If you aren’t feeling hyped for the chaos kicking off down in Austin this week, well… you’ve clearly never been to one of Just Blaze and Paul Smith’s famous takeovers. Simply put, Blaze and Smith are the uncrowned kings of this busy, bustling, wild melee of a month in Texas. And they’re coming back with a vengeance in 2024.
Who else can throw a party where Talib Kweli, Bun B, Redman, Jadakiss, Freeway, Beanie Sigel, and Dave Chappelle all hit the stage at the same time?
The answer is “no one.” Because for legendary hip-hop producer/ Fresh Pair host Just Blaze and real estate mogul / rap-loving event mastermind Paul Smith, a great SXSW party isn’t about how much money you can squeeze out of the moment. It’s about creating long-term connections that endure year after year.
“It’s a family affair,” Smith tells me via Zoom, “it’s all about bringing people together — people who are talented and, ultimately, good people.”
What consistently makes Blaze and Smith’s takeovers work is that they capture the independent, improvisational spirit of what made heading to Austin in March such a vital experience for creative-minded folks in the first place. Their first takeover was held in Smith’s backyard on a make-shift stage built out of two-by-fours. Last year, with Uproxx joining the squad as a media sponsor, they hosted not only an iconic episode of Fresh Pair but one of the most viral and vital nights in all of rap history.
We linked up with Blaze and Smith to talk about what they have planned for this year’s event — held on March 13 and 14th, produced in partnership with Uproxx, with tickets available here — how they continue to surprise audiences, and why they love collaborating together year after year.
Just, we’ve had a long history with you at Uproxx. It’s been a super fruitful collaboration with Fresh Pair and beyond, but I’m interested in your collaboration with Paul. How did you two link up?
Just Blaze: Aside from being an amazing event partner, Paul is a real estate genius and has done very well for himself there. And that’s initially how we met. Our agent linked us because Paul was handling some accommodations for a bunch of artists at South By Southwest. And Paul — correct me if I’m wrong — I think stayed at one of your properties at one point?
Paul Smith: Yeah, so basically in 2012 my wife and I had just moved downtown into a high-rise condo, and this was when Doritos was coming in and doing huge things, like all of a sudden they’ve got Lady Gaga booked to play in a parking lot for 500 people — it was just on its way to getting crazy.
I was helping people find places to stay for South By, and linking artists with people within the industry to homies of mine to be like, “Look, this is a good person. Don’t try to rake them over the coals for money.” And so being the plug as far as that goes is what started that. And so Sonny [Skrillex] had reserved four units at a condo that I was at, and then he pulled out and at that same time they connected me with Just.
Blaze: So Skrillex had booked a bunch of properties with Paul, and at the time we had the same agent. So I needed a place, that was my first South By getting booked for multiple things. Before that, I’d play one thing here, one thing there, but I had just put out the Higher record and it took off.
So I went from getting booked for one show to three shows a night. So I had to stay for an entire South By run. My agent connected me with Paul and what started as just a transaction ended up becoming a genuine friendship and brotherhood. So we stayed in touch over time and whenever I went down to Austin, he and his crew became my crew and my family. One year he had an idea to do a thing in his backyard and it went over very well — we continued to do that and it just grew.
I love how organic that sounds.
Blaze: It’s very much an organic growth story that started literally in a backyard and got so big that it couldn’t be held there anymore. We started going to actual venues and it’s grown every year since. We went from playing in a backyard with a few friends to Dave Chappelle rushing the stage requesting Redman records. You can’t get much better than that, especially organically.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s always strategy involved — you hope that it ends up here — but you could never plan or anticipate certain moments.
I think it was good planning, good vibes, but most importantly just good energy and good people. Just about everybody that you’ve seen that has taken the stage at any of our collaborative events has always been family in one sense or another. And when you keep it all in the family, when you keep that kind of energy going and everybody’s there for a good cause and just to have fun and support each other, that’s when things fall together the way they have been over the past decade-plus.
I think if I could say anything or stress anything, it would be that everybody is there to support each other in one way or another.
Paul, obviously you’re a master organizer and you care very deeply about Austin — the Uproxx team raves about you. I’m just curious, where does that passion come from, this deep love of music you have, and for organizing and getting talented people together to celebrate the city?
Smith: Well, the crazy thing for me when it comes to music is it’s like my passion project. So everything I do typically in the music world will have some level of a charity component, and that’s everything from the first Open House that Just and I did, where literally, we made this stage out of two-by-fours and plywood and it was definitely rickety and just took a piece of vinyl across the front with the lamest graphics.
You know what though? It was dope.
And all the proceeds went to a nonprofit locally. Typically everything that I do within the music world has some sort of a philanthropic charge to it. A lot of times, one thing that music does is bring people together and it doesn’t matter where you are in life, we can all vibe at the same time. Dave [Chappelle] is doing the same shoulder rocking thing as people in the crowd, and at that point, music brings everybody on the same level regardless of who you are.
And I think one of the dope things that South By has done is have all these people that are coming in from different walks of life within the music community, and there are a few people that I’ve seen that bring people together really well.
I think Just is one of those people, I think Jazzy Jeff’s one of those people, I think Dave Chappelle is one of those people, where if you’re in the room vetted by them, then all of a sudden the guard comes down and now you’re just somebody that Just approved of, Jeff or Dave. And at that point there, that’s when a lot of real connection could happen because it’s no longer “What can you do for me? Who’s paying you to be here?” It’s like, “I want to be here. Let’s vibe.”
And that’s a big difference
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In the time you two have worked together, what are your highlights? Just, I know you mentioned Dave rushing the stage last year. That’s a super big moment, but what stands out to you individually?
Blaze: To be honest, it’s very cliche to say, but it’s true — It’s more about the journey than the destination. We’ve had so many highlights. The great thing I think about every year is the anticipation of who’s going to come out because we never really advertise the full lineup. So the look on people’s faces when a surprise artist graces the stage and it’s somebody that they didn’t expect is really cool.
I know the year that we did it with TI was awesome because nobody expected it. Don’t get me wrong, everybody who graces that stage is a legend. I just think we have our set group that people might expect or might not expect. Like Redman, okay, that makes sense. Wu-Tang, all right, that makes sense. Mannie Fresh, all right. That’s dope. It makes sense. A-Trak, Jazzy Jeff, this all makes sense.
But then you just have Tip come out of nowhere and the way we set it up was great because initially, we had his son come out.
Smith: By the way, shout out to Domani — dude, he’s blowing up right now.
Blaze: Yup. We had his son come out and the crowd gave him a great response. He put on a great performance, so they gave him a great response, but nobody in the crowd knew that he was Tip’s son. So when he says something about, “Let me bring out my dad,” and the crowd’s like, “Huh, you’re going to bring out your… dad?”
They’re expecting some old dude or whatever, then here comes Tip. And the crowd’s like, “Oh my God!” That was an awesome moment. And I think it was because of the setup beforehand because we had that extra layer of surprise.
Going back to what Paul was saying, it’s not so much about how much you paid to be here or how much you got to perform. These are guys that can easily command hundreds of thousands of dollars to even walk into a building. While we do well individually and as a collective, we don’t have that kind of money to put on a nearly free show. You know what I mean? Everybody that’s come out, we always take care of them because they’re extended family, but nobody’s come out for the big paycheck — which is just a testament to the kind of vibe and energy that we’ve built around this party to the point where we can say, “Oh, you know what it is, you’ve seen it, this person has done it, that person has done it.” And they’re like, “All right, cool, count me in.”
Good vibe and good energy are so key and so important as well as just relationships and the fact that, as Paul said, we always try to tie it into a charity. Nobody’s kicking off here.
The artists will walk away with a few dollars in their pocket and have had a good time and contributed to a good cause but nobody’s getting rich here. We’re just here to culturally leave our mark on Austin every year because, like Paul said, South By Southwest was this organic thing. And then next thing you know, we had people performing inside of 500-foot Dorito bags and events where you had to have an American Express card to get in or you had to be a member of this or a member of that. And it was taken away a bit from a lot of that organic experience, which is why we’ve always positioned the event the way we did — come one come all and just have a good time because we felt like some of that was missing on a larger scale.
Most of the big events were super hard to get into. You had to be a badge holder, you had to have this requirement or that requirement, and we were just like, “Yo, just come hang out man.” And that’s what it’s all been about.
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Nice. The same question, Paul, a moment that stands out to you as one of your favorites?
Smith: Man, there’s a bunch, right?
So South By is about creating moments. There are the moments that are happening where you’re hosting an event and you’re creating moments for those that are on the other side of the stage. And then there are also moments in which you’re creating for those on stage. And so then it’s like as we go through life, for me part of success is being able to put my friends on. And so it’s to say, “Oh man, two of my friends are doing something dope in the studio. Hey Just, what are your thoughts on this?” And maybe they do a collab or Questlove starts Questlove Supreme.
We’re out for breakfast one day and then all of a sudden Just is on there as a guest. Or sponsorships from last year — specifically with Hardin and then Trill Burgers — Bun doing a Trill Burgers out at Hardin during F1. Just the different kinds of spider webs of connections that happen. And not to say that they happen because of what we’re doing, but I think it certainly helps to bring people together and then nurture the relationships from that point forward. And again, I think it’s one of those things where if you’re not in it saying, “What can you do for me,” but “How can we build together?” then it doesn’t work.
What would you say it takes to galvanize your community? This is a group of people who are coming with high expectations and you guys mentioned the element of surprise a lot, so I just want to get taken into the headspace of what you guys are thinking as event planners and how you’re going to make it stand out year after year after year.
Blaze: That’s part of the challenge. At least on my end, there’s no grand formula. I think the part that makes it tough is March is a busy time of the year for everyone. You have festivals starting to pop back up around the country. You have the larger South By things that people do get paid a good amount of money for. So it’s always that balance of who will make an impact and who’s available. And that’s the challenging part, balancing cultural impact.
And it’s South By week, so things are constantly moving and evolving. The great thing about South By though is that a lot of times, even speaking from personal experience, I don’t like doing a ton of things anymore, but I’ll go down there booked to do one or two things and next thing you know people find out you’re in town and “Why don’t you come play my show,” or “I’ll come play your show if you come play my show.”
I remember one year, I got into town on Monday and I had something at Empire Garage. Somebody tapped me on the shoulder like “Yo, Rae and Ghost are behind you.” I’m like, “What? Are they performing?” They’re like, “No, they just came to see your show.” So next thing you know, I start playing some of their records. They jump out on stage. Next thing we know I go with them to one of their shows. They brought me out as a guest DJ, and I guest DJ the second half of the set.
So it’s very organic like that, which contributes sometimes to the surprise factor because you never know who else might be in town that might just be down to jump up on stage. So we almost have to bank on the fact that something magic will happen at the last minute that we didn’t plan. It’s been like that almost every year. So that’s something we have to factor in addition to what we do plan for. But yeah, there’s no one formula to keep it fresh. It’s just really us brainstorming and figuring out what makes sense every year.
I wanted to ask Paul specifically, as someone who spends so much time in Austin and is very connected to the city, can you speak to the importance of South By Southwest as a cultural event?
Smith: I think South By is something that put Austin on the map for creatives. South By was birthed by creatives, right? Same thing with C3, with ACL, you had all these creatives that were in Austin because at the time the rental rate was only 18% of the median income versus now it’s like 50%.
And so you have a large creative class, your Stevie Ray Vaughans, Janis Joplins, that can create that Sixth Street vibe that was the live music capital of the world. And that’s exactly how South By was birthed. It was a small festival, basically a group of shows that was on Sixth Street, and then you could come in and you’d see these different bands and over time they turned into what they are now, taking the convention center, putting panels together, bringing like-minded people together. And then you bring in music, you bring in tech and whatnot, and it becomes bigger. And so I think South By and its effect on Austin is hugely cultural, and obviously, they had their moment of starting in a backyard on some two-by-fours and some plywood too.
You guys have become known for the special guests and Just mentioned how sometimes this is about who’s available at that time which is always shifting. When it comes to those special guests, how up to the last minute is that? Is this something that you guys have any ability to project or is it always this final text like, “Guess who’s coming through!”?
Smith: I think it’s one of those things where you got to build out your mainstay. For example, Just and I went to the Grammys last year basically to go hang out with Pee .Wee [DJ Pee .Wee is Anderson .Paak’s DJ moniker] and just talked to him a little bit. And I know Just was doing some other stuff out there, but that was somebody that we had been talking to for a while and then all of a sudden we’d find ourselves doing karaoke at 04:30 in the morning and it’s like, “Okay, this is going to be a thing now” or with Tip, that was something where it was like, “Hey, he’s available.” A lot of times I feel like it starts out where people hit Just to be like, “Hey, let’s work together.” And it’s like, well, how do we use The Takeover as a way to maybe bring that collab together as some sort of a jumping point so people can see us on stage together or stuff like that?
And then there’s other stuff where it’s like, this person just flew in or they’re willing to fly in early, if we take care of their hotel and do something for them financially, which might not be what it normally would be, but they’ll come on for a couple of tracks. Again, I think the idea is you don’t know who’s going to come out and if all of a sudden you got hypothetically, Mannie Fresh and Juvenile and Juvenile comes out and drops “Back That Azz Up,” people are going to go nuts… Not saying that’s going to happen!
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On that note, what can you guys tell us about this year’s Takeover? I know that there’s going to be some stuff that you’re not going to be able to share. From the sounds of it, there might be some stuff you guys aren’t even fully sure is going to happen yet, so what can people expect?
Blaze: Good music.
Smith: It’ll be dope.
Blaze: Good energy. That’s the answer. Good music, good vibes, good energy. Be there. That’s it.
Smith: I’m excited. We’re getting ready to drop to the save the date. It’s one of those things where it’s like South By comes together in the last three weeks. It’s like the amount of people that are calling me saying, “Hey, we’ve got sponsorship dollars, or we’re going to be in town, or there’s going to be that.” It’s nuts.
Blaze: The key is you build out your core night, you build out your core experience, and then you just let the South By magic happen. Like Paul said, getting that phone call that somebody just landed or getting that call that somebody just finished a show and has some free time to kill and wants to come to check out your party. I would say it’s like 60/40. 60% planned and then you just let the chaos take over.
Smith: And I think the crazy thing is that run of the show — without the special guest — would probably still be the dopest thing happening that night.
Blaze: Exactly.
I just have one more question for you, and you guys touched on this a little bit briefly when we first started talking, but I think that the things that make these types of collaborations work, the things that make them resonate with people is passion and this is a point of passion for you.
So how do you define the Takeover in your own terms?
Smith: I would say it’s about collaboration. I think it’s one of those things where it’s similar to when Jazzy Jeff did PLAYLIST Retreat. He brings people together and they end up doing dope creations. They’re creating music, but typically at that point, it’s like everybody that’s in the room has either known each other or they’re one degree of separation from knowing each other.
So to me, it’s nice because you’ve got the core group of folks that we’re always hanging out with, but then there’s going to be somebody like a Zeelie or somebody or Buck Rogers pre-pandemic, he performed at one of our shows, and then he gets invited to PLAYLIST Retreat. And so stuff like that. It’s a family affair, and it’s just bringing people together and people who are talented and ultimately good people.
We know some talented people who aren’t great… typically we don’t want to work with them.
At the end of the day, my goal isn’t to pull every dollar out of it, so to speak. I’m certainly not a corporate sponsor in any way. So for me, it’s trying to create the dopest thing I can for Austin, and that in itself is the reason to do it.
