Today we’d like to introduce you to Bayer Mack
Hi Bayer, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in Murfreesboro, Tennessee where I attended Central Middle School (now Central Magnet School) and Oakland High School. I am an alumnus of Middle Tennessee State University where I majored in journalism and wrote for the school’s editorially independent, student-run newspaper, Sidelines.
I spent a semester studying Business at Nashville State Technical Institute then founded Street Vibes Records using money from a trust fund established by my late father in 1993. I released a three-track maxi-single, titled “Leave Em Alone”, under the stage name “B-MAC” that was regionally distributed by Memphis-based Select-O-Hits. In 1995, I co-founded the gangsta rap group, “The GoodFellaz”, and produced an EP called Death Wish that was also released on Street Vibes.
I relocated to Louisville, Kentucky in the mid-1990s and founded the dot-com company Infinity-Digital. My website HOT 104.com gained notoriety after a story it published about the shooting death of Tyisha Miller by police officers in Riverside, CA went viral. In 1999, I signed an affiliate contract with the AKA.com Hip-Hop Network created by Loud Records founder Steve Rifkind.
During my time as an entertainment writer, I chronicled the rise of Southern hip-hop by doing interviews with several of the region’s major stars as they achieved national prominence, including a 2002 SMOOTH magazine cover story on Trina, a 2004 HipHopDX conversation with T.I. (during the rapper’s feud with Lil Flip) and essays on 8Ball & MJG, Mystikal and Juvenile for MTV Jams and Ozone Magazine’s “25 Greatest Southern Artists of All Time” list in 2005.
Mack became the marketing manager of a German hip-hop website called YoRaps.com in 2008.[citation needed] Later that year, he and the site’s owner, Kai Denninger, formed an online record label called Block Starz Music to promote free mixtapes by the independent and unsigned artists featured in YoRaps’ “Next 2 Blow” section, like Rasheeda. The label’s early association with Wiz Khalifa helped boost the company’s profile and attracted other artists. Mydesire to stay connected to the industry prompted me to develop Block Starz Music’s regionally themed compilation album series, which introduced new artists like Machine Gun Kelly. The label, which was also distributed by Memphis-based Select-O-Hits, was noted for developing YouTube stars, like Lega-C.
I made my directorial debut at the 99th Annual conventuon for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis with the documentary film Oscar Micheaux: The Czar of Black Hollywood, which I self-financed project and released independently through ur production studio, Block Starz Music Television. The film was nominated for “Best Independent Documentary” at the 2015 Black Reel Awards. I have gone on to produce multiple award-winning documentaries since then.
I currently live in Louisville, but my brother, who works in law enforcement, lives in Memphis with his wife and sons. My other brother, who lives in Atlanta, was also married to a Memphis native, DR. WYTERIA TENNILLE MACK, who passed away this Thanksgiving after a battle with breast cancer.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The dot com crash wiped out my business and marriage. At my lowest poit, I was couch-surfing and sleeping in other people’s cars until was able to find a place stay. It took time, but through the grace of God, prayer and perseverance, I was slowly able to rebuild my life. I give all the glory to Christ. Only the mistakes were mine.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about NEGRO DIGEST ™ Magazine?
Originally founded in 1942 by legendary African-American publisher JOHN H. JOHNSON, Negro Digest magazine laid the foundation for EBONY and JET magazines and the modern black media industry. Three years after its relaunch in 2021, the new NEGRO DIGEST ™ is one of America’s fastest-growing black owned media companies and the only publication of note specifically designed for African-American men. Unlike most of our competitors, NEGRO DIGEST ™ is “community driven” not “celebrity driven.” Our mission is to encourage a return to the traditional values of faith, family and hard work that made black America great.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
It’s a toss up between my 6th grade trip to Land Between the Lakes for camp or that one time my dad took us to Opryland.
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