Smash Life Spotlight EP. 6 - Rahat Reznor

We sat down with Rahat Rashid, also known as Reznor from Scorchin’ Records. Rashid shares his story of growing up in New York as an illegal immigrant, his love for video games, finding a passion in Public Relations, starting his music producing career, his experience of his songs played by Above & Beyond, Darude, Cosmic Gate, Super8 and Tab, there’s so much to learn and appreciate through his journey.

Growing up as an illegal immigrant and experiencing issues with their visas, it created fear within their family to go out. Video games was Rashid’s outlet, he fell in love with the creativity and storytelling. His passion was to be involved in the video game industry in some way. Throughout college, he felt pressured to pursue the “American dream” from his parents by studying finance and investments. After graduating, he realized that finance wasn’t his calling and wanted to pursue his passion, video games.

His love for video games opened many opportunities including creating a gaming website called GameBlurb, which reached over 100,000 monthly users in a year. While running GameBlurb, Rashid started connecting with PR representatives due to the success of the site. Through that process, he realized that PR for video games was something he wanted to pursue full-time. It eventually led to launching one of his favorite game series, Metal Gear Solid V.

Beyond loving his job in PR, Rashid had a creative side that he felt he needed to explore. Music has always been another outlet besides video games. After a “mid-life” crisis at 25, he stumbled upon a music shop that was going out of business and decided to buy equipment to start making music without any production experience. After starting with DJ classes, he quickly networked with others to find mentors to help him produce Electronic Dance Music with a focus on Progressive Trance.

Reznor found early success in his EDM career through plays from Above & Beyond’s ABGT, his song being played twice on the radio show and being featured as the “Push the button” track, a track voted by fans. He is now signed with Scorchin’ Records, a record label founded by Super8 and Tab. We’re incredibly inspired by his journey, his success, and we can’t wait to see him headlining big festivals in the future.

Rashid’s story reminds us that finding your path is the most important. Believe in yourself that you can achieve your goals and trust the journey. Thank you, Rahat, for your advice, kindness, and inspiration and for embodying the Smash Life Mentality.

If you would like to follow Rahat, you can find him on Instagram, Facebook, or his website!