WEBVTT - Broccoli City: Starting a Musical Festival From Scratch 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:06.399 It's Friday, fustifoards the next day and we had not secured. 0:00:06.080 --> 0:00:06.760 All the permitted. 0:00:07.000 --> 0:00:10.360 Me and Brandon are literally running around. We had to 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:12.560 get the fire department to sign off. And it's been 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:15.240 at the very last minute. You know, folks on Friday 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:16.920 in the government is they've taken off trying to get 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:18.720 up out of there, So we were down to the 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:32.240 last minute. 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:35.800 Welcome to our Idea Generations All Angles, a podcast about 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:39.000 culture's most influential brands and the teams that built up. 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:44.040 If you're an entrepreneur, creative, or anyone interested in harnessing 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:47.960 the power of collaboration, join me Noah Callahan Beveror each 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:50.440 week as we dissect the most dynamic companies in culture. 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.960 Because the only way to truly understand success is to 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:59.560 look at it from all angles. Idea Generations All Angles 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:08.000 is a Willer Media podcast. In twenty ten, Brandon mcahern 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:10.600 and Marcus Allen through a hip hop centric Earthday celebration 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.240 for the black community in Los Angeles, and in the 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:16.600 decade plus that followed, that party would evolve into Broccolly City, 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:21.120 a global brand focused on community, music, health, and culture, 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.560 culminating at an annual festival in Washington, d C. But 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:28.120 along the way, broccoly City would discover the challenges that 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:31.920 come with running a festival, expand into digital content, and 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:34.920 developed new exciting initiatives to make a positive impact in 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:38.200 their community. On this week's episode of All Angles, we 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:42.240 talked to co founders Brandon mcaheurn, Marcus Allen, and Darryl Perkins, 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:46.160 creative director Hugo Cubias, and Chief of staff Jacqueline Austin 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:49.200 to hear the intricacies of throwing a major festival and 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:52.280 creating one of the most dynamic brands in music and culture. 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:55.680 But before any of that happened, years before booking Future 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:58.400 as a headliner or having the DC Mayor attend one 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:01.080 of their events, there were just two best friends growing 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:03.120 up together in Greensboro, North Carolina. 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:08.480 My mother is a second grade teacher. 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:11.639 My pops, you know, middle class dude, worked at the bank. 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:15.639 This is Brandon mckahurn, founder and CEO of Broccoli City. 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:19.320 They were also very very active in our church, in 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:20.400 our church community. 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:22.280 I think that's where I kind of got. 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:24.840 A lot of my each one teach one type of 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.320 mentality from was growing up in the church out there 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:30.880 in North Carolina. 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:32.040 Down the street from Brendon was his best friend and 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:33.760 future business partner, Marcus. 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:36.800 I know Marcus my whole life. We grew up together. 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:39.200 My neighborhood is pretty close to his, and we used 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:40.280 to ride the bus together. 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:42.000 I used to pick on him, he used to pick 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.160 on me, but yeah, always been my friend. 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:48.400 I met his mom first second grade, and then shortly 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:50.800 thereafter I met him. 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:53.520 This is Marcus Allen, co founder of Broccoli City and 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:55.480 one of Brandan's best friends since childhood. 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.040 He was a grade behind me. We got connected, you know, 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:03.480 probably summer or second grade, summer third grade. At that time, 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:06.040 they were still living like a little bit away. I 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:09.480 think in fourth or fifth grade they moved close to 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:14.160 where our elementary school was. That was really where we 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:17.440 got like super cool and it really became a friend group, 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:21.560 from sports to hanging out, to picking each other up 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:25.080 to just the whole mine. 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:29.200 The two stayed closed throughout high school, but eventually I 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:32.200 ended up taking different paths for college, with Marcus going 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:34.600 to North Carolina A and T, while Brendan went to 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:36.800 North Carolina Central and Durham. 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:39.320 In college, I actually was a part of the theater 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:41.840 department there and acted in a couple of plays. 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.080 I was like, Yo, I'm gonna do the Hollywood thing. 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:45.560 I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but I'm 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:48.440 gonna do something in that world and in that realm. 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:51.560 I graduated and moved back to Greensboro, like most of 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.360 us do. You graduate school and you moved back home. 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:58.440 And when I moved back home, I was watching Entourage 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:00.960 every Sunday. I watched Asarage and then I had a 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.120 homegirl who actually lived in La Right, so I'm watching, 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:06.800 you know what I mean, Vinnie and Turtle, I'm watching 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.640 all these adventures. I'm like, Yo, this shit is crazy 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:11.680 fucking e you know what I mean, just like the 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:13.760 whole thing, the ris of the world, the whole thing. 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:14.040 Right. 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:17.880 Brandon had Hollywood dreams, and after visiting a friend in 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:20.440 Los Angeles, he knew he needed to move out west. 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:22.440 So he packed up his things and hit the road, 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:25.000 driving across the country in search of a new adventure. 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:26.120 In Los Angeles. 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.080 Man, I was super excited. I've always been the type 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:33.560 of cat that's excited for like the first day of 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.960 school or the first day you know, somewhere new, you 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:37.520 know what I mean. 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:39.760 So I was super duper excited. 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:42.960 Taking the Southern Rape to get to California. The timing 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:45.279 of Branda's trip could not have been worse, so we 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:47.560 didn't know it he would be driving directly into the 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:48.839 wake of Hurricane Katrina. 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:53.080 I had went through Atlanta to pick up my older 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.440 brother so he can ride with me most of the way. 0:04:56.240 --> 0:05:00.080 I came around like the Katrina Tom It was crazy. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:01.080 He had got caught in a. 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:04.080 Huge storm, you know what I mean, off the back 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.760 end of Katrina. I mean, when we pulled over somewhere 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:11.080 in Alabama, we didn't have no gas, and then I 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:13.599 ended up meeting these like super cool white boys and 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:16.000 they were like, follow us to this gas station and 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:19.000 they like, man, they pumped the gas for us, like 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:20.800 all sorts of shit. And then I turned around and 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.000 they were gone. I know that sounds crazy, but it's 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:24.640 like the dead ass truth, you know. 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.200 What I mean. Then I got to California and I 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:30.440 ended up visiting my homegirl. I was like, wow, like 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:34.280 this is where I need to be. Once I got here, 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:36.200 I was like, yo, I need a job. And I 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:36.760 ended up. 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:39.760 Going on Melrose and I met somebody who was actually 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:40.280 still my. 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:42.200 Friends to this day shout out to my man Seed's. 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.680 He worked at this store called Workmen's and Workman's It 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:48.200 was on Melrose Avenue, and they were doing things like 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:50.040 cossignment with like T shirt. 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:51.440 Brands and things of that nature. 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:54.000 Now, granted, I'm from North Carolina, so I don't know 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:57.200 anything about you know, I don't know anything about none 0:05:57.200 --> 0:05:58.760 of this, you know what I mean, the hundreds, none 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.440 of that shit, right. I just remember like being engulfed 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.080 in this world. End up getting a job at the 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.520 place called Workman's. I met Sees. He was from the 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.120 East Coast, so we automatically just kind of vibed and 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.200 he was like, oh, you just moved out here. I'm like, yeah, 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:12.880 I just moved out here, man, need a job. Like, 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:15.960 what's up, bro? I always been like personable when I 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:19.120 was working in Workman's. I just got hip to the 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:21.200 Los Angeles kind of culture. 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:22.040 At the time. 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:27.719 Labrinia was discovering the culture of Los Angeles. Marcus moved 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.039 to Washington, DC to work in local government as a 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:33.400 logistics coordinator. Even though the two friends were across the 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:36.440 country from one another, they still talked daily, and soon 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.599 they were both enamored by the buzzing streetwear scene. Local 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:42.200 brands like Crooks and Castles and the Hundreds had brand 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.960 his attention, and both of them wanted in on that energy. 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:47.880 That desire would plant seeds for the two to develop 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:49.679 their own brand, Broccoli City. 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.320 There was a lot of other brands, the Hundreds, Crooks 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:56.599 and Castles, but they were much darker in terms of 0:06:56.640 --> 0:07:00.839 their concepts. Like the look of it was Darkerhnny Cookcakes 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:03.560 was very playful, it was colorful, it was it was 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:06.039 a bit it was a bit more jovial, and that 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:08.240 was kind of the brand that we were, Like Yo, 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:12.320 Johnny Cupcakes, Like yeah, like Broccoli City, like we gonna 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:12.640 be that. 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:20.200 When starting a brand, one of the hardest parts can 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:23.040 be deciding on a name that's worthy of your vision. Luckily, 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:25.400 for Brandon and Marcus, they already had that on deck. 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:29.880 I used to rap back in the day and I 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:31.840 had said Broccoli City. 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:33.040 In a rat one time. 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:35.840 I don't remember the exact line or nothing, but something 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:38.400 that rhyme with witty or something I'm from Broccoli City 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:40.040 or something like oh shit, you know what I mean. 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:40.800 That's a vibe. 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:43.360 He was in this little shitty band. It was like 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:45.760 a hoodie and a blowfish. It was like the black 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:47.920 rapper with the with the band, you know what I mean, 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:51.520 Jim class Rod type ship. Right, it was that whole vibe. 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:53.920 We were just outside one day and he was like, yeah, 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:57.560 because we from the Broxi City, it's just like, oh shit, 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:00.320 Broccoli City. That's hard. And then it was like, look 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:02.440 different places. We would say it randomly. 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.440 I remember actually going and visiting like New York and 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:09.120 other places and people would ask me where I was from, 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:11.960 and instead of saying Greensboro, I would say like, yeah, 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:13.960 I'm from Brockley City and people would. 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:15.360 Be like, oh, snap, you know what I mean, what's that. 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:18.840 I kind of just carried the name with me through college, 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:22.080 Like you'll have a friend from DC and you'll be like, oh, 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:25.640 they're from PG County or they're from the district, and 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:27.800 you know, I would say things with my little friends 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:28.840 like yo, oh they're from. 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:30.240 The brock Like, oh, they're from Greensboro. 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:34.880 Brockley City is Greensboro, so like Broccoli is the green 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:38.120 and then Borough is the city part, so it's Brockley 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.840 City Greensboro. So when you met me, instead of it 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:44.920 being Brandon, it was like I was building somewhat of 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:48.199 a community. So I would introduce myself as like branding 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:49.720 from Brockley City. 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:50.800 You know. 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:52.560 I'd be like, yo, brand in Brockley. 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:55.160 City, but up and people would save my number as 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:57.800 brand in Broccoli or Broccoli b or whatever the case 0:08:57.840 --> 0:08:58.080 may be. 0:08:58.240 --> 0:08:59.959 I always pushed it. It was always my. 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:03.439 With a name in hand. Brandon looked to his new 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:05.400 LA connections to help bring the brand to light. 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:08.720 I ended up meeting this guy named Dee. 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:11.880 He was like this Filipino dude, and he was outside 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.320 of Workman's and he was like smoking a joint or 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:15.400 something and he just. 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:18.200 Looked mad cool. So I'm like, damn, like who is you? 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:18.960 What the fuck you do? 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:19.160 Bro? 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:21.760 And he's like, man, you know I got a T 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:23.959 shirt line. It's called Crooks and Castles, you know what 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:25.840 I mean. We got the T shirts in here and 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:29.439 the T shirt was the Fasace mask with the ski 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:31.800 mask on the face. I was like, Yo, this is crazy, 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:33.760 Like so how'd you do this? And he like, yeah, 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.080 this is my company, Bro. I got a graphic designer, 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:36.640 you know what I mean. 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.199 I just I put it together and I'm like, oh. 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:41.400 Shit, I said, make some T shirts like this say 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:42.720 Brocoli City on them. 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:44.839 I ended up just like talking to people trying to 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:46.800 find like graphic designers. 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:49.400 At this time, it wasn't like the my spaces and 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:52.040 the igs and what was my space? But it wasn't 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:54.240 like IG's and all that, so you couldn't just find 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:56.040 cats the way you can find them now. 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:58.200 I went to a spring print spot. It was in 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:00.800 the Valley. I had like the regular Fine with just 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:02.160 like Broccoli City on it. 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:03.480 You know what I mean, Like that had have been 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.520 times New Roman or some shit like that, and I 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:08.320 took it to the screen shop to get it printed. 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:10.640 I met this dude there. It was a Hispanic cat. 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:13.120 His name was Fine, and he was there with this other. 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:15.679 Dude named KB I mean, who was like a rapper 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.959 at the time, and they had this brand called Ghetto 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:20.040 Rock off. 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.520 Of the common song. I was like, man, like, how. 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:24.040 Much would you charge me to do, you know, to 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:25.920 do a logo? And he was like, you know, I 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:27.880 forgot what he told me, but scrambled up. 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:29.760 I got the money. I paid him, and then he. 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:33.120 Created the first like Broccoli City logo, and then I 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:35.280 created like a website, you know, the whole nine. 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:37.760 Because farn was super nice and all that shit. 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:41.480 And at this time, I'm telling Marcus about all this 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:43.680 stuff that's going on right like he's still on the 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:44.280 East coast. 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:45.800 I'm on the West coast. 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.280 As Brendan networked and spread the Broccoli City name in 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.600 La Marcus was in DC plotting on the future. Soon 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:55.480 they were throwing their first Broccoli City parties and stumbled 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:57.640 up on the inspiration for their first major event. 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:01.839 We had been starting to have like smaller parties at 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:04.920 like this spot called Center Space. We had started giving 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:07.360 T shirts away. It was really to promote the T 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:10.319 shirt line and to get more visibility, and we ended 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:12.440 up giving a bunch of T shirts away. If you 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:14.080 go back and look at the pictures and just look 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:17.000 at the vibe, I mean, everybody from like Nick Cannon 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:19.880 to like, you know, everybody who was popular in LA 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:22.080 culture at that time some kind of way ended up 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:25.199 coming to our events. Ultimately, we got hit up by 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:29.880 earth Day Network, which is the organization that manages earth Day, 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:32.400 the holiday. We ended up making some T shirts for 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.760 them for like their thirtieth anniversary, and that was the 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:37.800 first time we'd even heard earth Day, Like that doesn't 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:40.160 even exist. In North Carolina at that time, right, So 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:42.520 it's like Earth Day, Like, yo, what is this? So 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:45.120 I ended up going to the celebration and it was 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:48.760 on a National Mall in DC. It was like Usher 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:52.920 Anita Baker and like all these big artists, but it's 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.120 like no Black people there. But it was obvious they 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.360 were like booking this for it to be multicultural, but 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:01.640 it was like no people of color there. And I 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:03.880 remember hitting b after that shit, like, bro, they had 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:06.439 to shit the fucking National Mall. That shit was crazy. 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:09.360 I see Usher da da da da, but it was 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:11.080 no Black people out there. 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:11.200 Bro. 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:13.240 Like, I'm telling you, it's some shit with it, yo, 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:14.760 we might need to do it. When to do a 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:16.599 Black earth Day celebration. 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:21.400 I remember hearing and learning more in depth about earth 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:24.240 Day and what Earth Day represented, and I was like, 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:27.040 oh shit, like you know, this is super dope, like 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:30.880 a day that focuses in on community love, you know, sustainability, 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.160 this that to the third I'm like, man, like why 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:36.880 ain't nobody done that in you know, in the urban community, 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.640 in the black community, right, And I'm like, yo, I'm. 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:41.920 Gonna do a party during Earth Day, you know what 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:42.439 I'm saying? 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:44.400 Like that was like my thing because I'm like, oh, 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.040 it's Broccoli City, so automatically, a lot. 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:50.040 Of people thought that it was, you know, health driven, 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:51.840 you know what I mean, because of the broccoli. 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:54.640 They even thought it was health driven or weed driven, 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:56.680 which I always used to think was hilarious, what makes 0:12:56.679 --> 0:12:59.959 perfect sense. But I always wanted to have some time 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:02.200 a community element to whatever I did. 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.800 Their passion for community health and the environment led them 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:10.160 to planning an Earth Day celebration for the Black community 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:12.840 in LA. While searching for brands to work with on 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.240 the event, they ended up meeting a future partner of 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:16.040 broccoly City. 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:20.000 My parents were always very engaged kind of with social 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:21.560 movements in the Bay areas. 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:24.760 This is Darryl Perkins, co founder and managing director of 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:25.520 Broccol City. 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.719 I grew up around a lot of social justice activism. 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:33.160 I think that was always I always saw myself doing 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:37.520 something to help my community to be socially active. And 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:40.360 I ended up going to Howard University, and I started 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:42.240 as a business student, but I wasn't really feeling the 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:46.520 business courses, but I enjoyed my anthropology classes and looking 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:50.240 at how cultures changed, how culture and music played along 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:54.000 with social movements back from the slave spirituals all the 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:57.040 way to hip hop. The relationship between the two as 0:13:57.080 --> 0:13:59.880 social movements went from then to now, how music and 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.520 artists played a large role in the Civil rights movement. 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:08.240 Daryl's passion for combining culture, music and activism led him 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:10.880 to work with a top leader in the environmental justice space, 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:12.960 and was also about to lead him to working with 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:14.080 Brandon and Marcus too. 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:19.840 I was working with Carrie Fulton, who's actually a leader 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:22.440 in the environmental justice movement, has been and continues to 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:26.240 be Carrie Fulman. And we met through Carrie as we're 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:28.400 doing outreach to different folks that were. 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:31.000 Doing these Earth Day events. I remember those early. 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:33.040 Conversations but like, oh, they're just doing dope stuff, and 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:36.360 they saw it from a perspective similar to the way 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:40.480 I saw getting again, folks that look like us, talk 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:44.320 like us, making it cool to have these conversations about 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:46.600 the environment, because at that time talking about the environment 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:47.880 was not a cool thing to do. 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:49.760 I mean it was you know, they. 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.360 Saw them as not folks that look like us. You know, 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:55.320 we're putting as tree huggers. There's just not us having 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.080 these conversations. Well, at the same time, we knew how 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:03.240 important that these environmental issues had on our communities, and 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:06.320 so we understood that. And so the way that we 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:09.920 saw that as well as to have the look and 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:12.240 feel of something that I would want to be a 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:13.640 part of it my friends who want to be a 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:17.960 part of it, was very important. I was working on 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:21.120 a campaign called Green the Block, and we were doing 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:24.120 all these events around environmental justice, fighting power, and involution 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:26.440 around the country. One of the things that came of 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:28.800 that was we did all these Earth Day events all 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:32.680 around the country, and Broccoli City was one of our 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:35.120 flagship events. It was called the Global Cooling and I 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:37.720 believe this was twenty ten, if I'm not mistaken. 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.200 Broccoli City now had a partner in place to help 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:42.600 launch their first major event. 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:45.560 I ended up getting that with them, and we end 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:50.600 up calling this event Global Cooling right, because they you know, cooling, 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:51.960 global Cooling bomb. 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:54.920 It was downtown LA on Margot Street. 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.960 It was healthy food vendors as well as musical acts right, 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:01.600 and the acts that we had with everybody such as 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:05.520 Dom Kennedy, you and I, Kendrick Lamar, and it was 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.720 so much camaraderie. On the West coast at that time, 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:11.320 you know what I'm saying. We had dom headline, and 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:13.920 it was right when he had dropped on West Side 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:16.200 from Love from West Side with Love, so like he 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:19.320 performed like nineteen ninety seven, you know what I mean, Like, Bru, 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:21.840 this is for anybody who's in this world listening to this, 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.080 I know they're getting chill bumps, you know what I'm saying. 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:28.320 BJ the Chicago kid, Casey Veggie's and anwar carriage. We 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:30.800 thought we were gonna do two hundred and fifty people 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:33.200 or whatever the case may be, but the joint ended 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.080 up doing like five six hundred people, and at that time, 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:38.640 like that's a lot of people. That joint was smacking, 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:40.680 you know what I mean. And then it was on 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.640 all the blogs. This was like twenty ten when we 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.600 put that first festival together. It was during that blog 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:51.440 era time filming the recap and trying everything in my 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:53.760 power to get it to like Mika. 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:56.080 And them over it too dope boys, you know what I. 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:58.160 Mean, because that was like the thing to get like 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:00.840 your video on their blog. I ended up meeting him 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:03.040 and he ended up posting all of our recap videos. 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:05.920 That was kind of like the beginning of okay, let's 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:08.480 turn this into something physical outside. 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:11.160 It exceeded expectations for sure, you know what I mean. 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:11.640 For sure? 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:15.200 For sure, even though Daryl had worked on these kinds 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:17.879 of events before, working with Brandon and Marcus on the 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:19.679 Global Cooling, it felt different. 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:22.720 I mean, it's beautiful and you have a space and 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.439 there's nobody there, and then you have a lot of 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:29.320 people there coming together to celebrate Earth. It was powerful, 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:31.600 but I think it was also our high moment in 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:36.280 terms of we can bring people together in a positive space. 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:39.120 It can be fun, it can be cool, it can 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:41.640 be educational, it can be impactful. 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:43.359 I think it was like, oh there's something here. 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:45.520 Yeah, I mean there was a magic there. And then 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:47.920 after it's done, the war just kept spreading like if 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:49.920 you missed out, Like, man, you kind of missed something. 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:52.159 I think we made a little money, but it wouldn't 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:53.200 nothing to even talk about. 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:55.879 It was like, oh, okay, we didn't go broke doing it, 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:57.760 you know what I mean. Obviously I had to pay 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:00.680 the ax, but I didn't have to pay it. What 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:02.200 you gotta pay acts nowadays. 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:02.359 You know. 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:08.520 The Global Cooping was a huge success, and the team 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.080 saw the potential for Broccoli City to grow, but they 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:13.320 weren't sure that Los Angeles was the best home for it. 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:16.520 So I'm thinking, Okay, you know what I mean, Let's 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.080 do this again. This shit about the pot let's do it. 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:21.960 But then just the finances became a thing because, like 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:24.000 I said, everybody ended up getting signed. 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:25.879 The landscape in Los. 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:28.600 Angeles, you know, it still was a very clicks town, 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:31.760 and I'm not really too heavily into like all the 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:33.400 clicks and all that stuff. 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:33.640 You know what I mean. 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:35.919 So yeah, we had to like sit down for like 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:37.920 a year and a half, like two years. May ain't 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:39.000 really do nothing. 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:40.920 Just try to figure it out, like what can we do. 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:44.760 I was in DC. I was working government contracting. I 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:47.840 got a job, but I'm active, like I'm in the streets, 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:50.399 like I'm going out every night, like I'm partying, like 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:54.200 I'm having a fucking ball, and I'm talking to be 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:57.560 Because at the time, he's working for James Dubows as 0:18:57.560 --> 0:18:58.320 a PA. 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.560 While I was working as a pdu duction assistant for 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:04.280 a guy by the name of James Debos. I worked 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.600 on like The Keisha Cole Show and some MTV shows, 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:09.760 but I was just a PA, and for anybody who 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:12.320 knows what a PA is, you're like the lowest of 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.000 the lowest of the lowest when it comes. 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:15.640 To like production. 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:18.119 So like I was going and getting people subs and 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:20.720 you know, making sure what no onions on that joint 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:24.640 things like that, but also playing like an office manager too, 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:27.359 you know what I mean, to the production places and 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:29.280 having to drive and drop off cuts. 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:31.880 He's calling me every day with like printing out map 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:34.960 quest just dropping off like reels and dropping off cameras 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:37.600 to different people all over LA. And I'm sitting in 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:39.720 my office with the door clothes and we're talking for 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:42.720 like four hours a day, just like just talking shit. 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.320 He just in the car. I remember just telling him 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:48.040 and just talking to him, like, Yo, this DC shit 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:50.919 is just like LA, It's just different. He like, Bro, 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:55.320 you tripping. I'm like, fam cats are out every day 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:58.840 till two three in the morning. The only difference is 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:02.720 they got job and they wake up for their jobs. 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.360 I'm like, Yo, they go out and they wake up though, 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:08.000 I'm like, yo, they beat it their job at nine 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:10.399 in the morning and they do that shit again the 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:13.200 next day. I'm like, it's not even that popping on 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:15.400 the weekends. I'm like, yo, it's all during the week 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:18.520 I'm like, there's a culture here that people got money. 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:20.480 I'm like, bro, we should do it here. 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:22.840 He was like, yo, being we need to bring it 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:29.320 to DC. Bro Brandon agreed. 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:31.119 That a DC event was a great idea, but if 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:33.040 they were gonna throw a party there, he would have 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:35.560 to be bigger. So they started putting into motion where 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:38.200 would become the first ever Broccolly City Festival. 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:42.880 So on my side, I always have been the one 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:45.239 to kind of go off and book the talent. And 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:48.560 then Marcus on his side, he was building the relationships 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:51.160 in Washington, d C. With a lot of like government 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:54.800 agencies and things like that. He was very mixy in 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:57.920 terms of building those relationships. Marcus ended up building a 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:01.280 relationship with somebody he was like in real estate, and 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:03.840 we were able to borrow some money from him to 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:04.639 pay the acts. 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:07.840 So my homie Nate shout out to Nate. I had 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:10.560 been telling him what we were trying to do. He's like, yeah, 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:13.560 I got somebody who probably be interested. We end up 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:19.159 meeting at Ted's Montana Grill in Crystal City and I 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:22.879 walk in Chuck Taylor's you know what I mean some jeans, 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:25.880 hoodie or something, probably smell like weed done and smoking. 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:28.920 The car I get in there, they got on suits. 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:32.159 They're younger, though they're not like older guys, like they're like, 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:35.840 you know, probably six years seven years older than us, 0:21:35.880 --> 0:21:38.159 you know what I'm saying. But they suited, right, They 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:41.320 very much in this DC suit culture. 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:41.640 Right. 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:44.760 They start asking questions. I pull out a deck, start 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:48.000 pulling out the budget, walking them through everything, and then 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:49.840 a week or two later I end up hearing back 0:21:49.840 --> 0:21:52.679 from them. He was like, Bro, like you made me 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:57.479 readjust how I view business because I was very turned 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:00.280 off by you by the way you were dressed. But 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:03.520 when you started talking, I realized how thorough and how 0:22:03.600 --> 0:22:05.919 much you knew what you were talking about. And he 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:07.879 was like, it made me really get out of my 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:10.840 mole of thinking, like judging a book by his cover 0:22:10.960 --> 0:22:12.919 and just being like, but this dude, don't got on 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:15.200 a suit. He told me that, like, Bro, you changed 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:18.040 how I approached business moving forward for the rest of 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:20.679 my life. If I had just kept my guard up 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:22.960 based upon how you looked and just all of that, 0:22:23.000 --> 0:22:25.000 I probably wouldn't even have heard what you had to say. 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:27.959 But you came off so much solid. It was just 0:22:28.320 --> 0:22:30.560 it was a thing. I definitely remember him saying that, 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:34.680 I remember that whole that whole process of like getting 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:37.239 an investor and paying them back with interest and like 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:39.040 all of that. And I think they invest in like 0:22:39.119 --> 0:22:40.720 thirty five forty grand. 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:44.400 With some investor money in their pocket to fund the festival. 0:22:44.640 --> 0:22:47.680 The team went out to book acts, vendors and secure location. 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:52.480 Marcus, like I said, he handled all the operational stuff 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:55.080 and then I handle all the talent stuff. 0:22:55.320 --> 0:22:57.399 Marcus ended up getting us the Navy. 0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:00.840 Yard, which was kind of a crater or whatever, you 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:01.960 know what I mean, you know, and it got them 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:04.160 big ass bends up and things like that. Like they 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:06.320 got him, they have him in different cities. He ended 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:09.040 up locking that venue. Our biggest act that we had 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:11.760 at the time was Big Crit. I booked Big Krit 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:14.480 from I want to say, Johnny Snipes. At the time, 0:23:14.920 --> 0:23:17.040 Big Crit had just dropped. I don't know if it 0:23:17.080 --> 0:23:18.760 was Krit was here, I don't know what it was, 0:23:18.800 --> 0:23:19.480 but it was one of. 0:23:19.440 --> 0:23:22.360 Them joints that was nuts. It was like when Krit. 0:23:22.040 --> 0:23:24.440 Was that dude not saying that he's still like much 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:26.919 respecting you, Krit, I'm still a fan. We had the 0:23:27.119 --> 0:23:30.600 likes of Phil I Day on there. I want to say, 0:23:30.600 --> 0:23:32.919 we had a Go Go band on there. Then we 0:23:33.000 --> 0:23:36.720 also had vendors, right, we had the healthy vendors. That 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:39.000 was something that I was always big on, like just 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:41.760 having healthy juices and things like that. I'm not the 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:44.120 healthiest person in the world, but I always think it's 0:23:44.160 --> 0:23:44.560 dope to. 0:23:44.520 --> 0:23:46.800 At least provide the option, to be honest with you. 0:23:46.840 --> 0:23:49.760 I had never went to a festival before Brocoli City, 0:23:50.000 --> 0:23:52.880 so I never knew what one looked like outside of 0:23:53.280 --> 0:23:56.360 what we did. But what we did though, was We're 0:23:56.359 --> 0:23:59.400 gonna create this platform and give other people an opportunity 0:23:59.440 --> 0:24:00.560 to kind of shout on it. 0:24:02.080 --> 0:24:04.879 The first ever Brocco Lea City Festival launched on April 0:24:04.920 --> 0:24:09.080 twenty first, twenty thirteen, and featured acts like Big Krit, Scissa, 0:24:09.440 --> 0:24:13.920 and Jamison. They also posted yoga, art, pop ups, craft beer, 0:24:14.160 --> 0:24:14.800 and games. 0:24:16.640 --> 0:24:18.960 We thought we were gonna do like twenty five hundred people. 0:24:19.200 --> 0:24:22.119 We ended up doing like four thousand people. And the 0:24:22.160 --> 0:24:25.280 way it looked at the time was like, oh, shit, 0:24:25.560 --> 0:24:27.879 and the mayor came and shit, it was crazy. The 0:24:27.920 --> 0:24:31.160 mayor came and at that time we knew, oh, this 0:24:31.200 --> 0:24:34.760 could really be something like there's a there's a need for. 0:24:34.760 --> 0:24:36.680 This safe space, you know what I mean. 0:24:37.040 --> 0:24:39.320 For people, it was a lot of women, you know 0:24:39.359 --> 0:24:41.119 what I mean, And not saying that like, oh we 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:43.600 got all the girls, but it was like for those 0:24:43.640 --> 0:24:47.119 who like wearing Jordan's but also you know, like wearing heels, 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:49.880 you know what I mean, Like it's a very balanced crowd. 0:24:50.160 --> 0:24:52.760 It was everybody out there, white, black, Hispanic, you know 0:24:52.800 --> 0:24:54.399 what I mean. If you were a fan of just 0:24:54.520 --> 0:24:56.720 music and good vibes, you were out there and it 0:24:56.880 --> 0:24:57.880 was super duper dope. 0:24:57.920 --> 0:24:59.800 It was super duper dope. And then that was the. 0:24:59.720 --> 0:25:02.960 First one that we actually called the Broccoli City Festival. 0:25:04.600 --> 0:25:07.680 The Broccoli City Festival had a ride. The perfect blend 0:25:07.680 --> 0:25:11.080 of rising artists, unique venders, and positive messaging made the 0:25:11.119 --> 0:25:14.600 festival a massive success. It also made the team hungry 0:25:14.600 --> 0:25:17.520 for more. As they began planning the twenty fourteen edition. 0:25:17.840 --> 0:25:20.840 They raised the bar even higher by making two separate festivals, 0:25:21.000 --> 0:25:23.919 one in DC and the other in Los Angeles. He 0:25:24.000 --> 0:25:26.040 was an ambitious move and one that would test the 0:25:26.080 --> 0:25:26.920 limits of the team. 0:25:27.240 --> 0:25:29.040 It's like, y'all, let's do it again, and let's just 0:25:29.040 --> 0:25:30.000 try to make it bigger. 0:25:30.040 --> 0:25:30.240 You know. 0:25:31.320 --> 0:25:32.760 We had made a little money. 0:25:32.520 --> 0:25:34.440 With that one, but yet again we had to pay 0:25:34.560 --> 0:25:37.520 due back. But we actually stayed in relationship with him 0:25:37.680 --> 0:25:40.120 because he saw what we were able to do, right, 0:25:40.240 --> 0:25:41.960 so it was like all right, you know, So then 0:25:42.000 --> 0:25:44.720 we bawled just a little bigger bag from him the 0:25:44.760 --> 0:25:48.600 next time around, in twenty fourteen is when we actually 0:25:48.640 --> 0:25:53.919 moved to Gateway Pavilion, which was an old insane asylum 0:25:54.280 --> 0:25:57.080 in southeast DC. It was like dead smack in the 0:25:57.080 --> 0:25:58.119 middle of a hood hood. 0:25:58.280 --> 0:26:01.520 We did like five thousand people, five thousand. 0:26:01.280 --> 0:26:04.240 And seven thousand people. It was really like, Okay, this 0:26:04.280 --> 0:26:06.520 is a thing. And then that's when like the city 0:26:06.560 --> 0:26:08.760 of DC started reaching out to us, you know what 0:26:08.800 --> 0:26:11.120 I mean, Like conversations started to change a little bit. 0:26:12.359 --> 0:26:15.480 The DC leg of the duo Festival was a total success, 0:26:15.760 --> 0:26:18.520 but the la iteration it was a little shakier. 0:26:21.320 --> 0:26:23.760 So we just finished one, right, So we finished and 0:26:23.760 --> 0:26:27.399 then we're going out to La. It's Friday Fusiboards the 0:26:27.440 --> 0:26:30.040 next day and we had not secured all the permitting. 0:26:30.520 --> 0:26:34.480 I remember me and Brandon are literally running around. We 0:26:34.560 --> 0:26:37.840 had to get fire fighters the fire department to sign 0:26:37.880 --> 0:26:40.520 off on so we're getting these these permitting. Then at 0:26:40.560 --> 0:26:43.080 the very last minute, you know, folks on Friday in 0:26:43.119 --> 0:26:45.040 the governments they taken off trying to get up out 0:26:45.040 --> 0:26:47.160 of there. So we were down to the last minute, 0:26:47.200 --> 0:26:48.640 but we got everything handled. 0:26:50.040 --> 0:26:52.720 That was crazy. Who's fools for that? When I look 0:26:52.800 --> 0:26:55.520 at how other brands have been able to grow to 0:26:55.640 --> 0:27:00.720 multiple cities. It was the right thought for sure, no question, 0:27:00.840 --> 0:27:02.760 was the right thought. The problem is we didn't have 0:27:02.760 --> 0:27:06.000 the resources right, Like, we were robbing Peter to pay 0:27:06.040 --> 0:27:08.680 Paul on one festival, so to do it for two 0:27:09.040 --> 0:27:11.960 was crazy. We did have the right mindset LA at 0:27:11.960 --> 0:27:14.600 that time. That's where we were supposed to be growing to, 0:27:15.040 --> 0:27:18.160 but we got an ass kick. Our venue was huge. 0:27:18.480 --> 0:27:20.359 We ended up selling like a good amount of tickets, 0:27:20.359 --> 0:27:22.399 but the venue was so big that it looked like 0:27:22.440 --> 0:27:25.720 it wasn't that many people. But going back looking at it, 0:27:25.800 --> 0:27:29.760 like all the right people from LA that became like 0:27:30.240 --> 0:27:34.479 made people like super influential ended up being at that event, 0:27:34.760 --> 0:27:36.800 you know what I mean. So we were in the 0:27:36.880 --> 0:27:39.320 right path. We were in the right thought. We just 0:27:39.400 --> 0:27:41.840 did not have the resources as an independent brand. 0:27:42.560 --> 0:27:46.280 The LA joint was successful from like a people coming out. 0:27:46.160 --> 0:27:47.800 Wise part, you know what I mean, Like it was 0:27:47.840 --> 0:27:50.480 a good look, but the venue and all that felt 0:27:50.520 --> 0:27:52.119 like we could have got a better venue. 0:27:52.320 --> 0:27:55.320 The layout was so crazy that year because the state 0:27:55.480 --> 0:28:00.120 was on one side and the VFQ was on the full. 0:28:00.640 --> 0:28:03.120 Like this big ass kark. I remember that day. 0:28:04.200 --> 0:28:07.120 I looked how much I'd walked, and I'd walked over 0:28:07.160 --> 0:28:10.320 a marathon because we were walking back and forth. I 0:28:10.320 --> 0:28:14.000 did over twenty seven miles walking back and forth all 0:28:14.080 --> 0:28:16.160 day long. And I remember after I had never been 0:28:16.640 --> 0:28:19.240 more tired of out and I'm more tired. 0:28:19.520 --> 0:28:23.119 I remember throwing the shoes away, whatever shoes I had on. 0:28:23.520 --> 0:28:26.720 The bottoms of them were so black and just melted 0:28:26.840 --> 0:28:28.560 looking that it was just like yo, they're done. 0:28:28.640 --> 0:28:29.280 It was a wrap. 0:28:29.600 --> 0:28:32.160 It was quite a feat just to do it from 0:28:32.240 --> 0:28:34.439 coast to coast, but that was our last time at 0:28:34.760 --> 0:28:37.480 for now that we did that, especially in that short 0:28:37.520 --> 0:28:38.720 time frame we turned around. 0:28:38.760 --> 0:28:40.000 We were very ambitious. 0:28:40.320 --> 0:28:42.680 We definitely pulled it off, but it was super ambitious though. 0:28:46.000 --> 0:28:48.240 The team had pulled off the duel festival, but it 0:28:48.320 --> 0:28:50.880 left them exhausted. As they hit the drawing board to 0:28:50.920 --> 0:28:53.600 plan for the following year. They decided to refocus their 0:28:53.640 --> 0:28:57.240 efforts on a single event in DC. If Broccoli City 0:28:57.320 --> 0:28:59.120 was going to be a staple event in the district, 0:28:59.320 --> 0:29:01.720 then they needed to up the value proposition across the 0:29:01.720 --> 0:29:05.640 board through bigger bookings, better vendors, and more digital content. 0:29:07.440 --> 0:29:10.680 And I started a company called Simple Multimedia with a 0:29:10.680 --> 0:29:12.080 graffiti friend of mine. 0:29:12.760 --> 0:29:16.120 This is Hugo Qbs, marketing and creative director for Broccoli City. 0:29:16.520 --> 0:29:18.920 We just started and the whole premise was, you know, 0:29:19.080 --> 0:29:21.520 like we all were marketers, like keep it simple, right. 0:29:21.720 --> 0:29:24.560 You look at the best brands, they're always very simple 0:29:24.640 --> 0:29:26.160 and clean and easy to digest. 0:29:26.480 --> 0:29:27.560 So that was our premise. 0:29:27.560 --> 0:29:30.480 We're like, hey, you don't need to make your website complicated, 0:29:30.480 --> 0:29:33.040 you don't need to make your branding complicated. It just 0:29:33.080 --> 0:29:34.800 needs to be really clean and really efficient. 0:29:35.400 --> 0:29:36.520 So fast forward. 0:29:36.720 --> 0:29:38.600 We've been doing a lot of work since two thousand 0:29:38.640 --> 0:29:42.680 and nine. You know, up until like twenty fourteen, I 0:29:42.760 --> 0:29:44.800 was just you know, connecting with a. 0:29:44.720 --> 0:29:46.680 Lot of different people. I co called. 0:29:46.720 --> 0:29:48.760 The only person that I knew was a lawyer from 0:29:48.800 --> 0:29:50.640 my school, and I was like, hey, can you help 0:29:50.680 --> 0:29:52.360 me set up an LC And he's like, oh, I'm 0:29:52.360 --> 0:29:54.560 a real estate attorney. I don't really do that. You know, 0:29:54.760 --> 0:29:56.560 Like I was like, all right, cool, could you put 0:29:56.560 --> 0:29:59.000 me in contact with someone? So we started an open 0:29:59.040 --> 0:30:03.600 dialogue to come to find out he was a startup investor, 0:30:03.760 --> 0:30:06.120 so he was investing in a bunch of startups, like 0:30:06.160 --> 0:30:09.400 he was investing in like early seed and stuff like that. 0:30:09.880 --> 0:30:13.160 And then one of his group of investors were investing 0:30:13.160 --> 0:30:15.520 in Brocoli City, like they were one of the underwriters 0:30:15.560 --> 0:30:18.840 originally for Brocoli City. So like I had seen like 0:30:18.880 --> 0:30:21.360 the investment deck and what they were doing early on. 0:30:21.680 --> 0:30:23.840 He was like, Hey, I know you're not really in 0:30:23.880 --> 0:30:26.040 the investing space, but like I think, you know, there's 0:30:26.080 --> 0:30:29.120 a lot of really good synergy between what you're doing 0:30:29.160 --> 0:30:31.960 and what Brocoli City's doing. I was pretty tapped into 0:30:32.080 --> 0:30:34.680 like the DC you know kind of music scene, and 0:30:34.800 --> 0:30:38.120 you know, Marcus in Brandon in Brocoli City would always 0:30:38.160 --> 0:30:42.280 be like that kind of event that kind of stood out. 0:30:42.560 --> 0:30:44.320 You know, there was a lot of events here, you know, 0:30:44.360 --> 0:30:46.760 Howard Homecoming and a bunch of things that happened in 0:30:46.800 --> 0:30:49.600 the city that are kind of flagships that have you know, 0:30:49.720 --> 0:30:53.960 program and activations around that. Broccoli City really stood the 0:30:54.040 --> 0:30:57.400 test of time. When I started paying really close attention 0:30:58.200 --> 0:31:01.640 was like two thousand and four were teen fifteen for me. 0:31:02.280 --> 0:31:07.200 The artwork for those festivals were so different, you know, 0:31:07.320 --> 0:31:09.680 and so artistically creative. 0:31:09.880 --> 0:31:11.720 They just didn't look like anything. 0:31:11.360 --> 0:31:15.280 Else that was out there from like a music offering. 0:31:15.480 --> 0:31:18.360 I was like, man, like the Broccoli City people got 0:31:18.400 --> 0:31:23.080 it right. Twenty fifteen, I started event production company, so 0:31:23.200 --> 0:31:26.840 we got this warehouse in Sterling where we operated, and 0:31:26.920 --> 0:31:29.800 I'm just more focused on, like really folks working with 0:31:29.840 --> 0:31:32.680 certain brands like Brockly City and my own brands, and 0:31:32.760 --> 0:31:35.040 just working with some of these other clients. So that 0:31:35.080 --> 0:31:37.480 warehouse was really like an incubator for like a lot 0:31:37.480 --> 0:31:37.920 of stuff. 0:31:39.480 --> 0:31:42.200 Would Hugo bring a new perspective to Broccoli City. The 0:31:42.240 --> 0:31:45.000 team through a successful twenty fifteen campaign and were able 0:31:45.000 --> 0:31:48.000 to capture robust digital content to further grow the brand, 0:31:48.520 --> 0:31:51.080 but the team was starting to feel stagnant. Dozens of 0:31:51.120 --> 0:31:53.920 others festivals were popping up across the country, and many 0:31:53.960 --> 0:31:56.840 of them were booking bigger acts. If Broccoli City wanted 0:31:56.880 --> 0:31:59.160 to compete, they needed to lock in an a list 0:31:59.160 --> 0:32:01.080 headliner for the twenty sixteen festival. 0:32:05.240 --> 0:32:08.959 At this point, you know, you start noticing other festivals, 0:32:09.040 --> 0:32:10.600 you know, what I mean. You start looking at other 0:32:10.680 --> 0:32:12.800 cats and what they're doing, and like, how can I 0:32:12.840 --> 0:32:15.440 get some of these huge, huge acts that these cats. 0:32:15.160 --> 0:32:17.040 Have, And like I said, you know, you just try 0:32:17.040 --> 0:32:18.280 to keep up with the Joneses. 0:32:18.520 --> 0:32:21.480 And they also your consumers are looking at other festivals too, 0:32:21.680 --> 0:32:24.080 and they're like, yo, I love Broccoli City, but so 0:32:24.160 --> 0:32:26.960 and so got you know whatever that you just artist 0:32:27.120 --> 0:32:29.200 is at that time. But I think that we kept 0:32:29.240 --> 0:32:32.960 our community pretty good because you know, we just curated. 0:32:33.040 --> 0:32:35.880 We curated some pretty good vibes. To be honest with you, 0:32:35.920 --> 0:32:36.760 I never really had. 0:32:36.640 --> 0:32:39.080 Admirations to like build a festival, you know what I mean. 0:32:39.160 --> 0:32:42.440 It was just more so about the community. I think 0:32:42.480 --> 0:32:44.720 that it helped because it got to like kind of 0:32:44.760 --> 0:32:48.320 show off our curation in a sense, just in terms 0:32:48.360 --> 0:32:50.520 of the type of acts that we were booking, because 0:32:50.520 --> 0:32:52.760 I could look at a festival and just be like, oh, 0:32:52.880 --> 0:32:53.880 they just had money. 0:32:55.760 --> 0:32:59.240 So twenty sixteen that was when like we had built 0:32:59.320 --> 0:33:03.120 up enough capital in the agent industry, right the agents 0:33:03.560 --> 0:33:06.120 knew who we were a bit our name was making bills. 0:33:06.840 --> 0:33:10.080 There was one agent, Caroline I think at the time 0:33:10.120 --> 0:33:12.800 she was working for ICM. This was at the start 0:33:12.840 --> 0:33:16.320 of Futures Rise. At that time, it was like you 0:33:16.440 --> 0:33:19.320 just got to get the right talent. It was like, yo, 0:33:19.360 --> 0:33:23.400 it was talent first and then work backwards. I'll never forget. 0:33:23.400 --> 0:33:27.160 It was around twenty fifteen Christmas time. I was doing 0:33:27.200 --> 0:33:29.840 a Christmas light like you know how you walk through 0:33:29.880 --> 0:33:32.760 the Christmas light little thing. I was with my daughter. 0:33:32.840 --> 0:33:36.560 She was very young, She's probably two years old. And 0:33:36.600 --> 0:33:38.880 I'm out there with my wife feet and were walking 0:33:38.880 --> 0:33:43.840 around and the calls me, like, yo, Caroline about to 0:33:43.880 --> 0:33:47.840 call me about future And she calls and I think 0:33:47.880 --> 0:33:50.160 we had put like a seventy five thousand dollars offer 0:33:50.200 --> 0:33:51.880 on there, which was more than we had ever paid. 0:33:52.240 --> 0:33:54.280 And she gets on the phone and she's like, yo, 0:33:54.800 --> 0:33:57.560 I just taught this futures management. They're willing to do it, 0:33:57.600 --> 0:34:01.240 but they need one fifty So this is well more 0:34:01.240 --> 0:34:03.600 than anything we had ever spent. So now I'm like 0:34:03.680 --> 0:34:06.160 walking away from my family right I'm at this Christmas thing. 0:34:06.200 --> 0:34:08.920 I'm walking away. I feel I feel my wife be 0:34:09.000 --> 0:34:11.759 like literally mad as fucking me, like because I'm wandering now, 0:34:11.840 --> 0:34:14.720 I'm casing because now because we got to make an answer, 0:34:14.920 --> 0:34:19.080 like we but we also can't look weak on the phone, 0:34:19.280 --> 0:34:22.080 because if she senses it's anything wrong with our money, 0:34:22.600 --> 0:34:25.520 then it puts us in a position to where she's 0:34:25.560 --> 0:34:29.040 not gonna have confidence. So I'm like on my phone 0:34:29.280 --> 0:34:32.239 trying to do math, trying to figure out, like, Yo, 0:34:32.800 --> 0:34:34.960 how do we make this work? And I remember like 0:34:35.000 --> 0:34:36.799 being on mute and I go back home and I 0:34:36.800 --> 0:34:38.319 was like, Yo, Carolina, can we get a little bit 0:34:38.320 --> 0:34:39.839 more time? I was like, but I think we can 0:34:39.880 --> 0:34:41.080 make it work. I just need to mess with the 0:34:41.080 --> 0:34:42.680 budget real quick. We'll call you back in like a 0:34:42.760 --> 0:34:45.480 few hours. So I called me back and I'm like, bro, 0:34:45.840 --> 0:34:48.759 and Bee's already feeling it. He's like, Yo, fature the 0:34:48.760 --> 0:34:51.000 biggest shit out here, bru. If we can get this motherfucker, 0:34:51.600 --> 0:34:55.359 it's gonna sell. Like it will sell, Bro. We end 0:34:55.440 --> 0:34:58.000 up just fucking cash flowing that shit. We end up 0:34:58.040 --> 0:35:02.879 negotiating negotia. She had the first deposit in two payments, 0:35:03.280 --> 0:35:04.680 so we had to put We had to do like 0:35:04.719 --> 0:35:07.600 a thirty and like a thirty five. So it was 0:35:07.680 --> 0:35:10.840 like we got under the deposit, we got on sale, 0:35:11.400 --> 0:35:14.680 sold some tickets, got some money back, aid the rest. 0:35:14.719 --> 0:35:17.359 You know what I'm saying. Made it work. She ends 0:35:17.440 --> 0:35:19.719 up selling out it was one of the greatest. I 0:35:19.760 --> 0:35:22.120 personally think it was like one of the best lineups. 0:35:22.120 --> 0:35:24.080 Anybody who was at that festival will tell you that 0:35:24.120 --> 0:35:29.719 shit was special. Anderson Pat Jane Ico, like the Internet, 0:35:29.920 --> 0:35:33.799 like the the vibes to have that come together. Yeah, 0:35:33.840 --> 0:35:35.879 that shit was. That shit was special. And then from 0:35:35.920 --> 0:35:39.279 there it was like, let's go, let's go. 0:35:45.800 --> 0:35:48.799 The Future booking came at a perfect time, fresh off 0:35:48.800 --> 0:35:51.560 the release of his critically acclaimed DS two. Future was 0:35:51.560 --> 0:35:53.960 one of the hottest acts on the planet. Locking him 0:35:53.960 --> 0:35:57.160 in as a headliner established Broccoli City as a premier festival, 0:35:57.520 --> 0:35:59.919 and it got the attention of Live Nation, a part 0:36:00.160 --> 0:36:03.240 that would soon be able to help them elevate their booking, marketing, 0:36:03.440 --> 0:36:04.080 and production. 0:36:07.160 --> 0:36:09.640 The same way we were getting everybody else's attention, we 0:36:09.680 --> 0:36:12.760 was getting their attention. We knew we needed more marketing, 0:36:13.040 --> 0:36:15.760 but we didn't have a cash I ended up getting 0:36:15.760 --> 0:36:19.080 connected to this cat, Mark Mangle, who ran the Feel 0:36:19.200 --> 0:36:21.920 More and ran a bunch of the theaters in the 0:36:22.000 --> 0:36:25.920 DC market. End up getting connected like, Yo, we got Future, 0:36:26.000 --> 0:36:28.520 we got Jay, ain't we got this? How can we 0:36:28.560 --> 0:36:32.560 do something marketing? How can we get y'all support? He's like, man, 0:36:32.600 --> 0:36:34.759 I love what y'all are doing. See y'all building be 0:36:34.880 --> 0:36:37.239 hearing about it. He's like, man, let's just do something, 0:36:37.280 --> 0:36:41.480 give me a dollar ticket back in done. Ended up 0:36:41.480 --> 0:36:44.080 doing a marketing deal, was able to get some emails 0:36:44.120 --> 0:36:47.120 and some support from Live Nation ticket Master that helped 0:36:47.160 --> 0:36:48.839 us put us over the top. We end up having 0:36:48.840 --> 0:36:50.960 to pay them a dollar ticket on the back end. 0:36:51.440 --> 0:36:54.319 Through that, people in the Live Nation building started kind 0:36:54.320 --> 0:36:57.040 of connecting with us and started kind of watching what 0:36:57.120 --> 0:37:00.520 we were doing. And then this is twenty seven seventeen, 0:37:00.880 --> 0:37:05.160 we get a call from Mark and this other guy like, Hey, 0:37:05.680 --> 0:37:09.319 it's guy Sean Ge, manager of the Roots. He want 0:37:09.360 --> 0:37:11.719 to connect with y'all. He also do roots pitting it. 0:37:12.160 --> 0:37:14.520 So we thinking like he about to be on some 0:37:14.560 --> 0:37:16.759 hater shit, be honest with you, you know what I mean? 0:37:16.760 --> 0:37:19.640 We like, Yo, the fuck motherfucker's about to be hating, 0:37:19.760 --> 0:37:22.640 you know what I'm saying. So he hiss us and 0:37:22.719 --> 0:37:26.799 he like, yo, my wife's family is from DC. I 0:37:26.840 --> 0:37:29.680 come to DC every holidays. When I come, I asked him, 0:37:30.040 --> 0:37:32.000 I asked, like, all the young people, what do I 0:37:32.040 --> 0:37:34.279 need to be looking out for? Like who's hot? And 0:37:34.320 --> 0:37:37.440 they like yo, Rocky City. Shit's going crazy. He like, 0:37:37.600 --> 0:37:39.880 what what the fuck is this? He's like, this is 0:37:39.880 --> 0:37:42.640 the second Christmas today done mentioned us. So he like, 0:37:42.760 --> 0:37:46.279 let me dig into this, digs into it. Impressed. He's like, Yo, 0:37:46.320 --> 0:37:47.960 I'm gonna be in I'm gonna be in DC over 0:37:48.000 --> 0:37:50.520 the holidays. Come sit down. I go meet him at 0:37:50.520 --> 0:37:53.600 the Rich Carton in Georgetown. We do a couple of drinks. 0:37:53.719 --> 0:37:56.239 He's telling me about his plans. He was gonna be 0:37:56.239 --> 0:37:59.279 getting a new venture Underlive Nation, and he was like, man, 0:37:59.360 --> 0:38:02.560 I love to make y'all the first thing under our venture, 0:38:02.800 --> 0:38:06.759 but it's gonna probably be late twenty seventeen before I 0:38:06.840 --> 0:38:09.319 have a deal in place. He's like, so, I want 0:38:09.320 --> 0:38:11.320 to see what y'all do in twenty seventeen. 0:38:15.840 --> 0:38:18.160 But in order to secure the partnership with Live Nation, 0:38:18.520 --> 0:38:21.280 they first needed to impress the president of its urban division, 0:38:21.400 --> 0:38:25.120 Sean g with their twenty seventeen festival. The pressure was on. 0:38:26.400 --> 0:38:29.960 We had a twenty seventh teen festival. That lineup was crazy. 0:38:30.160 --> 0:38:32.279 It's the first time we try to do two stages. 0:38:32.760 --> 0:38:36.040 We're still in the hood at this fucking mental institution 0:38:36.239 --> 0:38:40.600 or whatever it is. It rains in classic Broccoli city form, right, 0:38:40.640 --> 0:38:43.359 It's rain and it's cold, but people was out there 0:38:43.520 --> 0:38:46.480 still so shan jee there he calls like, y'all, I'm 0:38:46.480 --> 0:38:48.360 back to the festival. He's like, yo, walk me through. 0:38:48.640 --> 0:38:51.640 We walking through. He's like, Yo, this shit is late, 0:38:51.760 --> 0:38:55.520 damn Like this motherfuckers has really got some shit. Two stages, 0:38:55.560 --> 0:38:58.280 people going back to back, go back to the back stage, 0:38:58.320 --> 0:39:01.080 were in the little artist area. It's clean, it's done. 0:39:01.160 --> 0:39:05.160 He's like, Yo, shit was good. Now, mind you, I'm 0:39:05.200 --> 0:39:07.200 already known we didne lost a couple in a thousand, 0:39:07.680 --> 0:39:10.279 Like I'm already knowing this going into the event, Like 0:39:10.320 --> 0:39:13.160 I'm knowing this, but I'm walking around like shit, sweet, 0:39:13.320 --> 0:39:13.480 you know. 0:39:13.480 --> 0:39:13.879 What I mean. 0:39:16.040 --> 0:39:18.759 As with any festival, rain results in money pouring down 0:39:18.840 --> 0:39:22.280 the drink. The twenty seventeen festival was a heavy loss financially, 0:39:22.600 --> 0:39:24.640 but the team did enough to impress Sean g in 0:39:24.719 --> 0:39:27.400 Live Nation and it set them up for a brighter future. 0:39:29.200 --> 0:39:31.920 We sent back down and start talking about how we 0:39:31.960 --> 0:39:34.279 can pull a deal together and what that would mean, 0:39:34.520 --> 0:39:37.960 and at that time Sean hadn't like he was pretty 0:39:38.000 --> 0:39:40.359 much just following our lead, like yo, getting us who 0:39:40.360 --> 0:39:42.440 we wanted? I think the only name he pushed back 0:39:42.480 --> 0:39:44.880 on was like Nipsey Hustle because Nipsey wasn't really he 0:39:44.920 --> 0:39:47.560 didn't have no history. But we were like very tapped 0:39:47.560 --> 0:39:50.520 into Nipsey because B's in La. We just was watching it. 0:39:50.600 --> 0:39:53.319 We were like, nah, Nipsey, I'm telling you. So he like, 0:39:53.400 --> 0:39:55.880 all right, you think so we end up doing Nipsy. 0:39:56.120 --> 0:39:58.560 Then he like, yo, something is missing. He like, listen, 0:39:58.600 --> 0:40:00.680 I got a relationship with Cardi B. She had just 0:40:01.360 --> 0:40:05.200 done a management deal with QC. I think he like yo, 0:40:05.320 --> 0:40:07.040 I think I can get Cardi. 0:40:11.239 --> 0:40:15.560 Twenty eighteen featured headliners Migos Miguel and Cardi B. Broccolely 0:40:15.640 --> 0:40:17.680 City was now able to get the A list headliners 0:40:17.680 --> 0:40:20.319 at the top, but the overall curation remained the heart 0:40:20.360 --> 0:40:22.960 and soul of the festival, so further down the lineup 0:40:22.960 --> 0:40:25.640 you could still find Grammy Award winners like Nipsey Hustle, 0:40:25.840 --> 0:40:29.600 Her and Daniel Caesar, local DMVX, and a variety of 0:40:29.600 --> 0:40:33.040 exciting vendors and artists. Live Nation also provided more than 0:40:33.080 --> 0:40:35.800 just bookings and production support. They had some very talented 0:40:35.800 --> 0:40:36.799 employees as well. 0:40:40.239 --> 0:40:44.000 So Broccoley City is the most unique organization I've ever 0:40:44.040 --> 0:40:47.160 worked for. I teld people this all the time because 0:40:47.880 --> 0:40:49.400 they are very free flowing. 0:40:49.840 --> 0:40:52.200 This is Jacqueline Auston, currently the chief of staff at 0:40:52.200 --> 0:40:55.000 Broccoli City. At the time, she was being mentored through 0:40:55.000 --> 0:40:57.400 a Live Nation training program called femet Forward. 0:40:57.800 --> 0:40:59.440 So I come from a corporate environment. 0:41:00.239 --> 0:41:03.360 You know, everything's pretty structured, and you know you have 0:41:03.480 --> 0:41:07.000 certain ways of doing things, and Brocoley City is almost 0:41:07.239 --> 0:41:08.879 the opposite of that in a great way. 0:41:09.120 --> 0:41:09.319 Right. 0:41:10.000 --> 0:41:13.480 Growing up, I always wanted to work in entertainment, but 0:41:13.719 --> 0:41:15.879 because I went to North Carolina A and T, which 0:41:15.920 --> 0:41:20.640 is also marcusist alma mater, I studied communications and journalism 0:41:20.719 --> 0:41:24.240 and also study that for my graduate degree at John Hawkins. 0:41:24.800 --> 0:41:28.200 My plan was to be in entertainment. Somehow, I did 0:41:28.200 --> 0:41:32.040 a program called them Forward. It's by Live Nation and 0:41:32.080 --> 0:41:35.919 it's actually pioneered by Hedelori, and they pair you with 0:41:36.000 --> 0:41:38.839 a mentor in a field that you're interested in. They 0:41:38.880 --> 0:41:40.719 paired me with a mentor name of Shavn. 0:41:41.160 --> 0:41:42.960 She's the s VP of Live. 0:41:42.880 --> 0:41:47.439 Nation's curated program. She became my mentor in twenty twenty one, 0:41:47.960 --> 0:41:51.279 and I told her that I had a history of 0:41:51.760 --> 0:41:54.920 doing event planning and communications and tech and all of 0:41:55.000 --> 0:41:57.600 that stuff, but I wanted to start a transition into 0:41:57.800 --> 0:42:00.200 festival spaces, and she said, well, do you happen to 0:42:00.239 --> 0:42:02.400 know the founders of Brox City. I said, I've never 0:42:02.480 --> 0:42:04.640 met them, but I know the festival, and so she 0:42:04.800 --> 0:42:08.239 introduced me to Brandon and I took it from there. 0:42:09.520 --> 0:42:12.359 Jacqueline started working on projects with Broccoli City and would 0:42:12.400 --> 0:42:14.800 eventually join the team full time as chief of staff. 0:42:16.120 --> 0:42:17.200 I had spoke to Jackie. 0:42:17.320 --> 0:42:20.200 Jackie was just looking for some opportunities to work in 0:42:20.239 --> 0:42:22.480 the live space. She already had a job, she was 0:42:22.520 --> 0:42:25.839 already good. And I remember the first conversation I had 0:42:25.840 --> 0:42:28.680 with Jackie. I felt like I knew her my whole life, 0:42:28.719 --> 0:42:30.560 you know what I mean. And honestly, she was just 0:42:30.680 --> 0:42:33.120 the sweetest person ever, you know what I mean. 0:42:33.160 --> 0:42:34.960 And she's so like on it. 0:42:35.120 --> 0:42:38.080 From a project management perspective, from a you know, just 0:42:38.120 --> 0:42:42.040 an organizational perspective, man, yeah, I honestly don't even know 0:42:42.400 --> 0:42:44.560 where we would be without Jackie at this point. 0:42:46.640 --> 0:42:50.200 Twenty nineteen saw Childish Gambino, Lul Wayne, and Gunner Grace 0:42:50.239 --> 0:42:52.600 the stage, further cementing Broccoli City is one of the 0:42:52.640 --> 0:42:55.759 most exciting festivals on the East Coast, but the COVID 0:42:55.840 --> 0:42:58.200 nineteen pandemic in twenty twenty would prove to be their 0:42:58.200 --> 0:43:01.560 toughest test yet. With live events shut down, the team 0:43:01.600 --> 0:43:04.080 had to rethink their entire business model and figure out 0:43:04.080 --> 0:43:06.960 how to expand the brand beyond just festivals. So they 0:43:07.000 --> 0:43:09.280 turned to Hugo in his Warehouse Content studio. 0:43:13.160 --> 0:43:16.680 That Warehouse really like saved us during the pandemic because 0:43:16.719 --> 0:43:19.799 we were able to create a bunch of tools on 0:43:19.840 --> 0:43:22.319 the virtual side that we still use to this day. 0:43:22.440 --> 0:43:26.440 We were so known for festivals and live events that 0:43:26.520 --> 0:43:28.640 we had to pivot and have like a different identity, 0:43:28.640 --> 0:43:31.200 and I think the identity that we did have was 0:43:31.239 --> 0:43:34.000 like a very relevant cultural voice that I thought was 0:43:34.080 --> 0:43:35.000 really interesting. 0:43:35.440 --> 0:43:38.360 COVID really made us take a step back. We decided 0:43:38.360 --> 0:43:40.880 to really center ourselves around people who was like smarter 0:43:41.000 --> 0:43:43.000 than us from like just a brand and just like 0:43:43.040 --> 0:43:46.880 an overarching standpoint. So we surrounded ourselves over COVID around 0:43:46.920 --> 0:43:49.280 like some really smart people to really make us critically 0:43:49.280 --> 0:43:52.960 think about what value proposition we want the brand to 0:43:53.040 --> 0:43:56.560 have on culture. It was just this concept that we 0:43:56.600 --> 0:44:00.520 came up with that BC Broccoli City for Black change 0:44:00.880 --> 0:44:06.719 right and really leveraging our brand to create real valuable 0:44:06.840 --> 0:44:10.040 change in a lot of different ways, right, Obviously social 0:44:10.080 --> 0:44:13.440 impact and community involvement being important, being able to use 0:44:13.440 --> 0:44:18.959 our platform to provide information about issues and challenges and opportunity. 0:44:19.320 --> 0:44:21.880 We just understood that we just we played a unique 0:44:21.880 --> 0:44:24.200 space in terms of who we connected with. But then 0:44:24.239 --> 0:44:27.400 also too, like always pushing culture and being able to 0:44:27.440 --> 0:44:29.640 leverage like our Live Nation and trying to get big 0:44:29.719 --> 0:44:33.000 artists and trying to push big productions for people of 0:44:33.040 --> 0:44:34.600 color in our events. 0:44:35.040 --> 0:44:37.520 Yeah, I mean, yet again, it was always about education 0:44:37.640 --> 0:44:39.560 for us, right, it was always about community. 0:44:39.719 --> 0:44:40.920 And I had a lot of people. 0:44:40.680 --> 0:44:43.600 Hitting my line like Yo, man, how y'all do this festival? 0:44:44.400 --> 0:44:47.120 I got this idea for this festival, and I always 0:44:47.120 --> 0:44:48.799 wanted to be willing to help, you know what I mean, 0:44:48.920 --> 0:44:50.680 just like a regular person, right, Like you just want 0:44:50.680 --> 0:44:52.960 to help somebody out. So I'll be like, all right, man, 0:44:53.040 --> 0:44:55.319 just shoot me over a debt or something, you know, 0:44:55.440 --> 0:44:57.520 just shoot me like a little one sheet. And the 0:44:57.560 --> 0:45:00.680 Hallmies was like, what's a one sheet? What's a I'm like, 0:45:00.719 --> 0:45:03.279 oh shit, okay, so you know what I mean, Let's 0:45:03.280 --> 0:45:04.240 start this with scratch. 0:45:04.440 --> 0:45:06.600 So that was the idea of doing the conference. 0:45:06.840 --> 0:45:10.080 So we started a conference called the Broccoli Conference Broccoli 0:45:10.120 --> 0:45:10.920 Conference short. 0:45:11.239 --> 0:45:14.080 One of the things that I'm really proud of, the 0:45:14.200 --> 0:45:17.400 broccolikon digital over two days, we had almost seven million 0:45:17.440 --> 0:45:18.840 people view that stream. 0:45:19.080 --> 0:45:21.520 And then on the flip side, we also knew that 0:45:21.600 --> 0:45:25.160 a lot of people within our community couldn't necessarily afford 0:45:25.239 --> 0:45:28.239 festival tickets right and never like Broccoli City was a 0:45:28.239 --> 0:45:31.080 super expensive festival, but when you think about the people 0:45:31.080 --> 0:45:34.240 that we cater to, you know, one hundred and fifty dollars, 0:45:34.239 --> 0:45:37.640 two hundred dollars for you know, a day festival ticket 0:45:37.680 --> 0:45:39.839 to see a couple of music acts, that's a lot. 0:45:39.920 --> 0:45:41.560 You know what I mean, if you got two kids, 0:45:41.600 --> 0:45:43.760 if you got you know what I mean, you got bills. 0:45:44.160 --> 0:45:47.160 So we had created this campaign called the Power of 0:45:47.200 --> 0:45:50.799 One campaign where you can volunteer in the community, whether 0:45:50.840 --> 0:45:54.600 that's Southeast DC, Northeast DC, wherever, and then be able 0:45:54.600 --> 0:45:59.879 to earn a free ticket to Broccoli City. 0:46:00.160 --> 0:46:03.239 He looks to the future, the possibilities are endless. They've 0:46:03.280 --> 0:46:06.880 mastered live events, can create digital content in house, and 0:46:06.920 --> 0:46:10.440 are launching some incredible initiatives to help their community. 0:46:10.760 --> 0:46:11.719 Marcus says the best. 0:46:11.760 --> 0:46:14.040 He's like, we just want to be different Coachella does 0:46:14.080 --> 0:46:16.239 it a certain way, Dreamville does it a certain way. 0:46:16.280 --> 0:46:17.960 Everyone does it a certain way. Like we just want 0:46:18.000 --> 0:46:19.480 to have our own lane. 0:46:19.960 --> 0:46:22.319 I'll take our Broccoli City team against any team, you know, 0:46:22.880 --> 0:46:26.000 just because like we've been doing it together and separately 0:46:26.040 --> 0:46:26.840 for so long. 0:46:27.000 --> 0:46:29.200 Really just thinking about the long play and really just 0:46:29.640 --> 0:46:32.760 really just making us say, like, man, our brand could 0:46:32.760 --> 0:46:36.120 be so much more valuable if we position it as 0:46:36.160 --> 0:46:40.960 something that is a platform for change and not just 0:46:41.040 --> 0:46:42.000 the annual event. 0:46:42.480 --> 0:46:44.760 I mean, that's really it, man, Like it's the brock, 0:46:44.840 --> 0:46:46.719 you know. And we're gonna keep going. We're gonna keep 0:46:46.760 --> 0:46:47.400 doing what we do. 0:46:50.239 --> 0:46:52.520 Broccoli City story is a testament to the power of 0:46:52.520 --> 0:46:58.120 community collaboration and constant elevation. Initially a local celebration intended 0:46:58.160 --> 0:47:01.160 to promote climate change awareness and the black comunity, Broccoli 0:47:01.239 --> 0:47:03.839 City has evolved into a global brand, and they've done 0:47:03.840 --> 0:47:07.320 it with integrity and a constant commitment to their founding ethos. 0:47:07.840 --> 0:47:11.840 As a combination of opportunity, creative ambition, and market forces 0:47:11.840 --> 0:47:15.360 compelled the company to evolve. They've expanded into digital content 0:47:15.400 --> 0:47:18.120 and developed righteous programs to give back to their community. 0:47:18.520 --> 0:47:21.319 With every facet covered broccoly City has become a three 0:47:21.360 --> 0:47:24.320 to sixty brand that would make any music festival green 0:47:24.360 --> 0:47:29.200 with envy. For Idea Generation, I'm Noah Callahan Beverer. Thanks 0:47:29.239 --> 0:47:31.680 for listening to the All Angles Podcast presented by will 0:47:31.719 --> 0:47:35.200 Packer Media. If you've enjoyed this episode, please don't hesitate 0:47:35.239 --> 0:47:38.120 to like, comment DM or tell a friend to tell 0:47:38.160 --> 0:47:41.480 a friend about Idea Generation and the All Angles Podcast. 0:47:45.760 --> 0:47:48.640 This episode was brought to you by Will Packer Executive 0:47:48.640 --> 0:47:52.279 produced by John Balachik and Helena Ox. Original music by 0:47:52.360 --> 0:47:56.520 Valentine Fritz, edit and sound mixed by Nonsensible Production, and 0:47:56.600 --> 0:48:02.440 hosted by me. Idea Generation founder Noah Callahan bever Idea 0:48:02.520 --> 0:48:05.320 Generation's All Angles is a Whelpacker Media podcast