Raised by a single mom whose fearless dedication inspired her to become her own powerhouse, Lanz Pierce doesn’t back down, and clearly understood what autonomy looked like from a young age. “She'd be so tired, she'd commute into the city from Jersey,” Pierce says of her mom. “There’s no room to complain, no ‘woe is me.’ I come from a line of small heroes who were like, ‘you either do it or you don't, and if you don’t, that's on you.’
Motivated by the big-voiced bravado of hip-hop—including Eminem, DMX, and Nas—Piece felt trapped by the school system (despite doing well academically and being offered a John Hopkins scholarship early). Home life was unstable, she challenged authority, and always felt there was something else available. “As a kid, you have that naivete that ‘I’m gonna be a star,’" says Pierce. “I started cutting class, finding recording studios, looking up ads.”
Looking back, Pierce confesses that music stuck because of proximity and accessibility (movies were still rented or seen in theaters). Her babysitter blasted hip-hop pulling into the school zone pickup. Her mother always wanted to be a singer, her grandfather made records in the ‘40s, and, while her father was an attorney, he DJed on the side. “I used to go with him and sit on his lap at the radio station,” says Pierce. Possibility was everywhere, and the road led beyond music, into video direction (for herself and Nellie), and work in fintech. Determined to get signed to a label with Jimmy Iovine, she once told her agent that, if it wasn’t Iovine, she didn’t want to be signed. Working through New York’s club scene as a teen, rising up the hip-hop ranks, Pierce garnered attention from Tony Yayo’s “So Seductive” producer, Punch (managed by Michael Austin), who encouraged Nile Rogers to check her out. Pierce’s rapping and singing in the booth made an impression. “I was doing the Drake thing before Drake, that rap-sing formula. Nobody was doing it,” adds Pierce, “especially females.” Her “Grow Up” track with Rogers (Dr. Dre’s partner, “Focus”) got Pierce signed with Interscope, later touring with Snoop Dogg. “Jimmy Iovine signed me because I came with Nile Rogers [as] this little white girl rapper from New York City,” she admits.
Taking time to recalibrate after the deal ended, Pierce launched her own label (Innovators & Aviators, now under Luminary Creative Agency), but was hurt no one tried to comfort her. “You’re a kid, you drop out of school, your whole identity is this—and it feels like death,” she reveals. “I was so angry that I didn't make music for quite some time.” The majors also seemed less relevant. “I looked at guys like Childish Gambino and Chance the Rapper, they were putting out music without a major,” shares Pierce. Finding an investor at a GRAMMY party, Pierce released more music, watching where the momentum was going: tech.
Creating a branding agency to help founders with their identity felt similar to the visuals created in her music videos. Pierce found herself in fractional COO roles. Parallels between music and tech became clear. “The label [is] a bank. It has a mandate like venture capitalism. It's not personal; it’s all followers,” she shares. “If you're a pre-rev company, they won't invest past a certain amount because they want you to find product market fit and prove you have an audience, but there's exceptions. If you have something genius, that they have never seen, and somehow have celebrity backing, they'll go out of their way. The label is the same.”
A film in the works, and new record on the way, “Get It,” “Like That,” and “I Loved Her” are out now.
Contact jon@prospectpr.com; visit instagram.com/lanzpierce
