Bayer Mack facts for kids

Bayer Leevince Mack, born on August 26, 1972, is an American music executive and filmmaker. He started a popular website called HOT 104.com in the late 1990s. He also founded a music company named Block Starz Music. Mack is well-known for directing documentary films, including The Czar of Black Hollywood.

Early Life and School

Bayer Mack went to Central Middle School and Oakland High School. He later studied at Middle Tennessee State University. There, he focused on journalism and wrote for the school's newspaper, Sidelines.

His Career Journey

In the mid-1990s, Mack moved to Louisville, Kentucky. He started his own internet company called Infinity-Digital. His website, HOT 104.com, became very popular. It shared news about urban entertainment. In 1999, Mack partnered with the AKA.com Hip-Hop Network. This network was created by Loud Records founder Steve Rifkind.

Block Starz Music

In 2008, Mack became the marketing manager for a German hip-hop website called YoRaps.com. Later that year, he and the site's owner, Kai Denninger, created an online record label. They named it Block Starz Music. Their goal was to help independent artists by promoting their free mixtapes. These artists were often featured in YoRaps' "Next 2 Blow" section, like Rasheeda. The label gained attention early on by working with artists like Wiz Khalifa. This helped Block Starz Music become more recognized and attract other musicians.

Making Documentary Films

Bayer Mack directed his first film in 2014. It was a documentary called Oscar Micheaux: The Czar of Black Hollywood. He paid for the film himself and released it through his own company, Block Starz Music Television. Mack said he was inspired to make a film about Oscar Micheaux because their lives had similar paths.

Mack is also an executive producer for a web series called Profiles of African-American Success. In 2016, he wrote and directed another documentary. This film, In the Hour of Chaos, was about Martin Luther King Sr.. It looked at how certain ideas affected the black civil rights movement. The film was recognized at the San Francisco Black Film Festival. It was also shown at San Francisco's de Young Museum.

In 2019, Mack wrote and directed No Lye: An American Beauty Story. This documentary explored the history of black-owned beauty companies. His film Black Seeds: The History of Africans in America won an award in 2021. It was named "Best Feature Documentary" at the Denton Black Film Festival.

Films Directed