Series by Bri Renee
Explain who you are to me as if I were a complete stranger.
I am Ricky Murphy aka DJ Slikk. I’m a DJ. I’m a father. I’m a husband. I’m a school teacher. I’m a clothing designer. All kinds of things. I’m a jack of all trades. CEO of a DJ crew, I’m a lot of things.
Are you an artist (rapper, singer, etc.) as well as CEO?
Nah. Just a DJ as far as that goes.
What made you decide to assemble a label/coalition?
Our situation is a little unique. The Elitegiance started as the Kemp Kamp DJs, so being involved with Kemp Kamp DJs, we really just wanted to come together as a collective of DJs and make sure that we took care of Kentucky. That was the main thing. We wanted to put Kentucky on a national platform. That was our main goal.
When we moved from being the Kemp Kamp DJs to the Elitegiance, I became the CEO, the person that kind of took over the business. We put that together as a collective of more than just DJs. It’s fir anybody in the realm of entertainment, so photographers, videographers, podcasters, anything. We wanted to broaden our spectrum so we could reach people and keep up with the times. It’s bigger than just the DJs. Everybody spring boarded of the DJs so that we could take care of our area.
That seems like a big task to take on. What are some of the challenges?
We have 72 people within our entity, so it’s a lot to keep everybody on the same page. And then you got some people that work nine to five, some people that are gung ho, and some people that are just doing it to get a check. So you have to find a balance, find people’s strengths, and then you have to build up their confidence so that they can utilize these strengths to benefit the whole entity.
It’s learning personalities and a lot of trial and error. But I think right now we have a good grasp on it. You gotta find people that are there for the right reasons. Most of the time they weed themselves out, to be honest, but most of the time, when you come within our environment and join the entity, you do what you’re supposed to do. That’s why we’ve been so strong so far.
How would you deal with current artist/ team members feeling entitled like you should do everything for them or like you need to coddle them?
I have a son. I coddle him, that’s it. And I barely coddle him! I can’t do it. I’m here to help, so if you need help, I offer my expertise and if I don’t know, then we find it out together. I’m one of those people that doesn’t pretend like I know everything. I’m the person that says “Hey. I don’t know how to do it, but LET’S figure it out. Let me reach out and use my resources.
So if somebody is wanting me to baby them, I would just talk to them as a man or a woman, like “Okay, look. In life, people are not gonna baby you, but what I will do is help you. I’m not gonna leave you stranded, but you have to want to help yourself.” Nobody in our crew is entitled or feeling like that because we would check them real quick.
How would you deal with a current artist/team member feeling like they know the game better than you and challenging your ideas?
That happens all the time. I’m around a bunch of alpha males and alpha females who wanna get to it and they should challenge me. They should challenge me to be on top of my game because why am I the leader if I can’t be challenged? So, challenge me, but I guarantee you my willpower is unmatched so I’m gonna make sure I do what I need to do. I know how to talk to people as well. I’ve been the leader, but I’ve been the person at the very bottom as well.
There are a couple of people in my crew that are as involved as me and they challenge me everyday, but that’s how we make each other better.
Tell me about a few of your artist/team members.
Our president is DJ Empty Beats, he’s a radio DJ and personality. He’s really in the mix and involved in the music culture of Louisville and surrounding areas. Our vice president is AP, Amber Powell, she is very involved in everything from video to tv production. Anything you can think of, she has her hand in it. She also helps me run the Kentucky Urban Entertainment Awards. We got DJ Marlei Mar who’s like our sergeant at arms, he’s like our regulator. So when things aren’t going the way they’re supposed to go, he’s the person that’ll knock on the door or give you a call. DJ Cam, who is our music director. We also have DJ Lil Jerry, who’s on the radio, DJ Jon Q, who’s on the radio. Damn near every DJ on the radio in the state is attached to the Elitegiance.
Everybody is different and we just utilize their talents and what they bring to the table.
What makes your label/organization different from similar indie labels/ organizations/
We’re a family. We know each other. We can fight, argue and be mad at each other for a week but then next week, I’ll pop up on you, hug you as a brother or sister, and we good.
It’s that type of relationship. We’ve had people that just fell off or moved on and they’re still family. It’s still love. People go through different things in their lives and we’re just real understanding. I know it sounds cliche
, but its a family and we treat it as such.
Who are your favorite 5 indie artist not a part of your label?
That’s impossible! Everybody is affiliated with us in some kind of way. I don’t know man, that’s rough. There’s a lot of people that’s moving right now that’s still considered indie. You got EST. Gee that’s making a lot of moves, that people are asking about all the time. It’s a young cat named Boss Marino that I like. He’s moving. Man, it’s so many, I don’t wanna leave nobody out. It’s a girl in Paducah named Dope London that I like. You got NFM Drama that’s from Fulton, Ky.
It’s so many. How many was that?
Who are your favorite 5 DJs not a part of your label?
Everybody is recruited, we actively recruit. But let’s see. There’s a DJ named DJ T-Baby from Tennessee that’s moving. I don’t wanna say all these names because these are people that’s about to come in my crew, so I’ll use the big dogs. I’ll say DJ Michael Watts in Houston. He’s somebody that I look to for inspiration. When it comes to party rocking and all that, in Nashville, you got DJ C-Wiz. Man, it’s so many, I don’t wanna leave anybody out. But its a lot of young DJs out here moving.
What’s next for your label/organization? What are some realistic and maybe not so realistic goals you all would like to hit?
The Kentucky Urban Entertainment Awards is always up next, every year. But we already touched on us being bigger than Kentucky. We got DJs in Tennessee and Ohio, in Michigan, Texas, Missouri and all kinds of places so we’re trying to figure out a better way to build our platform in those places. As our entity grows, we’re trying to expand through the realm of entertainment and touch everything that we can and utilize our resources to help the artists in our area to reach all those platforms.