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How Egypt Dean Turned Childhood Royalties into a Seven-Figure Sports Drink Investment

Egypt
How Egypt Dean Turned Childhood Royalties into a Seven-Figure Sports Drink Investment
The son of two musical legends discusses learning due diligence, his early musical roots, and balancing business with NBA dreams.

Egypt Dean is living a life few teenagers could fathom. While most high schoolers are simply looking forward to securing a driver’s license or figuring out prom, Dean balances a demanding schedule on the Nike EYBL grassroots basketball circuit with a seven-figure investment portfolio and a musical pedigree that includes a production credits for some rap’s biggest names.

Growing up with Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz as parents naturally immersed him in the arts, but Dean has worked to accomplish a few things distinctly on his own. That’s not to say he pretends he doesn’t have the advantages that he so clearly does, nah, quite the opposite. He’s not ashamed to admit that his parents help him when needed. Armed with perfect pitch, he treats the piano as a daily sanctuary and an instrument for spontaneous creation. This raw ear for music led to an unforgettable childhood milestone: at just five years old, after meeting Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl, Dean crafted a beat from scratch that the Grammy- and Pulitzer Prize winning artist used on a track for his 2016 compilation, Untitled Unmastered.

The royalty income from that early production work provided the initial capital for his latest venture: entering the boardroom. Instead of spending his earnings, the young polymath chose to reinvest them. Guided by his father’s seasoned advice, trust, and team building, Dean recently made a seven-figure strategic investment in Ballislife Hydro. He first discovered the wellness sports drink as a competitor at the Ballislife All-American Camp. Recognizing its cleaner, low-sugar nutritional profile and authentic connection to basketball culture, he backed the product organically before officially buying into the company.

While traveling with family, Boardroom caught up with Dean while he was in South Korea. Over a Zoom call, Dean unpacked the rigorous standards he applies to his investments and reflects on the surreal memories of his early music success. He also discusses the spontaneous challenge of learning a new piano arrangement at four in the morning for the New York Knicks championship parade, offering a rare glimpse into the mind of a driven fifteen-year-old who takes his future completely seriously, yet never forgets to enjoy just the game.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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BOARDROOM: How do you even begin to assess investments? What’s the very first step for you?

Egypt Dean: Well, my dad is a very, very, very good investor. I’ve learned from a very young age that he’s a great investor. And he’s taught me that investing early is a very good thing to do in the long run. So choosing something that’s basketball-related would be the best step. In the beginning, it wasn’t drink-related. It was more focused on basketball: What can we invest in basketball? But all of that is a little bit too general. So we looked more into the drink world and we found Ballislife Hydro in that process.

You’re the target audience for this. What were you looking for in a product like this?

[It has to] have the proper ingredients listed on the drink, because on some drinks, what they put on the drink is not 100% true. And that is a very key thing because I take my body very seriously. I try and maximize my physical and mental health by eating [and] drinking things that are very nutritious for you. And then, obviously, something that tastes amazing and fuels me up for daily life.

What was the testing process like?

I was actually introduced a little bit later than the testing process. There was already a base flavor, fruit punch. I got involved because I was playing in Ballislife All-American Camp in EBC down in SoCal and they put their testers in the camp. That’s what sparked it. But now there’s a bunch of different flavors because of the different testing. And people are attracted to different things. So [we] put the most attractive things in the drinks.

What’s your favorite?

It’s definitely the White Peach Tea.

You mentioned your dad being a part of your due diligence process. What has he taught you about what to look for? What do you need to see before you invest?

The first thing is them actually being truthful with their word. People sometimes give you a bunch of things — you could do this, this, and this in the company if you just invest this. But then once you actually invest in that company, they’re not always true to their word on that. So having a lot of follow-up meetings, having a lot of thought behind an investment. Because investing is a really big deal. You’re putting a big amount of money — or even small — but you’re putting trust into that company and hopefully making it go bigger than ever before. It’s definitely a trust thing. And another thing would probably be if you’re actually in love with the product. Because you could invest in something that you don’t really like, and then it ends up being more of a hassle to keep up with it. When you love something it’s just much better — you actually really want to be keyed into the investment.

The other thing is working with a team. Your dad has an amazing team. Have you begun to build a team of your own?

My dad is probably my only teammate, along with one of the executive directors in the hydration [company]. Those two people are probably the hand-in-hand. My mom as well when needed, but my dad would be the most.

So going forward, as you assess other investments, they would be the people who you tap and speak to.

Correct. Main person would be my father because of his prior knowledge, and through his success and failures he can tell me what to do.

Aside from the investment, the story is that the money you’re investing is from your production work. You produced a song for Kendrick Lamar. I would like to go back briefly to that moment. It was a while ago now, but do you remember what it was like to begin to craft that beat?

Absolutely, actually. This is actually one of my more vivid memories of childhood.

That’s crazy that it’s a vivid memory from childhood.

So we met at the Super Bowl. Kendrick comes off as more of a shy, introverted guy when he’s not really introduced to people. He opens up, of course, and [we] actually found a bond in that. We were talking and I was like, “I can make a song for you,” ’cause I was getting new to the piano. And he actually accepted that. Fast forward, all of a sudden, I woke up and I was like, I have an idea. I started humming it all the way to the studio. My dad has a video of me humming it all the way to the studio. I started playing it on the piano. I was like, Okay, this sounds fine. Then we finished the beat, sent it to Kendrick, and he loved it. And then I forgot about it. It took a long time. It was actually a long process. It was like maybe five to seven months and then my dad came in and was like, “He made the song!” He put the song out. I was like, Wow. We listened to the song. He quoted me in it and rapped about me a little bit. And that was that.

At that time did you have any idea of the implications of you producing that song for Kendrick Lamar?

Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

When did it actually hit you? At what age did it fully come to you?

I would say probably like 10 or 11. Whenever Black Panther came out and he made the songs with SZA and all that. I was like, Wait a second. And then it hit me. I was like, Wow, I actually did something with him. I was very blessed to do that.

What’s your production regimen like now?

Oh, man. I play piano almost every day. That’s something that I do to get away — I love to get away on piano. I like playing piano because I have perfect pitch. I could hear anything and I just play it. I’m like, Ooh, this sounds nice, play it on the piano. But incorporated through that, I could still do some things on the MPC, incorporate it with the piano and then do something like that. But obviously not for people, it’s for my own self. But if people were to call, I’m definitely ready for that.

So you’re playing piano more than you are outright producing and making beats now?

Yeah, because piano is more like an everyday thing and it’s more like something that I’m close to mastering in a sense. Rather than producing and all that stuff [are] things that I’d have to take a little more time with. But I could do both ultimately.

You mentioned people calling. I’m assuming you’ve gotten calls from people asking for beats. What is that like? Are you turning people down?

The people that call are very, very big in the rapping business I would say. So it’s hard to turn them down. But when they ask me straight up, I have to usually think about what I’m doing because it’s different genres. There are some producers that are calling me that just want the raw piano and there are some rappers that are asking for the whole set. So it takes a little bit of thought behind it, ’cause you want to make the perfect beat for a person. That’s the hardest thing about producing or making a song for someone, because you don’t want them to not like it at all. You want it to be perfect. But with these people, it’s a lot easier because they have similar songs that they make. It’s the same flow, so it’s easier to make, but it takes a long time to be honest.

The idea of calling you in for an instrument part of a song is interesting. Is that something you see yourself doing more of — contributing a piano piece to a producer’s beat, or working with them as a session player in that way?

That would be fun, but my time has been consumed so much by basketball recently that I haven’t really had open space for any of that. I’ve gone to a lot of showcases and I just finished up [Nike] EYBL, so I’ve been pretty busy lately. But as free time opens up, I would definitely be up for a few sessions with different people.

Speaking of your time — you’re playing ball, you’re playing piano, and now you’re investing and helping to build businesses. Which one for you is the leisure and the getaway, and which one is the professional aspect of your life?

I always take everything professionally. Obviously there’s fun in every single category that you’ve listed. But basketball is my passion. My aspirations are to go to the NBA, and I’m working towards that. And then piano is more like a flow thing — if I really want to do it, then I could do it. And then the investment portion, you could say it’s the most professional. But at the same time, it’s something that I really want to build and work with the community that I’ve been offered, and it’s a really big opportunity for me to be an investor in this huge platform. So I wouldn’t take it as something super irritating. It’s fun. I think all of them are fun.

How did you wind up playing piano at the Knicks championship parade?

It was actually the day of. Which was very funny because I thought I was going to the parade. I was like, Oh, okay, the Knicks won, let’s go, let’s see all the players.

Are you a Knicks fan?

Here’s the thing with me — I don’t support a team, I like players. My favorite player is Steph Curry, by the way. So let’s say he left, and whatever team he went to, I would go. People say, Oh, that’s a bandwagon. But no, I have multiple of those people that I love to see. But back to the point — the day of [the parade], we got to New York at like 4 a.m. I started playing something on the piano, I’m like, Ooh, this is very nice, I actually know this song. And she’s like, “You do? Actually, funny story, you’re gonna have to play this with me tomorrow.” I was like, Okay. [Laughs] It was 4 a.m. and the parade was at 11 a.m. So I had to learn a completely new song in seven hours. I put a little more pizzazz into it. We took like 30 minutes working on [it]. And then I was like, We should get some sleep, because it’s a big day tomorrow; it’s a long day. And then we woke up at like 8 to 9 a.m. because everyone was moving over there. So it took a long time to get there. And then we worked on it there. Performed it. Very unique and amazing and fantastic opportunity. Got to meet the mayor randomly, which was fantastic as well.

Finally, I’m just curious, what are you listening to these days?

I’m listening to a lot of things actually. I kind of have two faces in the music. I listen to a lot of Sade. I listen to a lot of SZA. Lauryn Hill. Sometimes my mom, if I’m really feeling it. Every time I walk into a convenience store or whatever store, my mom’s music is playing. It’s crazy. [Laughs] And then on the flip side, more rapper-based, I listen to Babyface Ray. A lot of Don Toliver, or Travis Scott on some days. My thing is I like to listen to whatever makes my head bob. I have a list of like a hundred favorite people. But those are probably my favorites to listen to right now.

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