Beatz & Stringz: Music Veteran Sparks Outdoor Performance Movement

Turner Roberts, a recording artist, producer, and label owner, has spent nearly 30 years in the music industry. Over the decades, he’s experienced firsthand the barriers that many emerging artists face: paying $50 to $100 just to perform or shouldering the burden of filling a venue.

In response, Roberts launched a karaoke-style platform earlier this year called Beatz & Stringz: Do You Have Talent? The series makes use of stages in outdoor spaces and parks across Santa Monica, Venice, and San Pedro. It allows up-and-coming artists to sharpen their skills—or simply blow off steam—by performing their favorite songs in front of casual crowds.

“Performing right there while people are enjoying lunch is everything,” Roberts said.

He’s also thinking bigger. The next step, he says, is scaling the platform into something like America’s Got Talent, with plans to host performances on a stage at Universal CityWalk.

Roberts, who performs under the stage name D.V.S. 750—short for Divine, Versatile, Spirit—runs a nonprofit label and publishing company under the Beatz & Stringz brand. His music is largely inspirational hip hop and R&B. 

“I would do just about anything with anybody because I’m familiar with it,” he said.

He currently manages six artists under his label, and sees the outdoor performance platform as a way to grow their audience through livestreams and video content.

“We have people showing up now. We have an audience,” he said. “So it’s also about building the audience for video streams under the brand Beatz & Stringz.”

Roberts says his goal is to identify and uplift artists, whether they are just starting or veteran recording artists who have already demonstrated they are committed to the work.

“When I meet someone who’s doing the work, I just incorporate them into what I’m doing,” he said. “We’re trying to get our music heard by people who want to hear good music—and that’s what I bring to the table.”

Over the past three months, Roberts has met several performers who left a lasting impression. There was a wheelchair-using vocalist with a powerful voice, a young woman who delivered a flawless Liza Minnelli cover, and a 12-year-old who amazed him with her rendition of “All Eyes on Me” by OR3O, inspired by Bendy and the Ink Machine. Another standout was a 9-year-old who covered a rock song and “just blew my mind,” Roberts said.

“At just about every event, there’s always one person who stands out.”

He also recalled meeting a professional singer from Hawaii during a visit to Long Beach. Roberts added the artist’s music to one of his playlists and soon noticed an increase in the singer’s following.

Beyond just music, Roberts’ platform reflects his philosophy on growth and transformation. His stage name, D.V.S. 750, is rooted in both personal history and a message of change. He and his childhood friends once went by DSL—short for “Drunk Side Loc,” a nickname derived from their party days. On a pager, 750 upside down resembles DSL. Roberts kept the numbers as a reminder of where he came from.

Roberts, a C5 quadriplegic, recounts how a fight over a video game in a studio where he was living—after being kicked out of his father’s house—escalated into a violent altercation. A disagreement with a music collaborator led to a physical fight, prompting the collaborator to involve his cousin. The conflict spiraled into a planned retaliation, and Roberts was shot six times as a result, leaving him wheelchair bound for the rest of his life. The shooting took place nearly 25 years ago.  

He blamed pride for his part in the altercation leading up to the shooting, but it’s apparent he’s made other life changes after a great deal of self-reflection.

“It’s never as bad as it looks, and it’s never as good as it feels,” he said. “That’s what I represent.”

The next Beatz & Stringz open mic will take place tonight at the First Thursday ArtWalk on Sixth and Mesa in San Pedro.