Embracing technology has helped Tems evolve her artistry. Born Temilade Openiyi in Lagos, Nigeria, the Afrobeats R&B star had a deep passion for music from a young age — even joining a choir as a teenager — and recognized the art of making music was always more than just a side interest for her. “The way I love music, the way I loved writing and making music, producing, it was more than a hobby,” Tems expresses on “The Breakfast Club” podcast. “It’s just something that I just genuinely enjoyed. I didn’t expect ever to make anything from it. I was just like, ‘Yeah I could do this all day. If I can get a job to sustain me, and I’ll just be doing this all day.’ Literally that was my mindset.”   Tems’ fire for music followed her in higher learning. She attended Monash South Africa, a university in Johannesburg, South Africa, GQ reports. In her dorm room, she continued to write songs and relied on YouTube to learn how to make beats. She also used Logic software to record and produce....

Mike Will Made-It has revealed that he did not understand how to make money from music when he first entered the industry. The producer, born Michael Len Williams II, behind some of this generation’s top hits, fell into music by playing on a keyboard owned by his sister, Chonte. He created beats with his father, former IBM computer engineer Michael Len Williams Sr., Forbes reported. He later learned to play the saxophone, and by his early teens, his father bought him a $600 Korg Electribe drum machine. “Inquisitive kid,” Michael Sr. said of his son, per Forbes. “He wanted to know everything.” After one semester at Georgia State, he convinced his father he could put school on the back burner to pursue a career in the music business as a producer. Mike Will Made-It recalls having no footing in his early days in Atlanta’s underground. He also had no management at the time, even during a breakout time for him thanks to producing singles including “Bandz a Make Her Dance” by Juicy J, “No...

For over a decade, Stephen A. Smith has been recognized as one of the faces of ESPN. Before becoming a host on “First Take,” the veteran sports broadcaster hosted “The Stephen A. Smith Show” on ESPN Radio from 2005 to 2008, per ESPN Press Room. By 2011, Smith returned to host a weekday local show on ESPN Radio 98.7FM in New York, NY, and a local show on ESPN LA 710AM in Los Angeles, CA. In an interview with “Earn Your Leisure” podcast, Smith recounted being fired from ESPN in 2009. He explained that the reason for his departure was that his contract at the time did not align with what he believed he should earn. “I thought that I deserved more than they offered,” Smith shared on “Earn Your Leisure. “I was appalled at the offer they made me. I did not like it. I did not appreciate it. I felt disrespected. And I said ‘No.’” Smith admitted that his disapproval with the offer he received was based on the acclaim and accolades that were pouring in for him. However, he says when he...