Michael Bivins is credited as the founder and member of the groups New Edition and Bell Biv DeVoe. He has discovered groups/acts like Another Bad Creation, MC Brains, 702 and Boyz II Men—all signed to his label Biv 10 Records (Motown distributed). He gave Left Eye from TLC her name, and has starred in major films like Friday After Next. He is also in charge of Artist Development for Making the Band 4. In recent months, Michael has added to his repertoire with TNT Overtime’s Running the Point with Bivins on NBA.com. Michael has teamed up with the NBA going behind the scenes covering NBA players across the league. If that were not enough, he even has “Sporty Rich Enterprises” in the fire. I could go on and on, but instead I will let Michael tell you in his own words about Michael Bivins the entertainer, manager, producer, on-air personality, business man and innovator.

Ingrid: Who is Michael Bivins today?

Michael: There’s a public Michael Bivins and a private Michael Bivins. My personal life is not a subject that I try to impose upon people. At the end of the day, that’s not a subject that I try to conflict with my purpose in my public life. I don’t really say, “Let’s me and my wife go walk the red carpet because we need some publicity. We might just go through the front door like everybody else and just keep it simple, because it’s more about the event we are going to then trying to get the publicity and worry about what we are wearing to be seen. I don’t really let people into that world. I find that sometimes when you go at things for the wrong reason, you worry about those types of things and people start having comments on it. Then too many people get into your personal business. Look at the way Jay Z and Beyonce play it. They basically do it the way we do it, and people find that to be more intriguing. They still get questions, and there are questions that they still haven’t answered.

Ingrid: What drives you to wake up everyday and live your life on purpose?

Michael: The Mike Bivins today I feel sees voids and things that others don’t see. Even at my age 39, when I should be somewhat trying to figure out what direction to go to slow down. I find myself accelerating. It’s important for me to go harder to make sure that my kids have something when I come to an age where I won’t be able to go as hard. That’s what drives me… its filling voids and preparing a future for my children.

Ingrid: When you hear the words “do you” what does it mean to you?

Michael: When I hear do me, I think I kind of do me everyday. At the end of the day, you are out here by yourself so I am doing me all the time. There is nobody doing for me and I am the only one doing for me so I am in “do me” mode all the time.

Ingrid: Do you find that because you are a person that has achieved so much and you are a true visionary that so many people depend on you to “do you”?

Michael: I find that a lot of people over look it. I don’t find that a lot of people give to me. There are a lot of things that I feel that I have done and accomplished that people don’t really talk about— or like it is something that should be talked about. I find that maybe since I haven’t been a controversial person that some of the good things go unnoticed or not talked about. But maybe if I was a controversial person, I would get more credit for doing some stupid stuff than doing some good stuff. So I kind of don’t even look at it that way—like people depend on me because I’ve come to the conclusion they don’t even know what I am doing. They don’t know what to depend on. But every now and again I think I just pop up out of no where and it makes people go, “OK…there he goes again or what is he doing now. I am kind of like “low radar”, but when I come I try to hit at a level that keeps it consistent as opposed to coming out and looking like I’m selling my soul or going backwards.

Ingrid: That’s powerful! How is it for you now to continue your journey today with all that you have learned and experienced in your life personally and professionally?

Michael: I just feel like I am on a mission. I feel I just bridged a gap with TNT Overtime to be a sports analyst for a sport that I love. I am on MTV with Puff rockin’ Making the Band. You know I am out here doing all these other things that are going to stack the hit next year. I am on some real stuff Ingrid. I feel like I am going to be “that next cat” again. I just think that when it hits, it’s going to hit at a time when all wheels are spinning. So I feel like I am on a highway that I been on before, but I am fixing it up and riding it clean. It feels like I’ve been here before—like I can remember when it was good rolling on this road.

Ingrid: What are some of the blessings you’ve experienced in being a part of Making the Band 4? Has it blessed you in ways you couldn’t imagine?

Michael: Yeah, ‘cause I am filling voids. ‘Cause when you see it and go get it, then everybody else sees it so that’s the blessing. Knowing when to move and knowing where to go. See people just want to be hot. People just want to have money. But you got to know where to go to make the money and you have to know how to get yourself hot. Hot ain’t just putting out some clothes. Hot is like understanding you might have to crawl a little bit because it might be a minute for people to catch on so you have to stay focused. You can’t let nothing knock you off. Then you become hot because that’s when everyone knows what you are doing. It takes a lot of humbleness and perseverance. That’s what lane I’m in. I’m accepting that. I’ve been on. I’ve been off. I’ve been on and off. Even when I’m off I feel on cause I understand you have to wait for your turn again.

Ingrid: Talk to me about your new venture with TNT Overtime. What was the bridge that connected you to that role?

Michael: A good friend of mine name Kenny Smith and me telling him what I wanted to do and him putting me in position to do it. Then me going out there working with the producers to show them what I can do. That was it. Not too many people let you do that, because people are selfish and they don’t want to help the next person. It was Kenny Smith. That’s my man. I told him what I wanted to do. He said I think you would be good for it. Then he plugged me in and I’m going for it. Now I got a commercial on the site. Every week I’m on NBA.com, and lovin’ it. I’m lovin’ it. It’s hot. It’s fun to me. I feel like I’m 22 or something. I’m just moving…energy. And I am just getting started. I got a whole season to go to do hot stuff.

Ingrid: With that excitement and do you turn to plug somebody else in? Do you find that you in your career have been one of those people that connect people?

Michael: Yeah, I feel like I turn people on. I’ve opened doors for people. I’ve done my part. I feel like now it’s coming full circle. Now when I need something it’s coming from other places—from those that I have helped.

Ingrid: Being a man of vision, purpose, a business man, producer, writer, artist and more, how important is the company you keep? (Those you keep in your inner circle, mentors, people you keep close…)

Michael: To be honest with you, some of my friends are trying to “get it”. I don’t really run with a circle that has a lot of money that can rent jets or stay on the top floor of hotels. My crew is the crew that is making ends meet by hook or crook. So 99% of my time I am in the hustling dinner, lunch or breakfast conversations. I’m never in an environment where things are comfortable because I am always listening to what they are trying to do. That keeps me going because those are the people I like to be around. Only because nine times out of ten, they have personality. They got real stories and they are living in the real world. I love a crew like that. That has been my inspiration to keep myself with a crew to remind myself of what it could be like.

Ingrid: Wow! That is deep. Most times, even in business training, people tell you to center yourself around movers and shakers.

Michael: It’s true. I want to answer that in two ways. In my personal world, my friends are nine to five or by hook or crook, let’s keep hustling, let’s keep “getting it.” But in my business world, I have a rolodex of people that I can pick up the phone and call like Kenny Smith, a president at any record label, a CEO at any liquor company or a VP or director at a sneaker brand like Nike or Adidas. Those are the people I keep in my rolodex because those are the people I like to move and shake with. But after I make those calls and I’m trying to go to the sports bar, then I want to kick it with my crew that I know are going to keep me where I need to be.

Ingrid: So many times you see people who idolize the entourage, but in reality I think “the crew” is smaller than people imagine.

Michael: Your circle is your reality so you don’t always want everybody in your circle ‘cause that’s how people get to know your reality. So my crew is very small because when I talk, I want to be able to speak how I feel. If I am having a bad burn or I’m feeling like things ain’t right, I don’t want to have to look around and bite my tongue because I got too many people at the table. I want to be able to say what I say because I am around people and that’s how I can be. So my crew is very small.

Ingrid: Today, our youth are faced with and are experiencing things far more than ever before. How important is your spiritual life to you, and what have you found to be a drive for you to impact future generations?

Michael: My mom, my minister, my bishop…the people that are tangible. The prayers that I send up everyday and the ones that come down everyday. I am so in my connection, and in my circle and in my routine that that’s it. Those are some things that I go to when I need to open up and ask questions, and I wait on the answers ‘cause I know they are going to come from different places and people. So it’s very important especially in this business ‘cause there are so many let downs. And even when you are on top, it’s a let down because it is a sign in your journey that the only way you can go now is down.

Ingrid: What’s next for you?

Michael: The next thing I see is putting a personality on TV that people can gravitate to. The idea that if I go and join a sports TV show or take that into clothes or take that into doing some car dealer stuff, people will follow. Whatever it is I do that takes social skills and personality, people follow you because they like you and they feel like they can relate. As long as you are taking them somewhere they can respect or that they want to be a part of. You can take that personality anywhere. I could switch over to golf and be the guy that hangs out and throws the after-party after Tiger Woods wins championships and still make that cool—because I know that that’s not where everybody is going right now. Just like black people converged on the Kentucky Derby. That wasn’t a big thing for horseracing the big party in Louisville, but now that’s a hot thing because somebody filled the void. I will continue to watch TV, read the media and check the Internet, and say ok, “where isn’t everybody going ‘cause that’s where I’m going.

Ingrid: Is that the “Sporty Rich” lifestyle?

Michael: You know what “Sporty Rich” is though Ingrid? It’s dressing down looking like money. See you could go with a pair of jeans, a pair of clean Air Force Ones, put a t-shirt on then put on a $500 blazer, and freak it with a nice belt, a couple of jewels that look like you phat and over doing it. Then you could walk in a room and command the same type of respect as the man with the hard bottom shoes with a tie on. Because you are looking like you got money but at the same time you are looking comfortable at the party.

Ingrid: I love it! That is the “Sporty Rich” lifestyle?

Michael: Yeah, you know and that’s it. Sporty Rich is that. It’s a comfortable way of being somewhere looking like money, and the person that is dressed up can look at you and say, “Man I should have gone and changed my outfit if I knew you were going to sport that. I think I over did it.

Ingrid: Exactly. So not only are you commanding the room, you are being the move of the room.

Michael: That’s right. You are giving the room balance. Then remember, you know and I know, think about it. It ain’t what you wear. It’s actually who’s wearing it. That’s where the social skills come from to magnetically pull people in to say, “Yo, I’m going over there to sit with Mike. He looks like he got a “corner”. What are they talking about over there. That’s Sporty Rich too, because it’s an inviting character that moves. It’s athletic, youthful and fun. Then after that, the lifestyle is when you look at everyone in the corner, those are all the people that are attracted to the same thing. Being in the corner, having fun talking about what they want to. Now the party isn’t in the front of the room it’s in the back of the room

Ingrid: Is that the inspiration behind Sporty Rich Enterprise?

Michael: Exactly. Once I get my musical artists and I release new artists, they are going to have on Sporty Rich clothes. In the videos, in my basketball tournaments, my parties, my community service things, all of those things will start to give the name some type of identity. But right now, I am rockin’ the look. When you look at me, I am Sporty Rich right now. I’m branding the name.

Ingrid: Now that is hot. That’s an approach a lot of people do take. That’s a different approach that I think people truly miss in reality. You become what it is that you desire other people to do first. You become “it”. You live “it”. You breathe “it”. You are “it”. Then people can’t help but gravitate toward it because it’s you. You are the key

Michael: Exactly. This is true.

Ingrid: You have a blank sheet of paper to express yourself “freestyle”. What would you say to the world so we can feel the real essence of you?

Michael: Be personable. Be approachable and reliable. That’s me. Those are my basic principles. To be personable that means you want people to be involved, and they can approach you. To be reliable means to be a man of your word. If you say you are going to do something, you make it happen. If I say 10 and I am 10-20, I have to give you the real on why I am 20 minutes late. I have to respect the fact that you have a job and a calling. I look at this as just as important as if this were People Magazine or Rolling Stone.

Ingrid: Is there ever a time that being an approachable person or “real” makes you too vulnerable?

Michael: No. Where I am from, I don’t feel I need to put funkiness or edginess in it. I apply that when necessary. I will never be that guy. I don’t wear on my forehead that I can get funky. If you know me, you know I can. You can look at my crew and tell I can get funky (laughs). It is what it is.

Ingrid: We hear that a lot. “It is what it is”. What is it really?

Michael: It’s being clear first of all. The game we are in, one has to respect what we’re doing, and I think “real recognizes real”. You can’t fool people all the time. You can only fool people that want to be fooled. That’s why it’s important for me to be a certain way, and approach it that way. That’s my mindset. If something comes up in the wash, I apply accordingly. You can’t last 25 years in this game with a bunch of footprints on your forehead. You have to stand up and know what you are doing, and people have to respect your movement. Or you are right. People will just walk right past you or over you when you are trying to be just the humble person in the room.

Ingrid: You see a lot in the business. You see people in their careers start out being what everybody else tells them to be to make sells. Then they start to realize and then try to develop and come into their own. However, they still straddle the fence between who they are and what other people of told them. Does that really impact longevity?

Michael: I think that’s just growth. I think everyone comes from humble beginnings. I think once you make money and you move along in the business, life becomes better for you. I think some people don’t realize that you have to change your subject once you change your lifestyle. They feel as though they have to be promoting their humble beginnings because they don’t feel selling the story of “I made it”. I’m here and I got it because I know the people want to hear and root for the underdog. At the same sense, you are not living in the projects anymore. You’re in the video with the Range Rover and Bentley. So talking about being in the pissy hallways is not even making sense so just move on and deal with it. Intrigue the people lyrically and write about something else that they can relate to, because they are not going to believe you. You got another kid that’s really living in that environment. Changing your subject matter helps to give them real life principles to help teach a person how to move to the next level.

Ok now that the interview has ended, let me say that I hope you are just as enlightened, intrigued and stirred by my interview with Michael as I was. I hope there was something that my questions brought to light for you to not only internalize, but releases a change in you that moves you on the surface to a deeper next phase in your journey. Stay on the move with Michael Bivins at http://www.myspace.com/thesporty  and TNT Overtime at www.nba.com . I will check back in with Michael soon, because as he said, “I am sure we will be speaking again soon about something he is doing or that I am doing.” As one might say, we both are embracing opportunity, “gettin’ it” and working it to our advantage for the advancement of others. Doesn’t that at the end of the day advance us too?