Highlighting Key People in Hip-Hop
When you have a team full of go-getters, it’s only right that you coin the name “Winner’s Circle” as the movement. Philly native Sultan “SupaDupa” Jason gravitated towards the music industry after being inspired by hometown heroes Major Figgas and also the Young Gunz who found success on Roc-A-Fella Records. In 1999, as head of a label called Lock Da Game Records based in Williamsport, PA, he experienced success independently, but in 2002, he found himself off the music scene for a while. After a brief hiatus and a move to Harrisburg, PA, he began working on his music career again. In 2010, he opened Pro Sounds Studio and formed Winner’s Circle. A movement that started out with just him and producer All Star is now comprised of close to 40 talented individuals, including multiplatinum producer Aganee, who all have the same goal in mind: Winning. Once the team started landing major placements and records labels began calling, SupaDupa stepped in and took on the role of manager. Read on as he tells us about his path thus far and how he plans to lead Winner’s Circle to the finish line. Take notes.
You wasn’t always on the path to being a manager, how did that come about?
Four months after opening Pro Sounds Studio, I met All Star at a Meek Mill Concert in Philly. He told me that he was a producer and happened to be living in Harrisburg too. He came to the studio and we clicked right away. We started working together. He was going back and forth in the studio with F-Chain. He was actually introduced to Meek Mill through F-Chain and that’s how All Star started working with Meek. He kept making tracks and sending them over to him. Before Dream Chasers came out, Meek told All Star that Rick Ross was thinking about signing him. When the Dream Chasers mixtape came out, he had six tracks on it. Everybody started calling! Managing All Star just made sense since we were working together for the longest. It was a protection thing. He knows that I am going to look out for him.
How were you able to spot the talent in him, Aganee and everyone else on your roster?
Normally, I like to hear good stuff and I do hear good stuff all the time but to actually get good talent, you have to work on building a relationship with the artists or producers. It takes a little more than talent to make it. It takes drive. It’s not a ton of talent out there; it’s way more drive. I try to build my relationships and look for driven people more so than just talent.
What’s the process of getting tracks to big name artists like Aganee with Justin Bieber’s “Die In Your Arms” and All Star with his tracks on Meek’s Dream Chasers series?
The key to it all is relationships. Aganee had a situation with Rodney Jerkins, which helped out a lot with that. All Star has a great relationship with Meek Mill and that helps out a lot. In those cases, when you think about the placement that these guys have, it’s all about a relationship. It’s about who they work with and whether that person is introducing them to the next person. Then, of course it’s about the product you put out there. We got other tracks with main stream artists too so just being persistent and making sure people knew who we are is key.The work speaks for itself.
Does social media play a heavy role in building your brand?
Yes. Don’t sleep on e-mail and Twitter. Those are two of my biggest sources for these connections. Everything that I need is right there on Twitter. If I have a show and I want to reach out to someone, I go right to Twitter. There’s been a ton of times when me & All Star were in Atlanta working and we ran out of stuff to do and I just jumped on Twitter and started hitting up artists and we ended up in the studio with them just off of a tweet. Twitter is just unlimited for someone trying to be successful on the come up.
What advice do you have for other managers on the come up?
They should look for driven artists, whether they are producers or rappers. Look for the drive. Don’t always be sucked in by good talent. Look for someone with the most persistence that’s willing to go that extra mile. Actually, that’s how I got the name SupaDupa. I was just getting shit done right away. I’m in the studio everyday getting things done. That’s how we built this up and how we will continue to do it.
What can we expect from you in the coming months?
The main thing that I’m pushing is my movie and mixtape called Hard Work & Dedication. Definitely, look out for more placements from Winner’s Circle producers. There will be more music, more videos, more pictures, more tweets, more hits, more everything. Just expect so much more from us in the next few months.
Follow SupaDupa Sultan on Twitter: @SupaDupaSultan
-Danitha Jones (@LifeLikeJones)
