Indiana-native Kyree Hollis is shaping the music industry day by day through his digital marketing campaigns. The 23-year-old is best known for pushing recordings into popularity and connecting artists alike with his vast network of producers, A&R’s, and more. Not to mention, Kyree is a Triller success, working on campaigns for acts like Cam’ron and Lil Uzi Vert to name a few. Hollis was raised in Atlanta, where he grew a love for football and met a plethora of today’s hip-hop legends. Now, based in Los Angeles, Kyree is taking things up a notch as he continuously grows his brand, working with new artists daily.
“I most definitely want to continue growing my personal brand and helping as many people as I can along the way,” he states. In our recent interview, we sat with Kyree Hollis to talk about his purpose, working with Diddy, and his goals amongst a list of other topics.
What was it like growing up in a musical household and how did that carve you into the person you are today?
It was pretty cool, I always got to do things that the normal kid my age wouldn’t get to do. Being around my mom 24/7 I was always around a ton of artists and executives, which allowed me to see first hand the different things that happen in the industry. Growing up in the industry definitely prepared me for what I do today. It allowed me to Gain a lot of connections and knowledge at which I base a lot of my work off of to this day.
Looking back on your recent years, what are some of the notable opportunities you were able to take on?
The most notable would be organizing a 3 day Coachella event with Sean “Diddy” Combs and Justin combs called Combsfest. It was amazing seeing how everything came together and all the notable attendees and press that came from it!
Working on Cam’rons purple haze 2 album is also something that I am Proud of.
A lot of people don’t know this but I also used to act. I had a small role in Kong: skull island and have also been on an episode of gamer guide on Disney xd. those are probably my most notable
You previously mentioned working with Diddy during Coachella, how did that come about?
I’m friends with his son Justin. One day Justin hit me and asked if I knew of a sponsor that would pay for their Coachella house. I knew that Justin and his crew were known for having the most elaborate events, so I suggested to him that we have an event at which sponsorship funds would cover the cost of the house as well as a profit for us. So from that conversation, we started planning. I never expected it to be near as big as it turned out to be. When we were planning, the word got out and it was so big that Coachella’s attorneys sent us an email saying we had to change the name from combschella. So that’s how Combsfest came about.
How about dropping out of college to pursue music?
I originally went to school and played football at UAB. Right after the football season ended, we got a notice that the whole football program would be shut down. I ended up transferring to Indiana University and going to school/playing football there for about 7 months. We had an off week and I went to go visit my mom in Los Angeles. I always loved LA and wanted to move there. So to make a long story short, I never went back to school when I went to visit my mom In la. I had a fully furnished apartment and I just left it all there. College just wasn’t for me anymore. I felt as if I could utilize the connections I already had made early on in my life and just start getting the real world experience. I have the mentality that if I want to do something, I’m going to go give it my all. I’m going to research as much as possible, I’m going to find all the resources needed to get the job done. I literally just started connecting with a ton of influencers and doing brand deals, and whatever other business opportunities I could create. Slowly but surely I was meeting more people, gaining more knowledge, and business kept picking up
Were your parents supportive of your decision?
My mom wanted me to stay in school. I told her I would take the year off and enroll in a school in la. I really had intentions on reenrolling but that never happened.
You’ve notably worked under acts like Teddy Riley, what were some of your day-to-day duties?
I was actually his assistant. It would be things like going to get food for him or going to get dry cleaning. But it would also be things like taking calls, handling scheduling, corresponding with the different companies who endorse him, etc, I learned so much about the business side of stuff just being around him and being in meetings.
Fun fact: One day I had dropped him off at LAX. 30 minutes later he called me and told me to pick him up. Turns out, Kanye called him and wanted him to come to the studio that night to work on the life of Pablo album. So I picked him up and we went straight to the studio. It was a dope experience.
Looking back on your career, if it weren’t for music, where would you be right now?
I would definitely be playing sports right now. I don’t know if I would be in the NFL but id probably be somewhere overseas or in the XFL or something.
What can people expect from you this year?
I’m not going to get too specific but you will see me on TV. You will see more curated events by me, and a lot more digital marketing campaigns. The problem is I do soo many different things, that I really can’t tell you what to expect. I most definitely want to continue growing my personal brand and helping as many people as I can along the way
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