Winston Thomas, better known by his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

BlackOut or DJ BlackOut, founder & CEO of BlackOut Movement, is an American

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. Blackout is signed to

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian-born rapper based in the United States. She is known for her musical versatility, animated flow in her rapping, alter egos and accent ...

's recording company Pink Friday Records. Blackout is also co-founder of the music tech startup company, RecordGram.

Life and career

BlackOut was born "Winston Thomas" in Freeport, NY. His father is from Kingston, Jamaica, while his mother is from Mandeville, Jamaica. He got his start working high school parties and local clubs in the New York area. It was in the club that he got his first break and met Wyclef Jean. Blackout joined the Refugee Camp as a deejay for the artist, Reptile, and got his first taste of touring in the music industry. During his time with the Refugee Camp, Blackout began dabbling in production and made it his hobby. It wasn't long before he became a staple in the deejay industry and began playing gigs nationwide. He eventually became linked with Jada Kiss and toured with him for three years. While playing a gig in a South Beach club, D.J. Blackout slipped a CD of beats to hip hop artist, Ja Rule. This chance meeting would mark the beginning of Blackout's career as a music producer. One of BlackOut's beats was selected to be on Ja Rule's Blood In My Eye Album. Soon after, BlackOut started his own production company Blackout Movement. Full steam ahead, BlackOut and his new company catapulted to the top of the game 1 year later when the company produced the debut album from hip-hop artist Mims, including the widely popular single “

This Is Why I'm Hot "This Is Why I'm Hot" is the debut single by American rapper Mims. The song was co-written by Mims and produced by Blackout Movement for his first album '' Music Is My Savior'' (2007). Released in 2007, the song reached No. 1 on the U.S. ''Bill ...

”. Blackout Movement has since worked with some of the leading artists in the industry. In 2012, Blackout signed to

's, Pink Friday record label. BlackOut is also co-founder of RecordGram, a music tech startup. RecordGram is 1 of 7 music tech companies to be accepted int
Project Music
the music tech accelerator program in Nashville.

Production style

BlackOut produces various genres of music. Hip Hop, Pop, R&B, Reggae, and Dance Music. BlackOut states "being a DJ, I am exposed to a lot of music, all the time. That keeps me up to date" BlackOut chiefly produces with Akai MPC4000 and

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

, and just recently been using Native Instruments' MASCHINE and LOGIC to create as he travels.

Production discography

Singles

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Freeport, New York American hip hop record producers Nicki Minaj Record producers from New York (state) Mixing engineers {{record-producer-stub