Today we’d like to introduce you to Street Light Boutique

Hi Street Light Boutique, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?

Our story beings when Rahlou walked into a clothing boutique that I owned in Little 5 Points, Atlanta, and we engaged in a two hour conversation that revolved around music, fashion, and fulfillment.

Our friendship evolved and we soon realized that our artistic views and understanding of musical expression gently yet passionately complement each other. After several years of marriage and two children, we decided that we would put our entrepreneurial minds together. Rahlou had been honing his skill as a DJ/producer for decades and decided to coach me on how to be a disc jockey, after I expressed my long standing admiration with the artistic ability of creating a musical vibe. After moving to my hometown of Brooklyn, NY, we began deejaying together and combining our sounds in musical harmony.

We maintained several DJ residencies in NYC from 2013 until 2020 when the music and entertainment industry got flipped upside down during the global pandemic. During that time, we had evolved into a DJ/Producer/Songwriter team with a focus on multimedia productions. We explored our relationship with music and each other in a podcast entitled ‘Beyond The TurnTables’. We released our first self titled EP in 2018 and our follow up EP, A Trip Through Brooklyn, in 2022. Under our label, Pigeon Whole Music, we also helped our son, SLB Rah, release an instrumental project, FUEL, that highlights his music production, and continue to work with him in developing his music catalog today.

In addition, we have developed a music education workshop entitled ‘Beat Sense’ that allows us to provide deejaying workshops and songwriting workshops to primary school children. We currently provide music curation for corporate brands and extracurricular school programming in NYC. During the pandemic we also launched a line of merchandise, that we felt align with our identities, via our online store at www.streetlightboutique.com/theboutiqueshop.

Eighteen years after we met each other, and eleven years of being in business together, we are still growing strong! Although the past few years, post pandemic, have been challenging, we continue to work together to share our visions and passion for music.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

It has not been, and still is not a smooth road! There have been so many challenges along the way. Our love of music and our love of the life we have cultivated together keeps us in it. While we have found great joy, flexibility, and a livable income in the work that we do, it has had its share of challenges. One of the biggest challenges is working with independent businesses that minimize the value of the skills that creatives bring to the table by presenting budgets for projects that don’t allow for creatives to provide their services, without looking for other sources of income to support them. As parents of two children, living in one of the most expensive cities in the world, we have had to be extremely creative with how we work and invest our money. We have also had to maintain a high level of tenacity to continue pushing past the challenges of seasons that have not been as successful as we would like. Yet, we continue to create and look to innovate our repertoire because we have a fan bass that loves and supports us!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?

We are a multimedia music production company that provides deejay services, music styling, music scoring, music editing, and music education services for our clients. Our work has developed out of a passion for music and all the artistic elements that help bring it alive: composing, producing, writing, video, fashion, design, and editing. The client expresses what they would like to hear or experience musically, and we bring it to life! Our creative direction allows us to holistically take hold of a sound and bring it to fruition for all the senses to enjoy.

We are known for our vast music knowledge and our ability to cross genres, all the while appealing to a multicultural and multigenerational audience. It makes us proud to know that we have developed a reputation for feel good music and that our music is therapeutic and energizing for many. We are also proud of our vinyl record collection which is comprised of vinyl records from Future to The TomTom Club to Pink Floyd to Tank and the Bangas to Portishead.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?

The music industry and entertainment industry is shifting rapidly! With the rapid fire access to music, both old and new, and affordable music technologies, deejays have become super common. This provides a beautiful opportunity for many more people to express themselves musically, but also drives down the cost of having the service provided, making it difficult to maintain a viable livelihood as a professional DJ. In addition, with the advent of AI technologies, there is no telling which direction music streaming platforms will go, and we are certain that audio editing services are up next in the world of technological advancements. All in all though, we are here for the ride and hope to keep our feet on the ground so that we too may grow with the changes!

Pricing:

• A Trip Through Brooklyn by Street Light Boutique $6.99
• Street Light Boutique by Street Light Boutique $4.99
• FUEL (Instrumental Album) by SLB Rah $5.99
• SLB Mixtape Hoodie $54.99
• African American Flag Fanny Pack $45.00

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.streetlightboutique.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/streetlightboutique/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StreetLightBoutique
• Twitter: @SLBoutiqueBK
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@streetlightboutique6384
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-233169193
• Other: https://www.streetlightboutique.com/boutiqueshop

Image Credits

Summer Hamilton
Fitzpatrick Hodge
Robert Hodge III