inception
Why / How I started the label.
I started FWM as a means to get out my own music. I remember back in my earlier years of releasing my own music, back in 2013.. 14…15.. shoot even 16 & 17 wanting to release music on my own label. However I was too busy chasing the dream of being a Producer/ DJ and dropping on the hottest club music outlets and platforms that already existed at that time. I hadn’t dropped on any of the “hottest” club labels. I remeber Night Slugz was on fire at that time. I did however drop on local Atlanta based labels, a few others stateside and 1 or 2 from Europe. Back in these times I was excited to have my music on wax, it was a grail for me at that time. I had no real idea what went into publishing / releasing a record of my own. All I really knew was that I needed to know how to DJ, some good music and some artwork to drop the project.
When I say chasing, I mean chasin! Wishing on a star! My idea of a producer / DJ was so in the stars. I’m talkin’ world tour, slaying groupies, partying, making money looking fly, all that shiny lights sh*t. I thought it was the end all be all. To be an electronic music producer and DJ. That was all I ever wanted to be in life. I had a little success with some soundcloud hits (“Like You” and “Collapsin’ ft. Brea”) that I wanted to get signed to labels. Nobody bit. I was just some random guy on the internet sending cold emails to some inbox that probably never got checked. It wasn’t until years went by and my deejaying journey lead me to start wanting to collect and play records that I actually met the man who would change my musical career. (Writing that last sentence seems so surreal.) This was Kai Alcé of NDATL Muzik. I remember it was my good friend Danny’s birthday or shortly after, maybe we had gotten off of work at some crappy albeit character building warehouse job. We were having a session where we would just mix records, drink beer and talk music or just sh*t about life the scene. I know he played this NDATL record. I don’t remember which one, but it was good and I asked, Who is this? Where do I get this record? and he said a mutual friend (at that time) gave it to him as a gift for his birthday. I needed that record.
Maybe a couple days or weeks went by and Danny and I ended up grabbing some food in the city [Atlanta] and I was asking him about the record. He said the guy who runs the label is local. At the table I googled NDATL and found Kai Alcé’s twitter page. I dm’ed the man and I ended up getting a response very soon after. We left the resturaunt and then went to Alcé’s place. As soon as the door opened, The sent of Mary Jane overtook me , he invited me in and the first thing I saw was a large scale and some boxes. He asked me what records I wanted to buy and i told him. I then asked him if he was looking for some more artists for his label NDATL Muzik. He said something like “ Yeah, if your music is good.” I said yeah my music is good and we proceeded into his studio / record room, which was right next to the laundry room / inventory space.
This room was small but had so much in it. Two huge floor to ceiling shelves of 12”s, One covered the wall directly to your left and one across parallel to the doorway we walked into. Directly to the right in arm’s length of the door was an array of keyboards Juno 106 that had pennies glued to the bottom of the keys, a 61 key Motif and a Mikrokorg. On the wall connected to the keyboard station was the DJ set up: two CDJ 1000s and two Technics 1200s. Next inline in the far corner of the room was his computer an MPC 200XL and some other bits of gear small but useful.
We made our way to the computer, I showed him my music and he seemed impressed. We all chatted for a bit and I ended up asking him if he lives off of music. He replied “Yes, but he does other things every now and then to get extra money.” as we begin to head out, I remember specifically asking him what that scale was for.. if he sold weed. He told me the scale was used for weighing boxes for shipping orders. That moment did something for me. It helped me realize a career from music was possible.
I became a mentee of Kai Alcé that day, and in 2018 he guided me into releasing my first record FWM001 Meekside Freekside, which I ended up selling out of 500 copies in like 1or 2 months. This was the beginning of FWM Entertainment. I paid around $1600 of my hard earned (I mean hard earned) money for this release. It was the best 1600 I had spent. It was my very first real investment in myself.
Words by Stefan Ringer
