"Do it Yourself" | A Talk from Arshan of Kids Take Over (Hip Hop Journalism, Rejection, Making $$$)

This video is a recorded live talk done by Arshan Jawaid, founder of Kids Take Over aka KTO. A crowd got to see it in person at our new event series, KTO Live in New York, before getting to play their music for Arshan and witnessing a live Cole Bennett interview. In this talk, Arshan talks about the real backstory of KTO -- him trying to land an internship at a hip hop media company like Complex, Genius, etc, and failing to do so, so he started his own media company in hopes of inspiring young kids to take their dreams into their own hands. He talks about the early days of getting connected with labels, landing big interviews like Pierre Bourne, Key Glock, Ken Carson, Sofaygo & more. He talks about monetizing the brand and getting partnerships, making a full time salary, employing other hungry young creatives, what it was like to visit OVO 40 in Toronto which opened Arshan's eyes to this culture and empire he was building. He also discusses the rough times along the way where artists would cancel on him, disrespect him, & when no one in the industry would respond to his DM's. He talks about how he took nothing personal, and it was all business, because at the end of the day it boils down to value. At the end there is also a Q&A where fans got to ask Arshan questions

Filming @mikkyfilmz @naheelio @vivekxrama
Special thanks @shopify for letting us use the Shopify NY space
Host & producer @ktoarshan

TIMESTAMPS! What did you guys think of this talk or take away from it? Thanks to everyone who supported on this journey ❤️

0:00 - Dream was to be a journalist for COMPLEX
2:55 - Getting made fun of at school
3:26 - Smooky Margielaa giving Arshan his first big interview
4:06 - Applying to Genius, Complex
5:05 - Getting ignored rejected
6:00 - I wanna build my OWN Complex, starting KTO
8:46 - Going to the OVO studios with 40, when it really hit Arshan
10:20 - Arshan putting his employees in position
11:25 - DONT chase artists or people, build VALUE and leverage
14:25 - No one in the music industry responded to Arshans DM until he proved he had value
15:20 - Chasing a NAV interview backfiring on Arshan
16:30 - Being able to be selective now with interview guests
17:40 - Making money
18:02 - The L's and rapper horror stories
24:20 - Q&A with fans in audience (consistency, design, record label)

tags (ignore)
live talk live talk university asap rocky asap rocky virgil abloh virgil abloh kanye west ye kanye west oxford harvard travis scott sofaygo sofaygo ken carson ken carson cole bennett cole bennett hip hop rap rap narduwar nardwuar ted talk ted talk kto kto kto

Видео "Do it Yourself" | A Talk from Arshan of Kids Take Over (Hip Hop Journalism, Rejection, Making $$$) канала Kids Take Over