September 8, 2020 • 36 mins
Baron Davis is an entrepreneur, investor, and two time NBA all-star.
Over his thirteen-year career on the court, Baron was known as a powerful point guard with an electrifying style, garnering national acclaim for executing in critical, high-pressure moments.
As a businessman, Baron was one of the original investors in Vitaminwater and helped launch Thrive Market.
Baron is now the founder of several companies, including Sports and Lifestyle in Culture (SLIC), The Black Santa Company, BIG, and No Label—each with the objective of combining creative talent with original publication and production to develop and provide educational and heartwarming stories that appeal to global audiences of all ages.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Art of the Hustle is a production of I Heart Radio.
You're listening to the Art of the Hustle, the show
that breaks down how some of the world's most fascinating
people have hustled and learned their way into achieving great things.
(00:21):
I'm your host Jeff Rosenthal, co founder a Summit, and
on today's episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing my
friend Baron Davis. Baron is a two time NBA All
Star over his thirteen season career, a lifetime entrepreneurial, creative,
and angel investor, and the founder of Black Santa and
his venture studio Big. He was one of the early
investors in both Vitamin Water and Thrive Market and seems
(00:44):
to have his hand in every manner of entrepreneurial endeavor
that one can. I was particularly interested to learn how
Baron dealt with pressure throughout his career, and I really
wanted to know what makes a great captain on the
court and off. Since he was twenty three years old,
he's essentially represented himself, firing his aid, negotiating his own contracts,
and building these businesses from the ground up with a
(01:04):
tribe of mentors. He's really used his position to gather
a group of creatives and entrepreneurs and thoughtful people, and
that power him to be in all these different disciplines
at once. So with that said, please enjoy my interview
with Baron Davis. Baron, Welcome to the podcast What's Up Ject?
(01:24):
What's Happening? My God? We are, you know, not too
far away from one another, both on the West side
of l A. Fact, you know, we've been buddies for
a little bit, but anytime I get to do these podcasts,
I get to learn a lot more about you know,
my buddies, and and it's just incredible. You know, you
grew up here, I went to school here, played here
for some time. Did you always maintain a home in
(01:47):
l A even when you were playing on teams around
the country. Yeah, it I actually lived in Vegas. That's
where I trained, So I would always like have an
apartment here right after the season, then I would go
home to Vegas and train are from July to September.
Why why would you train in Vegas? When I was young,
I have money, and I realized that it's probably not
(02:09):
a good thing for me to live, you know, in
the city that I was poor in. And and plus
Vegas gave me a place away. There was a lot
of NBA guys. We had decided to kind of use
Vegas as our training ground before the priest, you know,
before season started, and so you know, it was a
good way to get away. Still have a little bit
of entertainment, but for me, it was like it was
(02:31):
quiet and I could just focus and start locking in
for the season. You know, you're an entrepreneur, You're an investor,
you're a multiple company founder, You're you know, very very
sought after venture investor and angel investor. You're an early
investor in vitamin water and and then a thrive market.
But you know, I want to take it back to
you know, where you came from, Los Angeles, California, South
(02:54):
central Los Angeles. Uh. For me, it was you know,
growing up on the east side of Los Angeles, been
raised by my grandparents, go to church on Sundays, play
basketball after school every day until the sunlight, I mean
to the street lights come on. Uh. Kind of like
with Warren gy rapped about. Uh So, just kind of
lived that life and saw a lot as a young kid,
(03:16):
A lot of poverty, a lot of homelessness, a lot
of drugs, a lot of gangs, murders, you know, just
kind of saw the worst of the worst. And I
always say, for me and my sister, we kind of
like use that as for us a form of comedy,
you know what I mean, as dark as that is,
but just a way to number ourselves and keep ourselves
focused on, you know, our dreams and who we wanted
(03:37):
to be from there, got a scholarship to Crossroads and
kind of realize that opportunity, you know, more than most
from our neighborhood to you know, see what the other
side of the town looked like and be able to
explore that, you know, with some freedom without having a
look over my shoulder. But the only thing in front
of me was really the access that you know, everyone
(04:00):
else was, you know, sort of kind of born into
and previous already you know, already have So for me,
I always felt like I was catching up. I always
felt like I was surviving, you know, being nimble enough
to kind of shape change and shift. You know. I
think that kind of like bread you know, me to
be a person who looked at these opportunities and said, hey,
(04:21):
for every route I take, you know too, from South
Central a crossroads, I want to be able to build
a bridge so kids can have the same opportunities and
so l A can be a more unified city. And
so that's that's kind of like me in a nutshell
and my journey you know up until U C. L
A and then the n B A. But you know,
that's kind of like I would say, my theme are
(04:42):
are the mantra that I always carried was, you know,
be a bridge builder when you were growing up and
when you did get ideed at Crossroads, clearly you were
already an exceptional ballplayer by that point. And for those
who don't know, Crossroads, it's like the most exalted like
private school or one of them in Los Angeles in California,
and I'm sure it must have been an incredible, you
(05:03):
know experience, and like it's a totally different culture for
you when you when you when you shifted over and
when you started going to school there. Yeah, yeah, it
was you know, for me, it was like I was
good at basketball. I wasn't there for basketball. It was
five three and ninth grade, so nobody ever thought that
I was going to be the next anything outside of
a good student and somebody who could get an opportunity
(05:26):
to get a scholarship from you know, a place like
South Central. Being at a school a crossroads, So you
were a good student. I was a crafty student. Okay,
I was a good student. I was not a good student.
That's why I asked for me. Being at Crossroads was
like I was trying to absorb all the kind of
like it was almost like Disneyland, right, And so there
(05:48):
was so many different personalities of people that you know,
sometimes I cult class to like hang out and have
these conversations. Right, So even in high school's almost like,
you know, school was important, but it was always kind
of like networking and understanding people. That's so funny you
you put it that way. Um, you know when we
(06:09):
threw when I threw my first summit event was at
the White House. We had like, you know, finagled our
way into getting this meeting together. They were like, we
need to get together with the top young entrepreneurs. Were like, sure,
we didn't know any of them, and we just cold
called and hammered or whatever. But we were at that briefing,
and the briefing couldn't have been more boring. I remember
walking out in the hallway and seeing people talking and
(06:31):
hanging and like getting excited and like you know, comparing
notes and like the information that was being shared there
in the hallway and the learnings that were happening there
between you know friends, Um was really the thing that
was gonna, like, you know, set us ablaze. And it's
funny that you as even as early as high school
kind of seemed like you had that innately, you had
that that realization and that that style. Well, you know,
(06:53):
I think it just just don't believe, man, Just come
front of people around you, you know, the people that
raised you. You know, people that you see, the people
you try to emulate. And for me, you know, I
think it's important to be like a sponge, right and
like to adapt you know, people that you admire, their personalities,
their style and kind of just be a listener and
(07:15):
a learner, you know what I mean. And growing up
it was survival. It was taking advantage of opportunities, but
also putting yourself in a place to take an advantage
of our opportunity. Well and as an NBA player, you
had that reputation, you know you and I've heard you
give that advice before just to study and to study
your opponents and study you know, your industry, and you
(07:37):
got to know the playbook and the coach and I
love that you you know, you bring it there and
uh and and I want to know so you know,
you're such an entrepreneur. When did you start becoming an entrepreneur?
When did you At what point your career did you
start focusing on that. I would say my entrepreneurialism started
when I was in like high school and college. So
I had a clothing line. I was rocking a clothing
(08:00):
line and I went in partnership with the guy who
was like selling stuff at the local gyms. That was
like the first time I recognized my value and the
power of like, you know, just kind of being an
influencer as one of the top players in l A.
Like I'm rocking this new line. It's not Nike, it's
not Adidas, it's something else, and everybody else is buying
(08:22):
this stuff. So I went to the founder and I
was like, hey man, we need to partner up. If
I'm rocking all this, I need some free gear. And
when I introduced myself, he was like, hey man, I'm
best friends with your cousin. And I was like, he
was like, I'll teach you what you need to know,
and so like that's when I formed my first partnership
and the brand was called spot Up. It's I can't
(08:43):
believe that you did that in high school. I didn't
know that. Yeah it was it was funny. And then
I took that to college. You know, uh, we'll give
my teammates gear things like that. You know, I always
felt like there were ways around rules. Tell me more, though,
what do you mean you you would hook your teammates
up with gear at U C l A. Yeah, you know.
Being here from l A, I knew everywhere to go to,
(09:05):
like drift shop. I knew, like, you know, who was
building like cool new brands, right, and so I would
go to them and be like, yo, man, let me
get some gear and then I would get the sizes
for my teammates. So it was a new like leather
jacket company. We was. I was there at the show
room floor like common. I love that. What do you
(09:28):
think when you reflect on like those early years, you know,
those early years um, high school, college, like the things
that you took to the NBA and the things that
you took to your early career, what do you think
set you apart? You know, it sounds like you would
hit the books and and study your opponents in a
way that you know other people might not invest in.
But what do you think it was that, Like, you know,
(09:49):
I don't really like the excuse that like, oh so
and so is a phenomen you know what I mean.
It's like, well, clearly you had some characteristics that you know,
really set you apart from the pack. And I think,
you know, it's it's really watching the beauty and the
people that came before you that's set such a high standard, right,
And you know, it's something about the pressure of reaching
(10:14):
your capacity right that makes you know, makes certain people
stand out and not for me. I think basketball was
always like a part of my soul and so it,
you know, a part of my gift was also a
part of my curse, because you can love something so
much that you know it ultimately hurts you. That's probably
(10:38):
why I got injured a lot, is because no matter what,
you just couldn't keep me off the court. So even
an injury, even with a little knick knack, you know,
that could be you know, monumental later. You know, I'd
rather play because that was my freedom, you know, for
me as an artist. And I think for crosshow kind
(11:00):
of allowing me to you know, just kind of explore
art in a way that gave me freedom, you know,
freedom of expression, freedom, freedom of speech, you know, and
and and just kind of learning through that basketball became
my art. And so at some point, you know, I
believe early in my career was like, Okay, what kind
(11:22):
of player do I want to be? And do I
want to be a player that you know, I'm gonna
allow the critics to judge me or my player that
when I walk in the room, you know, my peers
are like, yo, he was cold. That's the route I
chose because I knew, you know, being in a small
market team, you know, there's only so high you can
(11:43):
go and so much access to free agent talent. So
for me, it was like man earned that respect of
the Kobe's, earned that respect of the Michael George you
know what I mean, earned that respect of the Lebrons,
the d Wads, you know, the top eyes you know
in the league. And then when you walk in the
(12:03):
room and there in the room there's a respect. It's
interesting to hear you say that prioritizing the view of
the shoulders that you were standing on top of in
a sense, right, like as a player in the league,
like those that really like blaze the path versus like
the critic. It's not about necessarily what's happening like in
the stands, that's happening on the court. And you know,
(12:25):
like you seemed pretty impervious to pressure, man like, whereas
pressure seemed to you know, especially at that level, um,
you know, it certainly has a crushing effect for you.
It seemed like pressure made diamonds. Yeah, I would say,
you know you kind of like as a child you
practice stuff by four three to one moment, and as
(12:49):
an adult you get to live it. There's so many
layers like I'm I was watching the Last Dance and uh,
Michael Jordan's when he missed that shot and it rimmed
and then out and it was almost like he was
playing with the bat because he couldn't he could, you know,
That's all he could think about. And when they asked
him about pressure, he was like, you guys felt more
(13:10):
pressure than I did. You know what I mean, If
that's pressure to you, then that you know, like that's
a joke. And so to see somebody like Michael Jordan's
operate on the highest level for me, it was just pressure.
Was something like Heiro or the goat, you know what
I mean. And so one it's like you have to
(13:31):
have a certain belief that you're lucky. You have to
already imagine it, believe it, have done it, have done
it in your mind thousands and thousands of times. And
so the feeling of having the ball in your hand
with the game on the line, there's no better feeling.
And would you visualize did you practice visualization? Would you
(13:54):
actually like, you know, sit in your hotel room. Absolutely,
Usually like right before I would go to now, you know,
take my nap, and then when I wake up, you know,
I kind of wake up being the bed and just
go through the checklist, right just kind of like visually
driving myself to the arena, see the guys, you know,
(14:16):
feel how I felt before I got up from my nap,
to know, Okay, now I see myself, now, I see
the go Okay, I should be feeling like this when
the lights come home. We'll be back with more out
of the hustle after the break. And were you through
(14:40):
this whole time that you were playing, were you an entrepreneur?
Were you investing in companies and starting ventures or Did
you really get into that later in your career. No,
So I started when I was twenty one. I started
on investing inviting water. Yeah, you know, I went out,
became my own agent, invested in vitamin water, did my
own marketing deal, did my and deal with Reblock, started
(15:02):
a tech company called I Beat You dot com, I
want to say, in two thousand and six, two thousand
and five. Yeah, as, and then I made a movie.
You know, I had made a documentary on Kryptian bloods.
When I was with the Warriors, I had started a
tech company that was a match dot com for mentors
(15:22):
called team Play. You know, just kind of like was
always serial and looking at deals, liking at companies, and
for some strange reason, you know, people always had a
deal that they wanted to show me. And so for me,
I kind of like listen, listen, watch, you know, passed
on everything pretty much and decided like, hey, let me
(15:45):
start to you know, see what I can build as
an entrepreneur with my friends, and so we kind of
started our little Collapse studio when we would come up
with ideas and things like that and partner with you know,
investors and celebrities. And for me, as you know, at
that time, it was you know, I was basketball first,
(16:07):
but on this uh, in the off season, it was
learning to become the business guy, the idea guy, the
marketing guy, the content guy, and so that kind of
uh exercise, right, and creating these little startups, going through
the ups and downs as an entrepreneur, you know, some successes,
(16:28):
some fails, you know, allowed me to just really get
a good palette of what business was gonna look like
when I retire. I'm curious some of the lessons, like,
you know, from your career, you know, some of the
things I think about, you know, just in terms of
the crossover, it's just you know, teams, man, Like, how
do you you know the team cohesion ends up leading
(16:49):
to victory? Right, So when you think about, you know,
the best teams that you played on and and the
best teams that you played against, what do you think
the characteristics are the most important? Communication when you're on
the team. Uh, they always say you work in the
chain and you're only as strong as your weakest link.
(17:09):
And so communication and basketball is super important, especially like
knowing the play is, knowing where you're supposed to be,
innovating on the fly, and also understanding your teammates. Look
at that throughout sports, and then you start looking at
that in business if you running a company, communication is key,
(17:32):
right because information is sort of like misinformation is your
worst enemy, and information and things that you don't get
a slip down the cracks is you know, a point
scored against. People have asked you, you you know, like who
are the farcest players you played against? Or like who
you know surprised you? And I've heard the stories about
(17:53):
John Stockton or you know some of these other guys
that really, you know impressed you. But I want to know, like,
who are the best captains? Who are the players that
you think steward of that communication that led to victory?
For me, it's always you know, great point guards like
Jason Kidd, Magic, Tim Duncan, who wasn't a point guard
but a captain, someone like that who a lot of
(18:15):
people consider quiet, but it was probably the guy that
was talking all the time. And if you talk to
any NBA big guy or guard, they could probably imitate
all the things that Tim Duncan would say. Kevin Garnett
just had a great like captain spirit and captain leadership.
(18:36):
Obviously Lebron James is someone like that. I think Kauai
Leonard is someone that may not get enough credit for
what he actually brings to the game. And similar to
a Kobe and a Jordan's where you know, ultimately, if
(18:56):
he's on the court, he's going to be the player
giving them most and the best effort. Sometimes being a
captain is really in the actions right and not are
Sometimes it's in being the best politician right to get
things done, or you know, being the most vocal and
(19:16):
you know the person that is running the operations. And
do you apply those lessons like when you think about
because I mean clearly you know, like you're you're you know,
this is why I asked the question, and you have
a real read when it comes to the sport, And
do you is it something you look for in founders
or in c e O s when you're thinking about
companies you're gonna invest in absolutely one. I would say
(19:38):
the founder and the team, the mission, the vision, and
you know, if they have the confidence and the tools
to get it done. And then we look at it
and say, how can we coach from the sideline or
how can we maybe jump in or find the free
agents necessarily needed to help this team win. So you know,
(19:59):
we're look king at who's the captain, who's the leader,
what's their vision? Right, We're looking at what is the
team consist uf, how strong is the team and how
well do they know not only this playbook, but know
what their what their business inside that game is. And
talk to me about what you're doing now, you know,
(20:20):
like how are you how are you dividing your professional
time at the moment. So for me right now, focusing
on you know, building our what we call like a
management factory or an incubator studio that usually people like
to call it, and it's called big business inside the game.
I always say I got my NBA from the NBA. Uh.
(20:42):
And so using the business inside the game of basketball
and the NBA, I learned a lot in marketing. There's
dev tech, you know, and where all these jobs and
opportunities existed. And so with that, you know, we wanted
to build out you know, four pillars that really you know,
(21:05):
gave us an opportunity to look at the business inside
the game of sports and culture and say, hey, let's
invest in the right companies, right, Let's find and manage
the right entrepreneurs to help them find a path of success.
Let's incubate the right companies with the right entrepreneurs and
the right teams. And then also let's create workshops that
(21:28):
allow us to teach and educate and build you know,
the next generation of talent to know that these businesses exist.
And so that's what we're doing with business aside the game.
And you know, so a management factory that you know
produces you know, our own incubative companies and invest in
companies that we like and to feel like the next
(21:51):
evolution of culture. And then they're just really looking at
minorities and African Americans as you know, entrepreneurs and you know,
vendors and and seeking those opportunities to enable them to
get those deals or that business development to help the
invescialate totally. And like, you know, I'm an investor in
a company builder and there's all these you know, white
(22:14):
male for the most part investors cruising around l A
or SF or whatever. And not to disrespect all of
the great female investors and you know people of color
who invest, but I want you to tell me, just honestly,
like what are we sleeping on for the most part,
Like what is the piece of this that we just
don't see that. You guys, you know, have a hold
on for us just really responsibility, accountability and where um
(22:38):
intent meets purpose. For so long, let's say, from an
economic standpoint and an investing standpoint, brands or corporations or
investors have always figured out a way to say a
lot and do less, like like every Black Lives Matter
post without any Black leadership council or fore members, are
(23:00):
you know, etcetera at the company got it? Yeah, And
it's like when you look from a social standpoint, you know,
I would say black people have been the most marginalized
here outside of Native Americans and you know currently uh
the Latinos for the longest and to not really have
the opportunity to have an economic infrastructure right and always
(23:24):
be the builder or the giver or the hard worker,
to have an opportunity to say, all right, you've done
a good job right when you know, I would say
the generation before us had to you know, work at
jobs ten twenty years, thirty years right to even get
(23:44):
an appreciation party right building you know, some of the
bigger tech firms that we have medical systems, things like that,
And I think now is an opportunity for a lot
of these companies that have benefited from minority businesses, right,
small businesses, they've created a value system that you know,
(24:08):
makes the American dream unattainable. And so we have lost
focus of what that dream is, and we have lost
focus on what our contributions are to building a better place,
a more unified place. And so a lot of these
companies they'll stand up and raise the flag and say, hey,
(24:30):
we're gonna you know, even to the point where hey,
we're gonna donate you know, two million dollars to BLM.
And you know, it's like to where for what and
how and what is the goal? You know, you see
a lot of these kind of fragment announcements, right, and
they're really just announcements because you never really see, you know,
(24:54):
the opportunity for success growing out of anything that they
put forth in their state things. I think we're in
this moment now where we really need, you know, market
based solutions for the problems of our time. To your point,
you know, it's it's absolutely needed for us to you know,
give money to worthy causes and missions and movements that
(25:15):
shift sentiment, but in order for you know, the means
of production and economics to be in the hands of
more people. It has to be a market based solution,
has to be you know, companies where the equity, the
actual ownership is going to benefit more than just the
typical investor class. And it sounds like that's a big
focus is diversifying those ownership groups, those leadership teams. Is
(25:38):
that what you're thinking? Absolutely? Man, It's it's really I
would say the world means color right now, right, and
that's where the opportunity comes from. You know, l A
has been so segregated and divided by you know, the
haves and have nots, right, even being gentrified, right, it's
(25:58):
still segregated it from an economic resource perspective. Right when
you look at seventy of homeless are African American. You know,
you look at Watch, you look at self Essential, you
look at Compton, one uber, one ring that has a
(26:19):
corporate park and operation out of Compton wins big for
the community. That's what we want to focus on, is
like how do we build micro winds, right, and then
how do we invest in opportunities that could build you know,
macro success and legacy success. Well, and you know what
I think about your own enterprise is one that always
(26:41):
makes me so happy, is that you are the Black Santa. Correct,
Yes I am not him, but I created him. This
was when I was when I got hurt for the
next and I wanted to basically make movies and create
content that I felt minorities needed and black people need.
Did black people need to see themselves as heroes? We
(27:03):
needed to see ourselves and laugh. We needed to make
fun of culture except culture and things like that. And
so with that, I wanted to create a hero and
a character that one appealed to all people. And so
through Black Santa's eyes is really an inclusive eye because
all kids are great to him, right, And it's not
(27:27):
about the naughty or niceless. It's really about, you know,
the opportunity to give the opportunity to bless someone, right,
But for African American kids and Black kids to see
someone that's jolly, you know, unalarming, all the great qualities
that you would look at to a Santa clause. And
(27:51):
for me, it was like I started from the bottom
by saying, like, as a kid, you know, we don't
even have any cartoons or heroes that we can be
waiting up at night looking at the window, and so
you know, just start really looking at the DNA of
what holidays meant and how and I define a character
(28:12):
that really like start to shape and change people's views
and imaginations about what the future of the world look like. Man,
it's so early the party and you're building content now
that's more diverse content, correct. Yeah, So with Slick, our
thought was to kind of build out our own studio
where we was source ideas from our culture. You know,
(28:35):
Hollywood Netflix, who lose the Amazons for every woot tang,
there's nothing else to back that up, and so there's
another surplus of like our culture and our stories being
executed on the main stage. And so what we're doing
with Slick is really just creating these projects and collaborations
(28:59):
with talented you know, filmmakers, creatives, creative agencies and building
content that you know, people can actually digest watch and
you know it's not as long as a movie, but
it's just as exciting and gives you the same kind
of emotional film. Art of the Hustle will be right
(29:20):
back after the short break, and I do want to
transition a little bit, you know, on the moment that
we're in and how important that is to like, you know,
have these archetypes and these icons and these heroes, and
these representations of people that look like you, you know,
(29:41):
in the media that you consume, so you can see
yourself in the in those shoes. Um, how how is
this moment affecting you? You know, I'm I mean more
in the movement for Black Lives. It's really gaining global
awareness right now, more so than you know, the pandemic.
I'd love your insight on that and just how it's
affecting you and your feelings at the moment. Yeah, I
(30:03):
feel like there there there is an opportunity in the
moment for change. I think I would always say to myself,
in the midst of chaos and still and kind of
let things evolve around you, and I think that there's
a great opportunity for change. When you look at the
BLM movement, it was other races right standing front line,
(30:27):
right saying enough is enough. This is not about what
it used to be. Everybody is a human being and
not everybody's treated equally. It was a culture of this
next generation of people that said, you know what, enough
is enough, and it's different races standing with us, you know,
(30:49):
different tribes of people, different collages of people, you know,
standing and protesting peacefully and standing up and using their
voice for the right things. I started to see change
and the opportunity for change to really be the next
generation or the legacy right that's actually responsible for that
(31:12):
and taking it a step deeper than taking down the
name of ancient Mima or Uncle Ben and saying no, no, no, no, no,
no no. We all want to see more. And so
once we have that kind of fair measure, then we
can actually start to feel comfortable sharing and having opportunities
to share our culture and our culture from what we
(31:34):
can learn with the rest of the world. And you know,
for so long when you look at culture and you
look at pop culture, where you look at hip hop,
where you look at sports, you look at art, you
look at music, you look at fashion, right, you look
at all these faces that we're touching, that's culture, right,
And you know, culture around the world is starting to
unite around more kind of like my division, right and
(31:58):
share an interest, right because through our eyes, you know,
we don't we don't we see the beauty and people
and not the history of how they were oppressed, right,
or the content of how they were oppressed. But it's
different for us, right, because when people see us, they
they're already privy to the same knowledge and the information
(32:21):
that we are right, and we don't get a chance
to have. Our heroes are outlets, you know what I mean.
Our companies are vision met because there's really not a
landscape or a really fair play ground when it comes
to that. You know, that's my take. There's not a
lot of opportunity. If you look at the number of
black venture people, you look at the number of black
(32:45):
people on boards of Courtsune five undry companies, right, you
start looking at, you know, just the economic value of
the spin and the economic value of the retention. Right. Uh,
it's really just a math thing. You have friends everywhere
from every standing. You know, you can speak to presidents
(33:07):
and you can speak to people in South central you know,
what what are the commonplaces? How do we how do
we all talk to each other more versus see and
pass each other? You know, I think before we start talking,
start listening, and before you start reacting, start thinking about
including yourself, you know, and the shoes of the people
(33:28):
that are communicating. Are you're communicating when a lot of
times a lot of things getting lost in translation because
of the way we go into these conversations when you
think about the culture, right and you're talking about how
it affects business and music and art and like, you know,
I think about the culture being exported all around the world, Um,
(33:50):
you know often via NBA games, right, like and of
course all the other cultural products that come out of
the African American community. But you're probably right in the
modern era, like what you know has moved more globally,
like what culture has had a greater sort of transference
and people feel so much personal ownership over all of it.
So I'm just curious your thoughts on like, you know,
(34:12):
the NBA today and playing in the bubble and you
know what players can do now to be a part
of the movement. Yeah, it's you know, I think players
are doing their part right. They've been marching, they've been
standing up. Um, you know, the bubble is going to
be interesting. One thing we want to do is like
pray for their safety and hope that we can have
(34:32):
you know, playoff and in the finals and you know,
guys get through it healthy, which is the most important thing.
And then one you know, those guys understanding their messaging
and how they can continue this message that's the most
important thing is now that they're going to have platform
(34:54):
and have their platform that now the message can continue
to go right because the lot of times there's momentum
and things died down, you know what I mean. And
so that's kind of how life is right and how
life has always gone. And I think by them getting
back and champion you know, what they're doing, just just
(35:17):
makes things all the more better. Well, I mean, I
really appreciate you taking a time, Baron. You're an incredible
dude and a great entrepreneur and a great investor and
an inspiring ball player. And like you know, we've had
the pleasure of you know, getting to know you from AFAR,
you know, as fans for a really long time, and
I'm really appreciative of our friendship and that you came
(35:38):
on the podcast. Man, Thank you for being I love bro.
Thank you so much. For more podcast from my Heart Radio,
(36:01):
visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
Art of the Hustle is a production of I Heart Radio.
You're listening to the Art of the Hustle, the show
that breaks down how some of the world's most fascinating
people have hustled and learned their way into achieving great things.
(00:21):
I'm your host Jeff Rosenthal, co founder a Summit, and
on today's episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing my
friend Baron Davis. Baron is a two time NBA All
Star over his thirteen season career, a lifetime entrepreneurial, creative,
and angel investor, and the founder of Black Santa and
his venture studio Big. He was one of the early
investors in both Vitamin Water and Thrive Market and seems
(00:44):
to have his hand in every manner of entrepreneurial endeavor
that one can. I was particularly interested to learn how
Baron dealt with pressure throughout his career, and I really
wanted to know what makes a great captain on the
court and off. Since he was twenty three years old,
he's essentially represented himself, firing his aid, negotiating his own contracts,
and building these businesses from the ground up with a
(01:04):
tribe of mentors. He's really used his position to gather
a group of creatives and entrepreneurs and thoughtful people, and
that power him to be in all these different disciplines
at once. So with that said, please enjoy my interview
with Baron Davis. Baron, Welcome to the podcast What's Up Ject?
(01:24):
What's Happening? My God? We are, you know, not too
far away from one another, both on the West side
of l A. Fact, you know, we've been buddies for
a little bit, but anytime I get to do these podcasts,
I get to learn a lot more about you know,
my buddies, and and it's just incredible. You know, you
grew up here, I went to school here, played here
for some time. Did you always maintain a home in
(01:47):
l A even when you were playing on teams around
the country. Yeah, it I actually lived in Vegas. That's
where I trained, So I would always like have an
apartment here right after the season, then I would go
home to Vegas and train are from July to September.
Why why would you train in Vegas? When I was young,
I have money, and I realized that it's probably not
(02:09):
a good thing for me to live, you know, in
the city that I was poor in. And and plus
Vegas gave me a place away. There was a lot
of NBA guys. We had decided to kind of use
Vegas as our training ground before the priest, you know,
before season started, and so you know, it was a
good way to get away. Still have a little bit
of entertainment, but for me, it was like it was
(02:31):
quiet and I could just focus and start locking in
for the season. You know, you're an entrepreneur, You're an investor,
you're a multiple company founder, You're you know, very very
sought after venture investor and angel investor. You're an early
investor in vitamin water and and then a thrive market.
But you know, I want to take it back to
you know, where you came from, Los Angeles, California, South
(02:54):
central Los Angeles. Uh. For me, it was you know,
growing up on the east side of Los Angeles, been
raised by my grandparents, go to church on Sundays, play
basketball after school every day until the sunlight, I mean
to the street lights come on. Uh. Kind of like
with Warren gy rapped about. Uh So, just kind of
lived that life and saw a lot as a young kid,
(03:16):
A lot of poverty, a lot of homelessness, a lot
of drugs, a lot of gangs, murders, you know, just
kind of saw the worst of the worst. And I
always say, for me and my sister, we kind of
like use that as for us a form of comedy,
you know what I mean, as dark as that is,
but just a way to number ourselves and keep ourselves
focused on, you know, our dreams and who we wanted
(03:37):
to be from there, got a scholarship to Crossroads and
kind of realize that opportunity, you know, more than most
from our neighborhood to you know, see what the other
side of the town looked like and be able to
explore that, you know, with some freedom without having a
look over my shoulder. But the only thing in front
of me was really the access that you know, everyone
(04:00):
else was, you know, sort of kind of born into
and previous already you know, already have So for me,
I always felt like I was catching up. I always
felt like I was surviving, you know, being nimble enough
to kind of shape change and shift. You know. I
think that kind of like bread you know, me to
be a person who looked at these opportunities and said, hey,
(04:21):
for every route I take, you know too, from South
Central a crossroads, I want to be able to build
a bridge so kids can have the same opportunities and
so l A can be a more unified city. And
so that's that's kind of like me in a nutshell
and my journey you know up until U C. L
A and then the n B A. But you know,
that's kind of like I would say, my theme are
(04:42):
are the mantra that I always carried was, you know,
be a bridge builder when you were growing up and
when you did get ideed at Crossroads, clearly you were
already an exceptional ballplayer by that point. And for those
who don't know, Crossroads, it's like the most exalted like
private school or one of them in Los Angeles in California,
and I'm sure it must have been an incredible, you
(05:03):
know experience, and like it's a totally different culture for
you when you when you when you shifted over and
when you started going to school there. Yeah, yeah, it
was you know, for me, it was like I was
good at basketball. I wasn't there for basketball. It was
five three and ninth grade, so nobody ever thought that
I was going to be the next anything outside of
a good student and somebody who could get an opportunity
(05:26):
to get a scholarship from you know, a place like
South Central. Being at a school a crossroads, So you
were a good student. I was a crafty student. Okay,
I was a good student. I was not a good student.
That's why I asked for me. Being at Crossroads was
like I was trying to absorb all the kind of
like it was almost like Disneyland, right, And so there
(05:48):
was so many different personalities of people that you know,
sometimes I cult class to like hang out and have
these conversations. Right, So even in high school's almost like,
you know, school was important, but it was always kind
of like networking and understanding people. That's so funny you
you put it that way. Um, you know when we
(06:09):
threw when I threw my first summit event was at
the White House. We had like, you know, finagled our
way into getting this meeting together. They were like, we
need to get together with the top young entrepreneurs. Were like, sure,
we didn't know any of them, and we just cold
called and hammered or whatever. But we were at that briefing,
and the briefing couldn't have been more boring. I remember
walking out in the hallway and seeing people talking and
(06:31):
hanging and like getting excited and like you know, comparing
notes and like the information that was being shared there
in the hallway and the learnings that were happening there
between you know friends, Um was really the thing that
was gonna, like, you know, set us ablaze. And it's
funny that you as even as early as high school
kind of seemed like you had that innately, you had
that that realization and that that style. Well, you know,
(06:53):
I think it just just don't believe, man, Just come
front of people around you, you know, the people that
raised you. You know, people that you see, the people
you try to emulate. And for me, you know, I
think it's important to be like a sponge, right and
like to adapt you know, people that you admire, their personalities,
their style and kind of just be a listener and
(07:15):
a learner, you know what I mean. And growing up
it was survival. It was taking advantage of opportunities, but
also putting yourself in a place to take an advantage
of our opportunity. Well and as an NBA player, you
had that reputation, you know you and I've heard you
give that advice before just to study and to study
your opponents and study you know, your industry, and you
(07:37):
got to know the playbook and the coach and I
love that you you know, you bring it there and
uh and and I want to know so you know,
you're such an entrepreneur. When did you start becoming an entrepreneur?
When did you At what point your career did you
start focusing on that. I would say my entrepreneurialism started
when I was in like high school and college. So
I had a clothing line. I was rocking a clothing
(08:00):
line and I went in partnership with the guy who
was like selling stuff at the local gyms. That was
like the first time I recognized my value and the
power of like, you know, just kind of being an
influencer as one of the top players in l A.
Like I'm rocking this new line. It's not Nike, it's
not Adidas, it's something else, and everybody else is buying
(08:22):
this stuff. So I went to the founder and I
was like, hey man, we need to partner up. If
I'm rocking all this, I need some free gear. And
when I introduced myself, he was like, hey man, I'm
best friends with your cousin. And I was like, he
was like, I'll teach you what you need to know,
and so like that's when I formed my first partnership
and the brand was called spot Up. It's I can't
(08:43):
believe that you did that in high school. I didn't
know that. Yeah it was it was funny. And then
I took that to college. You know, uh, we'll give
my teammates gear things like that. You know, I always
felt like there were ways around rules. Tell me more, though,
what do you mean you you would hook your teammates
up with gear at U C l A. Yeah, you know.
Being here from l A, I knew everywhere to go to,
(09:05):
like drift shop. I knew, like, you know, who was
building like cool new brands, right, and so I would
go to them and be like, yo, man, let me
get some gear and then I would get the sizes
for my teammates. So it was a new like leather
jacket company. We was. I was there at the show
room floor like common. I love that. What do you
(09:28):
think when you reflect on like those early years, you know,
those early years um, high school, college, like the things
that you took to the NBA and the things that
you took to your early career, what do you think
set you apart? You know, it sounds like you would
hit the books and and study your opponents in a
way that you know other people might not invest in.
But what do you think it was that, Like, you know,
(09:49):
I don't really like the excuse that like, oh so
and so is a phenomen you know what I mean.
It's like, well, clearly you had some characteristics that you know,
really set you apart from the pack. And I think,
you know, it's it's really watching the beauty and the
people that came before you that's set such a high standard, right,
And you know, it's something about the pressure of reaching
(10:14):
your capacity right that makes you know, makes certain people
stand out and not for me. I think basketball was
always like a part of my soul and so it,
you know, a part of my gift was also a
part of my curse, because you can love something so
much that you know it ultimately hurts you. That's probably
(10:38):
why I got injured a lot, is because no matter what,
you just couldn't keep me off the court. So even
an injury, even with a little knick knack, you know,
that could be you know, monumental later. You know, I'd
rather play because that was my freedom, you know, for
me as an artist. And I think for crosshow kind
(11:00):
of allowing me to you know, just kind of explore
art in a way that gave me freedom, you know,
freedom of expression, freedom, freedom of speech, you know, and
and and just kind of learning through that basketball became
my art. And so at some point, you know, I
believe early in my career was like, Okay, what kind
(11:22):
of player do I want to be? And do I
want to be a player that you know, I'm gonna
allow the critics to judge me or my player that
when I walk in the room, you know, my peers
are like, yo, he was cold. That's the route I
chose because I knew, you know, being in a small
market team, you know, there's only so high you can
(11:43):
go and so much access to free agent talent. So
for me, it was like man earned that respect of
the Kobe's, earned that respect of the Michael George you
know what I mean, earned that respect of the Lebrons,
the d Wads, you know, the top eyes you know
in the league. And then when you walk in the
(12:03):
room and there in the room there's a respect. It's
interesting to hear you say that prioritizing the view of
the shoulders that you were standing on top of in
a sense, right, like as a player in the league,
like those that really like blaze the path versus like
the critic. It's not about necessarily what's happening like in
the stands, that's happening on the court. And you know,
(12:25):
like you seemed pretty impervious to pressure, man like, whereas
pressure seemed to you know, especially at that level, um,
you know, it certainly has a crushing effect for you.
It seemed like pressure made diamonds. Yeah, I would say,
you know you kind of like as a child you
practice stuff by four three to one moment, and as
(12:49):
an adult you get to live it. There's so many
layers like I'm I was watching the Last Dance and uh,
Michael Jordan's when he missed that shot and it rimmed
and then out and it was almost like he was
playing with the bat because he couldn't he could, you know,
That's all he could think about. And when they asked
him about pressure, he was like, you guys felt more
(13:10):
pressure than I did. You know what I mean, If
that's pressure to you, then that you know, like that's
a joke. And so to see somebody like Michael Jordan's
operate on the highest level for me, it was just pressure.
Was something like Heiro or the goat, you know what
I mean. And so one it's like you have to
(13:31):
have a certain belief that you're lucky. You have to
already imagine it, believe it, have done it, have done
it in your mind thousands and thousands of times. And
so the feeling of having the ball in your hand
with the game on the line, there's no better feeling.
And would you visualize did you practice visualization? Would you
(13:54):
actually like, you know, sit in your hotel room. Absolutely,
Usually like right before I would go to now, you know,
take my nap, and then when I wake up, you know,
I kind of wake up being the bed and just
go through the checklist, right just kind of like visually
driving myself to the arena, see the guys, you know,
(14:16):
feel how I felt before I got up from my nap,
to know, Okay, now I see myself, now, I see
the go Okay, I should be feeling like this when
the lights come home. We'll be back with more out
of the hustle after the break. And were you through
(14:40):
this whole time that you were playing, were you an entrepreneur?
Were you investing in companies and starting ventures or Did
you really get into that later in your career. No,
So I started when I was twenty one. I started
on investing inviting water. Yeah, you know, I went out,
became my own agent, invested in vitamin water, did my
own marketing deal, did my and deal with Reblock, started
(15:02):
a tech company called I Beat You dot com, I
want to say, in two thousand and six, two thousand
and five. Yeah, as, and then I made a movie.
You know, I had made a documentary on Kryptian bloods.
When I was with the Warriors, I had started a
tech company that was a match dot com for mentors
(15:22):
called team Play. You know, just kind of like was
always serial and looking at deals, liking at companies, and
for some strange reason, you know, people always had a
deal that they wanted to show me. And so for me,
I kind of like listen, listen, watch, you know, passed
on everything pretty much and decided like, hey, let me
(15:45):
start to you know, see what I can build as
an entrepreneur with my friends, and so we kind of
started our little Collapse studio when we would come up
with ideas and things like that and partner with you know,
investors and celebrities. And for me, as you know, at
that time, it was you know, I was basketball first,
(16:07):
but on this uh, in the off season, it was
learning to become the business guy, the idea guy, the
marketing guy, the content guy, and so that kind of
uh exercise, right, and creating these little startups, going through
the ups and downs as an entrepreneur, you know, some successes,
(16:28):
some fails, you know, allowed me to just really get
a good palette of what business was gonna look like
when I retire. I'm curious some of the lessons, like,
you know, from your career, you know, some of the
things I think about, you know, just in terms of
the crossover, it's just you know, teams, man, Like, how
do you you know the team cohesion ends up leading
(16:49):
to victory? Right, So when you think about, you know,
the best teams that you played on and and the
best teams that you played against, what do you think
the characteristics are the most important? Communication when you're on
the team. Uh, they always say you work in the
chain and you're only as strong as your weakest link.
(17:09):
And so communication and basketball is super important, especially like
knowing the play is, knowing where you're supposed to be,
innovating on the fly, and also understanding your teammates. Look
at that throughout sports, and then you start looking at
that in business if you running a company, communication is key,
(17:32):
right because information is sort of like misinformation is your
worst enemy, and information and things that you don't get
a slip down the cracks is you know, a point
scored against. People have asked you, you you know, like who
are the farcest players you played against? Or like who
you know surprised you? And I've heard the stories about
(17:53):
John Stockton or you know some of these other guys
that really, you know impressed you. But I want to know, like,
who are the best captains? Who are the players that
you think steward of that communication that led to victory?
For me, it's always you know, great point guards like
Jason Kidd, Magic, Tim Duncan, who wasn't a point guard
but a captain, someone like that who a lot of
(18:15):
people consider quiet, but it was probably the guy that
was talking all the time. And if you talk to
any NBA big guy or guard, they could probably imitate
all the things that Tim Duncan would say. Kevin Garnett
just had a great like captain spirit and captain leadership.
(18:36):
Obviously Lebron James is someone like that. I think Kauai
Leonard is someone that may not get enough credit for
what he actually brings to the game. And similar to
a Kobe and a Jordan's where you know, ultimately, if
(18:56):
he's on the court, he's going to be the player
giving them most and the best effort. Sometimes being a
captain is really in the actions right and not are
Sometimes it's in being the best politician right to get
things done, or you know, being the most vocal and
(19:16):
you know the person that is running the operations. And
do you apply those lessons like when you think about
because I mean clearly you know, like you're you're you know,
this is why I asked the question, and you have
a real read when it comes to the sport, And
do you is it something you look for in founders
or in c e O s when you're thinking about
companies you're gonna invest in absolutely one. I would say
(19:38):
the founder and the team, the mission, the vision, and
you know, if they have the confidence and the tools
to get it done. And then we look at it
and say, how can we coach from the sideline or
how can we maybe jump in or find the free
agents necessarily needed to help this team win. So you know,
(19:59):
we're look king at who's the captain, who's the leader,
what's their vision? Right, We're looking at what is the
team consist uf, how strong is the team and how
well do they know not only this playbook, but know
what their what their business inside that game is. And
talk to me about what you're doing now, you know,
(20:20):
like how are you how are you dividing your professional
time at the moment. So for me right now, focusing
on you know, building our what we call like a
management factory or an incubator studio that usually people like
to call it, and it's called big business inside the game.
I always say I got my NBA from the NBA. Uh.
(20:42):
And so using the business inside the game of basketball
and the NBA, I learned a lot in marketing. There's
dev tech, you know, and where all these jobs and
opportunities existed. And so with that, you know, we wanted
to build out you know, four pillars that really you know,
(21:05):
gave us an opportunity to look at the business inside
the game of sports and culture and say, hey, let's
invest in the right companies, right, Let's find and manage
the right entrepreneurs to help them find a path of success.
Let's incubate the right companies with the right entrepreneurs and
the right teams. And then also let's create workshops that
(21:28):
allow us to teach and educate and build you know,
the next generation of talent to know that these businesses exist.
And so that's what we're doing with business aside the game.
And you know, so a management factory that you know
produces you know, our own incubative companies and invest in
companies that we like and to feel like the next
(21:51):
evolution of culture. And then they're just really looking at
minorities and African Americans as you know, entrepreneurs and you know,
vendors and and seeking those opportunities to enable them to
get those deals or that business development to help the
invescialate totally. And like, you know, I'm an investor in
a company builder and there's all these you know, white
(22:14):
male for the most part investors cruising around l A
or SF or whatever. And not to disrespect all of
the great female investors and you know people of color
who invest, but I want you to tell me, just honestly,
like what are we sleeping on for the most part,
Like what is the piece of this that we just
don't see that. You guys, you know, have a hold
on for us just really responsibility, accountability and where um
(22:38):
intent meets purpose. For so long, let's say, from an
economic standpoint and an investing standpoint, brands or corporations or
investors have always figured out a way to say a
lot and do less, like like every Black Lives Matter
post without any Black leadership council or fore members, are
(23:00):
you know, etcetera at the company got it? Yeah, And
it's like when you look from a social standpoint, you know,
I would say black people have been the most marginalized
here outside of Native Americans and you know currently uh
the Latinos for the longest and to not really have
the opportunity to have an economic infrastructure right and always
(23:24):
be the builder or the giver or the hard worker,
to have an opportunity to say, all right, you've done
a good job right when you know, I would say
the generation before us had to you know, work at
jobs ten twenty years, thirty years right to even get
(23:44):
an appreciation party right building you know, some of the
bigger tech firms that we have medical systems, things like that,
And I think now is an opportunity for a lot
of these companies that have benefited from minority businesses, right,
small businesses, they've created a value system that you know,
(24:08):
makes the American dream unattainable. And so we have lost
focus of what that dream is, and we have lost
focus on what our contributions are to building a better place,
a more unified place. And so a lot of these
companies they'll stand up and raise the flag and say, hey,
(24:30):
we're gonna you know, even to the point where hey,
we're gonna donate you know, two million dollars to BLM.
And you know, it's like to where for what and
how and what is the goal? You know, you see
a lot of these kind of fragment announcements, right, and
they're really just announcements because you never really see, you know,
(24:54):
the opportunity for success growing out of anything that they
put forth in their state things. I think we're in
this moment now where we really need, you know, market
based solutions for the problems of our time. To your point,
you know, it's it's absolutely needed for us to you know,
give money to worthy causes and missions and movements that
(25:15):
shift sentiment, but in order for you know, the means
of production and economics to be in the hands of
more people. It has to be a market based solution,
has to be you know, companies where the equity, the
actual ownership is going to benefit more than just the
typical investor class. And it sounds like that's a big
focus is diversifying those ownership groups, those leadership teams. Is
(25:38):
that what you're thinking? Absolutely? Man, It's it's really I
would say the world means color right now, right, and
that's where the opportunity comes from. You know, l A
has been so segregated and divided by you know, the
haves and have nots, right, even being gentrified, right, it's
(25:58):
still segregated it from an economic resource perspective. Right when
you look at seventy of homeless are African American. You know,
you look at Watch, you look at self Essential, you
look at Compton, one uber, one ring that has a
(26:19):
corporate park and operation out of Compton wins big for
the community. That's what we want to focus on, is
like how do we build micro winds, right, and then
how do we invest in opportunities that could build you know,
macro success and legacy success. Well, and you know what
I think about your own enterprise is one that always
(26:41):
makes me so happy, is that you are the Black Santa. Correct,
Yes I am not him, but I created him. This
was when I was when I got hurt for the
next and I wanted to basically make movies and create
content that I felt minorities needed and black people need.
Did black people need to see themselves as heroes? We
(27:03):
needed to see ourselves and laugh. We needed to make
fun of culture except culture and things like that. And
so with that, I wanted to create a hero and
a character that one appealed to all people. And so
through Black Santa's eyes is really an inclusive eye because
all kids are great to him, right, And it's not
(27:27):
about the naughty or niceless. It's really about, you know,
the opportunity to give the opportunity to bless someone, right,
But for African American kids and Black kids to see
someone that's jolly, you know, unalarming, all the great qualities
that you would look at to a Santa clause. And
(27:51):
for me, it was like I started from the bottom
by saying, like, as a kid, you know, we don't
even have any cartoons or heroes that we can be
waiting up at night looking at the window, and so
you know, just start really looking at the DNA of
what holidays meant and how and I define a character
(28:12):
that really like start to shape and change people's views
and imaginations about what the future of the world look like. Man,
it's so early the party and you're building content now
that's more diverse content, correct. Yeah, So with Slick, our
thought was to kind of build out our own studio
where we was source ideas from our culture. You know,
(28:35):
Hollywood Netflix, who lose the Amazons for every woot tang,
there's nothing else to back that up, and so there's
another surplus of like our culture and our stories being
executed on the main stage. And so what we're doing
with Slick is really just creating these projects and collaborations
(28:59):
with talented you know, filmmakers, creatives, creative agencies and building
content that you know, people can actually digest watch and
you know it's not as long as a movie, but
it's just as exciting and gives you the same kind
of emotional film. Art of the Hustle will be right
(29:20):
back after the short break, and I do want to
transition a little bit, you know, on the moment that
we're in and how important that is to like, you know,
have these archetypes and these icons and these heroes, and
these representations of people that look like you, you know,
(29:41):
in the media that you consume, so you can see
yourself in the in those shoes. Um, how how is
this moment affecting you? You know, I'm I mean more
in the movement for Black Lives. It's really gaining global
awareness right now, more so than you know, the pandemic.
I'd love your insight on that and just how it's
affecting you and your feelings at the moment. Yeah, I
(30:03):
feel like there there there is an opportunity in the
moment for change. I think I would always say to myself,
in the midst of chaos and still and kind of
let things evolve around you, and I think that there's
a great opportunity for change. When you look at the
BLM movement, it was other races right standing front line,
(30:27):
right saying enough is enough. This is not about what
it used to be. Everybody is a human being and
not everybody's treated equally. It was a culture of this
next generation of people that said, you know what, enough
is enough, and it's different races standing with us, you know,
(30:49):
different tribes of people, different collages of people, you know,
standing and protesting peacefully and standing up and using their
voice for the right things. I started to see change
and the opportunity for change to really be the next
generation or the legacy right that's actually responsible for that
(31:12):
and taking it a step deeper than taking down the
name of ancient Mima or Uncle Ben and saying no, no, no, no, no,
no no. We all want to see more. And so
once we have that kind of fair measure, then we
can actually start to feel comfortable sharing and having opportunities
to share our culture and our culture from what we
(31:34):
can learn with the rest of the world. And you know,
for so long when you look at culture and you
look at pop culture, where you look at hip hop,
where you look at sports, you look at art, you
look at music, you look at fashion, right, you look
at all these faces that we're touching, that's culture, right,
And you know, culture around the world is starting to
unite around more kind of like my division, right and
(31:58):
share an interest, right because through our eyes, you know,
we don't we don't we see the beauty and people
and not the history of how they were oppressed, right,
or the content of how they were oppressed. But it's
different for us, right, because when people see us, they
they're already privy to the same knowledge and the information
(32:21):
that we are right, and we don't get a chance
to have. Our heroes are outlets, you know what I mean.
Our companies are vision met because there's really not a
landscape or a really fair play ground when it comes
to that. You know, that's my take. There's not a
lot of opportunity. If you look at the number of
black venture people, you look at the number of black
(32:45):
people on boards of Courtsune five undry companies, right, you
start looking at, you know, just the economic value of
the spin and the economic value of the retention. Right. Uh,
it's really just a math thing. You have friends everywhere
from every standing. You know, you can speak to presidents
(33:07):
and you can speak to people in South central you know,
what what are the commonplaces? How do we how do
we all talk to each other more versus see and
pass each other? You know, I think before we start talking,
start listening, and before you start reacting, start thinking about
including yourself, you know, and the shoes of the people
(33:28):
that are communicating. Are you're communicating when a lot of
times a lot of things getting lost in translation because
of the way we go into these conversations when you
think about the culture, right and you're talking about how
it affects business and music and art and like, you know,
I think about the culture being exported all around the world, Um,
(33:50):
you know often via NBA games, right, like and of
course all the other cultural products that come out of
the African American community. But you're probably right in the
modern era, like what you know has moved more globally,
like what culture has had a greater sort of transference
and people feel so much personal ownership over all of it.
So I'm just curious your thoughts on like, you know,
(34:12):
the NBA today and playing in the bubble and you
know what players can do now to be a part
of the movement. Yeah, it's you know, I think players
are doing their part right. They've been marching, they've been
standing up. Um, you know, the bubble is going to
be interesting. One thing we want to do is like
pray for their safety and hope that we can have
(34:32):
you know, playoff and in the finals and you know,
guys get through it healthy, which is the most important thing.
And then one you know, those guys understanding their messaging
and how they can continue this message that's the most
important thing is now that they're going to have platform
(34:54):
and have their platform that now the message can continue
to go right because the lot of times there's momentum
and things died down, you know what I mean. And
so that's kind of how life is right and how
life has always gone. And I think by them getting
back and champion you know, what they're doing, just just
(35:17):
makes things all the more better. Well, I mean, I
really appreciate you taking a time, Baron. You're an incredible
dude and a great entrepreneur and a great investor and
an inspiring ball player. And like you know, we've had
the pleasure of you know, getting to know you from AFAR,
you know, as fans for a really long time, and
I'm really appreciative of our friendship and that you came
(35:38):
on the podcast. Man, Thank you for being I love bro.
Thank you so much. For more podcast from my Heart Radio,
(36:01):
visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
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