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from Urban Connects:
http://www.urbanconnects.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=428

I can't express how important it is to put in your grind and be realistic when it comes to achieving success. Since you won't listen to me, I've brought to you somebody whose accomplishments speak for themselves. Meet Outkast's manager Blue Williams and soak up real life knowledge fam!

Introduce yourself to the world
Ok. My name is Blue Williams aka Mr. Manager aka The Check Finder aka Tha Problem Solver. I manage Outkast, Jagged Edge, Case, and Lyfe (new artist on Sony), I also co-manager a number of other artists unofficially. My job on the daily is to maintain the course of those artists’ career.

What was your experience with hiphop?
I’m from the Bronx NY (born and raised) and I grew up on the same block as Kid Capri so when he first started to DJ, we used to go up on University and go in the park and see KRS-1 in the park and catching all the battles and freestyles...check out people like Slick Rick so that was my introduction to hiphop. That was from 1982-1984.

Back then, did you think hiphop would evolve to what it is today?
I thought it would never be bigger than my block at the time. I thought it was just something we did in New York. I’ve been blessed to witness a number of events that were special hiphop events. I was in the park and I saw GrandMaster Flash DJ’ing on 5 turntables. I was in Union Square the first night Will Smith performed and Jazzy Jeff started rocking off the transformer and that was the first time we saw that on a big level in NY. I was there on the night that Biggie and Pac rhymed together. I was at the Tunnel the first time DMX performed. I’ve been blessed to be at a lot of hiphop’s biggest moments. The night that Jay rocked the Garden and Fat Joe rocking at Summer Jam so I’ve been blessed as far as either being involved or being a spectator.

So how does a BX cat hook up with a bunch of Southernplayalisticadillac cats?
In 1994-1995 when Outkast dropped their album, they already had a manager and were doing their thing. I was working at Flavor Unit (Queen Latifah’s Management Co), I was managing the Fu Schnickens at the time and we got a tip on an artist from Atlanta named Monica so me and Shakim took a trip to Atlanta to meet up with Monica to discuss managing her. While we were down there we decided to check out LA Reid and he said there’s a group ya’ll need to check out I think they just fired their manager. So I took a meeting with them. The guys were really cool and it went great. So Shakim asked me did I want to do the Monica stuff or the Outkast stuff and I said I‘d rather do both because both of them was hot. So I took both of them on. So I started working both of the acts out there and I was doing my thing but I was under the radar because nobody was really paying attention to what I was doing. I would tell people in NY that I was managing Outkast and nobody would pay any mind so I was down south, putting them on the road and just grinding it out. Eight, nine years later and the relationship is still rocking. Each album the group grows from the previous one. Most groups fall off after starting off hot but with Outkast they keep selling more with each album and that right there is one of my most proud achievements in this game.

How much creative input do you have as far as the Outkast situation?
On the creative side, it’s totally on them. I let them do what they got to do and they stay out of my lane so I can do what I got to do. I handle the marketing, sales and getting the public to see their vision. So I don’t dabble in what they do and they in return allow me to come up with the plan and they do what they’re suppose to do to support the plan.

How did you get that first crack into the game?
Late 1991, early 1992 I was in college out in Ohio playing basketball, I got into it with my coach, and that caused me to become disfranchised from the whole school thing. Jodeci came thru Dayton, Ohio, to do a promo show and I met up with them after their show thru two of their dancers that I went to high school with. Hung out with them and everything was cool. They were going from Dayton to Chicago for their next gig, which was four hours away. So I ended up going with them over the weekend and just hung out with them, which was real cool. So I went back to school afterwards and I couldn’t get it out of my mind…the whole back scene, the after party, it was real fun. So they went back home after the tour was done and I was speaking to their road manager and he told me that they would be going back on the road to tour with Hammer. So I was like you get me a job with you, I want to roll I want to be out. So he was like “yea yea yea, you a college boy, stay in college.” So when the tour started and it hit the Midwest region I would drive out to the show. But when I got there I wouldn’t just be hanging around, I would help with whatever was needed. From bringing people food to carrying stuff, I did whatever needed to be done. So I pretty much made my own job. I become Jodeci’s roadie. After about two weeks of being a roadie, we ended up getting into a big fight and then I became Jodeci’s bodyguard. After the tour was over (6, 7 months), I learned enough to become the assistant road manager. So the road manager kept in touch and called me to come out on the road for the Jodeci/Mary J Blige tour and stuff like that. From there I got put on to Bobby Brown so it’s like instead of coming off the road and just chilling with your peoples and doing nothing you have to build those relationships so that more opportunities arrive. I went out with Shai, Naughty By Nature and SWV. Because I kept doing my job people kept asking me to go out on tour with them and take the responsibility of managing them. After about 2 ½ years of touring I was one of the highest paid road managers out there. So it’s about taking advantage of opportunities and also knowing when to be quiet and listen and learn and understand that nothing says you have to come in and try to take the top check. A lot of cats coming in the game watch too much TV and think they know but sometimes you got to just get it. Everybody gets jerked coming into the game. You start off getting less than what you’re worth, that’s just the reality of it. To get what you’re worth you have to first know what you’re worth to begin with. You can’t come in talking about “Yo, my mans in them are getting blah blah so that’s what I want,” that’s not being realistic.

True indeed! What makes a good manager?
I tell people that if you get on that homeboy management, homeboy this and homeboy that, it will mark the end of your career. Most artists that fall off do so because they have their homeboy handling the management duties. You don’t get your car fixed by the ice cream man just because you know him. You take it to a mechanic. So why you would let your man that drives the UPS truck manage your career just because he’s your man? It has to be some train of thought going on. Now if your man is the smartest dude on the block and always held down a job while you and your crew smoked blunts and made beats then that’s another story. If he’s there getting high with you and he don’t have no business sense then forget it. A good manager has a real gasp of the music business and has knowledge. Knowledge is what makes a good manager. It’s who you know and how you use it and how to use leverage, what you know is going on the game so its all knowledge. I’m a constant student of the game. I can tell you what’s going on at every label not only what artists they have that’s hot but what artists are going to have the most priority at that label, what staff moves are being made, how much money is being spent on a project. I have to know these things because when I’m in a meeting with someone I have to be up on these things so I can get their respect. A real manager takes their craft very seriously that’s what you do. As a manager, you don’t get to eat unless your artist gets to eat. If ya’ll both stay up all night getting high together until 5am, he’s going to be asleep like you then nothing is going to get done until he wakes up in the afternoon and you can’t blame the label. So I tell people when you’re looking for a manager, look for someone who has the knowledge or is willing to go out there and get it. You also you don’t want to get a manager that curses people out at the drop of a dime. I can curse somebody out at the label and be cool with them the next day. That’s what you have to know how to do.

How much of the artist personal life do you manage?
It depends on the artist. Some artists keep their personal lives separate from their career. If I can’t make any money with you being in jail then it would be in my best interest to help bail you out if possible. As far as baby momma drama, I try to stay out of it but I’m here to listen to you. I will be in the office and listen to what’s going on but I’m not flying nowhere trying to be in a room with you and your baby mother trying to hash things out. As a manager you have to be a consoler, big brother, confidant, parent, everything! It depends with certain artists you have to do more. With some artists if their personal lives are messed up it affects their professional lives and then you have no choice but to get involved. You would have to come up with ways to get the best out of them on the professional side. You have to adjust your method according to who you’re dealing with.

How do you deal with the egos especially when one artist is going to feel you’re paying more attention the next artist?
Well I think I was blessed being in the situation over at Flavor Unit where when you have multiple artists that are generating income it creates a check and balance situation. You’re not at any one artist’s mercy. I feel sorry for managers that have only 1 artist that is bring in paper because they’re pretty much at their mercy and the artist knows this. I was fortunate that the whole time Outkast was coming up on the scene I always had other artists that I managed so it was never a chance for them to flip on me. So I’m like if you want to walk then walk because you can’t control my destiny. Other managers can’t be real with their artists for fear of the artists flipping on them and walking away from the situation with all the bread. The artists are like animals, when they sense that fear they will start treating you a certain way.

Like for example, I used to manage Macy Gray for a while and because I had other artists that generated income I was able to tell her the real truth about certain things. She didn’t want to hear the truth and then snapped and I was like cool I’m out! I’ve always been that way and it’s one of the keys to success for people like me, Chris Lighty and a couple of the other big management companies that were able to eat off of other clients and keep them at bay.

What do you look for in an artist?
I’m looking for work ethic. It’s just not about spitting a hot 16 because everybody and their mother can spit a hot 16. The problem is you can spit that hot 16 but you don’t want to get up at 6am to do radio, do a photo shoot for 6 hours, eat poorly, get 4 hours of sleep, jump on a plane and do it all over again. A hot 16 is not impressive no more. Every artist before they get on, talk about how hungry they are but the minute they’re on they don’t want to get out of the bed. Can’t get them on the phone and they start wilding out. I look for artists that work hard. Outkast are some of the hardest working artists out, that’s why they’re so successful because they keep attacking from all angles. You have artists that’ll get one hit record and they tell you that they’re not getting out of the bed. I’m calling people out now. Sunshine Anderson was working with me for a while and she had a hot record but I couldn’t get her to get up and do anything. You will be out this game if you don’t put your all into this game. You have to get educated about the game. When you get a deal you’re starting out with a million dollars in the hole because the label has committed x amount for marketing, recording budget, your advance, etc…You have to work that back. If a drug dealer gave you a million up front you would have to work that back so why is the music game any different? This is what cats don’t understand and they go around talking about “the label robbed me,” NO! If you come to me and ask me for a million dollars worth of weed you would have to work that back or else I’m going to come back to you and deal with it. Same with the music industry, you chose to do that so you have to know how the game works and want it bad enough. I should never want it more than you should or else it’s not going to work.

Is Outkast still good as far as a group?
Yeah, we’re dropping a new album this fall and another one by next summer so we’re good.

Who’s the greatest hiphop group, RUNDMC or Outkast?
Wow. RUNDMC is the greatest because they were knocking down doors so I have to give them that. Outkast is the best because they’ve done it longer than any group and have stayed together and the sales keep growing with each release. Some people try to throw Bone Thugs but we knocked them out the box. Tribe, as great as they were never sold the units that Outkast has. EPMD never did the units. If you put us pound for pound with any group outside of RUNDMC, we’re winning. I would go in the order of RUNDMC, Public Enemy, NWA, and Outkast as far as importance goes. But when it comes to the biggest band ever in hiphop it’s definitely Outkast. That’s my honest opinion as biased as it may seem.

Is Andre 3000 going to actually rap on the new album?
Yes, he is on the new album. I challenge anybody that questions the way he dresses or the things he does to get at him on their rap tip. Think about it. Nobody has ever taken a shot at Andre on wax because they know what’s up. He can definitely destroy some body when it comes to that but he decided to broaden his musical horizons and take it to another level.

Where does Blue see himself 20 quarters from now?
I think I got the managing game down but there’s a part of me that is interested in seeing how it would be to work for a label and see how it functions from the inside. See the numbers differently, things like that. Different ventures like opening up a car dealership down south. My lawyer hipped me to a term called “soft money” not too long ago. It’s that money that you don’t have to wake up everyday and make. I think that everybody should try to find a way to make some soft money. Right now, he said I’m waking up everyday grinding it out making hard money. I would like to take my new artist Lyfe and help make him successful. I like to keep Jagged Edge going; they’re the only R&B group that really survived out of groups like 112, etc...I would like to see them have a very long career so that’s what I’m going to keep pushing. I want to find new artists that energize me, that keep it fun for me. Keep educating myself and keep growing.

Any last words?
This is for anybody that’s trying to get out there in the game. Be real with yourself. If your shit is not hot then it’s not hot. Don’t try to convince yourself. You and 10 of your boys bouncing to it in a room full of weed and liquor does not make it hot. If you can’t sell records outside of your neighborhood or off of your block or even the next town over from you, it’s probably because it’s not that hot. If the radio won’t play it, maybe because it’s just not that hot. There’s a difference between 50, Eminem, Jay and your mans and them that are trying flip drug money in the music game so it can get cleaned up. Let’s separate the cats that are just out there trying to flip some drug money from the cats that can really rock. If you know you’re wack, don’t start complaining to everybody and run up on people like Chris Lighty and myself selling your dream c’mon! Just be good on your block and call it a day. I know a kid from the BX that’s on fire but can’t sell a single unit in BK because he’s only talking about shit that’s relevant to his block in the Bronx. Try to rap about something else other than the obvious. I’ve done seen kilo sold, every pound of weed, tons of guns, crystal, cars, groupies, gold fronts. There’s much more to our lives than that. I would rather here a dude rap about some baby mama, your vacation you just took, whatever. If you’re at church and you’re killing it at church every Sunday and you way 350 pounds, that might be the reason you’re only killing it at church. The TV has people not looking at their lives realistically and then they come to NY or LA, get their feelings hurt, and get mad at us because we’re in the game and we’re grinding and you think we’re hating. Nah, we’re in the game and we know what we’re talking about. So every time I get a chance to get on the soapbox I’m going to speak out because I deal with the hiphop and the R&B sides and I’m just tired of seeing and hearing wack shit. Get your game right before you send your demo in, before you write on a web page talking all this shit about this artist and that artist and how their on BET and you can do better than them…then do it! Put a hot ass professional demo together, put your grind in and let’s see what you do when you get the opportunity!

Interview by AZ
Edited by Katrina Rogers



Note: sometimes it good to hear it from someone who's doin it ya know check out what is being said here about work ethic, reality checks, and knowledge.