Tag: Indie-Life

July 27, 2021

Life’s Biggest Questions: Derek Fullmer

Derek “Dee” Fullmer is a full-time freelancer and teacher — and one of Indie-Life’s favorite creatives to work with. Dee has been getting his start in design when he moved to the Philadelphia area four years ago. And, it was in the City of Brotherly Love where he got his first freelance gig when he linked up with Indie-Life.

“Rafik was so welcoming and we connected easily,” remembered Dee. “It got me involved in branding work which was exactly where I wanted to focus my design career. I’m thankful we continue to work together and talk as friends even as I move around. Indie-Life has always been supportive of their artists living indie, and now I’m going for it full force.”

Currently, the 26-year-old is in the midst of renovating an RV which he intends to make his permanent residence. And soon, he’ll be taking all his work on the road and finding new views to explore and work in every day. Good enough reason for us, to ask him “Life’s Biggest Questions.”

 

Biggest Asset

I am a freelancer, but I’m also a teacher. I teach graphic design and digital art to my students who are middle schoolers in Philadelphia. We create projects together and work to inspire each other and push ourselves to create new work we didn’t think was possible. When we create something that looks so good, we’re all very proud and excited to share.

My best asset as a designer and collaborator comes from the same excitement. I love to work together and collaborate. When I’m designing branding work for a client, it’s not about me mysteriously concocting something behind a curtain. I love to openly communicate, pick the brains of clients, speak to their emotions about the kind of care that they have for their business and the work they do. When we emotionally connect like that, we ensure that the best design solution comes to the front. Lead with love.

 

Biggest Annoyance

The biggest annoyance is always coming from the miscommunication. Truthfully, it’s the job of the designer to be as thorough as possible, especially when you’re briefing a project. The biggest annoyance is being given too much liberty as a designer, the client says things like “Hey I dunno, you’re the professional!”, and you take that as a great opportunity to put your best work into it, pushing their brand into the modern-era of 2021 design. And then they see your final work and they are so confused and disappointed that you have completely missed the mark.

As a designer, you need to pick their brains and show visuals to compare. It is hard, especially for clients hiring you, to explain what you enjoy visually. It helps to show them side-by-side options, see what sort of style they like, and then from that you need to create something that is both personalized and new, but also links to their interests. I’ve spent so much time on an open-ended project just for them to send me another logo they’ve seen and they tell me to: “Just do it like this.”

 

Biggest Accomplishment

My biggest accomplishment is simply being a full-time freelancer and now flourishing in the job. I’ve been able to set my life on my terms, but it took many years to get to this comfort level. I get to work with amazing people who are starting up their dreams, and I get to be part of that collaborative process and ease their worries. Realtors, mechanics, doctors — these are all jobs where you want to find the one who understands your situation and you want to fully trust their work and prices, ensuring you got the best of many options.

Designers are in an occupation that requires just as much trust. It is an amazing feeling to deliver high quality work that the client got to put their input in. They have helped define all that they want to see in their baby, their brand! Then you take that precious information and magically create something visual for them to see and personally connect with. It’s an honor to be able to get paid for that kind of work, because it is a very delicate process that requires a lot of trust.

While juggling freelance, I’ve been able to delegate my own schedule and fit time for teaching in an after school program, and that energy keeps me feeling bright and sharp. Working with middle schoolers is incredible, they all have so much talent in them, and I love to pitch projects to them that will bring out every bit of their undiscovered talent. Some of them just need a prompt, and like a key to your jammed shut closet, it just unleashes all their ideas that have been dreaming to fly. Life is good as a freelancer!

 

If you want to keep up with Dee, his life and work as a freelancer, check him out on IG @treefullz.

By Andrea Leonhardt
Imagery by Derek Fullmer

July 1, 2021

Life’s Biggest Questions: David McDowell

David McDowell is an interdisciplinary artist that centers his works around exploration of the human condition, by means of portraiture and documentation. Working in photography, music and film mediums, he began his career as a music producer, generating multiple accolades for his work with Tanya Morgan and for brands such as DC Shoes. As a photographer, David works primarily in analog medium format, as seen in his work “Southbound” (2014). In 2019 David was an artist-in-residence at Mas Els Igols in Barcelona, Catalonia.

David currently serves as photographer and art director for KillScreen Magazine. He is based in Philadelphia, PA.  As one of Indie-Life’s favorite creatives to work with, we had to ask him “Life’s Biggest Questions.”

 

Biggest Rule

Always advocate for yourself and your needs/goals. The further along I’ve gotten in my career, the more I’ve learned that the biggest keys to growth is being patient with yourself, aggressively pursuing things that support your goals and aspirations and as gradually pruning away anything that doest move the needle or impact those goals. It’s a balancing act but it’s very important.

Biggest Regret

I regret not having started entrepreneurship sooner. I lacked a lot of confidence and didn’t have the support of a community like I do now, but I’m sure I would have found those things sooner if I’d just took the leap.

Biggest Risk

Quitting my job back in 2010. It was a leap of faith but I think it was definitely the right decision. I needed to push myself and there’s no push quite like not knowing where your next meal is coming from!

 

If you want to keep up with David, his life and work as a freelancer, check him out on IG @primarilydave 0r @aeongotbeats.

 

By Andrea Leonhardt
Imagery by David McDowell

May 6, 2021

Life’s Biggest Questions: Adrian ‘GoldenSpiral’ Palashevsky

 

Seemingly ordained by some cosmic force, Indie-Life creative Adrian Palashevsky aka “goldenSpiral” isn’t your average producer. His music, visual art, and otherworldly live shows transcend the status quo and blur the lines between auditory and visual experiences in art. Alchemizing his unique sound with genres like psy-dub, hip-hop, and world music has earned him a feature by Alex Grey at CoSM and shared billing with artists like OTT, Ghostface Killah, and Space Jesus. Whether it’s solo, or with his brilliant live band format “goldenSpiral:Collective,” he’s been consistently turning growing crowds into believers, solidifying his reputation for being one of Philly’s most unique electronic producers.

GoldenSpiral is one of Indie-Life’s favorite visual artists and graphic designers to work with. So we decided to ask him “Life’s Biggest Questions.”

Biggest Influence

It’s definitely Bob Marley. It’s not just his music that’s larger than life and utterly timeless, but it’s him as a person. He was a visionary, a revolutionary in the truest sense, and a leader. His music is still just as powerful and relevant today as it was 40 years ago, and that will never change. What made him so legendary, in my eyes, was that he walked the walk. He lived and died by his message, literally, and embodied his mission to the core. A famous line of his always stuck with me. He said, “I don’t come to bow, I come to conquer.” I love that. Here is a man peaceful and spiritual enough to make some of the most positive, beautiful songs of love and devotion ever written, yet so controversial he landed in the cross hairs of some of the most dangerous people on the planet, from Jamaican gangsters to the CIA. But he never backed down and he could never be silenced. Someone once told me that to be truly great as an artist you have to be willing to die for your art. Obviously we don’t wish that upon the artists we love, especially since they often seem to die so young. But when they live without fear of that day, and it’s been put to the test, you’ve solidified your legacy as far as I’m concerned. The greatest.

 

Biggest Intention

I just want to speak what I know to be truth, spread love through art and music that harnesses positive vibes, and get people tuned to some higher vibrational thinking. I think there’s some serious spiritual warfare playing out right now, and people are either knowingly or unknowingly picking a side, and if they aren’t then they need to. Choose God, choose the light. That’s all ima say.

 

Biggest Insecurity

I’m deeply concerned about how wrapped up in politics people have become to the point where they’ve adopted some pretty radical mindsets that actually go against the basic principles of freedom, liberty, and free speech. I think their anger has been weaponized by the very institutions responsible for the things they’re angry about in the first place, which is beyond f*d up. One of the biggest perpetrators of this is the media. I think people need to unplug from all the mainstream news and pop culture garbage as soon as possible. They’re trying to start a civil war. It’s very pervasive and very troubling. The Indie-Life mindset is the ticket. Let’s come together and direct our anger away from each other and toward those who deserve it… the elite pulling the strings.

Want to find out more about GoldenSpiral? Check out his work here, or follow him on Twitter @goldnSpiral and Facebook /IG @goldenSpiralsound.

By Andrea Leonhardt
Imagery by Adrian Palashevsky

 

November 4, 2019

Sirena Moore-Thomas: ‘Walking on Water’ as a Mompreneur

Meet Sirena Moore-Thomas, a Philly-based Mompreneur who grew a small, local family-owned cleaning business into a multi-million dollar, nationally operating company — and that despite being a teen mom of twins with no college degree and very little resources!

How? By learning how to mine for and secure federal government contracts, and then teaching others to do the same. 

In 2018, like Indie-Life founder Rasheed Abdellah, Sirena became a certified Ice House Facilitator under the Kauffmann Foundation’s Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative (ELI), and she now shares her innate ability to consistently find success in seemingly impossible situations. Through live and online workshops at her Water Walker Academy, Sirena coaches other small business owners and works to empower women entrepreneurs around the world. 

And if it that wouldn’t keep her busy enough, Sirena released her first book “The Water Walker Mindset,” in which she outlines principles and steps that emerging entrepreneurs can take to get out of their comfort zone! “The world is waiting for what you have,” said Sirena.

Indie-Life captured Sirena’s vibrant “Water Walker” entrepreneurial spirit in a short promotional video to celebrate her newest, must-have step-by-step guide to achieving your business goals.

“Rasheed and his team were absolutely amazing,” said Sirena. “On site, they provided clear direction for my project allowing them to deliver a product that has elevated my brand. Everything about my project was executed with excellence!”

October 26, 2017

DesignPhiladelphia Festival

Indie-Life Media’s DesignPhiladelphia Open House

Indie-Life Media was proud to participate in the West Philly Design Crawl, a part of 2017’s  DesignPhiladelphia Festival. Sponsored by the American Institute of Architecture, the festival is the oldest of its kind in America: a celebration of artists, designers, creative businesses and beautiful spaces.

For our open house on October 11, we asked our neighborhood to dream big.  Passersby were invited to write their Indie-Spirited goals on our whiteboard, and to jot down on a business card any challenges standing in between them and their goals. Since West Philly is home to many artists and entrepreneurs of a distinctly independent stripe, it didn’t take long for our board to fill up with phrases like: “Make Art Every Day,” “Live on my own schedule,” and “Be able to travel somewhere cool every 6 months.”

 

July 6, 2017

Happy Anniversary To Us!

INDIE-LIFE ANNIVERSARY & BALTIMORE AVE DOLLAR STROLL

Indie-Life celebrated its 2017 anniversary with the Baltimore Ave Dollar Stroll. We welcomed the summer with homemade sangria and spiked lemonade,  DJs Blizzy Most, Rashid Zakat and Lil’ Dave. Our old friends and new neighbors were happy to help us mark the anniversary! The hundreds of Philadelphians strolling past our jawn enjoyed our original tees, hats, and free games. We’re excited to be a part of BABA, the University City District and love our new home in Cedar Park!

 

April 6, 2017

BROOKZILL! The Indie-Life Interview

A smash-up of Brazilian and Brooklyn rhythms in name and in sound: BROOKZILL! recently released their debut album, Throwback to the Future. Indie-Life caught up with the crew after a show at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia.

Hip-hop went global in the 1980s, but it was a one-way commercial street for at least a decade, until an international audience started shipping back their own brand of worldly rap. Today, American hip-hop is increasingly tinged with international music: island sounds have become part of a standard hit recipe, British grime inflects the way American emcees deliver their raps, a Canadian runs the charts.

But international collaborations don’t often come as natural—or ambitious—as BROOKZILL!, a Brazilian-American hip-hop crew comprising a cast of legends. The group, which released its first album this past fall, is helmed by Prince Paul, the iconic producer of De La Soul and Gravediggaz fame; on the mic is another ‘90s hip-hop legend: Ladybug Mecca, one third of the alternative hip-hop group Digable Planets. She shares the stage with Rodrigo Brandao, a well-established Brazilian emcee, while Don Newkirk, a longtime Prince Paul collaborator, operates as a behind-the-scenes producer.

When Indie-Life speaks with the crew after a recent show in Philadelphia, they frame the collaboration as an organic intersection of mutual friends and collaborators. “We went to Brazil and Rodrigo had these amazing musicians in this really dope studio and, you know, we went up in there and it was cool because there’s no language barrier with music,” Prince Paul explains. “Those dudes spoke Portuguese and I spoke music and they did too…and that’s what you’re hearing man. Total vibe, total live fire.”

Paul is quiet but slinks confidently into his role as the de facto frontman. By contrast, Brandao, the sole Brazilian national on the squad, bubbles like an excited fan in conversation. “Paul was like the foundation, you know like he’s the drum beat,” Brandao says. “He’s the guy that’s been doing that since it was a hip-hop party. Right? So he’s the hip-hop Highlander man.”

“Don is the melody maker,” Brandao continues. And Ladybug Mecca? “The Queen, man, she’s the Queen you know. She’s one of those persons. If you realize, Mecca barely talks on stage because she transmits through her beauty, to her energy you know? Since I’m not a beauty, I’m the guy who talks.” Paul interjects reassuringly: “Somebody gotta do that man!”

Mecca, born in the States to Brazilian parents, shares a mutual admiration with Brandao. “I mean you see his energy,” she says. “What a pleasure it just is to be around him. He’s talking about all of us but he’s just as powerful, important, pure and it’s just an honor to be in this group with everyone…Even if you don’t understand the language like you can feel it and that’s what I love so much about it.” Newkirk chimes in on the pair’s vocal compatibility: “They complement each other so well. It’s like, yo, it’s obvious. We heard the verses back and forth and it was like, ‘Oh ok this is what that is.’”

Listening through the album, Newkirk’s revelation holds: Brandao and Mecca are an unexpectedly organic pair. Both emcees sound relaxed and in-the-pocket, like natural party rockers throwing a bash.

For Rodrigo Brandao, a kid growing up obsessed with 90s hip-hop in Brazil, this collaboration feels almost like fantasy rap camp. He almost seems to pinch himself as he marvels, “I always joke to them, but it’s real, like to watch a show was like my biggest dream,” Brandao remembers. “Because back [then] when Digable played [in Brazil] in ‘94 it was like, ‘Oh my God!’ It was a long time until [you’d] see another act…The Digable show in ‘94 was like a game changer for us, you know? I can’t believe [that] I’m going on stage once again with these people! Every time might be the last one.”

The collaborations on BROOKZILL!’s debut expand past the core group, cleverly weaving other Brazilian and American artists into the mix. “They are dope and they are friends, but they are also like heavyweights on the scene,” Brandao says of the Brazilian musicians featured. “The Sao Bento joint, that one is kind of like about the birthplace of hip-hop in Sao Paulo which is the birthplace of hip-hop in Brazil. So I was like let me get a dope MC from each different generation and then [Mecca] brought Kid Koala to scratch over too. You know so that’s the [Del the Funky Homosapien] connection…There is nobody on this album that there is no relationship [that’s] organic to at least one person. [It’s] grassroots for real in that sense.”

As for the outfit’s next move, each member seems to hint excitedly at more music, more shows, and maybe even a more crowded stage. “As time goes we want to—you know, like turn into [a] Duke Ellington big band,” Brandao says. The metaphor is apt. Like the jazz legend, BROOKZILL! combines energy and skill in their live performances, with a sound that expands and embraces voices from all over the map.

Interview by Rasheed Rafik Abdellah

Words by Jay Balfour

Visuals by Tim Blackwell

October 12, 2016

ON THE ROAD: Warped Tour, Japan and Hawaii with Crown the Empire

 

The Warped Tour is a Traveling rock festival that has toured the United States annually each summer since 1995. It is the largest traveling music festival in the United States and is the longest-running touring music festival in North America. This year Indie-Life was proud to offer tour management and staffing to headliners, Crown The Empire.

Many young people strive to work or play at a festival of this size, so Indie-Life took the opportunity to reach a younger generation of touring professionals that are involved in making Warped Tour happen. With this knowledge, we took the opportunity to shoot a commercial at the Warped Tour in order to recruit more young people to our company and help them find their way on the road.

After two long months on the road we went home for a couple of weeks, then off again for Japan and Hawaii. Twilight Records, the promoter in Japan, invited Crown The Empire to headline the annual Rise Records Tour, which started in Tokyo. After a couple of great shows in Osaka, Nagoya and an extra show added in Tokyo, it was time to get to the Aloha land, Hawaii. The promoter, Jack from Underworld Events, gave us an amazing welcome as we spent three days before the show in Honolulu. He really went above and beyond to make sure we were happy and had a blast! The show went really well and we can’t wait to go back.

 

Video directed by Elliott Ingham

August 11, 2016

EXCLUSIVE MIX: “HARDLY WORKING” feat. DJ JUST DIZLE

GLOBAL FRESH: Indie-View w/DJ Just Dizle

Words by Jay Balfour

Just Dizle is a workmanlike DJ. He’s not flashy or famous, but he’s consistent. It’s an approach exemplified by the Parisian hip-hop fanatic’s digital footprint, which is brimming with eclectic mixtapes that opened the door for his current country-hopping tour schedule. “From 2005 to now, I have more than 200 mixtapes online,” he tells Indie-Life, holding court at La Colombe in Fishtown. “That’s more than 6 million downloads. For me to be able to grow, it wasn’t easy.”

A little over a decade ago, Dizle’s fascination with Philadelphia was purely musical. “I loved the scene in the early 2000s,” he says. “The type of DJ I am, I like to go to a city just to check the vibes. I used to come to Philly like every six months.” Later, Dizle met and married a Philadelphian living in Paris, and his connection with the city is now two-fold. He also name checks Jazzy Jeff alongside DJ Premier as his musical idols, noting of the Philly legend: “In terms of longevity, he’s still rocking it like he just started.”

Though Dizle is one of Paris’ foremost hip-hop DJs, he admits to a slog in breaking through stateside. “The biggest gigs in my career come from my mixtapes,” he says. “Usually I tend to go where people say I shouldn’t go. It might be hard, but it’ll be off my own hustling.” Dizle jokes about an early-career tactic of pretending to be his own manager via an alternate email address, a way of injecting an air of accomplished professionalism into his then-fledgling notoriety. “From 2001 to 2004, I sent over 300 mixtapes to everybody, [like] MTV and stuff,” he admits. “I was thinking, ‘The worse that can happen is they say, “No.”’ Once you got the attention, it’s a wrap.”

After fortunate breaks at BET and Skratch magazine, Just Dizle got his due, wedging himself fully into the American hip-hop industry by appearing alongside Snoop Dogg on “Rap City,” showing up as a guest on Sway’s “Shade 45” morning show, and finding ever-larger platforms for his live performance and mixtapes alike.

As a DJ, Just Dizle is an encyclopedic curator with simple ambitions. “To me, there’s just two kinds of music: good and bad,” he says. “I just like to share what I like with people.” Some of the turntablist’s most prominent mixtapes are deep studies into a specific artist’s catalog, like his discography-spanning explorations of Bob James and Roy Ayers’ influence on hip-hop and R&B. His exclusive mixtape for Indie-Life, “Hardly Working” displays Dizle’s love for Hip-Hop.

“I don’t prepare my sets because I’m comfortable with my musical knowledge,” he confesses. “Usually the three first songs I play tell me where I can take them.” Of course, he’s also practical and shares a matter-of-fact method of approach when it comes to flooding a dance floor: “The girls gotta be happy. If they ain’t happy, nobody’s gonna be happy at the party. Guys will follow. Sometimes guys are on the dance floor, and they don’t care about the music. But when the girls are dancing, they’ll dance also.”

Dizle’s experience with dance-music is familial as well. “My dad has two nightclubs,” he says, referencing his father’s businesses in his home country of Cameroon. “[He] used to write songs; one of my uncles used to produce songs also. I was into music since I was a kid.”

Now, Dizle is raising his own three children—who are nine, four and two—with a similar enthusiasm for music. While his own hip-hop icons are first-wave innovators, Dizle’s oldest has taken to Kendrick Lamar, the self-serious Compton lyricist who has reinvigorated California hip-hop in recent years. Following the release of Lamar’s widely celebrated 2012 debut good kid, m.A.A.d. city, Dizle’s son cried foul that his father was getting to see Lamar in concert without  him. “I had to call the promoter and beg him to let me bring my son to the show because I never saw my son so stressed,” Dizle recalls with a smile. “I took him. Just the look on his face … I’ma tell you, I won Daddy of the Year for maybe 30 years in a row that night. That little kid loves what he loves. He was so passionate about it.” 

Like father, like son.

Visuals by Mzizi Media