Southern hip-hop legend, educator, and entrepreneur, Bun B, of UGK and Trill Burgers fame, has partnered with veteran designer, marketing strategist, and podcast host Tom Frank, chief creative officer at Merrick Creative, to create Merrick Studios, a podcast network with a mission to bring passionate voices with unique, often underrepresented perspectives to the forefront by providing them with an in-house production team, promotional reach, and monetization strategies, all in an attempt to reach the widest audience possible. Already, Merrick Studios has an assortment of podcasts covering a wide array of subject matter ranging from real estate and design on ‘PlaceShaper,’ comic and movie culture on ‘The Love/Hate Relationship with Comic Culture,’ and Merrick’s flagship podcast, hosted by Jeffrey Sledge, Tom Frank, and Bun B himself, ‘Unglossy,’ which aims to shine a spotlight on the true, unfiltered stories of cultural powerhouses such as Keenan Scott II, Marcus Samuelsson, Eric Liedtke and Andre Reed.
Sledge, a former Atlantic and Jive Records A&R who discovered Bun B and Pimp C back in the '90s, was the lynchpin that brought Bun B and Tom Frank together, ultimately leading to this collaboration. “Bun B… had called me, and we were just chatting one day, and I was telling him what I was thinking about,” Tom reflects during an interview he and Bun sat down for with EARMILK. “And [Bun] was like… I’ve been approached a million times to do a podcast, but I didn’t. It didn’t feel right. Like, I didn’t want to do a podcast for somebody else and not control the content.” That’s when Frank brought up the idea of them going into this endeavor together. “…honestly, I didn't have a good reason to say no,” Bun explains. “I knew I had connections to get great guests that could tell great stories.” From there, ‘Unglossy’ and Merrick studios were born.
Watching the podcasts, there’s an immediate sense of intimacy and true friendship that’s created in the low-maintenance, unfiltered Zoom calls. As a viewer, you feel like you’re in on a conversation between lifelong companions. “It was very much intentional,” Tom says when asked if the ‘Unglossy’ title was meant to reflect the rawness and unrefined nature of the episodes. “Let us really understand the good, the bad, the ugly of what our guests have seen and what they've done, and how they've gotten from point A to point B, because it's not always an easy road,” he continued. Bun B’s introductory episode touches on everything from how he got his name to meeting Jeff and signing to Jive Records, to his daily schedule while teaching at Rice University back in the early 2010s. Conversations flow in a way that feels natural and seamless.
Since Bun stepped in as a host, ‘Unglossy’ has invited former Buffalo Bills wide receiver and NFL Hall of Fame inductee Andre Reed on as a guest for two episodes in preparation for football season, and that seems to be only the beginning. In addition to rolling out an entire show by acclaimed music industry executive and producer Dante Ross this fall, there's a slew of guests lined up for ‘Unglossy;’ everyone from professional athletes to entertainers to chefs. “We’re looking at all facets and all walks of life,” Bun said during our conversation. “I’ve met some very interesting people [who] had some very interesting journeys, and so have Jeff and Tom, and we think it’s an interesting time to have these conversations because there’s a perfect outlet for it with Podcasting.”
When asked about the future of Merrick Studios and where they want to take both it and ‘Unglossy,’ the pair seems optimistic, with both of them expressing an interest in expanding beyond just podcasts at some point down the road. “Maybe something translates to a visual series. You know, I think there's a lot of potential. We may find someone whose story is so engaging that someone may want to write a book about it or even do a television show or a movie about an individual,” Bun explained. Really, the sky seems to be the limit, with Frank expressing a desire to possibly do live versions of shows, and to build the world of Merrick in the likeness of TV sitcoms from back in the day; “…we want this to really be a family of shows. Like…when I grew up, you know, you would watch, like, an ABC show or an NBC show, right? And, like, the sitcoms…would have guest appearances from the other sitcoms and stories would kind of flow through, you know?” Frank describes it as a family of shows that individually and uniquely help build the shows in its orbit, effectively creating a system in which everyone grows together.
The studio is really about empowering creatives and pushing culture forward, which both hosts seem genuinely passionate about. There seems to be a real desire to invest resources into the next bright-eyed creative with a great idea and an enthusiastic yearning to make it happen. “…if they got a great idea, and they want to throw it by us, we're going to look at everything…we're a young, you know, aggressive network, [and] we want to get a bunch of cool shows and make great content and see where it goes,” Frank said sincerely. Bun echoed a similar sentiment: “I would love to find someone that's passionate about something that we didn't even know you could build passion around…that’s what we’re looking for.”
The future certainly looks bright for the fledgling network, and with time, they’re on a surefire course to revolutionize podcasting in a way that only Merrick can. We can’t wait to see what happens next.
