Levi Maestro Talks Setting Trends With The Camera Lens

Developing a brand people can believe in takes an unconscious effort. Tastemakers aren’t created by networking workshops or lengthy seminars that require a subscription fee. Influencers were lending their ideas to sway their respective culture long before the spotlight was cast upon them. Whether it’s the most vocal person in the room or the silent idealist who leads by example, a pure tastemaker showcases foresight that will ultimately prove to be worthwhile.

Levi Maestro is a prime example of such a prodigy, as he helps build brands simply by being himself. In a former life, he pledged his allegiance to the life of a skater, that is, until he discovered the power of a camera lens. Since that fateful moment, he has been the brainchild behind “Maestro Knows,” his own exclusive blog where he is sole creator, director, producer and editor.

This is why Levi Maestro makes for a perfect candidate for The Gentleman’s Project. He was living out all the qualifications before the idea was even formalized.

Hip-Hop Wired was able to slow down the fast-tracking videographer long enough to find out the roots to which his brand is grown from and why his vision has been successful thus far. The Arizona native turned Californian met up with us in scenic Santa Monica to include us in the scope of his life’s lens.

Hip-Hop Wired: In your eyes, does it take a certain status of celebrity to introduce a trend or can anybody make something hot, so to speak?

Levi Maestro: It really just depends on what that type of crowd the product is geared to. A lot of the times when you have something that’s really popular, it’s somebody else bringing it to the people, saying “this would be a really good fit for you.” So…anybody can make somebody aware of something. It just really depends. In the “cool culture,” there’s only a few people that have like, the real power and that’s why they have so much influence.

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Photo: Hip-Hop Wired/Milan Carter

People know the amount of quality they’ll get when they turn to a Pharrell or like a Kanye West. For this urban culture that we all play into, there’s only like, a few guys. And then you have underground guys like me. That’s why I think I’m working with Hennessy right now. When I went down to Brazil for that piece, they made it as a commercial on me. When they released it, on the top of the page it had Nas talking about Wild Rabbit and I was like “Wow!” To be working with Hennessy and alongside Nas was really dope.

Obviously we’re like two way different levels of following and respect. But they kept an eye out for me because they feel I have the potential to be somewhere like that. It’s pretty deep to me. A lot of people hate seeing people in commercials. They figure once it hits the mainstream, it’s not cool anymore. I don’t feel like there’s such a thing as a “selling out.” There’s always a right and wrong way to do things.

There’s nothing that can get too big. You just have to be really skilled at presenting it so the concept doesn’t get stale.

Hip-Hop Wired: Do you wake up in the morning feeling that you have to function as a brand?

Levi Maestro: That’s a really good question. I don’t know. I think that happens more so when I putting my work out there in the world. When I’m filming or editing all day, I’m just in a zone. I want that piece to feel like somewhere is there with me so I dedicate my all into the creation.

Hip-Hop Wired: A lot of people lose their insight on a sense of fashion after high school. How were you able to keep it going, especially to the point where you built a brand off of it?

Levi Maestro: I think that’s just what I’m into. Some people would look at me and think I’m corny, you know? It’s really just a niche. I think it seems more apparent because I’m spreading it out with a camera. When I hang out with a basketball player or musical artist, they’re hanging out with me because they like what I make not just because I’m some “style guy.”

Hip-Hop Wired: Even to have the awareness of various boutiques on where to stay up on fashion is a feat in itself, no?

Levi Maestro: But you know…I actually envy the “regular person” sometimes. I ask myself why do I have so many shoes or why do I have so many jeans when I don’t wear all of them. So when people have a dedicated uniform they wear in their job, it definitely can make things easier.

Hip-Hop Wired: How many NBA players do you know? How did you get associated with their culture?

Levi Maestro: Man! I got the first opportunity when EA Sports asked me to make a video for NBA Jam Session for Tyreke Evans. At the time, he was Rookie of the Year so that was a pretty good one. But it completely incidental when the [Minnesota] Timberwolves hit me up to make a video on the team. But I compromised and told them, “I’ll make one on Kevin Love.”

Oddly enough, we met three years prior when he had just been drafted. I hadn’t cared about real sports since I was a little kid because I started skateboarding and that took over.

Kevin really liked my style after I made the video and he spends his offseasons here [in L.A.]. When the season was over, we started hanging out more and I met Blake Griffin through him because they have the same agent. I also met Russell Westbrook through Kevin and some of the other guys he hangs with. I did a quick video with Blake and he loved it and we built up the angles from there.

Covering basketball is a good fit because most of the lifestyle stuff in sports–no one does it any good. So I think these guys see what I do and I make them look like who they really are. Not like make them answer questions; it’s just catching the dopeness of how they’re living.

Hip-Hop Wired: Going back to Maestro Knows, is your overall goal to capture from a more universal angle opposed to what you see from your own eyes?

Levi Maestro: Actually I would say the opposite! I like to sort of be a journalist. Thinking back 10-15 years ago; if someone read someone’s column in the newspaper, they were simply reading it because they liked the way that person told their story. Not because they had a headline with a “Blake Griffin.” So if I can get people to do that with my videos, I might only have a fraction [of views] of what some YouTubber has but my brand means way more because people understand that it’s so unique. I like that.

When I first did the video with Kevin Love, he had just broken the Timberwolves’ rookie double-double record. I think we only made one mention of it in the video and there was a ticket that he had signed and that was that. Everything else in the video was much more specific to him.

Hip-Hop Wired: What drives you musically when you work?

Levi Maestro: I’m always listening to stuff that’s not new. Solange’s last album [True] is in my rotation. There’s also a lot of electro and new wave that I favor. But I do like Drake’s Nothing Was the Same. I like “Too Much” and the single, “Hold On, We’re Going Home.” I really like the break to “Furthest Thing” as well. Even though I think his actions are contradictory to his music, I’m not going to take away from the art.

We all have our little moments, though. People can say the same thing about me. I don’t always act the same around everybody either.

This defines the core to the workings of a gentleman. The pursuit of perfection is a liability to one’s craft. When you use your intuition, great things can happen.