August 16, 2018

Meet Suspens of Suspens Recording in Homestead

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Suspens.

Suspens, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I co-founded Suspens Recording with MiiMii in our basement apartment in the Germantown section of Philly. I was an MC/producer who also managed & produced 2 Hip Hop groups & 2 solo artists at the time. It quickly evolved into a full recording studio and record label after I bought a physical location to turn the vision into a reality. This is where my son Suspens Jr “SJ” was born. As a baby, I would bring him to the studio while I recorded my artist Kar-Lethal’s first two mixtapes “I Want In” & “The Streets Need This”; which were both hosted by Miami’s own DJ Irie. I loved South Florida and the vibe of the people I was meeting down here, so I impulsively moved the label including my artist Kar-Lethal to Homestead. I remember people saying “ill, why you moving to Homestead?”, like I said this was an impulsive move so no money was saved & definitely no long turn plans besides “I’m not going back to Philly except to visit”. Homestead is inexpensive, safe & close enough to the heart of Miami & the beach to be in the mix of things every day. During my decade here, I’ve managed to produce & distribute 8 projects worldwide on every outlet from iTunes to Spotify. The S.R. Catalogue includes: “Frum Da Mussl”, “Out Ya Mind”, “Paid”, “Dads & Sons” by Suspens; “Million Dollar Hustler’s Guide” by Kar-Lethal; “Sliding”, “Thirteen” & our current project “Youngest in Charge” by Suspens Jr. In the mix of all this, I managed to graduate with honors from Miami International University of Art & Design as a Graphic Designer. Acquiring these skills saves me a ton of time & money as an independent label because I don’t have to pay or wait for any visuals needed from web banners to music videos. I already owned my own equipment and knew my way around the studio but now I have what it takes to release as many albums as I want 100% independent of anyone. I now offer all of my services to any unsigned artists with small budgets who wish to release their music independently. You can catch SJ & I performing at underground venues throughout South Florida.

Has it been a smooth road?
Heck no, it hasn’t been a smooth road! I’m obviously not rich or famous but I put out my own good music, I have a little fan base and it’s profitable. I’ve been in front of a dozen labels throughout my career. Some of them offered contracts to me or an artist I was working with but they were always so bad that I would have been an idiot to sign. Truth of the matter, if you want to be a star you need big bucks for promotions that only a major record label or rich investor can provide. Funny thing is when I first started out I had a very fair label deal and an ambitious investor but things fell apart as fast as they started. My parent company went bankrupt & had to release all the labels, my investor had some legal issues and got deported & on top of all that, someone broke into my apartment and stole all my music equipment. I managed to bounce back with better equipment and a building to house it but I felt like I was always looking over my shoulder & surrounded by negativity. This was a major factor in me relocating here when SJ was 3. The A&R at one of the major labels I meant within Cali told me my music was dope but I didn’t have a big enough fan base to get the fair deal I was looking for. He knew I didn’t have a million bucks to invest to get songs on the radio, MTV & Billboard. If so why would I be meeting with him? Since he liked my music, he did me a solid by introducing me to college/internet promoter that I was able to afford. Since then, I still haven’t made the Billboard charts but several of my singles have hit top ten on indie hip-hop charts. Two singles hit #2 and two singles topped #1. This keeps me moving forward because I know the music is actually good & people are listening. So now, I have fans scattered all over the world which is nice but so far it hasn’t proven profitable to travel overseas or sell merch because of the shipping cost. Since my projects are mainly marketed & distributed on the world wide web it’s difficult to concentrate on building a local fanbase.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Suspens Recording – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Suspens Recording is an independent record label specializing in Hip Hop. Besides being the co-founder, I am one of the artists/producers, the engineer & graphic designer. What makes me most proud of this company is beside MiiMii & the artist is me. I don’t owe any banks or investors anything. I or any of my artists are slaves to a label. What sets me apart from other Mom & Pop indie labels is Suspens Recording is not fly by night. We started in 1999 and almost 20 years later we are still producing Hip Hop music. This was four years before my son Suspens Jr. was born and now he is the main artist on the label.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
My long-term plan is to turn Suspens Jr into a superstar earning 7 fingers from fans worldwide. He is only 15 and has already released his 3rd solo project “Youngest in Charge”. This goal can be reached by age 21 if we consistently produce, distribute & market new music. I have 3 new solo projects I will be releasing over the next 2 years. I’ve been on hiatus for a while as far as releasing new music because I had to focus on developing SJ. I look forward to jumping back in the game with my next album “Real Life Events” scheduled to be released on Labor Day. After this, next hard run for the gold, I’ll start to pass the torch to Jr. At this point, I will build a state of the art studio on the south side of Miami-Dade to help take his career to the next level and set up a home base for some new local talent.

Pricing:

Contact Info:

Website: suspensrecording.com
Phone: 305-280-7385
Email: info@suspensrecording.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suspensrecording/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SuspensRecording/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuspensTheDon

Cool Illustration of Flaming Skull Wearing Headphones

Image Credit:
Suspens, MiiMii

Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.