FLINT, MI -- A baby shower helped birth Ernest Lamar’s skills of creatively cutting and carving fruit into a business.
Lamar, 27, started the business Ernie Fruits in 2018 after his sister requested he chop some fruit to make a platter for her baby shower.
“I made her platter with some chopped up fruit and everybody liked it and they were all asking if they could buy some,” Lamar said. “So when everybody acted like they were interested, I started making platters.”
Since the baby shower, Lamar’s business has become the centerpiece for night club events, parties, festivals and celebrations as well as a source of joy and healthy treats.
Fruit carving was a talent of Lamar’s that was completely self-taught and he continued to get even better with the help of YouTube videos.
His talents would soon get recognized by celebrities who would ask for his creations to compliment their events and parties.
“I started getting asked to come to clubs and do fruit for celebrities,” Lamar said. “I would go to Detroit and go to clubs and make something for celebrities.”
Some of the celebrities Lamar has had the chance to meet through his business include the late Nipsey Hussle, 50 Cent, Nick Cannon, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Wale and Lil Boosie.
“I was able to go to Louisiana for a Lil Boosie performance, but most of them have parties and concerts and others I would just go to the clubs with them,” Lamar said.
Martin Lawrence and Snoop Dogg posted on their social media accounts about Ernest’s fruit carvings to thank him, Lamar added.
Recently, Lamar did a carving of DMX’s face on a watermelon. He documented the process of the carving via Facebook Live and the broadcast garnered thousands of views.
DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, died April 9. He was 50.
“I grew up on DMX. My father, that’s all he would listen to when I was younger. That was one of the people I planned on trying to meet and try to do something for in person,” Lamar explained. “I got those people in my head that I say, ‘OK. I want to do this rapper or I want to meet this person.’”
Lamar said the list of people he really strives to meet are on somewhat of a list and the iconic rapper was on it.
The fruit carver said he followed the rapper on Instagram and saw DMX was looking for artists to work with. Lamar was excited to see the next chapter unfold for the artist who became one of the biggest rappers in the 90s and 2000s.
The DMX carving took the fruit artist two hours to complete. Most carvings that include chopped fruit will take him about three hours to finish.
Fruit platters and carvings range from $40 to $200. The DMX carving would run a customer $200.
The Flint Northern High School alumni, who stands 6-feet-4 inches tall and has natural swagger, said his talents are not what most people would predict. Most people look at him expecting him to play basketball, he said.
To add to the potential uncertainty of his talents, Lamar doesn’t really care for fruit. He’ll dabble with apples and bananas, but he doesn’t go much beyond that.
“You really get to show people that you can just do something other than out of the normal, because if you look at me, people see me and they be like, ' You don’t do that, that can’t be you,’” Lamar said. “It’s the craziest part that people don’t think you can do stuff like this.”
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Fruit carver to the stars: Flint man’s fruit carving business catches attention of Martin Lawrence, Snoop Dog - MLive.com
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