Justin Rhodes ('20) knows fulfilling dreams takes hard work.

He's created a stellar career as a producer, working with fellow alum Lecrae ('02), as well as Talib Kweli and the Game. In 2024, he won a Grammy award for producing on the rap album of the year, Michael, by Killer Mike. His movie, King of Dallas, is now streaming on Amazon Prime. He wrote a new book, These Dreams Ain't Free, which will be released in February. And he does all this while traveling between Dallas and Boston, where he teaches at Berklee College of Music.

"You wake up every day thinking, 'OK, this is what I'm going to do,'" he says. "It seems tough, and it really is, because some days I go to sleep feeling unfulfilled because I'm like, 'Man, I needed to do more.' There's always going be something to do so you have to be really good with your time. I can't remember a time where I've wasted a day. Even if you take a day off, it's to build your mentality and get you back prepared so that you can do this."

Making the Beats

Rhodes' dreams began in his youth, growing up in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas. As a high school student, he was creating his own songs, with a friend serving as producer and making the beats.

While attending UNT in the early 2000s, Rhodes was still rapping and he found a friend to help with his music.

"Once he left school, I was like a rapper without beats," he says. "I started diving myself into production."

He took a couple of music classes, but most of his courses were in computer science. He realized that field wasn't for him and left college to pursue music.

Just a few years later, he opened his own studio in Dallas and he was making his mark in the rap world -- producing hits and appearing on MTV's RapFix Live and creating the Apple+ TV show The House of Beats.

He says the highlight of his career came when Michael by Killer Mike won three Grammys, including rap album of the year.

"Even when I was at UNT, I was chasing things. I was like, 'I got to be the best at this.' I was putting so much energy in it. And so, you chase something for so long and I feel that finally, when you put the right energy in the world, you let God move things."

Using Every Talent

In the midst of all that, Rhodes had been making King of Dallas, which he called "my greatest artistic work." It took four years to make, from conception to finalization. He acted, wrote, directed, co-produced, composed the music, served as sound designer and edited the movie, in which a leader in Dallas in the year 2097 has to unite three divided factions.

"It's a talent dump for everything that I do. As much as I love music, film is like every talent, every thought that you ever had. You can put it in the film and film is the hardest thing to do."

And he was writing These Dreams Ain't Free, an update to his 2015 book These Beats Ain't Free, which dispensed advice to those who want to pursue a music career.

"In that decade, I've learned so much, gained so much, grown so much," he says.

"It's for anyone that is a dreamer, an entrepreneur or has something they want to take to another level. This book really just personalizes my stories."

'Forever Learner'

With all of his accomplishments, education has always been on his mind.

He frequently thought about his lack of a college degree. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he had time to take the half-dozen classes he needed to finish his bachelor's degree in applied arts and sciences at UNT.

"It was positive closure on some things," he says. "It was very fulfilling."

Now he's dropping his wisdom to students at Berklee.

"To teach it is a totally different skill set, and I'm a forever learner," he says. "Ultimately, you're the one getting taught. You're learning to teach them better and you're learning to grow with them."