Running a two-day outdoor music festival with over 50 bands, 30 sponsors and tens of 1000’s of attendees takes a variety of people power. One such festival is ONE Music Fest in Atlanta; its co-founder and chief marketing officer, Jason “J.” Carter is certainly one of the people behind this power.

For fifteen years, the event has remained certainly one of the few independent black music festivals within the country. Despite the symphony of sounds that ONE Music Fest will certainly bring, the director begins his day with a moment of silence.

“I’ll wake up and I’ll just be still,” Carter tells ESSENCE. “I imagine myself moving throughout the day. And honestly, I look ahead to the success of the day and I like to see everything flowing. I’m a very visual person, so I just conceptualize it, internalize it. The idea of ​​”looking forward to success” and declaring victory is something Carter learned from his mother many years ago. “As mom says, ‘Pick it up.’ Own it. Make it happen.”

The founder’s morning practice also includes words of affirmation, prayer and hydration – two glasses of water, to be precise. The days begin slowly but deliberately – all in preparation for a large event that may take a complete 12 months to finish. “Feeling rushed, anxious and stressed. I try to not let any of this seep into my person, into my space,” he says.

After a moment of silence, Carter talks to his wife, does a number of push-ups, takes a shower and begins. Before heading to Atlanta’s Central Park, the principal makes a number of calls to his team. Doors open at noon, but he arrives closer to 9 a.m. to be sure the day goes as planned. Needless to say, this is just not a straightforward task. The director is a master of relationship management, connecting sponsors, brand partnerships, talent and other stakeholders. Somehow he manages to do all of it with none problems.

“I play a variety of ping-pong across the festival grounds, but I do not feel like working either. I believe the moment I feel like work is a day, I’ll stop doing it. Carter continues, “I really, truly love and appreciate the ONE Music Fest audience and family we’ve built through the years. So let’s hope this issue continues to evolve over the subsequent 15 years.

ESSENCE accompanied J. Carter on the bottom in Atlanta during day two of ONE Music Fest. Here, the entrepreneur and executive gives us a day within the lifetime of what exactly it takes to successfully organize a multi-day festival.

6:00

“The first thing I do on the day of the festival is still.” Carter continues, “I say a fast prayer, drink two glasses of water, and jump within the shower. But I believe peace is significant.

Despite the early hour, J. Carter doesn’t make breakfast. “I usually don’t eat before 12:00. So no, I drink water in the morning. I did 50 push-ups, I take a shower and this is my breakfast. Then I will eat a balanced lunch. This usually gives me energy throughout the afternoon and evening.”

7:30

The founding father of ONE Music Fest says festival mornings aren’t the norm. “I usually check into the hotel on Friday to be close to the event and close to the team if we need to make an impression before we go to ground zero.”

After fielding “a few” calls from his festival team, he makes sure his guest list and family have the precise references. He made the primary two phone calls with the event and festival coordinators.

“I take into consideration every part from what we want to do in production to creating sure my aging parents can get out and in of the festival freely. This applies to private matters in addition to team organizational matters.

9:00

“We usually arrive at the festival on the first day of the festival between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., depending on how much work needs to be done. This year was completely different for some reason. We were ahead of the curve when it came to procedures, production and staging. We almost got caught in the system this year, considering how hectic the entire year leading up to the festival was. When we got there, everything was in place.”

12:00

“You will catch me walking alone throughout the festival. Just feel it or just stand in the corner; I just watch people,” Carter tells ESSENCE.

Thanks to meticulous pre-planning, the festival helps avoid last-minute emergencies. “If you run a festival with over 50 different performers and talent, you employ over 4,000 people on the festival grounds. Everyone has their own life. Everyone has their own problems. Everyone has their own dramas and personalities. So the thought that nothing will ever happen is rare, especially for artists who have a team around them.”

“There are artists who can tour 100 to 200 days a year. It’s exhausting. So some artists might wake up to bad weather, miss their flight, or someone in the band might have some issues that then translate into what they have to do.” Carter continues, “But one thing I can’t do is stress about something I can’t control. Being in this space, you have to be very solution-oriented.”

14:00

As co-founder of ONE Music Fest, Carter definitely must “work the room.” It involves artists, politicians, family and the press. The festival is already 15 years old and boasts over 30 local sponsors – essentially the most in history.

The CMO explains: “I also visualize early within the morning who I want to the touch and see? Who must see me? Who should I confer with? Who do I even have to be sure they’re taken care of?

18:00

Managing a multi-day music festival means you could have to be flexible. Rolling with the punches is the secret. It’s value noting that each BossMan Dlow and Cardi B fell unwell ahead of the 2024 festival and canceled their performances. Carter’s job is to regroup and switch things around.

“It’s difficult. Nobody sees it this way, right? They want to blame the festival.” He continued: “BossMan Dlow announced earlier this week that he’s sick and is canceling every part. He continues to be a human being who needs to watch his well-being and health, mental and physical health. If he needed to take a mental break, let the person take a mental break.

The co-founder also reflects on how things have modified for the reason that news of Cardi B’s hospitalization and subsequent cancellation of her ONE Music Fest appearance. “Cardi had a baby and if she has postpartum problems, it happens. It’s not the festival’s fault, it’s not Card’s fault. It happens.” He continues: “At a variety of festivals you possibly can just say, ‘I assume we just do not have a headliner.’ But we said, “No, we won’t do that.” That’s why we deal with our relationships. ONE Music Fest has partnered with the management teams of Latto and DJ Drama – they created a set with several different artists, including singer-songwriter Jeremiah and Atlanta’s 2 Chainz. The set was definitely a hit.

9:00 p.m

This 12 months’s ONE Music Fest headliners included Latto, Jill Scott, GloRilla, Gunna and a couple of Chainz, but in J. Carter’s case, just one band took the cake. “Earth, wind and fire. Without a doubt,” says the founder emphatically. “I had to go to that stage to enjoy this show and I’m so glad I did.”

This 12 months, the Carter Festival hosted over a dozen relations. Watching the legendary band perform together as an entire was deeply remembered by all of them.

“What would I like to get out of this? [ONE Music Fest] the most? He looks at the connection between the people in this audience – the smiles, the excitement, the energy (sorry for the language), but “Oh, y–t!” moments,” Carter says.

22:30

“We’re removing people,” Carter says. “Typically, all departments – from security to website operations to media and promotional partners from Live Nation – come together for a toast and a sort of mini celebration. It’s right after the festival.” This 12 months, Hennessy and Don Julio provided libations for this commemorative moment. It’s a vacation!

12:00

“When I go back to the hotel, I do nothing. I do absolutely nothing. Thank you for a safe event, without any problems – no one was injured. Everything really went according to plan.” He continues: “And then I literally should fight myself to take a shower, I’m so drained. I just wish to be quiet and lie down. But I’m normally dusty as hell.

After a “good 30 minutes” of bathing, it was time for bed. Carter’s head hits the pillow around 1:30 a.m., but unlike most nights, he allows himself a number of extra moments (read: hours) of leisure. “I usually stay in bed for a good 10-11 hours,” he finally says.

A well-deserved rest.

What does it really mean when something or someone is called “evil”? This is what is disputed in Tyler Perry’s latest series on Netflix.

In , Perry takes viewers on a glossy, seedy journey into the fictional world of high-stakes beauty industry corruption. The series is about an elite cosmetics company that is each morally bankrupt and wealthy, and is rumored to sell products that really cause cancer in black women. It attempts to make clear the dangers of unchecked power and wealth through exaggerated characters and shocking stories, but its message is hidden beneath its own excesses.

From the start, it plays out as an over-the-top drama featuring a solid whose predominant flaws are extreme flaws. While Mallory (played by Krystle Stewart) and Kimmie (played by Taylor Polidore Williams), two women caught in the vortex of the dangerous allure of a beauty empire, offering occasional glimpses of empathy and resilience, moments like these are few and far between. Instead, the show leans heavily on the “bad guy” archetype for many of its characters, whose personalities are so absurdly ruthless that they border on melodrama. Perry seems to suggest that wealth and power inevitably result in corruption, but fairly than explore the topic with any real depth, he opts for spectacle.

Kimmie and her friend Rain (played by Amber Reign Smith) are trapped in a life of prostitution under the control of ruthless pimp Jules (played by Charles Malik Whitfield), who can send them back to prison with one phone call. They also dance at a strip club that is part of the same operation. However, Kimmie hopes to flee by applying for a scholarship to beauty school with Mallory, the CEO of Beauty In Black. Rain is skeptical, believing they’re doomed to this life, and warns, “At some point you’re going to have to face the fact that we’re human.”

Drama unfolds when Kimmie is scolded by the club’s managers and insults a VIP client, while Mallory reveals her cruel side after a public event, criticizing her staff and running away from an accident. Meanwhile, Body (played by Tamera “Tee” Kissen), a “downstairs whore”, hosts a back alley BBL for Rain in their motel room, run by Daga (played by Ts Madison).

The series revels in absurd situations and twisted relationships that may seem almost satirical. it has all the hallmarks of a soap opera – a web of secret connections, betrayal and drama at every turn. The show is undoubtedly over the top and it knows it. This over-the-top approach, while sometimes fun, can be exhausting. At 45 minutes per episode, the format sometimes drags as the plot repeats the same conflicts and character weaknesses without much plot progression or character development. This repetition seems like filler fairly than substance, distracting from any attempts to construct suspense and suspense.

What it lacks in subtlety, it makes up for in sheer boldness. The series takes viewers into a world full of gratuitous nudity and limitless profanity, intended to shock fairly than contribute to the story. Sexual content in particular often feels unnecessary since it exists mainly to boost the appeal of the show. As an adult woman, I felt the sex scenes were a bit over the top.

While much of the show could seem hole, the predominant solid brings even the most melodramatic scenarios to life. They fully commit to their roles, delighting in embodying each character’s moral ambiguity and indulgence of wealth. However, the supporting solid – probably as a result of their short screen time – don’t all the time match this energy, and their contributions are sometimes lackluster. As such, the show’s dramatic moments turn out to be predictable, with many of the side characters merely acting as plot devices to drive the predominant characters’ stories.

One of the biggest flaws is the lack of any characters which might be truly replaceable. You cannot even remotely discover with anyone in the solid; either they’ve gone too far morally or they’re too determined to self-destruct. This leaves the viewer without a real anchor, a character to root for amidst the chaos. A villain permeates every plot thread, and every character seems to follow a pattern of making the worst possible decisions. As viewers, we remain detached, watching almost as in the event that they were caricatures fairly than real, complex individuals.

And yet, for all its faults, it has moments of merit. It doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not, accepting its role as “good, memorable entertainment” with joyful humility. This is a series for viewers who like campy dramas in which logic takes a backseat. When viewed with the expectation of pure escapism, it provides a decent dose of indulgent, outrageous fun. The sheer audacity of soap opera plot twists and relationships can have a strange appeal, especially should you enjoy chaos.

After all, this is a series best appreciated as a guilty pleasure, not deep television. It presents a distorted mirror of society’s obsession with wealth and power, but does so in a way that makes viewers wonder about the story itself. There is no nuance here – just a merciless grind of betrayal, money and sex. For anyone on the lookout for thought-upsetting television, this show might not be enough, but as an exercise in mindless indulgence, Perry actually delivered.

Final Verdict: This is soap opera in the biggest, most over-the-top sense – a guilty pleasure at best, a forgettable spectacle at worst. While Perry’s studio has brought significant advantages to the industry and community, the stories told on this platform can sometimes overshadow the issues they’re intended to deal with. Instead of inviting viewers to have interaction deeply, the show can turn out to be immersed in spectacle, raising the query: Is the goal to encourage thought?

In this fashion, Perry’s ambitious content strategy reflects the tension inherent in his work. On the one hand, his work increases the visibility of Black history and cements his position as a powerful force in Hollywood. On the other hand, the sensational elements of his storytelling may threaten to simplify and even trivialize his stories, which leads us to query whether these stories function authentic social criticism or as high drama escapism. For those willing to take the show for what it is, there’s dirty, over-the-top entertainment to be found in Perry’s campy universe.

Young love is a beautiful thing!

Bronny James learns this in his relationship with Parker Whitfield, the daughter of acting couple Dondre Whitfield and Salla Richardson Whitfield. He posted a photo of himself and his beauty at Disneyland Paris in August while they were each within the City of Lights for the Olympics.

“I miss my baby,” he wrote alongside a melting smiley face emoji. “I love you, sm.”

Recently, she shared a photo of the flowers she received from him on her Instagram. Next to the flowers was a card that read, “Your boyfriend loves you very much.”

It was through the Paris Games that James and Whitfield appeared in public together for the primary time. They attended several of his father, LeBron and Team USA’s games, watching an all-star group win gold. They also spent a while together in Paris before he began preparing for his NBA debut and she or he returned to varsity at Spelman. James also frolicked with the Whitfield family as he was near the family, including their son Dré, while his lady celebrated her birthday on the restaurant.

Despite the eye, they remained silent, but along with this sweet message, they shared the words “I love you” on their Instagram stories, including during National Boy’s Day celebrations in early October.

The Los Angeles Laker has been knee-deep in the brand new NBA season, playing alongside his dad and preparing for his reportedly upcoming G League play to develop his talents. He recently told a story of their November/December 2024 cover story that despite all of the speak about how he ended up on the Lakers team, he is not specializing in the negatives.

“Everything I’ve been through over the years has prepared me for this,” he told the publication. “I actually think it just has to do with me experiencing a lot negativity and pushing through all of it. I feel like this has led me to the purpose that in any situation that’s attempting to hold me back or that I’m not fighting within the moment, I can maintain the comfort and confidence in myself to maintain going. I mean, there could also be times after I have a look at something and it pisses me off after which I’m going on the market and play higher, but more often than not it’s one hit, two out.

Despite specializing in the sport, James clearly still thinks about his woman and realizes how vital it’s to inform her about it! How sweet!