In 1999, Dominic "DJ" Mormile's uncle Jimmy Iovine invited him to work for him at Interscope Records. The Boston College finance major was given the task of working with Eminem. He recalls working with other fresh-out-of-college youngsters trying to figure out how to market hip hop artists.
"Gee Roberson was an A&R guy working on Jay Z’s album at 23 years old and I was working on Eminem’s album at 21 years old and we were just sitting on the floor of our offices playing beats," Mormile told Billboard.
When Mormile was 13, Iovine had signed with Death Row. The boy met Suge Knight and remembers having his first drink with Dr Dre at 14. Though he didn't listen to much music growing up, he started interning at Interscope a few years later while still in college. He was working with The Black Eyed Peas even before graduation. He then worked with Slim Shady and 50 Cent during their heydays.
"I was involved in all these things but I still didn’t really know what I was doing. A lot of people pretend they know what they’re doing but I was just feeling it out and doing what feels right" he admitted. Still, he was saavy enough to helped Polow Da Don become a multi-platinum producer. He even groomed Soulja Boy -- who became the first Internet rap phenomenon in 2007 with "Crank That"-- and helped sign Kendrick Lamar to TDE.
Nowadays, Mormile is Senior VP of A&R at Columbia Records. He left Interscope around the time Iovine jumped ship to Apple, and launched his own management agency Fakework in 2003. Mike Will Made It is on his roster.
