Photo by Chris House | Creative Directed by Adonis Thrax
Steven, better known as Stevo, Dingle is an Atlanta native and well-respected contributor to Atlanta’s culture. Stevo is a talent manager who began his management journey in 2012 with Miloh Smith and has represented several Atlanta-based producers and artists such as OG Parker and OG Maco.
Born in East Point, Georgia, Stevo spent his grade school years between McDonough and southwest Atlanta. Stevo has always been a proud student of the game. "So I think the combination of growing up here, going to school here, and just being a natural student of the culture and game helped me," he says.
Photo by Chris House | Creative Directed by Adonis Thrax
"That's what makes Atlanta dope...we always have something to give"
As we began to discuss how Atlanta has shaped the music industry Stevo uttered "that’s what makes Atlanta dope, we always have something else to give." You could hear his passion as he spoke about how Atlanta always curates new sounds that eventually get picked up in other places and we just go find something new to do.
"People like J. Money, where the industry may say they fell off or something, those people still mean something to the city and when those songs come on in the club, we will still turn up" he went on to say. J. Money was one of a few examples he gave that brought back some flashbacks to the old Atlanta social scene. I guess if you know you know.
Photo by Chris House | Creative Directed by Adonis Thrax
While working as a blogger for Greedmont Park, Stevo connected with Miloh Smith and began his first job as a talent manager during her first mixtape run with Suite 404.
Dingle’s roster grew with the addition of rapper OG Maco, widely known for his bangers "Road Runner" and “U Guessed It” which reached over 16 million plays on YouTube and nearly seven million plays on SoundCloud.
It was through his relationship with OG Maco that Dingle met his future client OG Parker. Parker, who he co-manages, has achieved great success including multiple platinum records, grammy-nominations, and landing on the Billboard charts.
"Maintain a level of professionalism while maintaining the culture"
The process of discovering your own management style is always fascinating. In conversation about figures he studied as a young manager trying to find his way, he told us he took notice to "Kawan Prather, Ray Kash, Yelawof and Krit, and of course Coach K, and to be able to work so closely with him now is a blessing.”
Photo by Chris House | Creative Directed by Adonis Thrax
Stevo's career emulates the life he’s lived thus far - Atlanta music through and through. With multiple artists and producers on his roster and a vast knowledge base, Dingle has the tools to maintain his footprint in the music industry, while consistently contributing to Atlanta’s culture.
Read below to check out some of the top moments from our interview with Steven "Stevo" Dingle:
What were things you paid attention to the most in grooming a career from them?
Stevo: My main thing was understanding how to maintain a level of professionalism while preserving the culture that the industry promotes. One thing about the industry we chose to work in, it's heavily influenced by a particular culture.
I went to Clark Atlanta, and one of the statements we believe in is “culture of service.” I found it important to not turn the culture off when trying to be professional in this industry.
People like Mark Pitts, Irv, and Coach were great at their jobs and professional, but they never had to turn their culture down and assimilate to a white culture. I loved they never had to sacrifice their authenticity to reach their success on the business side of the industry.
Photo by Chris House | Creative Directed by Adonis Thrax
How would you describe how Atlanta shapes the music industry?
Stevo: My thing with Atlanta is the resilience of the city. Like Andre 3000 says in that old song, Hollywood Divorce, at the end he says how everything starts off as a small little hood thing, from clothes to music, everything, and when Hollywood takes it, we don’t even trip, we just create something new.
And in my opinion, Atlanta embodies that. You can look at the style of Outkast and the Dungeon family and then crunk music and snap music and then Jeezy, Gucci, and T.I trap music and then the singing rapping that Thug, Skooly, Lucci do. All these sounds are different, but they’re Atlanta. And they set the tone. And when the rest of the industry starts doing it, we just come back home and find something new.
Photo by Chris House | Creative Directed by Adonis Thrax
What is one of the hardest experiences you encountered?
Stevo: Everybody won’t say this because they don’t have the same vision and path as me, and I don’t think I’ve ever said this to anyone, but I think it’s me not wanting to leave Atlanta.
As much as I love Atlanta, I tell myself I’m never leaving because there is so much work to be done here, especially in this industry, but I understand that it’s limiting me.
I have been told by several respected people in this industry that if I want to grow in my career and personally, I need to leave. We all know that Atlanta doesn’t have the media presence as other places like LA or New York, but it is as if we have the talent, just not the business.
I could leave because I’ve seen people move away and grow ahead of me, but I want to be homegrown and a part of the growth in my city. I never want to leave the city until the work is done.
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