King of Diamonds has sorta become hallowed ground for anybody in the hip-hop game. Just about every major rapper, from Drake to Lil Wayne to Rick Ross, have dropped verses about the highly successful strip club catering to a predominantly African-American clientele. Floyd "Money" Mayweather practically has a second home in the joint, complete with bank vaults to store all his rain-making hundred dollar bills.
When Crossfade heard the news KOD had been sold for at least six million stacks to a group of New York investors, we wondered if the curtain would soon come down on one of Miami's longtime reigning entertainment venues. So we put a call into Disco Rick, one of the strip club's founding managers, who tamped down suggestions KOD was relinquishing its throne.
See also: King of Diamonds: How America's Favorite Black Strip Club Won Its Crown
"I put the deal together to keep King of Diamonds going," Disco Rick says via text. "I never wanted to lose what I have built over five years."
According to the Daily Business Review, the gentleman's club at 17800 NE 5th Ave. was sold to New York-based KODRENYC LLC. The $6 million only represents the price paid for the property, 60,622-square-foot converted warehouse on a 4.75-acre triangle off of the I-95 Miami Gardens Drive exit. The company managing KOD was sold for an undisclosed sum to a different firm, Ak "n" Eli LLC, the DBR reported.
Ak "n" Eli and KODRENYC are managed by New York developer Elliott "Eli" Kunstlinger and a financial services adviser, who are not in the strip club business. Apparently their link to KOD is current general manager Akinyele Adams, an ex-New York rapper and old friend of Disco Rick, who says he called his buddy about a year ago about putting together an investment group to buy the club.
Akinyele, whose biggest hit is a classic ode to fellatio called "Put It In Your Mouth," is the new ower and he brought in Kunstlinger and Feinsod as silent partners, Disco Rick explains.
In 2012, a Miami New Times cover story chronicled KOD's rise in the hip-hop world. Disco Rick was brought in to market the strip club to celebrity rappers and athletes by then-owner Jack Galardi, a legendary adult entertainment mogul who built a titty bar empire from Las Vegas to Miami. The ex-Miami rapper turned KOD into a hip-hop destination best known for big booty strippers performing death-defying acrobatics on the pole and throwing boxing matches featuring neighborhood brawlers on Monday nights. Mayweather has been a semi-regular mainstay during the boxing events, showering the combatants with stacks of Benjamin Franklins whenever he is in the house.
The club hit the real estate market soon after Galardi passed away and his daughter took over his assets in 2012. That's when Disco Rick jumped into action. "I must continue the legacy of Jack Galardi," Disco Rick says. "I looked up to him. I wish one day to be like him."
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