A few weeks ago, Nikki Walker a fierce Jersey City PR chick emailed me about her client Jarrod Greene, CEO of PASS THE ROC a clothing brand that started in Jersey City many years ago. She told me about a big event they are throwing for the community which is happening this Saturday, August 22nd in Audubon Park. The story was intriguing so I asked to interview the big boss of PASS THE ROC along with his childhood friend Ryan Strother, the Director of Recreation of the City of Jersey City who I interviewed a few months ago for the Berry Lane Park article.
Jarrod invited me over to his childhood home on Myrtle and MLK drive to talk about how he started PASS THE ROC, the upcoming event and he also reminisced with his childhood friend Ryan about the good ol’ days in the neighborhood. This is going to be a very special event… for Jarrod, Ryan and for all of the Jersey City residents.
What are your names? I’m Jarrod Greene. And I’m Ryan Strother.
And what do you do?
Jarrod: I own the PASS THE ROC brand.
What is PASS THE ROC?
Jarrod: Oh, Pass the Roc is a basketball, athletic clothing brand that was started here in Jersey City. I came up with the concept back in 1994 and we debuted in the market place in the spring of 2003. So we had a national and international run, if you will, in four to five-hundred stores throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, the Caribbean Islands, and you know we did between the two years that we were out there, $5 million in sales. So we were rocking and rolling at one time before we lost our financial backing. So it’s ten years later and we re-started the brand.
Can you tell me about this event that’s coming up?
Jarrod: It’s going to be a great event—it’s the PASS THE ROC Multicultural Community Festival. This was geared for us giving back to the community and that’s just something that we always wanted to do. Now we’re in position to do it, we were real excited about it because we were able to team up with Ryan Strother (Director of Recreations). You know, childhood friend who lived right next do to me at one time, and it’s kind of ironic how we’re here today and our perspective, businesses, titles, and work. Ryan has been always wanting to work with us for some time, but he’s been doing a lot of things once he got inducted to the city. We was able to catch up in the barbershop.
I love that.
Ryan: That’s where all the good conversations happen, in the barbershop.
The best.
Jarrod: You know we traded numbers and we had plenty of meetings and now we’re here. He’s a very, very busy guy, you know running recreation for the whole city. I’m a very busy guy, running two companies, one that deals with selling apparel which is a task in itself and then there’s the other brand which is the 1891 where we throw events, we organize events, we design apparel and provide manufacturing for other companies as well as consultation.
And what’s your involvement?
Ryan: I’m just a big fan of Jarrod.
Jarrod: That’s not true.
Let’s rewind a bit—so we’re in your childhood home, where you grew up.
Jarrod: Yeah, this is my childhood home. My dad, this is where he raised me. This is where he actually tried to teach me the value of working, but which he did by default was kind of groom me and breed me into a young entrepreneur. So that’s kind of like where this whole concept came of you know, me having my own business, me working on my own, and me being a mover and shaker in life because he kind of put that in me and he didn’t know that.
Ryan: I have a lot of respect for Jarr0d; first of all, I’ve known Jarrod all my life and Jared grew up here and my grandmother lived next door, so I was here like every day. So we kind of grew up together, you know our families, my big brothers, his big brothers. And so I have a lot of respect for Jarrod, one because we grew up, I knew him, and two because he started his business himself. And his flagship store was here on Myrtle Avenue and Jackson, right so he went from Jersey City, Myrtle and Jackson to Macy’s to other countries like China, where he used to do his manufacturing. So I’ve a lot of respect for that.
Jarr0d: Thank you Ryan.
Self-made.
Jarrod: Trying to be.
So now it’s like a PASS THE ROC comeback? We relaunched in 2014, but this is our first summer here. What better place to relaunch it again than Jersey City, where we started at. Back in 1999, we did our first promotional thing which was the Three-on-Three Tournament, but now, I’m able to do a festival. And with Ryan’s help and Ryan’s backing and being that Ryan has all his affiliations with the city, what a person better than Ryan, my childhood friend, to do it with. I mean that’s just something that we talked about and he loved the idea and I was like, “Let’s do it man.” It’s been a little grind, we got a little rocky start because of scheduling, but right now with August 22nd upon us, everybody’s excited.
Where is the event happening? Right there in Audubon Park. That’s the park we grew up in pretty much in this area. Right down the street from the South District Police Department, right there on the corner of NJCU. That’s the cusp between Greenville and Lower Greenville and that side.
Ryan: That’s the park that I started playing basketball in.
Jarrod: Really?
Ryan: That’s where I got really good at. So it’s great because the city likes to partner with community groups and with the residents and the businesses, right. It’s really all about partnerships as opposed to the city trying to do everything on their own or someone like Jared trying to do something on his own. The city is very open; the mayor is very open to partnerships with our residents. It makes the event easier, it makes it more successful, it makes it real. So it’s gonna be a great event and we partnered with a lot of groups, a lot of businesses that want to do positive things, and the different parks, and our street festivals, some of the concerts, we do the basketball tournaments and the volleyball tournaments and we do tennis, everything is a partnership.
What can people expect from the event?
Jarrod: It’s gonna be great. We’re having a high school Three-on-Three Basketball Tournament which is catered to the older youth of 13 and 17. We’re gonna also have the bouncy house for the kids there, that’s gonna be pretty cool. We’re gonna have a band there which plays like Top 40 music which is pretty cool ‘cause we’re creating a senior village.
Beyoncé? The closest we’re gonna get to Beyoncé is Nikki Walker.
So we’re gonna have the senior village where we’re gonna have the chess club, Bobby Stewart is gonna come down and bring his chessboards for the seniors vs the youth. You know, create that type of interaction there, we’re targeting demographic from eight to eighty. We’re gonna have some performances on the sound stage there—
Sounds like a fun day.
Yeah, some dancing and different things like that. Vendors are gonna be there, so it’s just going to be a whole festive environment.
Nikki: And we’re going to present awards to the community.
Jarrod: Yeah, Coveted House, Team Walker, folks who are making an impact in our community, you know throughout the whole community! It doesn’t have to be one segmented part of the community, through Jersey City as a whole. Me and Ryan sat down and we talked about this and he shared the same sentiment when it comes to being a part of the diversity of Jersey City so we share that same segment. When he talked to me from that angle I was like, “We got a win-win situation.”
Can you tell me a little bit about how this area has changed throughout the years? We want to get people from the Downtown area to come to this event. Do you have anything to say about them coming to Greenville and exploring the rest of Jersey City? So this event is supported by the city, there are going to be a lot of positive things there, it’s going to be all positive. So we’re going to promote this to the entire city—Jersey City, we’re one city, we’re no longer as divided as we once used to be. This is an event that’s open to everyone.
How do you feel Jersey City has changed in the past couple of years? It’s changed a lot; I mean I was probably one of the first within my group that I hung out with, who probably came down to Downtown, Jersey City. I used to live in the Paulus Hook section, right there on Warren Street and then I lived there on Grand Street. It has changed a lot. It’s changed for the better! I mean there’s restaurants, they did Newark and Grove, they put up a little square down there. I’m friendly with a lot of the owners of the businesses down there ‘cause like I said, I do events. Jeff Favia who owns The Bistro, who owns Jersey City Underground and Powerhouse, he’s a very, very good friend of mine
Are you going to start carrying PASS THE ROC at any local stores? I’m doing something different; I have one store that I’m targeting which is HEIR’s on West Side, that’s my headquarters. But what I’m actually doing is I’m looking to cater strictly, and this is part of my marketing, to the camps throughout the country.
Oh!
Ryan: That’s a good idea.
That’s a really good idea.
Jarrod: The basketball camps—I have a basketball brand which is a niche brand. You know how you go into the camps—they have two revenue streams—one of the revenue streams if registration, the second is concessions, but guess what? There is not clothing store there.
Do you have a favorite Jersey City hangout spot? I like Brightside Tavern.
Tommy 2 Scoops! Tommy Parisi is my guy.
He’s the unofficial mayor of Jersey City. Tommy likes to things that me and him are twins. He’s great, he’s great with people, he knows how to treat his customer base and he’s a sweet guy.
Anything else you’d like people to know about PASS THE ROC or the event happening on August 22nd?
Jarrod: I’d just like to sincerely say that I do appreciate what Ryan and his team of people are really doing for us. I mean, we don’t get to talk as much as we’d like to because of his schedule and my hectic schedule sometime. And Nikki Walker of NWPR helped me out a great deal when it comes to getting me the information that I need because like I’m doing a lot of stuff to. So I think I’d like to say, on the record, thanks to Ryan Strother, the director of recreation and the City of Jersey City.
And I ran across Mayor Fulop this weekend and I gave him a PASS THE ROC package, I went back to my car before I headed off to New York and gave him a package. He’s like, “Oh I’m gonna check it out, it should be one my calendar.” I said, “If you’re not busy, you’re welcome to come, you get my invite.”
Nikki: I think one thing we definitely do want to say is that we want to start the unity in the city started right now and we want to do that by making sure everybody goes viral with this. So when you see the articles online, when you see Pass the Roc tweet, when you see the Instagrams, we absolutely need people to share that with their fan base and their friends and family, because again, needing the city to come together, needing Downtown to come to Greenville and Greenville to come to the Heights. I think with all of the food vendors, that is going to bring everybody together. ‘Cause you’re going to have food from all cultures in one.
Can you tell me any of the food vendors that are going to be participating? We can’t name any specifically right now, but we’ll tell you a lot of the interests, we’ve got folks who do empanadas, we’ve got people that do Vegan, we’ve got people who do fresh fruit bouquets. And that’s going to be something totally new to this community. You know, mix it up with the Caribbean food that’s gonna be there.
Any last words? There’s more diversity in this community now than ever. So we’re just looking to tap into those folks, “Come on out! Come on outside!” You don’t always have to go Downtown to have a good time, I mean I love Downtown, but there’s certain spots even up here in the Greenville area that I come to when I’m in the area.
iG: @PASSTHEROC1891
Twitter: @PASSTHEROC1891
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