January 13, 2006 @ 8:00 am

Michael "Blue" Williams - Mr. Manager

by: Elle Castro

Who would have thought dropping out of college to become a roadie for Jodeci would have amounted to such enviable success? For founder and CEO of Family Tree Entertainment, Michael “Blue” Williams, this is his reality. His career in the entertainment field began back in 1991, when he made the conscious decision to leave his undergrad career at Central State University. Throughout his excursion, he’s become a know-how at solving problems and managing situations, so much so, he’s even adapted the nickname “Mr. Manager” along the way. Currently, Blue oversees the careers of Outkast, Nick Cannon, Trina and Case. It’s clear he takes his clients’ visions as serious as he does his own, and does everything at arm’s reach to execute them. In this exclusive interview with VIBE.com, Michael “Blue” Williams chops it up about his future ventures as he launches his Luxury Toys South Car Rental Company, unveils his plans for the Rosa Parks Tribute Concert, and teaches us a thing or two on how he became the man known as “Mr. Manager.” Vibe.com: How did you initially start working with Outkast? right Michael “Blue” Williams: I was working at Flavor Unit Management with Queen Latifah and Shakim [Compere] and everyone knew that I was a manager. We went down to Atlanta to have a meeting with Monica Arnold to get her for management, and while we were in Atlanta we hooked up with LA Reid who told us about Outkast, and how they had just fired their manager. They already had their album done and we met with them while we were out there and that started our relationship. How did you get the nickname “Mr. Manager”? M.B.W: It’s pretty much what it is. I’m “Mr. Manager,” my job is to manage situations. Whether it’s managing an artist, a record label, a production deal, whatever the situation is, I manage it. I’m “Mr. Manager.” Lyor Cohen [gave me] the name. We actually have a saying - he’s known as “The Check Writer” so I adopted the nickname “The Check Finder.” There’s people out there writing checks and there’s people out there finding checks. One day he said to me, hey Mr. Manager, and it just stuck with me. I see that you have a new Luxury Toys South car rental facility about to launch. M.B.W.: We as entertainers are adapted to a certain lifestyle. In LA there’s a company called Luxury Toys where a lot of us get whatever the newest car is or whatever type of vehicle we want to drive around while we’re out there in LA. I find that in Atlanta, we get a lot of cats with money, like entertainers trying to record or athletes that want the same luxuries. So I got together with Big Boi, Nick Cannon and a few of my NBA players and put some money together and decided to open up a Luxury Toys South. So if you go to Atlanta for a weekend and you decide that you want to ball out, you can get anything from a Bentley GT to a Porsche, or a Benz and have that for a weekend to drive around in. It’s really about people to maintain the luxuries that they’re used to driving at home. Talk to me about the movie Idlewild? M.B.W.: It’s a story that the guys came up with, with Bryan Barber. It started out as a million dollar movie and now by the time it’s done with all of the partners and everybody involved, it’s gonna be close to a fifty million dollar release. It started with just us and HBO, we had a vision and HBO backed it. Then Gordon Universal Pictures, who put out 8 Mile, also supported it. The guys are also working on their next album, which is also the soundtrack to the movie. Brian and the guys really make magic together on screen. His [Barber] best work has been with Outkast. They made it happen, and it’s a really good look for hip hop. It’s not just a bang-bang, shoot ‘em up movie. The movie is set in the 30’s down in a town in the South called “Idlewild,” and Dre and Big [Boi] work at this juke joint and the movie is about their adventures at the juke joint. There’s a lot of music in it, it’s a musically-driven film. We don’t want people to think that they’re gonna see a musical because that’s not how it is. Big Boi, Dre, Ving Rhames, Cecily Tyson, Ben Varene, Terrence Howard, and Malinda Williams. Right now the movie is coming out on March 10th. I heard about your plans to do a Rosa Parks Tribute Concert. Tell me about it? M.B.W.: We got sued by Rosa Parks, or rather by the people around Ms. Parks a few years ago. They inclined that we used her name in the wrong context. The lawsuit took a few years, but I was finally able to go to Detroit this year and settle it. However, we weren’t going to apologize because we didn’t feel that we were wrong, but we agreed to work something out. So I’ve been working on a tribute concert for Ms. Parks that would represent her. Eventually I’d like to shoot it, air it and then turn it into a DVD so that different schools across the country could use it as a definitive piece about Rosa Parks and her legacy. The proceeds from the DVD would benefit the Rosa Parks Foundation. Some of the artists involved are Outkast, The Fugees, Jamie Foxx, Morgan Freeman, and Shaquille O’Neal. It covers everyone from sports, TV, film, politicians talking about Rosa Parks and her importance. What’s your secret? M.B.W.: Different personalities require different amounts of time and attention. With some artists I can paint the bigger picture, show them what it is and then facilitate. Some clients need me to hold their hand through the entire project. With some clients I have to delegate, and some just don’t get it and you have to do everything. The clients that I have around me right now all have one thing in common—they all get it, understand what the bigger picture is and aren’t scared to do the work. That makes it easy for me to do my job. With every manager, you have to watch that you don’t get drained of your time and energy ‘cause it will prevent you from doing the best job that you can do. Read more vibe.com online exclusives.

Article tags: Michael "Blue" Williams, Outkast, Big Boi, Andre 3000, Jamie Foxx, Trina, Nick Cannon, Case, The Fugees, Lyor Cohen 

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