Five hours before Rauw Alejandro takes the stage for his two-hour concert, his agent, industry veteran Mike G, is skillfully maneuvering through the residential streets of Los Angeles as Beverly Hills turns into Culver City, and then Inglewood. A Partner and music agent at UTA, Mike is in high spirits, and is determined to bypass his native city’s notorious 6 p.m. traffic, ensuring he arrives well in advance of his client’s hour of meet-and-greets at the Inuit Dome.
Alejandro — performing in support of his fifth LP, “Cosa Nuestra,” also the third-highest charting Spanish-language album in the U.S. of 2024 — is the first Latin artist to sell out the new and tech-savvy arena for three consecutive nights.
“We’re talking stadiums for 2026,” Mike tells Variety of Alejandro’s playbook: he’ll finish multiple nights in major arenas this year, release another album and support it with an even larger tour. The current 21-date U.S. leg of this trek, which will extend to Latin America in October, and Europe in June, sold out within just 72 hours of going on sale.
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“With an artist like Rauw, who knows what he wants and where he’s going,” he says, “it’s more about pacing and not skipping any steps.”
It may sound easier said than done coming from someone with Mike’s résumé, but his path to becoming a powerhouse agent was anything but typical. His journey began in radio and sales before he transitioned to artist management. He began managing Chris Brown in 2012, and went on to represent Teyana Taylor and Akon, the latter of whom he still represents through UTA. With no real-life frame of reference, he half-jokingly credits the Hollywood satire “Entourage” as the inspiration for him to start a career in music: “I just thought, ‘I could do that — I could manage someone,’” he says. “And I gotta say, the show has been pretty accurate to the experience.”
In 2024, he signed Cardi B, Quavo and Alejandro to his agency roster, including Lil Wayne, Young Thug, Latto and the Kid Laroi, among others. With a client list as heavy as this one, he starts his days early, and lives by “keeping productive, not busy.”
It’s a method that’s certainly proved successful as Mike helps prepare some of the most highly anticipated tours yet. At the top of the list: Cardi B’s first U.S. arena tour, a 35-city run tentatively scheduled for later this year —“all depending on the timing of her next album,” he notes. Lil Wayne is also set to hit the road this spring and summer, following a career-defining night at Madison Square Garden in June. Meanwhile, Young Thug is planning a brief festival circuit — a symbolic return after two years behind bars — before launching an arena tour later this summer.
“The biggest thing in the way I agent is about building the network behind the artist,” he says. “A huge part of my responsibility on concert days is about ensuring the people we invite to the shows, get to see and feel the complete experience. This is especially true for Rauw since his live shows are a high-selling point of his artistry.
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Rauw’s goal is to get to the main stages. He’s in it for the long haul — he wants the Super Bowl,” he says. Coachella has offered Alejandro a place on their lineup, but “he wants the headlining spot,” adds Mike, “and understandably so, since the percentage of Latin headliners at festivals continues to be slim.”
The Latin Grammy-winning reggaeton star finalized his deal with UTA in the latter half of the 2024, shortly after inking a new management team of three — business manager José Juan Torres, his longtime personal manager Matías Solaris, and Jorge “Pepo” Ferradas, founder and CEO of FPM Entertainment. Under UTA’s helm, Alejandro is building connections in the sports world, and is getting close to finalizing a deal with Mike’s good friend Michael Rubin and his digital sports brand Fanatics, which is built on sports betting and gaming, live commerce, fan events and more.
Alejandro is also looking to produce films, and recently connected with the indie entertainment company A24 Films. His appreciation for visual storytelling is reflected in the theatrical and Broadway-style approach to his high-scale “Cosa Nuestra” tour, which travels from city to city with 22 trucks to make the on-stage magic look effortless. “We’ve made it a priority to invite filmmakers, directors and producers to come see this show to get him started in the right direction,” says Mike.
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Chasing these objectives for his clients is an everyday affair, but in his own time, Mike has also built a strong presence in the investment world. He is a limited partner for Andreessen Horowitz and is an angel investor in several ventures, including Lance Collins’ new beverage brand, Recover180, and Half Day and TGL Golf, the innovative golf league co-founded by Tiger Woods.
He is also a minority owner of the Texas Rancher’s Pickleball League and an investor in Johnson Energy Storage, a lithium battery energy company backed by Myles Garrett and Magic Johnson. Additionally, Mike has invested in Slate, the official sponsor of UFC, alongside Maxx Crosby and Dana White.
“It takes a village to do what we do. But individually, when I finally reach the end of my day, I’m happy if I moved the ball down the field,” he says. “Even just a little.”
Marco Perretta
Mike ends his night at Alejandro’s concert posted just outside the backstage doors, waiting and conversing with the artist’s buzzing team until the sweaty, adrenaline-charged star finally bursts onto the scene — igniting an eruption of cheers and high-fives. If it weren’t a Monday, the crew might’ve taken the party up to Bird Street Club, an ultra-exclusive hideaway tucked above Sunset Boulevard.
But instead, the agent slides back into his Rolls-Royce, the city lights reflecting off the hood, and heads home with a grin and a shrug: “It’s way past my bedtime.”
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