Veteran Hip-Hop
managers Mickey Bentson and Felix Cabrera have joined forces to form Idolmakerz
Entertainment, a full service booking agency based in Bellville, New Jersey.Launched
in January, the business includes a radio promotions department, a graphic design
department, and a division that focuses on Latin artists.Bentson
and Cabrera, who serve as co-CEO’s of the new venture, have managed some of the
most well-known rappers, including Grandmaster Melle Mel, Fat Joe and the Terror
Squad, Big Pun, Lord Finesse, King T, Everlast, and Monie Love."We
aim to evolve into a William Morris or a Creative Artists Agency (CAA). The
difference is we don’t wait ’til you’re hot to start booking you," Bentson
told AllHipHop.com. "We start soliciting to promoters and vendors immediately.
We can accomplish a lot of things major agencies can’t do. We are going to work
hand and hand with artists to help them get national exposure outside of what
the record label is doing for them."Al
"Al-B." Beutel is President of the new company after a decade of working
with nightclubs in Manhattan like the Palladium, Deko Lounge, the Tunnel, Club
Abyss. After
a move to promoting in clubs in New Jersey, Beutel took a job with a larger agency
based on his success booking artists independently. He
brought Bronx, New York rapper Fat Joe to the agency he was working for and later
decided to go independent with Idolmakerz Entertainment. "I
make sure the artists are taken care of and I make sure my staff is taken care
of as well," Beutel said. "We want our business to grow beyond being
a boutique agency, but we still want to have the boutique feel, so that the artists
get the attention they need and deserve."The
Latin department is run by Jordy Nivar, one of the first promoters to bring Daddy
Yankee to the state of New Jersey to perform. Nivar handles all of Idolmakerz
Spanish-speaking bookings for Hip-Hop, Reggaeton and other forms of Latin music.
"I
grew up listening to Merengue and Reggaeton. I’ve been listening for years, since
1990, 1991," Nivar said. He started promoting shows to feature his rap group,
The Knock Out Crew and subsequently booked artists like Daddy
Yankee, Tego Calderon, Wisin Y Yandel and others. Bentson,
who also ran Ice-T’s Final Level Entertainment, said the company plans to expand
the business by opening offices in Miami, Las Vegas, and Detroit in 2007.For
more information visit http://www.idolmakerz.com