Latest / Story Scaling / The Algorithm Is People: Creating Experiences That Actually Connect

Transcript

The Algorithm Is People: Creating Experiences That Actually Connect · Story Scaling

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Storyscaling by Podcastvideos.com, where creators share the truth behind the content, the grind, and the growth.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and family, boys and girls, I am Jeremiah of Podcastvideos.com, also known as Bang, and this is Story Scaling, and we have a wonderful episode in store.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have a great, great, great, great, great brother of mine to the right, it means to left you, Preston Point Duckster.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Big bro.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Man, thanks for being here, bro.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for being here, bro.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: You've been doing your thing for a while, man.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Trying to.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I guess we've known each other how long now?
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's been six or seven years.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I've known you for a while.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: And since I know you, you've been cracking.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like you've been, you know what I'm saying?
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you've been doing your thing, bro.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: So to be able to sit down with you is exciting, man.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: So look, we're gonna jump right into the conversation, man.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: I this I got a bio, and this is what the streets are saying about you.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: So you let me know if we spot on or if we need to put a little something else on it.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: But it says today's guest is Preston Poindexter, uh, musician, model, event producer, and creative entrepreneur originally from Memphis.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: After moving to Arkansas to study computer science and marketing at the university, Preston began writing and recording music for artists across Northwest Arkansas, blending creative expression with a sharp operational mindset.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Beyond music, Preston is a model, award-winning member of National Speech and Debate Association, reflecting his ability to move fluidly between performance, communication, and production.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: He is the founder of Black Opal Events, a community-focused event production and operations for nonprofits, educational institutions, and cultural organizations across the South and Midwest.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Known for his calm problem, problem solving and collaborative leadership, Preston builds experiences that are thoughtful, well executed, and rooted in community.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Friends and family, this is Preston Point Dexter.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, you said a bunch of things I haven't thought about in years.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I haven't modeled in like four years, probably.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: And speech and debate.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, yeah.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: I used to judge competitions around the country.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that it's crazy to remember that.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Humble beginnings, but here we are.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Bro, when you when you think about that, so like there's a lot there.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're event producer, musician yourself, curator.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you bring people together in ways that I haven't seen many people do ever.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's and so that's you.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like when you when you think about that bio and you hear that, you know, what kind of stands out to you?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know you don't see yourself like that always.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said, I forgot about that.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, when you when you hear that, what what automatically stands out?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I at first glance I have to say, yeah, I really did not know how to sit down.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Rest was not the objective for a little while.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, looking back, it is just crazy to see, yeah, you did go to college for computer science.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: You haven't done anything with it, but you know, that is where you came from and the whole modeling and speech thing.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, I'm used to being on camera.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I there's a reason why I'm used to talking into a microphone.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I wish I talked more about being in a church background, that's for sure.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's where that music came from, and being comfortable in front of people speaking and all that.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it's weird to look back and say, yeah, that is.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's not what I'm doing today.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Man, you got so many hats.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like you got, like I say, creativity.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: You produce music.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I think to be able to curate an event is a skill.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, bro, it's art to do some of those events that you do.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, and then so on and so forth.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Man, so I guess I got two questions.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: What is that, what was the first love?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what did you first get connected to, you know, and and kind of give you that feeling?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And and second question is, bro, take us back to the beginning.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, give us the the childhood upbringing to where you are now.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, give us the pressing story, bro.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's your show at this point.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, give us the whole Oh man.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think those questions uh they kind of end up being the same question, at least from my perspective, you know, because I attribute a lot of what I'm passionate in, what I do today, to my childhood and upbringing.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm the son of a music producer and an operations genius.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if I'm good at spreadsheets and something like that, my mother is, I mean, she works for Amazon doing supply chain.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: That is her thing right there.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: So creativity and logic were always in the household.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: So just growing up, um, I was kind of raised to be as expressive and honest about who I was as possible.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: And what I really appreciate for my father's side of things is although he was a creative and he knew that I had the same spark, he always told me that I should never rest on the laurels of being nationally gifted or having people in my area that do the thing.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: If I'm gonna have a passion about something, I need to communicate that it's something I'm passionate about and have the drive to commit to it.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: So he never forced me into the piano lessons.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: He never showed me how to produce music.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: He gave me the resources to figure it out.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, he never said, Yeah, this is what you're doing right or wrong.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: He said, This is your creation.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Keep going.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm never gonna be the person you should be looking for um approval for.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: I can't be the person to tell you what's right or wrong.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you just keep making.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna tell you what I like for sure.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but at no point am I gonna show you what's right or wrong in this journey.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that was beautiful.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's how Pops was coming?
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: From the beginning.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like I was four or five years old, you know, trying to learn how to make beats and stuff like that.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: And say, yeah, it's good.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Keep going.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's let's pause there for a second.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think, hey, I didn't know moms was, you know, that it makes sense.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like you logical, you analytical, like obviously that comes from your mother.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: I had no idea.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm one of those people who, you know, I feel like I'm a very even split of my parents.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: My dad is like this, my mom is like this, they go bang.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's dope when that happens.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I think sometimes, especially as artists, we don't always feel like we get that support, whether that's from parents because they want you to get a real job and do something that's safe, that's gonna provide, or like, you know, so to have your pops there saying, like, man, if this is what you want to do, like keep going.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how how impactful was that for you, you know, now as a young man, you know, and I'm saying, to see that that's always been there as a through line.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: It, I'll be honest, it was something that took me a while to recognize.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: Because you know, when you're a teenager, you don't appreciate your parents as much as you should.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: And uh what really stuck out to me with my mom and dad, because I did all kinds of things.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I was in speech and debate, I was doing uh band and all that, too many extracurriculars, honestly.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: And the thing that always stood out that I didn't recognize when I was younger is they didn't blindly support anything.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: They let me go do the thing and said, Yeah, that's what you do.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Cool, just keep doing it.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: But if they wanted to come to a band competition or something like that, or they wanted to see me perform in speech and debate, it was, yo, can y'all come to this?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'd love to have y'all there.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it was never a no.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: But it was the me not asking.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I could tell, like, there were moments where they're like, Yeah, I wish that he said something, but we don't want to like blindly support.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: We want to let him say what is important to him or what he wants us there for.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it was like this weird kind of mix of things where it forced me to be more communicative.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: But as I grew up, it was them showing how much they cared to where they never forced themselves into my life.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's real.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: So even now, I mean, my parents know I do a ton of stuff.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: But if you ask them, like, yeah, what is it that your son does?
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they do.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a uh whatever he wants now, right?
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: And they're supportive of it.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if I ask them, like, yeah, if you want to come to this event or something, they'll be the first people at the door for sure.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: But at no point have they ever been worried or overly concerned or trying to force themselves into my life.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like whatever we talk about, yeah, whatever we want to present ourselves as to each other, that's who we get to be fully.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: I love that Mary Anna.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: So you get to, let's say, talk to me about junior high, high school when when these creative gifts like start to maybe express themselves a little bit more and you realize, like, oh man, I'm good.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm I'm actually cold at this.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Let's like let's let's kind of talk about that that that space.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: What was what was high school and stuff like?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, drumline.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think drumline was like the biggest thing because man, out to brag, I was cold-blooded awesome quads.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, like those tenor drums, that was everything to me.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, growing up in Memphis and only spending a single year of high school in Bentonville, Arkansas, like that was the thing that I was committed to.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, my grades were good, I was making sure that I had college plans.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, the running through line is what I'm passionate about is hidden these drums in March.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I I thought I was Nick Cannon.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: I was about to say, did you see the movie?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: I did.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: And like, you know, just because of like teenage arrogance, I was like, yeah, this is so corny.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I'm better than that.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: And the stupid part is I still can't read music to this day.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I actually did play things by ear.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, my uh my high school drum coach, I'll never forget the day he found out I couldn't read music, and I was the drum captain at that time.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Are you serious?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Man, they would send MP3s of the parts, you know.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: With quads, I was graciously lucky to where it was just five tones.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: I could hear it out, hear the rhythm.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: And once I knew what I was looking at, I had on the page, I was like, oh yeah, this is that section.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: But you did it from learning the sound, and then you mashed it up with the music.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't the other way around.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but I think that's just like church musicians.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like anybody who's cold-blooded playing keys in church, like you know your choressions, you know a tone like the back of your hand.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: And like when you get used to the flow of things, just like, yeah, I could look at music, right?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: But that's not what we're playing from.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I did that with marching drums, which was really dumb when we were sight reading new parts.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: I know rhythms.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: Give me a second.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, so so I'm kind of mind blown, but but at the same time, it makes sense.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said, that's just church.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like church gonna tell you, like, bruh, get up there and play to this song.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: You might have never seen uh uh you know uh a list of music notes, but like you know, okay, they're doing all happy days, so I gotta like and so it's the same with me.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: I still to this day don't I don't know how to count bars, yeah.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like when I'm writing a song, and everything I do is kind of in my head anyway, but it's like you know, they like put a 16 right here, and I'm like, okay, yeah, and I look at the beat and I'm like, okay, so it's probably over right here.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I just rap into this like, you know what I'm saying?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: But that's dope.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: So drumline was was major for you.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, everything.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but you know, when we moved here, you know, the drumline program at Benville High School was great.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: When I was there, I mean I graduated in 2017.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: I was proud of that line.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like a solid group of dudes.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: We still chat from time to time.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, that's when I wanted to get more into speech, debate, and acting and stuff like that, and creative writing and just saying, all right, cool.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I did that back home.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: This is my chance to start over because there is no impression of me here that I have to hold myself to.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like there is no identity or ego to like push forward.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I still play drums, but it doesn't have to be the focus.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: So what when did producing become more um where you've produced music, you've produced events, you know what I'm saying?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: So we could take whatever direction.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you've AR stuff.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, when did production kind of start to blossom for you?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: And who were some of those early influences to where you're like, man, I I gotta try my hand at this?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, it is.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think you know this, but I don't think you actually like knew for certain.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the only reason I made beats as an adult was because I met Avi and Aaliyah.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: When under we went to college together, she was a year younger than I am, so she came in as a freshman.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: And at that time, you know, somebody asked me to do it.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Sure is Tavian Aaliyah.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Beautiful artist.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she's got a project coming out soon.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna I'm gonna plug her on her half.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: She's not here, but I love her.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Incredible.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I was doing mixes for the Divine Nine on campus.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: So like they had events and stuff like that, step shows.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I was just putting together soundtracks.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, all right, you need this song, you need this song, I'll mix it together just because I was around the studio and I knew how to do it.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: But she was looking for a producer at that time.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I know you and I have talked about it.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: She is a very strong, gifted classical hip-hop artist.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like bars, cadence, and delivery, that is her pocket.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: She knows how to work within it, but that's not the kind of music I was used to listening to.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: From Memphis, which is heavy and like rap and hip hop, I'm familiar.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm more like soul, gospel, RB music.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like my biggest inspirations growing up were Prince and Dan's, those are my go-to's.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: But when I heard how she rapped and um just the way she carried herself, I was like, no, there's an energy to this.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we kind of lost sight of the fact that RB and hip-hop back in the day, like there was no separating.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: We're getting it more with like Siszy and Kendrick working together and stuff like that.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: But like Summer Walker and Future, that's not even close to the same thing.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: So when we work together, it's like, all right, let's make a new sound, but pay homage to the roots of what this was because it's all the same culture, yeah, the same feel, it's the same heart.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I worked on three separate projects with her, I'm pretty sure.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying I made all the beats, but you know, uh a good say a good little portion of them.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: And um, yeah, from there I just met other artists.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know we have uh mutual friend in Meach at the time he was going by Kevy Lou.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, love that brother to this day.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: I need to catch up with him.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: If you're watching this, bro, I love you to this day.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: I've been thinking about you.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: I still listen to Finna Dude because that takes me back.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Oh god, I love that song.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh a couple years down the road, I met you and the rest of the family through Mars at Ground Wage.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: And that's when it like really got serious.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, I love not just the music, but the community that comes from music.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I want to put people in rooms together because at the time, if you said there was a rap community in Springdale, Arkansas, yeah, people would, I mean, they did look at us like we were crazy.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: But we were having freestyle battles in the parking lot, like we became family.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like some of us are parents now, we're still catching up with each other, grabbing coffee, talking about the kids.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: More than half of us are married now, which is crazy.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it just really showed me that through common interest and just finding people in places you wouldn't expect them to, we can come together and do some dope stuff.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: And that's when events really took off.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, at the time I was working with NWA Fashion Week, they were showing me how to put on a show.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: And at the time I was really deep into fashion.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I know it doesn't show today because I just got off work.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Excuse me.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: No, you good, bro.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: You good.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: If they catch you outside, they know what's up.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like they know they know just trying to keep up with you out here.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, just finding people on the journey and not making the event about me or anything that I care about, but finding people who don't feel like they have their community set and saying, Yeah, well, no, we're here.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we just didn't have a place yet.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's currently what I'm working on right now.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think you do a good job of making space for people, you know, and everybody on any corporation or any company, that's in their values and belief systems, but obviously it don't be always happening, you know what I mean?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so, but I do think you have a knack for making people feel welcome and connected and actually doing events.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, let's talk about the most recent one that you did, the New Year's event, where, you know, and and I do want to get into a little bit of the event production, but also the marketing and the putting yourself out there and you know, as a creator and somebody who knows what it's like to make something from scratch and then have to tell people about it and whether that's music, whether that's an event, whether that's a concept where you're like, man, how can I get people to buy into this thing that's in my head?
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let's talk about that.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how do you how do you take something that's abstract, right?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then bring it into fruition and then get people to see what you see.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how do you do that?
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is where I snitch on myself where I can say I don't have formal training in marketing, and I barely have formal training in events.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: The way I like to look at the world, not just the work that I do, is be a kid and play pretend and keep playing pretend until it happens.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, when you're a kid, you think, oh man, I'm an astronaut.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna hop in a laundry basket and make rocket noises and get there.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: But when you actually look at it and say, okay, wait, what does it take to be an astronaut?
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Here's the math behind it, here's what we need, here's the materials to make the shuttle X, Y, and Z.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's when it becomes more interesting to me.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: So let's take New Year's Eve, for example.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: It was 1920s themed, and I want people to come in costume, but you know, we wanted to make it modern.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like the whole idea wasn't, yeah, we're gonna do 1920s again.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, no, let's do the roaring 20s, but modern.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: So like we've got hip hop going, you know, it's I'm a black-owned business.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't intentionally supposed to be a black space, but it presented itself as like naturally what it was.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, yeah, we are in our roaring era now.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get dressed up for the sake of getting dressed up.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Let's like really do the thing up and feel gilded in a way, like coat ourselves in the gold of the moment, absolutely, and and just celebrate together.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, God, I it's hard to even think of operations and marketing, because the whole thing I presented was do you want to feel like a kid again?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Even if we didn't say it explicitly, like we want to tug something in people's hearts to where the experience that you've been looking for or the world that you imagine could be when you looked at movies or TV or just in your imagination said, Yeah, this is what I want a party to be.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why not just do it?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to get too deep into the weeds.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yes, I can think of the operations on how to get there, but I don't want to think of the operational limitations as to why we shouldn't do anything.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: So going forward as we do more themes, more ideas, there's never gonna be a why can't we?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's this is how we're gonna get there.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: And if we run into reasons why we can't do certain aspects of the thing, we'll get there, we'll shave those things off.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: But any musician knows when you're in the studio making the demo, that feel is the song.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like the lyrics in the song.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's like when you are first creating the thing, the first spark that you feel when you feel inspired by the track, by the lyrics that you're writing, it doesn't matter what the beat turns into.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking too much real right now, P.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Hold on, hold on, P.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: My bad, my bad.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Slow down.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Hold on, hold on.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: What you said when you're a musician and you're in the studio making the song, that is the song.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: And like when you're creating it, you're not thinking about the mix, you're not thinking about the radio plays or the streams.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you go in with the intention of like, oh yeah, no, people are gonna be in the club and they're gonna feel X, Y, and Z, and like it's gonna make me all this money, that's like you can do it that way.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: But the feeling you feel when you're creating it, oh man, I I think I thought of a metaphor this morning.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't know if this is gonna land.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: All right, name the three most futuristic sci-fi franchises that come to mind.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you can name the first three sci-fi futuristic things in your mind right now, franchise-wise, what would they be?
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Avatar.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm not super, super into the to sci-fi films.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to just the one.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's the one, right?
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I know without fail, somebody's gonna say Star Wars in those top three, right?
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's like, yeah, this is what future feels like.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: This is in my heart, like what I imagine human possibilities were like.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: They're traveling through space, yeah.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: They're doing all these crazy things, and like they know humanity and technology in a way that we haven't discovered yet.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: But in every Star Wars movie, in George Lucas' mind, he knew he was gonna start it with the same words.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: And what are the first four words you see anytime you watch any Star Wars oldie?
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: What a long time ago.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, yeah, you might be carrying a futuristic world and all that, but like what it comes to and what the end product is and how it presents itself doesn't even matter.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's the feeling that carries itself.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: Because Star Wars told you nine times already, a long time ago.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: But when we feel we want to think about the future, like what's possible, it's still that option.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that had anything to do with what I said.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, nah, bro.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, like you said something, and it's really profound, and it reminds me of why it's important to have these conversations because I'm grounded in something that you said.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I I had a conversation with Eddie Kenyon, you know, that's our brother.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and EC was talking about this idea too of how, you know, completion is really more important than outcome.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: And like he has this metaphor where he says, I used to want to make it, but now I just want to make it.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like I used to want to be big and make it in that way, but now I just actually want to make something, like create.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I hear you speaking, and it's really convicting and challenging even for me, because I'm somebody who, you know, I know that uh Quincy Jones said, God leaves the room when you think about money in the studio.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you know what I mean?
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like you are taking the essence of what you're doing completely out of it when you're thinking about anything other than this moment.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Prokit is another example of that.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: When you're in a studio with Pro, he don't want, he don't want to talk about business, he don't want to talk about what's going on, stressing, unless it's helping like communicate and create that body of work, like leave it, you know.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so even as I hear you say when it comes to your events, you like, man, I just want to get that same feeling of being a child, and you hop in that laundry basket and you go to the moon.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why can't I hop in my version of a laundry basket in my adult life and go to the moon?
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is what's stopping us?
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm hearing you basically say the destination is the journey.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's something that's lost on us today because we are.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: So outcome based, yep, and we are comparing ourselves by metrics and stuff like that.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was talking to somebody today, we're musicians, yep, and so we remember a time when being good was your calling card.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like they'll sign you in a subway.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you were good, you know what I'm saying?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's Big Sean that got signed, got signed the radio by Kanye.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, was like, hold on, who is this?
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, but now, you know, being good is it's barely gonna get you to the table.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like everybody good now.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's like, what else are you?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Are you entertaining?
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Are you creative?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, can you capture somebody's attention on that scroll for you know what I mean?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so, anyways, all of that to say, man, I I agree with you.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a really dope perspective and a really important way to look at it.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's like at some point, you can have all this technical training, but it's about the heart behind what you do and the feeling that you want to evoke.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll double down from the marketing perspective, because I know that was part of the question, I didn't even touch it.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: You can create the thing.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: You can like say, Yeah, this is my imagination, but you're conveying it to people is a whole other thing.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I can just simply say if you want people to be on the journey with you and you want to describe that feeling, you're never gonna be able to capture it by just saying, Yeah, this is the thing, like writing paragraphs.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like you can't make a standard operating procedure like coming into the room and feeling it.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, if you want to describe a painting or a picture or a feeling, more words make it less tangible, it makes it less clear.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's just the right words.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's and not buzzwords, not marketing.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't ever want to think about SEO when I'm just trying to have a fun night.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, especially like when we're talking about, I mean, the audience I'm trying to work with is professionals 25 and up.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: We have enough of trying to fine-tune the details to make sure we have the exact right messaging to get our exact audience.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like no, we're gonna give you an idea and a feeling of what this thing is.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: If that resonates, join us.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: If it doesn't, I'm more proud to find experiences where people drop off because it's not for them.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: I would rather you say, all right, cool, I'm not interested.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: Because what's gonna make that room so special is everybody playing along, pretend with us.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: So what do you have to say?
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because, like I said, I think that's really well said, but then there's also another side of it that's like, yeah, we can say, you know, play, pretend, and be imaginary.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: The fact of the matter is, you sold out this venue in less than a month.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know what I'm saying?
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: So there is a function of it that's like to somebody else that's wanting to do events or create something and have it well attended and sell out in however long, like, what do you say is the way to put something out there?
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Communicate yourself.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: How do you get people on board and invest it in?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and you've kind of touched on it, you know, here and there from a very high-level standpoint.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're giving somebody like action items, like, man, you want to do an event, man, you want to put your art out there, like keep these couple things in mind.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: What would what would you say to somebody?
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: What's the most important thing?
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh, y'all are gonna hate me for this one.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: Because I don't believe there is a concrete answer.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think it really just comes from being genuine and honest about what you're trying to do.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Black Opal, the event company, you know, because I've been consulting for years, but actually putting on my own events, ticketed events, has only existed for four months.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: We can't even say there's a standard operating procedure because we've only done two ticketed events.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: There is no standard yet.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: We're just operating.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I think the thing that's really just been driving us forward is don't try to make a business out of passion.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: Turn your passion into business, be passionate about it, and you will find those answers.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: Because frankly, if I had to think about it, I could come up with some answers about what's gonna work for you.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: But nothing but cakes and a cake from Cold Stone don't have the same language.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like they are both desserts.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: And if you want to make a dessert too, like you got a blueprint on what that looks like, but you're not gonna be able to run it.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: The operations aren't the same, the messaging's never gonna be the same.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: The feel that people feel when they walk through the door is not the same thing at all.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess really just stick with it.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: But then of course, know your operations.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, there's gonna be the ticketing aspect of things.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: You need to know that marketing is important on social media.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you have to make sure that you have your taxes in shape.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: If there's anything I can impress upon people, my age, younger or older, any community, make sure your books are secure because that never changes.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's real.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, if you're just thinking about like how to communicate something to people and how to create it, it's really up to you.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's like my pops always said, it's like, yeah, I can show you what it looks like.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: You can be in the room and I can give you the tools to do it.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: But there is no right or wrong answer.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's just how you do it.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I think more people should look at their business as an art, especially when you get into these creative fields.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: How important is social media in today's age for the success of anything, whether it's music and getting the music out there, whether it's the event and getting the comms out there for the event.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: I know, you know, because we work in this world, but I see like right now today, there's 300 billion shorts and reels uploaded to YouTube, Instagram, Facebook.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, we talking almost half a trillion right today.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we see this as something that is so big and such a high volume, how important is it to utilize social media in your experience?
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: And would you say you can be successful without it?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: Or would you say you need to use it and here's how you leverage it?
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: You can be successful without it.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start there.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: Is it an uphill battle?
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: Because Netflix will tell you, and all of their earnings, meetings, and stuff like that, they're not competing with streaming services.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: They are openly saying we're competing with TikTok.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: We're competing, we're competing with YouTube.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's an attention economy.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: But you can be successful by finding a community that doesn't operate on that same wavelength.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: And what I can, you know, give some game to is that the algorithm isn't what people think it is.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: People think that there's some sort of programming, background numbers, or code that's like driving what we see on the day-to-day.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: And to some small extent, that's true.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: But people don't understand that they are the algorithm.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Hold that for a second.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: Man, cheers to it.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: You speaking some facts.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: I seen somebody say we have really communicated the algorithm in the wrong way.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because you think it's based off computers when it's based off of human relevance.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: I just read that like the other day.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't, I haven't heard that quite.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: I might have to look that up just so I can get it.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, so keep going on that.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like speak to that.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you saying it's not like a bunch of iRobots back there, like dah dah dah.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Nah, the algorithm is comprised of people.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's interactions.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's how it makes you feel, whether it be positive or negative, how long you start looking at the thing, whether you hit like or share to other people.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'll tell you right now what I hate to admit it because I don't like operating or thinking like this, but hate is driving people more than passion is right now.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: The absurdity of the world and people having to say, are you looking at this?
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: Leaving a comment, sending it to one another, is what drives the world the way it is right now.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: Where you just said two things.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: You you've said two things that have just really shook me.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm a wordsmith.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: So like the words be really just sometimes it just be sitting with me where you said, Don't build your business off passion, be passionate about your business.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: Or how did you word that?
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be passionate about business, build your business off of your passion.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then what you just say, like, I hate to uh think about it this way, but hate is driving people more than passion right now.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: And like it's gotten to a point now where we're losing sight of our passion.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: Man, biggest pet thieves.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: We had hobbies in the 2000s.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: Before we had hobbies, we just did things for fun.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: We were trying things, but now a hobby is called a side hustle right now.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's not the same thing because it has to be driven for the sake of something else.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you can't just exist in pleasure, it has to be to escape.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: What should be what you be doing?
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, well, you should be thinking about stuff.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, where do these thoughts come from?
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: Praying, uh you know, right?
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't even think about that.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: Bro, I ain't done nothing for fun in a long time, right?
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_01: And even like us from music, right?
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like music is our pet, it's something we love, yeah.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: But it is still a source of income now, right?
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: But once you remove that factor out of it, and it's like pro says, right?
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: The moment you start thinking about money and stuff like that, I don't even want to do this anymore.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Literally, just create.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: But if everybody got on the same page and said, I make crafts, yeah.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, when's the last time you heard somebody say, I knit?
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: I don't own a shop where I sell knitted goods.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I just knit this for fun.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: Right, nobody's thinking like that anymore.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: And like before Jordan, people were playing basketball for the sake of playing basketball.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, there was a check to be made.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: But like now, no, that's really how bad it's bad.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's something I'm like anti-passionate about.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like the NBA isn't the NBA anymore because people are so excited about plays right now.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's about a parlay.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: You can't even watch entertainment anymore without thinking about how I can make money about things.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not trying to operate that way.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'll be honest, like, Black Opal is successful in that we've given people a space.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, not everybody's chilled with it because it's not for everybody.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: But is it making me a mint right now?
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, that's not that's not what we're trying to do.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we'll give tiered experiences so people can get different levels of things we want to like share access to.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: But that's not even a revenue stream for me.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it breaks even when I do these shows because that's what I'm passionate about.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: And can it make more revenue?
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: Do I plan on growing it to where it can be that?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: But by leading with my passion, not being business minded and trying to nickel and dime and like do it for the sake of being rich, I've been way happier.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'm not stressing about the margin.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the moment we all live like that, like connect with people online because it's love.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's not for the sake of getting something out of somebody.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's not for the sake of sharing what's going on that's crazy.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because the moment you stop giving attention to hate, the moment it stops existing.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: We can just be people, and that's all that I'm driven by.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: I want to touch the heart of people, not the thing that's driving them to survive, but the thing that drives them back into that state of play, imagination, and safety.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's my soapbox right there.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: First important next lady and gentlemen.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: I need the applause right here.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure y'all put an applause right here when y'all editing this.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, dang, bro, that's a lot to chew on.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot to chew on.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't got no hobbies right now.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I think you do.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think you do.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what you think?
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: Because again, every musician, I know I'm talking to y'all specifically because I do the same thing.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: How many songs do you have in your drafts that don't feel like they belong on a project, but you just like them and you just go back to and revisit them?
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's for real.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's your hobby.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what's crazy is that I know you for a fact are not out here saying, dang, I can't wait to get rich off this project.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: You share it for the love of sharing it.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it happens to make you money.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's so you got hobbies.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: They just happen to like come with some reasons.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: All right, all right.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's fair.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's fair.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: All right, that's fair.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good check.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good check right there.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, don't feel disheartened because you're making money off your hobbies.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: And and well, that's the thing too.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, I don't hear you saying in no way, like, don't make your money or like don't, you know, monetize your hobby if you can, but it's a difference when that's your focus versus that's a byproduct of you doing the thing that you love.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: Any successful person will tell you there's two paths.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like you, I was, you heard of the Savannah Bananas?
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: No, I don't think I have.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: Bro, I'm finna shake up your day.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's a dude that bought a base, a failing baseball franchise.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: And think the Harlem Globetrotters, but for baseball.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so now, now they selling out like stadiums that NBA and NFL teams can't sell out.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking like stupid in a matter of a short span of time.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: This person started this company, lost his butt.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like the first thing.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking now, they're doing 60,000 tickets.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: Shoot.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: To come see these people act up and play baseball and dance and, you know what I'm saying, put water on each other's head.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's crazy.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's for a family, you know.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: But his thing is, nah, I wouldn't sell my business to the MLB.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it don't matter how much they offer because I'm doing what you were talking about.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I do it because I love it and I care about it.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to make one billion fans.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's his thing.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like one billion fans.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so now, as a byproduct of doing something he loves and cares about, he's absolutely loaded.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm sure he's he can't spend all the money that he got, but he's never been about the money.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and then you got the people that are about the money.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying either one of them is wrong.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying you have to know which path they each lead to.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it's biblical too.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like preachers, kids, so I can't help but think of things like this, right?
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: Let's start from the basis of like, all right, when you chase that money, the Bible doesn't say money is the root of all evil.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: People say that.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: They get that wrong.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: But it's the love of money the root of all evil.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: Chasing that and making that the goal and like the thing that drives you.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: But the inverse, okay, let's say God is love, right?
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: Start there.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: And God says, when two come together in my name, I am with them, right?
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: And that the joy of the Lord is everlasting.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: Connect all those things together.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: If two people come together just because they love something, I'm there in it.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I want people to feel.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like love and passion.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: And if you do that, eternal passion and love is there.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like you can be joyful forever because you're just doing things for the passion.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: For the love of it.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's just everything to me right now.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: Look, you didn't drop so many gems, bro.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: Give me anything you need to plug, anything that's coming up.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: How can we support you?
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Follow you.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like now is your time.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Just kind of shout out.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: If it interests you, don't follow just because you hear my voice.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: But if it is something you want to take part in, Black Opal is, I think, I can't even say it's the first because I can't speak for other people, but it is an event company really solely dedicated for people 25 and older.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like we got jobs, we got families, careers, and stuff that bog us down to escape and just have fun.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like we're not trying to be pretentious.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, we do nice and luxury events, but it's because we feel like we should celebrate one another, not because we're trying to like make a buck and be all hotty-totty and all that.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like we just want to be around good people who want to feel connected.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: So for the rest of 2026, once a month, we're doing a social hour called Club Noir at Moxie, where we're gonna have theme nights where you just come and you're dressed to impress for each theme.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: We're starting with Mardi Gras in February.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: So like you can come in in all the Mardi Gras garb, or you can do Mardi Gras colors in your outfit.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, go crazy.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's up to your interpretation.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but the main goal is let's just get together because we can.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, it doesn't have to be for a nonprofit or a purpose, those things are beautiful, but like not everything needs to be a networking event.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: We can just have fun as adults together.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll be back with holiday parties too.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've got a couple of products that I'm working on that, you know, things for men to just come together and be guys in a healthy community.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, yeah, we're all on blackopal.events.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's our website.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's our Instagram.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's B-L-A-C-K-O-P-A-L dot events.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, feel free to connect with us if you have ideas or things that you're passionate about.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: Just start a conversation because that's where all of this starts.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: We're just connecting with people.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't uh asked this out of respect, but there's a supporter in me that's wondering if there's any music coming anytime.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: No pressure on that.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, no pressure on that, just curious, just curious.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: We heard your stuff, man, and we love it.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: The people love it, and so I'm just curious.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: Or or another way to ask that is are you in a space where you've been hobbying or creating or having any fun?
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's a better question.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a better question, sincerely.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: Have you been have you been doing anything or have you been not really playing with it much?
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: Here's the funny thing, because I'm still discovering the answer to that.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I have not created in two years.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: But I felt more passionate about music than I ever have in my life.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: I feel that.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: To where I can hear the ideas and passion coming back in because it's not active.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: I feel that.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm listening to music all over again where it feels like playing.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: So now I'm thinking to myself, oh man, if I were to make a song kind of like this one, how would I do it?
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of lyrics would I use?
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: But I haven't made anything yet, but I feel that urge and drive coming back around.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm waiting for the right season where everything is clear and where I can just share perspective.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: So since the last time I made something, I'm just I feel like a different guy.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: I feel that just by growth, change of experience, different perspectives.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's real.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm excited to get back to it.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: I can't say when, but I know it will be back.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's more important to me that you are feeling things.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I I love that, bro.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining me, man.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you for having me.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, this is another one to you.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta hype you up, though, because for those of y'all who don't know, you know, everybody's got their ego and stick when they're young.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm the best guy around.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: But I remember when I met you, I tell you this story all the time.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: Just the light that you had when you walked in the room, knowing, and I will say this 10 toes down, you were the best rapper in the world.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like you came in with energy, execution, you were technical with it, and you knew how to have fun.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: You had stage presence, even if it wasn't something you were trying to present.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: But it didn't come out of ego.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: It was, no, this is what I love.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: I want to share that art with y'all.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: Come closer.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: Let me share my story with y'all.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to make you feel like you can do the same thing.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's literally your name.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like, believe, aspire, achieve now, go isn't you telling yourself.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's a command to the community, and that's what I've always loved about you.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_01: Everything you do is about building people up, and man, that inspires me every single day to keep pushing forward and being a better version of myself for other people.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: Dang, bro.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: Amen, bro.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: Glory to God.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: I received that, bro.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: Dang.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, this is my brother P.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, this has been a great episode.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for coming, bro.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you for saying that.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm serious.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: I receive that, bro.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: You're my big brother.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_01: Until I die, like, man, you're gonna be at my wedding, I promise.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do this again, bro.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: Salutely.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, you guys make sure to like and subscribe.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we want to be really intentional.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: I've been having a blast doing these episodes, and now we fit the episodes in, and um, we'll love for more people to you know learn about what we do in case you want to come on or in case there's something that we can say that can encourage or inspire or even give you some keys.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like Preston is somebody that's been doing phenomenal work in this area and beyond for quite some time, but he's a normal person, he's approachable.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you see him out, I promise he will have a conversation with you depending on what he got going.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_01: I love people, but sometimes I'll make that so.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: Depending on what he got going, you feel me?
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, thank you guys for watching these and uh talk later.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: See you.