By Katie Kelly
When you walk into the main control room of Outerspace, Unapologeticâs studio, youâll see a sign on the ceiling that in comparison to the rest of the studio, is relatively non-descript. In uppercase plain black text with a few chosen words in color, it reads:
âIN THIS PLACE OUR DIFFERENCES ARE VALUED AND CELEBRATED. WE ARE UNITED UNDERNEATH THE UMBRELLA OF INDIVIDUALITY. HERE IS WHERE VULNERABILITY BECOMES ART & WEIRD BECOMES GENIUS. IF YOU ARE PUSHED HERE, IT WILL BE A PUSH IN YOUR DIRECTION. WE DEFINE US SO SOMEONE ELSE CAN CONFIDENTLY DEFINE THEMSELVES. THIS PLACE WAS CREATED TO HELP YOU GET BETTER. FASTER. WE STAND OUT SIMPLY BECAUSE WE DONâT AIM TO FIT IN. WE DO NOT SEEK VALIDATION IN COMMONALITY. EVEN SEPARATE WE MOVE TOGETHER IN CAUSE AND PRINCIPAL. WELCOME TO UNAPOLOGETIC.â
If you ask Unapologetic founder IMAKEMADBEATS about it, heâll tell you itâs the mission or the vision of the collective but these words are more than that. They are the very heart, the very bloodline that pumps through every single thing Unapologetic touches. Here you lose the preconceived notions or labels society has given you, and instead are allowed – no, encouraged – to justâŚbe.
It seems like a simple enough idea but in the music industry this is a rarity and this is especially true for women. Thereâs an unspoken rule in the industry that there are still some places reserved only for men. Where women who manage to get a seat at the table must continuously prove their worthiness to be there. Itâs an exhausting mentality, one that is both archaic and idiotic, but yet it exists.
So, when a group like Unapologetic goes against the norm and actually has strong, powerful women helping to build, nurture, and grow their creative endeavors, those women deserve to be celebrated. These are some of the many women of Unapologetic.
The Ladies
For this article, I was lucky enough to speak to a handful of women involved in many different roles:
Nubia Yasin – Unapologetic Artist, Assistant to IMAKEMADBEATS
Ariel D – Social Media, Street Team Manager, Unapologetic Garments
Nakita – Program Manager for Outerspace
Marie – Project Manager for Unapologetic
Uniq – Unapologetic Artist and Producer
Gabby Duffie – Unapologetic Visual, Photographer
Sarai – Unapologetic Visual Artist, Unapologetic Garments, Graphic Designer
The Background
âUnapologetic would not exist if it wasnât for my wife,â Mad tells me honestly. âI was complaining about things I accomplished or didnât accomplish yet and how I was disappointed in myself. She told me I was a reluctant leader, that I am detrimentally humble. She said, âyou canât serve your purpose if youâre denying the gifts you’re given for your purpose.â She was the last domino to fall in terms of telling me what I needed to hear to feel confident in starting Unapologetic.â
Marie is not only Madâs wife, but also the Project Manager for Unapologetic (though if you ask anyone in the collective theyâll tell you sheâs the real boss). Sheâs much more humble about her integral role. âI am the cheerleader. I cheer on everything that happens. I encouraged any ideas my husband had. Iâm not the type of person to say just because I don’t understand it, it shouldnât be done,â Marie tells me. âI think thatâs why Unapologetic took off even from the beginning. Anything that needed to be done, I was there. If something needed to be talked out, he can always bounce those things off of me and I never restricted that. And that made everything else work.â
Despite the vision for Unapologetic being inclusive, they soon saw why so many creative spaces were not. In the early years of Unapologetic, the team recorded in the spare rooms of Mad and Marieâs own house. After about a year of recording in this setting, they started to notice the same thing being said after each session: how grateful women were to finally have a safe place to record.
âThereâs a huge kind of elephant in the room, almost a ghost, of the male treatment of women in studio spaces and how that can determine what spaces you decide to be in. In male dominated spaces, thereâs always someone saying something about a womanâs ass or someoneâs always doing something. And because that was the culture of things, there were assumptions and concerns by default,â Mad stated.
Uniq agrees. After working in various studios across Memphis, she noticed a marked difference in working with Unapologetic. âI feel like this is safer mentally and physically to be honest. I donât have to worry about guys trying to look at me in any kind of way and they donât take me being friendly as anything more than just that.â
Safety isnât the only issue holding women back from flourishing in these creative spaces. As I mentioned before, thereâs still this mentality that certain roles in the music industry are just âfor menâ or just âfor women.â Mad recounts a story while working at a music event here in Memphis. A group of 8 or 9 women were gathered around at soundcheck when he arrived. He asked which of them was the engineer. They laughed and said, âWe leave the technical stuff to the boys. We just sing.â
Perhaps itâs a pre-conditioned imposter syndrome we as women have internalized. âWhen society looks at creativity, I really don’t think they look to women a lot,â Marie tells me. âThe guys on the team – from Mad all the way down to even the interns – are 100% looking for anyone who has a creative side but I donât think society looks at women for that.â
Sheâs quick to remind society of something important though. âWe as women look at the world differently. We have our own experiences that are so different from the men. So, what comes from that creatively is going to be different and it’s going to be special.â
Marie pauses. Weâre speaking over the phone but I can tell sheâs smiling as she continues. âIt kind of blows your mind once you see what weâre capable of. It comes out fluorescent. Thatâs how we flourish. People donât know what they have in them until thereâs a safe space for it to come out.â
The Accomplishments
This past winter, Unapologetic entered a huge collaboration with the NBA and Memphis Grizzlies. They designed limited edition merchandise, created social media campaigns, and wrote a song to go along with the partnership. While the project was a team effort, Sarai helped to create the designs for the clothes, Uniq penned the song, the photos were taken by Gabby, and Ariel provided design and social media input.
In April, Nubia produced, directed, and designed SHEENA, a visual arts show at the Green Room at Crosstown. âThat was the closest to my vision I’ve ever gotten for a live show. I had crazy ideas. I wanted a bathtub and I wanted it to be full of water. I wanted a backdrop with comforters and sheets. They helped me do it all. I nailed things, I sewed things together by hand,â she describes to me. Her hard work and relentless vision paid off. The show quickly sold out. âEverything was perfect,â she says. âIâm really proud of how it turned out. And at no point did I feel like I couldn’t do something as crazy as put a bathtub in the Green Room at Crosstown.â
Uniq might have only recently joined the team, but you wouldnât know it by her output. âIâve helped score a TV show. Iâm learning to make my own beats and actually writing to them now. Iâve written about 50 songs in just the last few months since Iâve been here. The momentum is crazy.â
If you followed Unapologetic during the pandemic, you wouldâve seen the creation of the UndergroundAF radio. That was all Ariel. The street team? Ariel. Social media campaigns and styling videos? Ariel. âI help out wherever I can. When I joined I just did social media but then I got involved with the street team. The street team is essentially like a marketing team but in the Unapologetic way. Nothing traditional,â Ariel says laughing. âI also worked on our 1v1 series which was like a versus battle. It really helped connect artists together and it built a lot of relationships,â she tells me.
To detail all the things Sarai has achieved during her time with Unapologetic, Iâd need a week at least. As a long-standing member, Sarai has been involved in countless projects from album cover art, Garments sketches, random skits for the website, and she designed the limited edition beer can Unapologetic did with Memphis Made Brewing. That collaboration sold out.
One of her favorite pieces of work though is the VAGINA collection, a special series Sarai did with Garments. The clothing featured shirts with the word VAGINA in capital letters across the front. âThat was so anti how women are supposed to be in the south,â she says proudly. âWomen are used to being covered up or conservative so walking around with a shirt that says vagina is pretty bold. A lot of people were uncomfortable. They would be like âwhere would I even wear this shirt?â and I was like, um, the store?â
When Unapologetic initially formed, their first photographer was Cat Patton, an incredibly talented and innovative artist. She helped form the vision for Unapologetic visual. Now sheâs passed the torch to Gabby. âWhen I came on, I learned so much from Cat. The way she thinks about artâŚthe way she would bring together the pieces of our ideas, the way she projected them to our audience, and the way it was perceived was so different to me. I was kind of transformed,â Gabby explains.
Gabby has picked up right where Cat left off. Last fall she was hired by a PR company to shoot NYFW. At the top of this year, she did a full scale photoshoot with New England Patriots wide receiver Ty Montgomery where she not only took the photos, but she also led the creative direction and helped styled the shoot. âEven though Iâm a photographer, I learned I can play big roles,â she tells me of the experiences.
Sheâs not alone in having this type revelation. In 2018, Unapologetic partnered with Ballet Memphis for a special fall mix performance. Nakita served as point person for the collaboration. âI had to step up and do a lot of the coordination while Mad was gone. I really enjoyed putting the pieces together and making sure everything flowed smoothly.â Now she does this officially for events at their Outerspace studio.
The Sisterhood
For as much creativity and content the ladies have contributed, theyâve also contributed something equally as important to the collective: softness. âSometimes when I say things, the guys will take a technical route to it,â Marie explains. âBut as soon as I tell a woman, theyâll light up and want to talk about it in a deeper way.â
There is a noticeable bond among the women. Itâs not forced either. Itâs one formed from genuine care, love, and respect. âThere is a sisterhood between us,â Marie says. âIt becomes like glue. Itâs a very strong adhesive that you didnât even know was there.â
âWe communicate differently than we do with the guys,â Nakita tells me. âIâve called Marie crying and I just needed some advice. Itâs so great to have other women here that I can really talk to and be very open and vulnerable with.â
Sometimes that communication comes across as much needed tough love. âIâll call Marie or Nakita and theyâll be like âGet your shit together, you got this. Youâre killing shit out here. Donât play with yourself. We got your back,ââ Uniq tells me.
Nubia is one of the newer members to join Unapologetic but she felt that connection immediately. âOne day I came in and I was NOT ok,â she said, shaking her head. âUniq just came and gave me a hug out of nowhere. At first I was like âok this is niceâ. But then she didnât let go and I was like, âoh shit I really needed this hug!ââ Nubia laughed.
Itâs those little things (a hug, a phone call, a shoulder to cry on) that has solidified the sisterhood but it doesnât stop there. This closeness also extends to their work. âItâs an open collaboration,â Ariel says. âEvery woman on the team has their strengths and I know who to hit up to get certain things.â
âBeing a part of the team, having their input, being able to build off each otherâŚitâs almost invaluable. It allows you to be privy to that bigger picture that is bigger than us,â Gabby explains. She relates the collaboration the sisterhood provides as an essential component to the overall vision of Unapologetic. âWeâre a part of something thatâs greater than ourselves. We might have been able to do it alone, but we can always go farther together.â
The Future
Donât let their enormous list of accomplishments fool you – these ladies are far from being done. When I ask what their goals are over the next month, year, or 5 years, the responses are confident, focused, and intentional. There is no one without a plan. A&R, fashion shows, art exhibits, live performances, tours, DJing, poetry, short films, and new music are just some of the formulated ideas they excitedly tell me about.
Marie adds something more to her answer. âI want more women to feel comfortable expressing their own creativity however it comes out,â she states. âI think something scares or intimidates people when they do something that has never been done before. Weâre all weird in our own ways.â
Thereâs a central message in Unapologeticâs work, and especially in the work of these ladies, that emphasizes the belief âwhat always was doesnât have to always be.â The world is a fundamentally better place with the evolution of prior thinking and the introduction of new thinking. Marie articulates this idea much more simply. âOnce you cross over that line and you start living your unapologetic self, thereâs no way you can go back to the other side.â