Guy C. Routte

At the start of 2020, Routte rebirthed Schematics Industries, a multimedia operation with one simple goal: He wants "to build and create the blueprint for the type of content and media I want to see in the world." On its plate are narrative films, documentaries and series, both web and TV, some that he'll be writing and directing, including a docuseries about touring artists, that, in the time of coronavirus, has become even more relevant. Expect his signature on fine-art projects, along with non-traditional record releases that incorporate striking visual content and presentations. "Music has always been everything to me. When most people were reading books, I was reading liner notes. My first real remembrance of this was Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key Of Life. ... I remember listening to 'Joy Inside My Tears,' reading the lyrics and realizing that the words had to fit the melody, and it hit me what songwriting was. I view all of life this way: The lyrics must fit the melody for it to be a great anything. I was eight years old, and I never looked back." That quote's Exhibit A why few urban music industry veterans have made a move sideways or upward without encountering -- and enjoying -- the presence of Staten Island's own GUY ROUTTE along the way. Routte's years toiling alongside some of music's finest and freshest at the helm of W.A.R. Media have resulted in masterworks and moments that've enriched projects far beyond the aural. Routte has shrewdly helped craft deals and shape careers of artists like rhyme whiz Pharoahe Monch, hometown protégé rapper/actor Shyheim, funk outfit The Family Stand, Living Colour frontman Corey Glover, R&B group Goodfellas and songbird Sara Devine, who he got signed to Columbia Records, where he served as senior A&R consultant. There, projects by Raphael Saadiq and Consequence fell under his watchful eye. At the Black Star Film Festival in Philadelphia, Routte met and instantly clicked with playwright Radha Blank and made a point of peeping her packed-house one-woman mixmash at Joe's Pub, RadhaMUSprime: The 40-Year-Old-Version. Fast forward just under four years: In March 2019, upon getting funding for the film debut on which her show's based, Blank looked asked Routte if he'd serve as Version's music supervisor. Thankfully, many an aficionado of all things black music, its past, future and the fertile ground in between, got to delve into every rich layer on the popular "Culture Untold," the podcast Routte co-hosted with his longtime pal, producer Chad "Dr. Ceuss" Elliott, until March 2019. Their appealing hour -- which featured in-depth interviews with everyone from Robert "Kool" Bell from Kool & the Gang to Milk Dee of "Top Billin" fame -- captures a couple of cool music industry vets exploring its impact in their own inimitable way. The pair plan to revive "Culture Untold" this summer.