Chioma and the Atlanta Drum Academy Share Big Plans for the 'AGT' Finale—and the $1 Million

Terry Crews’ Golden Buzzer is one of the 11 acts that performed on AGT on Tuesday night and with another dynamic performance under its belt, Chioma and the Atlanta Drum Academy is hoping to win America’s vote to make it to the finale.

Initially, Chioma and the Academy auditioned separately—and while the producers of the show found the precocious 8-year-old to be adorable and talented, they wanted a bigger act, so they combined the two, which worked out well for all parties.

“He didn't want to do it by himself,” Atlanta Drum Academy founder James Riles III tells Parade in this exclusive interview. “He wanted to bring the rest of the kids in with him because that's who he was used to playing with and that's who he’s most comfortable performing with.”

It was Chioma’s dream to win the Golden Buzzer, so earning it from Terry was a big deal, not just to Chioma but to the entire drumline.

“It just felt right,” Riles says. “We look at Terry and Terry looks like us, so it was just like a big brother, big uncle-type thing giving us the Golden Buzzer. We saw Terry the other day as we were walking to go to Blaze Pizza. He was going into AGT, and the kids all got excited. It was like seeing a family member that you haven't seen in a long time because they hadn’t seen him since the Golden Buzzer. And he was equally happy to see the kids as well, so it was an awesome experience, an awesome feeling.”

Related: Winning the AGT Golden Buzzer Makes 8-Year-Old Chioma’s Dream Come True

Chioma began drumming when he was just 1-year-old when his grandmother gave him an instrument and then he began studying at 3 years old, so while he’s only 8, he’s proven himself to be a super talented kid at such a young age.

“A lot of people don't know that not only does he play drums, but he also produces music,” Riles continues. “Chioma has a whole album that he produced by himself. He has charisma, he has the smile, he has the performance etiquette, and his mom is a drummer as well. It runs in his blood. He’s a fun kid to be around and fun to watch. You can’t help but smile watching him play along with the other kids, too. They're doing it at such a young age. It just does something to you.”

Following is more of the interview with Riles in which we discussed how he came up  with the concept for the drumline, the logistics of getting everyone to L.A., how the $1 million would be spent, and more.

You are the creator of the Atlanta Drum Academy. Tell me why the idea came to you and how you went about setting it up?

So, first of all, I've been playing drums all my life pretty much. I’m 44 years old. My parents bought me my first drum set when I was 5 years old, so I definitely had that experience playing as a youth myself. My parents would have me perform for family members when they would come to the house and then, eventually, I started playing in church and then the school band. Once I got into the school band, I got a scholarship to Morris Brown College. That's why I was able to do the movies Drumline and Drumline 2.

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My first teaching gig was in a summer program and my job was teaching drums to little kids. That was my first time teaching to little kids and from then on I knew I wanted to teach little kids drums. I saw another drumline called the Columbus Saints from Columbus, Ohio, and they had little kids on the drumline. I said, “I want to do something like that.” So, in 2011, the pastor from my church told me whatever it is that God wants you to do, this is the year to do it. So, that was the year I stepped out to do Atlanta Drum Academy.

What is the universal appeal of percussion?

In general, I think it’s just because people love music. Music is universal. It speaks to everybody no matter the language, no matter the race, no matter gender. Music is a universal thing, and drums are the heartbeat of the band. Everybody has a heartbeat and from that comes that rhythm that you like. It speaks to everybody, so that what makes it universal.

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How many other young kids do you have in the band?

We have a total of 21 kids here with us; we have maybe 30 more kids still in Atlanta that didn't make the trip. We had to do the whole audition thing and pick out the best ones at the time.

When you do special events like this, do you have to do fundraisers for the uniforms or the airfare?

AGT, thank God, takes care of the airfare and the hotels and stuff, and actually, they'll take care of uniforms for this round. For the first round [the auditions], our parents have dues that help take care of the uniforms and stuff. We have to fundraise for the instruments and everything else.

Where else have you performed? Do you do local events around Atlanta?

We do a lot of local events in Atlanta; 95 percent of our performances are in Atlanta. We do a lot of corporate America events, we do some basketball, we do some football, birthday parties, weddings, anything you name it, we do it.

Even while these kids are here performing, we have other members from my group still doing performances in Atlanta right now that we would have been doing if we were there.

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What would you do if you won the $1 million? Would you reinvest it in into the Academy or might you do something fun for all the kids?

We would definitely make sure every child gets their share of the winnings and they can do what they want to do, but for us, the Atlanta Drum Academy, we don't have anywhere to practice, so getting a facility is the No. 1 thing for us right now. Getting a practice facility, our own state-of-the-art building, somewhere that we can call home for our practice, so we don't have to wait for other people to use the building. We can go in when we want to go in. And we can offer more classes, serve more kids, and do more than just drumming. We want to do photography, we want to do production, we want to have a whole performing arts thing and have the Atlanta Drum Academy be at the forefront of it all.

You started in 2011, so you've watched several kids go through the program. Have you seen any success stories?

Even though the Atlanta Drum Academy has been in existence since 2011, I was teaching drums before I started the academy, so I taught other programs. I've been aiding and sending a lot of kids to college. The end goal for most of the kids is to get a college scholarship and be in the marching band so they get that. I’m looking forward to opening more locations. I'm looking forward to my Atlanta Drum Academy students running those other locations in other cities.

America’s Got Talent airs Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.

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