Ilias Anwar sat in his dorm room like most college students and found himself scrolling through social media noticing one major thing about media platforms, most cater to a female audience. In reality, men are interested in gossip and news of the industry as well. With his friend William Camire, who eventually left to pursue other ventures, they set out to create a hip-hop music platform that catered to male Instagram users. At first, it began as something fun, then The Clout Cloud eventually garnered an audience of over 36,000 with the average age of users being 13-24 and is majority male.
When Ilias began to grow his platform, he needed a team; one that would help him not only develop and grow the following TCC has now, but curate events and new content. Phil Osae helps with the constant activity on the account. The constant activity turned into The Clout Cloud Podcast about a year and a half after the birth of TCC. With Bryan Frumpkin as a host and Joe Ranney as the supervisor, they began the podcast in a small room and developed a partnership with Rotate RVA, a dope sneaker and consignment shop in Richmond, Virginia. The podcast is continuing to grow featuring dope hosts Sakia, Shaun, and Pedro, bringing a chill vibe and dope media content highlighting the hip-hop industry.
Richmond is a city full of creatives. Ilias and his team bring hip-hop events to the city. These events are by no means small and bring huge opportunities for local artist. Working with big artists like Future, Megan Thee Stallion, Meek Mill and many more, The Clout Cloud Is continuing to build relationships with big names in the industry. Ilias is prideful of his team and these events could not be curated without them. Almira Zaky plays a big role in getting the concerts booked and Gabe and Eric create the footage for the events. Currently, The Clout Cloud House Show is a minor step towards a music festival. That has thrown three House Shows and the fourth is set to happen in February. This show gives an opportunity for local artists to showcase their talent to hip-hop lovers in the community.
The Clout Cloud differs from other media outlets because of the mission to connect the city of Richmond and they assist local artists in getting attention. The goal for this year is to put on a music festival, not Rolling Loud, but one to make enough noise for the community. The team has also begun working with artists such as Alix Phoenix and Nicole Bloomgarden whom they are helping her to build a household brand and are working to establish an official merch line. The Clout Cloud has grown significantly since its birth and is continuing to grow and create amazing experiences for hip-hop fans.
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Clout Cloud IG: @thecloutcloud
Cloud Talk Podcast: @thecloudtalkpodcast
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