Industry 101
Devyne
StePHens While many people strive to be in front of the camera, Devyne Stephens makes a living making OTHER people look good for the cameras. Grooming himself as the “Berry Gordy of this generation,” Stephens has had a hand in the success of almost every popular artist you can name over the last 10 years. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Devyne was introduced to the city’s music and lifestyle scene at a young age. He forming his own dance crew, Fresh Dance Crew, at age 15 with neighbor Jermaine Dupri. Eventually Stephens added rapping to the repertoire and soon found himself as the first act signed to LaFace Records. But eventually, Stephens shifted his vision from wanting to be a star, to making them. Taking a job in artist development for LaFace, Stephens groomed names like Usher, Babyface, Toni Braxton and Outkast into the stars they are today. He then aligned himself with Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs and began working with his roster of Bad Boy artists as well as choreographing tours for the lies of Diddy, Jay Z, Mary J Blige, Gwen Stefani, and Pink. Now, after a decade of putting in work, Stephens is building his own empire, Upfront Megatainment. It includes his record label, distributed by Universal Music; The Complex, a state of the art incubation facility for artists and athletes, including a top of the line rehearsal studio, Glam Squad wing, photo studio, nutrition and fitness wing, media training, choreography studio and more; Dreamland, an 18,000 square foot mansion on 19-acres outside of Atlanta, a hotspot for ATL’s most exclusive and upscale events; and much more. Hoping to bring back a time when artists were actually developed instead of thrown to the wolves, Stephens hopes his old-school mentality can work in a new-school industry. How did you get introduced to Hip Hop music? Devyne: I started in the music business as a artist, not as a dancer. I was signed to LaFace as Devyne and 90MPH. We showcased with Pebbles and then she took us to L.A. and Babyface. The group actually got dropped, but L.A. kept me onboard helping to develop some of his talent. I worked with TLC, Usher, Outkast, Pink, Toni Braxton, Tony Rich, and Donnell Jones [at LaFace], among others. What role did you play in developing these artists? In terms of the imagery, the stage presence, the choreography, doing some television shows, videos. The complete artist development process. Artist development seems to be like a thing of
the past. I’m just curious, what was it like doing that back then as opposed to now, where artists try to present themselves as a package without much development to be done? That’s the difference in the stage power nowadays. A lot of artists now are more like cookie-cutter, with one single in and out, not fully developed. A lot of times when you have an [undeveloped] artist, the life span of that talent is very short. What inspired you to start Upfront, and what exactly do you guys do? Upfront is an artist development company record label. Berry Gordy, and the whole Motown story, inspired me. Motown was an artist development company as well. That’s really how I got my motivation; from him. Lets say I was an artist and I want to hire you, would you help me out? Or do I have to be signed to a label or your label to take advantage of this? No, we’re always looking for new talent and finding new talent, so if you walk in up off the street and you’ve got what it takes well definitely yes. Some labels have an artist that’s already signed and we put them through a 30-day or 60-day program. So we assist other labels with developing their talent as well. And you’ve been through that process as an artist yourself. What are some of the things you think that your company is doing that some other companies are not doing? Like you said, artist development has become a thing of the past. What we’re trying to do is build artists that will have longevity. Say Akon, for instance. He’s a complete package because he writes, he produces and he performs. Same with T-Pain; he writes, he produces, and he performs. Jazze Pha he possesses the same capabilities. You have to be grounded in today’s market to be able to sustain in this business. How were you able to build your company to such a strong brand? A lot of times, when somebody starts a company in Atlanta they
stay very localized, which is tempting because a lot comes out of Atlanta. You already have an impressive roster of people that you’ve worked with from all over the place. My take off was with LA and Babyface and the way they played the game. That push and that boost is what introduced me to a lot of key people in the music business. What made you put your career as an artist aside to get more involved behind the scenes? I was always most intrigued by the business aspect of it. Creatively, I knew how to produce, perform and write records, but I felt like at the time South music wasn’t really being brought to the forefront. At the time the music was a little bit ahead of its time. I already had Lil Jon producing my music. I had Luda and T.I. working on records with me, and this was before they were even established. It was a little bit ahead of its time. Right now who are some of the people that you and your company are working with? Currently we have a girl trio group by the name of Crave, they’re based out of Atlanta. We also have Rock City, from the Virgin Islands. We have Magic Massey, an R&B soul singer out of Chicago, and Bow Boa, a rapper out of Raleigh, NC. Interesting you mention Rock City. Some artists are very talented, have all the connections, and are known in the industry, but the average Joe that buys CDs from Best Buy may not even know of them. How do you try to prevent that from happening with some of the people you work with? It’s like Akon. It took a minute for Akon to get into the marketplace because he was very unique, and when there’s something different and unique about [the artist], it takes a minute for people to actually get it. I try to find things that are unique and try to develop those things and bring those to the forefront to make a bigger impact in the marketplace once people do get it. Like a Kanye West, for instance. When it’s something different , it makes a huge impact once it finally breaks. //
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