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The intersection of hip hop and basketball a pivotal part of the sports past forty years. You fast forward to the present and a growing number of NBA players are adding wine to the mix. Romaine and I sat down with NBA also Donovan Mitchell and Wakala and Ekundaio, the vice president and general manager of the Prisoner Wine Company, and we discussed how the industry is branching out to include more diverse voices.
And we've always been known to have really disruptive design forward labels and to be frankly, just a very provocative brand. In recent years, we've made a transition to just being
provocative but with a purpose. And one of the core ways in which we live out that value is through our commitment to social justice and specifically prison reform, in which our main focus is around changing the narrative around mass incarceration and shedding a more humane late light to those that have been impacted by the justice system.
So, how much of the money Bucky that you make goes to that initiative, Like what percentage of the sales goes towards set?
Yeah, we make donations about five percent of revenue that from sales that are made online directly off our website goes to a variety of different organizations that are committed to the cause of social justice as it relates to prison reform. We also make a number of donations to a variety of organizations throughout the year.
For me, seeing Bucky, really getting to meet Bucking, seeing how she's in the position of power and leadership, and I think that's really been my main focus, whether it's in the wine industry and the NBA in my life, like you know, just finding ways to have people of color, black people in positions of power in that room, you know what I mean.
I think that's something that's always been important to me.
I've always wanted to introduce myself to the wine space kind of I feel like my teammates have, you know, kind of told me about wine for years, and now that I'm kind of in that space, I was like, man, if I really partner with the wine company, I want to be able to go somewhere where I see people who you know, look like me.
The NBI Star Wine Apprenticeship that you participated in, it's a one day crash course in branding, blending, and pir pairing wine with food. Clearly NBA stars like yourself know a thing or two about branding and can bring your expertise to that experience. How did the apprenticeship widen your understanding your appreciation of branding.
Yeah, I think.
First and foremost, I didn't understand how much work really went into you know, branding the wine, making the wine. You know, I'm thinking, man, this is a six month thing. You know, you're two years out, you know, And I made my own little blend you know that won't be for sale unfortunately, but I make sure I get you guys a bottle, and it was really good.
You know.
I think there were certain things I learned about, you know, whether it's red, it's white, the grapes, different things, the process being able to you know, take your time with what you're making and really put the time into it.
So I really taught me a lot about it. And then also Mike you.
Said, bringing you know, the branding myself, using my own brand to kind of bring light to the wine industry, bringing.
My you know, fellow co workers in the NBA.
Bringing them along, using our platforms to kind of really you know, expand viewership and people who really get to know more about the wine industry.
And Buck y'all put the same question to you, how do these NBA stars is experience with branding inform how prisoner positions is products?
Yeah, I mean the NBA as an organization led by Frankly, just the thought leadership of many stars in the organization, like don have really pushed forward to the need for representation, the need for equity, and just being a values based organization. And I think they're a really great, Frankly aspirational organization of what it means to be both corporate minded but also social minded.
And we talk about the NBA, I mean, I mean, how cool is this? Is this stuff in the locker room.
And we had to interview sometime in twenty twenty four with Carmelo Anthony who kind of talked about when he first came into the league and he was a big wine drinker, and he said, you know, he was kind of looked down upon by a lot of his teammates and then eventually they all kind of, you know, you know, found religion and realized that you know, there was you know, more to life than you know, you know, hard alcohol or whatever they were drinking at the time. I mean,
is it popular in the line. I mean, can you walk into the locker room with a bottle and people are actually gonna be like, Hey, what's that? You know, where's that? Where'd you get that? Where the grapes come from?
You?
How is this made?
Are they that interested in it?
One percent?
I think for myself, we had a team dinner with prisoner I want to say around September and it was just prisoner wine, you know, red whites and are guys are interested. Guys are really especially in the NBA, My teammates especially guys are really interested intrigued on you know, the wine space.
You know, I don't think we have a team dinner without you know, bottles of wine.
And that's coaches, that's players, that staff, that's that's whoever. I think it's really had, you know, a hold has a hold on you know, you know, the NBA. And I think that's something that you know, when I first got into the league, it wasn't necessarily always the case, and I think now you're starting to see that really, you know, really grow and develop the NBA players develop a relationship with wine. Why companies all right?
Donovan Mitchell from the Cleveland Cavlo Lawyers and Bikalaendeo over at the Prisoner Wine Company, A great interview