In a world where industry success and recognition is lauded solely after the fact – when you’ve “made it”, there are two hip-hop entrepreneurs looking to ‘televise’ their hustle to the masses en route to grand status.
Jordan “Xander” King and Brandon “Rex” Brathwaite are business entrepreneurs in the making, hailing from Toronto, Canada and New York City, respectively. While they have a broad entertainment industry business focus, they’ve dabbled in many different sub-sectors – from fashion to entertainment analytics to music development – providing invaluable services to some of the industry’s most promising artists and brands.
Kommunity Inc., the company run by King and Brathwaite, is comprised of a music label, Komm Music, as well as a fashion marketing arm, Northern Lights Entertainment (NLE). Founded in July 2011, Komm has broadened its reach and client base significantly. Komm Music currently boasts four artists all with upcoming projects (Fordy Oz, Prove, Rex, Xander) and two producers (Svr Btz, whose recently produced for 2 Pistols & Scizzahandz runner up in Toronto’s Battle of the Beats competition). According to King, success with Kommunity can be attributed to creative problem solving:
“While growing up, I was involved in a variety of community organizations from sports to charities, and have learned many valuable skills – how to be competitive but still be a team player and how to be flexible but able to solve problems with creative ideas”, says King. “It’s the balance of these characteristics that contribute to the success of The Kommunity”.
Under Komm, King has also developed a strategic partnership with Canadian Promotional company “Grindtography”; who has executed shows with Snoop Dogg, MGK, Wu-Tang, Fabolous, Jadakiss and most recently Fat Joe.
NLE, their promotional marketing and modeling agency with satellite offices in Toronto and NYC, has hosted events with renowned personalities and entertainers, including Mobb Deep, Grandmaster Flash and the cast of the History Channel’s “Counting Cars”, among others. In addition, the company has recently collaborated with M&T Services International, an online database where talent (primarily models) can apply to gigs within the entertainment industry. Braithwaite runs the NYC division while King spearheads all international operations of the company, including its Canada business.
Oh, and did I mention they create music too?
The duo recently teamed up with Louisiana rapper Kevin Gates for a brand new, acclaimed record, entitled “Rider”. The single – set to usher in King’s (Xander) upcoming Who Woulda Thought project – has been making its way around the airwaves and music blogs for the last couple of weeks. It features production from Lil’ C Gutta (of Grand Hustle Records) who’s music portfolio includes collaborations with T.I., Lil’ Wayne, Chris Brown, Jeezy and Meek Mill, among others.
In addition to Gates, the ensuing project includes assistance from Junior Reid, as well as Komm artists Prove and Fordy. Brathwaite’s (Rex) latest EP project, entitled “ART” is set to release late 2015.
The future for this enterprising and youthful hip-hop business duo is promising. They plan on launching a talent resource company in June 2015, called “ART World Wide Entertainment”, with planned branches in NYC, Toronto and Atlanta. ART’s specialization lies in “managing relationships between artist talents and venture capitalists businesses and brands to create safe and profitable investment”, according to Brathwaite. Artists (both aspiring and established) could leverage ART’s resources to seek financial investments for projects, partner strategically with brands and labels and invest funds in entertainment-related projects.
According to Brathwaite, acting Chief Executive Office of ART, he and King are currently in the process of closing a joint venture deal with Grand Hustle Records that will reportedly entail project funding for the labels newly signed artist.
