Rain didn’t stop the excitement and enthusiasm on Saturday on Newbury Street in Boston, nor did it shorten the line that stretched all the way from Johnny Cupcakes down the street.
An man who claimed to have arrived at 3 a.m. to guarantee his position at the front was first in line.
Jaylen Brown, a great player for the Celtics, was gracious with his time once inside Johnny Cupcakes, a well-known Boston retail business. The store has an unusual arrangement with t-shirts displayed in refrigerators and the fragrance of cupcakes drifting through the air at the door.
Along with the attendees, he smiled the entire time while taking pictures, signing autographs, and having long conversations for several hours.
” data-full-height=”2000″ data-full-src=”https://www.si.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MjAxNjY3NTc0NTU0MTA5NzE2/081a4841.jpg” data-full-width=”1333″ data-image-id=”ci02cc779e0000268f” data-image-link-href=”https://www.si.com/nba/celtics/news/rajon-rondo-latest-former-celtic-to-spend-time-with-cs” data-image-slug=”081A4841″ data-public-id=”MjAxNjY3NTc0NTU0MTA5NzE2″ data-source-name=”Ermis Martinez, EMartinez Flics”>Jaylen Brown was all smiles while engaging with fans throughout Saturday’s event at Johnny Cupcakes.
The realization of a concept that originated “20 years (ago) on a crowded backstreet in an alleyway in Philadelphia” occurred on Saturday.
“We’ve been saying we want to work together for 20 years,” said Set Free Richardson, the gallery’s creator of creative collective Compound, which blends fashion, music, sports, and art.
Richardson went on, “We simply never pursued the matter. Additionally, Jaylen doesn’t have any juice, and he doesn’t have cupcakes here.” Though there aren’t any baked goods or drinks, the idea to start this event “happened over a luncheon with us, and we called Johnny, (he) picks up on FaceTime, (a) great man for doing that, and me, him, and Jaylen came up with the idea.”
They had struck up a conversation during lunch, and they soon had the momentum going to pull out the event on Saturday. In addition to providing extra motivation, the agreement to host this partnership prior to the 2023–24 NBA season serves as a deadline.
And what does it mean to be in partnership with one of Boston’s biggest stars, a two-time All-Star and All-NBA selection?
“Jaylen is excellent. He’s just a regular kind guy with a big heart who plays basketball pretty well. And as he entered the store, he was struck by the attention to detail and felt as though he were a child in a candy store, saying, “We gotta do something.”
“Despite his busy schedule, he was completely present in the moment and didn’t even look at his phone. He was similar to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory while he was here. After that, we all got together for dinner, which is where the creatives came together.”
Richardson went on, “I think one of the most cultural places in America is Boston.” “Compound is the name of my business. In other words, it involves bringing thoughts, ideas, and people together. Thus, I didn’t feel that Johnny and Jaylen were paired with two better people. It was similar to the entire Boston synergy, where the NBA and the Celtics are on one level and streetwear and culture are on another, and what Johnny did to me is on yet another level. As a result, it’s like a compounded cupcake and juice.”
Johnny also shared, “My Mom can’t believe it. And my Dad can’t believe it. I got friends messaging me, including people I haven’t heard from in forever. But it’s all good. Yeah, it’s great, and he texts me randomly and throws around ideas. We’re all in a group chat. Yeah, it’s like I’ve known him forever, but we really just met like a month ago, two months ago.”
Their fast-forming friendship is why “This is just the beginning,” according to Johnny. “I’m sure we’re gonna have a lot more projects after this.”
As Richardson put it, “It’s a lot more in the oven baking.”
And while visitors get a charge out of the unique setup at Johnny Cupcakes, it’s evident that seeing them have a great time provides an energy Johnny thrives off of.
“You walk in here, and we don’t sell food. “It smells like a bakery, looks like a bakery. All the shirts are in refrigerators. You buy a t-shirt, (and) we pull it out of a smoking oven. And to see people feel like a kid again for 5, 10, 20 minutes that they’re in the store, it makes me keep coming back in (to) retail.
“And retail is a scary industry to be in. But if you like putting puzzles together, you have something to do every day, and today happens to be a really good puzzle, and we’re excited to see where it goes.”
Ermis Martinez, EMartinez Flics
Jaylen Brown and Johnny Cupcakes pose for a photo together at Johnny Cupcakes.
Malcolm Durr and Shawn Clarke, co-creative directors of 7uice, were also happy to see the collaboration achieve its goals of creating exciting designs and orchestrating an event that provided “something fresh for the city (and) good energy for the city.”
Clarke added that from the cupcake aroma that greets people when they walk in the store to the refrigerator doors at the entrance and displaying the shirts in fridges, “this store (is) built on an aesthetic, it’s artistic, which is what 7uice definitely strives itself on, so this was a no-brainer collab.”
And when Brown signed his record-setting veteran supermax extension with the Celtics, he expressed the desire to make a significant impact in the region he stars in, attacking the wealth, education, and opportunity gaps, including by bringing Black Wall Street to Boston.
Saturday, Durr conveyed, “If anything, this is just the first step in our efforts in the city.”
Clarke teases something that will happen soon in this passage, stating, “Be sure to stick around for the season opener on October 27.” We are planning something very unique for the city. A truly unique relationship. It’s another collaboration from Boston.”
Ever since the Celtics selected him third overall in the 2016 NBA Draft, Brown has been involved in the community. Several times, Boston Magazine’s list of the most influential people in the city included him because of his work fighting systemic racism through the 7uice Foundation and its Bridge Program, which collaborates with the MIT Media Lab’s Community Biotechnology Initiative to provide science and technology opportunities for children in underprivileged local communities. He won the 2020 Bostonians of the Year award from the Boston Globe for his contributions to racial equity and civil rights.
With the most lucrative deal in league history under his belt, and with Boston supporting him with projects like the one on Saturday at Johnny Cupcakes, where guests got to spend time with an NBA star in one of the most unusual settings in the city, it’s exciting to see the 7uice he gets from realizing the revolutionary goals he can actualize.
