Emergence was started in 2007 by Invincible ill Weaver, Wesley Taylor, and Mike Medow.
ill/Invincible co-founded Emergence after years of turning down record deals and rejecting the music exploitation industry. During a trip to Palestine with Detroit Summer in 2007 they met with and learned about the Palestine Fair Trade Association. They left wondering what a fair trade, cooperative economics model could look like in the context of music, media, and cultural work. Emergence was partly inspired by that vision, and continues to be a practiced experiment of how mutual support and cooperative autonomy can replace the crabs in a barrel/fighting over crumbs approach most artists are pitted against each other through.
The name “Emergence” grew from a conversation with mentor Grace Lee Boggs, when Grace mentioned that one of the main lessons she took from the women's movement was that "we should not be waiting for singular charismatic leaders to tell us what direction to go, but instead be like midwives, supporting the birth of movements that are already emerging." This led to exploring the scientific concept of Emergence.
For Wes, Emergence has provided a way to teach himself how to be an artist, and face the challenge of developing imagery that aligns with identities that are shifting and evolving, and for playing with new aesthetics. He values being part of broadcasting subject matter and stories that aren't regularly shared in a popular way.
When he moved to Detroit in 2005, Mike joined the Detroit Summer Collective as a volunteer and bookkeeper, through which he began working more directly with Invincible and many other artists who would later contribute to Emergence-supported projects. In 2007, Invincible was seeking a business partner to support the release of their debut album and ongoing collaborative arts projects. As a fan of Invincible's music and artistic vision, Mike made a small investment to support the startup of Emergence and has served as the company's business manager ever since. His goal is to build a solid foundation for independent artists to support their craft and amplify their work to affect culture shift and social change.