Another hat he put on still very much in love with the game and giving back to his community, was joining an initiative called MLB Black Professionals. The motive behind this organization is to leverage young adults who loves music and expose them to the pros of playing Baseball. “There isn’t that many of us.” Referring to Black males figures in the professional sports world of baseball. The former player uses his platform to inform individuals on ways to get started, and inspire young men that they do not have to be the product of their environment.
In between making home runs, and influencing young men around the world. No one knew that he’d been eyeballing the music industry far before his retirement. “Literally, the next day I called T Farris and started making moves.”
Travis Farris, also known as T Farris is a long time childhood friend of Crawford’s who he grew up with in Houston. Blood couldn’t make these two any closer. With the rap sheet of managing top Houston artist like Lil KeKe, Paul Wall, and Mike Jones, the birth of 1501 record label was inevitable.
Carl took note to Houston’s music industry “struggling” to push artists and give them the notariety they needed. It wasn’t long before the duo signed a few artists and began building a name for themselves. Scrolling through Instagram, it seems as if they struck gold when they came across the new emerging artist Megan the Stallion, whose first single “Big Ol Freak” did just that. Just last month the female anthem went certified gold and is guaranteed to be the song of the summer. Dallas native Lil Ju, or “liljumadedabeat” was the mastermind behind the single and is also signed to 1501. Lil Ju even produced several tracks from her recent project, “Fever” that's making airwaves. The future definitely looks bright for the young producer.
Crawford has invested a lot of time, energy and money into building 1501 studios for it to be a “pipeline to success” for other inspiring artist. Welcoming his studios to artist, free of charge he understands the difficulties of paying for studio sessions and equipment. Of course, he says he’s always looking for new artists and talent.
At the end of the day,Carl Crawford is a humble, approachable and easy going guy. However, as a manager, it's important that he still plays an authoritative role and keeps his artist on the p&q’s.
So what do you have to do to get his attention? Simplest way to put it:
“You have to have the look, be real, authentic, and just have that star quality.”
