We had the pleasure of interviewing Lenny The Barber. From master barber to, event planner and becoming one of the biggest concert promoters in America, Lenny made himself a household in the music industry.
Throughout his 16 years in the entertainment industry, Lenny was blessed to work with some of the top rappers and executives in the game. His humble personality and hard work esthetic helped him sustain employment and partnerships with top industry executives which led him to his dream job as a ‘Concert Promoter’ . “I was always regarded as the “ lucky a— kid my Uncle would say” Today, Lenny is regarded as one of the biggest concert promoter’s in America.
Lenny’s business motto is simple:
“Money doesn’t make a brand; a brand makes money, and pursuing higher education is the best way to build your brand and become rich forever.”
Read a few excerpts and watch the full interview below :
On Where It All Began:
“ When I first started cutting hair, I was the barber that walked into the door and the other barbers would look at me and say “ that boy is going to tear somebody’s hair up” and I really didn’t know how to cut hair at the time”. I decided that I’m going to sit back and watch all of theses dudes. I watched all of them for about two-three months, and I didn’t do much other than ‘ceasars’ ‘thick lines’ and other easy styles and I took a ‘style’ from each of the barber’s and I made it my own. “
” So when I started to come out and start cutting hair, I started taking all of there customers.I landed an industry executive gentlemen name Jeffrey Sledge [an executive at Jive Records] who put me in touch with Shaquille O’neal, and I was also cutting hair for guy name Parish Davis who was an executive at Sony Records. And from that point on they put me in the hands of other executives, and artists. I’ve worked with Bryce [R&B group Groove Theory] , Freddy Jackson, Donnie McClurkin, KRS One, Nas, Chris Lighty, Steve Stoute, Q-Tip, and many more. “
On His Transition From Event Planner To Concert Promoter:
“ I started throwing parties for fun. In my heart I love to see females and males having fun in result of my work. So I was the little guy who loved to throw parties but I was also the guy with a backpack of flyers and handing them out at the back of the club. I was my own street team. I just wanted to see a room filled to say I did it. That turned into a big thing.
“ My parties became synonymous for celebrities coming through without me announcing celebrity invited guests on my flyers. I remember throwing a party and Q-Tip brought Leonardo Dicaprio through, Steve Stoute brought Kobe Bryant through, Chris Lighty brought Busta Rhymes, Nelly and so on so forth. “
“ I landed a position as a director of marketing company then I had the opportunity of working with Syliva Rhone and Shanti Das and I became the marketing director for Universal Records. My clients consisted of Tank, Lil Wayne, Baby, and more.”
On Pursuing His Passion As A Concert Promoter:
” I took a trip to Atlanta for a Tank show and there was concert featuring Lil Wayne and Jeezy and I brought a ticket. At that time Lil Wayne was opening up or Jeezy and I saw a mutual friend that attended the college my Norfalk University and he took backstage. Once I got on stage I remember seeing Wayne having this an amazing performance and from there on I said I don’t want to be this is what I want to do. I didn’t want to do any parties any more. ““I’m what you’re called a ‘boutique producer’ In this game there are two heavy weights, AIG, and Live Nation. The difference between the two is that Live Nation is a public-run company and AIG is a private-run company. “
Lenny also dished on his current role as co-producer and talent coordinator for VH1’s Love & Hip Hop New York and Hot 97 comedy sketch show .