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Devyne
Intervention
Music Mogul Teaches
Youth, Industry How to Dream Big
By CHRISTOPHER WINDHAM
Devyne
Stephens believes in big dreams.
For more than a decade, the 39 year-old Atlanta mega
mogul has been the go-to man for hip-hop and pop stars
seeking everything from cutting edge dance moves to
a record contract broker.
Through his Upfront Megatainment conglomerate, Stephens
has lived his dream of becoming the next Berry Gordy,
albeit with a twist. The company’s flagship
is its record label Upfront, which features multi-platinum-selling
hip-hop artist Akon. Upfront’s holdings also
include a talent management agency, digital media
and film arms, and the aptly named Dreamland, an 18,000
square foot Atlanta mansion that can be rented for
high-profile events.
“I
just followed my vision and my dream,” Stephens
says. “I really wanted to be in the entertainment
business and worked on perfecting myself whether it
was as an artist, choreographer or a record executive.
That was my motivation. And I wasn’t going to
give up no matter what.”
Stephens has trekked an unusual path toward mogul
status. Discovered and signed as a teenager to L.A.
Reid and Babyface’s legendary LaFace Records,
Stephens started in the industry as an artist. He
later transitioned to artist development at LaFace,
working with such top R&B and hip-hop acts as
TLC, Usher, Babyface, Toni Braxton, Outkast and 112.
Stephens soon began working closely with Sean “Diddy”
Combs and artists on his Bad Boy Entertainment label,
gaining increased notoriety in the industry for choreographing
Combs’ musical tribute to rapper Notorious B.I.G.
at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards.
Stephens’ choreography has been featured on
the tours of such artists as Jay Z, Mary J. Blige,
Gwen Stefani, Pink, Outcast and Mariah Carey. In 2000,
Stephens returned to his roots as an artist with the
release of the single “Uh Huh,” whose
video featured Stephens’ signature slick dance
moves and an appearance by TLC member T-Boz.
While successful in several fields, Stephens has had
his biggest triumphs as a dealmaker in hip-hop and
with several Atlanta businesses. For example, Upfront
Megatainment operates The Complex, a 7,500 square
foot facility in midtown Atlanta that provides end-to-end
development services for athletes and artists, including
facilities for rehearsals, photo shoots, fitness,
media training and choreography. Stephens said The
Complex was inspired by the Detroit’s legendary
“Hitsville” facility, which was home to
Motown Records in the 1960s.
“I’m
a big fan of Berry Gordy,” says Stephens, who
fondly recalls meeting Gordy. “Motown was fixated
at the [Hitsville] complex. I just took it a step
further.”
Upfront plans to add a recording studio to The Complex
to make the facility one-stop shopping for high profile
clients, Stephens says.
For now, Stephens is busy modeling his Upfront empire
after Universal Music Group, which owns the largest
family of record labels, including Island Def Jam,
Interscope and Geffen Records, which launched Akon’s
KonLive Music label, with Stephens brokering the deal.
Stephens is now Executive Vice President of KonLive,
which is home to current pop chart-topper Lady GaGa.
Upfront’s business activities continue to become
more diverse. Upfront Digital Media is the midst of
a viral global talent search for its “Who’s
Next,” webisode series. There’s even plans
to launch an English language television channel that
covers African news and entertainment, a project inspired
by Akon, who is of Senegalese heritage.
"This
guy [Stephens] has a vision like no else out there,”
says Steve Rifkind, Founder of Loud and SRC Records.
“He really sees something from someone who has
the possibility of being great. He can execute his
vision. He'll produce."
Even as the music industry struggles with record sales
moving from disc to digital, Stephens says he’s
confident the industry can rebound.
“There’s
always going to be new age ways of reaching the consumer,”
he says. “It can be done. But it has to be done
in a grandstand way. It also centers on having a hit
album or hit record.”
Rising From Struggle
Much
of what shapes Stephens today can be traced back to
his humble childhood in the College Park Red Oak housing
projects near Atlanta. Raised by a single mother,
Stephens says, his childhood was challenging, but
also filled with music. His father and uncles comprised
of a local gospel group. “I grew up in that
environment,” he says. “Music was embedded
in my soul.”
Stephens says his bleak surroundings and difficult
upbringing led him to work to hard to make it out
of poverty,
“What
motivated me was the struggle,” he says “I
had a humble beginning and I wanted to do something
different.”
Running a conglomerate has its time constraints, Stephens
admits, saying he had to retire from certain activities.
Stephens says he hasn’t choreographed in six
years and has no plans to return as an artist.
When he’s not brokering multimillion dollar
deals, Stephens is focusing on his charitable activities,
including the non-profit Devyne Intervention, which
he established to help less fortunate communities
in the Atlanta area. The organization, led by Stephens
and Akon, delivered turkeys last Thanksgiving to College
Park, GA residents, and at Christmas, the organization
delivered toys. Stephens is planning to expand the
organization to help additional communities.
Stephens is also a board member for an Atlanta-area
children’s hospital, and for Camp Twin Lakes,
a camping facility in Georgia for children with chronic
illnesses and disabilities. At one outing for 300
young sickle anemia patients, Stephens invited TLC’s
T-Boz, who is a sickle cell patient and a public awareness
advocate for the disease, to speak about the illness.
“You
have to focus on the youth, the kids,” Stephens
says. “You want to get to them at an early age
and motivate them.”
For aspiring moguls, Stephens offers advice on how
to persevere through the challenging road toward success.
“It’s
been very challenging,” he says. “Whenever
you start something out from the beginning it’s
going to be challenging. Sometimes want to give up,
but you have to keep on pursing your dream.”
Molding
a Mogul
One early challenge for Stephens was his personal
support and the career launch of Akon. Stephens has
mentored Akon professionally and personally since
1997, when the singer signed to the mogul’s
talent agency in hopes of pursing a major deal.
As Stephens pitched Akon’s music to some of
the industry’s top record executives (often
without success), the singer often found himself in
trouble with the law. Akon has discussed such incidents
in interviews and songs, including his breakout 2004
single “Locked Up.”
Stephens says his childhood environment, where prison
and other “grey” activities were a part
of life for many housing project residents, led him
to give Akon a second chance. “Growing up where
I’m from, I always someone to believe second
chances,” Stephens says. “I knew Akon
had exceptional talent. I knew if he steered himself
in the right way and focused that negative energy
on the positive side, he would be a force in the world.”
Stephens’ gamble appears to have paid off, with
Akon releasing several commercially and critically
acclaimed albums, and dozens of high-profile collaborations,
including duets for the comeback albums of Michael
Jackson and Whitney Houston. Akon has also become
Stephens’ protégé as a mogul,
with the singer dealmaking for Konvict Muzik, home
to R&B singer T-Pain and rapper Red Café,
and KonLive Distribution.
"Devyne
taught me how the (music) game actually works,”
Akon says. “I would just be around Devyne, watch
him and that's how I developed. I got in because of
Devyne." 
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