Music-making duo Rich Off Creative Minds see their art as a brand

“Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith,” Myron Nicholas said. “And a lot of people shy away from that. But what I’ve noticed is that the beginning of greatness happens after you take that risk and make that leap into any facet of life.”

Nicholas is one half of the musical and creative duo Rich Off Creative Minds, a project he started with his brother, Davaughn Nicholas. Rooted in their love of music (both are multi-instrumentalists, producers and rappers) and their entrepreneurial spirit, Rich Off Creative Minds is as much a business as it is an artistic pursuit.

At the heart of their efforts is their website app.rocminds.com and their downloadable app where fans can “invest” and subscribe to their creative efforts and access music, videos and other content. In a time where the algorithm is everything and the music industry makes it difficult to achieve economic sustainability through artistic creation, Rich Off Creative Minds offers an alternative for financial freedom.

Born on Long Island, New York, both grew up primarily in Atlanta. Davaughn moved to Michigan to attend college, where he studied mechanical engineering. Myron joined him later. It was there that the two men began to take a more serious interest in music. Although they grew up in a musical household with many family members playing multiple instruments and a father who directed the church choirs, their interest in music was more habitual than instinctive. Myron cited the example of wanting to play the drums but being drawn to playing the saxophone. But at Michigan, they were able to approach music-making from their own perspective, transforming it into something that could reflect their unique mindset and goals of manifesting abundance and success.

Moving to Chicago presented an opportunity to tap into a larger pool of opportunities. The two landed in the Austin neighborhood in 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Now, the brothers divide their time between the suburbs of Warrenville and the Logan Square neighborhood. In the latter case, they have partnered with the Logan Square Chamber of Commerce and the Hairpin Arts Center for their work and initiatives. Fans of the Logan Square Farmers Market can often find them there with a booth where they sell T-shirts and freestyle raps to curious market folk.

“We didn’t know what impact we would have on the community just by being ourselves,” Myron added.

Part of their involvement in the farmers market and other initiatives in the area stems from their approach to music. For Rich Off Creative Minds, music is business and business is music. They don’t just create art: they own the means of production and approach the creation of their music like a small business. Rather than relying on social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok or streaming platforms like Spotify, the two created their own online platform, accessible through QR codes printed on their T-shirts.

Even if streaming platforms make their music universally accessible, they do not ensure financial viability. Small, independent artists may only receive a handful, or even a few cents, per stream on platforms like Spotify.

“It would be nice to use that money to buy coffee, but you can’t buy coffee for two cents,” Davaughn joked.

By creating and promoting their own product, both in music and technology, they take charge of their future.

Both cite their father, a businessman and entrepreneur, as a direct influence.

“It was kind of ingrained in us without even wanting to be in business and understanding that there was this side of independence, there was this side of being able to delegate certain tasks to certain people, and also the hustle and the struggle,” Myron said.

Yet while their efforts may seem new, they are forged in the direct lineage of their hip hop elders. Hustle culture was fundamental to the hip hop community, and the Nicholases cite 50 Cent, among others, as a direct influence and comparison to their efforts.

“(50 Cent) was a really good mixtape seller, right? At that time, they were able to do that. They were able to create, right? They were able to sell their CDs on the street, commercially, and do that kind of thing,” Davaughn noted. “But then technology came along and put that idea to the test. The idea of ​​selling CDs just isn’t on people’s minds anymore.”

While they may not be selling CDs on the street, they are selling other things (like their QR code T-shirts) that bring production and a restless mindset back to the pursuit of music. “It’s a way for people to support, listen to the content, watch all the videos and be part of the Rich Off Creative Minds ecosystem.”

Ultimately, the two want to open their platform to other artists, allowing them to take ownership of their own careers and “giving creatives – or musicians – the opportunity to return to a time where they can create wealth for themselves.” They also hope to expand their efforts and application beyond Chicago and the Midwest to other parts of the country like Atlanta, California, New York and Canada.

For the Nicholases, it’s all about their creative philosophy: Be. Do. To have.

“If you are more, you will be able to do more, and eventually, you will be able to have more,” Myron explained. “And when you have more, you can give more.”

Britt Julious is an independent critic.