Fani on Atlanta Streetwear, the Pure Art of Skateboarding, Being the Ultimate Hipster, and More -

I like to push people and my friends. Like I always have felt like I help you and you're gonna help me. And even if I help you more in the long run, that's gonna help me. The One More Time Music Podcast. Genuine Conversations with Genuine People, about music. hosted by Henry with a three and Playback Ben. We're from Beamer Coops to Pinsals. Tell me what this to end. So part that one more time. Part that one more time. Part that shit like one more time. Hey, part that one more time. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back for another episode of the One More Time Podcast. I am your host, Playback Ben here with my co-host. Henry with a three, because Henry with an E was already taken. Henry, who do we have in the hot seat today, my friend? Welcoming in on episode 57 of the One More Time Podcast, legendary Atlanta artist. It's Titty Boy 2 Chainz. 2 Chainz. Have you ever gotten that? Never. Never?

I'm not gonna lie. Like I get a new uh rapper look alike every five years. I swear. So who was that? So who was it five years ago then? Five years ago was you kinda look like Party next door. Mm-hmm. Party, yeah, that could have been a good one. I mean, it was. I mean, I wasn't. Yo, kinda Donald Glover-ish now that I'm like looking at him a little bit. I heard that. You know, in the face. When I first got to college, it was, oh yeah, you you got Kid Cudi swag. You're like Cudi, okay. Like kick I didn't have dreads. Oh I just had like I'm not gonna lie too. Like, I definitely did have a kid Cudi swag when I was at school. I saw him wear a leather jacket with some with a Bape shirt and some blue jeans, and I said, Oh, that's the style right there. Killing it. That shit is like it's like the perfect rock star. Yeah, but I'm into rap look.

Like there you go. Kid Cudi style icon for sure. Well, well, 2 Chainz joke aside, we have legendary uh, I guess, you know, store owner, designer, creative director, multi-hyphenate, honestly. We have original Fani in the building. Fani. Hi guys. Hello. Hello. Appreciate you coming on, man. Thanks for coming on. Yep. And uh thanks to Jace for the alley oop on this one, former guest. Uh so you and I were chatting about this in the car. The Levi Collab. You're wearing Levi Fani jeans right now. Right. If they could only see them, go check them out. But how did that collab happen? Like, like how did that come to life? That's huge, right? Um, yeah, I mean, it's pretty cool. I think like um, like being that I'm like really into streetwear and stuff, I feel like in streetwear, to a certain extent, it's like when you take blanks or you take an item that's already popularized or already classic or already has like some energy behind it, and you take it and you just make it your own. So I mean, I've been a big fan of Levi's.

I mean, I'm big on denim too, you know. Um, so I went to activation at Art Basel in 2019. Um, had the opportunity to meet some people at Levi's. Um, the whole activation was dedicated to um this new technology, which is this activation was in 2019, so it's funny, like it was a while ago. Um, but it was all dedicated to this new technology um and how Levi's produces their jeans and you know, new customizations that they would be offering to consumers in the next coming years. Are they like 3D printing jeans now, or what's the deal? Um they're not 3D printing them, but I mean, in a way, like if you go to Levi's.com right now, you can customize your Levi's more so than you ever could. It's kind of like Nike ID for Levi's, which also is just big on like you know, we're we are in the future and stuff like that. So it's like, you know, just like a video game.

Like you want to buy something, and if you have a little extra money, you want to be able to like customize and create your character, you know, to your liking. So they showed me this process. Um a friend of mine, Reese was there, Reese LaFlare. Shout out to Reese. Big time. Reese, we need you on the podcast, my guy. We do. And uh Reese, um he always like, you know, he gets he gets he gets it done, you know, he executes. So he uh had the guys at Levi's make him his own pair of denim before we left the activation. My mind was blown. It's amazing. I was like, I was like, what? But it was actually a guy named Ray. Shout out to Ray, he skates and like Ray was just like, oh yeah, I'll I'll do whatever. Um so yeah. Levi's is burning denim like with lasers and stuff. It's super sick. I put the process in a kid hit us up on Instagram, was like, yo, I got that, I have access to that machine. So again, that was three years ago.

Um Levi's, they actually made the same kid made me a pair of jeans. Um, like back in 2019, but the pandemic started, so I didn't even get the jeans. Like first I got some from Levi's, that took like three months, and then I got another pair from this kid in Amsterdam that took it, just got lost in during the pandemic. Finally got them, and I just been shooting them over the years, and then this year I was like, I'm ready. Like I'm gonna just put them in production myself. Um shout out to the Levi's, cause again the same people there like, you know, threw me some jeans and like helped me to make the thing happen. And yeah, hopefully it becomes like something like super official that we do together in the future. But I mean, this time it was just like me, something I wanted to do. Yeah. As a designer, I mean, that's a brand that you already like, you already mess with them. To be able to do a collab with them has to feel pretty good, right? Yeah, I mean, it's cool, but it's just like a first leg 'cause it's like again, like I said, it's not official. It's not like um, you know, it's it's just all me, you know.

Um, which a lot of things are like that. Um, but again, you know, hopefully it turns into something in the future. Yeah, it's almost like people I've seen on on like social media will like make a commercial for a brand or something just off the love and like off the creativity of it, right? But then that brand will fucking hit them up and it'll be a Super Bowl commercial type thing or something, you know? Exactly. So that's kind of the the thought process is like, hey, let me show what I can do. Show value first. Yeah, you gotta get the ball. It's like proof of concept, right? You know, you gotta get the ball rolling and every collaboration I've done. I mean, and I even kind of got out of it a little bit because you get kind of like jaded uh at times. But watching Kanye's documentary reminded me it's like when you have the vision, you have to push it, you know. So every collaboration I've done for the most part, except for the one with Anwar, I came up with like the whole collab. I'm like, this is what we're gonna do. It's gonna look like this, blah blah blah. These this is the designs for it.

I had to break it all down. And they're like, Oh yeah, let's do it. People are clearly comfortable giving you the creative freedom. Um, yeah, but you sometimes have to take that initiative. You know what I mean? It's like I guess as a brand, you'd be more comfortable giving someone that power if they sounded confident, like they wanted it. Yeah, or if you just bring it to them, it's easy to say yes or no. I was I was literally about to say, we've talked about this before of like if you make it frictionless of like it's on a fucking silver platter. There it is. Say yes. This makes sense from XYZ angles. Exactly. Like that's what you realize that, like, unfortunately or fortunately, you have to put in that legwork. I mean, yeah. I mean, because initially, too, just with owning a brand, it is like, oh, we can make this, you know. Then it's like the strategy, you know. Or like when we're talking about like being a rapper, like you can't just make a song and upload it to SoundCloud. Facts. You know, oh, I mean, we talked about on the ride over as far as like just the business strategy behind be, you know, behind it, right? It's like you can be the best designer in the world with the most creative, cool ass designs.

And it's like, okay, but then what? Like, how do you actually see it? Bring this to market, yeah. And what's what's the strategy behind it? Yeah. Um, and then another thing too is I I like really like denim too, just as a whole. But I was thinking like I've done like denim bandanas, I like indigo. Uh Levi's also when I was at the activation, they dyed one of my bandanas that was white indigo. That's something I'm gonna get back into this summer. So it's like, you know, the whole denim thing is cool, and I think Levi's was like a good introduction. Um, because I mean, I definitely plan to do a lot more things with denim that don't necessarily have to be with Levi's, you know? Yeah. Um, but it's just like, you know, a lot of people work with Champion. Um they might not necessarily be working with Champion Corporate, but you understand like the quality of their clothing. Yeah. And maybe just like the little C applique. Like that shit is tight.

You know? So it's like stacks. You know, um, little things like that, you know, are really cool. Yeah, is this your first jean? Yes. Like yeah, like I mean, you said you worked in denim, but like, official jeans. Yeah, this is the first jeans I've ever released. Yeah. Because I mean I've made jeans in the past, but they were just like samples. Like for yourself or whatever. Yeah, for myself, to put in photo shoots, you know, just stuff like that. Nice, nice. So all right, you know, we'll kind of get to, you know, we kind of started at like where you're at today, like what just happened literally. But you know, let's kind of wind back take take us back to kind of where you grew up, you know, paint us a picture of a young Fani, right? Like, you know, what were the circumstances? Kind of, you know, what were you like as a kid? Well, um, I grew up like I mean my I spent my earlier days in Chicago. Um that's where I was born. Um my mom's from Chicago, my dad's from Chicago. Um, so I was born, my grandparents they still live in Chicago. Oh, well they they live in Michigan City, Indiana, but around like my earlier days, 'cause um I I spent a lot of time with them, just them and my mom a lot.

And then my mom, she's an African art historian. So we did a lot of traveling. Um I've been to Kenya three times, I've been to Egypt once. This was all before like the age of 14. Oh damn. Um when I graduated from high school, we went to Italy. So I've been to like Rome, Milan. And this is like again as a kid, you know, so it's like did a lot of traveling. Um, and then we moved out of Chicago and I came here when she started working at um Spelman. Okay. So came here to Atlanta. I went to Clark for a year for free because she was teaching in the AUC. But I didn't really stay. I was just having fun. I was skateboarding. Yeah. Skateboarding around campus. I wasn't really good. I mean, yeah, that's when I met Jace too. It's like I wasn't the best skater at all. But I always would think about the skateboard too, is like not only is it like a form of transportation, it's also like transports people, like career-wise, you know.

It's culture. Like, there's a whole culture behind it. I know peep everyone, all my friends in Atlanta that skate, like, they know all the other people that skate. Right. And if you're skate, say you're like a good skater, like people will kind of take care of you. Cause it's kind of like about that. You being cool. And I was talking to skater um about that the other day. Um, my friend Reef actually, um, Sharif, but um, I was talking to him about the fact that I feel like skateboarding is like something that remains pure because it's like a painting, it's like how you do it, you know, like everybody can kickflip. Who can kickflip, but everyone's kickflip is different a little bit, you know what I mean? So It's an art form. That's hard. That's hard. But yeah, so I mean, one of your biggest influences that I heard you talk about in another interview from Chicago was the legend Lupe Fiasco. Yeah. I also was still am a huge Lupe fan. Yeah.

And you talked about kind of like the things he would say, you know, resonated with you. Like, what specifically was he talking about that really like hit home for you? You know what I mean? Well, so yeah, I mean, going back to my earlier days too, like being like, you know, my mom is like an African art historian, and my name's Kalfani, so it was like my whole household was always Afrocentric. So I mean, coming up as a kid, like I wasn't really even allowed to listen to hip hop that much. Mm-hmm. and I found myself I would always tell people, like, I'm like an MTV kid, you know. Um, I grew up on TRL and Limp Bizkit and stuff like that. So Korn and that whole thing. So when I did start to get into rap, I think she was saying someone showed her, like, oh, you would like this. And it was literally like common Outkast, Goodie Mob, like, you know, what they would call conscious rap at the time. So by the time I really started getting into hip hop, like lupe just hit the net.

Like Kanye, like the college dropout, and you're getting into that, but then I don't know. It's funny because I don't know exactly how I discovered Lupe outside of like skateboarding Chicago. It was like this whole, like this whole culture was like coming out at the same time. Even the things that like Pharrell was on too, because you would say like Pharrell kind of like helped to bring skateboarding or highlight it in the black culture because the black kids were already skateboarding, but no one really was paying attention until Pharrell was like, no, this shit is fly. You know what I mean? So it's like all these things are happening, and then it's like Lupe comes out with kick push, and then you're like the internet is also like a new thing, and he's talking about the bathing ape, so you're like online, and even then, like I had a computer. Like everybody didn't even have computers and shit. So, like all the only the nerdy kids in middle class families had like computers. You know?

So I would be on there searching iMesh, LimeWire, Lupe Fiasco, downloading everything I seen. Like every song. And he has songs, you know, Food and Liquor. Yeah, exactly. He's got songs named after like uh anime and you know, different things like that. So if you're like into like that culture at that time period, whether you're talking about Pharrell, Toonami, you know, Lupe was like a rapper who was like he was just like highlighting all of that stuff, you know, um skateboarding. And then like also as you learn about skateboarding and hip hop and how it's tied together, you just, you know, it's like this whole world, you know. So it's like Mark Echo, but then Mark Echo owns Zoo York, and then Lupe Fiasco, and then so it's just this whole world, the internet. So did you see a little bit of yourself in him kind of like is that kind of when you first felt like I'm kind of like him?

Oh, yeah, definitely. Like I've and uh idolized him in high school 100%. Like I was just like, I'm Lupe Fiasco. Yeah. Um, for sure. It sounds like it. Yeah, yeah, literally. He's kind of nerdier. he's into some, you know, a little bit off-kelter things, you know, he wasn't talking street shit at all. Well, so no, well, so Lupe does talk about street shit though. Well, but from more of an elevated or like looking into it kind of thing. Yeah, I think too. I was telling somebody the other day, it's like, and I learned on podcasts, like how like the record labels, and like if you made the wrong person mad, it could really just ruin your whole entire career. Politics, Yeah. But um, yeah, I mean, he was like the first. You know what I mean? He was so ahead of his time. And talking about street shit from like an intellectual and cool standpoint, because he was in Chicago and he grew up in Chicago, you know what I mean? Yeah.

Um yeah, like a Kendrick Lamar, it's like Kendrick touches on all subjects, you know. It's just like the words he used in his delivery and his thought process, which is allows you to say, wow, this is a different story, you know, and this has a lot of complexity to it. Um I think, and then lyrically too, like Lupe is really, really good. He's like really, really good with the music and everything. So there was so much substance in everything he did from kick push to his albums, everything. That's yeah, huge fan. You almost like feel smarter after listening to Lupe. Oh, for sure. You feel Like you just read a book. Definitely. Yeah, you definitely gotta look up some words for sure. Definitely. No, yeah. My sister and I went to a uh show at Center Stage, uh, you know, it was a lupe show, and like I brought her just because, you know, I was so jazzed, and I was like, Yeah, you gotta check this shit. out. Trust me, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.

So, so what's your earliest memory of kind of like feeling creative? Yo, so yeah, actually, it's funny that that's a good ass question. But uh I talked to my mom about it and she said, Oh, I figured it out, but my earliest memory of being. She figured it out before you. Well, she just like looking back is like, oh, that's when you really started getting into like fashion and just creativity. Yo, moms remember so much. Right. My mom will throw out shit that I did, and I'm like, I don't even remember that that about my own life. How the fuck do you remember that I did that at this time and whatever? 100%. It's crazy. So again, too, and I think about this with kids now too, because I'm like, I mean, the kids they play with action figures, but then they're like, they got Fortnite. So they're like, Oh, yeah, tablets and shit. Yeah, they got technology. But me, like I'm still into comics when I was like, you know, a kid, like, especially in Chicago, there's a lot of comic book stores. The whole culture is big, like in Chicago.

So it's like it was a lot of that. And then also action figures and Legos. Like, I had tons of action figures, like tons, like, you know, and I guess they would range in price too, like paying $25 for an action figure, your mom looking at you like are you fucking crazy? Yeah. It's like, but better be a collectible. It better be worth a hundred dollars. Do you want to eat or do you want this action figure? No, literally. That's the question. Like, do you want now next week when we can't, blah, blah, blah, blah? Just know I got you this action figure. So, first with action figures, and then I, you know, looking back, sometimes I would just make clothes for my action figures. Like, that's awesome. Like, but it wouldn't be like, it's not like wouldn't be like really thought out. It would just be like put a hole in in like this, cut this square and then put a hole in it, and then I can make something. Just glue it on or some shit? Exactly.

Something like that. So that was like my earliest memory. Now that went to when you were on like video games, uh, creating a player, and like did you spend like hours creating your player? On Smackdown. I don't know if you played SmackDown before. WWE. Of course. Yeah, every SmackDown, every year it came out, like they the customization was just too vast. It was like it's like you can customize for date, shape, like that, like SmackDown probably had the best customization. How do you want his eyebrows to look? All of that clothes, different neck chains. How do you want the thickness of them? And then the color and then the calf size, hair color, like Oh, my gosh. you know, you might have series of different players you created, like you created this guy, and you created this guy, you created a girl, and then you just play the story mode, and then you just do it again and again. And I my mom said that to me, but I I I felt that because it was like, yeah, I spent a lot of hours just creating players, you know what I mean? And I was like, wow, that's that was probably like early on being like super creative.

Yeah, oh that's dope. I'm curious if do you know um are you have you dabbled at all or know anything about the NFT world? Um, So. Yo, Henry can't go an episode without asking about it. I go most episodes without it, but this is the type of guy that you know, like the collectibility, the customization kind of thing. I know about the NFT world. I understand it. I haven't done much in it because I think it's like for me, it's like the gallery, it's like kind of like it's like the gallery where it's like you can paint, but if you like really understand what it is to be an artist on a certain level, you're like, I need to get my stuff in this gallery in this space with this art dealer. It's just a whole nother level. And it's like even going back to what I was saying about um skateboarding and stuff, like with art in its purest form, it's like it's not really clouded like that. You know, it's not about like it is, but it's it's such a like I don't I mean, I'm a bit ignorant speaking on it.

Um, so I don't want to say the wrong thing, but it's just like it is its own world that's very sophisticated, I will say. It's early. It's very early. So if you're gonna do it, you want to like make sure it's with the right person and the right role. Like, you know, you want to get it right. Exactly. Versus just rushing into it because it's the newest shiny object. Exactly. That's what everyone's like, yeah, you could do this, you could do this. A lot of 3D designers and stuff like that, which I'm I'm with, but then it's like what's our split? How is our split work? And then like what gallery is it going into? Right. Because from what I can see, it's going in the metaverse. Everyone who's been really successful at it knows like the ins and outs of yeah, yeah, they're studying this shit as their like full-time job at this point almost. Which I also think like understanding the ins and outs of cryptocurrency, again, if you have like a full understanding of it, you can kill it. But then if you don't, you could lose a lot of money and like spend a lot of time and I just was hearing about crypto market crashing and stuff like that. Yeah, but I mean it's- I'm definitely the guy you're describing of just losing money at this point.

I'm like, I'm I have the lack of understanding there, so it's like I never invested my time into that. I'm a bit I'm big on that too. It's just like I like to learn new things, but you know, I also like to work with experts, you know. Sure. And I don't always feel like you should teach me, like, do what you do to the best of your ability, and I'm gonna do it to the best of my ability, you know. No, that's facts. So so you moved to Atlanta around high school time, I think, right? Yeah. Did you feel out of place coming here? Definitely from Chicago? Definitely, yeah. Definitely. I had dreads, I had a long dreads in high school. Um when I got here, like braids were in. Okay. So you were literally getting like you know, the stinky eye. Like, oh my God, I got roasted so much. I mean, because by the time, like I think Murphy Lee. Um God, shout out the fucking St. Lunatics, man. Yeah, Murphy Lee. He came out with dreads, but his dreads were like manicured, you know. Of course.

So they were like, you know, they were perfectly twisted, curled, and everything. And then mine, I'm always like, even like the reason I like dreads, I mean, I like them for more reasons than I initially did. But initially, I got dreads because low maintenance, you just easy to deal with. You just grow. You just have to wash your hair. That's it. Moisturized here and there, but you just wash your hair. You know, um, it's easy. Yeah. Haircuts is like weekly, yeah, waves, hours, hours, like with the barber, it's a lot. It's a lot, it's a lot. So that's initially where I why I got dreads. But yeah, when I first got here from Chicago, yeah, I wasn't cool. Wearing whatever. But you know, that's funny too. It's like, you know, high school. It's just everyone has their own high school experience, you know, which is like it's interesting, you know, because I got here and it's like a culture shock a little bit, and I was getting roasted a lot. So I cut my dreads.

Oh, you gave in. Yeah, definitely, definitely. I was getting Bro, I was getting keys. I used to go home crying and stuff. Like, mom, I don't want to go back there. Um sophomore year, I found friends and stuff like that. One of my friends was skateboarding, super hood guy, though. But he was like, Oh, I got skateboarding in my closet. I'm like, can you show me uh how to Ollie? He's like, Yeah, I know how to. Ollie. And then he was like, he was one of the coolest kids in high school too. Richard, Gotta shout out his name because he was a good kid. Shout out to Richard. Shout out, Richard, man. For making Fonzie cool. He was from New Orleans, too. He was from New Orleans. Okay, another transplant. Lil Wayne. Yeah, Atlanta's full of transplants, though. Yeah. Especially New Orleans. Yeah. Exactly. Um, because was that Katrina? Yeah, that was because of Katrina, probably, right? Well, no, he was here pre-Katrina. Okay, but yeah, a lot of people were coming. Yep, around that time. Because we're like the same age, so that's why it was. Exactly, exactly. But then after that, I mean, one of the things that's actually so cool about Richard is the fact that up until we had started hanging out, I was telling people to call me Cal. Which is the first Party. First party. Yeah. Um, so and I mean, even prior to

my dreads were so long. Um, like in middle school, like people sometimes would mistake me for a girl, like Lil Bow Wow. Oh, wow. You know, so it's like, because I was I wasn't even tall yet. So he's six four now, by the way, guys. Cal, I mean, uh, Richard came to my house one time. We were all over there playing video games. I think my mom was like, Fonzie, Fonzie, like, take the trash out, blah, blah, blah, some shit like that. She's always called me Fonzie. Okay. And Richard was like, Fonzie, it's like that's hard, bro. It's a hard name. I was like, You think so? He's like, Yeah, like that that sounds dope. Fonny, Fonzie is so dope. Like, why don't you tell people to call you that? Why do you tell people to call you Cal? I'm like, Cal's kind of like a middle-aged white guy name. Oh, I have a friend's dad who's a middle-aged white person who goes by Cal. so yeah. Yeah, and I've been Fonzie since. There you go. Good choice. Yeah, so you were in the art uh magnet program at Tri-Cities, the same program that fucking Outkast was in.

I learned that from you. True. That's hard. How did you evolve though as a creative like through that time? Because I'm assuming you're getting exposed. Like if you're in an art magnet program, I'm sure they're making you do painting and drawing. And also too. I don't know if they were in the program, but I know they went to Tri-Cities. Fact check. Fact check me down below. I'm not quite sure. I just be having to do that because I don't want people to come after me. You know what I mean? People are gonna cancel me because of that. Yeah. Cancel culture. Exactly. It's terrible. So yeah, same same high school at least. Yeah, same high school. But yeah, so like, you know, you're probably being exposed to a ton of different, like, you know, meaning. Meaning and also went to that high school. Shout out Fat Man. Um there was another, there's a couple couple other people who went to that high school. Okay. One of the girls from Danity Kane, she's a dancer. She went to Tri-Cities as well. But you were asking what though? Yeah, like just art magnet. Yeah, just being in like an art program like that. I'm assuming that they throw you into the art world, right? Like they're making you do sculpture, painting, drawing, like all the different mediums, right?

Like, how did you kind of evolve? Like, you know, what were you drawn to most? You know what I mean? So yeah, it was sick. And um, like I said, too, it's like that's why I said high school is such an interesting experience. Cause I mean, some people don't find themselves in high school, but I definitely did. Um, because after being teased, you know, me, Richard, we started skateboarding and stuff, and then people are like, that shit's tight. You know what I mean? So it's like you're skateboarding, and then it's like getting into skateboarding helped me to find like all this other and lupe. Although, like the shit Lupe was talking about, you just couldn't find it all. Like you can't like vape, like Vape didn't have a web store, you know. So I think my first pair of vapes were fake, you know. Um, but the Metro Flea market had babes, and so did Young Jeezy, You know what I mean? So it's like um, yeah, they just immerse you in all these different things, and then you, you know, I found myself because I found that like I liked art so much that I was always doing it, you know, unlike a lot of other students whose art kind of like stayed in the class. Yeah.

And then skateboarding helped me to find like just these different styles and shit like that. So now I'm like at PacSun And like, you know, I don't know, skateboarding clothes are cheap. Like, if you go to the skate store, you can get a shirt for $15 with the coolest design ever. Same with the socks, you know what I mean? So it's like I found all this stuff, and yeah, it was tight. I I also like really started getting into graffiti art. I actually uh learned about cause around the same time. Um, because of course, listening to Lupe Fiasco, and then I'm seeing these this art pop up, and I'm like, what's this shit with the X in the eyes? I'm like, this shit is tight as fuck. I'm like, what's the X in the eyes about though? Um, so then that's when I started doing my research on graffiti. I mean, even Marc Ecko, it's so funny because yeah, at this time he put out a game called Getting Up on PlayStation one of them and Xbox about graffiti, you know. You the first, I guess, graffiti game.

And you can what? Just go like tag shit. You just go tag shit and you can learn new hand styles and climb poles and could get arrested. Yeah, yeah. Definitely can fight. It's like a fighting game too, but then it's like an action adventure game, graffiti game. It's called Mark Echo's Getting Up. That's cool. So it's kind of cool. yeah, because his his line around that time, Echo clothing. It's like it wasn't all based around the um the rhino anymore, but you started to find like these phrases like I am the American dream or I am hip hop and stuff like that. So getting up was one of those. Uh getting up is that the actual video game that Marco Echo put out that I think was like on PlayStation 2 and Xbox or something like that. Nice. Um but yeah, I'm getting into graffiti as well, which also too is like it's a lot of social commentary and graffiti, you know, like a lot of these words that they will tag or put up on things like you know, it's like kind of like it's hip hop. Um, because it's social commentary and artistic form, you know?

Yeah. Um, so you know, you study graffiti, and then that also brings you into streetwear because you find like all these prominent graffiti artists are also like the pillars of streetwear futura cause. Um, and the list goes on. Yeah. Um, but those are probably like the two biggest guys. That's dope. Um, so I learn about them, and then I I'd start putting that into my art, but that's going into like projects I'm doing, and I'm drawing them. I like tests and shit, I'm like yeah, teachers like this is cool, you know. You gotta see, but this is cool. So this was a this was a math test of Fonnie. I don't know what this, you know, drawing with the X's on the eyes is. I don't know what the fuck that's about, but you're supposed to solve for X, not for you. You're a good kid, though. I like you, you know. Yeah, so you end up going to Clark Atlanta, like you mentioned. Yeah, that's where you meet the homie Jayce. Shout out, Jayce. Yeah, shout out. Go check out his episode. I might put it as a link here.

Put it in the probably gotta put Jayce as a link. Yeah, top right corner. If if I can remember. But anyway, so you got a rep for being like one of the best dressed on campus, like pretty quickly at Clark, I would say. Like Steve O, who's coming on the show soon. Steve O. Yes. You're coming on the show. I was just texting him about it, but he has to. I just seen Steve O too. Yeah, exactly. Get on his ass about coming on the show. Yeah. So he had described this in another interview about you saying that you were getting a rep for like being best dressed on Clark's campus. Like you were definitely getting noticed as someone who had style. I mean, remember that? Yeah, no, I definitely remember that. And it's so funny that like it's just about it was about being different. And it's just about like people not really appreciating what we appreciated because even at Clark and the AUC, I mean AUC, this is like 2007. So it's like if you think about the style, I think like white tees were still like they were they had gotten smaller.

Yeah. More than like small white tees. Triple XLs anymore. In V necks and shit. Um like Jim Jones style was still kind of like lingering around, you know. Um, but like again, that skateboarding style, um, that was also in like intertwined with hip hop, even Supreme 06. I say 06, 07, like in street wear and stuff were huge because it's like so much stuff was coming out. Um that outside of Georgia, the world was just falling in love with, like, you know, Nike SBs, um, ice cream and BBC, um, you know, Stussy, I think having like a real resurgence to be like, oh Stussy's not going nowhere, you know. what I mean, so I initially met Jace just wearing Stussy, like, because it wasn't like there was a store in Lenox Mall called Metro Park, and they sold Stussy. Um I mean, urban outfitters might not have even been carrying.

I'm I'm actually for certain that they weren't carrying Stussy yet. Um, but Metro Park was right next to the Adidas store, and Adidas had some really fire collabs coming out. This was they had just uh signed Pharrell too, I think around this time. Um so it was just you were kind of standing out, like I don't because I don't want to say like I say best dressed. like it was really just like people weren't dressing like us. Okay, you know what I'm saying? So it's like most uniquely dressed, yeah. Yeah, I mean I just like in retrospect, because yeah, if you would have said that back then, I would be like, hell yeah. You know what I mean? And the flyest motherfucker on campus. Exactly. And our whole crew was just the crew that we kind of formed was just based around, like, yeah, you wear this. There was another really good friend of mine, Dylan, he had on Nike SBs, and maybe like an LRG t shirt. And like no one else in Atlanta was really rocking. Man, nobody. It was him, Jace, Coach K's son, little coach, because Coach K was really in the streetwear, too. That's it.

Nike SB. This pre Nike SB wave, the first wave. Yeah, I don't know what happened. I it was y'all. It was something. else though. He wishes he could take credit. Maybe he could. I'm giving him credit. I don't know what happened, man, but something happened, and people found out like Nike SBs are like exclusive. Are hard. Yeah. And then the whole wave, Stratosphere. I remember Lil' Bow Wow, that just story, a little Bow Wow went and was like, Yeah, let me get all your Nike SBs, y'all got. And they were just like, fuck you. You know, type shit. Like these are for our skaters. It's like, fuck you guys. That's hilarious. Posers. Exactly. So Jace recalls that like pretty early on, you made a statement to him that, hey man, I'm gonna start my own clothing line. I'm gonna open my own boutique, and this shit's gonna be like a hub for like other brands and shit. He he recalls that you said that early on. Do you do you recall having like the same vision like very early and like confidently? Because obviously, fast forward to today, you did that.

You did exactly that. Do you remember it being that that way? Um, no. So no. So he just like thought you were this visionary, then I guess maybe you or maybe he forgot. Or maybe he forgot. One thing I'm gonna say about Jason, I love Jace is that you know when he tells my story, he's gonna tell it, you know what I mean? Make you just sound like a fucking Steve Jobs. Yeah, Yeah, you know, I love that. Okay, yeah. It's like, or like, have you ever seen when Chappelle is? I want to leave parts of it out, but you know, he's like, if I told my bio doc, like, you know, I would tell it like way different, way differently, because it's like I'm gonna add whatever I want. Like, you know what I mean? Can't say that you can't say it's not true. Yeah, so that's a good homie though. That's what I'm saying. I love Jace. Yeah, real friends, yeah, real friend. So did you meet Siege through Jace? Because you mentioned BBC. Yes, BBC. yeah, exactly. So he was BBC'd on Twitter at the time.

Yes, and you thought that was so fucking cool that you were like, hey, what can I do? Because I wasn't on Twitter. Because I tell people too, it's like, like, I'm like, I'm not, I don't like because for a long time we used to fight the word hipster. So I don't want to say like hipster like that, but I am for Atlanta's definition of it, the ultimate hipster. You know what I mean? So it's like especially like, okay, when people all started going to Nike SBs, and I was in college, I didn't even have money like that. And I had started purchasing them like in high school, looking on eBay, like my mom's like, oh no, you didn't pay $250 for some shoes. I was like, Mom, these are fucking crazy. Look at the box, Shanghai. I'll never forget. So then when every girl, every rapper started buying Nike SBs and Blazers and everything, I started seeing people in the shit. I'm like, I don't want to have nothing to do with that. It's not cool anymore. It's not cool anymore. Yeah. So that kind of turned me off of that, you know?

Yeah. But um with BBC and Siege, like Twitter was the same way where I wasn't on Twitter, I wasn't on, I didn't even have an iPhone too, which was really like it's taboo. Instagram and Twitter. I just didn't have money. I was college broke. You know what I mean? Like the second year, sophomore year, I didn't even go back. I was just hanging out. Just like I said, skateboarding shit. Like, you can just you skateboard, you just go crash at all the homies' house. You skate 3 a.m. Y'all all crash, you guys get $20 the next day, get some beers, split some food, do the same. Like it's like a culture, you know what I mean? So I didn't have it. We got on siege though, and Jace, they were making moves, you know. When I first met Jace, they were still getting paid residuals off of like some songs they had did before I met them. So Jace, I met Jace, he rapped for me one day. I'm like, and it's funny how he says, like, I had this vision because initially my vision when I met Jace, I was like, look, I'ma work with you in some capacity, and you're gonna just be huge. I know it because I never met anybody who raps this good.

Yeah, like literally, like one story he should tell is that Clark that there was we're doing like freestyle battles, which was something that was still popping at the time. Shout out to Drake for keeping that alive, you know. But like, man, battle rapping was popping. That shit used to used to come on MTV too. Yeah. Uh I forgot the name of the Smack DVD, but then they had put the battles. Smack. Yeah, they had put the battles on MTV at one point. Um, some battle show. I forgot the name of the show. I wish I could put the nail on like my finger on the name of the show. But Jace was battling at Clark and stuff, and I was just like behind him, like you're the best rapper ever. Hype man. So then exactly. I'm like, yo, yeah, bro. Jace, like, you don't want to battle with Jace, you know what I mean? I'm still not knowing what I'm gonna do, you know. what I mean, then I'm like, hmm, maybe I can make a mixtape cover for you guys. So I made Jason Seed's first mixtape cover on PowerPoint.

Which is retro sushi, right? Yeah, that's another thing. So basically, like you were part of Retro Sushi, right? But just like the same way I was part of 2-9, where it's just like a creative, and like I don't know what the fuck, like I didn't really have a what did you think you were gonna do? I mean, initially I thought I was gonna be like a manager, even though it's funny that 07, like our knowledge as a consumer of hip hop, our knowledge of a manager was just like nothing. Like, you know, like you, you have you could talk to kids these days, probably a kid is 16 rapping and his homie's 16. He's like, Yeah, I manage him. Oh, I mean, we talked about And you're like, what it takes to become a manager. You know Sonny Digital very well, obviously. So Rico Brooks, yeah, who's you know his manager, he so he was on the show episode 51, I think. Okay. He talked about there's literally no prerequisite for being a manager. You know, no, you can wake up and be like, I think I'm a manager today.

Right. Yeah. I'm gonna manage Fonny today. Exactly. So like So you were just like, fuck it. that was one thing. Um, but then also too, I was thinking like, I don't know, I just wanted to have some involvement. And I I say that too, it's like, you know, I'm really I like to push people and my friends. Like I always have felt like, you know, I can like I help you and you're gonna help me. And even if I help you more in the long run, that's gonna help me. Yeah, you know, so I've always like again, it's funny that Jay says that because my vision when I met Jace was like, well, you're gonna be huge, and I'm gonna be connected somehow, and whatever I'm doing, hopefully I can- Yeah, it's almost like your confidence was way more in him. Yeah, yeah, than it was in yourself and your own like brand. Literally, because I hadn't really figured it out yet. I mean, there was not really an original Fonny, um, like again, until Siege Siege, and that whole thing came from like uh Kanye. Kanye said he was the Louis, I'm kind of Louis Vuitton Don.

So it's like, oh, hard. Kanye, Louie, Geezy, like all that thing. So Twitter comes out. I don't have Twitter. Um, and it came out pre-Instagram. I don't have Twitter, and I'm like, why would like, why would I put my thoughts out I'm like, that shit sounds like hot seeds. I'm like, he's like, you gotta get on Twitter. I would have loved to hear this like sales pitch for Twitter. It's like, yeah, come on, man. So he's BBC. Siege. I'm like. Which I still think is. such a hard name. I'm original Fonny. But and again, like going back to it, and I always explain this, explain this in the article, but it's like I'm literally just original Fonny because of the brand original fake. Yeah, which was a cause thing, right? Which was cause's brand, and they sold it at Wish. Yep. Which was that was even that was rare and random because they don't even sell original fake, you know, in a lot of places. Um is friends with the owner of Wish. Okay.

So he put his clothes in there. Yeah. That's dope. That's it. And then he fueled your Twitter handle at that point. Yeah. Yeah, like literally, that was it. Okay, so then, all right, so you go from kind of, you know, Twitter handles original Fonny. You start working with, you know, Jason Siege. Obviously, two nine enters the picture. Yeah, that's because uh another thing I wanted to say about that is so me and Jace made the name Retro Sushi up though. Yeah, just we just made it on the phone because you know, like I'm already into graphics, so I can say that outside of having knowing that I was gonna have some involvement, it was more so like I can like whatever I'm good at, I can like help you guys with. Sure. You know? So. Yeah coming up with a dope name, yeah. Exactly. Cause they're a little like a Japanese kind of you know, anime? based. and that's what me and Jace found. Like, we were just like, man, we could just make it based off of things that we love. Because we were best friends.

Like Siege was like, I want to say he was removed because Siege would all, but he was um he was hosting parties, like big parties. The biggest. Yeah. The biggest parties in Atlanta. I mean, backstage with pretty much like exactly. So, and that's why I started the blog. Yeah. I just started the blog because I was running around with Siege. Yeah. And Team Millie, and um, which was a promotions group. They're now Love Renaissance. And oh, that was the Love Renaissance folks? Yeah, Sean and Toonday. So like Sean and Toonday? Yeah, they had a party promotion. Shout out Toonday. I think he just beat Cancer or something. Shout out to Toonday. So. Shout out Toonday. that's huge. Fuck cancer. Fuck cancer. Yeah, that's awesome. I didn't, I did not know that they were Team Millie. Yeah, and Siege was hosting their parties. Okay. So. Okay. Cool. So Siege had like this, he had like this pass in Atlanta on top of the fact that it's like you can see Siege from a mile away. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. He's got a very cool look. Like he didn't have Dredge yet, but he was just like, Yeah, you know, he might have a black a mile cigarette, walking right into the party, pan sagging, you know, and it's like he was good. I mean something that's funny, measy and everybody that's on Toonday, they always be like, yo, Siege, like you can't you can't come to the parties at like whenever you want.

Like, you know what I'm saying? And show up with your homies, and your homies aren't paying and they're wearing skinny jeans. And Siege is like, all right, man, we're right back with Siege. I mean, Jace might be driving, and we're waiting on Siege to get ready. And he's taking like, he's like, Yeah, man, I'm almost ready. And we're like, yo, bro, they already told us, like, we're not like you have to host the party. We're we don't have a job here, you know what I mean? Yeah, so Siege will pull up to the party, Siege will be like, Yeah, I got y'all. one second, let me go in. No, he would go in, no, they would scream on him, you know. what I mean, but he will always come back and get us. Still, always that's fucking love. I'm curious if um Jace and Siege were kind of your first kind of exposure into like music because you're a designer, but you know, this is like a music podcast, but you're very much, I feel like in the music culture. Definitely was that kind of the beginning of that? I would say, um, in so many ways, yeah. Cause I mean, also too.

So I met like me, Jace here in rap, he's freestyling, and he's like, Yeah, and this is Siege. And I'm like, all right, cool. Play a beat He plays a beat. I'm like, oh wow, like these are so good. So I'm like, y'all should just be a group. That's gonna go. Yeah. And um, like I said, from there, all anyone I knew in music with resources, studio, and I didn't know shit. But I was like, hey, these are these kids. They're really good at what they're doing. I mean, look at them. And then that was that, and this is their name. Um, so yeah, that was my first experience with music. Um, and kind of like being hands-on and stuff like that. I mean, even running around FKI, all the studios and situations they were all into, and this was still like pre-Two-9, you know? Uh-huh. Yeah, and and so, you know, two nine obviously enters the picture. You know, you start going on the road and whatnot, but like, what were your first like clothing items, like streetwear items that you were making? So the first thing I ever made was the original Fonny t-shirt.

Okay. Um, and the t-shirt, again, like it's just a it was a flip of the original fake logo, but I changed the N I um still haven't figured out what font that is. It's like really close to Helvetica, but it's not not. Not quite Helvetica. It's not because the G is different. Like, I never could figure out what font it was. But it was slightly custom, but well, because I only changed two letters at the end. Yeah. You know what I mean? By the way, if you ever make a font, it's original Fonti. Oh, original Fonti. There's a there's a girl named Fonti, um, who used to run around. That was her uh handle on Twitter and Instagram, original Fonti. Not at all. Fonny is the homie. I wonder where she is. They're married now. I really wonder where she is. She's so cool. I'm sure she's doing great things. Yeah, man. She was so cool. We love a good flip around here though, by the way. Yeah, exactly. So shout out AutoTune. AutoTuneShirt.com. So you start making flips. Just a T. Yeah. Just one flip. Just one flip.

Yeah, just one t-shirt, one logo. So it's Straight from the flip to the Fondana? Um, pretty much. Like I just made the flip. And so around that time, too, for the blog, the the tagline was for promotional use only. So I've always felt like I have high integrity. And if I said that, it's like I can't sell it. I really like it hit me. I was like, it's for promotional use only. Like I can't, like I can't sell this, you know. So the whole idea was like, how do I make a product that people care about? Well, if it's not for sale, people are automatically gonna care about it. Yeah. Um makes it more desirable. And then, you know, Rocky and them came out. Um, Reese also had introduced us around in the time to uh Blackscale and Mega. So I've known them for that long. That's why I ended up doing a collaboration with uh Blackscale. But um Mega introduced us to Sir. Um and Sir was designing for Supreme. He's like an OG, streetwear OG, Rasalin, but sir is his name.

Um so when ASAP came out, they were rocking two brands outside of the high fashion stuff. They were rocking Blackscale and then rocking Sir. And then Sir made a sub-brand called Calm des Fuck Down, which is just the flip of Comme des Garçons. Right. I was looking at that too, like, okay, he's selling this. And ASAP has this. And they had it all first. Like they had like, which was it was literally perfect for them because it's like streetwear, but it was high fashion. Yeah, it's a blend. Yeah. So ASAP had all the Comme des Fuck down. And I start as 2-9 formed and we started moving around. I was like, all right, cool. Well, I'm gonna make this original Fonny t-shirt, and um it will just be on 2-9. So it's like you can get it from 2-9, or you can get it if you know me, and maybe like you got some graphics for me too. Like that was another thing I used to do, like Quentin Miller and all the artists who were on original Fonny in the beginning, the blog, because I always say Ill Roots too is another integral part where like Ill Roots was posting everything from the culture at that time online, and they were having exclusives. So when I was still on the blog, I said, Well, if I have pictures of artists in my t-shirt and I'm posting their music on my blog, it it adds that you know authenticity to it.

And that was that, like um with the T. I was just giving them out. When we went on tour, kids would ask sometimes, like, oh, can I get a shirt? And I was always like, Oh, y'all, damn, y'all know me too. This is really sick, you know. Um, because I would be selling Two-9 merch on tour, and that's kind of when I stepped away from original Fonny, because I was like, yeah, this Two-9 shit is getting serious, yeah. Yeah, but I mean, you described it in another interview, I feel like about like it was really smart to me the way that you thought through like why you wanted to do the you know, Fondana, aka your version of a bandana. Yeah, was that like it could fit in your fucking pocket borderline? It was cheap. It was one size fits all. You weren't having to deal with the fucking headache of like t-shirts. Yeah, I mean, and everyone and their mother had a fucking t-shirt, like you said. Yeah, I mean, that and just like I think another thing that was really um, it's funny, but like, so I was also working real close to be right Cremo, and it's like this thing of familiarity too, because at a certain point, like everybody in 2-9 wasn't wearing cremo, like especially like Curtis, right? Like, as we started blowing up more money in pockets and stuff, and it's like he wants to wear whatever he wants to wear to like kind of like speak to whatever he's trying to speak to.

And it's artists are like that too, where it's like they might wear a brand, and they wear it, and then it's like I'm off that, you know what I mean? Like brand loyalty with artists, it changed because they changed, you know. Um so that was another thing that showed me, I was like, damn, like how do I get this? How do I get you to wear the t-shirt? Like every show or at the biggest shows. Like, are you gonna wear it during the New York show? Maybe not, you know, you might wear like some bait because you got money to buy bait now. So when I seen that with the t-shirt, like, and I just said this in the interview um with Office, it is like my products. I feel like they mesh well. You can always mix my products with whatever, whether it be like the lowest fashion or highest fashion pieces should be able to work with. Oh, yeah, I mean, I mean, the Fondana specifically can be hanging out the fucking back pocket of your, you know, jeans. It can be, of course, on your head. It can be wherever around your fucking waist like whatever and I mean it yeah it's just like um logistic you know yeah for me to make the bandana I mean I love bandanas too though yeah but I just thought it was almost like it's probably gonna be I think if it's not already one of those things that you look back on you're like damn that was fucking smart or where it's like where you didn't even think about it that critically probably at the time like you weren't yeah I mean I just well yeah knew I couldn't so like I said I wasn't selling the t-shirt yeah and even when I initially made the bandana I didn't plan on selling it the first post says friends and family hit me if you want one yeah it's actually a kid who was like yeah I'll buy it 25 and I was like oh that's cool because did you still think you were just tied to Two-9 pretty much yeah pretty much so it wasn't even really like it was really just you were like okay in my like little bit of spare time like what's something cool I can also like well yeah because it was like a collective thing so it's just like again it's like well how will I make my mark and it's like these t-shirts and then also too you know kind of trying to find something that was more original you know um I knew like that the logo is a flip so it's like how far can I really push it to where people like give me the like yeah in New York somebody would say, oh that's smart I get that but that was it like people didn't always like associate original Fonny and original fake or even know about original fake. Yeah.

So it's like Bandana's more of a signature item. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, but just across the board, like it had more mass appeal versus like, you know, there was a very niche audience that would have even gotten the flip. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. It was like a tiny, tiny market. Exactly. It's like you flip the McDonald's logo. Well, everyone knows McDonald's. You know, but it's like you want to flip like the smallest niche thing that only a certain group of people know about. It doesn't really translate the same way. Yeah, for sure. No, definitely. Which I found too. It's like I sometimes make things hard on myself, but that's just a challenge, you know? Yep. Yep. So the the uh you know, Fondana specifically, a lot of your pieces have, but the Fondana specifically has gone on to be on some of the biggest stars in music. I mean, Billie Eilish, SZA, I mean, Jid. I I was literally, I told him on the car ride over. I was editing the uh, you know, Christo episode, and I was putting, you know, the uh the link to the surround sound music video with Jid. What's he fucking wearing?

Fonny. The Fondana. Yeah. And you know, so it's like arguably the biggest, you know, rap superstar right now on, you know, on the market. Uh and so I mean, it's it's literally gotten to be where it's it's everywhere, man. Yeah. I mean, how how does that feel? Like just, you know, do you do you feel at all satisfied? Are you the type that's like not ever satisfied and you're just like, what what can I do more? Yeah, because I've always felt like, and even with that being said, it's like I'm always kind of like playing catch up to a certain extent. To like I've always felt like the brand was like a lot bigger than it is in ways. And it's like I just have to catch up to it because I mean, I think that's how it goes. Like, I've always felt like it has this potential to be everything I want it to be, but you know, it's just been a learning process to understand like how to grow it to be that. You know. Um because like again, I'm in the cockpit. So I don't always see like everything that everybody else sees and I have the vision, you know, but it's just like I'm in it.

So I was like, I'm actually flying the ship, going through turbulence and stuff like that. Yeah. You know, so no, it's true. That's true. So, you know, you'd go on to open a physical storefront. Yeah. W was that in partnership with Tukey? Like I was trying to understand kind of how Closette started. Yeah, yeah. Shout out to Tukey Carter for sure. Yeah, um, I would say, and I wouldn't just say like Tukey, I would say um City of Ink. Okay, yeah. Yeah, that's his tattoo shop. Just to represent, yeah, um Tukey Carter, Maya Bailey, uh, Chris Carter, his brother, you know, just to represent like the whole business, you know what I mean? Because it was that business that grabbed the space that I'm in. But City of Ink has been, I think this is gonna be like year 15. Um, which just for any business is just like outstanding. Amazing. Yeah, amazing. Yeah. So um, yeah, I mean, but lots of credit to Tukey as well, because Tukey is someone who's always looked out um and believed in me from you know the jump, you know, since we met. Um, I think through Chili Yo.

Okay. And shout out Chili Yo. Shout out Chili Yo, yeah. He used to live in the building that I live in now. Um so when we were in me and Curtis and everybody we were standing there with Kurt's cousin, like in the studio, like pre like right before he got signed and everything. We were all staying in there. And we could just go, we can go to Tukey's house. I mean, the door will be open. We could go any time of day. And he was to have bongs and just whatever. Just, hey, here, take this, try this. And we might, I remember just might go down to his crib and just wake up there at like 3 a.m. Like, ew. What the fuck happened. That's that's hilarious. Yeah. So, you know, obviously at first you were kind of just selling some stuff out of there. Maybe you weren't like officially moved in. Yeah. Right. But now it's grown to be where, like, I mean, you know, you guys have like regular hours and shit. Yeah. Where you're, you know, staffing it, whether you're manning it or you got people that are, you know, working the store. Yeah.

I mean, what's that evolution been like for you to kind of see this? It's just been a learning experience? See the storefront. Yeah, it's been a learning experience. Um, because like I don't come from that background like a business kind of world. Yeah, that and just like, you know, it's just you just learn as you go. Like, you know, I've never staffed people for a store hours. Like that was just a thing, like, what's the hours? What should they be? You know what I mean? I think I'll pull up at noon today. Yeah, exactly. Like, well, yeah, like down to that basic of a level. Yeah, exactly. You know, that's it. And yeah, there's all like a science people put into that, you know. A lot of people charge for it. Um, like a school, you know, um, which takes time, might take four years, you know, for you to get all the knowledge, you know, and then you still might not apply it right. So it's just like, you know, like they say experience is the best teacher, and I've just been figuring it out as I go. But um, the beauty of it is the fact that like, you know, it works hand in hand with the brand.

And then also I think Atlanta is small, so it is a very like um maybe like tangible place or something like you know, you want to go to strip club and you want to like you want to be in the authenticity that you see on the internet, you know what I mean? So it's like I and I always say that about Atlanta is it is authentic to whatever you see, like if you've seen that's why people like to come here. You probably will see you know your favorite rapper at Copper Cove, you know. If you come, that's what they have on videos. You can go there, probably see them there, you know. what I mean, and you're like, oh wow, you know, or you might go to the club and see someone throw $10,000. You're like, wow, people are really doing that. Yeah, you know what I mean? But it's like that authenticity, you know. So that's the beauty of it.

Um, and just allowing to connect with people and giving something that to Atlanta that wasn't here, even for me, like man, it was hard to get my stuff and Wish when we finally did. You know, it's not like you can go and talk to the owner, right? Yeah, and they can give you pointers, even if they're like you're not ready yet, they're not gonna tell you what it takes for you to be ready, yeah, or information that you can take to another market. There's no manual, no, not in Atlanta. There's no Google search either, not in Atlanta, no Reddit thread, not in Atlanta, no. Yeah, that no, that's that's super interesting. I mean, because I feel like you know, you've talked about, you know, sure there was maybe some other, you know, places. I mean, you were going to, I think, like Soul Monkey or something, or Soul Monkey, yes. There was like some other places that were maybe had a little bit of what you like envisioned in your head, but like there was definitely a void, I think that you saw in the Atlanta market. What were examples of brands in other cities that are kind of, you know, I guess, you know, cultivating what you're trying to do here.

Well, so like I said, uh well, I didn't say it on this, but yeah, like when you talk about like a Stussy and Supreme. Um, so Stussy is so sick to me because it's like Stussy can do things that are hype, like Nike Air Force Ones, and that's cool. And people are gonna lose their mind over them. But then they also are in urban outfitters. They're also in PacSun. And then they put different clothes in different places. They can also do a collab with your favorite artist or you know, car, you know, all these different things. So it's like there's nothing that can kind of like take anything away from them. And then Sean can go and put that font on Dior, and you're like, oh wow, because it's art. So it's like that, you know, and then also Supreme too tells a New York story, and it's synonymous with New York, it's sold all over the world, and they have stores everywhere, which allows them to kind of like do their own thing, like Supreme Paris gives back to kids who skate in Paris and can grow these kids, and then you know, the tree of people who come from Supreme too, Palace, Huff, uh, you know, the list goes on, you know, people who learned what they were doing. Um, fucking awesome, Jason Deal, like all the brands and sub-brands under Supreme, Gosha Rubchinskiy, like it's the list is just long, you know.

Yeah. Um, but those are big influences of mine. Um, and then I think too, I always say like a bathing ape neighborhood, um, which neighborhood is another Japanese streetwear brand. They really focused on like Western stuff, uh, like Western, like as in California culture, and they kind of like flip it into there. So there's a lot of bandanas, motorcycle stuff like that. And then vape is this whole idea of just elevating streetwear to like another realm of value, you know? Yeah. Based on how you like move it and the collectibility. But the all of those together kind of like, you know, paint a picture and they kind of show you like they're like a blueprint. Yeah. Yeah. For me, what I think is so cool is that like the storefront specifically, I want to talk about a little more, is that like it is so much more than just a place to sell a product. Yeah.

Like, what is the store mean to you? I mean, because there's such cool things. I mean, you know, you and I were chatting about what was happening at the store, you know, when we rode over from so how do you see the store? Like, what role do you think it plays in the neighborhood in the culture here? You know what I mean? Like, like what are your kind of highest visions for it? It's an incubator, you know what I mean? Um, which is like that's what I'm saying. That's awesome. Like to have that, or like to build that after you have something else. Like if you have syrup, then you like build the waffle house. Yeah. Put Waffle House everywhere. You know what I mean? But without the store, you know, that's just that whole idea. And that's what I'm saying. Like these brands, a lot of them know that. That's why they like, because to have that control is awesome. You know what I mean? Of your own, where you don't have to rely on someone else to pick your stuff up. Um, and then you can give back, you know, because I think too, it's like it's like so many things are based on capital right now. It's not like there's no um there's no give back off of that.

Yeah, you know, it's like everything is like fast, fast, fast, fast fashion, and then like the high-end brands, they have like the capital to like market in that same against them, you know. Yeah, um, it's like Dior, or Fashion Nova, but then in the middle you have like the meat, the substance, you know, and what's really important. And it's it's really dope because, like, I, I was running around the day and somebody's like, yo, you got this kid working in your store. I I really like him, like his brand, I like I like everything about him. And I'm like, Dope, it's working, like, but not it's not overnight, you know, but it's working. Like, he's gonna be another brand that people are associated with and they think it's really cool, and then it has a home, you know. So that that's another thing that was big for me, is like so it's not called the Fani store. There's more than one reason, it's not just all like charitable and like, oh, let me give back.

Some of it was just like, like again, I was talking about catching up to my brand. While I'm still playing catch up, I wouldn't start something and then expect it to be at the same level. So I felt like Closette, new name, fresh start, new energy. It's not people call it the Fani store, Fani store, all of this thing, and I'm like, this Closette. So I'm spending less time there, you know, trying to back away to give the store its own energy, you know. You don't call Neiman Marcus before you go to Neiman Marcus. You just go. Yeah, I I just think like for me, seeing anything that's happening that's like cool in fucking music or streetwear in the city, there's a high likelihood, man, that it's happening at Closette. Yeah, true. And that's so fucking cool, man. I just want to like give you some some flowers, man, because like I appreciate that. You are building something that like is this community. Yeah. And it's so important.

It's like anytime I see like that something's going on, whether it's like a little, you know, listening event like type of pop-up for an artist, right? Like a musical artist, or whether it's you know, up and coming brands that are either from the city or that you you know respect that are from out of town or whatever, it's happening at your store a lot of time, man. And I think that that's like that's super dope. Yeah. And I think that like you said, you're kind of really just you know, starting to still get in the swing of like this, you know, because it's a whole different ball game, man. I mean, you know, you were chopping, you know, Fondanas out of your fucking bag for a while. No, definitely. So, like, this is a lot. I mean, you got rent due, you got utilities. People think I still do too. That's the funny thing about it. So I'll be somewhere. and say, You got something on you? I'm like, it's at the store though, bro. I'm so glad I didn't ask him for the stuff. I'm gonna although although he did bless us with a couple of uh, you know, nice original fani stuff. So we appreciate that. No, of course. Yeah, anything that's next up that you're like excited or can talk about, is there anything you want to make sure you get to drop us a one more time exclusive? Well, yeah, if if you got it.

Um, I mean for one, I I tell people recently I say I'm not as cool as I used to be, and which is just that's just me saying, like, in so many ways, it's like I'm just a lot more open to like things that I wouldn't have been open to in the past. So give us an example. Just like collaborations and like I'm just I'm more open because I spent a lot of time trying to put like an energy into my brand to where it would be looked at a certain type of way and it wouldn't be looked at it in another way. You know, it's like the do's and the don'ts, you know, are like really important to me. Yeah, so kind of like think about that. Yeah, so kind of like not taking that like elitist hipster approach that you like maybe had described yourself as of like, oh, like someone else is doing that. Exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Like how I was before in the past. Yeah. I'm not so much like that. Yeah. So a little bit more. Once again, you're gonna want to be excited about it, clearly.

Yeah, at the same time, maybe some things that like people, you know, thought you would have said no to in the past, you might have like kind of, you know, yeah, or I'm just saying. I also used to really be big on like where is it taking me, you know, and where is it taking the brand because a lot of things, everything I do for a long time was just about ensuring the growth. Um whether it was like notoriety or capital or a mixture of both. Um, but now it's just like I mean, if it's cool, we could probably do it, you know, if it makes sense. Yeah. Um, so like again, I'm more open to collaborating with brands to where it's like I'm helping them, you know. Yeah. Um, versus like in the past, it was like, yo, bro, I'm not wherever people think I am, it's like I'm not necessarily there. And I have a, you know, it's like how going back to Kanye West, he's like, I got big dreams, dog. So it's like I or like I'm not just a rapper, you know.

So it's like when people looked at him in one box, he just was like, you know, I have a lot of other ideas, you know. So with this one, we probably could do more now because I have a lot of different ideas. I'm now trying to like focus my time on, you know. The clothes is like it's nothing, you know. Yeah, I mean, you were kind of you know alluding to this off camera of just like different ways to execute your creative vision, I think. Exactly. Yeah. Outside of just maybe the core competency was of course the clothes for a long time. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Or like I would be before, and I probably still am kind of like I don't want to do bandanas with everybody, but in the last couple days, I was thinking, like, damn, I didn't drop a lot of bandanas this year, and uh as opposed to like the last year, I'm just like every two months, it's like a new style. But I did that on purpose because I was trying to like show people like, hey, I can make other stuff, and it's like the pattern, it's not about like a bandana, yeah. That was the cheapest item you could get it on.

But it's like, yeah, I put that on a bag, I could put it on luggage, I could put it on the house, the logo, it can move in so many different ways. So it's like that's the challenge as well. It's like why am I gonna do the same thing when I want to kind of like challenge, which is like the consumer doesn't always care about that, but I do. You have to, yeah. So bro, I mean that's sustainability for your personal self. Because if you're not excited about waking up every day and you know, getting to whatever you got going on, yeah, if it's getting stale for you, even if the public eye might think that it's still cool to them, and like there's still tons of people who don't, you know, know the name yet, and like maybe they could, you know, kind of I guess catch on to it, right? If it's not getting you jazzed about it, like it can't fucking work. I mean, it really can't. Yeah. So I'm excited to see what you got going on next because it sounds like you the creative juices are still flowing in like so many different ways. So I'm really excited to see what that kind of you know what the result is of that yeah i mean that and then i i didn't say but i need to just move around i know that too that's so key travel yeah i mean that's key key to like fashion and then especially like my brand because it's like me you know um which again i don't want i don't necessarily run from it like i said uh i know that it's just about the balance you know because people do want to meet me that's why i'm here yeah we appreciate you coming on man and uh can't wait to see what you got going next indeed no definitely hey and did you guys ever think about using daft punk for of course it's our unofficial theme song okay all right yeah of course but we do have an official theme song indeed and it will be playing right after this henry until next week what are we doing we're getting out of here getting the fuck out of here one more time theme song cue it, peace. One more time, one more time, one more time, one more time.