Transcript of Justin Brown: I Do Not Have Followers, I Have My People

I had a goal, not a real goal, but I was just like, I'm just gonna keep doing it. I didn't have a goal of I'm gonna get 500K followers, I'm gonna make it to a million. That wasn't my goal. My goal was to let people know the places that I like. And that was my only goal. And then it turned into what it is now where people have fans, people have followers. I have neither. I have my people.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another exciting episode of Mic Unplugged. And today we are here with a guy Who doesn't know it, but he's actually the one that got me into content on Instagram. We're talking to none other than Justin, the Real Food Stalker Brown. How you doing today, brother?

Hey man, I'm doing great, man. I'm just glad to be here, man. I appreciate you even giving me the opportunity to be here, man.

Well, I had to give you a try, right?

You got to give these folks a try.

Yeah.

Hey man, gimme a try. Gimme a try.

Yes, sir. Man, so I'm gonna be real. I'm gonna be honest with you. When I started the podcast like 2 and a half years ago, I was a LinkedIn guy, right? So for me, social media, like the business side of me, everything was LinkedIn. And I looked at every other thing as like, I don't need to be there. Just a whole bunch of kids on Instagram or TikTok or whatever. But my business manager was like, hey Mick, you at least gotta go on Instagram. So I said, let me see what it's about. I followed you my very first day on Instagram and you changed my life, dude. because I loved how authentic you were. I loved how positive you were. And it was just amazing to see the work you were putting in. And I was like, all right, I can go on Instagram and I'm just gonna be me. I'm not trying to please the whole world. I'm not trying to be silly or funny or anything like that. I can be me. And it was because of you, bro.

Oh man, see that? And that's the power of the internet is that you can, motivate somebody without even knowing that you're motivating them.

Yeah.

And I get, I got lucky that I got to just be me. Yeah. And now, so it's not like when I'm done, I gotta hit a switch and go back to, I get to be me.

Yeah.

So the on switch is on at all times. So even when I'm not eating or I'm not doing nerd stuff, people know that's me.

Yeah.

So it's like all my friends know it's me.

Yeah.

And they're like, yeah, you gotta stay true to yourself.

That's right.

And I did, I got to, so, That's the fun part of it is that I don't have to change. The hardest part of it is that I don't really care about pleasing people. So that's, so, and people are always like, hey man, you need to show us where you eat this bad. And I'm like, why? Like if you're asking for directions, if you say, how do I get to Lenox Mall? And I give you the directions, do you want me to tell you the wrong directions also? Like why would you want that? So—

Nah.

People want me to be negative about certain stuff and they're like, nah, you can, People always try to make it seem like you're not being negative when you are being negative. Like, that's not negative, you're being honest. But sometimes honesty is negative. It's gonna have a negative reflect regardless if you are being honest. So I'm not saying you shouldn't be honest, but I'm saying if you can go around it and not post what I dislike and just show you what I like, I mean, that's what I'm gonna do.

Nah, I love it, man. It's all positive vibes. And you know, I always start my show by asking my guest what's their because. Right? That thing that's deeper than your why. If I were to ask Justin, your why, it's probably your children and food, right?

Right.

But if I were to say, why is that your why? Like, what's, what's the deeper reason? That sentence usually starts with, well, because, and I care about that. So if I were to say, Justin, all the amazing things that you do, the, the impact that you're making, not just here in Atlanta, but all over the East Coast and flying out to Phoenix and California to, to do these reviews and inspire people. What's your because?

I mean, my because is simple. It's like, I love to eat. And since I've been younger, high school, people always ask me like, where to go eat, where to go eat.

Yeah.

And really I just enjoy it. So it's not really a because, it's not like I'm doing it like to make, I'm giving people a journey of a foodie. Like, this is just what I enjoy. And if you, go to a couple places that I like and you enjoyed it. Your taste buds probably similar to mine. And then I have people who don't go out to eat much and they just started going out to eat and their taste buds are similar to mine. So it's making it easy for them to go on a date night. So for me, my because was just because I was looking at stuff and I didn't, not that I don't like the way other people do their content, I just always felt like I gotta see people eat food. And that's really what made me eat on camera is 'cause I couldn't tell for a picture. If a picture's a thousand words, then a video gotta be a million words. Yeah. Because now you can see the texture. You can, when I bite something, you can tell if it's tender and—

Yeah.

See the cheese pull. A picture could trick you.

Right.

And so I'm not much for, I look at pictures, I can say it might be good, but if I see it, a video of it breaking, I can tell.

I can tell when you really enjoy something 'cause your eyes close and it's taking you back to a spot. Like you get that smile, that warm feeling on your face. It's like, oh, he really likes that one. When did this journey start for you, man? Like, like, okay, when did you say, I'm gonna do this?

All right, so I had Food Stalker where I was just taking pictures of food and I wasn't, I wasn't doing, 'cause I wanted to do a magazine myself. Like I really, that's what I wanted to do when I was like in 2010, I was already had Food Stalker 'cause, and Food Stalker came about because I used to watch people, like I'm sitting and the food would come by and I would always ask the waiter or waitress, hey, what did they just get? And then my wife was like, man, you stalking people food. And I'm like, yeah, I'm a food stalker. I can't help it. So, so for me, what was the question? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. 'Cause I—

When did the journey begin for you?

It, it really began 2010.

Okay.

But I wasn't eating on camera. 2020 or 2021 is when I started eating around COVID. I started eating on camera.

Okay.

And then we couldn't go out and my kids were like, you should eat on camera. You make food look good. 'Cause Funny thing is I have to get 'em sometimes 'cause sometimes I'll taste something that I hate, but I can hold it in long enough to make them wanna taste it.

Yeah.

And they was like, you need to eat on camera 'cause you make stuff look good. 'Cause anytime I got something that's super good, I can't hide that it was super good and they always wanna bite and I can't tell my girls no 'cause I got all girls. So it's like, stop asking me for stuff. So that's why I get caught eating in my car and that's why I don't mind eating in the car 'cause I do it a lot. So before I get home I'm like, I gotta eat, but it started 2021, 2020, 2021. Okay. Like first video may have been 2021.

2021.

Yeah.

And so I'm gonna move us to what I call the unplugged truths with that statement right there, because I think the key to what you do and, and why I followed you was because you're very consistent, right? Like there's been a lot of folks on social media, a lot of food reviewers that pop up and then after 6, 7 little takes, they're done, right? You've been very consistent with what you do. Talk about the power of consistency, man.

Consistency is everything. It don't matter what it is. You can win with just that.

Yeah.

Like I'm talking about, you can win in all parts of life, whether it's your job, whether it's social media, whether you chasing some girl that you want. If you consistent, you might win her over. Like I'm telling you, you can win the biggest battle with just consistency. That's, That's for football players, basketball players. If you consistent, you going to work out every day.

Yeah.

It's gonna make something positive is gonna happen eventually. So consistency is the biggest thing. You don't have to be, I'm not the most talented. I'm not, it's just not, I'm not the most handsome. So it's people out here that is taking stuff for granted. Like you got something and if you were consistent, you would be even bigger than you are. Whatever you're doing, you could be bigger. But you have people who got real talent and they're just not as consistent. So I think consistency is one thing, but I'll tell you this, like you said, you might have some people who start food blogging and 6, 7 videos and they're done. And they're done because I'm gonna tell you, I spent a lot of money eating out starting 'cause nobody wanted to say, hey, come eat for free, or—

Right.

Let me pay you. They wasn't doing that. And I spent, and if you look at them first videos from 2021, I was eating every day. And when people were like, you don't eat at home, I literally do eat at home 'cause my wife was cooking.

Mm-hmm.

But my daughter's cooking.

Mm-hmm.

So it's like I could get home cooked meals every day, but that's not what I wanted to do. 'Cause my kids and my wife not finna cook for y'all. So me doing a video for that is not gonna help y'all at all.

Right.

So I was spending every day, my wife was like, you're spending too much eating. I'm like, we could go on vacation. I'm like, we still gonna go on vacation, chill.

Right.

So like, but it's funny that That's a reason why a lot of people probably stop. 'Cause when you start, you gotta pay for your own food and then maybe you won't get to go to some of the best restaurants because some of 'em are high. So that could stop somebody. But for me, I had a goal.

Mm-hmm.

Not a real goal, but I was just like, I'm just gonna keep doing it. I didn't have a goal of I'm gonna get 500K followers, I'm gonna make it to a million. That wasn't my goal.

Right.

My goal was to let people know the places that I like. And that was my only goal. And then it turned into, what it is now where people see me. And it's not, people have fans, people have followers. I have neither. I have my people. So anytime I meet people and they like, I'm a big fan, I'm like, nah, you my people. So that's, so they're my people. That's just what's going on.

I love that, man. For the person that's watching or listening right now, talk to us about the world of content. Like what equipment, does Justin use? Like, how do you do the editing? Because again, even that part is consistency. And I tell people, it's not as expensive as you think it is, but you still need the right stuff every once in a while.

I'm gonna tell you, I'm not like, when I say this, people are gonna say, man, I can do it because this is all I got. Phones. These are all phones that I probably used the camera at some point on. And that's it. That's all I ever had. And me and my wife, she was editing and then she got tired of it. She was like, it's sad. And she showed me how to edit. So one of my phones, I got too many phones, I promise you.

One of 'em is— We ain't gonna talk about Justin's side business with all these.

Listen, I—

He used to have pagers if you follow what I'm saying.

Hey, I was in that, I'm in that era. I had pagers, flip phones, all that.

Yes sir.

Yes sir. What were we saying? 'Cause my phone just threw me off.

But— Nah, the, you were talking about the editing and your wife.

The editing.

Okay.

So my wife was editing.

Yeah.

And she'll still do it here and there to help me out. 'Cause I work a lot, she works a lot and she'll still do it. But she showed me how to edit. Like we was using just CapCut and we didn't even pay for CapCut. We was just using the free stuff.

Right.

So that's all I ever use. And that's the good thing about me not, like you have some people, I see why they overlook me because I don't do, the filming where it's just aesthetically pleasing. I do the, man, I'm about to let you know if I like the food.

Right.

And then there's some restaurants that I done been to and I ain't found nothing on they restaurant that I like. So I couldn't even post 'em. And then there's, I'll look, if you got 30 items on there, maybe I can find 2 or 3 items that I like that I could be good with showing. But that is what helped me like, is that it's not hard for me because I don't do all that. I just eat the food. I do one take. I don't go back and try to redo it. If food drop, you gonna, it's gonna be on film. And so that made it easy for us to edit. Like I got friends who edit and they say, man, it take me 6 hours to edit. I said, what? I said, if I had to do something for 6 hours, it's not gonna be editing. I'm gonna go to work.

Right, right.

Like I'm not doing that.

Right, right.

Yeah, so I just use phones, man. I got, I bought a, I bought a $3,000 Blackmagic Pocket Camera. That's what I bought. Never used it. Never used it 'cause somebody came by, my cousin husband, he shoots a lot of videos and he's like, all right, you gotta change the shutter. You gotta change. I said, man, I'm not gonna remember that.

Right, on the phone I can just press record.

Yeah, so he put it on a stable. He like put everything and he say, well, just shoot at this all the time. Then I realized when I shoot on that, I have to export it. I have to do this. Then it comes in a box. big file. And I say, okay, this is not for me. So I'm sitting on a $3,000 camera then it's just sitting around, man, sitting around. I just use them phones, man. You could get away with the phones. Just get whatever the newest Samsung or iPhone that's out and the camera's gonna be good enough to go. That's all you need.

Absolutely. So you also, aside from doing the food blogging video style, right? You also do some writing too, man. Talk to us about that a little bit.

Yeah, this just started this year. I was lucky enough to where people like me. Like, it's just my mom always said, people like you and I don't understand why. But I guess 'cause she around me all day.

It is.

Monty, she gave me an opportunity that nobody's ever gave me. She reached out, say, I might have something for you. She told me like 3 months early and I thought she meant like, We were gonna collaborate 'cause she's big on, she sells books and stuff of cooking. So I'm thinking, oh, we gonna do a video. She gonna cook something, I'm gonna eat it. Cool.

Yeah.

3 months go by, she call me back and she like, you think you could write? I say, write? I'm not gonna never turn nothing down. I'm gonna try it and let you tell me, oh, you ain't good at it.

Yeah.

So it was with the AJC and then put together some articles, some of the restaurants I like. And I put together the article. Of course you can't make everybody happy. So you got people, putting@ in their favorite restaurant saying that it should be this restaurant, but not for me.

Right.

You know, this is my list. Right. You could create a list.

Yeah.

And I tell people that every day, don't get mad at me. But she gave me that opportunity and I wrote and people like it.

Yeah.

You got some people that don't, but, and then I try to tell people this while I'm writing, which is very fun. It's fun. It's funner than I thought it would be. And people are, if you put down another business to pick up another one, I'll never go eat there. I'll never, I will never go eat there. If it takes you telling me that a spot that I like, I shouldn't, or this spot is so much better, I'm not gonna go try it.

Right.

I'm just gonna be like, that's not how I am. So, Not gonna do that.

And that's what I appreciate you and, and why I started really just loving your content and resharing. And like now all my boys, my family, like they all love everything you do because you are being honest in a positive way. And, and what I mean by that is this, when it comes to food, everybody's taste buds are different.

Yeah.

You might say something is horrible and I love it. Well, now you're out there giving a perception just because our taste buds are different. And I love the fact that you were just like, hey, this is good, right? Like you ain't talking about, oh, when I taste it, I taste paprika and garlic powder. And like, you're just like, nah, the food is good.

Yeah, it's just, it's good. It's, I'm not, I'm not, and people get so mad. You didn't say this, you didn't. But when I write, I have to say, what the seasoning is.

Right.

But 'cause you're, 'cause when you're writing now you have to make someone want to go and it's gonna take that. It's not just, you can't just say good. And that's something I had to learn because I'm just a teller of, man, if the food was good, if it's, if I believe that it's worth the money.

Yeah.

And that's another thing. So I'll tell you if I think it's worth like the amount, like, and everything that I've been eating that I post, I feel like, you're not wasting your money.

Yeah.

And, but you have people who are very picky eaters. I got a friend that always sends food back. Like I never like to go out to eat with him because I know he's gonna send something back.

And I'm like, bro, what's the idea? You messing up for the whole table.

I mean, I don't even wanna order dessert when I go out to eat with him. 'Cause I'm like, oh, they gonna get me on this dessert. But I always tell him, man, you order last. Like you order your food. Let me get mine. 'Cause if I don't like something, I'm not finna tell you, I'm not sending it back for you to redo it. Don't wanna risk it. So like, hey, cool, I'm gonna try you again another time. I give everybody 2 tries because I do feel like you can have a bad day because— We all do. Yeah. You're not, you may have a different chef in there that day. You may have a different waiter or waitress in there. And each one of these people play a major role in the food part. Like it's not just the chef, it's not just if the food's good. 'Cause if my waiter or waitress disrespects me, I'm not gonna like your food. Well, I'm not, I'm not even, I'm outta the mood. Yeah. My taste buds outta the mood.

Right.

They work with me. My taste buds is with me.

Yes, sir.

They have never crossed me. So they know if we get some bad service, hey.

Yeah.

We ain't liking the food, we out. So yeah.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All right, I'm gonna move us to what I call the hot takes. And I got this hot take right here, 'cause I love you on so many levels, but I saw you do something the other day and I was like, I don't know if I could do that.

Okay. What was it?

What is it? The Quick 'n Eats?

The Quick 'n Eats.

So for all you that are watching and listening, I'm gonna have a clip to this Instagram post right here. Like, and don't take it from me, Justin loved it, but it is, they're burgers that are already flame broiled.

Yep.

And you heat them in the microwave.

Right. Wait, wait, timeout now. Timeout now. Timeout now.

All right.

You can, they have directions on to do 'em in the oven or on the stove.

Okay.

The only reason I did it in the microwave was to show the part of if you're a parent that doesn't have time to cook and you want to give something good to your child that you don't trust them enough to be around that oven or that stove while you're gone, they can microwave it. Even though I know a lot of people don't want to microwave, But I just wanted to show that you can, if you needed to, if you wasn't there and they were hungry and they like, can I, can I make some eggs? Can I? And you like, do I wanna risk my house burning down? Nah, just take them burgers. It's not that bad. It's only 4 ingredients in that. And that's the, the beef and the seasonings. So it's only 4 ingredients. It's not like you getting something that got all this crazy stuff in it.

Nah. And I, I was messing around with that. Okay.

I know.

Nah, I just like, because people will. It was, so I was just like, oh, that's red meat. We just gonna throw it in the microwave like that. But, but it looked as if you just got it out of Burger King or whatever when it came out the microwave and you gave some tips.

Yeah.

Right? Like it's a minute and a half, but we gonna do it for 1:15 and we gonna throw the cheese on at the end. Like, absolutely.

Yeah, you gotta melt that cheese on there.

Absolutely. You don't want cold cheese on a burger.

But I'm gonna tell you something, that burger was actually good. I'm not saying that burger is better than like an NFA burger or over here in Plant City Market, H&F. Nah, nah, we not saying that. I'm saying it's good where your kid's not gonna say, I'm not gonna eat this. They're gonna say, hey, I like this, and they'll repeat it. And if you got that in there, you got a quick meal for them that you don't have to prepare that can give them the independence to start. Maybe you working them to get into the stove or the oven. But yeah, yeah, it's a good choice.

Quick and eats. Costco, right?

Costco, quick and easy.

Quick and easy.

It's quick and it's some good eats. So it was, it, I know a lot of people like, man, you put it in the microwave. I said, you can put it in the store. I know everybody try to get, well, I don't microwave nothing. But I grew up with the microwave. So guess what? Hey, the microwave's still part of my life. I ain't gonna tell you no lie.

Oh, it's still a part of mine too. But like red meat though, like I can't do, so I'm gonna let y'all in on a little secret. I can't do protein reheated. Like if it's the next day or whatever, like I just can't do it.

So, okay. So, so, so then that means you never went to a steakhouse, had your favorite steak, ate half of it, brought it home and just put it back on the stove?

Had steak and eggs the next day?

Nope.

Yeah.

You don't do that?

No.

Oh man. You know, lemme tell you something. If you go to the right steakhouse, that steak is better the next day.

Something about protein, especially red, red meat and, and grilled chicken tastes so different the next day to me.

Man, me and you gotta go to Frankie's Steakhouse.

Okay.

We gonna get a steak. You gonna do it for one time for me. That's only, it's one time. You gonna, you gonna leave half of the steak.

I'll do it.

And you gonna warm it up and you gonna eat your favorite way, whether it's a fried egg or a scrambled egg.

Yeah.

And you gonna try that. And I promise you Frankie's steak tastes, sometimes I just wanna go get the steak and just bring it home. Bring it home and cook it. Let it sit overnight and then do it in the morning. But I gotta take you there, man. We gonna go there and we gonna do that, man.

All right.

I promise you.

Frankie's Steakhouse.

Yeah.

We're showing off.

Sugarloaf.

There it is. So here's another hot take too, man. Like you eat, you said you love food, you eat all the time. I don't eat a lot and you in much better shape than me.

Hey, hey, not much better shape, man. I just look small. I just small. I'm just small. I'm gonna tell you something. I'm gonna tell you one thing I do. 'Cause everybody asks how you stay small? My mama was 4'11. £90. My dad was taller and skinny. Skinny. So I just can't, even if I ate all the time, I couldn't gain no weight. I'm outta shape. I just raced my wife's nephew and—

I saw.

I had on these heavy, we gonna say this, I had on some heavy, heavy Crocs.

Stop. He got beat.

I got beat.

By his 6-year-old nephew.

No, not 6-year-old. No, no, no, no. He 26. He in his prime.

So for those that don't know, Justin told me he used to run a 4:35:40 back in the day. And so if you go, I want you to go look at a lot of his clips, 'cause you'll see him like, he, you know, especially holidays, he's out there running in the neighborhood, sprinting, trying to compete. But just a couple of weeks ago, he took an L.

I took a big L, capital L, not lowercase. It was capital. It was Bird City. 'Cause I'm gonna be honest, I'm a 1983 Cutlass with a small block.

Like, you know what I mean?

And he was a 2000-something with fuel injection, all that.

Oh, he was moving.

I didn't stretch, so I didn't— and his turbo kicked in and mine did not kick in. I didn't pack that gas. I wasn't ready. And yeah, he blew the doors off me. I ain't gonna tell you no lie. When I could see the back of his shoulder blades, I knew it was over with. And I was like, all right. But we gonna run it back where I got on proper, 'Cause I felt like I had on some skinny jean shorts, so I couldn't get my— couldn't get it all out. Then I had them heavy Crocs on, but he won. Peanut, if you watch this—

P.

We gonna race again and it's gonna be soon. We was gonna race on the beach, but he said he was heavier than me and he said, you're like running on the sand, on top of the sand. And he's like, if I run on the sand, I go in. So he ain't wanna race me on the same day.

You see the difference? He knew the setup. He was like, no, you could have easily said no. You could have easily said no, but you put it on film and you saw shoulder blades.

Yeah, I saw shoulder blades, but it's all good. But I'm telling you, I'm gonna beat him the next time we run 'cause I am about to get in shape. How people like, man, you look like you in shape. It ain't gonna be no more, I look like I'm in shape. I'm gonna be in shape.

When are we doing this?

Man, I really wanna beat him on Christmas. I really wanna beat him. on Christmas Day. 'Cause we go over there every Christmas, we swap out gifts. I wanna race him on Christmas and that'd be a gift to myself and him.

Oh, he's getting the gift too?

Oh yeah. I'm gonna buy like a big old L 'cause I know I'm gonna win and I'm gonna put it in a box and I'm gonna put it in faux boxes. So when he open it, he gonna think he getting something good. It's gonna be a big old L.

Peanut, man, like we gonna make sure I'm available Instagram Live on Christmas morning.

Yeah.

Because I'm gonna have the W for you. I'm gonna have it ready for you, Peanut. You don't wanna, I'm telling you. I'm gonna have it ready for you.

I'm telling you, I'm an honest man. I'm telling you, I'm not gonna lose again.

Okay.

I can't take the stress of that loss. My kids saw me lose.

All right, so here's what we're gonna do. If you win, if you beat Peanut, Peanut, I got my money on you just so you know. But if for whatever reason you pull your hamstring, Peanut, and he steps on your toes or something, The final.

Yeah.

I'm gonna host it at my crib, Greenville, South Carolina. We gonna go get a track at Clemson University and y'all gonna run the 100.

Nah, we ain't running.

If you win.

Nah, we ain't running 100.

See, Peanut, you ain't hearing me.

We ain't running 100. I'm gonna tell you that right now. 'Cause I'm gonna tell you the age I'm at now. I reached my top speed at 15 yards. At 15 yards. And then, 'Cause I'm telling you, I'm not even racing him a 40. 'Cause lemme tell you what I know, at top speed, I'm top speed quick.

So what y'all running, a 25?

We running 30. We running a 30.

No, no.

I can keep my— when I reach top speed, I can hold it to 30. Them extra 10, he gonna blow by me. I'm gonna tell you, 30, he ain't beating me. He ain't beating me in the 30.

We at least gotta go 35.

Nah, I can't give him that much. I'm telling you, when he opened up, he opened up. 'Cause he was like, oh, it felt good. He was just getting— and I was hurting. I was sore. I didn't, man, when I tell you my legs, I felt it.

Yeah.

It was so tight when I was done. I said, and he talking about, I'm just getting ready. This feel good. We need to make it longer. I said, in my head I was like, all right, well I'm not doing that. I'm finna go eat a burger.

Peanut, I got something for you. I'm hiring you a coach. Good friend of mine, multi-Olympian Sonya Richards-Ross. Aaron Ross will train you, former NFL.

I ain't gonna get him a trainer.

I don't want him, he young.

He already trained.

You said 30 was it. I gotta get him to blow past you at 15 then. If you hit it at 15, I gotta help Peanut get there at 10.

I don't like the thought of that. I don't like, you just told me you love me. When somebody tell me they love me and then they go against me like that, I don't know if the love real.

Hey, money is money, bro. I put my money on Peanut.

I'm not saying I'm gonna bet no money. I might bet some pushups 'cause I ain't guaranteeing nothing.

I might bet some pushups. Nah, man. So this next segment I call The Room. And I know that food blogging isn't all that you do, but it's a true passion of yours. Was there a room? Was there a moment? Was there a dinner that, like, changed your life that motivated you to do this?

Mm, I think I just started enjoying different foods 'cause of my sister. She probably don't even know this. So if she ever see this, she gonna be like, Oh, I knew this all the time. But so we didn't grow up like where we just had money. We didn't, we wasn't going out to eat. My mom was cooking and she had, my mom learned how to cook 'cause she said, I ain't know how to cook. She just learned so she would be able to, you know, feed us. And she got really good at it.

Yeah.

And then she got older, she got bad at it. Like, I don't know what happened after I moved out. She's just like, I ain't cooking. I did that for y'all. I'm like, what?

Yeah.

But all right, so growing up, My sister, she ended up, she was dating someone and they would go out to eat. And I'd be at home.

Yeah.

And the first time she brought home some wings one time, and this was when wings was just hot lemon pepper. That was it. That's all you was eating. She came back with some teriyaki wings. It's the first time my taste buds went crazy.

Exploded, huh?

So then she might come home with something else. You always, She wouldn't never eat all her food. So she always come home with something and she always put me onto something new. So it was, she gave me my first Peach Crush, the soda, and all we was drinking was Coca-Cola. And that Peach Crush, I'm like, what's this?

Right.

Then what else did she bring? She brought me a Canadian Clear. I don't know if you ever had one of those.

Yeah.

Yeah. So it's the first time ever. This is like when Canadian Clear first was in Georgia or whatever. She brought one of them home. And she just used to always bring food. So I used to always love when she went out. I felt like I was going on a date.

There you go.

So I'm like, you ain't going on no date. You ain't going out with your, with your parents. You need to go out. So, but she ain't go. Whenever she went out, she brought food back and like, it was just always good. She ain't never bring nothing back that wasn't good.

Okay.

So, and it kind of, to me, it kind of feels like she was food blogging then without knowing it because she wouldn't bring me nothing back that was nasty. So if it was nasty, I'm assuming She didn't tell me it was nasty, but she didn't put it on the plate when she brought it back. And I was eating seconds. So I was eating my sister leftovers and I, man. And then that just, I guess that just grew my taste buds. My taste buds was just like, sometimes she'll go out and mama will be cooking. I'm like, man, Jenna just went out. She might bring something back good.

Right, right.

But yeah, that's what really probably kickstarted the whole, that whole thing. My mom's cooking and her bringing home just different stuff.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I also love the fact that, again, you're, you're much bolder than me where you'll try almost anything, but here's where you got me and, and I started doing it at home. Vegan mac and cheese, bro. Like, 'cause you've done it, you've done several of them now, but I remember the first one I saw and I was like, I don't want to like that, but that looks amazing. And I trust Justin. So I went and made some vegan mac and cheese and I almost can't go back.

Man, listen, you gotta try MrVegan9. He was the first vegan chef that I, the second vegan chef, but that's the first vegan chef that I tried that a viral video came up about it. Like the video did maybe like 10 million on Instagram or something, or something crazy on TikTok. It went crazy everywhere. And I was just, and he was like, man, it changed his life. But the food changed my life to know that you can get mac and cheese without it being actual cheese. And I was like, how? And I'm like, dang, vegan, the vegan chefs have come a long way.

Right.

'Cause it was like vegan food, you just hear it and you was like, I'm not trying that.

Right.

But now it's like, if I want some, I'll try it. Like my kids, like vegan food. Maybe they may later in life go vegan, who knows? My wife, she loves it. So, you know, but me, he always tells me like, man, anytime you want something, just call me because you did something for me that nobody else ever done. And I'm like, wow. You don't, and you, and I don't think about it like that because I'm old school. So a video to me is just a video.

Yeah.

Like a lot of people treat the videos like it's gold, which it can be gold 'cause you can make a lot of money, but I'm still nonchalant to it because I guess I just grew up in a time when we ain't have social media. So I'm not, I'm figuring it out a little bit now that money can be made. I just gotta figure out how to connect the dots and make it where that's all I do.

Nah, you got it. You on the path, man. Like one, you're in Atlanta. Two, you're just great at what you do. So I'm gonna talk to Coca-Cola right there.

Hey man.

Coke.

Hey, talk to Coke, man. Talk to Coke. Hey man, talk to them. Talk to them. Talk to them. Talk to them. Because another thing I see, I mean, it might be a little off topic, but I see brands, you hear things, you hear like, man, they paid $400,000 for 3 videos. I'm like, man, you gimme $500,000, $400,000, you got me all year.

Right.

I'm talking about 3, 4 videos a month.

Right.

Like, come and get somebody who finna be loyal to you.

Right.

Forget the 3. The 3 videos for $400, man, you gonna get that every month. And can't nobody talk bad about you. You my brother now. Now I gotta fight for you.

Right.

Y'all talking bad about what? Nah, y'all can't talk bad about them. Like, yeah, you getting somebody that's on your team.

Yeah.

But it's, I mean, you know how life is, man. Stuff happens when it's supposed to happen.

Like, nah.

So when did you start? Now you asked me, when did this start for you? The whole podcast?

Oh, now I'm getting interviewed.

Yeah, you getting interviewed just a tad. It's a 10.

So it was March of '24, man. And, and here's what's crazy. I didn't wanna start a podcast. I just wanted to do YouTube content. Like at the end of the day, I wanted to do YouTube content on why you should focus on your because and not your why.

Oh.

And so then I've got mentors. So like Les Brown, who lives here in Atlanta now, Daymond John, Robert Irvine.

You say Les Brown?

Les Brown.

He might be my cousin. My last name Brown. Anytime I hear Brown, I'm like, hey, you might be family. You might be.

But all of them were like, Mick, you should do a podcast and we'll be guests. And I was like, okay, I can come out the gate with some names. And then it just spawned into its own world, man. It's crazy because all of my episodes are about my guests. Like, I love hearing stories. I love hearing the things people are doing to inspire others and to make impact. And the world needs that. And so that's what the show is about. So started in '24. And just been rolling ever since. I, when I first started, I did no clips. I didn't put anything on Instagram. And now it's like 3, 4, or 5 clips a day. I do some talking head stuff and it's, it's going good.

When, when did you get your first like video that was like viral where, 'cause I, I'm, I'm gonna tell you mine, but when did you get your first viral video that made you be like, people like to, people like to watch?

So the one that went viral the most was I was talking about the 10-year-old me making a promise to my mom to change her life. And it was actually just a clip out of a 10-minute segment, but they took 45 seconds of it. And that is like, you know, over 2 million views now.

Wow.

Yeah. I'm not, I'm not big time like Justin where he can get—

No, you have 2 million.

But 2 million, 2 million for me was like, oh, okay.

I'm not big time like that either now. Now, 'cause, 'cause, 'cause Instagram, TikTok, all that play with your views. So I, But mine came, we did this one where I had a pan, it was 2 different ones. I had a pancake stack like this.

Mm-hmm.

And my daughter, I was, you know, I was doing a neuralyzer from the Men in Black.

Mm-hmm.

And I was getting ready to eat it and she was like, what you doing with all them pancakes? 'Cause they had 10 pancakes, a pound of bacon, and a pound of potatoes. And she was like, you not The Rock, you eating like that, you The Pebble. And so when that happened, That went crazy.

Yeah.

'Cause I am small. And then you have, then after that, the next video was, I wanna say it was Steamhouse Lounge. And then they had all these oysters right here in Atlanta. And then that video went crazy and I was like, oh, this is, this is, this, this, this is all right.

It is.

Like, 'cause we, I remember sitting around and my kids were like, people still liking your video 'cause they just looking and they like, they commenting crazy. I'm like, what you talking about? And then my phone was on ring and I just keep hearing ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

Yeah.

I'm like, I had to turn it off. I was like, I look up in the morning, it's still going. I say, oh, dang, they liked the video.

Very nice.

And that was crazy. And then years later it blew up and, and I'm so mad because me and my mom used to go out to eat so much. Like we used to go out to eat so much. It's like some restaurants that I go to now, they remember my mom and she passed away and I'm mad that she didn't never get to go out to eat with me and somebody say, hey man, your bill's taken care of. 'Cause that would've been the wildest thing in the world to her because she didn't like to take pictures. She wasn't on social media. Like that would've been wild for her. So I hate that it happened after her, but my youngest daughter looks just like my mom. So, and she acts like her. So it kind of gives me that, all right, you still here.

She's still here. Yeah. I love that, brother. I love that, man. I'm gonna get you outta here on my Unplugged 5, rapid-fire 5 questions.

All right, let's do it.

You ready?

Yep.

Best cook in the household is?

The oldest daughter.

Ooh, okay.

She's stealing people recipes. My wife might cook something and it'd be super good, it'd be the best. She might can't recreate it 'cause she don't know what she used in it.

Uh-huh.

So.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay. I dig that. I dig that. What's been one of the top 3 memorable bites you've ever had?

Kingston Caribbean's beef patty, cocoa bread beef patty mac and cheese oxtail sandwich.

Ooh.

That was, that was amazing.

Okay.

Mr. Vegan's Soul Food Vegan Plate.

Mm-hmm.

And it's gonna be weird. I'm gonna say this is the only reason I'm gonna say this is one of my biggest bites was because it was a side that I didn't think I was gonna like. And now every time I go there, I have to have it. Onion bub from Frankie's Steakhouse.

Okay.

And they were so good. Like, like, an onion can be this good? Like, but I like onions, but I never had an onion like that. And that changed my life as far as onions. Like, I, nah, I just, I like, people are probably like, man, an onion? Yeah, that onion was good.

Okay.

Yeah.

I dig that. I dig that. So people that aren't from Atlanta don't understand Atlanta's a whole bunch of different communities and sections that make up Atlanta. You turned me on to McDonough, man. Like I didn't know McDonough had a big food scene like that. Like what do you think is one of the best food areas of Atlanta? Underrated, let me say it that way. One of the most underrated ones.

It's also different because you have an Asian scene like in Duluth and all that. And I love that area. And then you have, Caribbean food everywhere. This is what I love about it. Georgia, it's stuff that's so good. So I don't think there's a particular scene. McDonough, and the only reason, 'cause I stay in McDonough, so I had to find places that we could eat because years ago I wouldn't even ride through McDonough. It was a rural area.

Yeah.

It was just like, it just wasn't somewhere we were riding through that night and trying to find food. But now it's so many restaurants that's popping up out there. They have Pandora on the Square, which is cool. It's a, you don't get fine dining like that anywhere else. And on the South Side, you get Enzo, that's in Fayetteville though. That's fine dining. Curiosity, fine dining. So we got like, I feel like 3 really good fine dining spots on the South Side.

Mm-hmm.

But I can't name one area 'cause every, 'cause what I do every weekend, we'll pick an area to go to for particular food.

Mm-hmm.

So it's so many different places that—

So just go anywhere in Atlanta, you can't really go wrong.

Yeah, yeah, you can find something.

Yeah.

People come down here and say Atlanta's not like the best of food, but in reality we are 'cause we have like every type of food.

Mm-hmm.

And it's not like it's somebody who's not from there making the food. Like every one of these cultures got a really good restaurant somewhere in the city.

Mm-hmm.

And that's what I love about us is that you're not stuck just eating one type of food.

Yeah.

And, but the thing is you might have to travel for it. You, you might have to go here. You gonna get in that Atlanta traffic.

I was gonna say it might take you 2 and a half hours.

Yeah. You gonna get in that Atlanta traffic. I don't like that Atlanta traffic. And that's why my kids get mad with me 'cause I'm up. I'm like, man, we gonna beat this traffic. Y'all wanna go eat? We gonna go in this area. We can go to the mall in this area. We can go do something, but we need to get out here before that traffic.

Yeah.

'Cause then me and my taste buds start being like, you know what? I just want something fast. Like, I'm just telling you how my mind thinks. If I get caught in traffic, I don't want to eat no more. I'm not, I get frustrated and I'm out. 'Cause I got frustrated in New York like that. They, I thought my navigation was messing up. It said 1 mile, 30 minutes. And we was in an Uber and I said, nah, that can't be right.

Oh yeah, you could have walked.

8 minutes went by, we had moved an inch.

Yeah.

I say, let's get outta this and walk. I told him, go ahead and charge me what you gonna charge me, but we getting out, we walking. And sure enough, we got down in that mile before that car got to where we were at. So I was like, okay. So I don't like traffic like that.

But yeah. We're the same right there. We're the same right there. We might be the same right here. Who's your favorite NFL team?

I got love for 2 teams.

Okay.

And I'll do 'em evenly, but I was born in Jacksonville. So Jacksonville and Atlanta.

No, I said football.

Football?

Yeah, yeah.

Jacksonville. Jacksonville Jaguars.

Yeah, yeah.

Jacksonville.

Football.

And Atlanta Falcons.

No, I said football. The Falcons play football?

Oh man.

They play football?

I almost threw this coat, man. We almost, I almost threw this coat, man. You just threw me for a loop, man. Man, listen.

I got Jacksonville. I used to live down there too.

Listen, Atlanta, we, hey, hey.

I'm a Patriot fan, so I appreciate you.

Man.

I appreciate you not running the ball.

But guess what? Guess what? That was the last time I ever bet it with my heart. That was the last time I gambled with my heart.

I told you before the show, I never do. My teams never see my money.

Yeah, I never, I never, I haven't bet on the Falcons since.

Yeah, smart. 'Cause they don't play football.

Man, they play football, man. We got—

Not NFL football.

Hey man, you gonna stop that. You gonna stop that. You gonna stop. Hey y'all, hey y'all, I tell y'all right now.

Uh-oh.

Falcons, we gonna have a good season this year. We gonna have a good season.

Yo, 6 games is a great season for real life.

Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. I mean, we gonna have a real good season.

6 wins.

We gonna be above .500.

So you got them winning 9 games?

I got us winning 9 games.

Hey, we're recording this live. 9 games is what he said. I will take the under of 9 for the Falcons.

All right.

I'll bet you a Coke float.

Okay, so look, so look, so look, we win 9 games, you wear a Falcons jersey. We don't, I'll wear a Patriots jersey of your choice.

Perfect. I got you covered.

Cool.

I got you covered.

Yeah.

That's what's up. Last question for you, Jay. As the story of Justin, the real Foodstalker Brown, is being told, what's something you wanna make sure the world knows about you?

I just love my people, man. And when I say my people, I just mean people who are positive, people who push for others. 'Cause like anybody who knows me knows, even if I'm losing, I'm still rooting for other people. Like I'm gonna always root for people. So, It doesn't bother me when people make nasty comments. Don't none of it. You can't bother me on the internet 'cause I come from where you don't, when people say something bad about you, they used to have to just say it to you in your face. And that was, so saying it to me on the internet is nothing like.

Yeah.

That's why I kind of like talk to my kids like, there's no way you should let somebody get under your skin talking to you over the internet. Like, 'cause it's nothing but words really. And I just want people to know I don't care about that. But I do hope that that same energy, negative energy that y'all use on me, I hope that you do something positive and support somebody with that same energy. As long as you do that, I don't care about you being negative to me. As long as you're supporting someone, like you're showing someone that you want them to make it. But don't be just trolling everybody and not trying to push somebody. Push somebody to be great.

Yeah.

'Cause you trolling me don't matter. Like, I don't care. I gotta be great. I got to try. my best to be great. Whether I become great or I don't, I gotta try so I can at least look back and say, hey, at this point in my life, I really tried to be great.

Mm-hmm.

So I just want people to know I don't care about that. And anybody who's pushing to do something, I'm with you on it. I'm, I'm with you. Like, I see food bloggers pop up every day.

Mm-hmm.

And I like their content. I don't scroll by it and don't like it.

Mm-hmm.

I like it. I don't care. Like, I do a lot of, collaborations with people, other food bloggers, because I want y'all to succeed too.

Everybody win.

Like the more people that can succeed, maybe you're better than me. And if you succeed, maybe you, a big company picks you up and realize that like, okay, these food reviewers are needed. And 'cause we are the new commercials.

Absolutely.

So you don't gotta pay $30,000, $40,000 for a commercial no more and be on TV. People watch Instagram, TikTok, Facebook more than they watch TV.

Absolutely.

Like, so you're getting a commercial outta people. I just want people to win. 'Cause the more people to win, the less hate it is.

Like, there it is.

And that's just the way it goes. People who are winning don't have time to hate. Even when I'm losing, I'm not finna hate. 'Cause I want you to make it. I just want people to know I love y'all. Like, honestly, like I see people out and when I see other good people, I love that. Like, I don't know what it is, but that's why all my friendships are tight. Like, 'cause they know I really care about them winning. I don't care if you're winning, my best friend's winning, I don't want nothing from you. I'm happy that you're winning. I'm happy that you're happy. And most people don't understand that aspect of it.

Right.

Like, that's why my friends are still my friends from like years and years. And they still joke on me no matter how big I get. I could be a billionaire, they still gonna roast me about my height, whatever it's gonna be. But they know I love them, so they gonna always do that. So just always know it's always love, nothing but love from me.

There it is. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been The Real Foodstalker. Justin, where can people find and follow you, man?

Man, everything The Real Foodstalker on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. Hey, y'all subscribe to that YouTube so I can start trying to make some money so I can give back. It's hard for me to give back, y'all, without no money. Let's help me get the money. And matter of fact, this shirt right here.

Yeah.

We gonna have, we gonna have this shirt. This gonna be for sale soon. And we gonna figure out some stuff, man. And, and I'm telling y'all, I'mma give back. When I get to that point to do the givebacks, I'mma give back in a different way. I'mma— a lot of people give back on camera. I'm not gonna do that. Y'all not even gonna know. The only people gonna know I gave back is the people who got gave to. And, and it's just gonna, it's gonna be fun. I promise you. It's gonna be, It's gonna be fun.

That's what's up, everybody. Make sure you're following. We'll have links to the show notes in the descriptions to everything. The Real Food Stalker, support my guy. He's an amazing follow, nothing but positivity, and you're gonna learn some things about food that you didn't know before.

Hey man, y'all follow him because he giving me the opportunity. Big, um, plug. Y'all gotta follow him because he's giving people the opportunity to tell their story, and a lot A lot of people don't ever get to tell their story. And they— people don't— so people don't understand that person and they don't understand why they disliking them or they like them, you know? So you're doing something really good for the community and for socials. Like, this gives people just that opportunity.

I appreciate you, brother. Appreciate you. And to all the viewers and listeners, remember, your because is your superpower. Go unleash it.