We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Keiz Ali a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Keiz , thanks for joining us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?
I would like to leave a legacy of timeless art. I’ve worked with many different people over the years and will continue to be apart of collaborative projects with the hope that my footsteps in the sand are big ones that people never forget. From songs, to full length music projects, fashion, film, skits and more. I hope to be known as the go-to person to take your idea to the next level. The guy who turns your dreams on paper to a reality in real time.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My friends recently have put the title of “Master Curator” next to my name. What does Keiz Ali do? He takes ideas to the next level and open doors for people who need them opened. From interviews to playlist to content pieces like “The Shop Cyphers” I find lanes for artist to shine and show off talent and personality. Do you need a project pushed to the brink of your creativity and budget? Give me a call. Recently I worked with an artist named Shyland Flowers and helped take his EP, Pray I Don’t Burnout from an amazing body of work to a concrete story with visuals , art work, and turning a character in his rhyme book to a walking talking piece of his discography. Do you have a podcast idea and need a little guidance? After working on a podcast with some of my best friends for a few years , Just Another Week Podcast , I ventured out to learn the ends and outs of podcasting from sound engineering to set design and worked with one of the best Podcast Networks in South Carolina, the ISay Podcast network, to help build a few shows. I do not see a wall too big to break or a hole to small for me to climb through when it comes to my clients. I enjoy what I do every step of the way which makes some of the most difficult task easier to deal with. Currently I am working with my long time partner Neko Smoke on The Ali and Smoke show. As we do have a weekly podcast on Mondays it’s more than a show. The show is more of a home base for us to always come back to. Neko and I are creative junkies! We come up with or find different ideas for musicians in our area and execute them. We are in the process of recording a doc series , The Cook-Up, that highlights SC producers. This project should release later in 2023. I also work side by side with Sertoma Recordings, a project management company started in 2021. We have a few pending projects with artist that I would love to talk about but I have to keep the “cat in the bag” until they are released. Artist come to us with an idea and a budget and we not only work on the sound of the project but create a full aesthetic for them. I think what sets me apart from others are my organizational skills and ambition to win for my clients. A compliment I get regularly is, “ man I’ve never worked with someone so professional and on-point” and my favorite “all I have to do is be an artist, Keiz handles everything else”
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The biggest reward would be to hear a client say “this is exactly what I wanted”. Working with artist at times could be difficult because they have a million different ideas with a million different approaches or on the flip side they have one idea and want to crawl back into the shell once they have shared it. My job is to extract the main ideas and execute for them, so when I hear I did just that it’s gives me a sense of completion.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Yes, to leave a mark on my state. We do not have many artist to come from South Carolina so my driving force is to help push someone to that next level. It could be an interview, a playlist placement, or music video I worked on I just want to be available and ready to help them make it over whatever obstacle is in the way. My goal is be one of the “door kickers” for artist and other creatives who live under the great palmetto tree and crescent moon.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: KeizAliSc
- Facebook: KeizAliSc
- Twitter: KeizAliSc
- Youtube: TheAliandSmokeShow
- Other: https://www.liinks.co/thealiandsmokeshow