Gated Community Studios is Tallahassee’s newest music recording studio and has already recorded songs with hit rappers including Luh Tyler and Real Boston Richey, who are both Tallahassee natives.
A track recorded at the studio by Luh Tyler – “Change My Wayz” – just hit streaming platforms but has already gone viral on social media.
A snippet of the hip-hop song accompanied by a music video has been seen by 1.1 million people on Instagram and received more than 85,000 likes. “Change My Wayz” has more than 200,000 streams on Spotify
The sudden success is stunning for Gated Community’s four founders: Saidon Richardson, Vincent Anderson, Hunter “Keyman” Sallis and Marculas “Cobe” Gallon.
“If you told me a year ago that I’d be recording Luh Tyler, Boston Richey… I would have told you you’re lying,” said Richardson, who is the business’s CEO and a senior music industry major at Florida A&M University. “To have them come to the studio was an eye opener. I’m forever grateful that we had those opportunities.”
For Richardson, the achievements of Gated Community Studios are the next steps of his burgeoning career in the music industry.
His passion for music ignited in the seventh grade when he took a world drumming class, and by the time he was 14, he started producing his own rap beats. Richardson is from Broward County, where the music scene has spawned A-list rap legends such as Kodak Black, Ski Mask The Slump God and the late XXXTentacion.
Richardson saw his first big commercial success when he was a sophomore in college.
A-list rapper YNW Melly used a track that Richardson produced on his song “Rolling Loud,” which was on the rapper’s 2019 album “We All Shine.” After the album’s release, Richardson achieved the coveted title of “gold producer” by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
He says this, and the other founders’ prior accomplishments in the music industry have been instrumental for the success of Gated Community. They say they’ve rejected outside investors and use their own money to pay for and fund the studio.
“For me personally, there’s no plan B. I’ve been all in since I was in the ninth grade,” said Richardson. “If anybody’s listening right now, go all in and you’ll definitely be rewarded the right way.”
Gated Community celebrated its grand opening on Oct. 22 after months of planning and renovations. The studio has two recording rooms, a fashion room and has been decorated with locally made artwork by its staff.
Besides the four founders, Gated Community has three studio creatives and six unpaid interns – who have the opportunity to eventually be hired – working for the business.
The studio creatives manage artist bookings, audience outreach and interior design, while the interns produce beats and handle aspects of music production and recording like audio engineering and mixing.
Kelsie Phenae is a Tallahassee native and one of the studio creatives for Gated Community.
She’s working at the studio while studying to get her real estate license from Keller Williams and says the experience has allowed her to give creative and business opportunities back to her home community.
“I am very grassroots. I don’t want to leave here unless I leave something behind that’s able to sustain itself,” said Phenae. “I don’t think Tallahassee has seen anything like Gated Community, and if it has, it was probably before all of us were born.”
Looking at their explosive success and “all-in” mentality, the owners are already planning on buying an additional space in Tallahassee for the business.
Richardson told the Tallahassee Democrat that they’ve almost secured the lease for an even bigger studio in a different part of the city, though he didn’t give many additional details.
Benny Taubman is student editor of the FSView and can be reached at btaubman@gannett.com.
