FRONT-LINE I
t would be impossible to discuss the Florida Classic without mentioning Front-Line Promotions, the company which has organized most of the weekend’s major events for years. After a rough hurricane season last year, Front-Line is back in full effect. OZONE checked in with owners Pat Nix and Willie Fisher. How long has Front-Line Promotions been around? Pat Nix: Front-Line has been in existence for about ten years now. The Florida Classic was one of our first major contracts for marketing and promotions. How were you able to get the contract? Pat Nix: I am a FAMU alumni, so I guess that helped out a little bit because a few of the people knew me and knew who I was. My reputation helped. I heard you got hit pretty hard by the hurricane season last year. Pat Nix: Yeah, last year our company went through a lot. We had about five different events planned during Labor Day weekend which included several concerts and special events. The Labor Day classic was coming to town, and we had the contract as far as entertainment. Which hurricane hit you the hardest? Pat Nix: I think it was Charley, but there was so many last year I can’t even remember. Our company lost six figures during Labor Day weekend. How did you lose that much money? Pat Nix: Advertising, artist deposits, and potential earnings. It was rough, you know? We make good money as a company, but we’re not at the point where we can stand losing that kind of money. How did you regroup after that? Pat Nix: I went out and got into the hurricane relief program. You kinda have to use whatever you have when you’re in a time of need. I got several crews together that went out and did the hurricane relief; debris pick up and things of that nature. It kinda got me back on my feet. At the same time, we
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were still doing parties and Front-Line was still alive. Willie Fisher: I really don’t know how we made it through. I think it was just prayer. Pat and I talked briefly on the cell phone during the hurricane which came Labor Day weekend, and he asked me, “What are we gonna do?” I didn’t have an answer for him at the time. We lost a lot of money. We actually almost lost everything. But we endured, we had perseverance, we kept at it and wouldn’t let that stop us. We had to almost start from scratch, and that’s what we did. The next week, we were back at it promoting First Fridays. We just kept going and kept praying and here we are. So are you looking at this year as sort of a comeback year? Pat Nix: Well, we did parties during the Super Bowl in Jacksonville and took control of a great situation. We kinda turned a museum into a nightclub for three nights. Friday night we had our famous First Fridays hosted by Cedric the Entertainer. Saturday night we had R Kelly’s party, and Sunday we hosted a party with P Diddy and Magic Johnson. I heard you had an altercation with Fat Joe during one of those parties. Pat Nix: It was a big misunderstanding. At the time of the hurricanes, Fat Joe was one of the artists we had booked that never returned our deposit. At the time, I was thinking about all the stuff I went through because of people doing bad business like that. I knew one day I’d run into Fat Joe again, with all the events we do across the country, and I knew I’d have to say something to him. What greater opportunity than at my own event? When I saw Fat Joe inside my party during the Super Bowl my heart started racing. I went up to the DJ booth and had the DJ put on “Lean Back.” I grabbed the mic from the DJ and started saying “What’s up” to Fat Joe and the Terror Squad. Then I stopped the music and said, “Yeah, we the same cats that y’all took that money from during the hurricanes that hurt our families.” Fat Joe looked down at me from VIP and made a gesture, like, “suck my dick.” So I got even more upset and I told him to suck my dick. I told the crowd, “Put your muthafuckin’ hands in the air if anybody ever owed you money.” Of course, the whole crowd put their hands up. It was sort of a diss to Fat Joe. I put my hands up in the middle of the stage like, “Yeah, people owe me money too,” and