The Blueprint: How David Ali Built a Career on Kehlani’s Early SoundCloud Days

In an industry where manager-artist relationships usually have the shelf life of open milk, David Ali and Kehlani remain an anomaly. According to a profile by Billboard, which recently revealed its 2026 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players list, the partnership started with a cold tweet and a lot of patience. Back in 2013, Ali was a San Francisco-based music entrepreneur who stumbled onto Kehlani’s early SoundCloud upload, "Antisummerluv." She was just an 18-year-old fledgling singer-songwriter in Oakland. After months of missed connections, they finally met at her Receda, California home in the San Fernando Valley. What was supposed to be a quick link-up turned into a five-hour session of listening to demos and trading stories. Ali told the outlet he immediately felt her story was his own. This is how real management used to operate before metrics-driven A&R ruined the discovery process. Ali invested in the person, not just a viral 15-second clip. That patience paid off, securing Kehlani's spot as an R&B mainstay. The music industry needs more executives who actually listen to the music instead of staring at spreadsheets. Industry insiders and fans can read the full Power Players list on Billboard now.