Disclaimer: What you are about to read, are the thoughts of an artist, a businessman, a human being. The “CEO of Unplugged” title comes off. In fact… everything comes off. This is a NO HOLDS BARRED look. You don’t have to listen to the rumors anymore… all the crazy tabloid type drama. Its real stories, real info, real emotion. Straight from the horse’s mouth. For the next year, you will get a sneak peek into the life of Soul.

DAY ONE

It's time to rock...

Or so I've been told.

It's August 14th... my birthday... the day I became a part of this existence of social infrastructure known as life... AND BOY DOES IT SUCK RIGHT NOW. It's gotta be 104+ degrees in Philly right now, and I've been in this damn sun all day! But you know what? Its all good. 'Cause life is getting ready to change in a major way.

Unplugged had been in my brain for a minute. Frustrated with the political nonsense that was going on in a city dubbed "Brotherly Love", I needed a fix. A place where I could get on stage and do my thing, without the stress of having to be associated with some wanna be "powerhouse label" (at least that's what they thought they were). Lyn, my manager at the time, was thinking the same exact thing... but from a management perspective. "How can I get this cat some exposure?" “His crazy ass won't even play ball with these cats in this city". I know all these questions were going through his mind… To this day he never will tell me that I’m just a pain in the ass. But to me…Life only comes around once…and I’ll be dammed if I’m going to wait for someone else to give me the break I need…especially if I can do it myself.

Alright… let me get back on track.

So, after coming to the conclusion that this thing could make some sense in the grand scheme of Philly’s music scene, we approached two very established members of the business community in Philly…The Bynum Brothers.

Now these cats…

4 establishments under their belt. 2 restaurants, 2 clubs. But on another tip, they have got to be some of the most suave dudes I know. Robert… the more bottom line cat… is always suited… dressed to the tee with the newest threads on…(always black. That IS the power color, you know). His face is always straight. The cat doesn’t smile. Well let me take that back. He does smile… as long as he doesn’t sense bullshit from you. But shit…we ALL would be a little frustrated if we had to always hear some promoter trying to pitch the “next biggest thing” EVERY SINGLE DAY…ALL DAY LONG. Ben, the cooler, more laid back of the two, has the most swagger of the pair. He can still set you in your place from a deal perspective… but when it’s all said and done, he will offer you something to drink, sit down with you, and talk about the current events of the day.

When I went to them… there were at least 5 other open mics, and showcases going on either weekly or monthly in the city. I didn’t really know what made our event such a great concept at the time, because we really didn’t have a rock solid format at the moment. We just knew that we wouldn’t treat people like dirt. We were determined to let every frustrated artist do whatever they wanted to do on our stage. (within reason of course). Shit… I wanted to scream my damn self.
Long story short…after some brief discussion and meetings… they brought into the concept, and we kicked off our first event.

We started off real sexy… (I like using that word). We had a lot of support from the music community. It seemed like people came out from under the woodworks, just to get a moment to breathe in front of the microphone. You know… the mic is such a powerful thing… Think about this… throughout history, people have died, been tortured, persecuted, and all other types of shit just trying to be heard. So the fact that you could yield the power to allow a multitude to express themselves on a microphone… Man, that’s some real deep shit. I mean, even now, we are at risk of losing our freedom of speech. I know if I was running for president, I would just hit all the open mics, and then I would host some on the front steps of Congress. That would shake things up a bit.

Hold up… wasn’t I telling you guys a story? Damn… my bad.

FUNDISHA!

Our first big act on stage. She was the artist singing the hook on the Bow Wow song “Basketball”. Shawty had it going on… a part on a breakthough record, and a decent single… I though she was going to make it real big. That just goes to show you how crazy this business is… just when you think you got everything in place…the bottom falls out. Anyway, Fundisha was our first signed act to grace the stage. It took everything we had to try to make it work. We even had to drive up to North Jersey to get her and her crew and bring them down, after the limo service flaked out on us! (you guys have NO IDEA what goes on behind the scenes sometimes). And through it all, the show was great, she did her thing, the acts before her were hot, and I will never forget what she did for us. She was the pioneer. And for that I will always have love for her.

Sometimes in life…

It boils down to the simple things… like someone going an extra mile for you, after you’ve tried everything in your power to make it work.

Fast Forward 2 NOW…

3 years later…hundreds of unsigned acts later… after having Floetry, Jeff Bradshaw, Jazz of Dru Hill, Teddy Riley, and many others, grace our stage, it only proves my aforementioned statement. Success is about being prepared when your opportunity comes. And we’re on a journey to drive the train for you to ride to achievement as artists. All you gotta do is jump on. You down?