We recently connected with Rahlou and Que Sera and have shared our conversation below.

Rahlou and Que Sera, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project we have worked on is our latest EP titled ‘A Trip Through Brooklyn’. We started writing this project right after we returned from a three month trip to Europe and Africa, in which we promoted our first project and added onto our resume as international DJs and performing artists. After being gone for a while, we came back to Brooklyn and marveled at the energy and pace of the city! We met in Atlanta, but for many years Brooklyn has been our home. Although we are a bit nomadic, Brooklyn remains one of our bases, and everytime we come back, the energy inspires us. So as we found ourselves in the middle of a global pandemic, at home in Brooklyn, we wrote about the beauty of a place that somehow continued to inspire even through the emotional storm that accompanied Covid 19. As we moved out of the pandemic and found ourselves back and forth between Brooklyn and Atlanta, we struggled to finalize the EP, being torn with the constant waves of the pandemic and the perpetual feeling of being stuck that many artists have. After spending last winter in Atlanta, we came back to Brooklyn in the spring of 2022 and set our minds to releasing this project that was over two years in the making. It was the story of moving within a big city; all the characters and experiences that shaped us and the cultural diversity that makes the borough so captivating. This project was meaningful to us because it was real; not a fabricated story or vision of an ideal life. It was about grit, sorrow, tenacity, and inspiration. It was about joy experienced through loss and the overcoming of pain. It was about navigating social structures and complexities during moments of uncertainty. It was experiences we’ve witnessed and battles we’ve fought through the years that we have moved around this planet. It was about taking a trip through a place we consider home – Brooklyn.

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 background and context?

Street Light Boutique LLC is a family operated multimedia music production company. We started out as a DJ/Producer/Songwriter team but when we realized that we needed to promote our work as artists, but didn’t have it within our budget to hire others to do the work for us, we started doing it ourselves. Fortunately, we combined our experience from an education at the Art Institute of Atlanta for videography and years in marketing at Vibe Magazine and Tommy Boy Records. With that knowledge and experience, we began producing and creating our own music videos and promotional material, including a line of merchandise to help promote our brand. It is through that work that we can now help create content for other artists, as well as help other artists walk through the process of developing a project independently.

We have found ourselves lately providing services that veer slightly off the music lens, but because it involves helping other entrepreneurs, if our schedule allows it, we are all in! We have assisted with copyediting of websites, digital photography and videography for clients. What sets us apart is the ability to shift and adjust to a client’s needs, while still bringing our keen creative lens to a project. The beauty in having to execute a project independently is that you learn the skills of multiple departments!

We are proud of our ability to sustain as creatives and not allow the struggles to deter us from following our passion. It has not been an easy road but we keep pushing forward, while diversifying our product, yet remaining true to who we are and remaining in touch with our audience.

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

The love of music and the love of a passion filled life drives our creative journey. We often see so many that live unhappy and unfulfilled lives because all their time is spent doing something they don’t believe in, while surrounded by people who are equally as unhappy. Whereas people often equate artists/creatives to people who do not truly work, what we have come to realize is we actually work harder than most, and are able to do so because we love the work that we do. Being creatives also allows us to have more choice in who we work with and how we work. As a result, we have decided that even with the hard work, and the uncertainty of being a creative and entrepreneur, it is all worth it because we earn the freedom to craft our lives the way we see fit and decide what message we want to deliver in our work. We choose love and passion and that is evident in all that we do.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

For many years we held DJ residences at local Brooklyn bars. Every weekend, you could find us in a hip neighborhood, with a loyal audience, letting go to the joy of music. As parents of two young children, that lifestyle included not just late nights, but also early mornings. After about 5 years of solid gigs every weekend, we knew it was starting to take a toll on our bodies. We started visualizing daytime and corporate DJ events, as well as remote work that allowed us the flexibility to travel and promote our music/brand. We started acquiring some contracts with the NYC Department of Education during the peak end of year event season, that allowed us to pack our bags for several months out of the year, and take our show on the road. As a result we have traveled and DJ’d in several international locations. More importantly though, when the pandemic hit, we were already in the mindset of remote work and event based gigs. We segued away from bar DJ residencies, and have since primarily focused on school based/corporate/event based gigs and multimedia production work – which allows us to travel and work from just about anywhere! What we learned along the way is you often know what is right for you, but just don’t know how to go about achieving it. Luckily though, life always has a way of showing you which path to take.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.streetlightboutique.com
• Instagram: @streetlightboutique
• Facebook: @StreetLightBoutique
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/streetlightboutique
• Twitter: @SLBoutiqueBK
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRXZDREzAMjNKzSMNBqVfEQ

Image Credits
Violet Hausthor, Robert Hodge III, Fitzpatrick Hodge, Rachel Hodge and Robert Hodge Jr.