AMADI: Who is Mark Johnson and how he did establish Beats4me Productions?
MJ: Mark Johnson is the owner/ and a Producer for Beats4me Productions. Mark is a D.C/ M.D. Native, born in Clinton Maryland in the year 1983. Mark grew up with two sisters, his mom, dad, and a few cousins. Ever since a little boy Mark listened very closely to music as his father was the lead soloist in the church choir. It was over the years in church that Mark set and listened to the keyboardist, and the band. This is where his interest in music sparked and decided he would pursue his career in music. His 1st gig was with a local Go-Go band, the ABSOLUTE BAND; they played at local neighborhood parties. Not a year after being in the Band, Mark received a phone call to play for a more known and upcoming band, the JIG-A-Boo Band. Mark played the keyboards for the band from 1996 to 2002. Later in the years, Mark decided to give back to the Go-Go community by running sound and recording the bands as a Sound Engineer. In 2004, Mark left the Go-GO industry to become a solo project producer in the world of Hip-Hop, R&B, and Rap. He has been producing original music ever since, no samples, all originality.
Congratulations to Kanika Tolver, Byron Tolver, Toccara Lanett, Jon Swann, Jovan Bland we made it one year of producing quality videos, articles and photography! We have created a BRAND like no other and I thank you all for your dedication and support. GOD is good and AMADI Magazine is true gift from GOD. AMADI Magazine has opened some many doors for us and 2010 will be an awesome year for this unique media company.
Byron Tolver my love; thank you for supporting my dream and understanding my vision. Special thanks goes out to Jon Swann for making my dream become visual to the world, I appreciate all of your talented work. Toccara I love how our childhood friendship has evolved into a wonderful business partnership; keep up the great work. Jovan the rookie on the team, I appreciate all your hard work.
And of course, a big thank you to all the readers and supporters of AMADI Magazine! Without you, we would not have made it this far!
What’s next for AMADI Magazine…
AMADI Magazine will be embarking on major film and photography projects. AMADI Magazine will continue to EMPOWER, EDUCATE and ENTERTAIN the urban communities across the world. Also, AMADI magazine will be working on recruiting additional staff members; if you are interested please feel free to contact us at info@amadimag.com. We are looking for photographers, writers, models and a marketing team.
Always remember, YOU can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens us.
Meet Jennifer Lo, a young woman making a name for herself in Washington, DC art scene. With the stroke of her paintbrush, she helps raise money for local foundations and creates awareness of abstract beauty amongst the political elite. “DC is actually a great place to create your own scene,” she explains. “There isn’t a fight to be apart of something that has already been established.”
Jennifer, whose main bodies of work include abstract and portraiture art, graduated from the University of Maryland in 2004 and then went on to study at the University of Hawaii. There, she worked on wooden sculptures and various forms of 3 dimensional art, but she quickly came home to put her focus back on her first love – the canvas. When asked about how she got her start, she says, “I’ve been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember. Some people choose their careers in life, but art chose me”
This month Amadi Magazine set out to shed some light on some new talent coming out of the metropolitan area. It was then that we found a young artist by the name of Daran Benjamin. Daran Benjamin (Been- Jammin’) is a talented new emcee that has started to get a buzz around the city of Washington. While only being in the game for a few years, Benjamin has already left impressions on a stable of hip hop fans as a legitimate lyricist with tons of potential. AMADI jumped at the chance to profile this young hipster as he embarks on his journey for the spotlight…
Matt Echave is a young Washingtonian filmmaker who has devoted the last two years to producing a documentary about the only music genre native to Washington, DC, GoGo.
A product of the DC public schools, Matt started shooting with a used film camera history projects at Alice Deal Junior High where he won first place and honorable mention in the Regional/City-Wide, National History Fair Competition for two consecutive years. The successful production of a fictional short entitled “Dilemma” as the final project for his Wilson High School film class, which won him 1st place in the high schools film competition, and an internship at the National Geographic Channel which propelled him to enroll at the College of Santa Fe’s film school. There he produced a documentary based in Brazil about Capoeira, a ritualized martial arts dance created by African slaves; a documentary exploring the birth of the film industry in New Mexico; and a short horror film for which an edited version was selected for screening at the Santa Fe 3-Minute Film Festival.
Originality. It is something very rare to find in today’s world where we often see one-hit-wonders, short-lived fads, and shallow creativity being passed off as entertainment or art. But since the “Beat yo Feet” dance craze first arrived in DC Go Gos in the late 90’s, it has been a significant part of urban DC culture for its unique and very original style. Now, a group of seasoned pros of the dance, Da Originalz, bring new excitement to “Beat Yo Feet”, as well as a variety of other classic Go Go dances. The members of the group are Crazy Legs, Tim, KK, and Go Go Rob. Also featured in our video interview with Da Originalz is Boom, one of the legends of the Beat Ya Feet dance along with its founder, Slush (R.I.P).
AMADI: Who is Mark Johnson and how he did establish Beats4me Productions?
