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Join The Urban Rez for an exciting journey that dives into the intersections of culture, sports, and lifestyle with a fresh, global, inclusive perspective. Each 30-minute episode brings a unique blend of conversations, stories, and interviews that explore the passions and experiences that define our lives.
Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU N, V studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. You
Music 0:20
urban radio show. Welcome.
Marcus White 0:58
Morning, everybody Happy Sunday. We hope that your August is off to a great start. Dr, B, man, I'm missing you in the studio right now. We have had a great July. Oh my gosh. Hey,
Dr. B 1:12
Marcus, absolutely good morning to everyone out there. And is it just me? But where is the time going? It's already August. Y'all that we're ready in early fall, but we just want to recap on some cool stuff that happened this past July,
Marcus White 1:29
absolutely first. Let's start with moms. Big shout out to your mom. Oh my gosh, please tell us the news. I'm not going to spoil it.
Dr. B 1:36
I'm very proud to say that my mother, Christina, was elected in to a Navajo Nation elected tribal position, and we couldn't have been more proud of her from our family and also our community. So at the grassroots level, she will be helping our Navajo community members get stuff needed, like housing infrastructure, access to water, and my mom will really be helping with such needed initiatives in our hometown. Awesome. Congrats,
Marcus White 2:08
mom. What else we got?
Dr. B 2:10
Mom? Love you. And then also just a recap on our dope trip to Marbella, Spain, we were fortunate enough to attend a global gift giving gala this past July, and it was just an amazing experience to meet great people with the best heart wanting to give back into charity and some of the highlighted people that were there. Marcus, give us some some of your highlights, man,
Marcus White 2:40
it was great to meet Miss Eva Longoria. She's just a gym a sweetheart, a kind soul, and is the ambassador for the foundation. Give us some NBA players that we met or former NBA players that we met. Dr b
Dr. B 3:01
Okay, I would be remiss not to give a shout out to Miss Maria Bravo, who is actually founded the gift giving Gala. So shout out to Maria as well. Shout out. But one of my Arizona State arch nemesis, University of Arizona, former Hooper Sean Elliott was an attendant there. And if you all don't know who Sean Elliott is, or was he who for University of Arizona, and he also won some NBA championship titles with the San Antonio Spurs. So he was such a nice guy as well. Mr. Elliot,
Marcus White 3:39
absolutely. And then we found someone who is also a native former NBA player and a current coach for the Boston Celtics. And I know that was surprising. Why don't you tell us about that? Yes,
Dr. B 3:55
we met Mr. Geron, and he's an enrolled member of a tribe in Long Island. So he was really dope. He pulled out his tribal card. He was like, I'm Native too, which took me by surprise of meeting another native, always in Marbella, and I had no idea he's native.
Marcus White 4:17
Yes, ma'am. Brother. Jerome Collins, big shout out to you, bro. So Dr, B, this brings us to the day. Who do we have coming on and rocking with us today?
Dr. B 4:27
Well, I'm just gonna do a quick intro. This person today has been a long time friend of mine, and I'm so happy to have him here on our show today. So I'm gonna do a quick introduction to Mr. Radell denet. So who is a proud Dave African American business owner born and raised on the Navajo Nation. He excelled in basketball, football and baseball, earning all state honors in Arizona and all American distinction in basketball after playing. In college sport, he went on to compete professionally in basketball in France, Belgium and the ABA with the Gallup talons. Bardell holds a degree in visual communication, graphic design from Collins College in Tempe, Arizona, and founded black Street Apparel in 2001 named after his sinner Jenny clan, meaning black street wood people. His company has produced uniforms for teams across the US, and gained recognition by designing the uniform for the Netflix film red ball, which was produced by Sydney Freeland and LeBron James, which made a highlight that a native owned apparel business contributed to a film welcome Rondell. Good to have you on the show.
Roddell Denetso 5:45
Welcome my brother. Good morning. Good morning.
Marcus White 5:50
Man, you a Hooper? Boy, I like that. Athlete.
Roddell Denetso 5:55
Yeah, my kids call me old head now, so they got my old head Hooper.
Marcus White 6:01
Hey, once you're a Hooper, you always a Hooper. So question for you, but what inspired you to step into entrepreneurship, and how has your identity as Danae shaped your approach to business?
Roddell Denetso 6:17
Man, so, you know, just just getting my own business. It kind of started with just, you know, working, working for others, doing the same thing, graphic design. I worked for a newspaper, I worked for for a couple print shops. And, you know, one day I was just, you know, just going to work. And I'm like, Man, I'm, I'm creating all this stuff for for people and and why not? Why not just create it for myself? You know, in a sort of sense, take the middleman out. And so that's, that's how the idea, idea came about. And as far as just the ideas with the with the apparel and stuff that that came about years, way years before, I was playing at a basketball tournament in Phoenix. And, you know, we have a lot of Latinos out there too. And I was at a Latino tournament and saw their their shorts with, like to party and all these crazy designs on their shorts. And I thought to myself, like, man, that would be awesome to have, you know, native inspired designs, like, printed all over the shorts, you know. So that idea I was kicking around for a while before I started my business. And the second part was just really, I think it's just having that mindset, the mindset of where we come from, and just learning to be proud of proud of who we are, is little bit tougher growing up, being mixed mixed with African American growing up on the reservation, but you know that that's it always, you know that that's my people, and that's how I grew up. I was raised by my grandmother and my mom, so that's just what I knew growing up. So, you know, as far as identifying with both sides, you know, as I got older, you know, I got more in touch with my African American side and knowing my family on that side, but it was always going back to my native roots and and just not not picking and choosing one side or the other, but just understanding that, you know, I was, I was a unique, a unique blend of African American and Native American, so just learning to accept it and go with it and be proud of it. Thank
Dr. B 8:26
you for that. Radel has I know Marcus just asked How has being done shaped your approach to business? But you touched on your background of being both African American and Vanessa. Maybe he wants to integrate how both shaped your approach to business currently,
Roddell Denetso 8:47
just, I guess just being how it helped my approaches is being, being more aggressive, of course, being a minority and and even just having a business, I feel like you have to just, you have to push a little bit harder, you know, you you have to, you have to just take a more aggressive approach to be seen, to be heard. And that's what, you know, having, having my background, that's, that's the approach I've taken, is, is, you know, don't, don't take no for an answer. Keep pushing and and just have that mindset of of of achieving, of achieving a goal that, you know, even even here on the reservation, that many may not have thought as possible, you know. And one thing I always touch on when I do talk to people is that it was important for me to have my business on the reservation. You know, I've had opportunities to have it in the border towns, Farmington, down in the valley in Phoenix, Arizona. But ultimately, you know, it was important to have it within the boundaries of the reservation, because I felt like that that brought down to. Authenticity and and it was just important to me to have that, have the youth in the younger generation see that it that it is possible, that, you know, you could still stay here and and still reach your goals. So that was a big important part,
Marcus White 10:14
you know, that that's, that's a that's great. And again, I have a label as well Larnell Allen, and I know Dr B has her Dr B's collection. And so when you're talking to two entrepreneurs, and we know that the grind is real when you have your own business, how do you see indigenous values influencing the future of business, both within our communities and beyond.
Roddell Denetso 10:42
I feel like, I feel like there is so much talent. There's so much talent in Native America. And I think the more entrepreneurs we have, the more eyes we, we we have on our on our people. And for the longest time, you know, I mean, I mean, even to today, it's 2025 there's still people out there that think that Native Americans, you know, don't even exist, or, you know, just, just how they view it in general. You know, I have, I have, I have some cousins on my, on my black side, that I when I first met them, they asked if we live in teepees and hunt for our food, you know, how, how we could be viewed and and so. But I think owning a business really, it really lets people know that we're, we're still here, one and two, just letting our people know that anything is possible. You know, we, we, we are in we are set on a reservation, on these with these boundaries. But you know, really the boundaries itself is just on the map, but creating your business, owning a business, and expanding networking, that's just gonna, gonna make our boundaries limitless.
Dr. B 11:59
Absolutely, I feel you on the the native side, we often get asked a bunch of ridiculous questions. So I think, I think you made a point about visibility and how important visibility is, not only directly to our community, but also directly to the outside of our community that, hey, we're still here, we still exist. We're thriving, and we're business owners, we're doctors, you know, and I think that's really great imprint to to to make on on the global scale. Um, so right now, I'll have another question for you, what now that we're talking about being Native, owning businesses, you're on you're on the ground, you're right on the Navajo Nation. So from your perspective, what gaps do you see in the market that native entrepreneurs are uniquely positioned to fill based on where you're standing, as
Roddell Denetso 13:03
far as just like my business in general, like my product, or do you mean like just in businesses
Dr. B 13:09
as a whole? However you want to answer the question,
Roddell Denetso 13:13
okay, I think, I think as far as as far as what I do, I think there's a niche for it. There's a, there is a niche for for Native American theme apparel. But don't get me wrong, you know, that's not, that's not all we limit, limit ourselves to, it's it's open to whatever. But just because I felt like, if I go into just doing like the regular apparel and all that. You know, there's, there's so many companies you know, that that do that. So it's just finding that little niche. Not many, not many do the Native American influence or design the peril. But also, within the last three years, you know, since I started, there has been, there has been tons of new businesses starting up. And, you know, and that that makes me happy, you know, that makes me happy. There's always work for everyone, you know. And, and I think as far as businesses and whole, as a whole, gosh, I think just as a whole, I think more businesses need to be on, on, on the reservations, if we all know that when we when we live in the city, every everything is, everything is a few minutes away, you know, and why? Why can it? Why can't it be like that here? You know, there's places you live on the reservations that it's an hour drive just to get groceries, just to go shopping for school clothes, etc, you know? And so the more businesses we have, I think it's closing that gap. As far as accessibility,
Marcus White 14:51
definitely can understand that as you're, I can't even imagine, you know, having a having the drive, and. Hour and a half away just to do your shopping. So and that makes me, you know, move to a another question for you, how are you leveraging technology partnerships or networks to grow your business beyond borders, whether it's regional or cultural?
Roddell Denetso 15:20
I was, I was fortunate to, like, crystal has said in my bio, like, I've played a lot of ball, and I've traveled a lot playing basketball. So when I started my business, I was very fortunate to still have all these connections, as far as the people I've played against and played with. So, you know, as being a little bit older, a lot of these, these people that I've, I've made connections with, they're now like athletic directors at high schools, their club coaches, you know, they're, they're summer AAU coaches, they, you know, and, and so those were the first people I reached out to, so that as far as just, you know, my my marketing and getting out there, that was a huge, that was a huge part of it. And then from there, you know, they, they let their friends know, they let, they let their people know that are in the same positions. And it kind of just spread. It just spread that way, you know. And I was like, I said, you know, I was also as well as, you know, when I used to work for another print shop in a town near here, I was responsible for working with all the schools and and athletic directors and the coaches and whatnot. So when I started my business, I kind of just continued networking with them and and, you know, a lot of it is word of mouth. A lot of it is just visual. I know my social media side needs to pick up a little bit, but, you know, it's just, it's time, it's time consuming. You know, as you guys probably know, it's, it's time consuming to do posts and to get just have stuff like every day so, and they do better job of that. But as of right now, you know, a lot of not networking through word of mouth, through, you know, just going to visit people. I always felt like that was important. You know, I like to go to the area schools have introduced myself and just let them know, you know what? You know what, what my capabilities are, as far as apparel and and what I do. So, yeah, that's, that's pretty much, it
Dr. B 17:28
very nice. Um, yeah, I know me and my dad used to hoop and all the native tourneys. Remember that
Roddell Denetso 17:41
Hooper herself. Don't let her fool you,
Marcus White 17:43
man, she whip my butt. Bruh, I mean, we were at the park shooting them, and I'm fine sharing that she whipped my tail, but I mean, I got her back on those suicides we had to run after each game.
Dr. B 18:00
Oh, it's too funny. Rodell. I'm going to kind of switch gears a bit, because now I want to, I want to talk about this red ball film you're a part of on Netflix. Why don't you give us some backstory about how you got involved, who was all involved in the filmmaking, which makes this story add some like, more highlights, but I want to hear it from your version and your experience.
Roddell Denetso 18:27
So, big shout out to Brent cow way. He's the owner of Indian sports.com he was the, he was the original person that actually hit me up on Instagram, just out of nowhere, too, you know, he, he, he, he messaged me and was like, Hey, radell, I got this possible big project that you might be interested in, you know, give me a call. So I call him up, and he was like, I can't say too much right now, but it's involving a film that they want to shoot, you know, out in your area. And they called me because they thought, you know, I knew some, you know, some, some native, owned apparel companies. And he named a few. I think there was about five, five or six that he named. And I guess Dave referred them to the to the producers or the movie company and and this was what surprised me. So when, when they finally did reach out, they told me, like they went, they went to all our pages, they went and picked random people from our comment section and actually, like, messaged them and asked how their experience was with our company. Like they actually did, like, some background stuff, you know. And so they said, your company received, you know, as far as customer service, you know, product turnaround, it felt like, you know, I got, I guess you could say, the best reviews. So, and that's how they decided to reach out. Yeah, and, and so from there, they set up a meeting, they set up a telephone call meeting. And I'll never forget, I was, I was headed to Las Vegas for for a summer basketball tournament for my kids, because, you know, that's what I do in the summers. We have a youth program. We have about four teams, and we were on our way out there and and crystal, you're familiar with the area, but, um, we passed, we had just passed to the city, and we were taking a left outside of Tuba City, going towards Flagstaff. There's that little area where they sell all the jewelry right there on the side, right. And so every time I've been through there, I've lost service not too far after that. So, so I told the family. I was like, We got to stop right here. We got to pull over, you know, it's almost, it's almost that time to make this call, and I don't want to be in a no service area, you know, in the middle of the call or something. So
Dr. B 20:57
life,
Roddell Denetso 20:58
that's a little red Res Life, you know. And so we stopped, we stopped, and I called the number and, and I think for a good four or five minutes, I was the only person in that, in that call. And so I was, I was like, man, is this a joke? You know, somebody was pranking me, whatever. And I was like, I'm gonna give it three more minutes, you know. And so two minutes go by and I'm ready to hang up. And then I hear this doorbell sound, you know, and it's like, So and so entered the room. So and So entered the room, and they all started coming in at the same time. And then I instantly got nervous. And then the producer, Mauricio, Mato. He was one of the main producers. He they, they introduced themselves. Brent cow with Indian sports was in there. And, you know, they talked about this film. They even wanted to do. It's called res ball. And they, they wanted to, they wanted to know, you know, what fight, aside from New Jersey without, you know, am I able to produce? So we kind of just talked about that, and, and, you know, it was, it was a good, it was a good introduction meeting. So then they set up more meetings. And this was, this was right when covid hit, and so all that went smooth. It went great. They had me send them, you know, kind of like a, like an RFP on all the things that I would be doing, got that sent out right away, and and then we were in talks for about a good month, and then, and then covid hit hard. The reservation got put on lockdown, which meant, meant their film crews Couldn't go on the reservation. So, so literally, like that shut down. And so it was like that for a year, and then we're going on two years, and I'm just thinking, like, man, you know, is too good to be true. It's not going to happen. You know, honestly, just kind of, I was kind of just at a point where I was just kind of forgot about it, you know. And, and then low bill at the blue I get this email, and it's Mr. Uh, Mr. Mauricio monto. And he's like, Hey, Mr. Net, so how's it going? Thought I'd reach out, like, you ready to do this movie? And I'm like, what, you know? And I'm just tripping because I'm not prepared at this time. And, and, you know, I got other projects going on and, and, and I was just like, let's do it, you know? I was like, let's do it, you know, I can. And I let my, my current customers and stuff, know, you know, Hey, your stuff might be a little bit bit late. Thank God, you know, not. None of it was like a rush order or whatnot. So I was able to free up my time and so, so that happened. And so everything was a go. Everything was a go again. And then, and then we had zoom meetings at the Zoom meetings, and we went over the whole design process. You know, one of the great things was they, they left, they let the design process up to me. They're like, we saw your work. We see your stuff, you know, we love we love it. We love your creativity, you know, we just, just go with what you think would look good. And and they gave me a couple parameters, you know, what some of the things not to do, because, I guess certain things don't, don't come out right on film, or something like that. And then they sent me the script. They sent me the script. I read the script kind of gave me idea. Because, you know, with my stuff, I do like to do research, research on either the tribe or, you know, the part of the country that the order is coming from, and it allows me to better come up with a design for their tribe or that area. So that's what this script allowed me to do. And then, so we just went from there they had to do, I think it was 10 to 12 different designs. I sent it to them. They narrowed it down in half. And then after they narrowed that down, they narrowed it down to two. And then finally, to getting. And you know, the one, the design that they that they like, and then off that one design we made, I'd say about three to four different changes, add ons in the movie, like the jerseys have spears, it didn't have that on there originally. And the wardrobe production team came to my shop, and they were looking through my stuff, and they actually saw some jerseys that had Spears on it. They're like, Oh my gosh, we got to have this, you know? So that's where that idea came. And so we added that. And then we went over the colors, logos and all that good stuff. So it just Yeah, from there and crazy deadlines. I always say, like I felt deadline pressure, like I've had AAU teams that were leaving from Phoenix and saying they were leaving they were playing in Las Vegas, and I've actually shipped their jerseys to the hotel they're staying at, and just got it there in time, you know. But wow, this, yeah, and this movie deadline was like 100 times that, you know, just and and then would always remind you, you know, we don't get it in time. This is losing a day of production. Is X amount of dollars,
Marcus White 26:15
putting that pressure on you, right, right,
Roddell Denetso 26:19
that little reminder and so,
Dr. B 26:22
but you're used to pressure, right? We needed a three in the last five seconds of the game. You got it.
Roddell Denetso 26:30
That's exactly, that's exactly the analogy I used to in the mindset, I swear to God, and you know, it's like, it's this fourth quarter. You know, what are we going to do? So you know that that was, and it started out originally, just doing the the uniforms for the star team, the tusca warriors, and got that dominant and
Dr. B 26:52
model. Speaking of fourth quarter, we have just one final question to ask. I we would love to go on and on with you. So I think just how has this experience made you feel, to answer your last question with the red ball Netflix movie, how did the experience make me feel? Yeah,
Roddell Denetso 27:17
it was great. You know, it was great. It was humbling. It made me feel proud. It's just that feeling of, I think, I think even just for us as Native Americans, it's that feeling of being noticed. You know what I mean, right? You know, like, like, you know, like, for example, you know, crystal with everything you do, you know, getting out there, it's not, it's not just the notice for you, for say, it's for, like all of naval nation and for the young women to to to see that they can do it long so for me, that that that was the big thing is, is like, hey, this little shop on the res, Not a huge manufacturing shop. It's a little shop on the rez with, with, you know, with somebody that grew up with the same way as us, the same traumas, alcoholism, no father, and he made it, you know, he did. He did uniforms for for movie. So just basically letting just that being seen, and letting them know that it's possible
Dr. B 28:22
amazing and not just any movie. It was actually also produced by Lebron James. So some big names tied to this movie, which is really big in Indian Country, Radel, we would love to have you back on our show. We just, I really loved hearing your story from start to finish. I'm very proud of you as a friend, as a community member, as a relative. We pretty much grew up not too far apart on the rest. So for me to you, I'm very proud of you, bro, very proud of you. Definitely. I
Roddell Denetso 28:58
appreciate that. I appreciate that. Doesn't mean a lot. And vice versa. I'm proud of everything that you were doing, and, yeah, you're doing a big time. Keep keep it up, and keep shining and and what I love most about it crystal that you you remain you. Ain't nobody telling you to take off your hats or whatever. That's crystal,
Dr. B 29:21
exactly. Thanks. I appreciate that so much.
Marcus White 29:25
All right, radell, again, thank you so much for being on the show. And everybody. Have a fantastic Sunday, and we're going to see you again at nine.
Dr. B 29:35
All right, thanks for having me. Thank you, Rod. Thank you to everyone out there. Bye, everybody. You.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai