- 2 weeks ago
GU content editor Danielle Wright chats with Bleu about his rise in social media, Houston night life, and setting the creator's house stage on fire.
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00:00so you've given us iconic moments but we have to talk about your hell yeah moment
00:07because that really took off into a world of its own yeah you know what hell yeah
00:16yeah did you think that all these like brands and just like reuses of the audio would go crazy on
00:22tiktok i'm not gonna lie like the original video because it was kind of like so risque i was like
00:29it ain't gonna be another girl then i literally woke up the next day and we was already like
00:33at like 3.2 million views and i was like okay well this is tea and then one thing linked to the next
00:38girl that sound started trending on the tiktok chart it just what it was it that sound i would say
00:44kind of changed my life but the life that i was living was already t but girl it definitely added
00:48a little extra flavor what is up gu it is your content editor danielle right here and i'm so
00:54so so excited because we have our official host for creator's house and kickback at this year's
00:59festival frankie blue period period period i am so excited frankie that you're going to be working
01:07with us we actually worked together briefly at he was so good literally so good let me tell you frankie
01:17is the fashion doll so i know he's gonna pull up with the looks i was literally just thinking
01:23about this yesterday i was like girl what am i gonna where i have to give it but i got something
01:27nasty in my eye oh okay okay hopefully some rich etiquette girl look that's what i was thinking
01:34but look see i got i have to pull the stops out for this one girl but we gonna see period i'm excited
01:41all right so let's get started so frankie today i want to talk to you all about your journey
01:45being from houston content creation and um what's next for you at festivals so let's get into it
01:51um you have built such a strong digital presence um when did you realize content creation was the path
01:59for you girl honestly it realized me to be honest like it was kind of like a thing where i was having
02:05this conversation with my best friends the other day and it was like girl like it's just so crazy people
02:08like think that it's kind of like a personality or like it's an online persona but it's just like girl
02:13no this is literally me i just pick up the phone and started recording so i was like hey might as
02:17well get paid while i'm acting a fool and you know i feel inclined to tell the people that this is
02:24authentically you like this is not a persona this is frankie real frankie and i just i love it and i
02:31think i feel like houston really gets to experience you and how amazing and fun and talented and authentic
02:39you are and i'm so excited that the world finally gets to see this for sure so you've given us iconic
02:51moments but we have to talk about your hell yeah moment because that really took off into a world of
02:59its own yeah you know what hell yeah yeah did you think that all these like brands and just like
03:09reuses of the audio would go crazy on tiktok i'm not gonna lie like the original video because it was
03:15kind of like so risque i was like oh it ain't gonna be another girl then i literally woke up the next day
03:21we was already like at like 3.2 million views and i was like okay well this is t and then one thing
03:27linked to the next girl that sound started trending on the tiktok chart it just what it was it that
03:32sound i would say kind of changed my life with the life that i was living was already t but girl you
03:37definitely added a little extra flavor love it love it i think i saw mac had used it and i was like oh
03:44frankie's on okay when i saw like i think it was chipotle they kind of like pulled it out and they was like
03:52hey we think we're gonna um use your sound and this is what we're offering i was like baby have
03:56at it it's all yours okay it's all yours love it love it so i want to get back to talking a little bit
04:04about houston um how has the city kind of influenced you or impact you um to be the person that you are
04:13today uh i would say houston definitely like i wouldn't say i don't know if mode is the correct
04:21word but it definitely like added a little water onto my clay to help you know build the foundation
04:26it's been very accepting like honestly this city has truly really changed my life i've been here
04:3110 years now so it's honestly i was like it's home like it's it's my roots a little bit like this is
04:37where i feel like i you know i became like a woman you know what i'm saying like really kind of
04:43really helped me blossom and the city is just so filled with culture it's rich in all aspects of like
04:50my walks of life anybody walks of life and it's just comfortable at the end of the day love it love
04:55it as a fellow houstonian myself i can definitely attest to that i feel like houston is such a rich
05:02city full of creatives and influencers and just so many talented people i think about kind of like
05:12you know like you nandi me tori and how we kind of like really kind of made our start in the city and
05:19now are literally taking over like taking over like flooding like flooding i like that like so
05:28speaking of houston i feel like um the nightlife has definitely contributed to your rise um how would
05:36you describe houston nightlife and what is the ultimate like houston night like how would you describe
05:42that to describe it charismatic and never ending um
05:50my ultimate night i'm going to probably say
05:55girl it gotta be seaside like i love that place and then so like my new little routine now i go to
06:00this i go to seaside from because that stops at midnight and then i leave there and i go to this
06:05place called ball kitty and it just makes me feel like new york like i just be in there just you know
06:12girl rubbing my chest having me a good little time so that's been like my ultimate go-to right now
06:18love it love it so now i kind of want to get into the fashion because fashion um and design has really
06:26been a part of your identity for so long um like even going back to when we first worked together
06:32um you know we kind of brought you on to help style the models that we were doing for our spring
06:38i think it was our spring issue at houstonia and you absolutely killed it um so i want to ask like
06:44what made you want to get into that aspect um and also incorporate that into your content it really just
06:52kind of started naturally honestly i was like i would always make pieces like when i was getting ready to
06:57go out and like so when i stopped i ended up stop styling kind of had like abrupt hall and i was like
07:03i need to figure something out and i think that's when i was like well let me do see what this content
07:07thing is hitting on if it's hot if it's not what can it do and i just started like doing stuff that i
07:11do day to day so fashion of course is my day to day and i was like well let me just record this make
07:16cool record me making something and i saw like a little inspo pitch that i wanted to make i was like
07:20well let me just see what it's giving it gave girl and i was just like you know this is something good
07:25because i wanted to show it's like hard being a jack of all trades and being able to do everything
07:29and being so well around it when it comes to being able to create and being a creator overall
07:33so the aspect of it just kind of like let me showcase it in a way that still like resonates
07:38with my audience and its niches that they like to get to so that's how i just it was like a natural
07:42marriage almost just kind of like molding it to what they want to see or how they want to see it
07:47for sure sometimes it's like when i'm watching your videos i think i could do that but then
07:52realistically yeah literally that's the part that i love like i as long as you can feel like you can
07:58do it you got a little thought i just love it and speaking of designing you also have your own brand
08:05called rich etiquette um so let's talk about yes let's talk about that a little bit um how did that
08:12brand come together from the name to the pieces that you designed like how would you describe the
08:18creative direction behind it so literally i've i've never told how i really came up with that's
08:24rich so girl i was literally downtown drunk as a skunk leaving a party and um one i was going like
08:32walking past it's a little after hours for my community and it's called hamburger mary's so we
08:37was downtown hamburger mary's and it was my best friend and i was walking by and a homeless lady
08:42was like saying something she was you think you so cute with your rag doll fashions i was all
08:46a girl that's rich coming from you laying on the side of the road i like that and then ever since
08:52we just i see her often so i like literally to give her like i literally just saw her today on the same
08:57post because i was living in a restaurant like bought her some food like that's my girl and we
09:01say all the time i was a great that rich she was that's rich and that's literally how i came up with
09:05that so i kind of rich etiquette came because like i started once i ended up doing the fashion
09:12i was like giving girls tips on dating and how to spot a man with the coins etc like that so i was
09:19like you know this is rich but i need to give it a word and that's it's etiquette so i was oh rich
09:24etiquette girl and it just works love it love it it's kind of like everything kind of like came together
09:30piece by piece literally brick by brick girl brick and when it's supposed to happen it blows my mind it
09:35literally blows my mind so something exciting um that you're gearing up to do is you're kind
09:41of going on like this mini tour with ken the man um and i don't know if you've ever kind of talked
09:47about this um outwardly but how did that sort of bond happen between you and her so ken and i that's
09:56my girl i love her so much that we our first time meeting was through one of our other mutual friends
10:01and ken it was also on a photo shoot it was for her um a remix that she did i cannot think of it
10:07right now i know the song but i remember what we called it i think we called it uh oh and uh it was
10:12for that we did the cover we hated it me and ken got into it on the set it was just like whatever
10:17so but it we kept on going and we kept on doing shoes and then we kind of just in it did it it
10:24happened naturally where we just stopped working with each other professionally like in that aspect at
10:28least like we made her stylist and creative director but we still picked each other ideas
10:32but that just kind of stopped and not even on purpose but kind of by asking because we just
10:37became good friends and we were just like okay hey and then we just started doing stuff back and
10:41forth she's always been supportive of my career clearly girl so it just that's how it happened on
10:47a photo shoot and girl we just kept it going from there love it love it funny enough we actually
10:52had can the man perform at our first creator's house i think that this is kind of like full circle
10:56that is like have your own moment at festival with um so speaking of gu you are our official host
11:05for both came back and creator's house how are you feeling about that girl like when when we got
11:11that email my manager was like hey so essence is trying to get you to host something i was okay
11:15cool but when we got on the car we like went through the details i was like oh so it's like a
11:18host and hosting like girl that's on my way to the to the mad red carpet no t so i was beyond
11:25excited especially with the history that i have there with you and nadi it was just
11:29oh girl makes me emotional a little bit just like seeing all of this even like sitting here talking
11:33to you in this capacity right now and when we had the conversation when we wrapped the shoe and you
11:37were telling your dreams and like sitting here seeing you do it it's just like so like literally
11:43like wait a second girl like we did did this a little bit and it's just literally it's it's an honor
11:50it's truly an honor and i could not be more excited to do my like first real deal one two
11:54with nobody other than home honestly every year we think about who do we want to host and um last
12:00year we had jay mulan and she literally knocked it out the park and so this year we were like oh my god
12:06like who are we gonna get and the first name i thought of frankie like i feel like you've had such
12:13a tremendous rise in such a short amount of time um and i feel like you know how to work a crowd and i
12:20have no doubts that the crowd is not going to be jumping with you on stage so i'm beyond excited about
12:27that so excited so for my next couple questions i kind of want to talk a little bit about being a
12:32creator and kind of advice to the creators that are going to be on the ground because a lot of our
12:36attendees they want to become influencers they want to um you know figure out how they can have their
12:42own viral moment right as a rising creative what is something that you've learned through your
12:48journey from going viral to forming relationships growth structure i cannot stress enough i literally
12:56wrote the ebook on it on how to strong making sure that your your social media structure the one thing
13:02that i really appreciate i guess with like my journey with it and kind of like rising fame
13:07was that i always had bullet points of where somebody else could like see more of me or see
13:13exactly what i do how to interact or support however they wanted to do i had structure so
13:19that's the one thing and that's with anything whether you want to be an influencer whether you want
13:23to be a doctor or nurse you have to have some type you have to have i call them bullet points which
13:27i feel like are like revisit moments to like wherever you want to move and to get ahead just to
13:33like stay on path just structure i cannot stretch structure enough love it love it so one thing about
13:41you you know you're very active online you have a really big personality um and not only are you
13:48sharing it within your group but you're kind of sharing it with the world now how do you find
13:53moments to kind of like protect your peace while still being online
14:01controlling your narrative honestly like the stories that i tell and the things that i tell
14:08of course are so inviting so it can make someone feel very prone to that pure socialism which is okay
14:18and a lot of people need that so it's just still i don't and that's such an always a tough question
14:23to answer because i kind of jade the two without purposely blurring them because i my online person
14:32is me so it's like i what how do i do it but i just do it you know like even when people come up to me
14:38we take pictures we do etc they want they look many advices right there girl i give it to them but i just
14:44i guess knowing the solitude of like what i'm doing right now like when i'm in my own home in
14:48my own dominion it's mine and then when i don't step outside i'm frankie blue and in full throttle you
14:54know so i kind of think that's where i'm able to separate the two love it love it so winding down to
15:01my last two questions um overall how does it feel to sort of be on this next wave of black internet
15:10culture like i feel like we're seeing this new wave of influencers this new wave of creators and i
15:19truly believe that you're at the top of that chain um so how does it feel to kind of like be ushered in
15:26as like this new class if you will sacred no pun intended girl but sacred it feels like because
15:35we're in like i don't know i literally was having a conversation with myself the other day and like
15:41out of the blue the revolution is being televised came on i think that's some whatever song it is i
15:46was like oh that's rich because i really feel like that is what we're not only what the world is going
15:53through with us as black individuals and especially creators reclaiming our time reclaiming our moment
15:58reclaiming who we are what is ours it just feels so sacred and important and to be a part of that i
16:05feel like in just a little way that i do pitch into it it's undeniable i can't i wouldn't change it for
16:11the world it's it's an honor i'm grateful to be able to offer what i can to what i can yeah for sure
16:18love it so winding down to my last question for you frankie there are going to be a lot of attendees
16:24on the ground that's going to want to connect with you take pictures with you um or any you know
16:30creator for that matter what is your advice to them about approaching you or just approaching
16:36other creators in real life just i mean read the room and just kind of like maintain that you can you
16:42can see a boundary always i think a lot of me especially i love taking the pictures i love giving the
16:48hugs i i love to exchange your energy because you just never know what people need so that one
16:55little hug could probably save them from their 13th reason literally and you know taking things a little
17:00further than it needs to be so always i am always open but you know just read the room if somebody
17:06don't want to be touched a different way if they don't want a hug or just simply just ask if you're not
17:09sure but girl me come on let's get to it get to it love it well thank you so much frankie for chatting
17:16with gu today and you can catch frankie at creator's house and kickback this year at essence festival
17:21of culture until next time
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