How a Miami entrepreneur stirs emotions with Love Language. ‘This is home’
During a Love Language party at Little Havana’s Bargean Miami restaurant in April, soft red lighting filled the room.
Event DJ Michael “mikeflo” Flowers played the acapella to Soul II Soul’s “Back 2 Life,” an R&B classic, and the lively crowd clapped along to the music. In a corner of the room, people happily took pictures in a photo booth. Women got red roses.
Kyle “Hoto” Reid is the founder of Love Language Presents, a nightlife event series with a focus on Black music. The events, which run every Sunday night at the Calle Ocho restaurant in a partnership, are popular with celebrities. Sometimes, they just pop in without notice, like rapper Flo Rida and dancehall musician Shenseea.
The events have become a safe space for people of color to dance, relax and enjoy music with a cultural connection. While some people attend with a date, or maybe even meet someone there, that isn’t the main purpose.
In less than three years, Reid has come a long way from his humble Canadian beginnings.
“I’m putting the experience of the community first,” said Reid, 40. “There are people that come here on a weekly basis. This is their home.”
Pop stars and pipe bursts
Born and raised in Toronto, Reid is a first-generation Canadian, born to Lorraine Reid, his Jamaican mother and Jaan Yew Woon, his Trinidadian and Chinese father. Reid grew up with his mother in public housing before moving to the suburbs when he was a teenager.
In 2004, Reid completed high school and studied architecture at Toronto Metropolitan University, which was then known as Ryerson University. “I just wanted to draw buildings and design,” he said.
During his time as a college student, Reid opened a clothing store named Dream Design in 2007. The store attracted Canadian stars like Drake, The Weeknd and even American rappers like Juelz Santana.
Drake references making merchandise with Reid at Dream Design on his 2023 album, “For My Dogs.” During the song “Away From Home,” the Toronto rapper said, “I remember printin’ up our T-shirts with Kyle.”
Reid owned the store for five years before it was destroyed in 2010 from burst pipes in the building. The business never reopened.
With the store shut down, Reid needed to find a way to pay the bills. He began managing a Toronto musician and learned how to DJ. Reid traveled the world for work and became adept at playing music
In 2017, Reid’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Music and entrepreneurship took a backseat to taking care of her before she died on Nov. 6, 2019.
A major move
In January 2021, Reid celebrated New Year’s Day in Miami, but something felt different. Still mourning the loss of his mom, he went into the beach water and felt inspired.
He returned to Toronto with a goal of permanently moving to Miami. When Reid moved to Miami in November 2023, a friend said that he should start a business, but Reid felt it was more important to first learn the city’s culture.
“Love Language was never a plan to me,” Reid said. “I only started Love Language because when I moved here, I couldn’t get a job. It was a humble moment for me, so I went into the bags that I knew.
A chance meeting with Flowers sped up Reid’s process for launching Love Language.
Flowers is a Chicago native and toured with rap group Dead Prez for 19 years across six continents and almost 50 countries. Seeking a change of scenery and culture, he moved from Brooklyn to Miami in 2022. Flowers met Reid after performing a DJ set at Miami Beach’s Soho Beach House.
“During a set, I was playing some R&B and he asked if I wanted to do an R&B party,” Flowers said of Reid. “We hadn’t done anything yet. When I got approached by someone else, I said ‘I would put y’all together.’”
Flowers was captivated by the opportunity to DJ an R&B-based party that includes sounds ranging from classic soul to hip-hop songs with R&B influences or Afrobeats. Once he saw the party’s first location, he wanted to sit down and DJ. Having worked as a DJ since 1997, he didn’t want to simply sit in a DJ booth, but instead be among a community of eventgoers.
“Even though they had a DJ booth, I wanted to sit down and have the party from there,” he said.
A safe space
At Love Language events, people don’t pay a cover to get in but have to RSVP online. Certain events, like those happening during Art Basel, have a cover charge. Food and drink is for sale.
The purpose on having open entry is for guests to feel welcome to an inclusive environment, Reid said. Love Language events are inclusive in the way in that the average person can be dancing next to a celebrity, and there is no awkwardness.
Entrepreneur Alexis Stoudemire has been based in North Miami Beach for 15 years and has seen how Miami nightlife and hospitality haveschanged over time. At many nightlife events, there is a focus on perceived status and people with large social media followings. At Love Language, creating a space where anyone can relax, have fun or network is more important, Stoudemire said.
“It’s very comforting,” Stoudemire, 43, said. “It’s like going home to go somewhere and be surrounded by people that are like-minded. You can see someone you can build with and just network.”
When “WAGs to Riches,” a Netflix show on which Stoudemire is featured, needed an event to celebrate its release, she knew Reid and Love Language Presents needed to be involved. Stoudemire was impressed by the ambience at Love Language events.
As Love Language Presents continues to grow and attract guests, Reid is hopeful that he can eventually own his own venue in collaboration with members of the community.
“God willing, we get our own place,” he said. “I want to do something special where it’s not [just] me that owns it, it’s me and the people.”
If you go
What: Love Language Presents
When: Sundays, 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Where: Bargean Miami, 1010 SW Eighth St., Miami
Cost: Free
This story was originally published April 13, 2026 at 12:27 PM.
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