Martin Smith aka DJ Graffiti has become an icon of Michigan’s Hiphop community by creating mixed compilations with an uncompromising level of quality. “My goal is to create projects that sound better, look more professional and reach farther than those currently available,” he explains. “It’s not about competition, but I know that if my focus is always on bringing something improved to the table, I won’t be taking steps backwards.” Graffiti’s focus, since 1997, has earned him the title of Michigan Mixtape King.
Even in the wake of huge scrutiny on the mixtape game, Graffiti is in the process of not just accelerating his own mixtape hustle, but opening new doors for the mixtape game as a whole by creating an International fully licensed mixtape platform.
A jazz percussionist by trade, Graffiti has performed in the world renowned Montreaux Jazz Festival. By building upon his classically trained musical foundation and strong scholastic background, the Ann Arbor native has developed proficient skills in many areas of Hiphop. Aside from being a prolific club, Mixtape and performing deejay, he has also been featured as a producer, emcee, journalist and an alumnus of both the University of Michigan Business and Law Schools. Additionally, he is the tour deejay for Detroit emcee Phat Kat.
Aside from project releases and touring the US and abroad, Martin Smith has successfully expanded his marketing conglomerate Rapture Enterprises LLC into the area of Entertainment Brokerage. “All of these companies want a piece of Hiphop. I think it’s time we decide which pieces they can have, and which they can’t.” As CEO of Rapture Enterprises LLC and VP of Marketing for management company A-Side Worldiwde, Martin Smith has his business bases covered. In the past, DJ Graffiti and Martin Smith have operated like separate entities, but today two become one. Today, the music industry and the business world will both be personally re-introduced to Martin “DJ Graffiti” Smith, the Marketing Mogul.
“At first I felt the corporate world wouldn’t trust me if they thought I was only a DJ dabbling in business, and I thought the Hiphop community wouldn’t respect me if they thought I was just a business guy acting like I was down with Hiphop. Now that I’ve become more accomplished on both fronts, corporations are attracted to my direct connection to the Hiphop market, and at the same time the Hiphop community appreciates that I have merged business & law school degrees with a true passion for Hiphop culture.” With DJ Graffiti the Marketing Mogul at the helm, Rapture Enterprises LLC is poised to unleash some groundbreaking projects on the world.