Lifestyle
One Music Fest Celebrates 15 Years of Black Cultural Excellence
One Music Fest celebrates 15 years of bringing urban culture and joy to Atlanta. The festival will happen Saturday, October 26-27.
The festival has evolved from humble beginnings within the King’s Plow car parking zone to now hosting over 100,000 participants Piedmont Park in Atlanta. BLACK ENTREPRENEURSHIP I spoke with One Music Fest founder J. Carter about 15 years of excellence in black culture.
Carter’s passion for One Music Fest is palpable. His vision led him to lose money for years, but it surely didn’t discourage him. The visionary founder credits his wife with encouraging him to take a “glass half full” approach and treat the enterprise as a long-term investment.
He recalls: “It was my wife who said, “There are two ways to take a look at it: “lose money or invest money.”
This advice and belief within the appeal of black culture bore fruit – Harlem resident he invested in his dreamAtlanta and Hip-Hop Culture. See what Carter needed to say about his 15-year journey and OMF 2024.
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Congratulations on the fifteenth anniversary of One Music Fest. How does it make you’re feeling?
Excited. It doesn’t feel like 15 years have passed. I’m super, super excited to release the lineup. Last 12 months, One Music Fest brought a record-breaking 100,000+ attendees to Piedmont Park.
Do you’re feeling like you’ve got hit your plateau or do you continue to have an extended solution to go in terms of numbers?
I definitely imagine that we’d like to realize even higher goals. But we do not base achievements solely on attendance. From day one, it’s about how we influence the culture. How can we reframe Black culture to create a protected space where we will rejoice one another, our music, our food, and our differences? Our motto and battle cry was and is unity through music.
Are you fearful that more participants will compromise the authenticity of the space? Or will more participants help OMF evolve?
That is why we will never stagnate. I imagine that we must at all times evolve. The most significant thing is to try to maintain young energy around you. We want the best way Generation Z and Generation Alpha move to influence our growth and evolution. We wish to grow, right? Everyone deserves joy, right? So what does your joy appear like? I feel we’re superb at constructing relationships.
There is a younger generation that’s progressive enough and understands this. My job is to give you the chance to succeed in them. Ten years ago after we celebrated Nas’ twentieth birthday, Kendrick Lamar was a bit more of a celebration animal back then, and yet he still said Nas should headline the night. So I imagine there’s a younger generation that has a certain level of respect and understanding, and nostalgic things are cool for them. Young cats are actually buying vinyl records.
You said your first five years were unsuccessful. How did you manage to get sponsors and investors to support your “failing venture”?
From the surface looking in, we didn’t disappoint. We grew financially because of books.and we saw growth of 80% to 100%. Attendance and sponsorship also increased.
The budgets that we have been given, but… there comes a degree where you’ve to stop and say, you already know what, I do know my value. We stopped undercutting one another and said, “No, brands, this is how you have to present yourselves if you want to talk to the culture.”
What can we expect from OMF’s fifteenth anniversary?
Women are simply carrying the torch in politics, within the Olympics, especially black women, when have a look at what’s on the charts, women, even in hardcore hip-hop. So,after we booked this lineup, there are loads of amazing women in it.
Year 15 is sort of an ode to the incredible women who’ve been doing incredible work and music over time. It’s a variety of talents when you can imagine, from Cardi B to Jill Scott, from Glorilla to Fantasia.
The city of Atlanta profits from this event. If you needed to estimate how much money they get out of your event through tourism and trade, what number would you imagine?
It might be around $50 million. We are bringing in 5,000 people to work on the event. When If we keep in mind retailers, food vendors, and tourism, 50% of our audience isn’t from the greater Atlanta area.
You said OMF would never leave Atlanta. Do you stand by that statement?
1000%.
I do not think One Music Fest could have happened in every other city. This is Atlanta. We stand on the shoulders of the giants, the bridge builders and the masons who did this work. I do not know of many places like Atlanta that offer you the chance to be, to exist, to grow. Where you may dream and safely pursue that dream. Everything you would like is about 2-3 stops away in Atlanta.
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Tickets for One Music Fest are in high demand, with Carter reporting that VIP tickets sell out inside the first two weeks of the event. So when you are someone who likes comfortable seats and white-glove service, buy your tickets as soon as possible.
Tickets are already on sale official website.
Lifestyle
Why Denzel Washington quit drinking at 60
Denzel Washington has been sober for nearly a decade, but he had one particular vice: wine.(*60*)
In a brand new profile, the 69-year-old actor talks about his history with wine, drugs like LSD and growing up in New York within the Seventies. Esquire magazine..(*60*)
“Wine is very difficult,” he warned. “It’s very slow… It’s not like boom.”(*60*)
He explained that, unlike harder substances, he had “the perfect idea for wine tasting and so on – and that’s how it was in the beginning.”(*60*)
“And this is a very subtle thing,” he added.(*60*)
Washington said his habit really took off in 1999, when he built a house with a ten-thousand-bottle wine cellar and “learned to drink the best of it.”(*60*)
He added: “My passion was wine, and now I was pouring $4,000 bottles just because it was left.”(*60*)
The “Gladiator II” star eventually developed an intake management system; he frequently ordered the 2 best bottles of wine available at his favorite liquor store.(*60*)
“And my wife says, ‘Why do you only order two?’ I said, “Because if I order more, I’ll drink more.” So I limited it to 2 bottles and drank each in the course of the day,” he told the publication.(*60*)
Even though she drinks wine day by day, the “Equalizer 3” star said she never drank alcohol while working or preparing for a task, even while filming “Flight,” which tells the story of an alcoholic pilot.(*60*)
“I would clean up and go back to work – I could do both,” he said. “Regardless of the months of shooting, bang, it is time to wrap up. And then boom. Three months of wine and time to get back to work.(*60*)
The actor admitted that when he was younger, it was easier to take care of this pattern.(*60*)
“Two months off and we’re going. But the drinking was a fifteen-year pattern. And truth be told, it didn’t start in 1999. It began earlier,” he explained.(*60*)
Washington, who was born and raised in Mount Vernon, New York, described what it was like growing up there within the late Seventies. Spending time on projects with individuals who exposed him to heroin, cocaine, hard alcohol and more, he admits that he experimented but personally “never got hooked on it.” (*60*)
In fact, much of those formative years experiences were passed on to a few of Washington’s best and most complex figures. Still, he said, “I am unable to consider a single role where I said, ‘Man, that is me.’ Completely me? No, no.(*60*)
Since he quit drinking, he appears like “everything is opening up to him.”(*60*)
“It’s like you’re seventy,” he said. “This is real. And it’s okay. This is the last chapter – if I get one other thirty, what do I would like to do? My mother lived to be ninety-seven.(*60*)
The husband and father of 4 also pays more attention to fitness today, due to Lenny Kravitz, who introduced him to his trainer.(*60*)
“I’m doing everything I can,” he said.(*60*)
As he noted in the course of the “Gladiator II” press session, he’s also enthusiastic about upcoming projects which will become his last – and yes, they include two more “Equalizer” movies.(*60*)
“People love these daggone ‘Equalizers,'” he said. (*60*)
Lifestyle
Steph Curry is using the NBA Tunnel to showcase Black and Brown designers this season
This NBA season, Steph Curry is bringing latest talent to his team with the help of a friend and stylist, Jason Bolden. As a part of the duo’s ongoing collaboration with Rakuten, Bolden styles the Golden State Warriors point guard and two-time league MVP in an array of black and brown designers for his walks through the NBA tunnels during the 2024-25 season.
“My mission at every opportunity I have is to upskill people who deserve it and spread awareness of very talented individuals, especially in the fashion industry where Black and brown communities don’t necessarily have the same resources and opportunities,” Curry explained , per Women’s on a regular basis clothing. “Using our tunnel walks, which have become a really big part of the NBA experience with cameras everywhere behind the scenes, you have that moment when you walk in, and it’s a great opportunity to express yourself through the clothes you wear.”
In recent years, the NBA tunnel has change into something of a runway for menswear designers, as the league’s most trendy players use their entrances and exits to showcase their personal style, drawing attention that sometimes rivals the games themselves.
“In my rookie season in 2009, there was one camera following me from the car to the locker room – our Golden State Warriors PR team,” Curry recalls. “How all of it became almost a runway show, because you get out of the automobile, the bus, and go into the locker room – the funny thing is that we dress, whether you are at home or in a hotel, and you are probably wearing outfit from half-hour to an hour, depending on how long the trip is. Then you go to the locker room, take it off and put it back on after the match, but that moment is special because you wish to look good,” he added.
While Curry typically opts for traditional styles, he admits his fashion sense has evolved “dramatically” over the course of his profession. According to WWD, this season his wardrobe will feature creations by each established and emerging designers, including Áwet and Saif Ud Deen, co-founder of Pharrell Williams Billionaire Boys Club.
“My goal is not to try to stand out too much… I never dress loudly just to dress loudly, and I think I have a very classic, modern, casual style,” Curry explained, later adding: “Any brand we wear , has a unique way of coping with or attacking this problem and it can be nice to see diversity inside the different outfits I wear.”
Fans who like Curry’s look can shop online at stores like Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Mr. Porter while also receiving money back through Rakuten.
“The saying ‘look good, feel good and have fun’ is true,” Curry said. “Have fun with what you wear in the tunnel and during the game – it helps you be present in the moment.”
Lifestyle
An AI discrimination class action lawsuit has finally been settled
Mary Louis’ excitement about moving right into a Massachusetts apartment within the spring of 2021 turned to dismay when Louis, a Black woman, received an email informing her that a “third-party service” had denied her a lease.
This third-party service included an algorithm designed to judge rental applicants, which became the topic of a class-action lawsuit led by Louis that alleged the algorithm discriminated on the premise of race and income.
On Wednesday, a federal judge approved a settlement in that lawsuit, certainly one of the primary of its kind. The company behind the algorithm has agreed to pay greater than $2.2 million and to recall some parts of its monitoring products that the lawsuit said were discriminatory.
The settlement doesn’t include an admission of wrongdoing by SafeRent Solutions, which said in a press release that while it “continues to believe that SRS Scores complies with all applicable laws, litigation is time-consuming and expensive.”
While such lawsuits could also be relatively latest, using algorithms or artificial intelligence programs to screen and rate Americans is just not. For years, artificial intelligence has been secretly helping make essential decisions for US residents.
When an individual applies for a job, applies for a house loan, and even seeks specific medical care, there may be a risk that a man-made intelligence system or algorithm will judge or evaluate them as Louis did. These AI systems, nonetheless, are largely unregulated, although some have been found to cause discrimination.
“Management companies and property owners need to know that they have been warned that systems they believe are reliable and good will face challenges,” said Todd Kaplan, certainly one of Louis’ attorneys.
The lawsuit alleged that SafeRent’s algorithm didn’t bear in mind housing voucher advantages, which it said were a very important detail affecting a tenant’s ability to pay monthly bills, and due to this fact discriminated against low-income applicants who qualified for assistance.
The lawsuit also accused the SafeRent algorithm of over-reliance on credit information. They argued that it doesn’t provide an entire picture of an applicant’s ability to pay rent on time and unfairly awards housing voucher applicants to Black and Latino applicants, partly because they’ve lower average credit scores, which will be attributed to historical inequalities.
Christine Webber, certainly one of the plaintiff’s lawyers, argued that simply because the algorithm or artificial intelligence is just not programmed to discriminate, the info the algorithm uses or weights can have “the same effect as if you told it to intentionally discriminate.”
When Louis’ application was rejected, she tried to appeal the choice by sending two landlords references confirming that she had paid her rent early or on time for 16 years, despite the fact that she didn’t have a robust credit history.
Louis, who had a housing voucher, was floundering, having already notified her previous owner that she was moving out, and was facing custody charges against her granddaughter.
The response from a management company that used SafeRent’s tenant screening service was: “We do not accept appeals and cannot overrule a tenant screening result.”
Louis felt defeated; the algorithm didn’t know her, she said.
“It’s all about numbers. You can’t get individual empathy from them,” Louis said. “You can’t beat the system. The system will always beat us.”
While state lawmakers have proposed aggressive regulation of a majority of these AI systems, these proposals have largely modified them did not obtain sufficient support. This implies that lawsuits like Louis’ are beginning to lay the groundwork for AI liability.
SafeRent’s attorneys argued within the motion to dismiss that the corporate shouldn’t be chargeable for discrimination because SafeRent didn’t make the ultimate decision on whether to simply accept or deny a tenant. This service would screen applicants, evaluate them and supply a report, but leave it to the landlords or management firms to come to a decision whether to simply accept or reject the tenant.
Louis’ lawyers, together with the U.S. Department of Justice, which filed a press release of interest within the case, argued that the SafeRent algorithm could possibly be held liable since it still plays a job in housing access. The judge denied SafeRent’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit on these grounds.
The settlement stipulates that SafeRent cannot include its rating in tenant screening reports in certain cases, including if an applicant is on a housing voucher. It also requires that if SafeRent develops a distinct audit result that it plans to make use of, it have to be validated by a 3rd party, to which the plaintiffs agree.
Louis’ son found her an inexpensive apartment on Facebook Marketplace, which she moved into, even though it was $200 dearer and in a less desirable neighborhood.
“I’m not optimistic that I’ll be able to take a break, but I have to continue playing and that’s it,” Louis said. “I have too many people depending on me.”
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