Joel Maisonet originally moved to Las Vegas to get involved in the entertainment industry as a professional dancer, but the California native’s plans quickly changed as he began meeting other artists at local open mics. “I’m much more of a producer than I am an artist, so I was going out trying to find people to work with and create with,” Maisonet says.

After getting to know rappers Nevos Tyler and Lurk Franklin, and then R&B singer Tanna Marie, the 28-year-old Maisonet decided to launch an entity now known as the Sad Art Collective.

Today, the collective’s roster supports nine artists: Tyler, Franklin, Marie, Joel the Unicorn (Maisonet’s stage name), LongLiveMosi, Strytllr, Marco 4D, Zerby and recent addition Quell. Seven are based in Las Vegas.

Maisonet says his priority as the collective’s founder is to facilitate a creative environment that focuses on content creation. Sad Art focuses on hip-hop, but the flexible collective also embraces soul, R&B, pop and more.

Last year, Sad Art artists released 80 songs over the span of 20 weeks during a seasonal series. “At the beginning of COVID, we started Sad Art Summers, where we release music five days a week,” Maisonet says, before detailing the group’s 2021 achievements and plans.

“We just released the first Sad Art mixtape, called Sadder Days Volume 1, a sampler of what we do,” he says. “LongLiveMosi is about to put out his first mixtape. We’re gearing up for summer to come, so we can go back to releasing music Monday through Thursday. And then every Friday is going to be a music video.”

Like a lot of local artists, Maisonet says the pandemic has actually given him a moment to slow down and focus more on music. “It actually amplified what we’re doing,” Maisonet says. “It gave us a whole lot of time to create, which is why we did 21 weeks of nonstop music last year.

“When things start to open up again, we plan on throwing our own shows,” he continues. “We’re trying to work with other local places to build up Vegas.”

Maisonet says Sad Art is open to collaborating with other artists, and that interested musicians should get in touch through the collective’s website or Instagram.

“There’s a lot of local talent here,” Maisonet says. “I would love to be able to incorporate and elevate everything here and help show everybody how dope our local talent is.”

SAD ART COLLECTIVE Sadart.us, Instagram: @sadartlv