Today we’d like to introduce you to Joey Atilano.
Hi Joey, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I first met Hip-Hop as a B-Boy (Breakdancer) in grade school, which eventually led to me being an Artist. After years of being an artist to myself and making little projects in my room, around 2010, I started taking my career seriously. I started touring and releasing more music publicly. This eventually led me to getting the attention of a small Label out of Sacramento, CA, called First Dirt. First Dirt was already established and throwing shows around the city with Headlining Hip-Hop artist like Dead Prez, Canibus, and Immortal Technique. As I started getting involved more with the event production, new started having conversations of one day throwing a big show. As the years passed, and we continued throwing small shows now in LA and the Inland Empire, I eventually got offered an opportunity to throw a big show in the parking lot of a local bar that my brother-in-law had started working at. This was when the idea of throwing a Festival/building a Festival brand came to idea. I came up with the name and concept of the festival and started planning for our first show, which would take place September 2017. After the success of that first show, I knew I had something and wanted to continue building it. Every year we decided to make the show a little bigger. And now, 5 years later, we are celebrating the 5-year anniversary of what is now one of the biggest Independent Hip Hop Festivals in the Country.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been everything but a smooth road. Some of the struggles include having to work with rappers that do not have good representation, which leads to bad communication. We’ve had to compete with corporate giants of events. We’ve had to deal with last-minute cancelations. We’ve had to deal with bad weather. We’ve had to deal with City/Police restrictions on the event. The number of struggles is really endless when it comes to putting on a festival.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an Artist and Festival producer. I am most known for being an Artist for the first half of my career, but now in the later years, people are starting to know me more for being the Founder of The Happiness of Pursuit Festival. I am most proud of everything I’ve been able to do as an Artist, including building a festival. I think the fact that I throw a festival and provide opportunities for so Manu artist is what sets me apart from other artist in my field.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
Winning the Super Bowl with my Pop-Warner Football team.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thopfest.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thopfest/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/THOPFEST/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thopfest
