We were lucky to catch up with L8 Nite recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, L8 thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I don’t want to be cliche because many people have reached success after being homeless. I’m successful but still have a ways to go. I was building naval ships as an electrician making a lot of money in my younger 20s. I would use the money to support other artists from my home town but getting burned sometimes by industry posers. I loved music and artists more than my current trade at that time. So, I left the opportunity of joining the apprenticeship as a designer and moved to Muscle Shoals to go back to school to learn the business and art of music. While in school, I became a Record Promoter. I assisted in promoting Jason Derulo’s first hit record, along with other artists. I ended up doing my internship in the city of NY. I networked like crazy also visiting some of the Program Directors who I corresponded with during my RP stint. I went back to Muscle Shoals working as a booking agent and engineer intern in the country music industry. Months later, I ended up getting a job officer as an audio engineer and this is where my homelessness begun. I moved to Atlanta with $25 and no place to stay. Whenever the studio owner wasn’t around, I would sneak and sleep on the couch or unused rooms and record for free just to increase my skills and network. This is when I met Rae Sremmurd making their first demo for Producer Mike Will to be presented to Interscope Records.

L8, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

and artists to certain radio stations whose record label couldn’t plug in. The interns I’ve met at labels when I was just starting out my career are now record label executives. Unfortunately but fortunately, the industry change quicker than an overpaid item. Many of my contacts have gone to live different lives. Now a days, I am focusing on me and my career. I still love the business but I love the creative side more. I’m back where I belong, with my creatives, you know, the ones society labels ADD, ADHD, Socially Awkward, etc… besides, I have enough business going on right now anyways as I am studying to get into law school. I am currently DJing and before I moved from ATL, I was looking to put together a punk/alternative music band together. This idea is still burning. I love to write and I am trying to get back into composing. I haven’t left acting, or doing voiceovers. I haven’t left engineering. It’s just been a minute and I am working on finding out where I belong, CREATIVELY.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

What I had to unlearn was what I learned in school. What you learned in school is what you learned in school. The basics, a guideline is what’s provided but in the actual industry and streets is where you’ll gain your experience. It’s like the military, we are given basic guidelines and it’s drilled into us but when it’s time to utilize those skills, it must not be verbatim. You have to adapt to your situations and your environment. I had a hard time doing that when I first started but I was also willing to be taught. Sometimes a little too willing because although money isn’t everything, and thankfully I always had a hustle, I lost out on money for broken networks.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Law School, future family, age, most of all, the freedom to create in order to gain listeners, fans, memories, and change lives. A lot of music, hip hop, pop or alternative, I’ve listened to throughout the years are attached to certain memories or events that happened in my life in the past. EDM was my fitness go to and amped me up for competitions. Blues was the music of choice when I was with friends and family in Alabama. Reggae, Reggaeton, Caribbean and Afro Beat is what I listen to the most in Miami where I currently reside. It’s the vibe for me and I want people to be able to vibe to me whether I’m djing, on a record or performing. I think this is the reason why I became a make entertainer when I was in high school. Entertaining artistically is a blessing.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @producer_L8Nite
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/L8.Nite
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iaml8nite
• Other: I’m sitting here in Kamata, Japan looking at nothing but opportunity. It’s not technology. My social presence is lite right now. My grassroots still consist of tactics from the past. I think there’s still a niche for it in this market.