Hi,
This week’s newsletter is a special one - it’s a profile of my conversation with entrepreneur and music mogul Jonny Shipes.
This isn’t just another interview though - I worked with Shipes for 12 years at Cinematic Music Group and his new venture GoodTalk, so this was meaningful for me.
It’s the longest one I’ve written thus far and filled with insane gems - we had an amazing conversation where Shipes explained how he’s building a one-of-a-kind company.
This newsletter highlights:
The Jonny Shipes interview
Let's dive in ⬇️
For those that may not be familiar, Jonny Shipes founded Cinematic Music Group, where he discovered and signed Sean Kingston, Nipsey Hussle (Rest In Peace), Big K.R.I.T., Joey Bada$$, Mick Jenkins, Smoke DZA, G Herbo, Flipp Dinero, Yungeen Ace, JayDaYoungan (Rest In Peace), Big Yavo, and tons more talent.
He eventually sold Cinematic and is now building GoodTalk - a lifestyle company that encompasses music, a clothing brand, content, and food, among other business endeavors.
At GoodTalk, Shipes has discovered and signed Druski, That Mexican OT, Lexa Gates, Skaiwater, Judah Weston + IsoKeys, Quantrell, Warlord Colossus, 1Up Tee, untitled, and many more acts.
What’s special about this conversation is not just my tenure working for him (Cinematic Music Group was actually my first job in the music industry) but the fact that he rarely does interviews. I’m honored to write this and help tell a piece of his story.
The interview took place at GoodTalk’s HQ in Red Hook, Brooklyn. About a year ago, the company moved into an impressive and expansive industrial building across the street from the waterfront. Red Hook is a fairly quiet section of Brooklyn, made up of mostly industrial buildings, warehouses, and commercial spaces.
GoodTalk HQ
It’s funny, while the area itself is quiet…the inside of GoodTalk’s office was anything but. In my mind, there was a version of this interview with Shipes and I in a super quiet space with lots of stillness. In reality, I should’ve known better haha.
In typical GoodTalk fashion, the office was buzzing - a flurry of activity happening in almost every room and corner. In one section of the main room were staff preparing for a content shoot for an artist later that day (part of GoodTalk’s original content it’s now producing).
A few minutes later, an artist on GoodTalk’s roster walked in talking about how they just bumped into Action Bronson while walking around Brooklyn. In another room sat the marketing team.
GoodTalk HQ
Over the course of the next hour and some change, Shipes and I discussed the full circle of his career - from him being early on YouTube, his ear for discovering talent, the ecosystem he’s building at GoodTalk, and more.
Content
I thought it’d be fitting to start at the beginning of Shipes’ career and open with content. It’s fascinating to me that Shipes was insanely early on creating content (he first started making and uploading YouTube videos in 2007 on a channel called IdiotBoxTV) and 18 years later, the music industry is now catching up. As we’re all aware, the industry is centered around content right now.
After launching IdiotBoxTV in 2007, Shipes launched CinematicTV in 2009. He started by documenting his everyday life and along the way, captured tons of legendary hip-hop moments, including the below to name a few:
Curren$y, Smoke DZA, and Big K.R.I.T. at SXSW
Nipsey Hussle (Rest In Peace) signing his first record deal
Big K.R.I.T. signing his first record deal
Behind the Scenes of Kendrick Lamar’s ADHD video shoot
When I asked whether any of it was a calculated strategy, Shipes explained it was quite the opposite:
“It was literally my lifestyle at the time. That was literally what I was living, so it was, like…those were either all the artists I was working with or homies. And shit has always been so funny around me. Like, my life is a fucking joke, so there'd always be funny shit going on, and I was just like, yo, I really need to just film all this shit.
And I wasn't doing it for the same thing I do now. I do what I like to do - I wasn't doing it for anybody else. I wasn't doing it in hopes I could blow up or this or that. It was just fun. It was really about what I was living at the time.”
When I acknowledged how crazy it was that he started creating content just 2 years after YouTube as a platform launched, Shipes shared the same sentiment:
“It's kind of a mindfuck.
I mean, humbly speaking, I'm early on everything. You name it.”
Fast forward to 2026, and original content is a key piece of GoodTalk’s infrastructure. Long form content includes the flagship The GoodTalk Show (hosted by Shipes with past guests including Wiz Khalifa, Cam’ron, Fivio Foreign, Rich the Kid, & more) as well as Least Talented on GoodTalk’s YouTube.
Short-form original content includes behind-the-scenes with the staff at the office, interviews with artists, concert coverage, and more.
When I asked what he thinks the music industry + content looks like in 24 months:
“I think there's still gonna be room for very high-level, well-shot content from highly curated artists. So whether it's Yung Lean and his new video, which was incredible, or A$AP Rocky, or Tyler, the Creator, Lexa Gates - whoever's just pushing forward visuals and the culture of incredible content. That's still gonna always exist.
But I think kids have shorter and shorter attention spans. Kids are digesting content at such a quick speed and moving off things so quickly that I would imagine that you're gonna have to be shooting music videos in little clips, not full videos anymore.
I don't even think a kid wants to watch a full video, unless you can hold their attention by making an incredible piece of content. So it really will still be quality over quantity when it comes to music videos, but I think, for the most part, it'll be a ton of short-form, quick-hitting content.
What you're already seeing now…it'll probably just be elevated even more.”
Building the ecosystem
It’s important to understand that GoodTalk is an ecosystem with different verticals and functions. It’s not simply a record label - that wouldn’t be doing it justice nor be accurate. When you look at everything GoodTalk has going on, it’s clear how dynamic it is. There is:
Music
Content
Clothing
Streaming
Creators
and more
And those are just the verticals inside the building. Shipes’ ecosystem umbrella also includes his business interests like Babe’s (an 8-seat diner in the Hamptons that’s exploding in popularity) and Grindstone Donuts. In just a few months, Babe's has already become one of the most popular restaurants in the Hamptons - this summer alone drew tons of celebrities like Justin Bieber, Emma Roberts, Neil Patrick Harris, and Fabolous among others.
Shipes explained how everything functions together and helps the overall ecosystem of the company:
“I won't do just anything at this stage of my career when I learned that you really can only focus on one thing. And even though I have a few different things that I'm focused on, it all goes back to that one thing…which is me, Jonny Shipes.
I like to eat. I like to get high. I like to make music. I like to make funny content.
So when you look at the things I have started, for example Babe's is fire ass food. I love food. I've always liked really good diner food. I love Bubby's, Clinton Street Bakery, and Veniero's, which is where I really got the idea to do Babe's. And that is part of my ecosystem. It feels like it fits because I'm a foodie. Same as Grindstone Donuts. Munchies and good donuts - it makes sense.”
GoodTalk is in many ways its own universe with each vertical having its own world, strategy, and characters. While some verticals may be different from each other, part of the genius is that they all help each other.
By building out the content vertical, GoodTalk will have its own funnel for breaking artists and raising their visibility online. Each part of the engine helps the others.
Shipes is also a partner in Since Entertainment, an indie promotions company that promotes shows, tours, and festivals.
Then I asked him to explain his overall vision for GoodTalk for people who know him but may not be familiar with the new operation.
How do you describe an ecosystem that does so many things?
“GoodTalk is really, and it sounds cliché, but it's a lifestyle. It's my lifestyle from when I was a kid growing up. And now that Cinematic has been sold, and I'm able to operate more independently, it's really my ‘fuck you’ to everybody that never believed. I don't need anybody's help, not that I ever did, but I am now operating just solely to how I want to be perceived and to what I want to do exactly.
In this day and age, music is treated as content. Visual content is treated as content, streaming is treated as content. You need to know how to take all of that and put it into, like, one bowl, if you will, mix it up, and, like, spit out all different types of content for kids and adults alike to consume.
Everything works hand in hand.
So when you look at a successful clothing company, even back in the day, they were making content, just differently. It was beautiful pictures. Taking my X, Y, Z artist - of surfers when it was Stüssy, skaters when it was Supreme. So there's the content that needs to go into clothing. There's the content that needs to go into artistry and developing artists, which is everything from streaming to music videos (which are a little obsolete at this point) to illustrations. That's content. Just any form of media, to me, pretty much falls under content, and how you take that these days and deliver it to the world in a digestible fashion.”
His vision for the company is also shown in his reference points - they’re not other labels. He named Barstool, Vice, Complex, A24, Stüssy, and Supreme as the standard.
“I don't want anything I do to be subpar. I want it all to be at a level that I grew up off. Supreme or Stüssy, those are brands I like to mention 'cause they're just the highest level of streetwear. They did it the best, in my opinion. Or A24, which does incredible films, and has built their brand so well, and every piece of the puzzle that they're making is so well done. That's what I want GoodTalk to be.
Sure, you could run around with an iPhone and shoot the low-hanging fruit, but the real stuff we're doing has to be top tier.”
The HQ
Having the vision for GoodTalk is one thing - actually building and executing it is another. In order to build a company as ambitious as this one, it’s necessary to have the right space.
GoodTalk HQ
I mentioned how chaotic the office was earlier in this article but the truth is, there isn’t really another space like it. I watched Shipes build something similar with Cinematic in Williamsburg many years ago and he’s building it again on a 10x level in Red Hook.
“This is the only way I can operate - in pandemonium and chaos.
Some people operate well in offices - as you can hear, all the sounds that are gonna be picked up in this interview. You worked with me for 12 years…you already know.
So this space is a content hub. You can make music here, you can make visual content here. You can shoot a podcast here. And ultimately, it's a hangout. And I think when people hang out and there's no pressure to work all day, you work on what you need to work on when you need to work, and then you can go joke around a little bit. You go chop it up with an artist. This is where the culture lives, just like it was at Cinematic.
People might not get it yet, because, like you said, we're in the first inning. But the vision I have is way more sophisticated than it was at Cinematic.
We're gonna knock this shit out of the park.”
Talking to Consumer
If you’re familiar with the music industry in 2026, you’re aware that much of the conversation is the idea of “direct-to-fan”. Essentially, giving your fans the opportunity to purchase something directly from you and interact with them as opposed to just streaming it.
One of the centerpieces of GoodTalk is selling things - whether it’s products for the artist or the brand and giving fans an experience that’s more than just music.
In one of the biggest gems of the day, Shipes explained why this approach is so important:
“I don't even like the word D to C. I want to call it T to C - Talk to Consumers - because direct sounds like you're pushing it on them. Talking to a consumer is giving them something they want bc you have built a dialogue with the fans via organically built communities around each of your star artists, so you know exactly what the fans are excited about.
Years ago, before you had all this incredible technology, it was direct-to-consumer.
Now you can talk to the consumers one by one.
It's like, check out Warlord Colossus. You like his music? Well, we're gonna take it a step further and make a game for you to buy, or a figurine, or a bracelet, like we're making for him right now. The vinyl is a notch up.
Last year, we won third place in the Clio Awards for the Cuzzin Howie packaging. I want everything, like I said, to be at the level of my favorite streetwear brands, but just for what music is.”
Warlord Colossus Long Sleeve Tee
I can attest that this has been Shipes’ mentality for a while now - it’s not a new strategy based on industry dynamics.
“To the point of me always being ahead of the curve - I was telling you guys that at Cinematic 10 years ago…
Literally. Yo, I wanna sell shit. Let's sell merchandising. Let's make sure we have vinyl. And now, more than ever, when your streams are worth .003 cents, or whatever the fuck it is, versus a $10 CD, or a $40 vinyl - and you can get good margins on it - or a $36 shirt.
It's more important than ever to talk to your consumer fan base and give them special offerings that these DSPs can't.
What I grew up on was, like, I couldn't wait to go to the record store to see the new Outkast album, and buy it, and look at the art, and see who produced what, and pull out the insert, and read the comic book, or whatever the fuck.
Now your art on a DSP is shrunk down to a pixelated graphic. Like, the kids don't even get to enjoy the art of music and the art of what an artist actually wants to convey to their fans.
I tell the staff, like, yeah, we gotta get the playlist, make sure it streams, but I wanna give fans the best experience possible.”
The quality of clothing
In the vein of doing everything at a high level, we also spoke about why it’s so important that GoodTalk clothing is elevated.
Without sounding biased, it’s genuinely amazing quality and what you’d expect of a streetwear brand - custom name tags, embroidery, etc.
GoodTalk hoodie
“Growing up, looking up to brands like Stüssy, Supreme, A Life, even Nike…clothing has always been a big part of me. I don't consider myself a fashionable guy, I don't even want to be. That's not my lane. My lane is, I do music, and I eat a lot of good food. But I enjoy good streetwear.
It's GoodTalk Records, but it's GoodTalk New York as well, which is the clothing side that I partnered with JB on. He's an incredible creative. And the clothing side is its own true clothing company. Like, I look at it and say to myself, if you're building a cool brand (which I am) with cool artists and cool content and a cool lifestyle, then there should be clothing accompanying it.
When I built Felt at Cinematic, it showed me that having a hub where all types of people from different walks of life came to hang out and work, and you were able to hand them something on the way out, or have them in a music video - like, why not do that with GoodTalk?
I don't want to build a million brands. GoodTalk is the last brand I'm building. Literally, I'm not interested in anything else. If I can break into the true streetwear space - I'm not even trying to be super elevated high-end fashion streetwear, I just want to do dope streetwear like I grew up on.”
GoodTalk Calvin Coaches Jacket
Brand building
Shipes and GoodTalk’s brand-building extends well past physical goods. Look at Cuzzin Howie as an example - Howie is a purple cartoon dog created in honor of Cuzzin Todd, Shipes’ late cousin who sadly passed away many years ago.
A brand was built around Howie with his debut project “Goin Nowhere Fast” dropping last summer. Shipes and the team created a brilliant product launch around it - a custom zoetrope vinyl and plushy dog with a box that looked like a dog cage.
Cuzzin Howie vinyl
The campaign was so innovative that it won third place in the Clio Awards design category.
The development of Cuzzin Howie also extends into products sold on the GoodTalk store as well as cartoons that live on social and YouTube. Howie is essentially becoming his own world within the GoodTalk universe.
Custom Cuzzin Howie basketball
Shipes has always been elite at brand-building so I asked him to drop some game for artists looking for help in that area of their careers:
“First, they have to know who they are. As an artist, as a brand. Like, using Cuzzin Howie as an example - I knew exactly what that was. That was my degenerate right hand man, who annoyed the world, if you will, but in the most charming way possible, and loved music, and loved hip hop.
So that's what Cuzzin Howie is. As we build the cartoon of Cuzzin Howie over the next decade, that's just who he's gonna be. There was Fritz the Cat, there was Garfield, etc.
Shout out Cuzzin Todd, because Cuzzin Howie is based on Cuzzin Todd.
He was looking out for us. He wanted us to win that award.”
Then there’s the music itself:
“Who are you? What do you represent? If I listen to Judah Weston, or Nipsey Hussle, (Rest in Peace) - you have to be able to close your eyes. And that's why I named the first company Cinematic, because I could close my eyes and Nipsey took me right to Crenshaw and Slauson, and I could feel myself on that block listening to what he was saying.
So once you have somebody captivated to be like, oh, I believe in this - I believe what this guy is saying…well, now you've got somebody that becomes a fan, because they can relate to you. And even though I wasn't from Crenshaw and 60th, I believed it because it was believable music.
Like, I relate to it in a sense of, yo, this dude is really doing what he's talking about. So it starts with the music and how powerful the messaging is.”
And lastly…
“All the greatest artists I've ever worked with know who they are before I gotta tell them. I don't want to tell an artist who they are. Or what kind of music to make. I just wanna be able to add the sprinkles onto what they already have and fine-tune things.
So when building a brand, it really does start with you. You could sign to any label, but if you don't have your shit together, if you don't know who you want to be, you're just not gonna get to where you're going. I really don't think so.”
Self belief
This section was especially insightful for me - despite having known and worked for Shipes for 12 years, I had never actually asked him where his self-belief came from. For as long as I’ve known him, he’s always operated with the utmost self-belief and never wavered.
I was curious to find out where that self-belief and confidence in himself came from, especially early on before any success.
The reason why I run with the phrase Least Talented is that I'm not the most talented. I'm the most hungry.
I'm gonna run through a fucking wall before anybody else. I'm gonna stay later than everybody else. I'm going to work harder than everybody else. And because of that, that's how I made it and that's why you will make it.
Like, it is about going the hardest and never giving up on yourself.
There are probably people way better than me that didn't believe in themselves, and that last moment was like, you know what? I can't keep footing this bill. Or I can't keep not eating at night, or splitting a sandwich with my homie, or sleeping on the floor because I can't afford rent. And those people that give up are the ones that don't make it, and the ones that power through are the ones that make it.
I like to say I’m the least talented but I go the hardest.”
Shipes & Ryan Payan from the GoodTalk team
I told Shipes how in preparing for this conversation, I came across an interview he did with XXL in 2020 where he told them how at 40 years old, he felt like he was just getting started. I was surprised to hear that - how could someone who’s already achieved success feel like they’re just getting started at 40? Most people feel tired, burnt out, or resting on their laurels.
“Music was never a business to me - it was always for the love. So the first, like, 10 years of it, I didn't know what anything was. I remember meeting with my attorney and telling him I didn't know what masters were. He was like, you don't know what owning a master is? Like, I didn't know what that was.
I was a hard worker, and I wanted to win, but I wanted to win just 'cause I wanted the world to hear all this dope music that we were putting out. Come 40, I realized that a lot of people around me were really taking it more serious than me, and were less talented than me - they weren’t as good of a talent developer or producer.
So at 40, I started to say to myself, I want to take this seriously. I want to get rich off this shit. Like, yeah, I've made some money, but some of these people cash out for hundreds of millions of dollars. And then I had kids, and that made me focus even more.
I was able to cash out a little bit when I sold Cinematic, but this next cash out will be retirement worthy. And it will be where I manifested it, because I said to myself, take this a little more seriously. You're great at what you do, but you could be more serious with the business. You have a family to take care of now.”
Mental and physical health
If you know me, you know I’m fascinated by how people operate and take care of their mental and physical health. Especially in the music industry where physical health is normally deprioritized, I thought it’d be helpful for Shipes to share how a high-operating entrepreneur like himself takes care of his mind and body.
“You have to find things that you love outside of this shit, or it'll eat you alive. Because you get let down a lot, you get betrayed a lot, you get shit on a lot, you get slept on a lot. And you have to just be happy with yourself. You have to be happy with your journey through this shit.
Meaning, like, if I don't win any awards, if I don't get named on any lists, if I don't get whatever the fuck all these other people are getting but I put out an amazing album that year, and found an artist and developed them, and I enjoyed that ride along the way, and making that album, then I'm all good. 'Cause I did what I wanted to do, and I did what made me happy.
I think yoga, or just shooting hoops, or taking a walk. I take a walk every day, and I take a lot of my phone calls on walks. I work from the Hamptons a lot now. That's my peace of mind. It sounds bougie to say the Hamptons, but I don't live in a bougie way. I'm more creative out there. I'm more spiritually connected out there. I ground every morning. I sit in the sun, I read a book. I've been reading The Daily Stoic, learning to just be a little more level-headed with shit.
This is a rough industry. It's mentally hard. Anybody has to be able to release that somehow. And I like to release it in a very calm way, by myself.”
Shipes & some of the GoodTalk staff
Business
Over the course of my career at Cinematic and GoodTalk, we’ve worked on different types of artist campaigns and deals. He's signed artists who stayed completely independent and also signed artists who started independent and then got upstreamed to majors.
I asked for his honest opinion on the differences between the two:
“I think that going to the majors, you'll get a bigger check up front early on in your career if you're buzzing. But you sacrifice the big money you will get on the back end being independent. Ten times out of ten.
You could look at Drake, Kendrick on down…they probably needed the major label system to get them to this level. But had they not had that and stayed independent, they probably would have made a lot more money, even if they were only eight times as successful, not ten times as successful.
In this day and age, I really don't see a need for the major label. You have companies like Create out there that have the same money as a major label, and they allow you to operate in an independent space and do your own thing.
I'll always be independent spirited. I just want to be independent.”
When I asked what he meant by being independent, he shared:
“Independence, to me, means that I allow my artist to be independent. I allow the artist to be in control of their career, the way they want to be. They're the boss. I just help them to reach their goals and vision. If they listen to me, if they don't, then I just support their goals, 'cause I've signed them for a reason. But yeah, independence is great. You own everything.”
I also asked him if he’d share some advice for artists growing their buzz online and have labels approaching them with offers.
That part of an artist’s trajectory can be overwhelming, confusing, and scary.
His advice to artists was:
“I think that they should make sure that they're in a short-term deal. One or two projects, so that they can renegotiate quickly if they blow up. I always encourage artists: don't take the biggest check from me, take the check that will allow you to live right now, and renegotiate with me as quickly as possible. 'Cause if I do my job well, I'm working against myself in their benefit which is fine with me. I get them way bigger, and then I cut them a big ass check. I've done that for everybody.
So try to do a short-term deal, but make it long enough for a label to be incentivized. I would say two projects. And I would try for the artist to own a piece of the master. All my deals are 50/50 co-ownership on the masters. I think it's very important to co-own or own your master, because that's how you sell and get some real money down the road. And obviously keep your creative control.”
His ear
Earlier in our conversation, Shipes and I spoke about him being early on things. This was the section that really hammered home just how early he is.
We spoke about all of the artists he ended up signing and working with:
“I don't care how people perceive me, whether they realize what I've done or haven't.
But when you look at the track record of who I found and how often, it's every year, year and a half.
You could go Sean Kingston, Nipsey Hussle (Rest In Peace), Big K.R.I.T., Joey Bada$$, G Herbo, Mick Jenkins, Flipp Dinero, JayDaYoungan (Rest In Peace), Yungeen Ace, That Mexican OT, Lexa Gates, Druski, Judah Weston, Quantrell.
And I'm gonna keep going. Judah and Quantrell are just in the early stages, but those are two fucking future legends.”
Big KRIT, Smoke DZA, Shipes, and Nipsey Hussle (Rest In Peace)
Then there's Russ, which honestly might go down as one of the most insane stories in music industry signing history LOL. I told Shipes how I remembered he was early on Russ and we met him in our office on Canal Street in Soho many years ago.
Apparently, Russ gave him all his music to Shipes to listen on a SoundCloud playlist.
If you know anything about Shipes, he is probably the least technically savvy person on the planet (no shade Shipes lol) and at the time, didn’t know how to use SoundCloud.
“So I downloaded it all, or I may have even had you or somebody download it all, so I could put it on an iTunes playlist to listen to.
And I put it on there, and I was listening to it, and I was like, bro, I downloaded all the music and put it on an iTunes playlist, I'm vibing to it, I'll get back to you.
He's like, ‘You what? You downloaded my music?’
And I was like, ‘bro, what are you talking about? I didn't leak it. This is how I listen to my music.’
We just never could get back on the same page, and that's what cost me the Russ signing.”
Rapid fire
Last book he finished:
Fingerprints of the Gods. I also re-read Good to Great once a year.
Last meal that blew him away:
“Sag Harbor Tavern, Billy Durney's, Labor Day. Chef special. He had five different chefs come in and serve one dish off of the course. So the starter, the main, all of that. Shout out Billy Durney. It was a banger.”
Artist he's most excited about:
"Trap Frey. He's hard as fuck. And he does all his own art. He draws and it's like crazy shit."
Song he can't stop playing:
"Nobody Does It Better" by Nate Dogg and Warren G.
One piece of financial advice:
“Put 10% of every single dollar you make aside for savings. I don't care if it's $1, so you take 10 cents, or $1 million, and you take $100,000. I take 10% of every single dollar I make, and I put it into the stock market, on S&P blue chip stocks. My money manager gets the rest. I pay my taxes.
You gotta know that the money will not always come forever. Meaning, you might have a two year run where you make mad bread, then there's gonna be a year where you don't make a bunch of bread. Then there's gonna be a year where you make mad bread, and then you don't. So you have to save for those moments.
That was a gem that I took with me, that I live by. Every single dollar that comes in, put 10% into my savings.”
One thing people would be shocked by: I’m gluten-free.
Overall
After 12 years of working together and an amazing conversation that took us from the very beginning of Shipes’ career to present day, I thought about the best way to end this interview.
After some thought, I realized there was only one way I could end it…with a fitting quote from Shipes:
“This interview is dedicated to all the teachers that told me I'd never amount to nothing. GoodTalk, you pricks.”
Special thank you to Shipes for taking the time to do this.
For everyone reading, hopefully this was helpful on your journey.
Thanks for reading, until next time.
