Managing an Artist

Cortez Bryant is the CEO of Bryant Management and Lil Wayne’s manager. He also manages Lil Wayne’s company called Young Money. Bryant was a classmate of Lil Wayne at the Eleanor McMain Secondary School in New Orleans. Once Lil Wayne’s career stated to take off, Wayne wanted Bryant to help him manage it because he was the only one he trusted. Bryant has a degree in mass communications and graphic design from Jackson State University.

Bryant was very instrumental with getting Lil Wayne appearances with other artist in order to build his reputation in the industry. In 2008, Lil Wayne won a Grammy Award for “The Carter III”. He sold 3.5 million units and became a solid contending artist.

According to (Larry Leblanc, In the Hot with Larry Leblanc) in an interview with Bryant, he speaks candidly about Lil Wayne. He states, “ He’s the creative guy, I’m the voice”. Cortez Bryant has managed to juggle all of Lil Wayne’s dreams and ventures with humility and ease. Although he had no formal training as a manager or desire at first, he does an incredible job of representing his childhood friend.

Lil Wayne was born Dewayne Michael Carter Jr. He came on the music industry scene at 9- years old, when he got the attention of Birdman Williams. By 1995, Lil Wayne was 13-years old and signed to the Cash Money label as one of the rappers of Juvenile. Soon after, Lil Wayne and other members of the group formed another group called “Hot Boys”.

By the time Lil Wayne was 17, he released his first solo album called “The Block is Hot”, this was his first hit which came out in 1999. He managed to have other success with his next album as well but lost his group members in the process. It was not until he completely went out on his own with the “The Carter II” album that he got real recognition as well as hit the billboard charts from selling about 240,000 units.

During Lil Wayne’s incarceration, Bryant was diligent about making sure Lil Wayne was not forgotten.
Several new singles were released strategically until Lil Wayne returned back to work. Bryant also had Lil Wayne’s protégé mix their material with Lil Wayne’s released material in order to keep Wayne's fans interested.

References:

Larry Leblanc http://www.celebrityaccess.com/members/profile.html?id=545

Google Images
http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&tab=ww#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=images+of+coetez+bryant&oq=images+of+coetez+bryant&gs_l=hp.3...2436.11697.1.12450.17.17.0.0.0.0.121.1074.15j2.17.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.EY6U_iyuOxg&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=e55e27c31e3857be&bpcl=36601534&biw=1183&bih=786

Pure Inspiration

                   

BackStory

James Hunter is the Founder and CEO of 1^st Dibz Productions LLC. He resides in Florida now, but he is originally from Brooklyn New York. He is also an alumnus of Full Sail University with a Bachelor’s degree in film and a Master’s degree in entertainment business. As a Hip-Hop artist, his aspirations were cut short when he was shot three times causing him to become paralyzed from the waist down. He changed his focus to film once he enrolled at Full Sail University. He was injured again significantly when a truck ran him over. In addition, medical complications from both unfortunate incidents greatly plagued his college career. Regardless, he remained determined to accomplish his dream of building his own film production company.   

Interview

On October 5^th 2012, at 6:00 p.m. on a rainy Friday afternoon, I was interviewing James Hunter at his home in Orlando Florida. He was having a Heineken and I was drinking bottled water on his patio.  The first thing I noticed about James was his incredibly charming personality. His voice was filled with enthusiasm as he used his hands when he spoke. It was very easy to become captivated listening to him, so much that I completely forgot he was half robot. He figuratively stood across from me just as a man sharing his industry experiences and personal obstacles that he obviously turned into opportunities. Our interview consisted of him sharing some of his negotiation experiences in order to get some of his films produced. We focused on three areas of negotiation: Leverage, Mutual Benefits and Tricky Tactics.

Leverage

The first opportunity for James came when he was looking for investors for the production of his first film “Juxed”.  Unfortunately around the same time, his wheelchair malfunctioned as he got half way across a busy street and a truck hit him. One of the doctors he developed a friendship with while being in the hospital for a year, was on the fence each time James asked him to be an investor. One day during one of James’s many surgeries, his doctor thought he had made an irreversible mistake; because of the friendship between the two men, the doctor’s wife compelled him to explain the situation to James. After James listened to him, he suppressed his true feelings of anger and blindly forgave his doctor. Luckily, the mistake was caught in time sparing both men possible legal issues. This time James jokingly reminded his friend of the potentially diverted malpractice lawsuit, asking once again, 

“ So doc, what’s up with you investing in my movie?” Without hesitation the doctor accepted James’s deal proposal and became an investor for “Juxed”. The two men are still friends today.

Mutual Benefit

Another opportunity for the Production on James’s short film “Juxed” began before he graduated from Full Sail University. He met Sean Nelson though a childhood friend, which is a Hollywood actor whose industry resume includes movies like “The Wood, Fresh with Samuel L. Jackson and HBO’s The Corner”. He explains to me, how he was willing to negotiate hiring Sean Nelson and Duane Finley as lead actors for about $1,500 to $2,000. But once Sean read the script, he wanted to negotiate being a co-producer as well as one of the lead actors in exchange for zero payment. James gladly accepted that deal and finished production of his movie once he graduated from Full Sail University with his film degree in 2010.

Tricky Tactics

In 2011, James was recommended to co-direct an independent film but after conversation with the filmmaker James realized he would be better suited as the producer. According to the hundred-page script, the amount of money he started his negotiation with was $15,000 in addition to 7% on the backend. The deal was agreed but not signed due supposedly to attorney backlog. After several assuring meetings but no signed contract in hand, James decided to confront the filmmaker. James learned that the filmmaker was stringing him along; meanwhile, using another company to produce the film for only $10,000. The day before Christmas, the filmmaker was unsatisfied with his decision and called James back. James successfully negotiated and signed a different contract that helped the filmmaker correct problems previously made by the producer he chose over James. 

Reference:

Retrieved from Interviewee, James Hunter, 1st Dibz Production LLC, 1stdibzproductions@gmail.com

Dr. Steve Adkins, Full Sail University Professor, sadkins@fullsail.com

Google images, Retrieved from

http://www.google.com/search?q=images+of+james+hunter+1st+dibz&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvnso&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=1gNyUOD3LYXS9QSCioHQCA&sqi=2&ved=0CCMQsAQ&biw=1230&bih=737

Agent or Manager?

Once upon a time there was a clear distinction between the job description of both agent and manager but that is quickly becoming a thing of the past. An aspiring talent's first step used to be to get an agent who finds them work in the industry in exchange for a 10 percent commission. Once the talent becomes a budding star then the talent hires a manager to assist in guiding their career for a commission that can go as high as 15 percent. But today, the role of the agent is slowing disappearing and the manager is now meeting those responsibilities. A large percentage of newly minted managers working in the entertainment industry today used to be talent agents.

In California there are laws that govern the difference between the two. Basically anyone can call himself or herself a manager; and a managers job is to make sure everything that is in place happens like it should. They take care of the artist’s best interest. In order to be an agent you have to be licensed by the state of California. According to California law the definition of a talent agent is “a person or corporation who engages in the occupation of procuring, offering, promising, or attempting to procure employment or engagements for an artist.”     

It is really important for the talent to choose wisely because it could be what gets and keeps them on top in the industry. For the most part as the talent begins their career it is not necessary to have either agent or manager. They should build their career on their own first. After the talent’s career is in a place where jobs are being offered instead of auditioned for, they might consider getting a manager.

Luckily, the trend of the managers having both the skills and the responsibilities of an agent along with the ability to negotiate, the talent should be in good hands. It is also good for the talent to understand that once they reach a certain level of establishment in the industry managers will find them, they will not need to look far.

References:

Kamal Moo http://www.johnson-moo.com/entertainment-manager-vs-agent/

Sad Day for Hip-Hop

The Hip-Hop music industry has truly lost an incredible asset in business with the sudden death of artist manager and business executive Chris Lighty. 

Mr. Lighty was the founder of record label and management company Violator where he launched careers in the music industry. His client list read like a Grammy Award roster with names like Missy Elliott, P Diddy, LL Cool J, Fifty, JaRule, and Mariah Carey.

He was instrumental in negotiating deals for his artist that took their career to the next level.  One of the most memorable deals is the one that united a partnership between his artist Fifty-Cent and Vitamin Water. Fifty bought 10% of the company, which was a product of Glace’au. Once Coca-Cola purchased Glace’au for the tune of $4 billion, Fifty became a millionaire. Chris also inked deals for other artist like LL Cool J with The Gap and Busta Rhymes with Mountain Dew. 

I do not find it necessary to add to the reported speculation about the reason which lead Chris to take his own life. Because sadly we will never know what really catapulted him over the edge to end it on Thursday, August 30, 2012.

According to (Chinese and Hutchinson) his wife Veronica is quoted saying, “He was a genius” (New York Daily News, 2012). 

I agree with Veronica, Chris Lighty was not only a genius in the art of business negotiations but he was a compassionate and wonderful human being. He was someone I admired in the music industry because he was raised by a single parent, graduated from the New York school of “ the streets of the city” and became a self made multi-millionaire with integrity in an industry where that quality is hard to find. I only wish I had the opportunity to meet him. He was one of the people I had hoped to learn from as a newly minted artist manager myself in the entertainment business.

I would like to extend my condolences to his family, friends, Hip-Hop community and music industry. Chris Lighty will truly be missed. May he now rest in peace and may God have mercy on his soul.  

 

References:

Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/chris-lighty-wife-strife-day-hip-hop-big-suicide-article-1.1151164

Retrieved from http://global.christianpost.com/news/chris-lightys-death-shakes-hip-hop-world-celebrities-in-mourning-80874/

Retrieved from Google images http://www.google.com/search?q=chris+lighty+50+cent&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvnsuo&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=WYFGULOZMILa8ATHi4DADw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1223&bih=646