Biography
Lionel Barnes (better known as Lionel B, born January 12, 1980) is an YouTuber, TV Producer and Entertainment Media Personality on the Lionel B Show on Youtube and Executive Producer of Donk Dynasty reality show. He covers various hip-hop news and entertainment on various networks and on social media. His videos are composed of audio commentaries layered on top of graphic visuals and stitched-together GIFs. He has several viral song hits, like Shawty Go Low, Man Of The House, Racks On Ya Head, and a smash single with E.D.I. Mean from The Outlawz entitled "Let Me Ride" and a single with Daz Dillinger entitled "Donks In Tha West".
Lionel B was born in Panama City, Florida. He moved to the Naples,Italy in 1993, during his high school years. He spent many of his teenage years in Italy and Germany. After graduating Bloomingdale High School in Tampa, Florida, he went to the Air force. After a brief stint in the military, he also developed a passion for music production, which eventually turned him into an up and coming music producer. He attended the IADT Tampa, where he learned music engineering, camera operation, video editing, and professional light, and graphic design.
While he was attending IADT Tampa, Barnes started his own music production company and record label, Tight Grip Media. On it, he produced tracks for hip hop artist such as Slip-n-Slide Records. He also produced a complete album for Saved by the Bell Actress Lark Voorhies. He later expanded to the urban entertainment industry, posting light-hearted and satirical videos on YouTube. His YouTube channel started to gain significant popularity in 2018 due partly to his coverage of the murder of Nipsey Hussle in Crenshaw.
In 2018, he released a viral video regarding JayZ, Beyoncé and Offset having a dispute that quickly reached 6 million views on Youtube in 2 months. He went on to gain hundreds of thousands of subscribers, putting him on top of the popular Youtube celebrity bloggers, and the fastest growing urban celebrity news channel in history. He investigated the facts behind rapper Jay-z first daughter La'Teasha Macer from Cambridge, Maryland and broke the story on YouTube in interview with Jay-Z longtime former best friend Dehaven Irby director of Marcy Made. As of April 2025, his main YouTube channel boasts over 565,000 subscribers and he has over 130 million views on the platform. He also owns an Instagram page that has over 340,000 followers.
Lionel B has released several mobile apps. The first one he released in 2020, is the critically acclaimed app The Adventures Of Lionel B, and his new app in development is titled Lionel B On The Run. Following an online altercation between Louisiana rappers Boosie Badazz and Webbie, Lionel B released a video detailing how the rappers aren't really friends. He was immediately confronted by rappers from Trill Entertainment Presents: All or Nothing where they eventually hashed out the details. In a public statement, he said that he has never been questioned nor co-operated in any of the issues he's been accused of.
In 2019, Lionel B went to the Lionel B Show to bring light to the non-working cameras during Nipsey Hussle tragic murder. He also called out the rappers friend and employee Cowboy for acting very strangely when being interviewed at the Marathon Store after Nipsey Hussle's murder occurred. Lionel B also has three shows on the live-streaming Fox Broadcasting Company sponsored network app Caffeine entitled For The Love Of The Culture, Lyrical Expose, and the Most Valuable Game. Where he interviews celebrities on the popular live fun music shows. He's worked with Crime Mob's Diamond ATL, Turk from the Hot Boys, Marc John Jefferies from (Losing Isaiah, Get Rich or Die Tryin', Notorious, Haunted Mansion) and more. On the Most Valuable Gameshow he teams up with co-host Jeremy Mincey former Dallas Cowboys captain.
Lionel B currently resides in Florida.
