holistic experience so astral road one scorpion by drake number two drake is my favorite rapper i'm not gonna hide that there was a lot writing on this album with the push of t beef and just i will with the point he's at in in in his career like he's almost he's succeeded so much that he set the bar too high for himself but i feel like scorpion was the best album he's put out since take care and i i would venture to say it might be better than take care but that's just me and that's a whole other conversation number three push of t daytona you know people were complaining that the seven song albums weren't going to be long enough but that was absolutely more than enough it was it was short but it was every song was impactful khanye killed the production on that the features were very strategic even khanye with his poop scoop nonsense like it worked it was it was catchy it was funny hi you know and khanye is a whole other conversation that we can get into because i don't want people thinking that you know i'm a supporter of everything but his his production and his verse on uh what would meek do very solid on that album number four i would probably go j-rock redemption um you know i've i've been very aware of td obviously kendrick is the biggest name there but j-rock was actually in tde before kendrick and kendrick was like his hype man people say um but kendrick kind of took that platform like he's he's the biggest name out of td but j-rock great lyricist uh he he has one of the verses of the year on uh king's dead so i'm glad to see that he put that on on his album the uh rotation 112th uh the wow freestyle out of sight out of mile with j cole like he's got he's definitely got a collection of hits but but there's a narrative there and it's you know it's one of those albums you can feel like it's it's not for casual listening you sit you listen to it it makes you think but you also feel a lot more connected to him yeah number five is tough uh if we're going just rap albums then i would go kod by cole but if we're going rap and r&b or just all inclusive genres i gotta go islana love letter by black that um let's go with that black me i listened to that on on my flight home from uh i think miami and you know just you're on a flight you're just sitting there you got nothing else to do so you really can sit with music and listen to it and he's one of the best right now at both singing and rapping you know it was a 14 15 song project he only had four features but the ones he had were very well picked future did great offsets versus great cole's verse on pretty little fears another verse of the year even you know the song with khalid and that's towards my bottom on the album but you know black made something that again it's another album you can really feel um and and it was definitely a turn from his first album free black that was very dark and very you know it just felt very he was kind of in that mysterious phase of his life and islana love letter it feels like he's more breaking into the you know this is who i am people really get to know me i'm i'm kind of mainstream but i'm also one of the best at what i'm doing that like i felt like he was making a statement towards all these guys who were trying to do the trap r&b like he really he really put together a great work i listen to that so often yeah black is something special man i think what's going to happen with him i mean i like i love the way he carries himself and he's really strategic about being how who he is but how he expresses that publicly through his brand but i think the um time i don't know if you know about the time he had with flow rider and like writing all these pop hits do you compare and take heed of his battleground battle rap days and then couple that with writing pop songs for people like flow rider and then mesh that type of knowledge from those extremes into what he's doing i think he's gonna have a lot of lasting power man and just create great content that's not necessarily pop but still has that level of appeal like he's he's killing it man he's very versatile and that's that's what it's all about nowadays you know people come into the industry they get caught up in the auto tune they get caught up in the trap beats but he can he can really do it all and that's how you that's how you establish staying power that's what's up um when you talk about artists and i've heard you mentioned your top um projects what do you look for when it comes to the rider the up and coming artists that you write about yeah so um you know given that there is a certain culture of music these days you know the mainstream culture people call it bubble gum rap or pop rap where everyone's using auto tune everyone's doing these trap beats with 808s and stuff like that and i like that that's the type of stuff that i like to turn up to or if i'm getting ready for a sporting event back in the day when i played sports then you know that's the type of stuff that i would listen to when it comes to these publications and and artists who i personally like to write about it's all about the story it's all about where you came from your work ethic what you you know promote through your music and just really you you know you're full package like so someone can make a really good song there are a lot of people who make really good songs right but there are people who don't you don't necessarily feel engaged to them so you don't necessarily feel that that need to continually check out their content and do research on them and follow them on social media so and that's those are things that take into account like if artists put their social media in their emails when they send me stuff i look at that too you know i i look to see what types of what they're really putting out what they want people to see you know music is a shared experience and it's beyond you know the beats and the lyrics it's you know you you can really put yourself out there people can really get a sense of of who you are so you know when i skim through all of the submissions i get and it's it's a lot and it's it's tough to keep up with yeah it's it's very very tough but you know i'm really i'll go ahead sorry now the people just randomly like i don't submit to you through elevator or these other publications and you're filtering that way or are these people you just meet on the street and you give them a you you give them your info and then they hit you up yeah no it's it's a lot of different ways i mean there are people who find my email address i don't know how they do it but they somehow find my email address and send me stuff and i'm impressed by but by tenacity and doing your research so like that's cool like if someone who i've never heard of never met finds my email and sends me something i'll listen to it because like you took the time out to find me specifically which also it kind of strokes my ego a little bit but that's besides the point um but um yeah so that that you know they send submissions through elevator and then my editor might show it to me um you know again at these networking events i do meet people but that's that's always the most that's always a very interesting thing for me again that's another reason that i like to not tell people who who i write for immediately because you know certain people will just come up to you and hand you their card be like oh you're right for this like listen to my stuff check out my social media if we don't have a conversation you just hand me a card and you know tell me to follow a link like chances are i'm not gonna do it unless you happen to be performing that night and like i see you do do a show live and you kill it i'm probably not gonna like hold on to that card and go home and be like oh i need to check this out but if someone comes up to me they genuinely want to get to know me we have a conversation we just you know we kick it and we talk about anything and then it i like it comes up where i work for and then it comes up that that that they do music they want me to listen to i'm more inclined i'm i'm all about the engagement right i'm about building a genuine relationship with people got you have you ever reached out to artists like you just you know you're seeing some music out there or you're out on the social landscape and next thing you know you say yo who is this or you and you reach out to him right out of right about him or you just write an impromptu article you know under your own volition absolutely yeah no there have been tons of artists recently who i've been reaching out to um and i like to apply the whole shoot your shot thing that people use with men and women and dating like i use that professionally like if i'm writing an article about an artist and maybe he's not that popping yet so i don't know i can't find stuff about him through google or whatever then i'll shoot him a dm like hey man i'm about to do a cover on you i really liked your verse on this can you just tell me you know where you're from and some details and and anything else that you're coming out with lately and artists who who who are up and coming and who want to be on on these platforms they'll they'll absolutely respond like they they look for stuff like that like that's one of the most tough things as a creator which i'm sure you uh you can understand even though you've gotten to where you are you're doing phenomenal like when you first start out you're very sensitive and you're kind of insecure about your content you know if if it's not really getting the engagement that you want so you know for me if i was if i was an artist and someone dm me saying hey i'm about to write an article on you i want to know this like that would be the most exciting thing ever because one they heard my stuff two they heard it and they liked it enough to the point where they want to write about it and three they have the courage to contact me and and build that relationship so you know there was one artist i wrote about he's from cali uh really great guy and like we've we've been keeping in touch since then and like whenever he has new stuff he sends it to me so that gives me an opportunity to have more content to write about and and you know his name is showing up more consistently so he's able to build more of a following and it works to both of our benefits and that's what it's all about you know building these relationships with artists and within this industry you have to have something to offer like people aren't always looking to just do things for you and and invest in you without anything coming out of their investment so i always try to make sure there's a mutual benefit so that sounds great and but pretend i'm an artist right and i know every single writer they kind of have their own taste right everybody has their own taste it's not one magic bullet but what are some of the things let's talk about a specific artist scenario or maybe a few artists that you came across and you really are supporting them and they don't really have a strong following they might have 5 000 followers on instagram i don't know but you know somebody who you would consider is pretty early on and don't and they don't have the momentum where you could say hey i'm just hopping on the phone i'm hopping on a bandwagon but i'm all more so kind of might be one of those people who actually break this artist because i'm one of the first people to present them to the world are there a few artists like that that you've written about absolutely yeah yeah um you know being living in new jersey and being in new york all the time there are plenty of artists who i've met that i'm like wow you're talented you should be known like well why don't people know you yet and having this opportunity in this platform as a writer i'm able to share advice and share insight you know like the story of rockhampton and how the you know they kind of built their own independent following through social media that's really inspiring and that's something that i continually bring up when i speak to artists like this like nowadays it's not just about having a good sound anymore and it's not just about your story it's it's how you utilize social media and how you brand yourself so if an artist isn't using you know uh using their their twitter or their instagram properly i'm like hey you should make your instagram you should make it a business profile you should be putting sponsored ads for you know whatever content you're putting out and you should target specific regions because you know you kind of moved out regionally before you build out nationally or hey you know like you your song's good but maybe you should try this and maybe you should add some background vocals you know i've had the opportunities to be in studios with with some of these artists as well so it just gives me more more tangible knowledge that that that i can then share with other artists because that's that's all i want like i i want to be able to really help people understand that this isn't you know a lot of people with discourage pursuing music whether it's as an artist or as a writer they say oh it's not realistic not everyone's gonna make it i want people to feel like this is something tangible for them i want them to chase their dream because it's their dream and not feel like they're you know they're missing out or they go or they're going the wrong way you know but just to clarify who but who are some of these artists though i'm asking specifically like give me a couple of names and maybe what those artists like what you saw on those artists when you looked into a man said wow this is somebody i want to write about absolutely yeah so uh there is one artist by the name of nicholas early he's uh originally from covena california um he currently resides in Harlem he's an r&b soul guy he just dropped an e p back in august called for everything i've done um very very beautiful voice it's it's one of the most just naturally raw it's like he he sounds like one of those r&b tracks from like the 80s like the the way his voice it's like it's like soothing but it's it's like powerful at the same time and you know but there's difference between singing well and being able to put together uh good songs and he he's he's my age 23 now he's been writing since he was 15 years old getting in studios working on vocals connecting with with producers um but you know he was a full-time student and then he was working full time in new york so he wasn't able to put all this time into into his craft i i firmly believe if he was doing music 24-7 he would he he he'd be popping by like the end of this year i think he's popping i think he's very talented but you know the the social media following and all that might not reflect it and it takes time like this isn't something that you do when you just become popping from the get so that's one person uh as another artist by the name of kush.wave uh wave without an e so just wav he's uh he's a rapper um very strong auto tune use but but he has really nice vocals as well comes up with some very catchy hooks and um i think he has a really great sound same thing with him uh he's just got to work on his branding a little more um and and i think that he'll be great personally and then there's another artist by the name of jack lane he's another new york rapper uh he's been he's also been doing this music stuff since he was like 15 he just dropped an album back in april and then he ended up going on tour with uh cause from from dreamville what he he for him in like dc philly i think he did a show out in oakland as well um so he's he's definitely a little further along than nick and kush but um you know it still just takes takes branding um it takes you know really putting yourself out there consistent content and you know consistent content is tough because you have to strategize you don't want to over saturate but at the same time uh russ talked about this in one of his interviews one month in the music industry is like one year so people don't hear from you for like one month it's very easy to forget about you so it's really hard to set over saturate the market these days people have so many choices they're consuming so much content it's hard it's easier to be forgotten a lot easier to be forgotten than put up too much music you put out a lot of music they'll choose whatever they like and then they'll keep listening to that um i um looked up kush that wave right so i see he has 260 followers on instagram so he's supporting him he's super early on but you mess with his music have you written about him already not yet not yet uh he is he's in the process of um of you know making more songs and then he's kind of going to strategize which single he wants to drop first um so so i've been speaking with him about his plan because he really wants to take his time and make sure he goes about it right um so with him you know i'm i'm kind of just waiting it out letting him figure out his artistic process figure out what songs he really likes and then once that single drops i'll have something on him uh nick i wrote about on uh hey hammy the ox uh but back when his e p dropped and then when he dropped his single a couple months prior to then and then uh jock actually he has a single dropping on uh my job now at a elevator it drops in about an hour and 25 minutes um so i was really exciting for me to be able to put him on my platform uh and get him some more exposure so yeah you know it's it's i kind of try to work with the artists and you know if because kush has songs out but he really has a lot of faith in the content that's coming so i'm kind of waiting on him to be you know fully ready to like hit the ground running and put out stuff and then from there i'll give a bit more coverage dope so the way this relationship works in general like so let me see how can i say this so a safe way to just speak in general not necessarily just your relationship with artists but if you feel like the writer artist relationship happens to go like this would it be safe to say it's you might meet an artist just because you meet them and you like them doesn't mean you're going to write about them immediately but there's an ongoing relationship you're learning more about them over time and then one day you might you might write an article you might never write an article about it depending on what they're doing but it's really just you reading i mean getting introduced to the artists however you get introduced to them and then you kind of watch them until you feel like you're ready to write an article or maybe they might say hey i got this coming out and then you feel like hey well i can trust these artists i i believe in what they're doing and i might support is that right absolutely it's all about the relationship it's all about the timing there are people like there are a couple names who whenever i see them show up in in my email i kind of cringe a bit because i'm like all they're doing is just sending me stuff like i've never we've never really just engaged like that they just they literally would just send me like a press release for a song and a description in the actual song and i'm like after months do you not do you not recognize that maybe there's a different way that you can go about this so you know me personally i really do i can't stress enough i really do value people having that genuine engagement because the music industry is a dog eat dog world and people will do whatever it would do whatever they can to get ahead and take advantage of people so you know i i i try to keep keep my morals a priority keep you know and just operate in a certain way that i'm i'm genuine i don't i don't mislead people i don't say oh i got you with a feature and then it never happens like i always follow up on my stuff but i have to see that you're consistent in what you do as well and and you really value the relationship not just what i can do for you yeah hey man that sun is hitting you real hard right about now um so with that being said what's the best way for an artist to get in contact with the writer outside of sending emails let's say i'm sending these code emails how would i go about developing a better relationship what's a better approach as opposed to just sitting a press kit and five songs listen to my album it hasn't even released yet as if somebody's supposed to care that you're giving them an early preview exclusive to something that they don't even know about because a lot of artists feel like make it seem like they're doing you a favor and i know that for a fact on the other end it's like no man you're kind of intruding please approach me differently so what's the best way at least you would like to be approached me personally i'm always on social media i'm always on twitter instagram so that's the easiest way to reach me because i'm using them the most that's where i get my news on music that's where i you know joke about niki minaj and how she's bugging out with cardi like that that's just where i do a lot of my music consumption and music discussion so it's very easy to get in touch with me there um you know it's it's also for me again on social media yeah yeah yeah so my instagram is just my name uh armand sadler and then my twitter is armizzle a r m i c c l e with an underscore uh i'd say those are really the only ones i mean if you want to find me on facebook it's just my name as well but um yeah for me it's it's it's always impressive when i see people did their research so uh there's one guy dm me he was like hey man you know i saw i see what you do with hand me the aux you know i loved your articles especially this one and then i see you moved on to the source and revolt you know it shows that they actually like you know because i have all my stuff in my bio on twitter and instagram so but if you can you know name something specific that i've done for a specific publication like uh the article i did on on the art of incomplete songs or the article i did on the element of surprise music if you can actually cite something specific from that that's really impressive to me that shows me that you know again you're not just looking to get something out of me but you you took the time to take an interest in what i do and then you also shot your shot professionally and and hit me up on social media and put yourself out there like that's that's really bold it's tough and you know people are always on twitter underneath uh celebrities tweets putting their soundcloud link and stuff like that's cool it's a way to get exposure if you're kind of going off of a celebrity's tweet but if you're it's all about it's all about the direct interaction with people like that's really where you feel the most connected so that i would say social media taking an interest in what i and that's a lesson for all of networking not just for for writers that's for if you're trying to be you're trying to work at Goldman Sachs and and you happen to meet the the vp of whatever like if you go through their LinkedIn and research them and you can like talk them about what they do and then also provide them some information that they have or send them a cool article that's that's a really good way to get over and to build rapport and ultimately lead to a conversation that can get you somewhere so exactly i think that's extremely valuable i actually wrote something called a master music networking guide and i go over a lot of those things very specifically that you just said because it's really about being professional and it's really about showing that this is not some random message you can't just spam everybody you have to show that i chose you to speak like to to reach out to because i saw value in you in particular right well i give you you can't do it as an artist then at least figure out how to fake in some sorts that you chose that person right it's hard to get out there i know you just trying to figure out that one person that could put you on but i think it'll make it a lot easier when you don't look at these writers or these people as that one person that'll put you on because usually it's not anyway you know it's just a building a network of people and eventually that snowballs and now your network let you build might put you on as a whole but it's never going to be just one contact exactly um are there any well just let me hear a little bit more about what your day-to-day is as a writer like this is more for the writers people who want to be in your position what's your day-to-day since you decided hey i'm not going to just be with past the ox i'm going to be writing a multiple load um publications because i'm trying to develop this brand develop my name and my reach what is now what does that look like since you're in that position yeah it's tough so um so elevators based out of chicago so i actually work from home which is awesome a lot of freedom i can wake up when i want to i can do really what i want to but too much freedom is kind of a curse because you know there's no structure so i try to uh structure for myself so i wake up you know i'll check my phone immediately um i'll check twitter see if anything crazy happened in music while i was asleep i'll check instagram i'll check certain artists social media and then from there i try to watch or listen to specific podcasts rap radar on title with uh with uh elliot wilson really dope really great music mind he talks to a lot of great people joe bun podcast i religiously watched that every every wednesday well i listen every wednesday and then it comes out on youtube like two days later but it's it's every wednesday and every saturday on spotify so i listen to that um i watch every day struggle on complex not necessarily because i like academics and his journalistic abilities but they always talk about certain relevant topics and they also provide some really interesting perspectives so it gives me the opportunities to get a diversity of opinion because joe bun can be very opinionated yeah very opinionated and then the uh the uh title podcast it's really just an opportunity for the artists to talk and there's a lot of value in hearing from the artists but um and then every day struggle is kind of like it's a lot of trolling it's a lot of humor so you get to hear about a lot of different things in various different ways so i watch those and then i check out new music that's come out that i'm interested in obviously the big releases but then i'll also just skim through apple music and check on some artists whose names i've never seen before and listen to that and see if i can find you know certain gems go from there i decide uh if it's worth writing about for me personally and which publication that i want to write for hand me a certain stories i feel are better for hand me the aux certain stuff i feel is better for elevator for elevator we really focus on uh up and coming artists and kind of giving them that platform so a lot of these uh these up and comers i'll do i'll do for elevator and then hand me the aux um is where you know because it's a start up and because i get so much freedom there i don't feel constrained to the to how writing needs to be for elevator and big publications so i can really say whatever i want for hand me the aux so there i'll do some more think pieces i'll do some more clever and creative articles not done some of them for elevator as well so that's one struggle i have is kind of deciding which content goes where because it can really be good for either one but elevator has a much bigger platform than hand me the aux have you ever had a uh publication get upset that you put an article one place as opposed to another place no never it's interesting actually like that's one thing i have to uh i show love to hand me the aux so often because i started for them in april of 2016 i'm still writing for them now and as a result of working with them they're great music minds they all listen to so many different things they really opened my mind up to more more genres and they've also challenged me and made me better at expressing my opinion and you know people just will throw things out but they don't explain like that's it's like it's one of the most interesting things to me like people will throw points out but they don't really get deep into them so that that platform give me the aux has has afforded me the opportunity to be challenged and and to kind of feel like damn i i didn't say that the right way so it's made me a better writer and and they also support me and my personal ventures very much like i had a conversation with the owner of hand me the aux recently i was like man i'm sorry like it was it was a quiet month for me you know i've been working really hard with these other publications he was like i don't understand why you're apologizing for that like that's what we want for you guys we want you guys to do what you want to do and to be successful in whatever way you want to be successful because at the end of the day it just reflects positively back on us like we had this writer he wrote for us for two years and then he got a gig at the source and then revolt and then elevator like that's something that we're able to brag about so you know it's i've never had any publication drama or any you know why'd you write this here you could done this for us like everyone's really really supportive okay yeah that's dope that you have that support now i think you've been super helpful for artists and writers up to this point but just to end it off i gotta get your opinion on a few things that are just more pop culture like number one you mentioned everyday struggle joe budden and the publications you listen to now tell me what you felt when joe budden left everyday struggle i know you watched it before here it sounds like you you've been a fan for a minute and how do you feel about the current state of everyday struggle it uh i was worried for them i was very worried for them joe was obviously the star of the show and academics is both a really strong platform for him like i don't want to put him down because he's a he's a troll but like he's he's really built a strong following and you know at the time i didn't think the show would be able to last without joe uh they that they brought star on uh he's like a legendary radio host he was there for a little bit and then they had the current host wano he would special guest alongside star for a while and then wano became the the new like permanent hosts and stars in there anymore and uh wano has kind of assumed joe's role but he's not as extravagant and crazy as joe like wano and academics definitely get into some pretty heated debates but it's never to the extent where joe would be like streaming at the top of his lungs standing up ripping off his mic like he he he would be crazy i i i still like the show like i i think the show is the fact that it's lasted this long without joe is impressive to me i think wano is a big part of that because he's an older hip hop head you know he's he's managed artists um he was involved with def jam i believe he he's done a lot and and you know academics caters more towards the teenagers and the and the people in the low 20s and wano is like people who are you know in the in the later 20s and then you know the 30s so there's a diversity of opinion there and it's kind of a show that like anyone can watch and they get into really heated debates and they both take very strong stances so like i you know sometimes sometimes i even agree with academics i'm like wano's like an old head he's looking at this a certain way sometimes i agree with wano so it gives you the opportunity to really you know connect with both of them and i feel connected to the show as a journalist because i'm writing about a lot of these things that they talk about or i'm i'm just i'm paying attention to them so um yeah i mean it's it's still solid um i would say joe button podcast is my favorite out of our rap radar and everyday struggle but i i made sure to tune in to everyday struggle on most days so i'm not gonna sit here and talk down on it got you what about the whole kai scenario everything is going on with kai let me hear your thoughts there that is one of the most interesting things you know kanye has always been a very unique individual very arrogant very in his head the the things that he says and does he thinks are right i think he has some of his intentions are good some of them okay he doesn't he doesn't communicate it well he doesn't he doesn't align himself with people he's gotta stop giving him that that that cop out he hasn't communicated well kai is a very well spoken speaker very true i've heard many interviews with him the guy speaks very well been watching him for years and he's i mean he's literally writes well as well when he wants to so why do people always use that as a cop out i think he's he's branded that that cop out i don't speak well and i'm never strategy i'm just expressing myself like what what what what is it really kai other than the tensions i understand he has when someone challenges him he can be brash and that part gets a little weird but i think he's so much more strategic than people give him credit for because he's my strategies he is all of this is marketing like like it's it's really interesting to me how people are in such an uproar about everything he's doing like when it comes to one out when kanye is about to release a new shoot or an album that's when he gets on twitter that's when he starts saying all this crazy stuff like it's very obviously marketing and and you're right he's he is he is a well spoken person what i should have said rather is that he doesn't think about the impact of the things that he says on on his fans or people who used to support him like people who followed him from the college dropout days when when he was on tv and he said george bush don't care about black people like people who are fans from then and seeing how he is now wearing the the maga hat and going to to chill with trump and all this and saying you know abolish this and this and that you know people who will follow him all that time and feel that personal connection to him i completely understand why they feel betrayed but you know people have to recognize music is a business and marketing and branding comes in so many different ways like this this nicky and cardi beef that gave uh nicky the opportunity to then put out this video that she had with taiga and is doing pretty well and it's probably going to be a top five on billboard at some point if not top 10 so you know people and i don't necessarily judge people for that because a lot of people don't understand the ins and outs of of the music business like why certain artists don't work together or why certain artists do work together even if they don't necessarily like each other like people are looking to maximize how much money they can get despite everything he was doing his album he dropped did very very well it's first week it did very well and and and he he likely is going to make a bunch of money off it if he ever you know tours but you know with that he also had the other albums that came out uh yeezus yeezy whatever put out new clothes so like it all connected together and it just maximized his opportunity to make money and that's really what it's all about for a lot of people interested about this time this is in a period where you could just say all right it's music it's music it's business it's business i think why a lot of upwards coming from is so many people feel like what you're doing now within politics that's beyond music like now you're talking about things that really affect livelihood or making decisions that reflect livelihood and how the media can manipulate and use you as a pawn for real legislation that gets gets in play or building supporter in certain communities for you know whatever political campaign that's the difference between all the mess he said before or a lot of things he threw out there before versus now so what do you do you feel like it's it's any more dangerous than the things he's done before or to you is it all just i mean it's kind of being kind of it no it it's it's it definitely can get dangerous if he has any influence on politicians i mean we all know his relationship with trump but i don't know how much trump actually is listening to him and you know like acting on all the things kanye wants to do you know no if kanye were to become president i doubt people would elect well i don't i mean anything at trump got elected and i didn't think that would happen so 20 20 lord knows but he doesn't necessarily have any true political power like he can tweet something he can go hang with trump he can say all these ideas to trump but my perception of their holy ship like i feel like trump looks at him like you know this guy advocates for me he says that i'm a great guy so i'm going to keep him close but i don't really actually care for him like i i don't really care for you know his music i don't care for for what he wants to do like this is just someone who i can align myself with who's going to continue to get me headlines and and present me in a positive light i don't think kanye is going to convince black people to like trump but i think trump looks at it as an opportunity to get at least a couple more people on his side that's that's how i see trump more so i don't really think he's super invested in necessarily what kanye is trying to get done if kanye is really trying to get anything positive done i know he's speaking a lot of that stuff but i don't know the full intentions behind what kanye is doing but i feel like any likelihood for trump to take any of the advice of kanye as far as they're doing this in a community creating kanye innovation centers in school programs and all that stuff might be because of great timing in terms of i'm trying to get re-elected and i can show that i'm actually acting on this stuff but at the same but at the same time he is using kanye in terms of saying hey this is a symbol of my support within the black community right there are black people look this is the biggest black star in the world and you know the way trump will talk he's the biggest biggest ever there's never been a black star he's bigger than obama that's like that's the kind of stuff trove will say and say like and he's supporting me this shows that i'm in the right right you know like that's that's the more interesting part and and could be a little bit more dangerous i don't want to get too deep into the to what those implications could be but when you talk about kanye moving strategically there is a chance that he might do something like this at actually running for president oh that's what makes this positioning make more sense right just getting in there seeing what the heat feels like and trying to understand that whole political thing but okay i i just wanted to get your service opinion on that i'm actually going to do a video on kyan trump well i actually did it but it'll probably drop like next week or something like that because i'm making some final tweaks but you should check it out i think i'll send it to you when i when i drop it i would like to get your opinion on it absolutely and i i think one thing people also don't recognize like kyan needs help like he you know he he was on the opioids you know after his mom died he really just wasn't the same like i i i don't know if he's actually sought out therapy yeah i don't know i don't know if he recognizes that that's something that could benefit him and this is not me justifying or excusing anything that he said or done that's affected people but i think people like him people like r kelly like i i think like they have illnesses in their minds like like the way they think the way that they think saying certain things or doing certain things okay like they definitely need help and people are so quick to just cancel people and canceling them like it doesn't fix the problem within them and if people don't care to help khan they like that's fine but i think there needs to be some kind of recognition that he definitely needs help as well as well as to just like chill with this trump stuff and everything like he needs some form of help mentally i mean i think that's an interesting perspective because i don't know there are people black people who have supported trump but you wouldn't necessarily say that they're ill or in any way you just say man you suck or you're a sellout or you just aren't like all right that's your beliefs i don't get it but some people have made the observation or said that you know khan could be ill i don't really like to um diagnose people from afar or necessarily go with some of the what the media might say about them but if it is true definitely wishing the best on that tip but don't man i really appreciate your time my mind man and might have to do this again sometime because i think you bring a lot of dope perspectives on just issues i would like to just talk about issues and get your opinion on issues um that are out in pop culture sometimes but no i really appreciate this opportunity i'm always impressed by youtube creators and you know their ability to build platforms it's something i've been interested in myself um so we can definitely have a conversation on the side just about you know your experiences with that how you built up this following that you have um and you know just just your your commitment to putting out content for people and giving them the opportunity to hear from someone like me it's it i'm sure it means a lot to a lot of your followers so thank you to thank you on behalf of me and on behalf of everyone who ends up watching this that bet man hey i appreciate that and once again you guys can follow our mind he actually gave you guys his instagram i'm surprised i wouldn't if i was a writer i don't want people bugging me all the time but he did if you want to repeat it again you can go ahead and do that yeah so my instagram was just my name armand sadler a-r-m-o-n-s-a-d-l-e-r no underscores no numbers no spaces just just my name and my twitter is uh at rmizzle a-r-m-i-z-z-l-e and then there's an underscore at the end cool well there it is you guys once again as always if you like this video 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