Kid Boom, aka, JoJo, is a 9th grader and professional music producer with credits that include MTV, Nickelodeon, and having NBA superstar, Russell Westbrook, and megastar actor, Millie Bobbie Brown, as fans. He is one-third of the hip hop group, TRNDSTTRS, who create music, videos and design clothing with positive messages for kids, by kids!
HYPEBEAST calls the TRNDSTTRS, “the new cool kids on the block!” Entertainment Weekly says that they, “rap about the value of friendship.” Who would imagine that a trio of grade school kids would be the new envy of hip hop? With performances on MTV and Nickelodeon, and appearances alongside pop culture’s hottest young stars like Millie Bobby Brown, the future is very bright for these youngsters. Meet Kid Boom, Mini and Mikael, three talented brothers that make up the – TRNDSTTRS – the next generation of hip hop.
When these New Jersey natives are not in grade school, the brothers playfully dedicate themselves to their artistic passions. Kid Boom, 15, focuses on music production and beat-making, while Esteban, “Mini”, 11, handles most of the rapping duties. Baby bro, Mikael, 9, possess the superpowers of love and happiness, and will confidently challenge all comers to a stare down stating, “I bet that you can’t keep from smiling!” Mikael also dances and contributes to the group’s vocals.
Each brother began modeling professionally by the age of 3, and they have been featured in campaigns for American Express, GAP, Target, Sprayground and other brands. In addition to their music and videos, they also design clothing with fun and inspirational messaging like, “I AM THE FUTURE.” This particular message prompts children, and adults, to recognize that kids are the future, and should be nurtured as such. “Everything we create is to encourage kids to believe in themselves, and to love themselves as they are,” explains, Kid Boom.
You can watch, dance and sing along with the TRNDSTTRS via their weekly drops of original music and videos promoting positive fun for all. Come, play along, and see if you don’t just start smiling – they double, dog dare you! And while you’re at it, pick up one of their fun and inspirational tees at www.thetrndsttrs.com.
Where did the idea for TRNDSTTRS come from?
My brothers and I have always been interested in music from the start. Our similar interests led us to make music together and fun videos as a collective. Then, we named ourselves the TRNDSTTRS and things took off from there with our brand.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
My typical day starts with me going to school from 8:45am to 3:00pm. After school, I am either playing basketball or boxing to stay active. I am a producer, so to stay productive and remain on track with my career, I try to produce or study music every day. I believe it is important to work on your personal craft every day to learn and grow.
How do you bring ideas to life?
When I have an idea, I experiment with different sounds and methods to capture the idea from my head and bring it to life. Because I am a producer, my methods may be different from others when they try to bring ideas to life. I find experimenting with and dwelling on an idea until it works is a very effective way to bring my ideas to life, from an artistic standpoint.
What’s one trend that excites you?
A trend that excites me is the D.I.Y. movement. These days, anyone can start a movement or brand. With today’s technology people can create their own music, apps, and websites with the click of a mouse. There have been many people who have achieved great success from just the internet and its mind-blowing.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
As an entrepreneur, a habit that makes me productive is producing and creating music every day. Creating and learning about your craft or art as an entrepreneur is very important. Especially as an artist, working on my craft every day keeps me productive, and is one of my most important habits today.
What advice would you give your younger self?
A piece of advice I would tell my younger self is to start now. With all of the tools and resources available, I wish I could have had an earlier head start in my musical career. If I had started only a couple years earlier, I would be even more ahead of my peers and reached success a lot sooner. Although, I think everyone would probably give their younger self this same advice to get a jump start in their careers.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
One thing that I believe in strongly, but not many people can agree with me on is that kids can do anything. A lot of people have this misconception of children and their capability because of their immaturity. However, because kids can pick up information and create good habits quickly, they can really do anything they put mind and effort to. I see this in the other kids around me and their amazing talents, and it makes me believe that kids can do anything.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
One thing I am always doing is learning. As an entrepreneur, it is super important to learn from your peers and mentors. I am always looking around at others’ success to learn from them and put it towards my career. To learn, I either talk to my peers, gather information from mentors, or look online for answers and keys that help me become better as an entrepreneur or musician.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
Timing is everything. When we have a track we look for the perfect time to put out and market our music. Timing goes with anything though. You could market your business around a particular trend or change in season to attract as many people towards your business as possible. My brothers and I love the show Stranger Things and we were inspired to make a song based on the series before the second season came out. When we finished producing and recording the track, we released it around the same time as the debut for season 2 of Stranger Things. This timing allowed more traction towards our music and brand and our song blew up. If we dropped that song any later, I am sure that it would not have blown up. We ended up doing tons of interviews. TIME and Entertainment Weekly wrote stories about us, and we performed on MTV and then got invited back to meet the cast of Stranger Things. It’s kind of crazy to think about it now because I was 13 then.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
I believe failure is perspective, for artists, we have tried many things and ideas that have not worked but we did not consider those ideas failures. If you fail in anything that just means you have another opportunity to come back even better than before.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Retail arbitrage is a very underrated business. Retail arbitrage is when you find something at a discount or retail price at a store and sell it for a profit. Good markets to resell in are books, video games, candles, streetwear clothing like supreme or hyped shoes. I find this business idea really underrated and effective and I want to start trying this myself.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
I do not have anything that I have bought for $100 recently, but I have bought a sound software called Omnisphere. For music producers and musicians Omnisphere is a $500 sound VST (virtual studio technology) that contains countless amounts of modern sounds for your music. I bought Omnisphere about 2 years ago, and it still is the most useful thing I have spent money on to this day.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?
A web service that I find very useful and dependent is Gmail. This email website is perfect for communication and sharing ideas with anyone. I use Gmail every day for sending out music, communicating ideas, and contacting people. I can attach images or music to share with people instantly which is extremely useful for my business or school. This website is super resourceful and helpful, and I think that all entrepreneurs should be using Gmail.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
The Little Engine That Could by Platt and Munk. My mother read this to me when I was a little kid, and I always loved to say, “I think I can! I think I can!” He believed in himself. I believe in myself. Everyone should believe in themselves.
What is your favorite quote?
“True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice.” – Martin Luther King, Jr
Key Learnings:
- For entrepreneurs, always work on growing in your craft or business every day.
- Learning and picking up knowledge from others or online is a very important habit, and entrepreneurs and artists should be doing this every day.
- Use as many resources around you as you can because you may not know useful they could become.
- Business and entrepreneurship are heavily based on timing and marketing.
- Failure should not be taken as a sign to give up, but should be taken as an inspiration to come back stronger than before. This applies to anything.
Carlyn runs the day-to-day publishing operation here at ideamensch and interacts with our awesome customers and entrepreneurs. She is likely editing this with a cat on her lap.