WEBVTT - INTERVIEW: Abdul Karim Abdullah On The Evolution Of 'AfroFuture' Festival, Black Innovation, Community + More 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:04.360 Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club Morning. 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:08.200 Everybody is DJ Envy Jess Hilarious, Charlamage the God We 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:10.440 are the Breakfast Club Lol. The Roses here as well. 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:12.360 We got a special guest in the building. Yes, sir, 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:16.720 the founder and CEO of Afro Future, Abdullah Welcome, brother, 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:18.040 pleasure to be here with y'all. 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.000 How are you feeling? I feel real good. Thanks for God. Man. 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:22.880 Tell people what what Afro Future is from. 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:26.880 Yeah, Afrofuture is a cultural Emerson platform that we created 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:29.800 in Ghana to celebrate African culture and also to just 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:32.720 break it down to people in a way that's direct. 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:36.960 We celebrate food, fashion, art, and obviously music as well. 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:39.879 In my opinion and our team opinion, we feel like 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:42.560 equal parts of all of this gives you a clear 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.680 understanding of what it's like to visit the continent and 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:47.360 that's what we've been doing for the past eight years, 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:49.800 inviting people back to Ghana and for the first time 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:51.440 ever was showing up in Detroit. 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:55.520 So now I was at the last Afro. 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:58.200 Yes you was. You was at the last one. 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:00.320 That's when y'all announced it was gonna be a the 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:00.720 next year. 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:01.440 That's correct. 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:03.640 It was an opportunity for us to really kind of 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:06.399 grow beyond what we've been. I mean, right now, we 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:08.520 know that one in ten people by twenty fifty is 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.240 going to be African. Africa is the youngest continent. There's 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:13.760 just a lot of opportunity, and there's been so much 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:17.000 misinformation about Africa for so long. I grew up here, 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:20.520 I'm like my house, I'm the American kid, but when 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:22.200 I went out to school, I was the African kid. 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:24.000 So the best way I could do is just kind 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:25.679 of bring the world together, and that's what we've been 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:26.759 trying to do with this festival. 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:29.399 Why why did y'all change the name from Afro a Future. 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:31.520 I mean I think that obviously there was there was 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:33.640 a lot of there was a lot of issues that 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:34.080 we had. 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:36.920 They sued like they sue everybody, they just sue me. 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:39.240 But I mean, I mean, beyond that, it was just 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:41.800 an opportunity for us to like kind of grow beyond 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:42.480 where we were. 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:43.040 Uh. 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:45.120 This gives us an opportunity to let people know that 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:47.400 there's a lot happening on the continent and you should 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.760 be a part of that. Right as far as creativity, entertainment, 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:53.760 as far as business, you know, there's so much happening 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:55.440 on the continent that everyone should be a part of 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:57.440 and that a future kind of speaks to that journey. 0:01:57.440 --> 0:01:58.920 Well, people don't come for the name, they come for 0:01:58.960 --> 0:01:59.520 the event. 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:02.680 That's exactly and the experience that we've been creating. You know, 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:05.720 we've done that without any corporate partners. So that's just 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:08.160 like a team of people who was really invested in 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:11.639 seeing the entertainment business and continent grow. For us to 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:14.239 create opportunities for people on the ground, to change the 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:17.160 economy in our own country, but also just to kind 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.720 of showcase some of these talents. Right when we started 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:22.840 in twenty seventeen, they weren't playing any AfroB Beats music 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:25.480 on the radio. Ten years later, you can't go to 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:27.160 a party, you can't go to a spot in New 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:29.799 York without it. And you know, for us, one of 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.600 the best accomplishments is like a lot of people were 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:35.840 able to visit the continent because of our experience. They 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:38.560 started in Ghana, but they've grown since to South Africa, 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:40.880 to Nigeria, and Ghana was just that that entry away. 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:44.280 That's why Detroit for the first stop in the US. 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:45.600 Why not New York I. 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:47.720 Mean New York. I feel like I'm from New York. 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:49.680 Everyone that needs to know about what we're doing on 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.440 the continent is aware. This is like a cultural melting pot. 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:55.400 We have a restaurant here, people know what's going on 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:57.480 in the side of the city. But one of the 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.000 things that we've learned is that there's an opportunity to 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.240 Troit being one of the most creative places also one 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:04.680 of the blackest cities in America, and we could build 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:08.240 that bridge between Detroit and the continent, like there's no 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:11.120 saying where things can go. And that's the opportunity there. 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.840 And then also we have an amazing partner in Bedrock 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:17.120 that's that's promoting opportunities and business in the city. So 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:19.840 we're looking at it as an opportunity to kind of 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:21.639 grow our audience and not just kind of speak to 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:22.320 the same people. 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:25.320 That's crazy to think that y'all don't have no sponsorships. 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:30.560 No, we have sponsorship. When you were there a few years, 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:32.400 we had some sponsorships. What we don't have is a 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:34.399 corporate sponsors So we never had like a Live Nation 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.200 Year or any of those brands behind us. We literally 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:40.760 built this from the mud and as far as sponsorships, 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.240 we've had some of the first ever. So when when 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:45.360 Meta wanted to first come to the continent, they showed 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:48.240 up to our to our festival, we're able to work 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:51.160 with them. When you two wanted to announce shorts, we 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:53.040 were able to like build the playground in our field. 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:56.200 Audio Mac, we brought the CEO of Audio Mac to Ghana. 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:59.320 We ran this program called the Rising Star program and 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:01.840 now Audio MA because now the number one download the app 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:03.960 in West Africa, you know. So we were able to 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:06.480 be that conduit for a lot of brands that want 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:08.680 to come to the continent and then we've been doing 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:09.840 business like that since. 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:11.920 But those aren't considered corporate sponsors. 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:14.520 Even they are corporate sponsors, but they don't. You can't 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:18.280 build an event with corporate sponsors because you're probably not 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:20.000 going to get the money to after the event is over. 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:22.840 But like if you have like a festival partner, we're 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:26.240 still an independent festival in that we eat what we 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:27.200 kill basically. 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.960 But you started off with four thousand attendees. Did you 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:32.280 expect it to be this big as a concert series 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:33.479 or was it one of those things where it was 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.599 more like a smaller well. 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:38.840 I just wanted a place for us to connect. There 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:40.880 were so many people in the diasport that were doing 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.280 amazing things, whether it was in London or it was 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:46.520 in America, but we just could never connect. We just 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.200 came to Deddy December and we just partied and went away. 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:51.920 So with the festival, this is an opportunity to really 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:55.040 kind of showcase what the amazing people on the continent 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.760 are doing, but also like how we can help and 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.400 how we can add the sauce to it as well. 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:02.279 But I did think we were going to be big. 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:04.040 I didn't think we were going to be big as fast. 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.240 So we started in twenty seventeen. The year one we 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:09.560 did four thousand people, Year two we did twelve thousand, 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:12.040 and then year three was a year of return. So 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:14.360 it kind of forced us to scale faster than we 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:14.919 were ready to. 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:17.280 And then I think the rise of afrobeats because the 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:19.120 year I was there, you had burn a Boy headline. 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:21.680 Yeah that was that was two years in the making. 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:24.719 Yeah, we've had almost we've had all of them perform 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.200 for ourself. We've had whiz Kid, We've had David Though, 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:29.919 we've had a shot K, We've even had Rama for 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:32.280 like one of our side events that we did, uh 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:34.360 you know, we did a fashion out experience with ig 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:37.760 Instagram and we had Rema they're performing. So we've pretty 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:39.479 much been the launching path for a lot of people. 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:42.760 Uncle Waffles probably one of the biggest DJs right now. 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:44.840 We were one of the first people to fly out 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:47.359 of the Southern Africa to Ghana. Put on the billboard 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:49.839 she performed at our show. We've done that for a 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:51.240 lot of artists, I mean a lot of that on 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:54.839 my piano artists through the pandemic we broke in Ghana. 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:59.360 Four thousand is still a lot for the first festival. So, yes, 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:01.560 that's amazing to go from four thousand and forty one 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:04.120 thousand is I mean four thousand year, four thousand and 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:06.440 forty one thousand is amazing, but for the first time, 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:08.159 four thousand is still a lot. 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:11.800 Yeah. We actually shut it down, yeah the first year. Yeah, 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:12.800 we were afraid. 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:14.120 That it was like people were not going to be 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:16.160 able to have as much fun or we weren't going 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:17.760 to be able to control it. So we wanted to 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:19.760 be able to still make sure people had a good time, 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:21.640 so we actually shut it down when it got to 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:24.080 a certain limit. We wanted to make sure we had 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:25.240 that good premium experience. 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:26.760 Did you have any problems that? 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:29.120 No, No, that that first year was just it was 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:31.800 it was a learning experience. It was an accomplishment. I remember, like, 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:34.520 you know, being very happy that we was able to 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.400 kind of see our vision through. But we didn't really 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:39.960 have that many experience issues. 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:41.919 That first year was as what's the hardest thing you 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:43.880 faced do any shows? Was it sponsorships? 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:45.000 Is it people? Is it? 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:47.720 I think there's a combination of all of that. Uh, 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:50.360 you know, our first time was just really just kind 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:53.280 of understanding the business. We had no idea how to 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:55.200 throw a festival. We know how to do parties, but 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.080 we didn't know how to do festivals. The second year 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:00.520 was just more of by scale, right, just under standing 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:03.040 like logistics and how to deal with people moving from 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:07.800 like what was polo field to a stadium. The third 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.160 year was just kind of scaling where our company wasn't 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:12.840 just ready to kind of get all of those people 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:15.400 coming in for the year return, but also Ghana's tourism 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:18.000 wasn't quite ready for the amount of people that came 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:21.040 into that year of return. So yeah, there's a combination 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:23.920 of money there's a combination of just kind of learning, 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:28.120 opportunity capacity building in the space. Equipment is one of 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.040 the things that we don't necessarily have much of the continent, 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:34.280 so the expense is high. And now we're dealing with 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:37.040 cost of talent, right, So like all of those things 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:40.440 are different at different points, there was different hard things. 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:43.360 I don't even like going outside, but I remember when 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:45.440 I first went to Ghana, everybody was like, yo, Ghana's 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.720 nightlife is incredible, and I remember thinking, Ghana's nightlife and 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:52.240 me and my wife and our team was outside every night. 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:56.360 Yeah, very important. They do. Like people on the continent 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:58.640 know how to have a good time. And in December, 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:01.680 everybody's off, right, it's like a vacation for everybody. So 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:04.800 the reality is you can go out every night. 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:07.280 The restaurants clubs in Silver Fox. 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:09.520 Yeah, you can have a vibe from morning to morning, 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:11.640 like you know what I mean, and people do it 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:14.280 and I love that for people. And depending on the 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:16.000 type of experience you want to have, you can have 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:18.200 that party track, you can have the tourist track, you 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:19.280 can have the restlue track. 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:20.560 It's really your choice. 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:22.320 Now we'll say the only thing I will say about 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.400 Ghana is the service Yeah, yeah, restaurants, you will wait 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:26.080 for a long time. 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:28.400 But that's an opportunity. I mean we see it as 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:31.840 an opportunity because you got to think about a capacity building, right. 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:34.439 Ghana is very young to tourism, Whereas like a lot 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:37.120 of Caribbean countries have been getting tours for hundreds of years, 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:41.280 Ghana's only been free since nineteen fifty seven, so and 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:44.080 then the tourism sector really just started, I would say, 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:46.960 a boom after the year of return. So we're still 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:49.640 learning how to do that. So there's an opportunity. So 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:52.000 if people want to start a service based business, I 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:53.720 mean I'm inviting you to Donna to do that. 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.480 I I was saying to myself, I want to go 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.480 to Ghana outside of the simmer, which I'm going to do, 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:04.000 but absolutely because I wanted, like, how was it throughout 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:04.679 the rest of the year. 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:07.520 No, you can have What you see in December is 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:10.720 not foreign to people. People do this weekly in Ghana 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:12.640 if they want to, Like, you know what we see 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:14.680 in December. I know a lot of people is surprised 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:16.600 to them, but this is some people do this weekly 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:18.600 if they want to. But like, you can have a 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.400 great time in the you know during Easter, you can 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.280 have a great time in the summertime. It's just not 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:27.320 as packed with foreigners, right, but the experience is still 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:29.760 the same. You can still have fun at the restaurants, 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:31.720 the clubs are still packed. People are still having a 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.040 good time. And you know, we just had a change 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:37.079 of government this year in Ghana as well, so that 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:39.280 you know, the economy is coming back to where it's 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.640 supposed to be and I think people are getting more 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:43.080 there's more consumer confidence. 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.240 Why people reach out to you because we had the 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:49.640 CEO and chairman of Richmond. Yeah, that was like, that 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:53.000 would be dope to do, like a Friday night Afro future. 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:57.760 You want to people off, I said, I don't understand 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:00.679 the conversation, but people are mad about the whole time Africans. 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:03.559 You know, it's the whole Africans versus Black American argument. 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:06.360 And you know, Black Americans have been complaining that African 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:08.439 culture is different than Black culture and they feel like 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:10.439 Essence was trying to force it on people. 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:12.760 Yeah, I mean, I think at the core of it, 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:15.400 it's all about misunderstanding and we just really are not 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.040 speaking to each other. We're speaking past each other, and 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:20.599 the reason why our festival exists is really to just 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:23.360 kind of domestify and really make you understand if the 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:25.800 African American and you've been to the continent, you know 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:28.840 that people love you, right because this is all they consume, 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:32.280 your content, the music, the art, everything. And then I'm 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:34.640 also a child that's like, was born here in America, 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:37.840 so part of my life is an African American lifestyle. 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:39.680 Went to high school here, I went to college here. 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.280 So I think really it's just kind of making sure 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:45.040 we understand and respect each other at its core. On 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.640 the continent, if you grow up there, all you see 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:50.840 is black people versus where you grew up here in America, 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:53.200 you go to college, you go to go to work, 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:55.840 there's these microaggressions and things that you don't that you 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:58.959 have to face. It's a very different understanding for everyone, right. 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.880 So on you know, think about hierarchy of needs on 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:03.960 the continent, that the need is just we need. 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:04.760 We need to eat. 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:07.520 So it doesn't matter if I'm dealing with a little 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:09.319 bit of racism because at the end of the day, 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.640 I got to eat, Whereas here I need to survive, 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:16.920 I need to live. So that racism, that that's oppressive, 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:19.679 that that that that you know, that takes away from 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:21.320 my joy, you know what I mean? And I think 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:25.080 that just really respecting everyone's perspective on their need at 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:27.920 that point is really what I think needs to happen. 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:30.079 But I also think that we just need to learn 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:31.600 about each other a little bit more and we can 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:32.480 find those synergies. 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:38.280 Speaking of eating Joel Off rice or jambalaya, so we 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:39.200 so we. 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:41.600 Actually did that event. My boys and I did that 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:44.839 event right. I don't think that they should be mad 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.360 at us. I think that's really just understanding why we 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:51.800 did it right. So Jumbalaya is a version of what 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:54.680 Joelf would be, or like a rendition of it. So 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:56.400 I don't know if anybody here has seen high in 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:59.080 a hog, but talking about food origins, really we were 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:01.200 just trying to connect people. Our goal is not to 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:04.840 make it a competition, and we didn't compete against the rice. 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:07.200 It's really just kind of like, let you know, if 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:09.160 you're African, this is an opportunity for you to learn 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.200 about jambalaya. If if you're an American, this is your 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:14.600 opportunity to taste some jew of rice and and that 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:17.120 was just a way of us trying to connect the 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:20.920 culture and connect people through basketball, sport that people love, 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:22.760 and then also through food and just kind of build 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:24.880 that connection. I think we could probably could have did 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:27.160 a better story telling opportunity of just kind of the 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.240 connectivity between Jumbalayan and jewel Off. And I think that's 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:33.320 great feedback. But I don't think of it as a 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.960 way for us to erase anybody's culture or like you know, 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.839 africanize anybody's culture. Our goal is to be respectful. We 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:43.480 should be respectful, and I think that that's the that's 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:44.400 the goal that I'm learning. 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:45.079 Absolutely. 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.440 If you show up, you hungry. I want both where 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:49.160 to come from? 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:53.240 I want to Yeah, my guy chef bj Benjamin Dennessee, 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.360 he was on High on the Hull and from Charleston, 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:58.000 South Carolina, exactly back Carolina where I'm from. 0:12:58.240 --> 0:12:59.640 I'm not West Africa. 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:02.480 Like a lot of the things that we eat and 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:05.120 stuff are rooted in West African culture. 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:06.800 Yeah, that's some of the things that we want to do. 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:09.360 We want to tell more stories about food and the 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:11.520 origins because if you look at a lot of food 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:14.040 that people are eating here in America, across the Caribbean 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:17.040 and across the continent. There's so many similarities, but there's 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:19.839 barely any places that you can go and find if 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.000 you were born here in America. Like, for instance, we 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.880 know about I know about jay Z's history from getting 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:26.720 to the end, and like I follow all of his 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:28.760 albums and I know the next story is going to 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:30.960 come on the next one. We don't necessarily have that 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:34.280 about our afrobeats artists. I think there's an opportunity there 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:36.360 for us to tell those stories, and that happens for 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:38.840 all categories. The same thing in our same thing and fashion, 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.400 same thing in food. We need to tell those stories, 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:43.439 and that's why our platform exists to be able to 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:46.840 tell those stories and buy into that. Like we all 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:49.200 loved Black Panther when it came out, although it's not real. 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:50.960 We all love The Women King when it came out. 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:53.959 But we need more shows, more movies like that, because 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:56.480 if somebody is sitting here in America and all they've 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.080 been taught is that Africa is full of poverty, and 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.200 as an African, I know a lot of young Africans 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:04.120 that didn't want to associate with that either, So it 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:06.840 kind of makes sense. But now if we can tell you. 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:10.080 With the Internet penetrating at forty and fifty percent in 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:12.400 Africa right now, Africans are able to tell you in 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:14.120 real life who they are and what they do and 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:16.720 the type of lifestyles that they live and vice versa. 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:20.320 Man, I've made it my business to take my family 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:22.720 to somewhere on the continent at least once a year. 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:23.400 Yeah. 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:27.320 So I've been to Johannesburg, I've been to Zanzibar and Tanzania. 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:29.800 I've been to Ghana. I'm going to Cape Town. Is 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:33.360 amazing when you see these places, you like wow. Yeah, 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:36.080 I say it all the time. They lied to us. 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:37.360 About the opportunity. 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:41.080 Yeah, and just beyond that, like I was on Kamala's 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:43.720 the group that went to the continent when she went 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:47.240 to Africa, And for me, it's very important for everybody 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:49.480 to if the whole world is fighting for a piece 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:51.840 of Africa, why aren't you looking at that as an 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:54.600 opportunity for yourself? And our festival is a way to 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:57.240 introduce it, right, you know, something that you're familiar with, 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:01.000 come to the continent that experience the food, experience experience fashion, 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:04.000 experience the music in real time with the people on 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:07.000 the ground, smell and feel the place, and then you know, 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:09.280 use that as an opportunity the next time you come 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:11.200 to see how you can help, how you can work 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:13.280 with somebody to make something really dope happen. 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:14.320 That's our goal. 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:16.320 You said that tourism is new for you guys. So 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:19.120 when people experience all of that, what is the one 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:20.400 thing at the end of the day that you feel 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:23.080 like people still miss that? You're like, man I wish 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:24.440 y'all would have gotten this though. 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.640 I mean one of the things that I mentioned earlier 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:29.960 is that you know, we're a small business still. Although 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:32.520 we've gotten all of this pressing these bylines and a 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:34.800 lot of people from America have come to our festival 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:38.360 forty percent, there are still growing pains that we're going through. 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.960 To build infrastructure. We need to build infrastructure around touring. 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:45.120 We see most African arts they're not touring around the continent. 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:48.400 The cost is too high. We need to build infrastructure 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:51.360 just around education. You know, you have return taught me 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:53.760 that We booked Ori Lennox and she came to Ghana 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:57.160 and she was so happy about her experience, but she 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:00.680 received comments that didn't really make her happy. And that's 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:02.400 because there's so much learning that we have to do 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:04.640 and unlearning that we have to do as well. So 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:07.040 it's just kind of those kind of things that we 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:09.080 need to be better. We have to be better at service. 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:12.240 Like you mentioned, I think that all of those things 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:14.760 have changed. So if you've been the gun in twenty nineteen, 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.720 if you go today, those things have drastically improved, you 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:21.320 probably won't recognize it from the last time you went. 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.240 And those are the learnings that are happening on the continent, 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:25.920 and I think in the next couple of years you're 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:28.480 going to see a lot more happening. The continent is 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:30.520 just getting younger and people are getting wiser, and the 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:32.600 internet's penetrating at a very high clip. 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:34.760 You know, Bill Gates said that he wanted to give 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:38.600 ninety nine percent of his two hundred billion dollar fortune 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.720 and healthcare and education in Africa. Where would you tell 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:43.720 him specifically you need to put them in. 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:46.240 I mean, I would say, like, you know, healthcare is 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:49.840 a great opportunity. You know, research is one of the 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:52.520 major platforms that we did that we that we do 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.120 right here in America. I think there's an opportunity on 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:57.880