Wikipedia:Kevin McCloskey

Kevin McCloskey (born January 13, 1986), professionally known as "Black Pearl" or "BlackPearlMixedIt", is an award-winning, RIAA certified multi-platinum American mixing engineer. He is known as a influential figure on the sound of the greater Carolinas music scene, having shaped the sound of many rappers from the area, including but not limited to, DaBaby, Stunna4Vegas, Erick Lottary, and Elevator Jay. McCloskey was catapulted into a national spotlight when DaBaby's 2019 breakout single, "Suge" (mixed by McCloskey), eventually peaked at number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100. He is a four time Grammy Award nominated mixing engineer in the categories of Best Rap Performance for "Bop", Best Rap Album for "Under The Sun" as part of Revenge of the Dreamers III in 2020, and Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for "Suge" in 2019.

To date, McCloskey has worked with names such as DaBaby, Rvssian, Lil Mosey, Lil Tjay, 88rising, Giveon, Joji, Rich Brian, Lexie Liu, Anuel AA, Juice WRLD, Myke Towers, Buddy, Casey Veggies, and Electric Feel. He continues to work with rising talents and major label stars out of Black Pearl Studios in Charlotte, North Carolina, owned and operated by McCloskey. McCloskey is often assisted by engineer and producer, Danny "D. Hurl" Hurley.

He currently resides in Charlotte, NC, with his partner and three children.

Early Life
McCloskey was born at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina and raised on the city's East side. He attended West Charlotte High School where he participated actively in jazz, concert, and marching band as a snare drummer. McCloskey counts Southern rap artists such as OutKast, Three 6 Mafia, and UGK, as his musical influences, growing up during a very distinct era of early 2000s hip hop.

College and Full Sail University
McCloskey chose to attend a HBCU after high school due to his passion for marching band and subsequently enrolled in North Carolina Central University, located in Durham, North Carolina. McCloskey flourished musically in college, eventually helming the heralded position of drumline captain. During his college years, he would also linger in front of studio of Scaz Digga, DJ for legendary rapper Big Daddy Kane, which eventually lead to an apprenticeship. McCloskey's experimentation with building drumline cadences with digital audio software Reason blossomed into an interest in engineering and music production. In the spring of 2009, he enrolled at Full Sail University for audio engineering.

Early Career
McCloskey returned to North Carolina in 2012 to study under mixing engineer, King James, in Durham. He juggled working a full-time job with securing mixing work to build out his engineering credits. Eventually, he made the decision to return to his hometown of Charlotte, NC, as business was not going as he had hoped.

McCloskey's early professional engineering career started with work in the local Charlotte scene. He would intentionally undercharge clients, by as much as 40%, to bring in more work and do upwards of 30-40 mixes a month. McCloskey's talent and attractive rates would soon earn him a reputation as the guy that "mixes like everybody's shit."

Eventually, producer Sean Da Firzt introduced McCloskey to a local rapper, known then as Baby Jesus (now known as DaBaby), in 2015, with their first collaboration being the song "Dab City" for the Carolina Panthers franchise on their 15-1 Super Bowl 50 season. Since then, McCloskey has worked across the majority of DaBaby's discography which has opened the door to many opportunities.

Success of DaBaby - Present
After building chemistry through multiple mixtapes, McCloskey mixed the entirety of DaBaby's Blank Blank mixtape in 2018, which would go on to be distributed through Jay-Z's Roc Nation in partnership with Arnold Taylor's South Coast Music Group label. The project spawned minor hits such as "Walker Texas Ranger" that created considerable internet buzz around the rapper with notable coverage by music platforms Pitchfork and Lyrical Lemonade. The success of the project lead to a major label bidding war, won by Interscope, worth a reported seven-figures.

DaBaby's debut and sophomore albums on Interscope, Baby on Baby and Kirk respectively, would both feature a significant amount of work by McCloskey. Baby on Baby, mixed in entirety by McCloskey, would debut at number 25 on the US Billboard 200 chart and deliver the breakout single "Suge", which reached the top 10 milestone on June 8, 2019. DaBaby and McCloskey would then collaborate with fellow North Carolina rap titan J.Cole and his Dreamville Records label on the platinum-certified, Grammy Award nominated compilation album, Revenge of the Dreamers III, on the opening track, "Under the Sun." Various publications would rank DaBaby and McCloskey's work on the track as the rapper's best verse of 2019, Complex also noted it as a "defining breakout moment for a new rap superstar."

Kirk, (13 songs mixed by McCloskey), would debut at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart following its September 27, 2019 release, with the lead single, "Intro" (mixed by McCloskey), peaking at number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. DaBaby would close the year with 22 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on the year, the most of any artist that year.