Drown Out the Noise
NGL writes on the balance between apathy and overload. Plus: big moves from the Kris Jenner of streetwear, Among Us memes, and some mischief
Every week features new newsletters from Nathan Graber-Lipperman examining media, business, and pop culture through a Gen Z lens, as well as telling stories from his personal entrepreneurial journey. To catch up on past newsletters, click here.
It’s been a minute.
I’ve had a lot of these stockpiled since July, but I waited to send them out. I’ve been pretty preoccupied — moving out from an apartment I’d lived in for the last 15 months, driving to New England (and back), and taking on a full-time internship to name a few things — and yet still furiously scribbled notes every day for how I could continue to utilize this medium.
Nevertheless, there’s a lot of new subscribers who have joined over the last couple of months. Though I’ve written about the purpose of this letter in the past, I figured I’d reemphasize it:
to provide timely, relevant, and consistent commentary on the intersection of media, business, and pop culture with a bias towards Gen Z
to share stories from my experience building three different ventures and the various lessons I’ve learned along the way
to inform you about what we’re doing with Unplugg’d, including new stories, products, collabs, and more
There’s a keyword in there: consistent, every creator’s greatest nightmare. Sticking to a schedule and delivering a steady stream of content is difficult. I’ll be the first one to say that I’m susceptible to not getting things done on time for various reasons.
In fact, there’s a larger conversation to be had here around decoupling productivity from self-worth. But that’s a topic for another day — or rather, my newsletter three weeks from now.
However, I’m getting ahead of myself. You can expect a new review from me every Tuesday night around 8 p.m. CT; for patrons on our Patreon, you’ll receive additional analysis from me every Thursday morning at 9 a.m — more on this at the end.
Also, before we get into this week’s topic, you might’ve seen our last email, where I asked if you all had ideas for naming our new brand mascot…
…and you answered! We went with a fan favorite and frontrunner from the get-go, Stormy. You’ll be hearing more from the thundering phenomena a lot in the near future, but for now, catch up with their vision for Unplugg’d and takes on the aliens beneath the Denver airport in this exclusive interview here.
Oh, and one last thing, too. I’ve fallen in love with this “off white” color of late because it matches with almost everything I own and yet is still a unique look that you don’t see too often. Therefore, I took a swing with a limited run of off white dad hats that feature Stormy embroidered on the front:
that me (photo credit: me)
We put them up on the website last week. There’s only four left. Go pick one up before they’re gone!
Alright, let’s dive into this week’s slate of topics.
I had just logged on to my laptop on September 9 to work when a friend texted.
Have you seen the Woodward stuff? I’m livid.
This, of course, was referencing legendary journalist Bob Woodward’s new book, Rage, which consists of 18 taped interviews between him and Donald Trump spanning from December 2019 to July 2020. Topics covered in these sit-downs included…well, anything and everything, really. This is Donald Trump we’re talking about.
Here are some of the key points that set the Twitterverse on fire, though:
former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats “continued to harbor the secret belief…that Putin had something on Trump.”
Dr. Fauci telling an associate that “[Trump’s] attention span is like a minus number” and “his sole purpose is to get re-elected.”
Trump told Woodward “You really drank the Kool-Aid, didn’t you?” when the journalist tried bringing up the anger and pain expressed by Black people after the murder of George Floyd.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Most importantly were what Trump disclosed about the coronavirus pandemic, including that he knew how big of a national security threat it was dating back to January 28 and that he “played it down” in order to keep the public at ease.
Again, this is all on tape. As in, you can listen to Trump saying it.
This newsletter, though, is not for analyzing the Trump administration and the Orange Cheeto himself — that would be a very long, very tired, and very stale piece of writing. This newsletter is also not about the Woodward tapes because, well, let’s be real — people barely seem to care about them anymore.
Instead, I want to focus on the way in which we take in information and how it relates to our day-to-day lives.
One of the things I find most difficult when it comes to media is striking a balance. I’m someone who tends to hear, read, or see something through various mediums, sit on it, and chew for a while before having a coherent set of thoughts on it. I’m not really one to react instantly, to complete the chemical reaction of converting emotion into words in a mere matter of minutes. I opt not to participate in the various comment sections of the interwebs and sling mud at my fellow surfers. I would rather think before saying anything I might not truly understand.
Sometimes, my thoughts make it out into a newsletter, or a private journal entry.
Oftentimes, I’ll share them with a nearby peer.
But most of the time, they remain bottled up, mixed somewhere into a pink, mushy stew called my brain.
This should be a good thing. If we can create a society where people choose to approach things critically rather than quickly, I believe we’d be in a much better place.
Nonetheless, I’ve run into a problem over the last six months or so: what happens when you’re bombarded with so much negative that it leaks into your ability to function on a daily basis?
For example, along with the revelations stemming from Woodward’s book, opening up Twitter, Google News, or wherever I tend to get my information on the day of writing has wrought so much bad. The Department of Justice — funded by taxpayer money —is seemingly operating as Trump’s private counsel in a defamation suit regarding allegations of rape; a new study came out that shows the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota operated as a “superspreading event” last month that infected more than 266,000 people with COVID-19 and registered $12.2 billion in public health costs; and the trailer for Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming visual masterpiece got one-upped by his most recent post-apocalyptic film playing out in real life as wildfires rage across the West Coast.
Look, shocking, negative, addictive news is not a recent phenomenon—it’s merely accelerated since the creation of the 24/7 news cycle in the 1980s plus the shift technology and social media have introduced with the attention economy. Are things actually worse now than they were in the past? Probably not.
After all, imagine the hashtags that would be trending if Twitter existed when we were on the brink of war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. #NuclearHolocaust, anyone?
Nevertheless, with heightened tensions and real-life problems spelled out in front of our eyes amidst the backdrop of the pandemic, I keep asking myself a question: is it our moral responsibility to pay attention to what’s going on at all times right now?
There’s two sides to this coin. One argument is to “drown out the noise” — the world doesn’t stop turning just because a headline upsets you, after all. There’s always more work to be done, and grinding required. In order to get things done, you should focus on what’s important — your job, your family, your livelihood. Those things only function when you do.
I think there’s something distinctly wrong with this argument, though: aren’t we part of the problem if we ignore things like climate change’s effects on the environment, a pandemic’s wide-spread capabilities of crippling society, and our damn taxes being used to defend someone in a court of law who has been accused of rape?
If bad things continue to happen without us lifting a finger — nay, even paying attention in the first place — does that make us complicit in the consequences?
Now, I brought this conversation to the forefront to address this idea of balancing our intake in order to avoid information overload, too many cooks in the kitchen churning away at that brain stew. This is because I’ve noticed it in myself all summer: I sat down to do something, become invested and saddened by something I see, and subsequently fail to get the thing I originally sat down to do done because I’m too busy thinking about the other thing.
We all know that analysis paralysis is not the answer…but what is?
We as human beings often find purpose in our work; therefore, I am by no means advocating that we just drop everything that we’re doing when a new bombshell leaks. And yet, if we choose to put our heads down and “drown out the noise,” isn’t that how change is stalled? Isn’t that how criminals get away with things, and wrongdoing occurs? When we’re apathetic?
I’ve taken steps to strive towards balance. I subscribed to the Chicago Tribune in March and try to read at least one feature story in full from various sources per day, rather than get all of my information through endless scrolling on Twitter. I signed up for Google News alerts, but I also limit my phone time to two hours, forcing me to focus on other things. These have been decently effective, but I still have a long, winding way to go, and I’m open to suggestions — hit me up by replying below!
I guess I’ll conclude by saying that I don’t think it’s immoral to focus on your own life by any means, but I do think it’s our responsibility to a) observe what’s going on and b) truly give it the time of day. Maybe it’s during a shower, maybe it’s at the dinner table, maybe it’s on a call with your grandparents. Maybe you do sacrifice your work for a movement bigger than yourself, which we’ve seen from protesters in Portland to employees at Facebook to NBA players in the bubble.
When we cease to say Breonna Taylor’s name, though? Or ignore what’s happening on the ground in California? That’s when the slow-moving cracks start to intensify, getting bigger and bigger until it causes a full-on earthquake that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar describes best: the “Apatholypse.”
Links (And Other Things)
Jon Wexler Swaps Stripes for Shopify
I couldn’t come up with a good player comp for Jon Wexler, the Adidas executive behind superstars such as Kanye West, Beyonce, Pharelll, and Donald Glover signing with the folks in Herzogenaurach.
Originally, I labelled him the “Steve Jobs of streetwear” because it sounded snazzy and fit well in a subtitle. Also, everyone knows who Steve Jobs is. So there’s that.
The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized Wexler’s closest comp was Kris Jenner. Both are unrivaled puppet masters quietly pulling all the strings in the background, balancing strategic moves while simultaneously making all parties happy. He may not get all the headlines, yet over the last decade, there may not be anyone more instrumental in Adidas’ resurgence than the guy called “Wex.”
I got a chance to hear him speak at a panel with P.J. Tucker when ComplexCon touched down in Chicago last summer. The taped conversation aimed to answer the question of who has more influence when it comes to sneakers nowadays, entertainers or athletes.
Right off the bat, Wex lived up to his billing:
“Nowadays, you can find a reflection of what interests you and how you want to express yourself through entertainers, through artists, all different types of members of the creative community…that cut through the noise of that fractured landscape.”
By the end of the panel, no one had really come to a clear-cut answer in regards to the original question. Nevertheless, given the amount of times P.J. Tucker nodded while his co-panelist spoke, there was a pretty clear conclusion.
You may stop here and think, Okay, cool. So the dude is big in sneakers. Why does that matter?
I would answer by letting you know that sneakers are no longer the niche product they were when Run-DMC first laced up a pair of Superstars; no, they represent a market projected to top $97.8 billion by 2024.
Shopify has thrived as more companies have moved into e-commerce due to COVID-19
When Wex first pitched Kanye on ditching Nike back in 2013, visions abounded of scaling the latter’s Yeezy line while giving the artist full creative control. Kanye was sold; since then, Yeezy is now valued at $3 billion, and Adidas’ stock prices have increased by 281%.
Which is why this move is a big deal. The exec worked with the German sportswear giant for 18 years, collaborating with some of the most recognizable faces on the planet. In turn, Shopify’s betting big that his networking chops and penchant for bringing projects to life will invigorate their platform, which is generally considered the gold standard of e-commerce.
Wex and Shopify General Manager Loren Padelford told Complex last month that they see creators and influencers as a “very special, unique type of entrepreneur,” and that given Shopify’s mission to “empower entrepreneurs,” it was a natural fit. Wex’s role will be focused on pairing with originators and translating their influence, reimagining it into bigger legacies, products, and brands by engaging their unique communities.
It’s a big task with a lot of “white space,” but there might not be anyone more qualified to tackle the job than the Kris Jenner of streetwear, Jon Wexler. He concluded with Complex by saying, “…it's really just harnessing and synthesizing everything that's led up to this point…through the exposure I've had through all those creators…to the various brilliant people I've been exposed to in all facets of my career. Here we are. We're about to turn it on.”
We’re Officially Become An Among Us Meme Account
Okay, not really. But my goal is to create random Photoshop edits every week that — at the very least — I find funny!
And what’s more relevant right now than Among Us and the general election?
Also, I think the greatest flattery is when someone asks you if they can jack your Photoshop and use it as their Twitter header. Shout-out to an OG, Drew Wandzilak.
Out-of-Context Rap Lyric of the Week
I’m introducing a new segment to this newsletter. After the popularity of this thread, I’ve decided to post a new rap lyric every week that’s completely out of context with a surprise.
First, here’s the lyric:
“I’m so cheesy, my swag’s got high cholesterol.”
Next, the prize: first person to respond to this newsletter with the name of the artist, song, and year it was released gets a free Unplugg’d t-shirt featuring Stormy, shipped free! Send me an email with the answers and your address and you’ll be good to go.
Thanks for reading this edition of ‘The G-L Review.’ If you liked it, consider sharing it with a friend or supporting us here. If you want to keep the conversation going, send me a reply at ngl@powderbluemedia.com.
Also, want to read more analysis from this week on MSCHF’s attempt to pay hospital bills by making them into high art and the shrouded hype of Travis Scott — as well as a review of the music podcast Dissect? Check out our Patreon to access the first four weeks free and subscribe to get exclusive content every Thursday morning!