Before he became a successful director, entertainment manager, filmmaker, producer, and platinum selling/Grammy-Nominated songwriter, Brooklyn native Prestley Snipes was introduced to the music industry by his legendary uncles Taharqa Aleem and Tunde’ Ra Aleem. In addition to giving Snipes his first taste of the rap game, the Aleem brothers worked with Jimi Hendrix, New Kids on the Block, and Wu-Tang Clan, founded the pioneering Nia record label, ran the historic Harlem World Nightclub, and were instrumental in the career of Andre Harrell and the formation of Uptown Records.

Their involvement with Uptown Records provided a watershed moment for Snipes, as he started attending studio sessions with his uncles during the peak of the label’s success. As a young Snipes soaked in the creative energy in the studio during one particularly engaging session, he realized that he wanted to build his own career in the music industry “This was around the time when Uptown/MCA was probably the biggest hip-hop label, it was right before Bad Boy started,” he says. “I was about 10 years old. We were working on a record with Father MC. I’m sitting right next to Mark Sparks in the producer’s chair. And I’m just chilling, listening to this song being made and watching the whole creative process. Ever since that day, that’s when I knew this is what I wanted to do.”

The spontaneousness of these Uptown recording sessions—where ideas flew around the room and a song could change course in the blink of an eye—left a lasting impression on Snipes. “I learned to not overthink things and just do,” he says. “A lot of times when I noticed people in the session, ideas came up on the spot. A lot of the writers, they weren’t actually writers where they wrote things down. A lot of it was spontaneous.”

From the Uptown Records days, Snipes found his first success in the entertainment industry with television and video. After starting a variety show on Brooklyn Public Network called FDTV in 2004, he started selling copies the FDTV: Volume One DVD on Canal Street. It was here that Snipes first met industry veteran and Kameechi manager Roget Romain in 2005. The two men hit it off and it wasn’t long before Romain called Snipes and offered to manage him. Even since then, Romain and Snipes have been close friends and business partners.

Around the time Snipes first met Romain, he started posting videos on YouTube—an emerging force and rather unknown entity at the time. “I started on YouTube around 2005, 2006,” he says. “I knew what was about to happen. I was way ahead of the curve, because the genre I was catering to wasn’t really on the internet yet. I was really just trying to polish my skills so I’d be ready for now honestly.”

In 2009 Snipes showed his readiness for the now by launching ILP Network, LLC and ilpvideo.com. A few years after founding ILP, with Snipes demonstrated an impeccable eye for star power by promoting videos by Future long before he was a globally recognized artist. Not long after ILP placed the videos for “Old Hundreds” and “Tony Montana” on their front page, Drake hopped on the “Tony Montana” remix and Future reached superstar status.

Though Snipes is careful to point out that ILP wasn’t solely responsible for Future’s success, he did take note of the fact that the Atlanta rapper soared to meteoric heights not long he was featured on their front page. “I was like, ‘Wow, ILP was the first site to really promote ‘Tony Montana’ when nobody else was talking about Future or this song,” he says. “But now he has a Drake remix.”

About a year later, Snipes found the Migos hit “Bando” on YouTube when they were still languishing in obscurity. Again, ILP seemed to proper their music to the forefront.  “I swear, the video probably only had a few hundred views when I found it,” he says. “I liked it, I put it at the top of ILP. Long story short, they come out with a song called “Versace” and Drake hops on the remix. I’m not trying to take responsibility for the creativity, songwriting, or any of that, but early on was I noticing that ILP was instrumental in getting artists that first look and exposing unknown artists. That’s when I decided I needed to start signing artists.”

Snipes wasn’t the only one noticing the ILP had the winning formula. In late 2011, Warner Bros. Records artist and former OVO Sound signee iLoveMakonnen reached out to Snipes to ask about getting his music on the website. Once again, Snipes saw something special that everyone else had overlooked and signed Makonnen to a management deal.

While working together remotely in 2011 and 2012, Snipes helped the aspiring artist generate a growing buzz that eventually caught the attention of famed producer Mike Will Made It. During a session with Mike Will, Makonnen recorded “Tuesday”. Of all the songs Makonnen was working on, Snipes identified “Tuesday” as the must release hit record from his expansive catalog—even though he only had a voice memo version of it in the beginning. “He recorded it and I had a voice memo of the song,” he says. “Makonnen would be at the sessions and he’d record voice memos for me so I could hear the music because Mike Will would not let that shit go. The music would not leave the studio.”

After Mike Will Made It and iLoveMakonnen parted ways, Snipes pushed Makonnen to re-record the song with Atlanta producers Metro Boomin’ and Sonny Digital. Using the original voice memo as their guide, they remade the song during a marathon recording session along with 10 or 11 other tracks. Makonnen was so worn out by the end of the session that Snipes stepped in the booth to lay down some lyrics and help finalize the track. The remix with Drake went platinum and earned both Makonnen and Snipes a Grammy nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.

Now, after building ILP’s brand for close to a decade, Snipes is once again teaming up with his close friend Roget Romain to work with Kameechi, another star in the making. Snipes’ first order of business once he joined the project was to connect Kameechi with J Price on the new single “The Weekend”. Having helped J Price land placements with Snoop Dogg, Trinidad James, iLoveMakonnen, Lil’ Pump, and Lil’ Yachty, Snipes thinks Price has the talent and know-how to help bring Kameechi’s sound to a whole new level. “I think J Price has a good ear, he has a young ear,” he says. “You can’t go wrong with a young ear. He knows what’s going on, he has his ear to the streets. I think that’s what Kameechi needs. He needs to work fresh, young producers who keep up with the trends and know what the fuck is going out here.”

Much as he thinks J Price has all the right talent and personality traits to successful career as a producer, Snipes also sees a great deal of promise in Kameechi. After breaking records for some of the biggest names in the business, Kameechi’s blend of charisma and skills still stand out to Snipes. “Once I heard Kameechi and I saw him, he just had natural star quality,” he says. “A lot of people don’t have the confidence that Kameechi has. Kameechi is a natural.”

As an accomplished songwriter himself, Snipes is eager for some future opportunities to collaborate with Kameechi. At the moment, however, he is content to let the emerging artist find his own voice without too much oversight. “I’m an artist, so I don’t like it when people try to critique my shit,” he says. “I kind of just let him do him.”

And right now, letting Kameechi do him seems to be working out very well. “His ambition is on 10,” he says. “I don’t want to put a scale because there’s no telling how great he can become.”

Following on the coattails of the new single “The Weekend”, Roget and Kameechi will fly out to LA this summer to work on some meetings shows and videos the help Kameechi further expand his audience. Snipes is hesitant to reveal too much info about the project, but he is certainly excited to get to work. “I got some ideas that I don’t want to reveal yet,” he says. “But when Roget and I get together, it’s over. It’s really gonna take off.”

Though Snipes seems to have his future path with Kameechi and J Price well mapped out, he’s still keeping with the formula of the Uptown days: embracing the spontaneity of the creative process and not overthinking it.

Written by Gino Sorcinelli

Gino Sorcinelli is a copywriter and freelance journalist who specializes in engaging, narrative non-fiction stories about the creative process and inspiration behind specific albums and songs. A former DJ and lifelong music enthusiastic, much of his writing focuses on rap and other sample-based music. He has bylines in Cuepoint, HipHopDX, Still Crew, Passion of the Weiss, Samplified, and Trackd. Check out his Micro-Chop publication to learn more about Gino and his work.