On Thursday (3/17), legendary Rap artist and entrepreneur Bun B addressed an audience at the “Earn Your Masters” pop up event put on by United Masters and the Earn Your Leisure podcast at South By Southwest 2022. Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings of the Earn Your Leisure podcast moderated the fireside chat where Bun shared his experiences in the music business. “You’re not just an artist, you have a business too”, he said. “You have to know not just what it takes to produce a record and get it mixed and mastered and all that. That’s two percent. That’s the easy part. You don’t even have to be good to make successful music, but you have to be smart to build a successful business” the Houston legend said.” Before you know the art, you must know the business.

At the event Bun B stressed the importance of ownership and questioned the need for traditional record labels. “How much of this can we honestly do on our own? How much of this record label do we really need? How many of these things can we sufficiently and consistently execute ourselves at a high level?” B’s narrative falls inline with Earn Your Masters and their vision to fuel financial literacy and education for the next generation of creators. Bun later took hit the stage for a performance at the event.