How to Make It in America: French Montana's Manager Gaby Acevedo on How to Manage a Musician

Gabriel "Gaby" Acevedo has been in the music business since he was 16. The 39-year-old Bronx native got his start in the mid-'90s working for his brother's independent marketing company before eventually meeting legendary music executive Steve Rifkind who was then running Loud Records. Rifkind took Gaby under his wing, and by the late '90s he was working songs on behalf of Loud Records to New York stations Hot 97 and WBLS. His job basically amounted to hanging out and buying drinks for radio big wigs in New York, and later for the entire East Coast, and charging it to his corporate card. "I had the best job" he explains, "I was having fun and everybody knew me." But it wasn't all fun and games, as the job also taught him about industry politics and how to build relationships.

When Loud closed shop in 2002, Gaby got plenty of job offers. But he felt a loyalty to Steve Rifkind, so instead of finding work elsewhere, he told Rifkind he'd wait until he found a new gig. His loyalty paid off because when Rifkind founded SRC Records that same year he named Gaby the president and a co-owner. At SRC, Gaby helped break Akon, going on the road with the eventual star for an entire year in a Yukon Denali. Along the way, he befriended an emerging rapper who also hailed from the Bronx: French Montana. Once SRC came to an end in 2012, Gaby was richer than he ever dreamed of being and was no longer interested in the music business. But thanks to French, just when he thought he was out, it pulled him back in.

Nowadays, Gaby is Montana's manager. With years of industry experience under his belt and a popping artist as his client, we talked to Gaby about what it's like to manage an artist like Montana. But really, his story is about how a kid from the Bronx made it in America.

As told to Insanul Ahmed (@Incilin)

“French was a friend of mine who used to come by all the time to do interviews with all the artists [I was working with] because he had a DVD called Cocaine City: Music on Drugs. I was trying to find shit for SRC Records at the time so I was trying to sign him. French trusted me because I never misled him, I always told him the truth.

“When French got hot later with a record he put out, he called me up like, 'Yo, man, I trust you.'

“At one time, French wanted to sign to me. I was like, ‘Why do you want to sign to me when you’ve been so successful on your own? Sign to somebody who has a label like Akon.’ I was like, ‘Let’s do a shopping deal with Akon. I don’t want you to be stuck somewhere.’

“At that point he didn’t really understand. I was like, ‘Do a shopping deal, trust me, because if it doesn’t work it’s cool and everybody is happy and you’re not making no enemies.’ I did a shopping deal with Akon, but I never signed him to Akon. He had a year to shop French, but that didn’t work out, he’s still friends, and he walked off.

“When French got hot later with a record he put out, he called me up like, 'Yo, man, I trust you.' I’m like, 'I’m cool.' At this point, I didn’t really want to be part of the music industry. I was opening up liquor stores and buildings, I didn’t really want to do this. I was going to chill. But we kept talking and talking, and he convinced me to come back. I ended up managing him.”

“If I’m not a hundred percent sure of something, I am going to tell him I am unsure of it. If he asks me something I give him my honest opinion. But I always give him a reason. It’s not like, 'This shit is going to work, trust me.' It’s, 'This shit is going to work, because of this, this, this, and that. These are my thoughts.’

You are making decisions for them that are lifetime decisions. If you sign to this guy today, that’s a lifetime signing. You can’t just go back tomorrow.

“Sometimes it’ll be like, this show is booked 95 percent, but I don’t have a deposit, I don’t have a contract, I don’t have anything. So I’m not going to tell him it’s done. I am going to tell him it’s not done because they haven’t signed the contract and they haven’t sent the deposit. Instead of going, 'It’s done, I just spoke to him. They’re going to wire the money tomorrow.' I would never tell him that. I would tell him when I have the money or when I have the contract.

“As a manager you become almost like an older brother or father figure to them. They count on you for a lot, so trust has a big play. You are making decisions for them that are lifetime decisions. If you sign to this guy today, that’s a lifetime signing. You can’t just go back tomorrow. If there’s a deposit for a show and somebody offers you money for another one the same day, we got to honor this guy. You can’t go back on the guy.”

“French was already moving before I came in. He was already doing shows, he had a bunch of mixtapes out, he had a video out, and he’s a very smart guy. He handled everything himself. He was doing his own booking, and he was doing his own videos, his own records, his own studio with a guy by the name of Easy. They was moving, so there wasn’t too much explaining I had to do. The brushing up I had to do involved the politics: How did the politics work in the music industry? I told him how it works.

My advice was never commit to anything. You always say, 'Let me speak to my manager. I don’t know my calendar.'

“My advice was never commit to anything. You always say, 'Let me speak to my manager. I don’t know my calendar.' You don’t want to go to the radio and say, 'Yeah, let’s do it!' Then you just gave them a verbal agreement. Then you have that guy running back to tell the company, 'We got French!' When in reality he may have been booked somewhere else. So you never ever give them answers.

“I told him being in the music industry is like everybody living in the same building. Everybody knows the bullshit, everything you do. You don’t want no problems. Anything that has to do with the negativity, you have to curve it into becoming something positive. Hey French, do you have beef with this guy? 'My new single just came out. It’s doing great.' You know, you swerve them in a nice way. You know?”

“[When French sometimes doesn't want to do an interview] I explain to him, 'These people have a million artists besides you. So they don’t care if you don’t do the interview, they’ll just never interview you again. If you want to blow this chance just because you have issues, well, that man has issues too. He may not even want to interview you, but it’s his job so he’s here. It’s on you what you want to do.’

If you want to blow this chance just because you have issues, well that man has issues too. He may not even want to interview you.

“I’ll say, ‘Either you are going to do the interview, and do what’s right for your career. Or you’re going to say fuck this interview, fuck this network, and they’ll never fuck with you again. It’s on you because there will be a time when you’re not hot and hopefully someone calls and goes, ‘French has always been cool with us, let’s interview him. Let’s help him out.’’

“It happens like that, you know? That’s where the politics come. They could say, 'This dude is not hot anymore, but every time he interviews, he’s our guy. He may not be on top, but let’s help push his record a little bit.' It happens like that. Relationships and politics.”

“Everything I do with French is in-house. My booking agent is in-house, he works for us. My road manager works for us, my photographer works for us, my video guy works for us, my security only works for us. It’s making sure everybody is on the same page.

“We’re like a family. If I eat steak, we all eat steak. If I eat hot dogs, we all eat hot dogs. If I stay in a nice hotel, we all stay. We all take care of each other. If they go out to eat and I stay back, they’ll bring me some food back. One guy stays behind, it’s our policy to bring him food back. If he goes, 'I’ll pay you back.' No, none of that bro. Never deny someone food or somewhere to stay. What you go through and your issues, we will all go through it with you and be there for you.

“If we are moving at 8 o’clock, that means we need everybody to be there at 7 o’clock because he might want to leave earlier or later. We’re never going to wait for nobody. I’m not waiting for the security guy to get here, I’m not waiting for the guy who packs the bag. I’m not waiting for none of them people. The only person we wait for is French.

If I say 8 o’clock we’re leaving and French decides to leave at 11, and y’all been here since 7, oh well, it’s your job. 

“If I say 8 o’clock we’re leaving and French decides to leave at 11, and y’all been here since 7, oh well, it’s your job. We know when he likes to move and what times he likes to move. I’m not going to call an early flight for him, that’s not going to work. Unless he requests it because he wants to be somewhere at a certain time. His flights are always after 1 o’clock. We know what hotels he likes. What food he likes. We know everything.

“At the same time, we learn from our mistakes. We didn’t know this in the beginning, and every day we’re learning something new. Now he’s working out and doing CrossFit and he’s on a health kick. So we’re not eating anymore fried foods. If he has a set we are going to be eating with him. We’re not going out to eat anymore like we used to. I lost 10 pounds just by eating good. I’ve worked out too, I’m like, 'Hey! I’m starting to look a little better too.'

“I’m away a lot, but when I’m home I’m with my family. You know I’m away, but no matter where I’m at in the country I set my alarm and I call my kids before they go to school. I call them when they get home and at night. You can’t forget about your family. There’s times where I’m on the road and I’m with French, I tell him I got to go for a minute to sit down with my family and it's no problem. He’ll go, 'All right, go ahead.' There’s times where he’ll tell me, 'Don’t book no dates, I’m going to spend time with my son these days.' I’m like, 'All right, cool.'”

“I give very little input when it comes to the music. That’s all French. I go to the studio to see what’s going on. Once the songs are finished, I can tell you this is the single and how you should pick your artwork, I’m that guy. I’m not the guy who can sit in the studio and go, 'Oh that’s crazy!' I’m not an A&R. I know talent, and I know when a song will blow. I can give him advice on a feature if he’s like, 'Who should I put on this record?' But for the most part, it’s him.

I’m one of those people who knows that if they’re not qualified to give their opinion on certain things, then don’t.

“I’m one of those people who knows that if they’re not qualified to give their opinion on certain things, then don’t. I could tell you about this and this, but I’m not going to tell you things I don’t know about. You have to know when to step in and when to step out. When to give my opinion and when not to give my opinion.

“There are times where you want to give your opinion, but you’re like, 'I’m not going to say shit. I’m just going to keep it to myself.' Don’t give your opinion if you don’t know what you’re talking about. Don’t do it to be heard, or just to have voice and authority. That ain’t cool.”

“There’s a routine. I have kids so I’m up early, like 7 o’clock. I usually give French the first call around then. I call him usually, and if he’s sleeping he won’t pick up or he’ll pick up and tell me he’s asleep. Then I usually end up going to his house. I’m at his house early like 9 or 10 o’clock when he’s in New York.

We in and out. We do what we got to do and leave. We don’t want no problems.

“I work out of his house. He’s got a studio in his house, so we work in the office. We’re kind of always together. When we stay in L.A. we stay in the same house.

“It’s always the same people, it’s not like we got a bunch of different people. We got the same people around, which is the true definition of a million friends. You’re always going to see him with the same four or five people. We only keep people who are working. You’re never going to see an extra guy who’s hanging out or bullshitting. Anybody sticking around is working. If he’s going to the BET Awards or something big, we just bring some of our friends out. Even then it’s not a big entourage, just like three extra guys. We in and out. We do what we got to do and leave. We don’t want no problems.”

“Be patient if you’re trying to win. Nothing happens overnight. Whatever comes quick goes quick. Patience is everything. Don’t give up. Some days you’re going to wake up in the morning, and go, 'I can’t do this.' Other days you’ll wake up and go, 'This is the best job in the world.' Not every day is a good day, and you got to be able to deal with a bunch of people’s personalities.

Sometimes you have to put yourself aside as a manager, and what you’re going through, and worry about what your client is going through.

“Sometimes you have to put yourself aside as a manager, and what you’re going through, and worry about what your client is going through. There’s days where I’m going through my own personal stuff whether it be at home, my daughter is sick, or my wife is upset I haven’t been home in a week. That’s personal, but I can’t bring that to work. I have to put it aside and keep it moving.

“There are times when I have no down time when I go home. Sometimes it’s as simple as paying the bills, if I don’t have time to call in. You have to be able to put your ego to the side, your pride to the side, your own issues to the side. It’ll work out some day. There will be a time when you got people working for you and doing things so you don’t have to worry about all the day-to-day.”