He Wrote It All Over Your Face. Now He's Writing a New Chapter With SMN.
I want to take a moment before we get into anything else.When you build something real, you have to be intentional about who you bring into it. Not everybody deserves a seat at the table. Not everybody has put in the work to carry the name.Joe Little III has put in the work.
This is Kenn Dowell. Cleveland born. Glenville raised. And never afraid to say what needs to be said.
Most of you know Joe from the music. Grammy-nominated lead singer of the ‘90s R&B group Rude Boys. Written All Over Your Face — you already know every word. But Joe Little is more than a music legend. He is a Cleveland institution. A man who has spent decades showing up for this community, telling real stories, and pulling people into rooms that matter.
So when we talked about expanding Strategic Moves Media Network, Joe’s name was never a question. It was a conversation that made sense from the first word.
Today I want to give a big, official, long-overdue welcome to Joe Little III — host of A1 Conversations on Strategic Moves Media Network.
This is his house now too.And he came in the door swinging.Two episodes are already live. Both of them demand your attention. Here’s why.
CLEVELAND. YOUR CHAMPION IS FIGHTING AT HOME. WHERE ARE YOU?
Abdullah Mason | A1 Conversations
Let me say something that needs to be said.
Cleveland has a history. And it’s not a good one. We have watched our own people climb to the top — and then acted surprised when nobody outside this city knew their name. Because we didn’t show up. We didn’t make noise. We let the moment pass and then wondered why the world moved on without us.
That ends July 4th. It should.
Abdullah Mason is 22 years old. Undefeated. Twenty wins. Seventeen knockouts. He is the reigning WBO World Lightweight Champion and the youngest male world champion in boxing right now. Anywhere on the planet.
On the Fourth of July — one week from today — he defends that title at the Wolstein Center. In Cleveland. His hometown. For the first time in his professional career.
This city needs to be in that building.
Joe sat down with Mason before fight night and what came out was bigger than boxing. Mason talked about the weight of carrying a world title at 22. The discipline nobody sees. The sacrifice that doesn’t make the highlight reel. He talked about his family — four of his five brothers are also fighters. This isn’t luck. This is a family that built something on purpose, right here in Cleveland.
Mason is already thinking about legacy. About selling out arenas. About where his name lands in history when it’s all said and done.
The question is whether Cleveland is going to show up for him before the rest of the world does. Because the rest of the world is coming. They always do. The only question is whether we get there first — or show up late like we always have.
Watch the episode. Then get your tickets. July 4th. Wolstein Center. No excuses.
THIRTY YEARS OF EXCELLENCE. NOBODY KNEW HIS NAME. THAT WAS BY DESIGN.
Eric Nolan Grant | A1 Conversations
We celebrate the wrong people.
That’s not an opinion. That’s a pattern. We put our energy behind the name on the marquee and walk right past the people who made the marquee possible. Every single time.
Eric Nolan Grant has been one of those people for thirty years. And I need you to understand something about that — because this is not a sad story. It’s a strategic one.
Binky, as Joe Little calls him, held down the third position for the O’Jays longer than any member in that group’s history. Twenty-seven songs a night. One check. No title. Nobody carried his bags. Nobody announced his name from the stage. He slept in the top bunk and did the work.
Two hundred thousand people in Amsterdam. Eighty-seven thousand at Essence Festival — four times. Everywhere the O’Jays went, Eric was there holding it down. Quietly. Consistently. At the highest level.
And when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction came in 2006 — he stood at the bottom of the steps and didn’t go up.
Now pay attention here. Because this is the part most people will miss.
Eric Nolan Grant didn’t stay below the radar because he had no other choice. He stayed because he understood something that most people chasing the spotlight never figure out. Mastery is the work. The stage is just where you prove it. For thirty years he was in the room — sharpening his craft, building his reputation, doing the thing at the highest level without needing the world to watch him do it.
That is Black excellence. Not the loud kind. The kind that compounds over time. The kind that lasts.
And now — on his own terms — he is building something that is finally his. His debut film What Happens in the Dark is streaming on Tubi right now. His second film Faithful Intentions is on the way — with a Cleveland film crew behind it.
Thirty years building somebody else’s stage. Now he’s building his own.
Joe Little sat down with his big brother for a conversation that has never been told publicly. Not like this. You need to hear it.
This is what A1 Conversations brings to this network. Real people. Real stories. No filter.
Welcome to the network, Joe. Cleveland is ready.
Subscribe to this Substack so you don’t miss what’s coming next.
— Kenn Dowell, Founder — Strategic Moves Media Network