Building Thorn City: Visibility, Community, And Real Results

The door closes on one studio, and a bigger vision swings wide open. We take you inside Thorn City’s evolution from a local nod to the Rose City to a blueprint for creators who want focus over fame and visibility that actually converts. What started as managing a best friend’s hip hop career grew into award-winning productions, a podcast studio that forged community, and now a vendor network and marketplace designed to help creators get paid without going it alone.

We talk about the tough parts most people skip: the grind behind entrepreneurship, the mental stamina to keep moving when budgets are thin, and the discipline to pivot with purpose. You’ll hear how GMP Podcast Studios launched in the pandemic, what we learned from producing the Honesty music video, and why quality beats speed when crafting the Third Twin full-length album and documentary. That comeback story isn’t just content it’s a model for pacing your releases, protecting your brand, and shipping work you can stand behind. 

The next chapter is fully digital and deeply collaborative. We’re building a new website, a clear landing page, and a white-label powered service marketplace so we can fulfill fast and keep standards high. Our vendor network brings together podcast hosts, editors, videographers, photographers, freelancers, and small business owners who want to share opportunities, generate leads, and grow together. We’re also rolling out host coaching to help you find your voice, sharpen your format, and build a brand that lasts.

If you’re ready to be seen, be heard, and be remembered, come build with us. Subscribe, share this with a creator who needs momentum, and drop a DM if you want in on the vendor network. Your story deserves a system let’s put it to work.

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🔗 https://www.thorncitysyndicate.com

Transcript

From Rose City To Thorn City

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Thorn City Spotlight Show. I'm Naeem Hall, the Thorn City Podcast Guy. Here to help creators and entrepreneurs step out of survival mode and into the spotlight. We share real stories, practical strategies to help you turn your voice into revenue and your passion into impact. If you're ready to be seen, be heard, and be remembered, let's get it. These episodes mark the end of an era. The final recordings inside GMP Podcast Studios before the door is officially closed and the beginning of something brand new. Thorn City HQ. Today, I'm telling the story behind Thorn City, where it came from, what it stands for, and how it grew from a hustle into a whole movement. From artist management to war-winning productions. From the dream to the system. This is the journey. From vision to visibility. How one idea became a blueprint for creators everywhere. Because visibility isn't about fame, it's about focus. Welcome to the Thorn City Spotlight Show. Be seen, be heard, be remembered. A lot of people ask me, so what's Thorn City? Where's that at? Let me break that down. Thorn City is just another way of saying Rose City. We know the roses got Thorns, so we came up with Thorn City. But everybody says Rose City, so we had to switch it up a bit. Thorn City is Portland. Thorn City Syndicate, the brand, that's me. My vision, my purpose. But before we get into that, I need y'all to go ahead and smash the subscribe button. Tap in on the tap in, like my guy Seasoning would say. Tell a friend to tell a friend. Comment, share, subscribe to the Thorn City Spotlight. Last week I talked about kind of how I got it all started, managing my best friend, rap career, and really his life for that matter, trying to get my guy back right. And so the mission turned into a hustle, the hustle turned into a mission, and that's when Thorn City Syndicate was born. Then came a big pivot. We started the GMP Podcast Studios, and really that was to help build the GMP brand. So for those that don't know, the GMP, that stands for is Gaddis Marshal Productions. Because we've always been into the the idea of bigger productions. Got the music video, I'll touch on that here in a second. Documentary 2. Movies is in the future. You know, just productions. But podcasting was hot. And so we opened a podcast studio. The GMP Podcast Studios. And like I said, we first teamed up on the honesty music video. Award-winning music video, yeah. That's right. I'm an award-winning producer. And that's something that no one can ever take away from me. I did that. We did that. One of the tightest experiences in my life. Wasn't cheap. I don't know how I came up with the money to foot the deal on the budget, but we put our heads together and we made it happen. So we got GMP Gaddismo Productions, Warren City Syndicate, the management company. And so together we operate for the GMP podcast studios. So that brings me to the next pivot. Like I said, not just the production, but creating a group of podcasts or just content in general. The truth is it's tough. I always say it, I'll probably keep saying it. Business entrepreneurship, it's tough, it's hard. It's not for everybody. Gotta have the right mindset, tough skin. Really the mental fraturity, head strength to be able to keep going when shit is all bad and ain't going how you want it to go or how you think it should go. But you gotta keep pushing, man. So that's what we're doing, man. Every day. Take it day by day, moment by moment. Keep pushing, keep one foot in front of the other. They say if you stay down, you're gonna come up, so we staying down. But our culture makes it tough. I'll never fully understand it. Why it's so hard for us to support each other. Unless there's a discount involved. You got a discount, they're gonna come, show up. But bottom line is I've been on the grind, heavy on the grind. What was the song back in the day? Got him. Heavy on the grind. Been heavy on the grind since 2014. Shout out to my guy Smurf. Smurf Luciano, he's behind Gotham, the real DB Cooper. Um, I gotta give my guy up here in the spotlight, and he's been he's been putting it down for decades, putting his people in position. That's what it's about sometimes, you know. Putting your people in position, man, to show them better things. And so I give Smurf that, man. He's been down for his crown. He's been putting his people in position. So that's dope. So basically from 2014 to 2020, Thorn City Syndicate was strictly an artist management company, managing my best friend, his hip hop career. Partnered with GMP to produce the award-winning honesty music video. Then COVID hit. And you guys, sometimes in business, you gotta pivot. You know, you gotta know when to hold and on to fold and want to keep moving on to the next thing. So COVID hit in 2020. And we began the GMP podcast studios, like I was saying earlier. We've been grinding ever since. So from 2020 to 2025, brings us to the present day. Something else I mentioned last week. It's linking up with another fellow entrepreneur I actually went to high school with. He's a year or two older than me. My guy Jamal Lane and his wife Christina Lane over at the CBI Champions Barber Institute. But it's not just Barber School anymore. They have a strictly business program. And so they hit me up, they told me to enroll. They had something going on. They was trying to get this off the ground. And so I'm one of the first ones to go through their program. And so it's been really good. I ain't gonna lie, it's been good. It's really helped me get back to the basics, gain some clarity about where I'm at and what's going on, and trying to figure out where I'm gonna get to where I'm at, and get to the next place, and really start building this self-sufficient business and really level this thing up like we really want to, man. So here's the biggest takeaway that I've had so far. Well, we've been doing a program for three going on four weeks now. I think it's a seven-week program. The conclusion I came to is my time. I've always wanted to be behind the scenes, but hey, sometime you gotta do what you gotta do if it isn't. So my time to shine, as they will say. My face, my voice, and my story. That's the time we own right now. So the original mission, the one that got disrupted by COVID, that's really kind of coming full circle. Third twin project. How it all started. Got the full-length album, the documentary. It's gonna be special. It's a special project. I'll be able to say I made a movie after that. A documentary movie, but it's a movie. It's coming, we get a few more interviews. The story is is told. We had the wedding that really helped us put a button on the story happily ever after. Everyone loves a comeback story. Everyone loves seeing somebody fall and get back up and seeing how you bounce back. And so it's kind of what the story is. The third twin story coming soon. I know I've been saying that for a long time, but it's coming. It's coming when the time is right. We ain't gonna put nothing out, no bullshit out. Put something out just to be putting it out. That's why I've been holding on to my full album. I do have a full third twin album. We put out an EP, so on all the streaming platforms, go get the Honesty Project. Goes with the award-winning music video. I'm gonna always say that because what's a big deal? Award winning multiple times over. All over the world. So yeah, it's dope. So what's next? Got the new website being built, starting with a landing page. And then I'll I'll fill it in as we go, as I get through the program I'm in. Once I get all the way through the program, I'll have everything I need to build the website. But right now I got everything I need to build the landing page. So that's that's what's next, the landing page. Fresh brand direction for Thorn City Syndicate, a brand visibility platform. Actually works. I'm getting into a full suite of digital marketing tools. Digital marketing, so I can really start servicing people on the net. Everything's on the internet now, everything's digitally. So I'm really getting into that. I found a company to partner with. So creative vendor network. Basically, getting a bunch of different people who offers their services and putting them all in one place, my platform. So when you go order a service from the marketplace, I got somebody I can say, okay, I need this job done. You this is what you do. Here you do this. Podcast hosts, editors, videographers, photographers, freelancers, small business owners, any type of content creator, really, all really working together to grow, collaborate, and create magic and support each other. It's not about doing it alone, really, man. It's tough doing it alone. If you look at the big companies and the big podcasts, and it's something we always talk about. We get people coming here all the time. They talk about they was watching this podcast and they want to do it like this and do it like this, do it like that, like this person. And then it'll be like, did you check out the staff? The budget that they're working with? Because everybody sees the end product, they don't see the beginning, the middle, and the end. So you can't do it alone, man. So it's about building a trusted network of professionals you can really depend on and people who get it, people who love the grind, people who want to win together. Really just bringing ideas to life. Podcast host development. It's part of the coaching that I'm gonna get into. Coaching hosts to find their voice and build their brand and grow their audience. Something I've been plotting on for years and years now. I'm really gonna finally be able to put it in motion, is really building out my brand visibility network. Just help people be seen, really. Be seen, be heard, and be remembered. And so that's what's gonna happen. So the vendor network, like I said, just a growing list of go-to creatives and professionals, folks who support each other and share opportunities, lead generation. That's something my new website's about. It's generate leads. Finding the ways to make other people money. So you get paid, we all get paid. I get paid when you get paid. Everybody needs leads generated. If anybody in business and say they don't need leads generated, or they're not looking for ways to generate leads, they lying. Um, so that's something I'll focus on. Like I said, just generate a lead. So if I can make you money, then we all make money. So the service marketplace will be a one-stop shop, destination where you can book or offer services. Whether you're looking for help or you're ready to get paid. Collaboration over competition. Real people, real value, real results. So, yeah, that's what the company I'm partnering with is about. That's where I got that the marketplace and service ideas about. And full transparency, it's it's a white label company. So basically, they allow me to take what they built and offer it like I built it. But I am building my own version of it. But I just need them to help me fulfill it. That's where the marketplace comes from. So basically, I can go on there and find services that I need. I can offer services on there that we provide. And so it's not just me on there. So, like I said, it's it's everybody else can do the same thing. And so that's what gave me the idea about this place, is to get people, like I said, on the same page and get people in here who offer services. So you come, you offer those services, and I'll put you in the marketplace. You can get on my list of people I go to. When those orders come in, when I generate those leads, and somebody needs some stuff done, you get on my list, and who you think I'm gonna call first? I'm gonna call you before I call, before I pick up somebody else who else has a the same service on the marketplace. That's somewhere else that I don't know. But if I don't have nobody here who can do it, why wouldn't I go to somebody in the marketplace that's on there who can do it? And so that's what that's all about. So if you want to get on the vendor network, send me a message in the DM. Man, it's gonna be tight. Well, that's what's coming out. This is the spotlight show. It's your boy Naeem Hall, Thorn City Podcast guy. My guy seasoning always say this is something I done jacked from him, and I'm gonna use it, and I'm gonna always shout him out. Tap in on the tap in. Smash that subscribe button. Make sure you subscribe to the Thorn City Spotlight YouTube channel. My subscribers. I think I got about a hundred subscribers. I got to a hundred. That's a that was a milestone getting to a hundred. Um, but we gotta run the subscribers up. So I need you guys to support, subscribe, comment, share. It does something to that, what they say, the algorithm. Tap in with your boy. We got a lot of a lot of new thoughts in the in the process that's coming down. So yeah, Thorn City Podcast Guy. It's the spotlight show. Be seen, be heard, be remembered. Thorn City Podcast guy. Holly at your boy.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Welcome in.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

I appreciate y'all tuning in to another episode of the Thorn City Spotlight Show, where we network the deal connected to the interviews and discussions. Until next time, you can see that.