Baraka was born to be in the music industry. His parents owned an entertainment magazine named TAFRIJA, which was established in the early 90s. Since both of his parents were in the music business, Baraka grew up and interacted with many musical acts including Usher, Outkast, Chris Brown, Soulja Boy, and many more. 

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     At 16, he began making EDM music in his bedroom with the software Cubase and Fl Studio, but later settled on Ableton Live. After a few months into producing, he released his first track entitled “Side Ways.” Baraka used this track to send to different record labels but had little response. 

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     In college, Baraka began making trap beats under the name “Madness” under the label “Madness Beatz”. Utilizing his social skills, he was able to network with different artists and managers through events and social media. Within a span of a few months, Baraka connected with rappers and eventually started forming relationships with Lil Nas X, Ne-Yo, Tay-Keith, Sonny Digital, Quality Control, YFN Lucci, and various music managers/A&Rs. 

 

     Along with knowing some of the biggest artists, executives, and producers in rap, Madness holds an A&R/Marketing intern position at Think It’s A Game Records. Madness is influenced by artists like Travis Scott, Daft Punk, Metro Boomin, The Weeknd, Murda Beatz, Tame Impala, Drake, and Kanye West.