Dantel HoodInsatiable dance beats, stirring vocals and rhythms plucked from around the globe — at the intersection of all these sounds you’ll find Soulection, an LA-based collective aptly dubbed “The Sound of Tomorrow.” With a reputation for breaking unknown artists and launching them on the track to stardom, Soulection’s influence puts people on the map.
But beyond the soundscapes and signature drops lies a deeper story: one of vision, community, and relentless intention. A couple days before the launch of his first EP, If Not Now, Then When?, which is out now, LA Weekly sat down with the collective’s co-founder Joe Kay and the Soulection squad of Andres Javier Uribe, Dom Prieto, and Sahar Habibi at DTLA’s Soulection HQ to discuss the evolution of more than a decade-long dominance of the underground music industry.
They give us a closer look at the history of the brand, from its early days as a scrappy radio show to becoming a global tastemaker with an unmistakable aesthetic, and tell us how they built a movement rooted in authenticity, artistry, and a DIY spirit that hasn’t wavered, even 14 years later. From its visual identity to the cultural moments it continues to shape, they share how Soulection’s ethos has evolved, and where it’s headed next.
FINDING THE POCKET
Joe found his calling as curator, tastemaker, and radio host while attending high school in Southern California during the early 2000s. Joe reflects on his earlier era, “I just started making mixes on my PC computer’s $20 mixing program. I wasn’t even able to DJ. It was just more putting songs together and kind of just fading in and fading out,” he says. Fully immersing himself in weekly mixes for his original podcast, Ill Vibes on Podomatic, he developed a knack for it, “and from that point on, I was just going to a lot of shows and networking with other like-minded DJs and producers, because I was really into DJs and really into the beat culture.”
Joe Kay (All photos: Pamela Jane Bautista @phiftysenses)
Iconic Los Angeles labels like Low End Theory, Stones Throw, and Brainfeeder were burgeoning in the mid- to late-2000s, spawning residencies that were instrumental to the growth of Joe’s sound direction. “It was really catered around the producers … It wasn’t like what we know now as a producer being behind the scenes; the producer was the artist. They were playing their beats, and these edits that were just really unique — what we call future beats.”
A genre known for experimental instrumentation inspired by hip-hop, R&B, and electronic music, beat culture was a defining moment in the Los Angeles music scene. The genre emerged during a time before digital streaming services and the proliferation of online media, and was still very much a physical phenomenon. “Back then they had unreleased music that would eventually come out, maybe like months later, but they had beat CDs of just exclusives. I would burn them on my laptop, and then I’d be featuring them on the mixes.”
Thanks to a reputation that preceded him and a great portfolio to go with it, Joe quickly became Program Director for KBeach Radio while studying at Cal State Long Beach. This period would lay the foundation for a dedicated work ethic balancing his family life with an infant daughter at home and a part-time serving job, all while producing, editing, and uploading his own shows — brand new terrain for music at the time. “A lot of people would just do this show live and then they wouldn’t do anything with the recording. … So that’s what really developed me and my show, was the playback and people listening on demand. That’s why I started uploading to SoundCloud.” Joe credits SoundCloud as having played an instrumental role in Soulection’s rise to success.
SOUNDCLOUD ERA
In 2008, SoundCloud emerged as a platform for artists to promote and distribute their music without official backing from a label or distributor, developing a culture in and of itself. This launched the era of “SoundCloud rappers” and an entire scene of artists coming together in an online, community-focused space.
“It defined the culture. Future beats, SoundCloud rap, lo-fi — all of that exploded here because we allowed experimentation without rules,” said Maurice Slade, Soundcloud’s Head of Marketing, Artist Partnerships, via email, “No radio edits, no A&R telling you the hook needed to change. Just raw creativity and direct audience feedback. Genres are invented, blurred, and flipped in real-time. … And Soulection? They helped set the tone for that entire wave of sonic exploration.”
Through the platform and his recognizable presence at local shows, Joe continued to develop the relationships that would eventually lead him and his collaborators to the launch of Soulection in 2011. “We dropped our first compilation and a lot of that compilation consisted of a lot of artists over the years that I built those foundations with,” says Joe. “We were releasing once a month, and at the time … I felt that’s what made our sound go global because we were working with different artists from different backgrounds and different languages, different cultures.”
He continues, “All of us were doing our shows. The internet — and SoundCloud, really — is what helped catapult it.”
Maurice adds, “Soulection and SoundCloud have always had a shared mission of highlighting what’s next in music. From day one, Soulection has been about curation, building community, and giving talented artists a platform before the world caught on.”
The ability to share mixes on-demand helped Joe advance on his path to connecting with a growing fanbase. Joe relished digging for unheard tracks. “I feel like my gift was just finding this unreleased music. I love playing music that no one has heard, but they’re just like, ‘What is this? I need this.’ That was always like, ‘Man, I need to get my hands on it and present this to the people.’ One of those people Joe touched with his sonic selections would become long-time collaborator and friend, Andres Javier Uribe.
ANDRES
Joe reminisces about the beginning of a budding friendship, “He used to listen to the radio show when I was in college, and he used to reach out to me like, ‘Man, I don’t know anyone else playing this music. Like, I’m a fan.’” Seated in the storage room of Soulection HQ surrounded by Soulection Supply clothing and products — all of which he is now responsible for — Andres laughs, “I was walking through my graduation listening to the radio show. It was like the radio show was biblical.”
Andres Javier Uribe
Thanks to a mutual respect for music, a bond quickly formed and Andres became one of the original residents along with other members of the founding team in 2011. “I just saw how intelligent he was with the music and how tapped in he was,” Joe revels. “He’s our community person, he’s very tapped in with the people. He’s tapped in with the artists, and people will come to him first because he’s so relatable. He’s like a Soulection soldier and his loyalty is unprecedented.”
With a flourishing online platform and community, Soulection’s influence easily crossed borders to promote some of today’s favorite R&B and hip-hop artists. Andres takes a well-deserved moment to applaud the collective’s incredible track record — “We were booking, like the Snoh Allegras, the Sir, the Smino, the GoldLinks, the Anderson .Paaks, you name it. And we’ve always just been, I mean, the sound of tomorrow, right? That’s our slogan, The Sound of Tomorrow. These people turn into these huge stars, five-plus years, six-plus years after us booking them for shows.”
Joe adds, “We created our own ecosystem. We weren’t just putting out and distributing the music. … We were also putting them on our shows — 800 people, 1200 people, actually 2000 people, and it kept growing. Being able to put these artists and unknown people in front of that while distributing their music on DSPs, that’s when I knew it was a proper label.”
WHAT IS SOULECTION?
From a radio show to sold-out tours, a clothing line, product drops, and more, Soulection has inspired a global community of music fans — but what actually is it? According to Joe, it’s a lifestyle, baby. “Soulection is for all music lovers, all like-minded people. It’s the way you feel, the way you think, the way you listen to music. It’s for people with a high IQ of music looking for the deeper sounds. …You can’t really put a definition on the sound because we play so many different styles, but when you hear it, it feels like Soulection.”
Over the years, Soulection has become known for highlighting unexpected song mashups, edits, and mixes. Viral social media videos include Andres spinning an Afrofusion edit of Luther Vandross’ “Never Too Much” at 14 Years of Soulection in San Francisco and Joe playing a Kendrick Lamar and James Brown edit at his Timeless Living estate in Joshua Tree. What each of these has in common is a slow and sexy swagger that is equally suited for grinding hips in a dark nightclub or vibing out at home. “No matter what genre it is, we always love the more soulful side,” Andres says. “I love to pull a lot of the stuff that I grew up on and take it to these bigger stages and watch people react off of it. I always feel like some of the music that I throw into what I play is like a curveball, but still very familiar to people.”
One might describe the feeling as similar to the warmth and familiarity of music your mom cleaned the house to, but with the twist of a disarming bassline and a dash of esoteric music knowledge. It makes for an excellent sonic cocktail, and a recipe for a really good time. Joe says, “When you say Soulection or that sound, it’s almost like a members club, you know? If you know, you know — and a lot of people that listen to this music that we play and that we put out, I’ll realize that they have similar interests in design, philosophy, they’re just good people … the way they look, it’s a certain style. It’s also very, very diverse, you know what I mean? You see a lot of color.
“It feels like a community that you’ve been missing all your life. And it’s not about being an artist or being a creator of music. It’s just about finding that purpose, of like-minded people that are just go-getters, and looking for something deeper than just radio or the surface level. It’s kind of about finding your calling.”
More of a collective than a label, Soulection sticks out amongst its peers as an aspirational blueprint, a way to learn more about oneself through music.
DOM
Back in 2012, Joe was moving forward with the learnings of a new record label under his belt when he met Dom Prieto, who would eventually become his first manager. “Our relationship started because I had booked him pretty early on. It was for him and GoldLink,” Dom says. “I became hooked. And that’s a testament to the 14-plus years he’s been doing it.
Dom Prieto
Naturally, Joe is also eager to tout his friend’s accomplishments, “Dom is a legendary promoter. He doesn’t speak about it. He’s one of the biggest promoters in North America right now and just, in the world. He’s a heavy hitter.”
Outside of his time with Soulection, Dom was working at Goldenvoice when he and Joe first met. In recent years, he has moved over to Live Nation, where a notable booking includes Afterlife’s Anyma at Las Vegas’ Sphere — an iconic moment for dance music.
Dom expresses, “The live side is important to me … I mean, there are the technicalities of it, right? Dealmaking, deal structuring, taking risks … The curation aspect of it, marketing and promoting of it, the day of happiness, but then also the connectivity of a fan or a person or someone of your same music caliber being in a place and so in tune with the moment, is a very satisfying feeling.”
Dom continues to share a creative vision with Joe. “Working as a tour promoter, we have a lot of overlap. There’s artists that he finds very early on that I love or like, and I’m booking artists that he loves. It’s like a cool music exchange.”
Through the exchange of music, both between themselves and amongst their fanbase, Soulection continued to move the culture forward as a new cross-section of culture and technology emerged.
BEATS 1
The Soulection trajectory continued to expand internationally, getting picked up for a weekly show on Red Bull Music Radio and Rinse FM in the UK. Then in 2015, as he was returning from a Drake-headlined Coachella, Joe got the call that would catapult his career to the next chapter: a meeting with Beats 1 head Zane Lowe.
“He pretty much presented, like, a whole pitch deck — this whole presentation of what was going to be Beats 1 at the time. He’s like, ‘I want you to be a part of this.’ And you kind of hear me with the whole lineup: it was Drake, it was The Weeknd, it was Pharrell, Dr. Dre, Elton John, Q-Tip and all these, like, legends — and then it was just me, this unknown. It was a crazy moment to be a part of that launch,” Joe says.
“That was the pivotal point of the journey from where the moral of the story is, you never know who’s watching.”
SAHAR
Thanks to the launch of Beats 1 on Apple Music, more eyes and ears were on Soulection than ever. In Chicago, Sahar Habibi was finishing up college with her eye on the prize. “I was a Soulection Stan,” she admits, “Soulection was like my end-all, be-all, dream place that I wanted to work.” Starting off as an intern and Joe’s executive assistant for several years, Sahar eventually leveled up to heading A&R for the brand, all while balancing DJ sets in between. “She’s just been a real, multi-faceted, Swiss Army knife for the team. She’s like our oracle, you know what I mean?” says Joe.
Sahar Habibi
Sahar describes it more practically, “I help spearhead our record label side. So I do a lot of creative leading and servicing on the artist and label services. A lot of strategy, overarching with the whole Soulection team. It’s a lot of creative stuff.”
Joe continues, “She’s like my other brain. She’s worked with me long enough. She knows what I like, she knows what I don’t like. I don’t have to say anything. … When I walk into a place, she knows how it should feel and how it should look. And so I just trusted her with the vision.”
Sahar has lent a hand in the conception of Joe’s recently released EP, a culmination of years of the team developing the Soulection aesthetic. “There’s always been a lot of great milestones leading up to this moment, but as we enter the space of Joe releasing his debut project, I feel like this is the most hands-on on a project that I’ve been. From the creative process to helping set up the studio sessions and the artists that are a part of it,” she says. “I feel like this is also like my baby in a way, and I’m just really proud and excited for this next chapter with the crew and the team. I’m super grateful.”
IF NOT NOW, THEN WHEN?
Released on April 4, the six-song EP If Not Now, Then When? is the first official release under Joe’s own name, with another to follow later this year. “Essentially what I’m doing now is leaning into the tastemaker side and the executive producer side, bringing these artists and producers that may have never worked together, presenting them and putting them on tracks,” says Joe.
Dom adds, “This was his first time doing this, so that’s him even just catching a rhythm. Artists catch it by album two, album three — they’re now in a cadence. This is a setup for him, this is the first moment. So what he does from here and the continuity he starts to build will just bring more diverse sounds and him exploring even more.”
GENRE-BENDING
After 14 years of honing his ear to good music, Joe just might have found the secret formula for composing it. “It’s about the synergy and compatibility of the artists. I think that does help. Even if you have different artists from different genres and different styles, there has to be interest or synergy. We provided a playlist of who was going to be showing up to the sessions and the room schedules of who they were going to be aligned with,” he says.
“So the formula, you never know. We don’t choose who or what becomes a hit. The people choose, right? But it’s just about making intentional music and making things that feel right.”
On the EP, artists like Cruza and Arin Ray effortlessly blend genres to create a very distinct sound direction that permeates through the whole tracklist. It’s a very sexy album. R&B and soul-focused, with a little bit of dub thrown in there. (Is that a King Tubby sample we hear on “All Yours”?) Joe explains, “It’s like a fusion. You’re hearing some Jamaican sounds and some Caribbean kind of vibes in it, but it’s still R&B and soul. So it’s a fusion, but we just call it Soulection because when you hear it, it’s like Soulection is bringing all these sounds into six tracks, and somehow we’re able to make it flow and make it feel cohesive.”
Dom agrees, “It just becomes this, you know, this mix of different energies that is really easy on the ears, but also a total fucking vibe.”
PUSHING THE NEEDLE FORWARD
After all this time, how does Soulection continue to differentiate themselves from the rest of the noise out there? By raising up the next generation of soundmakers to define the genre.
“What makes us special is we always have our finger on the pulse. … We’re really just here to support and champion and highlight artists that we love,” says Sahar.
Andres adds, “Our biggest accomplishment is to be able to provide for others. I tell people all the time, I like to lead the league in assists every year. … So the fact that I’m able to pull people into the Soulection world — whether it’s to cut them one paycheck, or bring them on to help me execute some sort of project, or bring them on to even get a salary — those are personally some of my biggest accomplishments.”
We’re just here to push the needle forward at the end of the day, and I think that’s something that is super special about Soulection,” Sahar sums it up.
As the Soulection movement continues to grow, the team is focused on leveling up while staying authentic to their original roots as a platform for new music.
“There is a series of multiple projects to come this year, and then we have our 15-year anniversary next year, and we’re already planning and strategizing for that,” Joe says.
“The 15-year is a big moment we’re working up to,” adds Dom.
Joe continues, “We’re doing the Soulection album to celebrate 15 Years of Soulection. We’ll be choosing and curating artists that we’ve developed and been a part of these stories of people that are well-known, like the heavy hitters, as I like to say. I’m going on tour this year, starting with smaller cities intentionally. And then we’re doing a second leg in the fall with major cities, with a European tour to follow throughout the year.”
Dom expands, “This is actually the first time that Joe’s playing B-markets as a headliner, markets that he hasn’t traditionally gone to. And it’s crazy because we’re starting to see them sell out, and he’s never been to these places.”
After putting in the work of digging for rare grooves, building community from the ground up, and trusting the long game, the Soulection team is starting to witness the ripple effect of their influence in real time.
Understandably, the crew’s proud of what they’ve built. And while the impact may not always be visible in the day-to-day, it hits when you zoom out. Sahar says, “We work so much behind the scenes that sometimes you don’t realize what kind of impact that you have with the brand. So when sometimes you go to our Instagram page or you go to our shows, you go to the comments, or you go to the mixes that we do, you see the impact that you have across so many people, just continuously watching you and listening to you.”
That connection now spans generations. According to Dom, “It’s crazy, you know, people having kids and their kids listening to Soulection Radio. … [Joe] now has this movement that’s way bigger than, I think, what everyone’s ever imagined. It’s still getting bigger to this day.”
New creatives entering the space often share the same story: Soulection served as the soundtrack for their coming of age. “Each year is super inspiring,” says Sahar. “When we meet new creatives or artists, they’re like, ‘Yeah, we literally grew up on you guys,’ and now they’re the next stop, and we’re working together to champion them. That’s what we do it for.”
Joe adds, “There’s been a handful of great stories where we’ve picked people from the crowd or they found us, and when we met them, realized that they were extremely gifted, and then we ended up giving them opportunity. Then they became an artist, DJ, producer on Soulection. So I feel like that is the true community side of what we do.”
“When that love is mutual, and you see it out in the world, and the people that it impacts, I think that’s what makes it all worth it,” says Sahar.
THE NEW OGs
It’s a full-circle moment to be both the tastemakers and the mentors, to see younger artists who once tuned in to their mixes now taking the stage, turning tables, and carrying the sound forward. But being ahead of the game comes with its own set of challenges. The current landscape of music discovery, fast-tracked by the increased accessibility of gear and the recent proliferation of “Tiktok DJs,” has sparked a whole new conversation around what it means to be a DJ. For Soulection, the mission is clear: evolve with the times without losing sight of your roots.
Andres says, “I’m seeing stuff all over socials that, like the club culture is dying, right? And it kind of is because the modern-day DJ has been microwaved. You know, they picked up a controller six months ago and some clip went viral on TikTok. But they’re missing the fundamentals of this shit. So instead of us being those grumpy old heads, instead of just hating, we want to be able to uplift and empower and teach.”
Rather than gatekeep, Soulection is about passing the torch with intention. They see the wave, they see the talent, and they’re ready to support the next class — with structure.
The Soulection team
Joe admits, “How to structure a business was not in my foundation or upbringing, and I didn’t really have an OG, because a lot of the things that we have been doing, a lot of it hasn’t been done before. … A lot of the barriers we were facing were brand new things, and we never really had infrastructure or finances to help catapult us or be a backing. So we had to go through trial and error from taxes, contracts, things like that. Legal stuff.”
The desire to uplift comes from their own experience. Andres says, “At this point, we’ve built a brand that kind of has its own legs. So now we’re getting back to our roots and becoming that platform all over again … finding these next up-and-coming DJs, and teaching these DJs how to scale and become the next Joe Kays of the world. We want to build this so big to where we’re not just relying on Joe to move the whole ship. We want Joe to be able to get off the boat and do what he’s got to do, and load more people and take people on this cruise with us.”
The hustle is real, but so is the family dynamic that Soulection has created: a tight-knit circle that’s grown with the movement, built on trust, shared values, and a collective vision. Dom applauds, “Joe is an extraordinary visionary — and that funnels from the top down.”
Stay connected with Soulection at Soulection.com.
The April 18, 2025 cover of LA Weekly (Photo: Pamela Jane Bautista @phiftysenses; Cover design: Jewel Baek)