Tonight’s Black In Bizness event with Grammy-nominated producer Bizness Boi will be a chance for young people to learn the ins and outs of the music industry from a Milwaukee-based talent who started from nothing and made it big.

The event will be hosted by Intuition Productions, LLC. and Intellectual Ratchet at Tripp Commons at Memorial Union. Grammy-nominated producer Andre Robertson – aka Bizness Boi – has been featured in publications like ‘The Fader,’ ‘Hypebeast,’ ‘Nardwuar’, ‘Red Bull,’ and ‘iHeart’. At the event, Robertson will be doing a live studio taping for his master class presentation, “Making it in the Music Industry.”

“The production of the event and show design was created by Intuition Productions, the taping of the event will be done by Urban Collection. What you’re going to see is a combination of Oprah meets the red carpet,” Intellectual Ratchet CEO Ja’Mel Ware tells Madison365.

Ware is the founder of Intellectual Ratchet (IR), a lifestyle group that connects young, urban, professionals who seek an alternative to typical nightlife experience here in Madison. IR routinely partners with local businesses to expose their guests to a uniquely Madison experience.

There will be four hosts at tonight’s Black In Bizness with Grammy-Nominated Producer Bizness Boi. “Martinez White, or DJ M White, will be our DJ host. We’ll have an audience host – Al ‘Makin’ Moves’ Thompson – who will make sure this a very interactive night for the audience,” Ware says. “We will have our moderator Amber Walker of the Cap Times and interviewing Bizness Boi directly will be myself.”

The hosts: (L-r) Martinez White, Ja’Mel Ware, Amber Walker, and Al ‘Makin’ Moves’ Thompson

Andre “Bizness Boi” Robertson, the guest of honor, is an emerging Los Angeles-based producer helping broaden the sound of R&B. He has produced Chris Brown and the Quavo ft. PartyNextDoor relationship ode, “Cuffed Up,” and has worked with rising stars like 6lack, Bryson Tiller, Blackbear, Plies and Swae Lee.

“We’re going to learn a lot about Bizness Boi’s story, which is a great one – from homelessness to Grammy nomination,” Ware says. “He’s a Milwaukee native, so we are proud to bring him back home to talk about his journey.

“We’re going to ask him some more-macro questions, too, like: What does it take to become successful in your dreams? What kind of skills do you need to be able to reach great heights?” Ware adds.

Ware stresses that this will be an interactive event and that the audience will be able to ask questions early and often.

“Normally what you see on campus is a lecture and a Q and A,” Ware says. “The Q and A for this will happen throughout the entire event.”

Lucien Parker

Ware says that he’s most excited about the Three-Artist Critique.

“We each chose an artist to be critiqued. I chose Lucien Parker. Martinez chose Reggie Bonds. We allowed the audience to vote and choose the third artist. Based on that, Bravo was chosen,” Ware says. “We’re excited to give them the opportunity to play one of their songs and talk about the inspiration for their songs and to then hear some critiques from Bizness Boi.”

Bravo

Everything that transpires will be professionally studio taped. “Following that, there will be some networking time where people will get a chance to hang out and mingle and door prizes will be given away,” Ware says. “UW Credit Union is donating an Amazon Echo, we’ll have two 25-dollar gift cards from Short Stack Eatery. We’ll have stuff from local, black-owned company CocoaBean Skin Care donated a charcoal skin facial box. There’s so much more.”

Ware says that the event would not be possible without their top sponsors: The Wisconsin Union, The Wisconsin Alumni Association, and CUNA Mutual Group.

“We were also fortunate enough to have student section donated so we’re very excited about having them there,” Ware says. “We will be bringing in five girls from Milwaukee who recently went viral with their music video ‘Excellence First.’ The video received recognition from Michelle Obama and they were on the Good Morning America Show.

“We will have some youth coming in from Kromrey Middle School in Middleton and Rob Dz will bring some youth,” Ware adds. “We don’t like to make youth pay for tickets so we were able to get the youth section donated by One National Bank and the United Way of Dane County.”

The after party will be at Tavernakya. “Everybody will get a glass of Roset to celebrate the Grammy-nominated producer we had in town,” Ware says.

Doors for Black In Bizness event with Grammy-nominated producer Bizness Boiopen open at 5:45. Ware encourages early attendance because they are doing a live studio taping at 6:30 p.m.

Ware says that the hosts promise to keep the night entertaining, exciting, and movin’.

“It’s going to be a great, inspirational event. This is about empowering people to follow their dreams, “Ware says. “No matter how big or small your dreams are, no matter what obstacles you come up against … this is about making sure that people are empowered to know that anything is possible.”

Black In Bizness with Grammy-Nominated Producer Bizness Boi will take place tonight at Tripp Commons of the Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and like Ja’Mel said, get there before 6:30 p.m. when the live taping begins. Admission is $10 and appetizers will be provided as well as two drinks.