We were lucky to catch up with President recently and have shared our conversation below.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I have been recording Hip-Hop music since I was 14. I was always a rapper growing up. However, when I went to Harvard and started working in Investment Banking on my quest to get rich, I developed a skillset and formal business experiencing that sets me apart. My latest project, Billions In My 30s is the culmination of a life of impact. I’m at a point where I know what it is to influence major movements of capital, create laws and policies that impact Billions of people, and have the ear of world leaders, Royals, Heads of State, and Fortune 100 CEOs. I have brought cases to the Supreme Court fighting for revolutionary activists tortured in prison, to compelled Congress to create funding during and after the Pandemic for marginalized oppressed communities. I have performed my music at Davos, Switzerland biggest parties during the World Economic Forum, to the Pyramids of Egypt, nightclubs from Shanghai to South Beach Miami, Indigenous festivals in Australia, and stadiums around the world, barrios, street corner blocks, and prisons, and schools. This album Billions In My 30s, I am releasing under my name President is not just music, it is the sum experiences of becoming a Presidential artist and community leader that has everything to give the world and culture. I wrote and produced the album in LA, in and around the Pandemic, around the time when I decided to run for Governor of New Jersey. I was also conceiving the MPAC Tower, skyscraper I’m acquiring right now, and working behind the scenes to build a Blockchain-catalyzed decentralized investment platform. I first contemplated building a decentralized investment bank because when I was at Harvard, I interned at a few financial firms to support myself and make my family and community proud. I started at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, now Blackrock, then Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley. When I Graduated, I worked at a desk processing a significant portion of Wall Street flows with elite algorithms sold to big hedge funds and financial institutions, essentially helping the rich and powerful become even richer and more powerful as well as working for Billionaire hedge fund and private equity managers, learning the game. I left working in that machine in order to bring access to capital from Wall Street to Main Street, and pursue creative endeavors where I could apply the power of capital to the speed at which Black music and culture influences the world. At first, my focus on my Hip-Hop career, first as a MC, and then filmmaker and young adult novelist behind an award winning book for at-risk boys, as well as branded entrepreneurship. I was a 1-man venture studio before it was cool, co-founding products including Banana Wave Banana Milk. Bobbing and weaving in & out of different industries like Don Quixote, stumbling from activist rallies and legislative offices, to IPOs, clothing factories and warehouses, music studios, and VC firms catalyzing startups, gave me a wealth of experience, grit, resilience, and connectivity others just don’t have. I’m proud of the fact that I’ve put a lot of people in positions to become the most successful entrepreneurs and I’ve gotten to pray, build, and fellowship with titans from Tech, Government, Finance, and Culture. I’ve been behind Black and female led venture-backed entrepreneurs before VC firms gave them $1, and was often the first line of defense for many of the marquee leaders in Tech, AI, FinTech, etc that you see today running unicorn companies. When I found crypto, it was the fastest way to raise capital, and building a Blockchain-enabled investment bank with a proprietary native token is really what differentiates my focus from every one else. I’m not a DeFi degen, trying to scam or make a quick buck, but someone with institutional investing experience using decentralized finance to create superior returns for those that never had a shot in capitalism and the elite capital markets. I’m proud that I’ve worked with legislators, Corporations, Governments, and the people most importantly, to help create access to $Billions in underserved communities from Philly to Palau—and I’m just getting started. I’m proud that you can see me doing everything from holding Bible Studies discussing how to run for President with Ye on my birthday, to taking the cause of inmate abuse and long-term palliative care for convicts to the Supreme Court. I’m living the Gospel and I’m relentless in my pursuit of Kingdom building, and keeping the most high in front of all I do. I founded MPAC in 2018 in order to coagulate excellence and bring the tools from Washington, Wall St, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood to the streets. This is how we #MPACTheWorld.
Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?
So many times, I can remember when the card got declined, sleeping on couches, floors, airports, train stations, whatever. My back has been against the wall more times than I can count. To be honest, I’ve had more days where I’ve had to dig deep than days where everything just feels easy and clicks.
Learning how to take the negatives and turn them into positives is part of life. During Summer 2020, Newark was reeling at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests. However, not enough attention was being paid to the approximately 0% of New Jersey’s $100Billion Assets Under Management being invested in Black companies. A few months prior, I had testified before Senator Rice’s Joint Committee on Equal Opportunity and Employment at the State Legislature, and there was a ton of fake initiatives popping up distracting people from the fact that Black Brown Indigenous entrepreneurs have no institutional financing in the State of New Jersey. I was warned that I would be finished if I called out the lack of institutional financing in Newark. Given the largest financial institutions in the world were investing in the city for a century, while mainly Black Indigenous constituents have little to nothing to show and can’t even afford to live in the prime areas of the city, I was told by public officials including the Late Senator Ron Rice, that my advocacy about financial justice would cost me a lot and make me powerful adversaries who would stop at no end to silence me. I experienced hell, I mean people spying on me, calling police on me for no reason, and putting me in situations where I had to fight hard to find peace, but I want the world to know that you have to stand on your principles and advocate for what God has you here to do.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I walked into a grocery store on October 3, 2020 to buy some vegetables for a community event. I was attempting to conduct a healing meeting with associates that killed my Godbrother. During this trip to the grocery store, I was falsely accused of stealing a product they don’t sell at Whole Foods by a security guard with a gun and members of the store. I was stereotyped by my appearance and restrained by armed security who conducted an illegal stop and search. It unlocked a series of events where I realized I had to own equity in my community and represent all the little Black & Brown children that get portrayed as criminals, and grow up thinking they are less than because of the color of his or her skin. As one of few local entrepreneurs that Co-Founded a product sold in Whole Foods, I would patronize the store from time to time and considered the brand a partner. But the day they harassed and falsely arrested me for stealing, changed how I view equity. Even to stand up and fight back against racism cost me a lot, but this seemingly random incident where I could have lost everything due to a crazed guard with a gun gave me a renewed purpose to fight for the least amongst us, and ensure that wealth creation in my community reflected the native constituency, and wasn’t just manufactured for the benefit of a select few corporations. Instead
A few days after this incident, we held a Justice Monday protest at the Federal Building in Newark, and then shot the protest scenes from the “On Me” music video, off Billions in My 30s. I appeared at City Hall where the Mayor agreed that I was wrong, and I held a 8 minute 46 second die-in protest in honor of George Floyd. I am currently in litigation and won’t tolerate our children being constantly reminded of how little they are worth.
Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?
So many times, I can remember when the card got declined, sleeping on couches, floors, airports, train stations, whatever. My back has been against the wall more times than I can count. To be honest, I’ve had more days where I’ve had to dig deep than days where everything just feels easy and clicks.
Learning how to take the negatives and turn them into positives is part of life. During Summer 2020, Newark was reeling at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests. However, not enough attention was being paid to the approximately 0% of New Jersey’s $100Billion Assets Under Management being invested in Black companies. A few months prior, I had testified before Senator Rice’s Joint Committee on Equal Opportunity and Employment at the State Legislature, and there was a ton of fake initiatives popping up distracting people from the fact that Black Brown Indigenous entrepreneurs have no institutional financing in the State of New Jersey. I was warned that I would be finished if I called out the lack of institutional financing in Newark. Given the largest financial institutions in the world were investing in the city for a century, while mainly Black Indigenous constituents have little to nothing to show and can’t even afford to live in the prime areas of the city, I was told by public officials including the Late Senator Ron Rice, that my advocacy about financial justice would cost me a lot and make me powerful adversaries who would stop at no end to silence me. I experienced hell, I mean people spying on me, calling police on me for no reason, and putting me in situations where I had to fight hard to find peace, but I want the world to know that you have to stand on your principles and advocate for what God has you here to do.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I walked into a grocery store on October 3, 2020 to buy some vegetables for a community event. I was attempting to conduct a healing meeting with associates that killed my Godbrother. During this trip to the grocery store, I was falsely accused of stealing a product they don’t sell at Whole Foods by a security guard with a gun and members of the store. I was stereotyped by my appearance and restrained by armed security who conducted an illegal stop and search. It unlocked a series of events where I realized I had to own equity in my community and represent all the little Black & Brown children that get portrayed as criminals, and grow up thinking they are less than because of the color of his or her skin. As one of few local entrepreneurs that Co-Founded a product sold in Whole Foods, I would patronize the store from time to time and considered the brand a partner. But the day they harassed and falsely arrested me for stealing, changed how I view equity. Even to stand up and fight back against racism cost me a lot, but this seemingly random incident where I could have lost everything due to a crazed guard with a gun gave me a renewed purpose to fight for the least amongst us, and ensure that wealth creation in my community reflected the native constituency, and wasn’t just manufactured for the benefit of a select few corporations. Instead
A few days after this incident, we held a Justice Monday protest at the Federal Building in Newark, and then shot the protest scenes from the “On Me” music video, off Billions in My 30s. I appeared at City Hall where the Mayor agreed that I was wrong, and I held a 8 minute 46 second die-in protest in honor of George Floyd. I am currently in litigation and won’t tolerate our children being constantly reminded of how little they are worth.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mpacsolutions.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/presidentquadrillions/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/presidentmpac/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@PresidentQuadrillions
- Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4bpWExtjNnPUsFkYkX8NXr?si=w2-yy4Z4RIGXWOLhi6ooEg Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/president/1537926326 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@presforpresident24?_t=8es5lZz4SsM&_r=1