[INTERVIEW] Tracy Bell Proves Testimony, Faith & Truth, Equal Power

One-on-One With Music Executive Extraordinaire, Tracy Bell

Tracy Bell is an accomplished man with several goals under his belt within the music industry; however, he remains humble and grateful for the opportunities. Speaking with him, you know and feel that he has come a long way, but he is passionate about bringing and speaking life. He works with those that deliver the kind of music that uplifts—not just entertains. The Tracy Bell mission is quite clear—to serve others, showcase authenticity and to live with the full belief that at the end of the day, true success comes from knowing and being yourself.

We caught up with the executive to talk about his beginnings in the industry, what he’s working on now with his company, Asah Entertainment, and much more. Read our full interview below…

Parlé Mag: How did you get started in the music industry?
Tracy Bell: I was probably between 23 to 25 years old. Before I got into this, I was working in sales. I was doing pretty good as a young man and enjoying the sales industry. I was able to get to six figures. With the money I was making, I called myself being smart and mature and wanted to become an investor. Back when I was 16, my parents invested into me having my own record company, Rich Boy Entertainment. I got it incorporated, paid my taxes. I would find local high school kids who had talent. I was doing little contracts and kept them in the bottom drawer of my room. That was my file cabinet. (Chuckles) Sometimes I made sixty/forty or fifty/ fifty, but I tried to always keep the perspective of the company as always going in the right direction and winning. At the time I had a lawyer and my older brother Tony was the investor. I was making sure that the profit line was at a growth. But as time went on, I got away from that and unfortunately, got involved with the streets, but God brought me back.

Parlé Mag: What type of challenges did you face during this period of your life?
Tracy Bell: I was a preacher’s son, but the streets were what I turned to. I got involved with drugs. People see me today, different images of me via social media and things like that. I look totally different now. I remember once I was sleeping in the car, not because I had to, but I was so high off of Xanax, that I passed out on the interstate on the exit. I woke up with fire trucks and the police knocking on my window. I told them that I was a college student and that I was just tired traveling back home, which was a lie. They told me to pull over to the parking lot and get some rest. They asked me a couple of more questions, but by the grace of God, it all worked out and I got out of that.

Parlé Mag: What was the turning point for you?
Tracy Bell: God gave me an opportunity to turn it around. Eventually I met a top sales executive in Arkansas during church who became a mentor to me. He taught me the laws of attraction, how to think and grow rich and I started to see guys making like $17,000 a month in sales. He saw something positive in me. Another gentleman came into my life who taught me about Napoleon Hill. I decided to try it. I spoke it, I believed it. I began to apply these things that I was learning. And that Monday, I went looking for a car. The guy on the lot told me ‘you’re a million dollar man and you need to be in sales’. Me being from the streets I thought ‘this guy is just running game!’ But he ended up taking me under his wing and eventually I made six figures. I was in car sales then I began medical sales. I was looking at stocks and wanted to invest because I was doing so well, but what was in my heart at 16 came back again. I said that I was going to do a show and get some of the top artists in gospel music.

Parlé Mag: Why did you choose to get into the genre of gospel music in the beginning?
Tracy Bell: When God brought me out of the dark place, I was so in love with Him and had a fresh passion for Him. Even though my dad was a preacher, I didn’t even know the Lord ’s Prayer until my 20s… I wanted to separate myself. I have my shortcomings, but at the same time I can’t lower my standard of God. I know there’s a standard of holiness. I’m not gonna create my own philosophy. There’s a difference between clean and unclean. I wanted to let him know that I was on his side. I had to go to a place where he helped me to develop and advance.

Parlé Mag: What led you to becoming involved with managing artists?
Tracy Bell: I did the show in my state of Arkansas and invested $25,000 of my own money. Even though it didn’t turn out the way I would have liked it to, there was still a blessing. The headliner for that night was gospel group Tim Rogers and the Fellas and Tim came back and said ‘hey, I saw your work and I like what you did.’ I always dream big. Everything was amazing. I mean, it was lights, camera, action, the whole chabang on a secular platform field. I became a part of Tim’s management department, working the back office and I had knowledge of social media marketing. I got to be his road manager, worked on his first project, which I think charted at #14. I rolled with Tim for a while… he liked me, and then I ran into Paul Porter, who is a really accomplished person in the industry as well. He’s dealt with some heavy hitters. I met a lot of people through Tim, but it went to another level when I met Paul Porter. I began to have interactions with Motown Gospel and developed relationships within the label. He was a great influence, and I also did a short run with one of the vocalists who worked with Kirk Franklin. I even worked with winners from the BET hit show ‘Sunday’s Best’.

Parlé Mag: Tell me about your company Asah Entertainment. How did you come up with the name?
Tracy Bell: ASAH (pronounced A- SAH) in Hebrew means to create from nothing. I believe in Yahweh, the true and living God. Everything I have accomplished has simply been off of me developing relationships. I didn’t have loans, investors or anything like that. My company recently signed a major distribution deal with Monetize Noise owned by Claude and Vicki Mack Lataillade. I picked up a big name in the gospel industry, The Mighty Clouds of Joy. Their latest project was The Rebirth, which was a national release. I also ended up working with Evelyn Turrentine-Agee, Angel Taylor of Trin-i-tee 5:7. Now, I have crossed over, working with J. Long, formerly of R&B group Pretty Ricky. He is a great artist to work with. He has a new single called “Evolved”, which is currently on Spotify. I’ve joined with J Fam Music, the independent label that he’s a part of as one of the A&Rs and managers. We just shot the video for it with Lazrael Lison directing it. He is out of Hollywood. I believe we can be a light of this world. J. Long is my new partner. J Fam Music has indeed been a blessing to me. “Evolved” is also a film that we put together as well.

Parlé Mag: Is J. Long the only artist that you are currently working with?
Tracy Bell: I’m also currently working with DJ Kaila Troy, who is Ireland’s number one female DJ. I feel so confident about these amazing talents!

Parlé Mag: Who are some of the people that’s influenced you throughout your career?
Tracy Bell: As I mentioned earlier Paul Porter as well as Tim Rogers have been great influences throughout my journey. But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Ms. Vicki Mack Lataillade. I talk to her at least once or twice a week. She is indeed a blessing and I thank God for meeting her. That’s my mentor in the industry. I have partnership with her and we’re still growing. We have some things coming up, some big things. I have major love for her. I really thank her for her influence.

Parlé Mag: Tell me what has been the key to your success?
Tracy Bell: I think my success comes down to three things: my parents is the first contributing factor, the blueprint because they instilled certain guidelines of understanding the difference between being moral and immoral, what’s good and not good, which is the battle in all of us. They gave me a concept of God and because of that, I have a great foundation. God is teaching me how to become myself and therefore, how to become successful. You’re interviewing me right now is a part of the first four chapters of a 20 chapter book. (laughs) I’m becoming successful… it’s a 12 round fight and I haven’t knocked it down yet. I’ve had victories, but it’s a 12 round fight. When I knock it down, I can rest. I wake up every morning, I speak life over myself. If you don’t know yourself, then people can tell you and convince you of something that you’re not. I come from negative environments where all type of negativity was around. If you don’t know who you are and say to the image staring back at you in the mirror every morning and night ‘I’m great’, ‘I got it’, ‘I’m victorious’, no matter how many times you’re knocked down… if I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t have no drive. My wife, Angelica Bell, is also a part of that. She and I have been married for nine years and we have three beautiful children. She keeps me strong and we had a certain grace to be here with each other. She is the owner of ASAH Entertainment, so technically, I work for her! (laughs)

Parlé Mag: How do you avoid the traps and negativity of Hollywood being in the business?
Tracy Bell: I saw the prostitution, pimping, drug dealing, using the drugs…I’ve been in the dark places. There’s nothing that I haven’t seen. It’s people in regular day life, that’s doing these things. I’m not proclaiming to be a gangster. I’m in the business to promote positive, good Godly kingdom music to reverse our thinking and bring us back to the truth. Everything starts with love. You wanna stop black on black crime, sex trafficking, all we gotta do is promote love. We need a medium. I’m here to be great. I wanna be a good, positive influence…I don’t ever wanna be hypocritical. I’m not here to play. As artists/executives, we have a responsibility to figure out how to get our money without promoting negative stuff. We can’t say we love our people until we give love and represent life in all we do.

Be sure to check out J. Long’s single, “Evolved”