Michael Bivins Explains The Magic Of His Docufilm, ‘The Hustle Of @617MikeBiv’
The legacy of Michael Bivins is being told in his highly-anticipated documentary, The Hustle Of @617MikeBiv.
The film, which goes into detail about the personal life and professional career of the New Edition and Bell Biv DeVoe frontman, will premiere exclusively on ALLBLK on August 24.
Bivins spoke with VIBE about what led him to tell his story in this way following the success of BET Network’s The New Edition Story.
“Man, because I always had the vibe and I was inspired by The Black Godfather, that was on Netflix with Clarence Avant,” he began. “I thought his story was how I see myself, what he does and what he did for others, because I consult so many other people and I’m not even a consultant firm and never charge them a dime. But my phone rings from artists all the time about, ‘Biv, help me this, help do this to help me do that.’ And I just gave away the game for free.”
He continued, “Then one day I was doing the radio interview, and they said, ‘Mike, man, why don’t you tell your story?’ And then I looked like I saw a ghost. I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Man, you got jewels, Mike. After doing this interview, I would love to see your trajectory, your route, how you got here, what you did.’ And I remembered that. So I took a leap of faith and started filming.”
The 54-year-old credited his New Edition brothers for changing the trajectory of his life. “I could have been one of the million trying to get out and [play] ball, but I got out with four or five guys who helped me change my life and where I was going. And in actuality they needed me as much as I needed them. They had the talent; I had the street knowledge. I had the clothes. I had the audience that used to come and see us. So I gave the group a foundation at talent shows, and I just realized in this documentary, it’s a cross between sports, music, family, [being an] executive, and the little tidbits that I never even shared with people.”
Bivins believes his documentary will “stand the tests of time,” not just because of its content, but because of its soundtrack. “I’m getting my Curtis Mayfield on, I’m getting Waiting to Exhale on, I’m getting my Boomerang on, and I’m getting my New Jack City on because that soundtrack was there. All above the ground. I could go on for days, but I just don’t think I’ve seen anything like it. And that’s what the goal was, too once again do something that people could look at as another blueprint.”
From his dreams of being a NBA player to joining New Edition and later being the visionary behind Boyz II Men and more, the documentary features guests like his five bandmate brothers, Jay-Z, Fat Joe, Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson, Doug E. Fresh, Snoop Dogg, Quincy Jones, Andre Harrell and others.
Watch below.
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