The Unusual Story Of Death Row Records Co-Founder Harry-O

**Sam Parr** (0:00)
You told me by age 26, you had 11 different businesses. You said around that in your early or mid 20s, you were producing Broadway shows that you were like in the mix at a very early, early age. How did that kind of come to be? And what were those 11 businesses?
We always just kinda hop into things, but on the pod today, we have Michael Harris. But do you like to go by Harry-O or Michael? What do you like to go by?

**Michael Harris** (0:37)
People call me, people that know me by Harry-O, call me Harry, call me O or Michael, whatever works.

**Sam Parr** (0:44)
So I'll kinda set this up, but basically, I'll tell you, I've read a lot about you, and I've read about a lot of the work that you've done. The way that we got connected was we have a mutual friend named Chris, who has this thing called The Last Mile, which helps people when they get out of prison, helps them get jobs at tech companies, and he's been bragging about you, because I told him, you can't see it now because I redecorated, but on my wall, I used to have a picture of Tupac and Dre and Eazy-E, because I loved NWA, and I loved the rebellious culture of people who created cool stuff. And he goes, hey, you know, I know the guy who is part, you know, part brains behind all that. And I go, what?
And he said who you, you know, he said your name. I go, oh, I've read all about him. And he goes, well, he's my buddy. So that's kind of how we got connected. And so I thought today we can kind of talk a little bit about your story so people can learn about you. But then also we can talk a little bit about business and kind of the stuff that you went through. So you, where are you from?
But you told me by age 26, you had 11 different businesses. You said around that in your early or mid 20s, you were producing Broadway shows that you were like in the mix at a very early, early age. How did that kind of come to be? And what were those 11 businesses?

**Michael Harris** (2:10)
Well, I used to be, I used to own a limousine. First business I had was a limousine service. And that was quite profitable. And also I had a construction company, I had production companies, I had music companies.
I had salons, like beauty salons. I had real estate investment companies. So I was just kind of like all over the place. And I also produced not just concerts and plays, but also I supported clubs in the city as a club.

**Sam Parr** (2:48)
How big was the limo business?

**Michael Harris** (2:51)
I had about 30 cars. But they was luxury limousines. They were ultra scratches.
At the time it was pretty impressive. The style of car that we had, yes.

**Sam Parr** (3:09)
What type of monthly revenue kind of limo business make?

**SPEAKER_3** (3:11)
Man, it depends.

**Michael Harris** (3:14)
I stay pretty booked. I spend a lot of time advertising. So a lot of times I would have, beyond the cars that I possess, I would have people calling me. And so a lot of the services that surrounded me didn't have business. And so I would form out the rest of the business that I didn't have the capacity to serve. So a lot of times I would provide opportunities for the other car services that didn't advertise as much as I did. So maybe somebody needed 100 cars and only had 30, I could provide them with 100 because I would parlay it out to what they call form out to the other companies, which you get 50% of the service that is conducted.
Right, right, but you actually get half.
You get half of what it is because you're the one who initiated the sale.

**Sam Parr** (4:13)
What, how old were you? And how old were you when you had a limo company that had 30, 30 cars?

**Michael Harris** (4:17)
I probably, maybe 23 years old.

**Sam Parr** (4:21)
How on earth does that happen? What age did you start working?

**Michael Harris** (4:25)
Well, I, you know, as a youngster, I started working. I used to work at, I mean, likely places to learn business structure. When I was a kid, I mean, like, until my, like, before I even went to junior high school, I worked at a shoeshine parlor. And at that shoeshine parlor, it was in my neighborhood, but it was two shoeshine parlors. It was one on one end of the corner, and one was on the other end of the corner.