Thinking back, it was last New Year’s Eve when I bumped into Jon Shapiro, random considering I hadn’t seen him in a couple of years and here he is in the madness that ensues on the streets of Manhattan just after midnight.  Shipes said he’d been on his grind making moves such as bringing Sean Kingston to Epic Records and in the process leveraging an imprint deal for his label, Cinematic Music Group.  He also mentioned that he was signing Devin The Dude to an indie label, Razor and Tie, which baffled me since (I thought to myself, “Wait, didn’t you just say you signed to Epic? and) I knew Devin had been on Rap-A-Lot for his entire career. We laughed about some buffoonery that took place the last time we saw each other, exchanged numbers and that was how 2008 began…

After that chance meeting he offered me the opportunity to consult and project manage the marketing and album packaging for Devin The Dude, which I was psyched about because for one, I’m a fan of Devin’s and second, throughout my career I’ve (sort of) been on the peripheral of the music industry, but never had the opportunity to work directly in it, so here I am with my first hands-on gig and it’s an ideal one at that. Ideal because not only is Devin one of nicest, most down to earth artists I’ve met, but I also got the chance to meet, and work with a bunch of talented and creative people on this project, which I’m absolutely grateful for.

I’ll elaborate more on the project and the people in a later post, but for now, it’s a brand new year and although I didn’t have chance meetings this New Year’s Eve, I’m looking forward to what the future brings…