Amotion working with the Changz program {Isabell Triemer, special to b}

From today’s b, the paper

A record company, TV, film, radio and the Internet: Sometimes, it seems as if the South Baltimore-based entrepreneur named Amotion has found success in every facet of Baltimore entertainment.
But for a dynamo who has risen from juvenile detention to acclaim in Rolling Stone, what she cherishes most at this moment is her new studio space.

“My new location is perfect,” the 27-year-old mogul says, proud of moving from a Brooklyn storefront to a new spot on Patapsco Avenue. “It’s actually been two years of trying to get out of the old location because it was small. … We now produce bands as well as hip-hop and every other genre. We also added a new retail store to the front so we can become even more of a one-stop shop.”

Hardly a second goes by without Amotion pushing her brand. It’s this kind of drive that has made her a force in Baltimore music for nearly a decade.

Her company, Deep Flow Studios, has been influential in developing local talent, gaining an international following and molding future entrepreneurs. It was where Juan Donovan Bell and Jamal Roberts — better known as Darkoom Studios — created the two Hamsterdam albums, with tracks that appeared on “The Wire.” Deep Flow Internet radio, the city’s oldest operating online hip-hop station, perfectly blends well-known and unknown Baltimore music for fans from here to Venezuela and beyond. Deep Flow Studios and TV is the visual complement to the local hip-hop scene, airing on public access TV (channel 75) and online.

But before it was a business, it was just Amotion — born Amanda Beale.

“She was making up songs as soon as she learned to talk,” says her father, Jeffrey Beale, who lives in Hanover. “She would draft the other neighborhood kids to be in her plays, where she’d written, directed, composed and choreographed everything.”

Naturally drawn to music and storytelling, she fell in love with hip-hop.

“I had a lot of issues … so poetry was my release,” Amotion says. “I [then] heard Tupac and Nas and really got into hip-hop and the way they explained their thoughts and feelings so well, through song.”

Growing up in Boston, she was also a delinquent who landed in private juvenile detention. But treatment for bipolar disorder helped her, and the time locked up led her to an epiphany.

“I realized I missed hip-hop more than any other music,” she says, “and started researching the history of hip-hop and turning my poems into raps.”

A petite woman with runway features and an accent that reveals those Boston roots, Amotion moved to the area in 1999 with her mother, looking to combine her loves of music and enterprise — though she still had to grind it out from 9 to 5.

“I was managing an urban clothing store at the time and putting all that money toward bills and equipment,” she says. But her devotion to the scene started paying off. “By 2003, I started an Internet radio station, deepflowradio.com, and soon after launched Deep Flow TV.”

These days, the CEO — who recites the history of every piece of equipment during a studio tour — is always plugged in.

“She is always very informative and supportive of all artists and the community,” says Deep Flow in-house producer Johnny J. Lee, who goes by J-Lee. “She understands what hard work is, and she also knows how to surround herself with talent.”

And she’s looking to put her mark on movies and TV. She worked with filmmaker Moe Hammond on his documentary, “The 50 Most Essential Hip-Hop Albums of All Time.”

Though she signed on as videographer, Hammond became so impressed he gave her a co-producing credit. “When a person knows what they are doing and loves what they are doing, they are bound to have success,” he says. “That’s Amotion — she’s like a little, white, hood version of Oprah.”

And Amotion is passing on her knowledge — working with the Changz program, the after-school program at the Chesapeake Center for Youth Development, to teach kids to record music and make videos. After initially being overwhelmed by rambunctious adolescents — perhaps not unlike her teen self — she can now stand back with pride.

“[The students] are amazing and have so much potential,” she says, beaming. “Two years in a row their music videos have won a spot in Wide Angle Media’s ‘Who Am I’ Youth Film Festival, and last year they won 92Q’s Amazing Youth contest because of their song and video.”

“Amotion has taken [the group] from a bunch of kids playing around … to a well-polished and seasoned group of entrepreneurs who know how to run a business and promote themselves,” says Joanne Robinson, program director.

Now, all Amotion’s dad can do is look at her and smile. “I have a Google alert for Amotion so I can link the family every time there is any press coverage for her,” he says. “I try to help in the background, mostly structural and emotional support.”

It seems that the mini mogul will need it, as she tries to take her brand global.
“Although I’ve had some great meetings and a few small offers, I’m looking for the exact right network,” explains Amotion. “I think I’ve found it, but I don’t want to say too much — nothing is in stone yet.”
And as more doors open, Amotion plans to hold them open for others.

“I think Amotion is just as important to Baltimore as the governor, mayor, Congress person or senator, 92Q radio station,” says J-Lee. “God willing, if Amotion could get as much control of the city as the mayor, this city and its music would be a million times better.”

What’s next for Amotion?

A new compilation, “Fed Up,” features the highest-rated artists on Deep Flow Radio who recorded their tracks in-house, discussing what they are most fed up with. Artist P Gutta just released his project, “Failure’s Not an Option.” In the spring, the studio will host a grand opening party.

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