iOne Digital Creative Class
Honoring Black leaders who advance culture within their respective career fields. Creativity must be encouraged, harnessed, and celebrated—always. This year, Hip-Hop Wired’s picks for iOne Digital’s Creative Class all have one thing in common: They’ve actively pushed culture forward. These leaders have each carved out careers dedicated to impacting lives by innovating and charging ahead in their respective fields. The 2020 honorees include Dr. Sunyatta Amen, founder of wellness brand Calabash Tea & Tonic; rappers Flo Milli, Substantial, and Guapdad 4000; and Spotify executive Carl Chery. Despite a tumultuous year, each has remained a light for many during dark times.
Talking to rapper and designer Guapdad 4000 is like talking to your highly intelligent, creative, yet somehow still super relatable best friend who makes profanity sound like words of love. His warmth brings you in and his unabashed honesty opens the portals to conversations you didn’t know you needed to have.
Substantial is both thoughtful and intentional with his words, two hallmarks of a wordsmith, and a credit to his name. What he says carries weight, and aligns with him being tapped as an instructor at Omega School, and business mentor in the company he owns with his wife,Substantial Art and Music.
Creativity must be encouraged, harnessed and celebrated—always. This year’s list of Hip-Hop Wired’ Creative Class of honorees have actively pushed culture forward.
Carl Cherry knows music. He knows who is elite, who is talented, what a hit sounds like and who’s up next before most people even know an artist exists. It’s why Apple Music hired him as Head of Curation, and why Spotify snatched him up and hired him as Head of Urban. Carl’s ear for Hip Hop and R&B in particular, is enviable.
It’s been a big year for rapper Flo Milli. The 20 year old released her debut project, Ho Why Is You Here with the support of raps current queens. On the day of her debut, timelines went wild. Forget all the tropes held about women in hip hop or even about musicians whose first exposure is through social media. Flo Milli is here to flip them all.
Descending from a long line of herbalists and herb masters, is Dr. Sunyatta Amen. As a neuropathic physician Amen treats the whole person, not their symptoms using traditional ancient medicines, counselling, botanical medicine, and nutrition As the owner of Calabash Tea & Tonic she has the herbs and spices to heal and prevent illness.