Subliminal: How Tuma Basa Is Transitioning To His Legacy Era
"It’s kind of that iceberg thing where it’s like, ‘Hey, boom, there’s all a lot that you don’t know beneath this thing.’ And I think that’s where true confidence comes from."
In the Subliminal interview series, artists, creatives and makers of every discipline speak on the in-between. Sharing thoughts that have drilled a hole in their drafts folder or been tumbling around in their brains, sometimes without them even knowing. The messy pivots, unspoken rules and quiet revolutions. The triumphs and the trip-ups. The no-easy-answers-type questions that are still worth asking. No throwing subs here. This is the place to say it with your chest.
Tuma Basa is a name that’s well known in the music industry. He’s worked hard for the past three decades to make it that way.
As an executive in the music, television and streaming space, his resume is brolic. At MTV, Revolt, Spotify and, most recently, YouTube, Basa has spent a generation shaping music and culture. Now, he’s focused on curation that lasts beyond algorithms and events. So far, that includes working on a book about music curation, sharing stories of paid dues and music moments on his Substack and having conversations with his 23-year-old self.
From tackling the prospect of AI music to bringing back gatekeepers, Basa opens up about becoming his own boss and leaning into the rhythm of a pivot on his own terms.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Madden: You recently left your position as Director of Black Music and Culture at YouTube after eight years and that’s after already building such a legacy at MTV, Revolt, Spotify. The bio is strong. How did you come to this decision and what is this in between feeling like for you?
Basa: First of all, thank you for saying the bio is strong, but I’m kind of looking at that part of my bio as over. I saw an Instagram reel, this lady was talking about your “resume era.” Proving yourself, paying your dues and being in the trenches and building your confidence, building your community, building your courage, building capital or access to capital. And then she talked about the “legacy era,” right? Legacy era is when you’re doing what you want to do, and you’re building something that’s transferable from even beyond you in your lifetime. And that spoke to me.
Madden: So, you’re transitioning into your legacy era?
Basa: Yeah, 100%
Madden: What does that transition feel like right now?
Basa: I’m enjoying the freedom. It’s almost like when you didn’t live at home and you could come home to your apartment anytime you wanted. You could order food anytime you want, you could go walk to 7/11 any time you wanted. So, for example, the last two days I’ve been sick, like, I’ve had a cold and I didn’t feel any guilt. You. Zero guilt! I’m like ‘I can just be sick?!’ You know what?
It almost feels like after high school, when you don’t live at home anymore, you’re in college, you have money in your pocket, you can do whatever you want to do. And, of course, we’re all adults, you have to make good decisions and not abuse that freedom. But that’s how it feels right now.
Madden: I know a lot of people’s first question would be, what’s next? But I’m so interested in that in-between, that transition period, because it’s a recentering of your focus, recentering of what you want your legacy to be, as you said. What is the transition period teaching you so far?
