Jackson Free Press

In the 1960s, "the Motown Sound" was everything. Legendary producer Berry Gordy turned the recording industry on its head by integrating pop and soul, and turned national attention toward local talent in his hometown, Detroit. Kamel King, 34, hopes to do the same thing for Jackson through Ridgeland's Terminal Recording Studios and his independent label, NOW Entertainment.

Ushering in a new era of Mississippi music means more than a little hard work, determination and searching. Every Saturday since June 14, Terminal has invited local acts to display their rap, rock, R&B and everything in between for music-industry professionals as part of an ongoing event called The Search. These professionals will then choose an unspecified number of artists to receive a single deal, which includes access to Terminal's songwriters, recording engineers and marketing team.

King hopes others will notice The Search isn't a "music competition." It's an opportunity, and one that he saw a desperate need for in Jackson. "The music is so rich, but we find through a lot of our resources that people have to, or feel they have to, leave (the city) to make it. A lot of entertainment business seemingly is not done here," King says. "It is done here. It's just not on the surface where the average musician or artist knows what's going on."

An entertainment lawyer by trade, one might expect that King has a deeper understanding of the music business, but that knowledge actually predates his career. Some may remember Lee King, Kamel's father, as the host of "Black Gold," Mississippi's iteration of "Soul Train," which ran on WLBT for a whopping 21 years. Kamel King was present for all his father's musical endeavors. "He'd been a concert promoter—and still is—and an artist manager. He's had a record label and been in radio, so he's done some of everything," King says.

King eventually followed in his father's footsteps. After graduating from the Mississippi College School of Law, he circled the music industry: He joined Frascogna Entertainment Law, ran gospel label Blackberry Records and has managed Terminal Studios since 2006. It's the latter that connected King to his business partner, Cedric Jenkins, owner of Cunning Worker Productions.

King's boss, Randy Everett, gave him the book "Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion" by Robert Gordon, which inspired him to begin The Search. The Memphis-based label's business model opened King's eyes to the opportunity.

"(Jenkins) and I started NOW Entertainment a couple of years ago, slowly moving toward this," King says.

"At a certain point, it was just like, 'Let's just do this. Let's open our doors and create a unique, professional, upbeat and real environment for artists."

After weeks conducting The Search, King says that the response from artists has been "a game-changer." Hundreds of acts arrive each Saturday from every county in and outside of Mississippi, standing in the summer heat for a chance to show their talents. "We have people come from every county in and outside of Mississippi," King says. "They say the same thing to my team and me: 'We are so glad you're doing this. ... It's my life's dream to just be able to share this with somebody.'"

While King believes that The Search is one of the best ways to reach local diamonds in the rough, he's also a pragmatist. With The Search's connection to national radio service Clear Channel Communications, some participants have anticipated immediate radio play. "Everything we have is not going to get played," he says. "(Clear Channel) can't make those promises, but now there's a conversation between the music community at large and major radio."

King says that many incredible acts have attended for The Search, but his team is not ready to make a decision yet. Even after that decision, NOW Entertainment plans to continue The Search for as long as people want to perform.