Before the Tycoon Music Festival became a star-studded annual event, says founder Anthony (Ant) Wilson, it was “just a spur-of-the-moment thing.”
As the longtime manager of R&B superstar Chris Brown — who’s headlining the latest edition of Tycoon this weekend in Detroit — Wilson operates in a busy orbit of artists. A new festival was a chance to bring together acts he deals with regularly, and that inaugural 2019 show in Atlanta featured Brown, Kendrick Lamar, Trey Songz and others.
On Saturday at a sold-out Little Caesars Arena, Brown will once again lead the bill, topping a powerhouse lineup of R&B and hip-hop that includes Wiz Khalifa, Gucci Mane, Fabolous and Detroit rapper Skilla Baby.
And there’s a whole slew of unannounced acts on tap, performing both individual sets and collaborations.
“I want to focus on Detroit people,” Wilson says. “Tycoon is always about surprise guests — there are more surprise guests than there are name guests. I intend to give (fans) more than their money’s worth.”
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With this year’s Tycoon fest happening on the eve of 4/20, the world’s unofficial weed holiday, Wilson curated the lineup with a certain theme in mind.
“I don’t smoke myself, but I wanted to bring some people who are known to smoke,” he says. “So to celebrate 4/20 for everybody in Detroit, that’s what it is — a little singing, a little smoking, so Detroit can have some fun.”
As a Cleveland native, Wilson is well acquainted with the Motor City. He spent a lot of time in Detroit during his days working with Young Jeezy, including the 2013 signing of hip-hop collective Doughboyz Cashout to Jeezy’s CTE World label.
He’s also an executive producer of the Starz series “BMF,” the urban crime drama set in Detroit, whose local guest stars have included Eminem and Jalen Rose. The show’s fourth season will roll out in June, but Wilson declines to drop any hints about the upcoming plot, saying only: “There’s a lot of Detroit in there.”
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So after runs in spots such as Atlanta and Houston, the Tycoon Music Festival deserves to happen in the D, Wilson says.
“I just love Detroit,” he says. “And Detroit always gave me so much love that I was like: I just want to give back.”
Most recently, he headed to town in January with his girlfriend, R&B star Monica, where the couple made a splash at a Detroit Pistons game, strikingly outfitted in coats from Dittrich Furs.
Monica will once again be dressed to impress Saturday when she’s among the VIPs in the house as Tycoon takes over LCA.
“She fell in love with Detroit, too, so she’s all excited. She picked out her outfit already — so my accountant tells me,” Wilson says with a laugh.
It doesn’t hurt that Detroit has been one of the strongest markets for Chris Brown, stretching back to his early shows at venues such as Joe Louis Arena. The Tycoon fest comes less than a year after Brown headlined a sold-out Little Caesars Arena, and he’ll be back in August for a pair of dates at Ford Field, part of his Breezy Bowl XX tour. He began rehearsals three weeks ago.
Twenty years after breaking out with “Run It!,” Brown’s career seems to have hit a new level. His latest record, “11:11,” earned him four nominations and a win for best R&B album at last year’s Grammy Awards, while the hit single “Residuals” sparked a viral singalong craze across social media.
Along with Brown’s upcoming world stadium tour — his first yet — it marks a fresh peak for the 35-year-old singer-dancer. It’s the sort of career acceleration not often experienced by an artist two decades in.
“Yeah, and thank God, too. We’re very grateful for that,” says Wilson. “I hope that it just keeps going.”
When the “Residuals” challenge lit up the Internet earlier this year, Brown thanked participating artists and fans, calling it a testament to the power of “real R&B.”
His manager agrees.
“I feel like people are just now seeing the the difference between somebody with a song and a performer,” says Wilson. “You know, just look at other artists and you can see the difference. You could see the artist development that he had to go through. And I feel like that’s what the music game has been missing.”
