A plethora of marquee Black celebrities decorated Earn Your Leisure’s 4th annual Invest Fest at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta over the weekend.
Invest Fest is a unique yearly conference experience that combines investing and entrepreneurial advice with pop culture and entertainment in a laid-back festival setting. Notables who took the stage included music producer-turned-serial entrepreneur will.i.am, ESPN’s Shannon Sharpe and Stephen A. Smith, Daymond John, Terrence J., Slutty Vegan franchise founder Pinky Cole Hayes and Derrick Hayes.
One of the highlights of Invest Fest was Steve Harvey, who appeared to address the major shade thrown by fellow comedian Katt Williams on Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” podcast back in January, though he didn’t mention Williams by name.
“You’ll never have a hater that’s doing better than you, always know that,” Harvey imparted to the audience. “Don’t get off the wall to address some petty a– boy who ain’t got s— going for himself, stop your climb on up the wall so you can come down here and talk to his little punk a–.”
Harvey said he doesn’t want to catch Williams in public because of what he may want to do to him.
“I stay away from it. Do I want to [confront him]? Yes, because I’m a human being, and I’m hood. I used to be a fighter, and I still got hands. They slow, but if you get up on me real close, I can still knock yo’ monkey a– out,” Harvey continued as the audience howled with laughter.
“I just don’t have the quickness I had, but I can still turn my hip and shift that weight, and I’d knock yo’ short a– out,” he said. “I’d knock your perm straight out of your head.”
Rapper-turned-TV producer 50 Cent was the featured speaker on Sunday. The “Power” and “BMF” creator and executive producer delighted over his new movie studio campus in Shreveport, Louisiana, which he says was inspired by the world-renowned Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta.
The rapper born Curtis James Jackson III, 49, discussed his transition from music to television and film, emphasizing adaptability in the often-unforgiving world of entertainment.
“I pitched ‘Power’ to all of the networks, and they were like, ‘No,’… But then I started wanting to do different things … And now, it’s turned into four shows in the universe that [are] number one,” 50 Cent gloated amid the audience’s rousing applause.
Fifty’s meteoric rise in the TV and film business has not come without adversities and litigation. “I spent over $21 million in legal fees,” he said, adding, “I still owe a million dollars a year in legal fees now.”
During 50 Cent’s engrossing discussion on stage, he doled out advice at regular intervals, with one particularly powerful nugget being: “Success is not just about talent; it’s about strategy, resilience and the ability to pivot when necessary.”
The late Nipsey Hussle’s main goal to inspire Blacks to create generational wealth is continued by his surviving brother, Blacc Sam, and girlfriend and ATL star Lauren London. London recently partnered with Microsoft, Earn Your Leisure, and Hussle’s Marathon Clothing brand to present the Hussle 100K pitch competition. They also unveiled the Nipsey Hussle wax statue at the event.
