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Meet Devanté Kirkpatrick of Fly Money Entertainment in Fashion District

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Devanté Kirkpatrick.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started Fly Money with my siblings & a group of friends back in 2014. We were just a bunch of young crazy college kids who had a drive for success. Music has always been a big part of my life but I didn’t start taking it very seriously until 2014. I used to Dj friends & family party’s in high school and made some songs for fun here & there but nothing I would of thought I’d take seriously like I do today. I would call myself the Creative Director & Head Designer of the group. The team is made up by six artists including myself, Vae Stapes, Luc Jean, Mk, Jayye p & Dredayy. All very talented individuals with versatile flows on each tracks. MK & Dredayy are my blood siblings we come from the same mom & dad. We’re born & raised in Fresno CA grew up in Madera CA until I was 14 then we moved to Southern CA in 2008 to Lake Elsinore where I finished middle school & graduated high school, I’m the eldest of the three.

Jayye P was born & raised in North Hollywood in Sherman Oaks then moved to Lake Elsinore where we met in High school. Vae Stapes is born in Lynwood & raised in Long Beach, CA then moved Lake Elsinore where we met as well. Luc Jean is born & raised in Spring Valley, New York. From there Luc met Vae Stapes at a Performing Arts College in New York. Both had a great relationship & thought I’d be best for Luc if he continued his career for Music & Acting in California with the rest of us. We noticed we all had a gift in music soo when deciding to make the group we all thought it was a good idea because we brought different things to the table & we can really make it happen based off our recognition with music & connections with people in the industry. Not too shortly after we all moved in together & got a apartment in Fullerton, CA next to the university. We all had this drive to succeed & the energy was great. We kept coming up with different names for the group for awhile but nothing really stuck like “FLY MONEY.” Soo everywhere & anywhere we went we called ourselves Fly Money Ent. It sounded really smooth soo we ran with it & people started taking us more seriously. We threw a bunch of party’s & performed at them till we finally got our 1st show & were super pumped, this was like 2014 sometime in October.

We opened up for Nef the Pharaoh at a nightclub called club shark in Costa Mesa which is now called Mansion in Orange County. The experience we had was super lit soo we couldn’t stop, it was just the beginning. While going to school or being out in public networking & meeting people was a big thing we focused on while we tried to book shows, meet new producers & getting studio time. We did a few more shows & opened up for some big named artists soo we thought we can really do something with this. As I gained more knowledge about the music seen, I started promoting & meeting tons of people at different nightclubs in DTLA, Hollywood, Orange County & San Diego for awhile to get our name out & host events to get more shows so our name can keep spreading around town.

Has it been a smooth road?
No, not at all. There’s been a lot of ups & downs in this journey from life family struggles to bad label deals & management, but that’s honestly what I base my drive from & that’s been the ambition I keep to grind out everyday until we make it cause I know what I been through & how far we’ve all came. I just wanna thank the whole team, & my family for staying down with me through this trip. Thank God for everything most importantly cause I couldn’t do it without him.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Fly Money Entertainment story. Tell us more about the business.
Fly Money Entertainment is an independent music label that specializes in all genres of music, but mainly R&B & Hip Hop that we call Fly Money Records. We also have our own clothing line called Fly Money Co, where we sell merchandise & accessories on our online store. We have very high-quality products for your liking that are hand made cut & sewn in Los Angeles. We stand out from others based on our imagery, creativeness, hustle & sound.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think it’ll become more controversial.

It’s constantly changing but it’s very repetitive as well from music to fashion. Music is very open nowadays & fashion is getting more creative. They all correspond with each other. It’s always a old trend becoming the new wave, nothing’s really new under the sun but if u can find a way to make yourself stand out more than the next person, then you’re doing something right. With music I can see more independent labels than record deals, the way streaming is being used. The internet is becoming a great source for promotions & sales.

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Image Credit:
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