Youssef Ali, A Force Behind RiceGum's "Its EveryNight Sis", On Turning Adversity Into Triumph

Youssef Ali always loved music. But when he was growing up, he felt a strong vibe that working in the music industry wasn't practical. The idea of being a starving artist was not alluring. "Although it was clearly my passion and I knew I wanted to do something with music, I kept ignoring my calling," says Ali.

Courtesy Youssef Ali

RiceGum, Youssef Ali and Alissa Violet celebrate the hit song "Its Everynight Sis"

However, he ultimately listened to his heart when he fell into music video production. He got his start while he owned a vape company. Ali placed a product in a music video with producing giant Riveting Entertainment. "I fell in love with creating videos and making viral content," he shares. "I learned a lot from Andrew Listermann there who has dominated the music video production industry for years."

He was then introduced to the world of social media. Once at the video shoot for Poo Bear and Justin Bieber, Ali met Matthew Espinosa, an actor and social media star on the rise. "I saw the success he was having in what was a new market at the time. And my mind just exploded with all these possibilities," says Ali. "It opened my eyes to a new market that was not available at the time. Social media was new, Vine was in and we would be getting chased down the street by thousands of fans." Ali realized that he could get the attention of consumers through new methods, ones that were never used before.

Photo courtesy of Youssef Ali

Youssef Ali

Ali could wee that the future of music would lie in social media. 
"But I wasn't going to punch somebody else's clock either. That is just not how I work. If I'm going to do something, it's going to be because I'm passionate about it, not because I need a paycheck," he explains. Ali understood the great potential using social media to connect artists and creators with their audiences. He knew he had to take the lead but not rush into anything.

Ali and his co-founder, Andrew Andrawes, studied the market and planned a unique and creative strategy that would ultimately become Syft. In essence he saw a need to fill a void and help brands create a presence online. "If everyone is singing a different song at the same time, it becomes difficult to stand out or be heard," explains Ali. "So we help artists and influencers stand out and connect with the right audiences and brands, putting them in the best possible situation to be successful."

Over the last three years Syft has created viral content, music videos, and commercials. They even won some awards including Best Music Video in Bollywood and the Middle East two years in a row. Some of their successful marketing campaigns have included Core Water, Snap Chat, Planet Hollywood, Insomniac, Chrysler, Lays and more. Ali has worked on music video production and product placement with Bieber, Poo Bear, Tyga, Nikki Minaj, and Migos. He also worked with Bazzi who recorded over a dozen songs in Ali's studio back in 2016 and early 2017. "That guy is pure talent. I am so proud of all his accomplishments," says Ali who is collaborating with Sammy Wilk and planning an EP release early this summer.

More than ever Ali sees the internet as extremely powerful tool for self-expression. "It has democratized ideas and art, especially music. It has allowed artists to be in control of not just their creations, but also in control of their brand or image – how the world sees them," explains Ali. "It used to be that a wealthy elite controlled what music and art was put out into the world. How could you not be inspired to be a part of that revolution?"

Ali's collaboration with his friend RiceGum would become a total game changer. On June 4, 2017, they finished working on RiceGum's song "Its EveryNight Sis" with Alissa Violet's in Ali's home studio. Everyone went home. It was 3:30am. Ali's studio was in a detached space in the back. He had only just moved in the month before and just finished remodeling the state-of-the-art studio, which was made to look a spaceship landing site. "It was beautiful," says Ali. "Construction was completely done and the next day we were supposed to have a celebration for it. But Rice wanted to record the song and release it the following week, so we had to record the song that night."

At 6am Ali was woken by firefighters. His studio was on fire. "I asked them, 'Is this a prank?' I went outside and the garage was in complete flames." Rice's song was the only song they had recorded in the studio. Nine months later the song went platinum. Even with the destruction of the studio something good ultimately came out of it. "Did I expect the song to get over 100 million streams on youtube? No! Did I expect it to go platinum? No! I didn't even think gold was possible," says Ali.

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