Earl “E-40” Stevens, Hip-Hop Artist & Entrepreneur, joins Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous and Kristin Myers to discuss the rapid growth of his spirits empire and outlook on the music industry post-pandemic.
Video Transcript
KRISTIN MYERS: Welcome back. Our next guest might be most well-known as a musical artist, but he is so much more than that. He's an entrepreneur and a prolific investor. So let's bring on Earl Stevens, also known to many as E-40.
So Earl, we do want to get to those investments and some of your businesses in just a moment. But I've been listening-- and we were chatting about this in the break. I've been listening to your album, "Practice Makes Paper" a lot. And in it, you highlight female entrepreneurs. You talk about diversifying your financial portfolio. You talk about business.
And you've also been making a lot of space for other Black entrepreneurs. It's something that I've seen you doing on social media. And I don't think a lot of people expect this of artists, especially Black ones I'm wondering why it's so important for you to be so involved and to talk so openly about Black economic prosperity.
EARL "E-40" STEVENS: I think just being Afro-American, what they call a OG, you know what I mean? Doing it for so many years, I just want to be a good example to the new generation, an inspiration to the new generation and show them that you can diversify your portfolio. It doesn't always have to be about just music.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOUROS: Yeah, it certainly doesn't. You're showing us that, for sure. You started out with wine a few years back. You've now expanded into all sorts of spirits, cognac, and tequila. You own 100% of your spirit brands. That's very intentional. Tell us why you're doing that when you may have been able to go out and get some other investors for the company. Why did you choose not to do that?
EARL "E-40" STEVENS: I did the same thing with my music career back in '88. I chose to invest in myself. You know what I mean? And it's just really the same hustle, different product.
And being from the Bay Area, opportunities didn't fall in our lap that easy and never did. We had to go get it. So I consider myself a go-getter. You know what I'm saying? A fetty fetcher. You know what I'm saying? So I'll go get that bread. So that's what it's about.
So basically, it wasn't by choice, it was by force. And so now that it's by force and I'm so immune to it, I'm used to it, that I'm like, hey, I can do it all myself. I don't need no investors. I know plenty of superstars and people with money and all that. I'm like, I'm cool.
It's nothing wrong with having partners. It's just in this, in adult beverages, I don't want any.
KRISTIN MYERS: So how is the wine business going? And as you're talking about chasing more paper, what's coming up next? Would you be interested in doing something like a SPAC, for example? We see a lot of artists, a lot of athletes getting involved in that space?
EARL "E-40" STEVENS: I couldn't hear you when you said-- you said getting into what?
KRISTIN MYERS: SPACs. So would you consider taking a company public?
EARL "E-40" STEVENS: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Later but not now. I'm seven years in. I'm doing very well. I just signed a multi-state contract with Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits. So instead of me being in 17 states, now I'm about to be in, like, 41. And that's just all from the ground-up, from the grit, getting my license in each state slowly but surely because some states are controlled states. And some states, it's more-- some of them, it's easy to get in. And some of them are much harder.
So I've been doing this for seven years. And now is the perfect time for me to take it to the next level. So who knows in the future?
Of course, I'm so creative-- and not to be a me monster, me, me, me-- but I'm so creative. And I thank God for everything, all my creativity and everything that I could sell my whole portfolio to one of these big companies, cash out, and create a whole new one that's very interesting And the same thing I'm doing now. So ain't no telling, that's what Jack told Helen, what the future holds.
KRISTIN MYERS: I want to ask you about NFTs. A lot of musical artists have been getting into this, athletes as well. Would you consider pushing more into the crypto space, selling NFTs next?
EARL "E-40" STEVENS: Yeah, the NFTs, really, it's new to me by about a month, about a month and a half, maybe. And I've talked to a lot of credible people. And I have so many things that I could do with NFT.
I'm in a group called Mount Westmore. We're thinking of NFT things and so on and so forth. So we'll see.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOUROS: I know that you are a serial entrepreneur. You're involved in one way or another with dozens and dozens of startups. What's something a startup has to have, Earl, in order for you to get involved?
EARL "E-40" STEVENS: Well, it's always good to be involved in a startup or company from the beginning, early stage and to also know who's already in it with you. Like, if it's somebody that's been in it for years and been getting a bunch of companies or a couple or two or three big companies acquired or IPO, you know what I'm saying? It's always good to know that you're in the same syndicate as them or in the same startup investment as them. So yeah, that means a lot.
And what it is, it's early stage. You get in early, you gonna wake up early in the morning and get a phone call one day, saying, hey, you know I got acquired or they IPO'ed last night. You know what I'm saying? Congratulations. And that's when you take you a sip of that good red wine, Earl Stevens.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOUROS: Oh, looks good. You're making us jealous now.
KRISTIN MYERS: I know.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOUROS: I know you're still very focused on your music. You've got your hip hop supergroup with Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, and others. How has this pandemic impacted your ability to get out there with the fans? And when do you hope to start getting back into concert?
EARL "E-40" STEVENS: Well, thanks to social media, that's how we stay connected with the fans during this whole "plandemic." You know I call it a "plandemic," but pandemic. And so with all my fans, they showed tremendous support. And I can't wait to get out there on the road.
What it has done for me during this whole thing is it gave me time to work on my passion projects, to think more, focus more on my adult beverage empire and also my music as well. I have two studios in here. And I have a built-in engineer, which is my youngest son. He's 26. And he has been such a blessing. I guess that's why you have kids, to be right there for you, because he right there, you know?
And so I can't wait to get out there and hit some of these major sporting events, be courtside at the Warriors games, be behind home plate at the Giants games, be on the 50-yard line at the 49ers game. And I'm a big sports fan as well. But I want to get out there and perform and show my fans some of my new stuff and let them get a dose and let them know how much I miss them. And I hope they miss me.
KRISTIN MYERS: All right Earl Stevens, AKA E-40, thank you so much for joining us today. It's been an absolute pleasure.
EARL "E-40" STEVENS: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.