Alexander Padei, or just "Padei" (Sounds like PAH-day) faced a choice 8 years ago. Follow the rules and get a job, or break them and live the best life. That's not a choice that you make once, but daily. Like many other entrepreneurs, Padei learned, often the hard way, that the only consistent way to make it on one's own unique path is to dig in and make small improvements to himself and his craft every single day.  

That road would prove a long one. Though classically trained in childhood at his parents' direction, Padei had to pave his own path with music, building not only a skill set but a relationship with music that was on his own terms. In middle school he sang in the church choir, and in high school, he started a rock cover band and took turns as vocalist and guitarist. In freshman year of college, he joined a world-touring a cappella group.  

Soon, having realized he wanted to take music seriously, he started a nightlife imprint called "The List," and began DJing it's weekly / bi-weekly college parties. It was around this time he began simultaneously learning how to produce, rap, write and expand to non-musical roles such as marketer and entrepreneur. Padei would detour into various projects as he continuously incubated his artistry, whether serving as marketing director for TEDxHarvard College or organizing educational panels to help inspire other creatives.  

It was through one of these talks that Padei met Laidback Luke. During the Q&A, which Padei moderated, Luke dropped a bomb for everyone in the room, "It takes me 5 hours to finish a record, on average."  

Padei made a decision right then and there. He decided that he wanted to do the same and go even further. If today's top producers could make a record with another artist in 5 hours, Padei wanted to do the same and ALSO play the artist. Following the example of inspirations like Kanye, DJ Khaled, Drake, Pharrell and Calvin Harris, Padei would move forward with one goal: Total mastery of every part of the record-making process. Padei would learn how to write, arrange, producer, record, mix and master at the highest level, possible. And he'd learn to do it with every genre of music he could get his hands on.  

And the fastest way to do this? Collaborate. Padei set a goal to release collaborations with 30 artists in Boston in one year. Padei hoped that doing so would open him up, as well as those with whom he worked, in an equal trade of creative growth and inspiration.  

It worked. After a year and a half of development, Padei finally released the collaborative mixtape F*** It, We'll Do It Ourselves with 18 artists across the city. The underground project released to universal acclaim among New England's musical elite and local fans, alike. Going beyond music, Padei directed the creation of the first "continuous album video." Combining the concept of a music video, DJ set, and documentary into one unique visual piece that featured 14 tracks on the tape.  

Today, Padei continues his vision for a collaborative Boston as a recording artist, producer, marketer and DJ. With countless collaborative upcoming records and a new, self-produced, artist mixtape on the horizon, Padei is ready to continue bringing great music to the city and beyond.  

May 4th, 2020 kicked off a new phase in Padei's career. Coming off the tail of the Boston mixtape, Padei began presenting his musical style with a series of weekly original releases -- all self-written and self produced -- that span a range of genres, including R&B, Reggaeton, Hip Hop, Pop and more. Padei plans to continue releasing weekly songs for the foreseeable future. 

Meanwhile, Padei is investing and experimenting heavily with visual content and live broadcasting in the brave new world of COVID-19. Through broadcasting services like OBS, Twitch and the like, Padei spent the last month conducting beta tests for a variety of musical live content formats, including live-streaming studio sessions, where he produces and writes entire songs from scratch in front of a live audience. He does so both independently and while collaborating with others through over the cloud. Padei is confident these efforts will pave a new way forward for digital music collaboration. His recent experiments have also dipped into the live performance space, as Padei tests the delivery of live shows, round table discussions and more, all with high fidelity audio, video and branding. In tandem with all of this, Padei is also investing his energy into Tik Tok and other proponents of short, vertical video content. 

Going forward, Padei hopes to set a new standard for digital collaboration and independent artistry while continuing to build bridges across the Greater Boston area.