Kevin Pouya was just 17 when he caught a break that most musicians spend a lifetime chasing. The rapper mononymously known asPouyahad attracted the attention ofRico Love, a hip-hop kingpin who'd written and produced forUsherandBeyoncé, who wanted to sign the rising artist. "I was so happy," the now-26-year-old rapper tells GRAMMY.com. "I thought this was going to change my life."
But right at the moment of truth, he says, something felt off. "It didn't feel genuine. It just felt too good to be true," Pouya recalls. "Something told me to not sign this deal that I was really close to signing."
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This wasn't a slight on Love or his interest in the young artist—Pouya just wanted to be an independent entity, taking the scenic route to success. He may have not inked the deal back in 2011, but he's had an incredibly interesting—and less-trodden—career path for it.
A decade after that fateful meeting, Pouya is on the upswing, operating on his own terms and manifesting his artistic intention. The Miami-born rapper is releasing his fourthalbum,Blood Was Never Thick As Water, on Oct. 22—independently, just like his other two.
But Pouya can't do it alone. He has the benefit of a unique team of supporters and creatives, from his managers to publicists to marketers, who help him execute his liberated vision and bring his music to his rabid fan base.
This behind-the-scenes team dynamic aligns with the objective ofBehind The Record, the Recording Academy's initiative and global social media activation aimed at spotlighting the creators behind classic records and today's hottest music.Pouya's new record may have his name on the sleeve, but without his loyal collaborators—both musical and nonmusical—we might not know his name at all.
To celebrate the upcoming release ofBlood Was Never Thick As Water, let's illuminate the music creators and professionals behind Pouya.
Steven Pahel: Manager, The Shalizi Group
Steven Pahel.
What are your duties as part of Pouya's team?
My duties are a little bit of everything—from discussing touring strategies with his agent Cara Lewis to coordinating merch drops, music releases, brand deals, and everything else you can think of.
How did you come to work with him?
We started working shortly after Pouya and one of my other artists and best friends, [DJ/producer/rapper] Getter, were working on theUnderground Underdogalbum. We met in Getter's studio as they were working on some of the first records for the album.
From there, we started talking and working on a few small things together. A few months later, we started working on the rollout plan for theUUalbum, and we have been working with each other since 2016.
When considering the breadth of Pouya's team, where do you fit into the overall puzzle?
I find myself more in the long-term strategy role: What will we be doing next year, in three years, five years, etc. Christina Boemio has been working on Pouya with me from the beginning and is my right hand on everything. She tackles most day-to-day tasks while I chip away on release and tour strategy.
Give me a beat-by-beat description of a typical day on Pouya's team.
I usually wake up at 6 a.m. most mornings. There are a decent amount of times where Pouya and I chat when I wake up, and he's just ending his night in the studio. We'll talk for a few, I will knock work out all day, and we connect again when he wakes up in the evening and goes over anything we need to do.
What's currently on the docket? What's in the works?
We currently have his fourth studio album releasing on Oct. 22, and we go straight into a North America bus tour on Nov. 8 where we are hitting 29 cities. Getting into 2022, we have a lot of international touring in Europe and Australia/New Zealand. In late 2022/early 2023, we will be rolling out a full new live show with a new production, live band, and some other surprises.
What's unique about managing Pouya, specifically?
He feels like a younger version of me. We both grew up in similar ways: We spent a big chunk of our lives skateboarding and we like a lot of the same music and brands. We have spent multiple weeks together on the road at times, and it feels like I'm traveling with my family.
How did you visualize and strategize this album and coinciding tour as a cohesive, connected unit?
Pouya wanted to do something a bit different on this album. The last two projects were very photo-heavy on the cover and tour flyer. For this project, he wanted to work with a new visual artist he came across on Instagram and loved his work. We then tied the original painting into the tour flyer and all the marketing assets.
Music video-wise, we wanted to get outside of Florida for some of them to mix up the locations. We have shot two in Los Angeles, we have two upcoming in New York, and, of course, a couple shot in his hometown of Miami.
Read More:The Recording Academy Announces 3rd Annual "Behind The Record" Initiative To Continue To #GiveCredit To Creators In Music
Christina Boemio, Day-To-Day Manager, The Shalizi Group
Christina Boemio. Photo:Ally Kerans
What are your duties as part of Pouya's team?
Anything and everything that helps execute Pouya's vision alongside Steven Pahel—from advancing shows and handling record distribution and uploads to booking travel and handling and coordinating all logistics from touring, music videos, press, and all of the above. As well as helping out with social media, website design, sometimes handling photography and design, updating flyers and promoters, and more.
Really, anything you can think of, I handle. Let's just say we have a lot of Google Docs going.
How did you come to work with him?
I began working for Steven while he was the label manager over at Buygore Records as their publicist. A year in, Steven started his own artist management company—SLVYVLL—and picked up Getter. Expressing interest in getting into management, I moved from Buygore to SLVYVLL as a day-to-day [manager].
I believe Pouya was the second client [we] picked up, so I started working on him! I've been working for Steven for six and a half years now—Pouya, specifically, for about five.
Where do you fit into the overall puzzle?
I like to think of myself as the small gears behind the clock—working behind the scenes and making sure everything is coordinated and handled so it runs smoothly alongside Steven. He and I have been working so long together that we definitely have a great flow going.
What's unique about managing Pouya, specifically?
It's his love for his fans that does it for me. Seeing someone so enamored and motivated by his fans, always wanting to talk and engage with them, thoroughly enjoying giving back to his community—it makes me more motivated to help bring his vision to life.
Also, the fact he's a genuinely nice person. I feel that's almost a rarity in this day and age.
MTM (P/K/A Mikey The Magician): Executive Producer
MTM.
What was your vision forBlood Was Never Thick As Waterand how did you execute it?
Certain songs came to me when I was home alone with my piano and others when I was with [Pouya] and [singer/songwriter and producer] Rocci in the studio. Executing the ideas is always the hard part; you just have to keep hammering away at your idea.
You're essentially locked in a key where only certain notes exist, and then little micro-ideas that can help you add to the record pop in your head. It becomes a snowball effect until you're happy—or you have to turn it in.
Which creative wells of inspiration did you draw from to make it?
With more of the harder-sounding records, we drew inspiration from previous work. "Wig Split" was a sample of "100 Bars & Gunnin'," a song by our friend Ramirez. "One Deep in the Fleetwood" was inspired by bands likeMetronomyandTame Impala.
Read More:
Rocci: Producer
Rocci.
What was your vision forBlood Was Never Thick As Waterand how did you execute it?
I channeled inspiration through a lot of Pouya's favorite music, finding themes and using sonics that best fit how he was feeling at that time.
Which creative wells of inspiration did you draw from?
Of course, we often go toOutkastfor inspiration when working with Pouya; a lot ofBone Thugs-N-Harmonyrecords as well. It's important to understand the epicenter of the music you're making: how it began, where it came from, and what was used to make it.
Luckily, we are surrounded by such talented peers that I often take inspiration from people we know and talk to on a daily basis as well.
Cara Lewis: Founder/CEO, Cara Lewis Group
Cara Lewis.
What are your duties as part of Pouya's team?
I'm Pouya's booking agent, so I lead the charge on anything related to booking shows, appearances, and routing tours. My job is to support Pouya's growth through all of these avenues.
What are your specific strategies for securing significant shows and tours for him?
Strategy-wise, I'd say that we definitely tap into his cult fan base. With or without a record, his loyal fan base will come out to see him.
Where do you fit into the overall puzzle?
I try to always have a pulse on the big picture, so I'm in close communication with his whole team. As his agent, it's my responsibility to make sure that the opportunities that I'm presenting to Pouya are representative of where he and his team are at and aligned with where we are trying to go, growth-wise.
Give me a beat-by-beat description of a typical day on Pouya's team.
On-cycle, we make sure that our bases are covered in order to have a successful tour, including Pouya and his team, the venue, and production. Off-cycle, we sync on objectives and early-stage planning for the next tour.
Read More:Rapper Pouya On His Experience With Anxiety | Mental Health Awareness Month
Michelle McDevitt: Co-Founder, Audible Treats
Michelle McDevitt. Photo:Gavin Rhodes
What are your duties as part of Pouya's team?
As lead strategist on Pouya's PR team, I work alongside publicist Kevin—and copywriter Dan—to formulate the pitch angles, rollouts, targets, and goals for Pouya's album release.
We act as the liaison between Pouya's team and press outlets. We send pitches to members of the media in hopes of convincing them to post stories about Pouya's music and tour and to interview him.
This media exposure increases the public's awareness of Pouya, which in turn increases his fan base, which in turn generates more streams, more views, more ticket sales, more chatter, and, ultimately, more success.
Where do you fit into the overall puzzle?
Technically, press is not considered part of the promotion team because that implies radio in our industry. But in the overall sense, we help promote Pouya.
Consider us members of Pouya's cheerleading squad, which includes radio, digital marketing, tour promotion, video promotion, etc. All of us are in the same position of using our contacts and bullhorns to reach out to our network of gatekeepers to put floodlights on Pouya.
What kinds of media outlets do you target when seeking coverage for Pouya?
We target a mix of outlets for Pouya. We want to be sure we are covering the "day one" media sites that have shown him love previously. But our value is in extending his reach and getting media publications that have never supported him to write about him and interview him.
At the end of the day, we want to push Pouya into new places, but also make sure he's comfortable. So, we present him with a list of media targets and he gets to approve or deny who we pitch. Then we go after the approved outlets.
Give me a beat-by-beat description of a typical day on Pouya's team.
A typical day involves us pitching whichever asset Pouya's focusing on.
For example, as I type this, Pouya has just released the song "Wig Split" featuringDenzel Curry. In a week, he releases the video for "Wig Split" and then the albumBlood Was Never Thick As Water, which comes out on Oct. 22.
A typical day today would be to send a second round of personal follow-up pitches to our target list of press people to convince them to post the song. We would also log all the press hits that were published and then send an update on the progress of the campaign to his team.
In a few days, we will start sending the video under embargo to our press contacts, which means that we send the video as a private link to a smaller, trusted list of important press people a few days ahead of when it's slated to go public.
This is in hopes that these writers can prepare a post to go up the day the video goes public.
We are also pitching a Pouya-approved list of press outlets to interview him. That's a typical on-cycle day. Many artists don't work with publicists when they are off-cycle.
How do you adjust your approach to an ever-changing media landscape?
To be successful in PR, you need to be able to forecast what trends are happening in the world of media consumption habits and adjust accordingly. As a rule of thumb, you shouldn't get too invested in a new tech platform because things can change overnight without warning. And if you didn't spread enough resources across other platforms, you can suffer.
For Pouya, we know where on the internet his fans live: cool, internet-savvy, artsy, counterculture, lyrically driven, moody, smart. And we know where we'd be wasting our time: gossip sites, bland mainstream, corny, fake, industry. So, we spend our resources going after the targets that make sense. When you know your artist well, you know where to go.
Ray Guilbalt: Founder, 8&9 MFG Co.
Ray Guilbalt. Photo:Smith Durogene
What are your duties as part of Pouya's team?
Consultant, manufacturing partner, head of merch operations.
Where do you fit into the overall puzzle?
We work alongside Steven Pahel to bring the team's vision to life. Pouya has a distinct style. My job is to ensure the final product hits his standards and to manage the day-to-day merch operations, from development through production into warehouse fulfillment until it reaches the fan.
Give me a beat-by-beat description of a typical day on Pouya's team.
On-cycle, it's full-speed servicing tours and one-off shows, pumping out products to keep up with webstore demand. Off-cycle? We survived all of the closures and shutdowns of the past year-plus. That's behind us; it's on.
What inspired the look and feel of Pouya's current merch?
Pouya has a clear POV honed by a great team of creatives. Steven is an excellent director; his design team, powered by Ed Hume, makes my job easy. I simply execute bringing everything to physical form at the highest level of quality.
How has the return of concerts post-lockdown affected Pouya's merch sales?
We're blessed to have such a loyal fan base rocking with us through and through. It's time for in-person connections, and we have a lot to show the fans on this tour. It's a very exciting time with the opportunity to further expand the merch business, pushing boundaries in new categories while elevating our core styles.
Brandon Russell: Business Manager, Parr3 LLC
Brandon Russell. Photo:Christina M. Felice
What are your duties as part of Pouya's team?
Mike Merriman and I have been working with Pouya since late 2017. We work closely with him and his management team, Steven and Christina, to help run Pouya's businesses and navigate the business side of being an artist.
While we are responsible for payables/receivables, insurance, taxes, and personal finances, we are heavily involved in creative decisions and executing the agreements they put in place.
Where do you fit into the overall puzzle?
I like to think of us as the CFO. Most decisions have a financial impact, and it's important for us to be involved so we can analyze and add context.
Pouya will come to us for advice in all areas, from business to personal. So, beyond us being CFOs, we might be life coaches, motivators, or judges—depending on the day.
Give me a beat-by-beat description of a typical day on Pouya's team.
No day is the same on Pouya's team, which is how we like it. Pouya self-releases all of his music, so we spend a lot of time operating the label, collecting income, running royalty accountings, budgeting for releases, etc.
When he's touring, we are the ones collecting the income, paying the band/crew, and keeping the team accountable. Whether on tour or not, a big responsibility of ours is breaking down the numbers and communicating with Pouya to make sure he knows how he's doing financially.
Give me an idea of the architecture of a rapper's business model, from the overhead to the bottom line.
Pouya built a unique business. He's been able to grow his brand and maintain his independence, which most artists can't say. Not many artists have earned the freedom to run their career the way he does.
Pouya is truly independent, which puts a lot of responsibility on him to do everything that a traditional label would do, but on his own. This is why establishing a tight team around him has been so crucial to keeping the ship afloat.
Part of the difficulty with being an artist is knowing how much of each royalty check is yours after splits with other collaborators, project expenses, commissions, and taxes. We, as business managers, have the unique responsibility to run those calculations and make sure the client knows how it breaks down.
We find that clear communication and setting expectations upfront go a long way. For Pouya, making sure his collaborators are being paid and that he's doing right by his deals is an extremely important responsibility that we bear and owe to him so he can continue focusing on the important part: the art.
Learn More About The Recording Academy's "Behind The Record" Initiative
