My Friends Are Better Than Yours Featuring Rashaun Hall

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Rashuan Hall serves as Vice President of Streaming & Partnerships at a global entertainment company, Fuse Media, the leader in the creation and distribution of inclusive, purpose-driven stories and experiences for culturally diverse young adults. Hall is responsible for spearheading growth across the company’s digital footprint, which includes subscription service Fuse+; mobile & CTV app development; YouTube and the company’s suite of DEI-focused FAST channels.  Under Hall’s leadership, Fuse Media’s FAST channels continue to grow their distribution across all the major platforms, achieving nearly 4 billion minutes in 2024. He also led Fuse Media’s international expansion efforts into Canada, Mexico, the UK, Australia, and India.  Prior to Fuse Media, Hall served as the Senior Manager, Digital Strategy for Music Choice. He has also held staff positions at Viacom, Billboard magazine, and Interactive One. Additionally, Hall has written outlets including Essence, Vibe, and Complex magazines and has served as an authority on pop culture for a host of media outlets, including The New York Times, USA Today, The New York Post, New York Daily News, CNNfn, and Newsweek.  Connect with BIG CED:  https://www.youtube.com/@bigced328?sub_confirmation=1 https://www.instagram.com/bigced328/  https://www.facebook.com/bigced328  https://x.com/bigced  https://bsky.app/profile/bigced328.bsky.social  https://www.linkedin.com/in/bigced/  https://www.twitch.tv/bigced328  https://www.dailymotion.com/bigced  https://open.spotify.com/show/35yBW0BTd4c7HvCnh9dVXz?si=HvZeE8RfTJGH6YjvHBiYzg&nd=1&dlsi=a147a471e6ab4c5c  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-industry-cosign/id1638654676  https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-the-industry-cosign-105171601/  https://theindustrycosign.com/

Transcript

00:00:00good evening peoples or good afternoon or good morning whenever you're watching this

00:00:14big sad industry co-sign back with my latest edition of my friends are better than yours

00:00:19for those tuning in for the first time the purpose of this forum is that i like to acknowledge

00:00:25some great people that surround me i couldn't find one today so i got this guy right here now let me

00:00:31stop i'm sorry i started let's do it let's keep it real um i have um a colleague a friend someone

00:00:42i've known literally for so many years that i can't even remember how we met but he's doing good

00:00:48things and as you already know if you've seen this program before i always speak to people

00:00:52who you may need to know are just people who are just great at what they do and rashawn just

00:00:58continues that tradition i'm going to allow him to give a little brief intro and then we'll get

00:01:03right into it rashawn mr hall first of all you know uh privileged to be on with such esteemed

00:01:10hosts and previous guests who have been on uh so quick you know quick hitter uh rashawn hall i am

00:01:16currently the vp of streaming and partnerships with used media um we are diverse owned media

00:01:22brand that hits uh linear streaming s vibe fast i can explain what all those things mean but

00:01:28anywhere you want to watch content uh the goal is for our brand to tell authentic stories from

00:01:33diverse cultures um and and really reach as many that's black latino lgbtq plus api we really want

00:01:46to tell all those stories that uh for us far too often don't get heard um as i said that we've known

00:01:53each other quite some time i won't i won't date it i was thinking about earlier but i'm not gonna say how many

00:01:57here but uh i tell people i'm a reformed music journalist so started my career at billboard

00:02:04had spent some time at the source uh uh sohh.com mtv news yada yada yada i've been i've been around

00:02:15a block a few times where i now talk to my millennial co-workers and i'm like oh yeah i was at such and

00:02:20such release party where this thing happened and they look at me like i'm a grandpa but

00:02:24that is uh in a very brief nutshell who i am what i do so you're seasoned that's that that's

00:02:32the term i like fine wine or old whiskey absolutely well thank you for joining me today and um

00:02:40what what exactly is actually fused media for those who may not know the exact company or or what

00:02:47you do as a company as opposed to what you do specifically yeah um so fused media most people

00:02:53likely remember the fuse tv network which is still in existence it is a cable tv network if you think

00:03:00about what uh mtv and vh1 and bt were in the late 90s early 2000s music videos um video countdown shows

00:03:09uh interviews with artists on location at festivals and behind the scenes etc so that is what the

00:03:15uh channel started as uh we are still in existence we've pivoted uh quite a few times the channel merged

00:03:21with two english language uh latino channels c tv and nuvo one of which was uh invested in by jlo

00:03:28so the channel has evolved so where now we are telling those stories uh the set of diverse audiences

00:03:35um mostly unscripted but we also do some films and documentaries that we both make and acquire uh to

00:03:41tell those stories so we still have those two we still have two linear channels views and then fm which

00:03:46just use music which is still kind of to the dna of the brand kind of still music driven but um the

00:03:52fuse channel is much more unscripted lifestyle content uh and then i work on the streaming side

00:03:58which is everything that is kind of non-linear telling those same stories but via streaming platforms

00:04:04now you've mentioned that you worked at some of these esteemed publications

00:04:08but um how did you actually get into the streaming aspect and with fuse media because

00:04:14i know like like you've mentioned the source billboard those others um like how did you get

00:04:20because i know in in this industry that we're involved in we transition we adapt we do different

00:04:26things what led you into the the position you have now um and before that like what actually you

00:04:34know what i'm gonna go back just a little bit further because i know that we all have different

00:04:38backgrounds and how we got into the industry because when we got into the industry the industry

00:04:44was kind of still shaping itself from the hip-hop urban perspective and i know that when we first

00:04:51started doing our thing we were either doing things we've never done before or we were actual

00:04:56entrepreneurs that had that got jobs or whatever so let i guess let's get a little background and

00:05:02say how you got into the industry itself and then how did that lead up to where you are today

00:05:07yeah so that's how i got in i knew at god in high school i knew i wanted to i knew i want to do

00:05:13something music i have no uh typical musical talent can't play an instrument can't sing all that well

00:05:19but i was obsessed with music uh my first concert to really date myself with blood wide receiver

00:05:24fest i think 86 out in the meadowlands back when it was called meadowlands i'm at life stadium

00:05:29uh yeah and i was i was hooked on it i used to read liner notes and album uh album covers and

00:05:35magazines and i was obsessed with it and at the same time around that time as i got a little bit

00:05:41older i i i was better at communicating via my the written word and i had teachers who were like

00:05:47hey like you really should lean into writing so i did all the nerdy things that young writers do i wrote

00:05:52poetry and essays and all of that stuff and did oral presentations and yada yada um but it wasn't

00:05:59until i was my freshman and sophomore year of high school i met one of my first mentors marcus reeves

00:06:05who was at the source uh brother who i still keep in contact with um who was like you know you could

00:06:10put this writing in this your love of music together and i worked at the source and like i had read all

00:06:15those magazines for some reason i never connected the dots i'm like there are people who look like me who

00:06:19write these you know i would just kind of read the article and be absorbed by it never thought that

00:06:23somebody i knew who came from as being a guy from jersey marcus is from jersey um that you know it

00:06:29was that tangible to me because in my new york city felt a world away from north

00:06:33oh very kind of you know gave me that direction and um connected me to some people who were doing an indie

00:06:44which you know again to date myself the first uh the first issue we did

00:06:50i started rappers named biggie's name biggie smalls and craig mack so

00:06:57that was everything biggie mack promo in a big mac box for those of you who remember that styrofoam big

00:07:02mac box i had this with biggie and uh biggie and craig mack on it and yeah getting into that space and seeing

00:07:09how a magazine was published from laying it out to all that that was an issue of like this is all the

00:07:15things this is what i wanted to do um so from high school i was like all right there's only one i have

00:07:21to be in new york city for school so uh applied a bunch of schools nyu was like my only choice i was

00:07:26fortunate enough to get there get in there and and do the work and just my my second networking

00:07:33opportunity so i met other people and and was getting um in the indie hip-hop scene with most

00:07:42deaf and quali and the roots all that stuff was just taking off and i was really uh obsessed with

00:07:48that genre of hip-hop um to the point where i you know i programmed concerts and all that stuff at nyu

00:07:54uh and again just i don't know if you want to call it fate whatever i happen to be on the pad train

00:08:00coming back uh to jersey bumping in marcus i'm a senior i'm about to graduate i don't know what

00:08:05i'm gonna do next and he's like oh my homegirl alia king is getting ready to join me in the vibe

00:08:10i'm at vibe now she's leaving the source uh no sorry she's leaving billboard where she's the

00:08:14editorial assistant he connected me with alia alia also a jersey girl the connections all came about i got

00:08:21an interview at billboard got the job and yeah the rest is history just again that jersey connection

00:08:27and just having people you know you know uh i would say billboards my grad school so in four years

00:08:39there learning how to report and learning and make making amazing contacts like yourself like a number

00:08:45of great publicists i know you had uh my man tony ferguson on here early tony and i came up came up

00:08:51together i remember being on the set of the amory one thing video uh so again yeah just you know making

00:08:56those contacts i think one of the things that i learned early on was important and you know i

00:09:01think your industry cosine did this very well like connecting people and like oh we had this community

00:09:06and while you know yes we all wanted the same story for writers and we all wanted to when we all came

00:09:11together in your events or any album of these parties it was all love it was all like we knew we

00:09:16we had to do this together because we you know there were we wanted to get in those offices we wanted

00:09:23to get in those corner office those suites etc that is true so you started like right right away big

00:09:28time billboards so you know yeah i got very lucky uh i again i attribute and i don't give them enough

00:09:34credit alia and marcus uh i fell into i fell into that opportunity yeah i know that you know again like

00:09:40i said it was pure fate and i i don't even know it just you know i don't want to say it wasn't hard

00:09:45work because it definitely when i got there it was you know i was doing like i was filing stuff and

00:09:49answering phones it was it was definitely like a secondary internship but it was one of those

00:09:54things where yeah i kept asking the questions and i think people all with them i just kept saying hey

00:09:58when can i get a can i write a can i write a review can i do this kind of you know i had to i had to

00:10:04take my time i had to you know i had to learn that patience but eventually you know i i got that

00:10:08opportunity and just kind of ran with it i i don't know if you know like my first my first actual story

00:10:15was an interview with biggie okay um right around that time when they did the big mac thing and

00:10:23i wasn't a writer i mean i did parties i worked at video music box i was in videos but i never like

00:10:29i didn't even see myself as a writer but the funny thing is that being that i went to high school with

00:10:35mark pitts he was managing biggie and of course i already knew puff um because of the bad boy

00:10:41connection so my first interview was like probably at the time the biggest artist on bad boy and i've

00:10:49been writing ever since like i said i just just happened to come upon it and somebody oh carl daniels

00:10:55carl daniels that suggested me to uh the magazine was one nut with barry wade so he suggested so when

00:11:03you mentioned the biggie and the craig mack thing like i said like that that that was my entry point

00:11:09biggie smalls but um i think i want to change this really quickly it is i would just say framing

00:11:15those those experiences and opportunities and thinking about the people that we've met and

00:11:21interviewed and where they are now it's funny how you see it happening the grammy special on night

00:11:27night before alicia key is on it i remember interviewing alicia pre songs in a minor at j records

00:11:33off with jay and coffee just launched jay like just so many of those stories of like

00:11:38you know yeah again i joked earlier like when i tell people like the the the opportunities in the

00:11:43spaces that i've been fortunate enough to be in and now i look back like that is crazy that i was

00:11:50blah blah blah or you know whatever this just to think about kind of what those moments meant and

00:11:55where we're just kind of like just being in the moment and not thinking in pre-cell phones like

00:11:59real like camera phones like you were just there in that moment really like being able to be part of

00:12:04history it's kind of ridiculous i think all of us have us all of us who've been around this long

00:12:10have a story about just being at a certain place and getting an opportunity and running with it

00:12:14because it wasn't on our um scorecard but we made the best of it so that with that in mind like

00:12:22leading to where you are today because like you said you've had different jobs within the industry so

00:12:27how are you able to navigate to do different jobs different different jobs at different spaces

00:12:34that weren't correlated because especially in this industry we have a lot of people like they're

00:12:38publicists they're publicists for 20 years or if they're this that other but like you you happen to

00:12:43like shift over to something that has nothing to i shouldn't say have nothing to do but doesn't correlate

00:12:49directly with actual writing in the sense of what we were writing at that time how were you able to

00:12:55to to to do that and like get to where you are today uh i would think uh you know it's funny i'll

00:13:03tell two one quick story uh when i started at sohh it was my first digital job and uh felicia palmer

00:13:10who i still talk to and steven samuel good good you know good folks who had been in the digital space

00:13:15i mean god you know early forerunners in the space and so i remember i interviewed yeah i interviewed

00:13:22with felicia and she was just like it's something about you you just don't seem to care about this

00:13:27interview i'm like it's like sure like i'm looking for a job and it seems interesting and i know y'all

00:13:37been doing your thing but it's not physical and you know i got that gig i think partly because of that

00:13:42because and also i had this like real desire to still report news where i think we were all that

00:13:48hustle of all all hip-hop and sohh and a lot of those like hip-hop dx a lot of sites that were all

00:13:54coming online at that time were really hustling to be first like that pre-tmz era um so that was

00:14:00like the foray into digital and that's when i kind of got obsessed with social media and like you know

00:14:04i think someone else was telling this story recently on a podcast like the ability to immediately

00:14:09get some news to somebody that was beyond you know beyond hey i printed it or beyond i wrote it and i

00:14:16hit send the back that i got to hit you or you know if you think that kind you're making me feel

00:14:22sound feel and sound the fact that was two-way text alerts y'all used to do the fact that you'd be

00:14:26like yo someone did this bing and it would just hit our phone hit our two ways i'm like oh snap like

00:14:31that ability to immediately impact someone's day and impact someone and share news and information

00:14:39was insane to me at the time i was like how do you know how do you master that to be like okay it

00:14:44is not then that became i think my first time being oh this is not just about writing it's about

00:14:50how do you amplify your brand how do you amplify your story how do you market which i had never

00:14:54i've never been in marketing i was always a creative i guess that then pivoted to me is when i started

00:15:01i started a job in marketing i got i got married to my wife who was a publicist you know well with that

00:15:07vibe and spin and in the entertainment space for a long time um and i was like all right i gotta this

00:15:13music this music thing particularly as like as it came online where you know writing for digital

00:15:19became such attrition it got so crowded people were like i'll write for 10 cents a word and i was like

00:15:25whoa like i can't i can't compete with that i got bills to pay i don't know i know these young kids

00:15:30out in you know ohio or whatever and shout out a lot of dudes who built up sites that are amazing and

00:15:35blogs etc but i couldn't compete with that having having bills and just being married so like how do i pivot

00:15:41this and again just fortunately talking to people i was talking to somebody i was like i want to be

00:15:46able to still tell stories but i want to tell stories for a brand i want to be able to communicate

00:15:50my passion for whatever this is for a sneaker company or a music label or a tv network and i had

00:15:56a friend who was like that's digital marketing he's like what you're talking about the digital marketing

00:16:00which at that point was you know again taking building websites selling social media and i said oh okay

00:16:06so i started talking to folks about what digital marketing looked like it felt like and again

00:16:10through

00:16:20she was at music choice and like her name is joseph and joseph was like hey there's a digital job over

00:16:25i think you'd be great for

00:16:26that was my first digital marketing job and while i had the digital part that's where i learned

00:16:35marketing that's why i learned how you talk to an audience and understand the roi and understand you

00:16:39know i mean i understood unique views and page views and minutes watched and all that stuff but then

00:16:44really understanding how you market to people and that there is a you know there's a model for marketing

00:16:50and you know you want to hit people multiple times with a message in order to get it all of those

00:16:54things i didn't have i just knew how to tell a story i knew how to create video free text content

00:16:58and great video content so whether that sohh or whether that music choice we i leaned into like

00:17:03what is the next thing people are trying to do so we we did videos you know it's so funny i thought

00:17:07to steve and carl cherry who's now at spotify again another brother doing crazy amazing things um

00:17:13we were shooting videos early we shot some crazy viral videos that prior to video being a thing like

00:17:19not a consistent thing the way it was now like they just wanted to push the envelope and try different

00:17:23things all in the goal of telling a great story that captivated the audience and whether that's

00:17:27captivating the audience to watch your channel or to read your story to me it's all all the same thing

00:17:32so i got into digital and that just has kind of evolved since then so so so the writing actually

00:17:43the writing and just being in the industry actually did help even if you didn't know the technical aspects

00:17:48of it but just knowing the storytelling and everything that comes along with it helped in

00:17:53a way where it helps it led you to where you are today like if after i mean right now my job is much

00:18:01more corporate it's funny somebody was like i was telling someone what i did recently and they were

00:18:04like oh so you're like a corporate dude like you want sales i'm like i still tell a story i still tell

00:18:11you know that feel i gave at the top of this interview i'm still telling you who we are and what it is that

00:18:16we do and i have a passion for what it is that we do now that distribution point is different but

00:18:22it is still the passion i am trying to um make you feel as passionate as i am about that thing and

00:18:27that that storytelling is what um i want to come through i want i want to be able to make you understand

00:18:33if you have not heard of our brand if you have not heard of our company why it's important in that

00:18:3810 15 30 minutes i have with you um to get you to be invested so as the vice president of streaming

00:18:47and partnerships what are the what what is what i know especially in companies you'll have a title

00:18:55you'll have a specific title but you might be doing 17 different things like what is the main thing or

00:19:02what is it that you start out to do on a daily basis primarily as you're doing the other 17

00:19:09things that comes along with the job uh my primary role is to get the fuse media brand in as many

00:19:16digital spaces as possible so whether that's roku amazon prime video channels um any of the other

00:19:23streaming services if you have a samsung tv or you have a vizio tv all those places have these free

00:19:31channel marketplaces basically it looks like cable you turn on your tv and it's whether it's samsung tv

00:19:36plus or busy or watch free or whatever you turn on your your wi-fi enabled tv you'll see a list of

00:19:43channels that look like cable og cable and then also i have a goal to get our six channels that we have

00:19:50currently up and running on as many other platforms as possible and we've been in the space

00:19:55that space which is called free ad supported television or fast and people call it in the industry

00:19:59um has been around probably since 2016 2017 we got into the space in 2018 um and i'll just say

00:20:13people to be aware of views on the digital space um we went through

00:20:17the channel hey we're getting into streaming uh and i think i've just been reporting i had a previous

00:20:29manager who left i just then directly reported to him and he's like we're getting into streaming

00:20:36like cool what like once you tell me what that is sure i will again i will do my best to figure it

00:20:42out and it's like that's when we got into it and we've learned a lot but it is yeah so how do i get

00:20:47you to again buy into the vision that the company is selling um a couple years later we got into the

00:20:53streaming service so we have a s vibe called fuse plus which is no different than netflix hulu amazon

00:20:59etc but obviously we are catered to a very you know to a niche audience young um young diverse audience of you know

00:21:0618 to 34 might 18 40 um to tell those unique stories so we work with um big frida is one of our flagship

00:21:14talent uh we have eight seasons a little unscripted series with her uh people know her fuse has been

00:21:21in support of frida for years um we have shows like sex sells which features wheezy who is um

00:21:27a well-owned podcaster she's on the black effect network of horrible decisions uh so really just to get

00:21:32that content in as many places as possible so that's the streaming side that partnership side

00:21:37that you mentioned is everything that is not currently making this money how do we make money

00:21:42what what's the what's the blue sky space so what is the podcasting is it uh do we get into merch do we

00:21:48get into festivals do we get into what do we get into how do we make this brand or how do we find other

00:21:54business models knowing the dreams to impact that audience and our advertisers positively so you know

00:22:06every day i'm i'm thinking or having i'm on linkedin or having conversations with folks like yourself

00:22:10like oh could we do this or are you interested in that so it's funny you said you know how do i use

00:22:16what i've learned in the past a lot of the folks that i haven't talked to in 5 10 years 15 years now

00:22:21coming back around like yeah i used to work at interactive once i'm now having conversations

00:22:26with i want about their fast channels like you know it is again keeping those relationships alive

00:22:31keeping talking to folks like yourself consistently even offline or we see each other in uh in different

00:22:36spaces and and you know i'm gonna go to those folks and like i want to i want to help you you can

00:22:46obviously you can help me because i can bring that relationship which also goes to the part of that the

00:22:50other part of my job that i do so yeah when our talent relations team is talking to somebody i'm

00:22:55like oh i know blah blah blah from at rock nation i used to talk to they used to be an assistant so

00:22:59and so on so and so so so i will yeah i do that as well when i can when i can help out or you know we

00:23:05have i you know brainstorms about add add branded content and add add self-concept that's not that's

00:23:12not my remit but again we are a small company uh probably 100 105 folks so you want to get in where you

00:23:19can to to help the the company writ large grow so so that means if there's a if there's a leak in

00:23:25the bathroom you'll be a plumber as well that day right i you know i'll get some putty i know i know

00:23:32how to turn off the water at the main valve yeah i do what i gotta do i may not be able to fix the

00:23:37leak but at the very minimum i can turn the water off so um with with all that in mind like what um

00:23:45like when okay the funny thing is i literally even though i knew about fast channel i just

00:23:54the only reason why i i found out what fast channel meant was because i was writing a story about 50

00:24:00cent with his fast channel in the uk so that was gonna be one of my questions like um with fast channels

00:24:08for people that don't know because some people they don't know what it is they just know that they're

00:24:13watching tv or they're watching a particular network um even with that type of angle when it

00:24:19comes to fast channels like um of course it's free ad supported streaming tv which is a fast means but

00:24:27if you're having a conversation with just a regular person who isn't in the industry so to speak but

00:24:33all they know is they have internet and they have streaming like what what what how do you explain or if

00:24:40you have to explain what fast channel is as opposed to just the streaming channel because for us it's

00:24:46just us it's just tv and i'm okay with that i i have tried to explain i try to explain all the time to

00:24:53my friends who are not in the industry my my best one of my best friends is in commercial construction

00:24:58everyone's in i.t at the end of the day as long as you're watching it i don't care what you call it

00:25:02honestly i would i was like oh it's those i'm like when you turn on your tv before you get to

00:25:07whatever that default thing there's a little box that default and sometimes it just launches back

00:25:12into those channels i'm like ah my job is to get those on but it does it looks like cable and i'm

00:25:16i'm as someone who worked in cable i'm okay with that it is as long as you're watching it and you

00:25:21don't have to yeah the democratization of this content to the point where yeah all you have to have

00:25:26is wi-fi which is also sort of funny because people like oh i cut the cord that you still pay for wi-fi like

00:25:32yeah the companies and i'm not mad at them because they they pay they pay my salary indirectly whether

00:25:38it's verizon or charter or comcast whomever they still have you they you may not have a box and a

00:25:44wire that comes into your house but you have a box that emits signal that gives you all of that content

00:25:49so it is the same process um so yeah but i'll tell you this it's tv i don't now you know what i will say

00:25:56i think for now at least this is the experience i've had unlike you know the days where like oh

00:26:02i watch mtv or i watch feud or i watch hbo it's just it's just content because it's so much of

00:26:08it out there whether it's you know whether it's netflix you're turning on that thing you want to

00:26:12watch now yes you may you definitely know netflix and disney plus but when you get to fast i don't

00:26:17know many people who are like oh i watch this channel you flip through fast like you used to flip

00:26:21through cable tv oh snap i know this movie with you know lawrence fishburne and so-and-so and i

00:26:27love and whether it's halfway through the movie or not you jump in and you enjoy that content and

00:26:32hopefully you stick around or their channels you know they just show one series so yeah we partner

00:26:37with a bunch of channels that yeah that just show you know ice uh the ice cube movie are we there you

00:26:42have a tv series yeah there's one network that we work with we do their sales that just run you know

00:26:47they just run that series and that's fine that is that does uh what it needs to do in terms of getting

00:26:54uh eyeballs to watch that content now now just out of curiosity as i'm sitting here i've always

00:27:02wondered like how does like how does the um are we there yet get its own channel as opposed to

00:27:11one channel having throwbacks maybe 15 shows but then you have like anger management has their own

00:27:17channel like when those decisions are made like like i'm not pretty sure there's really no science

00:27:23and i think i'm just asking just to just to kind of get an idea because i've i've just been curious

00:27:29when i'm flipping channels like why does this show that i've never seen before that i may never watch

00:27:36but the thing is the fact that it has its own channel curiosity would get the best of me because it's

00:27:41like okay that has to mean to have a library because if it's a 24-hour channel and it's only this

00:27:47show like okay there's got to be a reason why people are tuning in for this so how are decisions

00:27:53made i mean you might not be involved directly but how are decisions made when it comes to having those

00:28:00type of channels or even throwback channels i think it's easy because as long as you have an older

00:28:05audience or even a younger audience people will always talk about older shows because it's a they

00:28:12reminisce about certain things but when it comes to like chant like shows that maybe for the last five

00:28:18or ten years that might pick up because of fast channel like how are those decisions made or like

00:28:23what goes into deciding what would be a fast channel series shows you're up right it's it's library

00:28:33now it's library and where is that content living otherwise the fact that there's not and again i don't work

00:28:39for nbc peacock dick wolf the fact that there's not a lot on order channel blows my mind but i know

00:28:45that peacock and nbc and dick wolf are probably making so much money i think they're actually i think

00:28:49there is on peacock exclusively but beyond that yeah they're making so much money they don't need to

00:28:55they don't necessarily need to launch a fast channel but now you're talking about more esoteric titles or

00:28:59titles that aren't in syndication that's the same reason it's not a fringe channel or a science channel

00:29:04they're making enough money in syndication and svod being on netflix etc that you might cannibalize it

00:29:11by putting on on a platform like fast where you don't necessarily make the same revenue that's my

00:29:16opinion i don't i don't i don't have i wish i had a senior seinfeld or a friend in our back pocket to be

00:29:21like boom um but for those other shows yeah you have a library and that library is not exposed anywhere

00:29:26else and it's not making you early on again i talk about the evolution of this platform of free export

00:29:35intelligence early on we all threw stuff against the wall like our our very first channel which is

00:29:40now called backstage was called diffuse excel and we literally took our entire library and just like

00:29:45let's see what works and we've evolved that now where it is much more thoughtful we program it like

00:29:51you program a tv network we have day partying okay this is prime time this is the show that's going

00:29:56that perform best in prime time overnights etc um for those single series channel if you have a bay

00:30:02watch again you start that on episode 101 let it rock if you don't if you are curating the channel

00:30:09like we have done or like you said 50 cent action which is i will say the next evolution the next is

00:30:13that you curate the channel okay what is a a specific audience so our backstage channel is behind the

00:30:19scenes your favorite celebrities artists so it's biopics it's it was kind of um behind the scenes

00:30:25documentaries and one hour things featuring talking heads it's um you know celebrity drama

00:30:31our shades of black channels are african-american movie and tv channel so it's you know what kind

00:30:35of stories are we telling for that audience um so you have that but that next iteration is what

00:30:40you're seeing now is 50 cent action is okay yes it is an action movie channel boom

00:30:46you're putting your stamp your seal of approval on that platform um you know we we're talking about

00:31:11that we've done that with um a latino director robert rodriguez who did from dusk till dawn and

00:31:16desperado he has a channel on our platform called el ray el ray rebel and that is his brand el ray is

00:31:22his production company but we took his vision of action movies and latino focused action movies and we

00:31:28expanded upon that universe so it is how do you yeah what is what is the story you tell because as this

00:31:34fast platform gets more and more um competitive as the major studios now come in and say oh where are

00:31:41you we can make money off of this here i have a thousand episodes like you said a show not everyone

00:31:48knows but some people might know or the anger management whether you know anger management or

00:31:53not you stop because you see charlie sheen's face you might think it's two and a half minutes but you stop

00:31:57you start laughing you could easily go an hour and a half because it is a sitcom it is a thing that is

00:32:03very familiar to you it is it's a formulaic you get it you're in and now you're just it's again in

00:32:09some of it is it's the way people used to consume radio it's background and people who watch it you

00:32:15know oh i'm taking care of the kids i'm i'm working i'm whatever it's background noise and you yeah you

00:32:20too but you're not fully immersed immersed in it like you are like oh i'm gonna go sit down and watch

00:32:25the new episode of whatever very viral show where you want to be fully engaged in that content and it's

00:32:32funny because that's how i got to see anger management the same exact way because it's like

00:32:36i knew he got fired from you know two and a half men and all this other thing didn't care about you

00:32:42know what he did after that but then i'm seeing that anger management channel and i see him and i'm

00:32:47like well let me check it out now it's like i watch it every day now because like like you said i got

00:32:52hooked basically because it was its own channel you know um damn i just lost what i ah now for people

00:33:03that are actually wanting to either transition into another aspect of um the industry being that you've

00:33:12been a writer you've worked in music and now you work with streaming slash tv what advice would you give

00:33:21someone to actually be able to like you know flip whatever they're working with regardless of what

00:33:27it is in order to pursue something and be because you've been successful everywhere you've worked at

00:33:33and and as i stated you know but at least from my from my viewpoint yeah you know so like what what

00:33:41advice would you give or suggestion would you give to someone that is like i'm getting sick of doing this

00:33:45writing thing and i think i want to get into acting or i think i just want to be behind the scenes

00:33:50like what advice would you give them based on what you've done and how you've dealt with your

00:33:55transitions i think one is find that through line what is the thing that connects what you're doing

00:34:01to what you want to do because if you find a through line that allows you to say um you know i have been

00:34:10fortunate but yeah there's definitely some jobs i i could list off a few jobs that i've interviewed before

00:34:15and i i try to find it through lines like oh yeah um this corporate i want to tell the story of brand

00:34:19blah blah blah and why your product is so amazing and it you know sometimes it works sometimes it

00:34:25didn't uh but you find that through line to be able to tell your story because i think and i say this

00:34:30and some people love it and be waited you have to look at yourself as a brand i i think you know

00:34:35very early in my career i was very much like whatever company i worked at i wore it on my sleeve

00:34:40oh i billboard and i are this mtv news and i are this the source and i are this that's when i learned that

00:34:47was not not quite that but it's like yeah you are not that company that at any point it is a business

00:34:52decision that company can let you off that company can fire you you can leave and all that is okay

00:34:57that is part of learning it is what how do you prepare yourself for that next step and like yeah

00:35:02that company doesn't they're not your family they don't owe you anything and vice versa like you are

00:35:06you're paid for a job and do that so then another point is again what we what we've done for years and

00:35:12what many of the folks that we still keep in touch with do is keep so you know whether it's linkedin or

00:35:19just talking to friends or talking to people you know and they're not may not be friends they just

00:35:23might be acquaintances a business colleague you say hey if you know anybody and blah blah blah and again

00:35:28that has to be a give and take that same way they come to you you have to be able to share in your

00:35:33resources that same way so absolutely anytime somebody hits me up on linkedin again i'm gonna

00:35:39match them i'm like hey what are you looking to do i'm gonna ask her if i didn't waste your time

00:35:43anyone else's time but i'm gonna say oh what do you look oh you're looking to do this you should

00:35:47talk to that person or do you have the depending on how well i know this you got these two three things

00:35:52you don't have a let's say you want to be a photographer you know portfolio i'm not going to

00:35:55hand you off to my friend who is a photo editor at such and such magazine now you got to get your

00:36:01portfolio together i will tell you who you i'll tell you what portfolios you've got here some other

00:36:05photographers in the music space whatever but i'm not going to say oh let me talk to my my good homie

00:36:12rayon richards and he's dope if you have a portfolio because now you're wasting that person's time that

00:36:17makes me look that you have to do the necessary steps but if you are in that position where like oh

00:36:22here's what i want to do i get i get the vision i better die i think it makes sense but you know no

00:36:28matter what i'm gonna i'm gonna give you my goal is to give you something you can take away again what that

00:36:33whether or not it is that next step that you want and i will tell people i can't guarantee anything

00:36:38i can make a connection and i hope the best and i've had the same thing yeah people have

00:36:43connecting with folks and it's worked out it's not worked out and but even those folks where it

00:36:47doesn't work out i can still you know there are times where i go back to them and say hey i may now

00:36:50have an opportunity i know i didn't get this job with you but now i'm somewhere else and i have

00:36:55an opportunity is there an opportunity for us to work together and it you also have to have um

00:36:59a bit of a tough experience that none of this is personal i think that's another thing i learned

00:37:04i had to learn a few times the hard way like yeah none of this is when you get laid off fire whatever

00:37:09it's a business even if you think it's personal even if you and that person didn't go off

00:37:17i'm laughing because um i'm not going to mention any names but i remember you telling me about somebody

00:37:23that you and i both worked with at a company i went to after you were there

00:37:29there's certain certain people i still have grudges against oh don't get me wrong i'm human

00:37:34but i have to often remember but again ironically a lot of those i have like four people in my life

00:37:39who are on that list but those all those things set me up for something it's so random and i don't

00:37:45look again i am i'm a spiritual person i'm not gonna say it's fate whatever all those things set me up for

00:37:50something else i would just tell you quickly music choice i got laid off for music choice

00:37:55and i got laid off me too i was done with music i don't think i had seen you that's been a while

00:37:58it's like i'm done i'm out i was at chase doing you i was writing website code and oh here's how they

00:38:07hired a bunch of music writers and other journalists to be like make our website seem more consumer friendly

00:38:12cool job well in by nine out by four wasn't thinking about going back in entertainment and

00:38:19again somebody i work with at music choice who's not vivo was like hey this is gig over here i think

00:38:25you'd be dope for it i'm like i'm not trying to get back in entertainment i'm not trying to get back

00:38:28on tv that she's like no just come interview and i was like okay i've never been at a tv network

00:38:48they said digital the future okay so they clearly understand that tv as they currently stand to pay

00:38:53tv wasn't unusual i still wasn't sold um so it took me down to getting an offer i hadn't been hard

00:39:01about it and um i came back with nothing they made me another offer i was like all right this again this

00:39:09is this must i must there must be a reason that i'm that this is coming back around to me so i i took

00:39:15that chance but yeah i could have been it could i could have regretted it but you gotta make those

00:39:19decisions yeah that fate that moment that like you gotta see that see that opportunity and decide

00:39:29whether it's for you or not there's been times where i was like oh no this opportunity is not for me

00:39:33and i could have been wrong i absolutely there's one recently i could have been very wrong but i was

00:39:38like no i'm not even i'm not even applying that because that opportunity don't it don't sit right

00:39:43with me long term no but you're absolutely right i'm glad you you said that um because

00:39:49i always say to people that how i learned from other people's mistakes as well and i'm not i'm not

00:39:58gonna lie i'm freelancing back at black enterprise it's my third time working with them the second

00:40:03time i left i was like i'm done i'm never there's no way i will ever even read black enterprise let

00:40:10alone work for them and then um somebody from interactive one um justin happened to go there

00:40:17and next thing you know i'm back at black enterprise and this well this time's the longest i've been

00:40:22there and i'm still shocked because i'm like and i said to him three strikes you're out or third time

00:40:28to show so i'm like you know but like you said sometimes in the back of your mind if you say

00:40:34you're not going to do something or did a situation where like i i would say that in my situations um

00:40:43and the reason why i brought up the the the bad aspects is because for seven years i wasn't working

00:40:49coaching and a lot of people didn't know that because you know i didn't brag when i when i had

00:40:55money and well not well it was money to me but not to people like you but anyway i wasn't bragging when

00:41:01i had you got a full head of hair still man that money must be coming oh but at the same time because

00:41:08when people found out after the fact they're like well this is another one one thing i found out was

00:41:14when you're down nobody wants to deal with you it's just like it's like you you emit certain odors

00:41:22to let people know that you need something because when you don't need anything everybody's offering

00:41:26you things and i would tell people like especially with the network i had i couldn't even get a phone

00:41:33call let alone a meeting or anything and um i'm glad i went through that because everyone thinks that

00:41:41in every success story that they've always been successful and i try to tell people that you need

00:41:46to use your failures as a reason to become successful because it worked for me you know and i still have a

00:41:54long way to go as far as what i deem successful for myself but at the same time i'm still involved

00:41:59in the industry that throws you spits you kicks you does everything to you is like are you ready

00:42:06you're still not ready and it's still you know beat up on you so but i think that you mentioned

00:42:11the stench i don't mean to cut you off you mentioned i don't think it's a stench i think it's again it's a

00:42:16this is a industry that is very much about reciprocity what can you do for me right now and when you

00:42:21were in a position where you could do something yeah those vps and those other people you've been

00:42:27dealing with yeah you can oh you're at blah blah blah we we got it we now when you know a little

00:42:32bit hey i'm going here you know hey just wondering if you have a new uh you know wow i'm really busy

00:42:38right now let me call you back in 2035. so yeah but but i also again i get it and i i try not to be that

00:42:44and that that that person we worked with before i will say i also took something from them where

00:42:50it's like how the manager i don't want to be i will i and to this day i'm not a i try to be a very

00:42:57hands-off manager i don't and my team knows i've said this to the people who work for me now i don't

00:43:02love managing i want i want you to be able to go do your thing i like creating i like working i like

00:43:08and i've been fortunate that i've gotten to a point where i'm managing people but i want those people to

00:43:11succeed i want you to win i want you to i'm going to tell you hey this is what i'm i need your help

00:43:16with and here's what i want you to leave but yeah you're not my man you're not my whatever we are all

00:43:29i don't see myself as a coach i see myself because i love football i see myself as a quarterback

00:43:33you're a wide receiver you're you're a running back you're a tight end hopefully people everyone

00:43:37in the room understood football but my goal is for us all to score but we all can win so yeah i don't

00:43:43want so i will say i learned that from those experiences like yeah you could have that person

00:43:48or other people could have gotten so much more out of their teams it wasn't just me like those they

00:43:53were told teams that people you would just commiserate about that person we would go to happy

00:43:57hours and just talk because you had they created such a toxic environment that on the one hand it was so

00:44:04talking about nothing it banded the rest of the company or the department together in a very uh

00:44:10in a very odd way that again not even thought about it that way but i probably think that was

00:44:14for their connection the friendships that i still have because we all had such tough times working in

00:44:20those spaces had a common enemy so to speak but um we banded together but yeah but and when i speak to

00:44:30people i always say to people like i want more people to know about my failures and my successes

00:44:35because then they'll see that whatever they're going through they can still bounce back because

00:44:40i think what i went through like definitely lesser people wouldn't have even gotten up and so i i pride

00:44:46my parents and teaching me how to stay focused on winning even when you're quote unquote losing and i

00:44:53think that it's important even when you even when you said um like i said even when you gave me advice

00:44:58about you know that person i'm glad you told me that because i wouldn't have expected that so the

00:45:02minute that that the turn came i was like this is what he was talking about so i was kind of prepared

00:45:08for it and you know i i will just say i'm not even saying okay there were a couple people you were

00:45:14not the only person i had three or four people who at different times like oh i'm going here i was

00:45:18like okay okay here's my experience again my experience does not have to die yeah oh no my that

00:45:26wasn't my experience i was like i love that for you dope but i know what my experience was and i'm

00:45:31gonna i'm not gonna lie to you if you especially if you come to me and say hey exactly exactly i'm

00:45:36gonna tell you the truth but i'm also tell you that's my that's my experience and i know i think

00:45:39what you just also said about failure yeah there's definitely been you know you're gonna oh i've been

00:45:43successful there's definitely gaps in my in my resume as well there's been a year or so where

00:45:47i'm you know again luckily because i write i could freelance in between but like yeah there have been

00:45:52gaps where i was not at a corporate and i'm a corporate guy i need i need the i need the corporate

00:45:56i need the benefits i need the 401k i need you know somebody else's pay i'm not i'm not an entrepreneur

00:46:01so to that point to that yeah i can i there will be those gaps from my oh no you gotta hustle to eat

00:46:06but to your point my mother uh you know raised by a single mother my mom's was always like no you just

00:46:11keep going so i never had that like oh man i gotta give up it was like no you get up the next morning

00:46:16you keep hitting and i guess there was definitely as you said there's definitely days where you're

00:46:20like damn like how can it be that all these people i know as you said going back to the party right

00:46:26i got i was he was in limos i was out in i was out on red carpets that i used to have the corporate

00:46:32car you know we was i was partying with someone someone someone exactly yeah that is the humbling thing

00:46:37that is that that is that balance where again i guess that fortunate part you know i know people

00:46:42all the time i'm sure you get the people you talk to who are not in the industry oh my god like you

00:46:46must be yeah it's great on some days also awful like any other job like it is what it is like you

00:46:54enjoy it yes you definitely have some highs and some amazing experiences but yeah i don't yeah

00:47:00and i both say we're not curing cancer we're not saving babies yeah like it it is how you take it

00:47:09yep now i do appreciate your time and like even though i got like 19 different bullet points to touch

00:47:15but what i what i want to ask you is because i know that um for whatever for i'm not gonna say for

00:47:24whatever reason but um i'm bringing it up this time because typically whenever i have conversations

00:47:29with like the past like seven people i talk to mental health always comes up and the reason why

00:47:34i'm asking you what i what where i'm brought you on that is because as we're older of course we've

00:47:40been through so much so during your times of you know whatever whatever it is you're going through

00:47:48how are you or were you able to stay and the thing is you may not have stayed at a point where

00:47:56everything was good but how you're able to function to a point where it didn't bring you down because a

00:48:02lot of people when they when they hit that wall they hit that wall and they either stay there or

00:48:07they'll retreat and never go back you know i don't see you as a type as going back even if you you're stuck

00:48:12for a minute but like how how have you been able to if you've been able to because like i said i can't

00:48:18just assume because you know you're you're 73 that you've gone through not leave stuff but how have you

00:48:26been able to get through whatever you needed to get through in order to um i don't want to say stay

00:48:33sane because i don't think people would describe me as saying but how are you able to function that's

00:48:39a better function knowing that you've been through what you've been through and you're still able to

00:48:44do what you do yeah um i mean you know not to get too seriously yeah yeah no no no i appreciate it

00:48:50that's that's real you know as a kid that's real talk uh i you know i know i will say you know not to

00:48:55not to get too too somber but as i mentioned i was a uh parent of a single mother my father passed when i

00:49:01was 12 um and i've had some other losses in my life so i think depending on who you ask for better or

00:49:08worse i don't take much seriously i kind of just like life is like if if if it's not life or death

00:49:15you'll be all right and and that may not be the best way to cope but i'm very much you know again

00:49:20you like you can't stop i'm like all right i'm still here so i gotta figure it out you know uh growing

00:49:25up my mother would be like yo my mother was a teacher she's like unless you're sick you're going to

00:49:31school like yeah if you're vomiting and you got that but don't tell me you got a stomach ache and i don't see

00:49:36any signs and you haven't you someone was not you you going so i went you toughed it out you figured

00:49:41it out um and that's kind of the even to this day like i don't think i've never it sounds so uh i

00:49:48don't know what the term is it sounds kind of crazy but i'm quitting has never been a thing i thought no

00:49:53what i okay i'm gonna do something i gotta i gotta bring in money i gotta live my life i have goals and

00:49:58responsibilities and i have to keep doing that um the other thing is i would say you know i have a tight

00:50:04circle of friends um again you know where i'm gonna make a stereotype typically men are not the

00:50:10most emotive or talk or talk about share their feelings but you know if that is my my safe space

00:50:15to just shoot the just to do some dumb just to talk about something dumb whether it's sports or whatever

00:50:21or just to be light-hearted and have a have a have a way to get out of the frustrations of the day

00:50:29um you know and to be 100 with you yeah i i i mean therapy currently like that was one of those

00:50:34things again for me personally like um you know the breaking generational curses uh you know i i know

00:50:40a lot of folks in my family that i wish had done that i had the opportunity or you know to do it um but

00:50:48it is something where and everyone's different however you get it like you know that allows you to

00:50:53as you know someone who is fairly private for the most part to be like okay this is a person i can trust and

00:50:58talk to them here's what i'm thinking am i crazy with anything they're an objective source yes we

00:51:02have family or friends i have my wife we we bounce ideas off of each other and share frustrations but

00:51:08you know sometimes you just need a third party to who doesn't know all of the other things or have a

00:51:12pob because they're your friend you're whatever you're whatever just somebody who is okay but why

00:51:18you know to challenge you from an objective standpoint yeah no let me know like i said i brought this

00:51:22because i i know that there are people watching there might be one person watching that um because

00:51:28everyone always seems to have it together if if if you're labeled successful or you're labeled doing

00:51:33well and i think that with the like i said the most recent conversations i've had on camera and off

00:51:39camera there have been people that's like yo when i do this that and of course i never expected

00:51:43because when i tell people that i went through them they're like you you're always smiling you're always

00:51:47it's like yeah but i think that it's important for you know people especially black men to see that

00:51:54we can kind of break down and still bounce back without feeling like we're either soft the punk or

00:52:01that you know whatever stereotypes that that have that we've been labeled over the years if we show any

00:52:07emotion and what people don't realize is anger is emotion too and um and we seem to show that well so

00:52:14it's like that that's all we're allowed to to to showcase and um like i said i just accept because

00:52:20i i think that um it is a good thing to for people to realize that you know you can be but i don't

00:52:27want to bring the mood down but like i said it's just no that's that's no it's really it's really

00:52:32important it's something that you know again even you know we're both genetics that's the thing that

00:52:37i will say i appreciate about um you know younger generations they're comfortable many of the people

00:52:43that i work with of all genders and ethnicities they're more comfortable and like oh no i need

00:52:48to do this for me i need to i need to take time and sometimes my gut reaction like you gotta hustle

00:52:53we gotta go but if you need to take that day off i can't a it's your day i can't be mad at you but i

00:52:58can also can't think that you work the way i work yes i i've had to because of that hustle because of

00:53:04that hustle mentality because that you keep going i've had to do the opposite thing in terms of taking up

00:53:09space for for my personal self and for my relationship to say when i'm on vacation i'm

00:53:13legit on vacation yeah i still am i still look at emails but i don't answer any unless it's a fire

00:53:18alarm or i say if there is something absolutely on fire as it relates to our job text me but

00:53:27that's taken me five years in this role i think i've been in the lab my last two years of here but

00:53:32yeah i used to always be my wife both of us used to be on on email like at the pool laptops in hand

00:53:39that's not vacation that's not truly disconnecting and the job will be there like in not curing cancer

00:53:45the job will be there when you get back and if it's not then on i that sucks i trust me i understand

00:53:51but long term you know the next one will come you know you'll get another job you'll get another

00:53:56opportunity if it's me but at the same time if they decide to get rid of you it's not going to matter

00:54:05either way so you might as well enjoy the time that you have when you're away from work so um

00:54:15i want to know what you do outside of um fields because i know that you you know as i saw in an

00:54:23article written about you you're a recovering music critic so if you're recovering music critic

00:54:29you know how do you um get your therapy so to speak when it comes to your um old music life your old

00:54:39for a while i had not been there uh it's just within the last i'd say year so i've been able

00:54:43to truly enjoy just being a music fan um you know what i what i found a couple a couple years ago five

00:54:51or six years ago i was traveling a lot for a previous job and was you know we would go into

00:54:57uh god we were going festivals in nashville and vegas and you know you eat you end up you get in

00:55:02the town you're in a hotel sometimes you know you don't want to hey i'm going to do the team dinner

00:55:08i'd rather go to the hotel hotel restaurant sit at the bar and have whatever have dinner have a drink

00:55:15chill watch whatever game is on and i found myself talking to bartenders and just every time you're in a

00:55:20bar you know oh bartender you want to know what what's good in town or what you know what are the locals

00:55:25thing um and i found that bartenders always had these really interesting stories not only about

00:55:31the towns that they lived in but more so who they were um and no one to this day i always make this

00:55:37comment i'm one day someone's gonna check me and say no i did i've never met a person who's like when

00:55:42i grow up on to be a bartender like look these amazing artists musicians actors physicists whatever

00:55:49people of all walks of life get into bartending and mixology um so i yeah i just developed a passion

00:55:56for talking to those people and then by proxy their cocktails and spirits whiskeys wine etc and

00:56:08the bar in newark for 40 years it closed um during the pandemic uh but it was a dive bar in newark uh and

00:56:16uh but uh there was there was a community there again there was a camaraderie of like community that

00:56:27when you went into that bar any bar that i've ever experienced no matter what your political

00:56:35i've had drinks with people who

00:56:38the opposite but when you sit down and you're just having that drink a lot of that stuff goes away now

00:56:44yeah and again for me i'm also like i'm not going to talk about a lot of that stuff but

00:56:47there is a i've met several people of all walks of life who i have had the pleasure of going to

00:56:52scotland and and you know

00:57:06we are all human we all believe the same we all have the same trials and tribulations no matter what

00:57:11our religious beliefs uh political beliefs etc so um yes i found this passion kind of again

00:57:18kind of not having not written for several years i just started kind of writing about

00:57:22those experiences started on social media like most people do um had a couple friends who started a

00:57:27site called the whiskey lifestyle so i started working with them just kind of freelancing being

00:57:31like hey i just want to i just want to creatively write i don't get paid for this it is just a passion

00:57:36project and yeah i've gotten it it's weird now people are like oh you're you're really into

00:57:40you're like a whiskey nerd i'm like no oh you're a whiskey influencer i'm not at all i don't i'm a

00:57:46creator i feel like again that's that thing i just like creating i told somebody that i don't really

00:57:51care if anyone ever reads or hits a like on my story i just i want to put it out there because i

00:57:56enjoyed it and i find that the story of these you know five generations of whiskey makers in the

00:58:01highlands of scotland or this rock rock band that love whiskey and they wonder they decided to do a

00:58:08whiskey brand yada all those stories are interesting to me or this you know again

00:58:12physicists who was like oh i like making cocktails and took their physics mind and put it toward making

00:58:19cocktails those are weird not weird those are very interesting and weird in a good way those are very

00:58:23interesting stories that i don't see anywhere else so if i think it's interesting i want to i want to

00:58:27share it so however i i get to share those things that's kind of been my passion um beyond that man

00:58:34i'm a i'm a marvel movies nerd i think that's the other thing to a much less extent i'm not a

00:58:38definitely not a marvel content creator but uh yeah it is that is a that's how i spend uh most of my time

00:58:45is like what is that what is that story yeah i just can't not tell a story so whether it's you know

00:58:51what is that story what is it what is that experience i think we ran into each other a couple months back

00:58:55at a remy event for me yeah yes i think it was the the dj cassidy thing yeah yeah yeah yeah exactly

00:59:05i'm like that's again we were at a spirit thing but because of that connection of spirits and music

00:59:09which is the other thing alcohol and music have always gone together so like there is a there's a

00:59:13through line there again that is like oh i understand this world and those bartenders those

00:59:18people who make the spirit uh you know whether it's a blender a distiller etc they're just like art

00:59:23they're no different than artists whether it's a songwriter or a musician they have a passion for

00:59:28what they do and hearing them talk about that passion again is the same vibe i used to get when

00:59:35their their album and their music yeah well um i appreciate your time in the conversation

00:59:44because we can literally go for like another two hours and still i'm like damn i forget how long

00:59:49that i can be because i don't normally talk but yeah i appreciate this man this is no this is a

00:59:54good time uh again honored to be honored to be honored like i said i i know so a lot of a lot of good

00:59:59folks who i have respected and followed and you know seen as mentors far and near have been on the

01:00:06show so honored to be be a part i'm trying to save the good ones for later but then i can't because you

01:00:12know that's that's why it took me longer like it's show rolling right you like it you got to get that

01:00:17library going for your fast channel that's what it is i'm trying to get trying to get that hundred

01:00:20hours two hundred hours of content so you can just roll up that that fashion i get it so you know i'm

01:00:25just i'm just throwing me on the pod so that way i can have my fast channel on fuse media

01:00:33my friends are you curated okay as long as you got your clearance as long as you're you'll borrow our

01:00:39rights we can we can definitely do that hey oh um is there any way anybody if anyone's trying to

01:00:47get in contact with you i want to ask you any questions any social media or anything if if you

01:00:52want to because some people are like i don't want anybody bothering me but i would say linkedin

01:00:56is the best if you're talking something you know professional linkedin linkedin is the best

01:01:00way to find me on the off chance you're interested in my my crazy whiskey and cocktail pursuits

01:01:06it's uh at bar time story so if you think big time stories between bar instead of bed uh that's

01:01:12all my my spirit stuff again i will i will give compliments to my wife who is uh far more brilliant

01:01:18than i am who came up with that name for my instagram handle um so yeah did a podcast a while back that

01:01:23may or may not bring back if i have the time like just corporate life is way too busy but yeah uh at

01:01:28rashaun hall linkedin is is a primary i'm happy to talk to anybody about fast streaming don't always have

01:01:35all the answers but at the very least i could point you in the right direction but

01:01:38you might be surprised you get a couple of whiskey connoisseurs like reaching out to you so you never

01:01:43know a whiskey group man you know we have a couple of good ones in jersey i have a couple of homies who

01:01:49do stuff in jersey and a couple homes in the city so it is i will again that's one of those spaces again

01:01:54talking about just seeing us in a space that is different seeing brothers and sisters get together over

01:01:59whiskey there's some amazing you know we can definitely talk about some amazing folks who

01:02:04are doing stuff in that space where you don't think you typically or people stereotypically think

01:02:09it's an old white man's drink that's not the case at all there's a lot of a lot of great diversity in

01:02:15that space still actually i was about to say kind of like the same thing but on a different level because

01:02:20um coming up like my parents from the south so i'm used to older men the older black men

01:02:27whiskey drinkers you know because when when i started drinking like two months ago um it's vodka

01:02:33or hennessy but it's like i've noticed within maybe the past six years or so like probably before pre-pandemic

01:02:43there have been a a rush of from my observation of black people that drink whiskey even women which

01:02:51surprised me because like i said coming up um outside of malt liquor um it was either vodka rum

01:02:58it was anything but whiskey but i've noticed that recently yeah whiskey definitely has had a renaissance

01:03:06in the last 10 years um yeah don't don't get me started because again we could go another hour but

01:03:10but i will say but what but do you just say hennessy what i will say and i know i'm not i'm not the

01:03:15authority on it there is a the the i used to always think was stereotypical the correlation of

01:03:19black plan but there's an amazing background a history of why hennessy is so important to the

01:03:25black community in some part it has to do with you know black gis in world war ii and being in france

01:03:30and getting treated far better there as well as like experiencing this new spirit that they've never

01:03:35had but you know i think you know again just goes to show that there are so many interesting correlations

01:03:41between

01:03:57opportunity to do so cool okay thanks once again for your time and definitely enjoy the conversation

01:04:05and um for everyone that's that stayed to the end um my friends are better than yours and as i always

01:04:13state if you think you have better friends than me one of two things either they're already my friends

01:04:19or show them to me and i'll prove you wrong until the next time rashawn hall thank you once again fused media

01:04:26um whiskey head you know um recovering music critic and um you know oh and please tell your wife i said

01:04:36hello and until next time i want to you know what i want to start doing um in the future i want to start

01:04:44doing panels on specific topics and i think i would want to do something when it comes to whiskey i really

01:04:49do because i had another conversation with somebody so i'll figure it out and i'll definitely get back in

01:04:54contact with you because i know scheduling is always a thing so it's like i know i know i know some folks

01:05:00i'm happy to make some recommendations yeah definitely so like i said we'll talk about that and then um

01:05:05you know until then enjoy any and everything you're doing for the summer because it's like 174 degrees

01:05:12outside as we speak and we're going through a heat wave so i'm not leaving in fact i might not even leave

01:05:17the seat until the temperature gets lower than 80 degrees but until then everybody big set the

01:05:24industry co-sign my friends are better than yours until the next time thanks for tuning in and um

01:05:38thank you sir thank you sir very professional i like their logo

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