Memphis has always produced more talent than the world gives it credit for. IMAKEMADBEATS knows that better than most. The producer, engineer, and Founder & CEO of UNAPOLOGETIC. didn’t wait for someone to hand him a seat at the table. He built one.
And then he built a whole studio.
Last fall, IMAKEMADBEATS partnered with Google and Urban Arts, the national nonprofit that teaches video game design as a pathway to college and career, to design and build a state-of-the-art sound studio at Urban Arts’ Game Academy in New York City. Professional recording equipment. Production tools. Game audio design. All free for NYC public school students.
He showed up with blueprints and a philosophy: “Fostering creativity in youth is one of the most powerful things we can do, especially in a time when most systems teach conformity and call it preparation. Creativity builds problem solvers and visionaries. I see myself in almost every young person I meet, because I know how much it matters to have someone believe in your ability to create something.”
That’s not a New York idea. That’s a Memphis idea.
Access Changes Everything
Urban Arts student Darlyn “Dayl!ght!” Gutierrez is the proof. Three years ago he had no idea he loved making music. Now he’s a rising college junior studying Music Technology, Entrepreneurship, and Production, and he was on stage at the studio launch performing an original release alongside IMAKEMADBEATS himself.
The talent was always there. The access was the variable.
90% of Urban Arts students come from low-income communities, and through the program they’ve achieved 100% college acceptance and earned over $46 million in scholarships. In April 2026, the Urban Arts Color Ball, where the studio took center stage, raised a record-breaking $1.1 million, with partners like Google, Paramount, Take-Two Interactive, Adobe, and NBCUniversal all in the room.
What THIS MEANS FOR MEMPHIS
IMAKEMADBEATS didn’t move to New York to do this. He brought Memphis to New York. His values, his vision, his belief that young people deserve real tools and real investment, that’s what built that studio.
There is no shortage of that same vision here at home. If a Memphian can walk into a room with Google and come out with a studio that changes young lives, the ceiling is higher than we’ve been told.
The talent here travels. The vision here scales. And it starts with someone deciding to build something.
