J. Carter, Creator Of ONE MusicFest, Takes His Talents To Texas For TwoGether Land

by Ida Harris

December 20, 2023

OMF Presents TwoGether Land, a music pageant that goals to deal with a niche in cultural illustration

After 14 spectacular years and a well-attended occasion in 2023 that paid tribute to 50 years of hip-hop, ONE Musicfest idea is branching off from its Atlanta roots and sowing the seeds of a by-product in  Texas. Persevering with a fruitful partnership with Stay Nation City, OMF Presents TwoGether Land, a music pageant that “goals to deal with a niche in cultural illustration” within the Dallas area, a press launch learn.

Very like its sister occasion, TwoGether Land will run two consecutive days over the Memorial Day weekend, Saturday, Could 25 and Sunday, Could 26, 2024. The much-anticipated fete kicks off in Truthful Park, a few miles from Downtown Dallas, and can incorporate a plethora of Texas expertise. BLACK ENTERPRISE caught up with ONE Musicfest founder J. Carter, who claimed “Atlanta can’t have all of the enjoyable,” to debate the motion Southwest. 

BE: My first OMF was actually thrilling however what stood out for me was how multigenerational the pageant was and I’m curious concerning the problem which will have been so that you can make that occur.

J Carter: It was, it was positively a problem. Properly, initially, I all the time wanna thanks for supporting the final eight years and being part of that journey with us. 2016 was a pivotal yr for us. That was actually our first sellout. 2016 was actually the turning level. It was a complete studying expertise for our tradition and neighborhood. 

Initially, I had the thought idea in ‘08, and there actually wasn’t something on the market like that with R&B and hip-hop—our music. There simply wasn’t something on the market. The closest factor you had was one thing like Essence, however that was actually extra of an expo—not an outside pageant within the components, bouncing between levels, and having youthful artists and rising artists with a few of your nostalgic acts. After I pitched it to bigger organizations, they actually stated it wouldn’t work as a result of they didn’t suppose Black individuals would courageous the weather. I encourage to vary. I stated, “That’s not true.”

I’m gonna piggyback and agree with you. Your pageant is actually my entry level to something like that, however in addition they stated that about hip-hop, and right here you’re, placing on the 14th OMF— and celebrating the fiftieth yr of hip-hop in the identical yr. I feel 2023 had the most important variety of individuals I’ve seen at OMF and it additionally spoke to my particular technology. I felt such as you put that occasion collectively, like, particularly for us, am I proper?

It was the most important crowd we’ve ever seen however that was the plan. We all the time needed to be in Piedmont Park from day one. It’s just like the Holy Floor in Atlanta. It took us some time to court docket our approach into that park. As soon as we set foot in it, we stated this factor must be massive, it must be Janet Jackson massive, Kendric Lamar massive and it has to talk to each dynamic and nook of our tradition, generationally talking, so I’m glad you have been on the market and capable of expertise that. I feel it was in all probability for the town of Atlanta, one for a tradition. I feel that was in all probability one of the crucial lovely moments I’ve witnessed. 

I felt secure, not simply because I used to be amongst my very own individuals. It was only a secure feeling general. I didn’t really feel any risk and I additionally didn’t really feel policed. I wanna discuss concerning the logistics of one thing of that scale and rising from Sugar Hill to Lakewood to Central Park to Centennial Park then Piedmont. Are you able to discuss that motion a bit bit as a result of that’s what it’s at this level?

Individuals could take a look at it and consider it as a nomad pageant as a result of we bounce round a lot, however I feel we repeatedly stored outgrowing the venues that we have been in. After we began, we have been in a parking zone in King’s Plow. We instantly knew that wasn’t going to work once more. Mockingly, we ended up at Park Tavern and we utilized a small piece of Piedmont Park however the manufacturing was too small for us after which we discovered our strategy to Masquerade in Fourth Ward Park and that labored for a second, then we outgrew that. Then we did a co-program with Stay Nation Direct and Stay Nation owned and operated Liquid Amphitheatre. It labored for a time period, however the imaginative and prescient was that we gotta transcend this. It’s simply an excessive amount of, an excessive amount of music. We received an excessive amount of to rejoice to attempt to squeeze all this into someday.

In 2018, I made a decision to maneuver it out of Lakewood and do it by myself in Central Park as a two-day pageant. I feel that was a yr with H.E.R and Miguel, plus Nas and Two Chainz. That’s once we realized, it’s a real pageant. It’s a two-day occasion, a number of levels, within the coronary heart of the town. Truthfully, we have been a aircraft within the air, ready to land in Piedmont Park, circling the airport, ready to land and simply attempting to make it slot in as many locations as attainable till that chance got here obtainable. It couldn’t occur at a greater time than 50 years in hip-hop.

So, you land in Piedmont Park, you say that was all the time the aim. You’ve clearly met that aim and now I hear you’re retreating.

We’re not retreating, we’re increasing. ONE Musicfest won’t ever depart Atlanta. It’s born and bred right here. So long as we’ve got a house at Piedmont Park, OMF will keep in Atlanta. However what we did do, we did increase to the southwest area with one other model, an extension of OMF, for a model referred to as TwoGether Land that may carry it to Dallas, Texas. For perhaps 5 years, we’ve got been exploring different cities and increase OMF past Atlanta. It wasn’t a well-liked resolution as a result of individuals needed to maintain the title and do two in a number of cities. Historical past has confirmed itself that that doesn’t actually do or fare properly. I feel Dallas is an unimaginable metropolis, and the Southwest has unimaginable tradition. Dallas actually doesn’t have a culturally wealthy festival-style occasion just like an OMF. It simply made sense.

You’re definitely not taking sand to the seaside with Dallas as a result of, as you talked about, one thing like OMF doesn’t exist there. So, are you taking any danger?

I feel there’s all the time a danger with pioneering one thing and doing one thing new. The largest factor is we will’t stand again and permit someone to inform us what we are going to and won’t do, or what we would like and what we don’t need, particularly in the event that they’re not of the tradition and don’t appear to be us. If that was the case, OMF wouldn’t exist.  So, you realize, it’s the identical. I feel it is going to do terribly properly in Dallas.

Are you taking your Atlanta staff to Dallas, or spurring up an entire new staff in Dallas?

It’s sure—and. We will likely be going to Dallas with a few of our Atlanta-based staff, however we’re positively incorporating Dallas-based expertise, creators, and people. My line brother is Oscar Joiner, who was born and raised in Dallas, has been championing to get this on the market as properly. I spent a whole lot of time going back-and-forth to Dallas during the last three years, sitting with Oscar, a few of his staff, different people and simply game-planned this factor. I might say 95 % of the DJs who will likely be on that stage will likely be from the Dallas space. TwoGether Land gained’t really feel like a chunk of Atlantic coming into Dallas. It’s gonna really feel like a Black and Multicultural, Southwest Pageant.

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