We recently connected with Marlon Williams and have shared our conversation below.

Marlon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My parents are exceptional at many things – What I admire most about them is their ability to sense optimism in almost any situation and with resilience to life’s obstacles through tenacity, willpower + creativity. The inherent presence of tenacity is deeply ingrained within my ethos as a business owner, creative + spirit. By failing forward and learning how to mitigate risk, I’ve acquired a foundational framework through parental conditioning about how to get back up and try again, accounting for the scars, and keeping the lessons learned.

As a youth growing up in New York City in the late 90’s/early 00’s, I was really into music + sports. Although my folks separated in my Elementary years, they never bad-mouthed each other or created a negative environment around me because of it – In fact, they continued to work well together through collaboration on business goals and raising me. They fostered creative outlets such as music and sports through placement in music-focused schooling (SMS-PS.859), sports programs (Basketball City, Chelsea Piers, YMCA), and sharing their career passions with me, both independently and through co-parenting collaborations. For raising their son, they remained optimistic and incredibly amicable as they raised me into adolescence.

Mom’s journey as a child immigrant and becoming a US citizen as a teenager before raising me through her college years, ultimately achieving major career success in magazine publishing, radio broadcast + local city government has granted me the courage to march toward my highest ambitions even when all the odds are stacked against any particular starting point. From the ground up, anything can be achieved with a positive mind and the will for a way. Our household value of higher education has shown me the importance of seeking illumination through knowledge and understanding. Her support is truly an anchor of love for she has inspired me to pursue postgraduate degrees such as my newly acquired Masters of Science in Business shortly after she earned her MBA. My father is a legendary DJ Producer from New York City. Although a traditionally unconventional career pathway, he’s taught me so much just by being himself, sharing stories, and being open about some of the trials and tribulations of the music industry. His success is of astronomical proportions when considering his start point as a Fresh-Air Fund youth from the Queensbridge Housing Projects in Long Island City, Queens. Both of my parents grew up in Queens, New York, so there’s an element of grit that positively impacts my worldview.

The baton passed from my parents is exemplified through my business goals and function through entrepreneurship and a business-owner mind frame. As a creative, there’s a discipline needed to bring ideas down to earth. What my parents have done right is show, not just tell, about how to manifest creativity properly and have an optimistic mind when faced with certain opportunities for growth. As mom always says “When there’s a Will, there’s a Way!”

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Let’s start with the name: Marlon L. Williams, Jr. aka MWill

Starting my professional music production career at age 14 with a co-production on LL Cool J’s Exit 13 Album by Def Jam – An opportunity that came to be through negotiations with father on my agreement to attend Military/Boarding School. Promising to commit a lifelong goal of becoming a songwriter/music producer, I embarked on a solo journey with collaborators in High School forming the Wave Club – a blog and music collective founded by Ro Ransom + Me affiliated with Illroots.com founder Mike Waxx. Through years of developing social media platform presence, I was able to build a small underground name for myself as a budding teenage producer going by “M.Will the Shogun” (ASCAP – M WILL THE SHOGUN MUSIC), selling beats and networking with upcoming artists. Before I graduated from Brighton HS, I was producing for Mac Miller (Rest in Peace), Ricky Hilfiger, Ro Ransom + self-produced compilations featuring new artists from around the country. As I entered adulthood, I started identifying the need for independence, as I began to intern for major record labels at EMI – which was in the process of being acquired by UMG – through marketing coordinator roles at Capitol Records, Blue Note Records + Astralwerks Records, which helped me identify levers in the music supply chain that I have access to and comparing costs analysis for efficiency.

A a die-hard sneakerhead, my passion developed in my adolescence through sports and hip-hop. I always wanted to design shoes and learned how to use Adobe Photoshop at a Queens College summer program to explore how to design shoes and build websites like Sole Collector or NikeTalk. I began making my first shoe designs and color-ups in elementary school and drew ideas inspired by Nike, Adidas, and the Jordan brand. During my adolescence, I joined online forums for sneakers and began buying, selling, and trading with internet users around the world, building contacts at major brands and meeting some of the greatest sneaker collectors to date (major shout out to SoleSupreme!) being invited to many Nike focus groups as a youth. My dream was to take things to the next level, from where DJ Clark Kent (Rest in Peace), DJ AM (Rest In Peace), and brands like Supreme/Stüssy took it with streetwear. My music and sportswear journeys were always interwoven and I was ecstatic to earn an employee number with Nike by the time I was an undergraduate at SUNY Purchase.

Through these foundations, I was able to build Jazz Under the Bridge / Jazzunderthebridge.com. Applying contacts from the music and sportswear industries, I’ve been able to create a focus on friends and family music services with a specialization in sportswear collaboration + artist brand development. Mainly based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, for the last 8 years I’ve produced events with brand collaborators + music artists alike; shows, music projects with a branded focus on Jazz influence on Hip-hop, and beyond with a celebration of improvisation and fusion. I am most proud of being able to help artists, like me, achieve professional goals and offer boutique services to develop career pathways and opportunities through event collaboration and music production. A brand for artists, by artists.

Having recently licensed songs for Supreme and forming partnerships with Hip-hop legends for exclusive products, I am most proud of building an authentic brand with a pronounced vision, having worked with great brands like Blundstone, Nublu, Nike, Mike’s Hot Honey + more to come.
University of Oregon Class of ’23 – Graduate SPM Master’s of Science from the Lundquist School of Business in Portland.
James Dewitt Yancey Foundation – NY Chapter founder + organizer

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Working with Supreme (finally), took me about 17 years. I knew at age 13, I wanted to work for them – Ever since I purchased my first Supreme T-Shirt in 2006. For almost decades now, I’ve envisioned for Supreme to officially work with my father and use his music catalog for branded content and skate videos. We were finally able to license his music to Supreme through “The Bridge 2000,” which was used for a promotional content piece featuring Tyshawn Jones for Supreme x Hardies Hardware in 2023. Even though it was for a small 1+ minute clip, they make it happen by reaching out directly to me to use the music and we were able to grant exclusive use of the music for a respectable license fee.

Before I formed Jazz Under the Bridge, I began to pitch Supreme ideas through their NY (274 Lafayette St. + 190 Bowery), Brooklyn, London shops via friends who work at the shops. At times, especially early in the process, they’ve laughed in my face, teased me, gaslit – I was once banned from one of the Supreme locations due to competitive environments that may have been allegedly at the guidance of store management. There’s been times when shop workers have hung out in my backyard parties, we’ve hung out at bars and have gotten to know one another through our mutual friends and real-world experiences – I’ve now formed lasting friendships/mentorships with some of their former key components – designers, embroiders, shop workers, store managers, pro-skaters. The resilience required to survive some of natures filtration is essential for vetting meaningful connections with purposeful alignment. But I can finally and confidently say, I have worked with Supreme on some things and continue to pitch ideas, collections + designs to through promotional special projects and third-party music licensing. Major shout out to Roxanne + Will Perkins + Alex Corporan for all the support + mentorship throughout the years.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist/creative is having the ability to control your destiny. We are responsible. You can find yourself in moments of being in control, down to the patterns, routines, and habits created to form your creative output and artistry. Being an artist is a *privilege* that requires great willpower, and discipline and is a cathartic practice that requires to have a good balance of work + play, strategy + improvisation, focus + fun. What is rewarding is truly being within purpose – Having the choice to decide the fate of your works, collaborating, and finding fulfillment in yourself and others. Being an artist and/or creative makes it possible to become an owner, establish creativity, and form intellectual property. The challenge of being an artist/creative can be outside criticism, a need to actualize and manifest (and not just be considered “delusional” to a close friend or family member – you have to PROVE IT), therefore learning how to be an “alchemist,” how to manifest things properly, and bring creativity down to earth can be one of the more rewarding aspects in itself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jazzunderthebridge.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mwillmusic/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwillmusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MWillTV
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/mwillmusic

Image Credits

Personal Photo: MWill by Dave Jeffers @davefotogram @mikeshothoney
Additional Photos: MWill x DJ Marley Marl by Jeff Pliskin @raisedfistpropaganda (raisedfistpropaganda.com), MWill QB Illmatic roots by Justine Vendittelli, UOSPM Class of ’23 Marlon Williams/University of Oregon, Dave Jeffers @davefotogram @haroldhunterfoundation @mikeshothoney