Amaurys Grullon is The "Bronx Native"
WORDS WITH WORD$ INTERVIEW #30
Yo, it’s the Pope, 1000WORD$. Welcome to WORDS WITH WORD$. Today I am bringing you an exclusive conversation between myself and Amaurys Grullon, The “Bronx Native.”
He is known as the founder of the “Bronx Native” clothing brand, which was started as a way to rep his beloved Bronx borough. A creative, and social entrepreneur, Grullon is uplifting and empowering his community to create social change through his brand.
In this conversation we talk about his first introduction to Hip-Hop, his Bronx upbringing, and how he built his brand from the ground up. We also talk about my upcoming Sept. 2nd concert, The Cookout 2, and he has agreed to help me promote The Building gallery event on Sept. 1st. Nobody represents The Bronx like Amaurys Grullon and 1000WORD$. With the Bronx being the birthplace of Hip-Hop and it being Hip-Hop’s 50th birthday, it’s only right that we collaborate on The Building gallery, which will be a monumental and historic event for the community.
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1000WORD$: Yo this is 1000WORD$ man I'm here sitting down with a Bronx Native himself, man, Amaurys Grullon. Amaurys, what's going on?
Bronx Native: Yerrr! What's up, what's up? Here vibing, you already know. Thank you so much for having me, excited man. Thank you, thank you.
1000WORD$: Let's start off from Amaurys. Let people know what part of the Bronx you from, my brother.
Bronx Native: Yeah, so I'm from the dirty down Bronx, man, South South Bronx. Born and raised in Longwood neighborhood, also by Hunts Point, So I claim those two neighborhoods, Longwood, Hunts point. I'm currently in Mott Haven.
1000WORD$: Nice. How was it growing up in the Bronx? Like give people that are not from the Bronx a vivid picture of what it is to grow up in the Bronx.
Bronx Native: Yes, yes. Now for me, you know, it was amazing man. Yes it was those rough patches and it's tough and it's so much going on. But really, I have to thank the Bronx for those things, for making me an entrepreneur, for making me ambitious, for making me a creative, you know? I grew up and throughout my whole childhood, you know, pre-teen, I was inspired. I was inspired by the flavors, the cultures, just the people around me, you know, my community. And I attribute what I'm doing now, Bronx Native, and the shop and the movement that we got going on to, you know, growing up in BX and making it happen over here.
1000WORD$: Facts. How was the culture in your house? What were your parents listening to?
Bronx Native: Yes, so my mom is Dominican, first generation. My moms came here in 1980. So you know, a lot of Bachata, a lot of Tipico, a lot of that Spanish classic heat.
1000WORD$: Fire, yeah.
Bronx Native: Yeah, you already know. But when I went to school, you know, Hip-Hop, I was tapped and I had some friends that were in tune with the music so they always came up to me like "Yo, listen to this, check this out." And then I also went to church, you know, I grew up in a Pentecostal household
1000WORD$: Same here, bro.
Bronx Native: That's another layer you know, that's another vibe, and I actually played bass in my church. So there was a lot of jazz, you know, and I was inspired by other musicians, Latin jazz, funk, stuff like that. So I had a really musical upbringing in a way.
1000WORD$: What was your first interaction with Hip-Hop? Like do you remember the first song you you stumbled upon?
Bronx Native: I remember when I was growing up, definitely somebody that I was tuned in [with], 50 Cent G-Unit. That shit was, you know, I had the speakers, I had the tank top. It was like feel good energy, bro. Like anytime you heard 50 Cent, you know, also Eminem around that time too, you know, the west coast was doing its thing too, Dr. Dre. But yeah man, like anytime somebody asked, 50 Cent man. He was really that person that was fire.
1000WORD$: I had the free Yayo shirts.
Bronx Native: Oh, yeah? Hahaha. It was an era, bro. It was an era. But I appreciate that, man.
1000WORD$: What movie theater you grew up going to in the Bronx?
Bronx Native: Yes. Growing up in the BX, so Whitestone.
1000WORD$: Whoo! Whitestone, yeah.
Bronx Native: Rest in peace Whitestone. But yeah Whitestone and also, you know, this is besides the Bronx, but I was at my dad's place in Washington Heights, so every time I visited him I was able to get that like tight uptown energy as well. And we used to go to... there was a movie theater, I wouldn't even know, it's not there anymore. But it was like an iconic theater by Broadway.
1000WORD$: On 181st, right?
Bronx Native: I think so.
1000WORD$: By the McDonald's, right?
Bronx Native: Yes. C'mon you already know. Yeah, so that's my dad used to take me and my sister there and we used to watch movies. And yeah, now I love movies and I went to school for design and film.
1000WORD$: When did you come up with the concept of Bronx native and when did you birth it?
Bronx Native: Yeah, so the concept really started with a conversation. I've always been a creative. I'm a designer. I like to express myself with different mediums: film, photo, storytelling in general. And my sister is a fashion design student. She just graduated from Parsons, and we were chatting in 2015. And we were like, "Woah, there's no merch that says the Bronx. We want to rep the BX." We wanted to wear a hat that says the BX, or wear a shirt. We couldn't find anything. I remember us looking online and we were kind of confused, like "How is this even possible?" You know, this is the mecca, the birthplace of so many things, such an amazing burrow. You see the BK merch, you see the Harlem, see the NY, and we took it upon ourselves. We said "Look, let's create this brand that creates merchandise, that represents, that showcases our culture, our history, but we're going to be more than that. We're gonna be a community based brand, and we're also going to tackle issues. We're gonna create events." I mean the events actually came a little later, but we always knew we wanted to be a community based brand. We wanted to tell a story with our merch not just sell a product. And then like a year later, we started doing events and that became a whole nother thing.
1000WORD$: Nice. That's beautiful, man.
Bronx Native: Thank you. Thank you.
1000WORD$: When did you acquire your store?
Bronx Native: Yeah, the store came, you know, super organic. I started coming to Mott Haven, which is the neighborhood that we're in now. There was a lot of activities and events going on. And somebody reached out, they were like, "Hey, you want to do a pop up shop?" in one of the spaces that were still available about six years ago. And you know, for us, I never worked in retail. I didn't even know how to fold shirts. And I was like, "We're gonna do this. We're gonna have this pop up." It was October 2nd 2017 and we said yes. We acquired the space for two weeks for the pop up and we never looked back. Six years later, we're still here.
1000WORD$: That's beautiful. What was your first job? And what is your job now?
Bronx Native: Yes, my first job, holy moly. Really, I've always been against jobs. I've always had that entrepreneurial spirit and I always had that creative spirit. I grew up with a talent to draw, which led to that, and I always said to myself, "I am going to make money with my craft. I don't believe in the starving artists. I believe in me. I believe in us." So I had like little jobs here and there. Like, I used to work in a theater. It was called 59E59. I used to have a range of jobs, stuff like that, but I always was committed like "Yo, I'm gonna take my art be my job. I'm gonna create. I'm gonna make money." And I started doing that fairly young because I was already 18 and I was already doing freelance. Like I was 17-18 and I was already producing logos for people, doing photo shoots and stuff like that, and then videos for YouTube. So I've been blessed for that.
1000WORD$: Nice. I also see you also talk in schools, you go to different communities and do different things. How does that feel like knowing that you're playing that role for the Bronx? Because the Bronx for a long time has been a place that people don't usually visit, you know?
Bronx Native: Yeah, yeah. It feels you know, really, it's the best thing ever. It's fulfilling. The fact that I'm able to express myself as an artist, I'm able to have a sustainable business as an entrepreneur, and just as a human, I'm able to create, change and create social impact in my home and my community, I think that's the best thing anybody could ever do. You know what I mean? So I'm super grateful to do what I love cause that's not the picture for everybody. Not everyone can just you know... I'm not saying this is easy or anything you know, the entrepreneur journey is the toughest journey anybody can agree to and sign up to. But when you're doing something that you love, when you're changing people's lives, when you're doing all these things attached to what you're doing, it makes it worthwhile. By title I'm a creative social entrepreneur and that's what I do. My ventures have a social component and through my artistry, I flew them and I create this ecosystem that allows us to not only make the shirts, make the merch, but we have a recording studio, right? We host open mics, we go to the schools, talk to the kids about financial literacy, talk to the kids about creativity. Because overall, we're here to change the narrative and make it happen boy, you already know.
1000WORD$: Yeah, man. That's why I'm calling on like, maybe for some kind of help from you because look, I have this concert that I'm planning, that's already in motion. It's September 1st and the 2nd, but I haven't announced the first part. I want to involve you in this, man. I want to know how we can execute it cause I'm gonna execute it. But, I'm gonna turn my building that I grew up in, right in the Bronx, in Westchester Avenue, I'm gonna turn it into an art gallery.
Bronx Native: Like the actual building?
1000WORD$: The actual building from the first floor to the [top] floor. I'm having artists paint the community, like the buildings that mean something to me, to people in the community, and they're gonna hang it all over the building, bro.
Bronx Native: Beautiful. You already have the accessibility? You're tapped in with the building?
1000WORD$: What I'm doing on my behalf is I'm getting signatures from everybody that it's okay to do.
Bronx Native: Gotcha.
1000WORD$: But what I need from you is cause I don't have that kind of like, you know, you're the man in the Bronx, bro. So that's why I'm pulling up on you, bro.
Bronx Native: Yeah of course, bro. Look, I love your work since day 1, love the collective, everything. You know, I see you guys are turned up, y'all doing it up. I'm happy to help, happy to collab. That's what it's all about, man. We gotchu, you know, so I'm here, bro. Let me know what you need.
1000WORD$: Yeah, cause look, what I'm planning is, September 1st is a Friday and I'm gonna do probably from like 4-8, I'm gonna have people perform in front of the building as well.
Bronx Native: That's fire.
1000WORD$: And basically because my mom has dementia, right? She doesn't know what I do. Like every day is like a new day to her, you know? So I want to at least surround her with that kind of energy for once and make the world a little smaller for her. And then the community that I grew up in is immigrants and people on Section 8, people on welfare that never been to an art gallery ever in the life, and probably would never go. So I want to give them that experience, to kids in that community who parents don't ever... cause I ain't go to a gallery till I was 30-years-old. And I'm 35.
Bronx Native: Yeah, yeah. Let's get it. Let's get it, man.
1000WORD$: So I wanna really put on for that and I need your help, bro.
Bronx Native: You already know, bro. I'm here. Let me know if you wanna tap in the shop, come to my studio, get some beats. Let's lock a date.
1000WORD$: It's September 1st and the 2nd cause September 2nd I locked in Bronxlandia for the Stove God and Estee Nack concert.
Bronx Native: Okay, that's awesome. I got some people over there at Bronxlandia, James and Majora.
1000WORD$: Yeah, so I got it all locked in. I got the venue there cause I'm doing the gallery September 1st cause people flying from like all over the place. The people that purchased the tickets are gonna come and I'm gonna give them my address, my actual address to where I live, where I'm turning it into a gallery.
Bronx Native: Bro, we gotta turn that up. We got to amplify this. This is crazy. This is amazing, bro.
1000WORD$: Yeah, bro. So like, you know, we could do something for the community real dope, bro. And I already got the people making the art already so that's not even a question. It's like they coming to hang it up, you know?
Bronx Native: Yeah, let's get it. You let me know, bro, I'm here. We could make some merch.
1000WORD$: Yeah, facts. I'mma get you pictures of my building.
Bronx Native: Yeah, yeah, yeah, man. Ay you know our logo is the building.
1000WORD$: Yo, it's just front and back, you know? Because the galleries going to be called The Building, you know what I mean?
Bronx Native: Let's fucking go. That's fire.
1000WORD$: Yeah, and you know, that's why this interview is important because you know, I'm gonna execute this, bro. And you know, whatever we need to do, like you said to amplify bro, let's turn it the fuck up.
Bronx Native: Yeah, let's get it. Let me know if you want to tap in maybe early next week, Monday, Tuesday I'm in my stu and then Wednesday, Friday I'm in the shop. So you let me know whenever you wanna tap in.
1000WORD$: Aight, cool. I been staying up here in Massachusetts so let me see if I could organize something.
Bronx Native: We can do a phone call too. Whatever works best.
1000WORD$: Yeah, we can FaceTime and shit.
Bronx Native: Yeah, yeah.
1000WORD$: Hell yeah, bro. Yo man, I see what you've been doing for the Bronx, man. I see you helping out the youth, I see you helping people out, and I'm reaching out cause I see that this makes sense, you know what I mean?
Bronx Native: Thank you brody. Thank you. And you as well, bro. Like I'm deadass, I see everything you guys be posting and it's A1, bro. Like you guys making the Bronx 5 Uptown proud, making the X proud. You already know.
1000WORD$: Yeah, let's do it, bro. I appreciate you for this interview, bro. I appreciate you for the opportunity, bro.
Bronx Native: Of course, of course. Thank you, brother. And yeah, just hit me up. Let's lock in a time and tap in, we’ll go over details and I’ll see what we can do, bro. Let’s make it happen.