ONE Musicfest Founder J. Carter Talks Historic Fest

A ONE Musicfest Founder is dishing on curating the nation’s largest Black-owned open-air celebration, bringing music, melanin, and tradition to ATL.

Jason “J.” Carter by no means got down to rewrite the blueprint for American music festivals, however when he seemed round within the early 2000s, the Harlem-born, Florida A&M College graduate noticed a void.

“I simply couldn’t discover something fairly like Lollapalooza or Bonnaroo that spoke to my music, my tradition,” Carter advised BOSSIP. “So I went in search of it, and I noticed it didn’t exist. At that time, I mentioned, I gotta associate with someone already doing it. They advised me it will by no means work with our tradition. That lit the fireplace to show them incorrect.”

That spark grew to become ONE Musicfest (OMF), now in its sixteenth yr. Introduced by P&G and returning to Piedmont Park October 25–26, 2025, OMF is the nation’s largest Black-owned, open-air, multi-stage pageant, drawing greater than 100,000 followers yearly and producing over $61 million in financial impression for Atlanta.

Its 2025 lineup consists of Future, The Roots with Mary J. Blige, Ludacris & Associates, a Dungeon Household reunion honoring late Organized Noize producer Rico Wade, Jazmine Sullivan, Kehlani, Clipse, and breakout star Doechii.

For Carter, preserving the pageant in Atlanta has all the time been non-negotiable.

“This doesn’t transfer, this doesn’t develop, this doesn’t occur exterior of Atlanta,” he defined to Managing Editor Dani Canada. “For the final twenty years, Atlanta has actually been carrying the torch with reference to city tradition. How we react, reply, and help each other is exclusive right here. If I had tried to construct this in New York or Chicago, I don’t know if it occurs. Atlanta is a really particular breeding floor for cultural innovation.”

Carter credit town’s embrace, from Mayor Andre Dickens to Black-owned distributors who make up greater than half of OMF’s supported companies, for sustaining the pageant’s progress. However he additionally nods to the resistance he as soon as confronted from trade executives.

“A number of the people who advised me it will by no means work didn’t appear like me,” Carter mentioned. “They mentioned a Black or hip-hop music pageant was a legal responsibility. In the meantime, billions are made off hip-hop yearly. So for me, it was about placing our tradition on show and letting the world see how lovely it’s. That’s what ONE Musicfest grew to become: a Kumbaya, Woodstock second for our neighborhood.”

The street from that first gathering to at this time’s multi-million-dollar enterprise wasn’t clean. Carter describes the unique crew as a “Motley Crue” of buddies: a membership proprietor, a safety firm operator, a music insider, even somebody from the mayor’s workplace.

“It was a random band of creatives on the preliminary run,” he laughed. “Through the years, you study from errors. Some individuals turn out to be everlasting, others rotate. However we knew it was too lovely of a cultural expertise to not proceed.”

Carter’s imaginative and prescient has since expanded into activations that make OMF extra than simply music. From curler skating pop-ups with Marsai Martin to the upcoming “Luda Lounge,” which can have a good time Ludacris’ 25-year profession with fan meet-and-greets, he sees the pageant as a spot the place Black tradition might be honored throughout generations.

“This yr’s lineup is well timed,” Carter mentioned. “After shedding Rico [Wade], celebrating Future, bringing Mary J. Blige for the primary time, spotlighting Doechii — it’s wanted. We’d like moments of pleasure, methods to have a good time one another.”

That sense of pleasure and neighborhood, Carter insists, stems immediately from his years at Florida A&M.

“I’ll give Atlanta credit score for what ONE Musicfest is at this time, nevertheless it 1,000 p.c stems from FAMU,” he mentioned. “There’s nothing like an HBCU expertise, having the prospect to reside as a majority as an alternative of a minority. It’s confidence, it’s a battery in your again. FAMU created a secure area to fail, to be constructed again up, and to push ahead.”

That bond amongst Rattlers is unshakable; typically even misunderstood.

“Folks say FAMU is sort of a cult,” Carter joked to BOSSIP when requested if the cult rumors are true. “It’s not likely a cult. It’s extra like household. All people’s cool till they’re not, and that vitality is what makes it really feel so heat and welcoming.”

For Carter, FAMU homecoming — like ONE Musicfest — is finest described as “a giant Black hug.”

“It’s generational, excessive vitality, nostalgic however all the time contemporary,” he mentioned. “Tens of 1000’s of individuals bringing good vitality into one area. That’s precisely what we attempt to recreate with ONE Musicfest.”

Along with his combine of brand name experience, cultural reverence, and relentless Rattler satisfaction, Carter has constructed a motion and ATL cultural mainstay and as OMF prepares for an additional landmark yr, Carter’s mission stays clear;

“Uniting legends, elevating new voices, and creating unforgettable cultural moments.”