At the tender age of 21, Jermaine Philpott is on his way to launching his own record label - and soon hopes to be signing ten new acts.

The Devonshire youth is in the final stages of creating Genesis Records, with the vision of establishing a place for Bermudian talent to cultivate.

Mr. Philpott said: "Genesis Records will be a stepping stone for local artists. It will be a place where artists come to in Bermuda to get help with their music.

"My aim is to provide an environment where they can showcase their talent."

The young man, himself a rap artist, said that it was not an easy task bringing his idea to fruition.

He said that he had to consult a lawyer for legal issues that he was not aware such as drawing up a proper contract.

"My younger brother drafted contracts for me to present to new acts. However, when I presented them to a lawyer, he said they were not legally binding. He is in the process of drawing up new ones."

Mr. Philpott is taking his venture seriously. He has even personally gone to potential artists' homes to present his vision to parents. Something he said has not always been an easy task.

"Recently, when I was presenting Genesis Records to a girl's family, her mother expressed concern of her daughter getting caught up in drugs and being coerced into doing things she may not want to do.

"She caught me off guard because all I wanted to do was get their permission for her to sign to my label. She has a beautiful voice."

In addition to signing artists to his label, Mr. Philpott, who performs under the name 'J-Flamez', is releasing an album in early July.

Entitled "So much pain", the hip-hop album was written entirely by him.

"I started working on it in January and we should be finished by the third week of June. My songs are stories about my life."

Mr. Philpott will also be re-releasing his single, "Forever loved", which is getting a lot of air play on Mix 106.

He is happy with how things are materialising and said that things only seem to be getting better: "Earlier this week I was walking in town and ran into an old school mate. He wanted to see what stage things were at...and said that anything I needed financially or otherwise, he was willing to help me out."