Collector Nation - Beyond The Price Tag: The Shocking Emotional Power of True Memorabilia

Episode Date: November 25, 2025

SUMMARY In this episode of the "Trading Cards and Collectibles" podcast on the Radcast Network, host Ryan Alford interviews DJ Skee about the evolving world of collectibles. DJ Skee shares his journey from music to memorabilia, discusses the importance of authenticity, and explains how collectibles capture cultural moments and personal memories. They explore the intersection of sports, music, and art, highlight the mission of DJ Skee’s company The Realest, and emphasize making the hobby accessible to all collectors. The episode offers insights into trends, nostalgia, and the future of the collectibles industry.   TAKEAWAYS Overview of the collectibles industry, focusing on trading cards and memorabilia. DJ Skee's background and entry into the collectibles market. Discussion on the value and potential of memorabilia compared to trading cards. The intersection of culture, music, and sports in collectibles. The importance of authenticity in memorabilia and the challenges of fraud. The role of storytelling and cultural significance in collectible design. The impact of projects like Topps’ Project 70 on the collectibles market. Emotional connections and nostalgia associated with collectibles. Strategies for making collectibles accessible to a broader audience. Future developments and upcoming projects in the collectibles space.  

The music industry, vinyl is kind of like the baseball cards for artists. Like 50% of people buying vinyl never even open it and they don't even own a record player. So it's being treated like a collectible. And of course, we all want the one of one. Who wouldn't? And go sell it if it's going to change your life. Absolutely. But she also has been doing this for fun.

Welcome to the Trading Cards and Collectibles podcast on the Radcast Network. From chasing grails to Colin Bluffs and going inside the hobby. Are you ready to collect? Let's get at it. Here is your host, Ryan Alford. Hello and welcome to trading cards and collectibles here on the Radcast Network. We're your number three sports show in the universe today. Actually, DJ ski.

Yeah, number three on the sports charts for Apple Podcasts. We appreciate everybody for listening, watching all that good stuff. We love you. We appreciate you. Hey, you know why number one? because we've got the best guess. You know, like, we go, we're going, like, all, I could go so many different directions. You know, I have a host a few different shows.

I'm like, I don't want to talk to ski about a lot of things, but he needs no introduction. What's up, DJ ski? What's it right? Are you, man? I'm grateful to be here, man. I don't know if I'm going to help the show anymore, but I'm excited to be amongst great companies. So, congrats. Yeah, man.

I just want some hardware, you know, I've talked a pre-episode with DJ ski. He's got some hardware you can't buy there behind them. He's done a few things in the music industry, amongst others. And tell, all right, I'm just going to, you know, we're going to do this just because not everybody knows anything. But who, for our audience, anyone that hasn't heard a DJ ski, why the hell are you so damn famous? I don't know if I'm damn famous. I mean, I've just been fortunate to be in, you know, in the right place at the right time and around the right people, you know. Yeah, I call that talent.

If you look at it, right? Like, I'm always just like doing cool things. Big fan of music, right? Like, music and sports world was my foundation. I thought it was going to be a pro athlete. Made my way in the music industry. And it was fortunate to be around some of the greats of our time and got known as being first to introduce or play.

Everybody, Kendrick, you know, Post Malone, Lady Gaga, Bieber, Travis Scott's first TV. Like, all these guys have been around them early on and helped play a small part and just, you know, when other people weren't paying attention to them, to shine a little light on them, leveraging the platform that I had from, you know, clubs, radio, mixtapes, TV, whatever it was at the time. And, yeah, from that, I've been able to expand.

And, you know, I was always entrepreneurial, launch businesses. And really, you know, fortunate to take me back to my first business, which was, you know, the collectible industry. When I was seven, I was selling traded cards out of my garage. And now, you know, trying to build a category defining business in the memorabilia side, you know, leveraging the best authentication in the world and working with the biggest partners.

And I've been really, really fortunate. to have a lot of success early on. Yeah. You know, talent, it's like real knows real. Talent sees and knows talent. I think that you're a curator of what should be more noticed. And like, it's sort of like, that's where I've sort of like, I always like go deep, like on guests, like, like getting underneath. Like, what does this person get at?

Why are they, like, someone's best at yourself, like some of the connections you've had. and you know how to identify value. And value is a loaded word, but you do know how to. You know how to, you're a tastemaker. Like, you've probably been called that before. But I think that's what it is, man. And now you're doing it with the realist, what you're doing there. But how did you get that skill?

Like, is that, is that nature or nurture? I think it's honestly nature, right? It's just something that's always come natural to me. was always just fascinated by seeing what's next. And it's interesting, right? Like, I'm not responsible for all of those artists that I mentioned. They all have this incredible talent that comes from that. You know, I've always been able to see things.

You know, I think my skill, if anything, is identifying things and seeing where the puck is going, right? Before others do a little bit early, whether it's, and all the artists that I've mentioned, whether it's, you know, early on doing a lot of work with beats by Drey, a lot of brands, even doing some of the first YouTube content, music space, and really diving into collectibles before it became, as popular in mainstream as it was. It was obviously big, right? But we saw what's happening.

I launched a lot of my activities and got in early in the card space right before the pandemic. And then obviously when that stuff happened, was able to double down. And now we're doing kind of the same for memorabilia. Like, kind of sector while everybody focuses on cards, we think that there's a lot going on over here that, you know, Has it really been like, you know, optimized yet.

Yeah, that's why we're here, baby, because this is trading cards and collectibles. We are giving the audience where they, we're, we're taste making ourselves. Exactly. Curating. You know, like, looking at where it's going. Like, we see cards. And I always like, look at RPA cards and these things, right? And they're like, well, the jersey itself should be worth more than a cut up piece of it.

Like, it's just like, you look at very obvious things. If you were to ask somebody on the street when it comes to, I think if you're just like, my my litmus test for anything, right? Is like, ask somebody that has no idea and just get what an obvious opinion is. And if you were to tell somebody, like, say a player whose RPAs card is sold for $4 million and their jersey, the debut jersey or something sold for $400,000, if you were to ask somebody on the street, like, hey, what's more valuable? Artificially scarce item with a piece cut up put into it or the actual one that was worn

and it's naturally scarce that doesn't have to have a number on it. They're both valuable, right? Not saying there has to be one or the other, but I just think that, like, The value preposition is going to change over time. It's just, if you were to ask anybody, it just feels obvious in that sector. And I love cards. It's why I'm here in that. But we've made, you know, on the business I've realists kind of a focus on another category that's just been kind of ignored.

I love the fact because it was so apparent to me. Like my kids got me back into all of this with my four boys. I was a collector growing up like yourself. Yep. It was on the shelf. You know, like I say like every other. I guess, red-blooded American boy. They went, cards and collectibles went on the shelf and cars, college, and co-eds.

Yeah, that's a great way to put it, right? The new topic. But then, you know, a lot of guys my age, like coming back into it, because either kids or nostalgia or whatever it might be. But here's what I love about what you're doing and what I think is so smart. And what I see myself is this intersection of culture, music, sports, and now collectibles. These are universes all revolving.

I don't know which one's the sun, but they're all in this space. And it's coming together. And that's why I love what you're doing with the realist. I appreciate it. I mean, like, yeah, that's my life, right? Like, I thought it was going to be an athlete got into music and collectibles where, you know, I was collecting things in both realms of that. And that's where, you know, so fortunate, like I kind of really made my name in the

collectible, like the design. scene by my work with tops putting out kind of you know when they approached me to do project 70 i was like hell yeah like i'll do baseball cards like who wouldn't that was our dream and then i had to really think like all right what am i going to do design wise i didn't want to just like i needed to do something that had a story and that made sense and that tied into culture and it brought me back to like you know my my start music was mixtapes and mix tapes and mix tapes we'd throw together covers of like pop culture and like put our name on it and photoshop them and i was like let's treat the players like artists and combined music and sports, it makes sense to me.

I thought there were just some iconic album covers. And, you know, that's what I did and leaned in on storytelling, putting 100 little details into every card. Like, yes, you can obviously see it's Kirby Pucket and Prince, but did you know that there's this behind the motorcycle that represents this, and this represents Game 7, and this represents his catch? And like all these different layers. So if you dig deeper, there's many more stories, but it's still like beautiful aesthetically.

And it's led to us even creating products like, you know, behind me and I'm hanging our, you know, collectible vinyl that we live. launched with the MLBPA and we launched in Japan with Otani and other players, you know, the day that he had the greatest game ever, which is just, you know, kissment and insane. And, you know, like, yeah, that's, that's what it's what it's about. You know, I always had, the reason we launched this is it's literally vinyl records. It doesn't have music. Otani's not singing on here, but we're treating players like rock stars. And if you look at, you know, in the music industry, vinyl is kind of like the baseball cards for artists, right? Like 50% of

people buying vinyl never even open it. And, you know, they don't even own a record player. So it's being treated like a collectible. And for me, it was a chance to get product into the hands of collectors that didn't care about cards necessarily, as well as give people that wanted to see like this broader 12 inch by 12 inch kind of, you know, beautifully displayed art, high quality print that, you know, we're limited on cards, like size wise, right? Like, there's the Ocaddy card. Like, it's a lot bigger space to play with and it's very easy to display. It's like, yeah, that's just fun to me, right? Like, it's in an, and it, and it, and it, fits what I do.

But it connects all these dots that make so much sense with, you know, the scarcity that's kind of happening with, you know, limited edition, limited prints, the athletes themselves being so tied to culture and in music and all these other things. Like, I don't know. I think it's a perfect intersticter. And I do have a white wall that's really empty over here. And I'm going. Let's go.

You know, like DJ ski, I need it. This is the immediate episode. We'll put it in the background. Are we doing our set right now? Send me the address. I got you, Ryan. All right. Well, all right.

I'm going to hold. Bella, you get, you got? No, easy. Easy, easy. Talking with D. Jay, ski, about all things, collectibles, entrepreneur, the realist. Talk to me about, you know,

we're talking a little bit about what's in the realist, but the evolution of that company. Where did it all come from? Some of it's so clear to me, but I'd love it to hear it in your own words. Yeah, I think, like, for us, it's like everything that you said, authenticity meets engagement. We want to, like, really legitimize kind of, you know, and for us, everything starts with identifying what's real. I mean, going back to Operation Bullpen, the FBI just estimates up to 50 to 90 percent

of memorabilia and stuff at the time might be fraudulent. And we've seen it, right? Like I bought from the biggest auction sites and seen items that were not real. And, like, there's not that much accountability. When you think of, like, who's authenticating items at the end of the day, it's a letter of opinion. There's no certification required. Anybody can launch their own business. It's a space wildly riddled with fraud, and especially as, I mean, we saw what happened with, you know, card porn. Like, we see these jersey things. Like, it's, there's too much money in there to be taking risks. And I really realized it when I, you know, I launched a fund in the space. And we looked at like what we could buy with, not only, for the first time I wasn't just buying with my

own money. It was with other people's money as a fund. And we realized, like, the provenance is, everything, we have to be 100% certain. We can't spend a million dollars in an item that we think it's real. Because if it's not, it's not like it's worth out it's only worth 800K. It's like, no, it's worth $8. So, like, and just seeing how much fraud was out there and seeing kind of like, in looking at the landscape, seeing baseball was the only

sport and league that took it serious and actually used this like witness-based program that's routed in evidence collection. We're like, why is every other property? Not only sports, like a concert is no different than it. in a music show like, why are all these other entertainment properties not leveraging this layer of authentication to protect fans and then also monetize their goods? We saw most of these items being leaked out, $10 million Jordan jersey, Michael gets no money from it, the Bulls get no money, the NBA gets no money. So none of the rights holders that made that valuable, it's not made

a gold, aren't participating. And we wanted to build a program and the infrastructure to allow us, the one, protect fans, like I built this for myself, but then secondarily to allow the rightful rights holders to go direct to consumers and give their fans a way to get closer to it with ultimate trust in a way that, that, you know, engages fans in a deeper way and gives them these assets that, you know, have the potential to, you know, really appreciate overtime and stuff as we think about it. And that was really the foundation of just modernizing an antiquated industry with authentication and then also with like a marketplace. We don't charge buyers premium. Like we don't have like, we're not third party. We're not taking those things. We're

from the source, like we document them, and we fully transparent in the whole process. And also, like, we want things at every price point. That's where we're making hardline goods that are affordable and, you know, $49 that everybody can walk away from. Not only are we setting records for selling gold gloves and silver sluggers, you know, $100,000 plus that, like, that's not accessible to anybody. We wanted something that everybody could afford because that's not going to be your first purchase.

And last thing I'll say is, like, it's really about onboarding a new demographic. For me, I always go back to growing up. It was the 89 Griffey card. It was the most valuable one, right? 120 bucks, I think it was in Beckett. Couldn't afford that. We're buying packs, and, you know, I got hooked because I was still able to buy cards and, you know, for 10 cents and for 50 cents for a couple bucks.

And for the pack for that, like a lot of things now are just getting too unaffordable. And we're going to, you know, alien in a whole audience because they just can't participate. And that's why, especially in like the memorabilia in the auction site land, like, for us, We want to have things across every price point because somebody's first purchase is not going to be, you know, $100,000 item. It's going to be something far less than that. But we have to hook them early. And there should be things for everybody. Exactly.

And it's about, you know, that's what this show is about. Like, don't get wrong. I'm in the business. I mean, I'm turning my hometown, like literally, easily South Carolina, I bought a building here. I moved out of downtown Greenville, one of the fastest grown cities in America, small. city but a little suburb easily south carolina turning into a hobby studio and it's about collecting you know it's about the nostalgia about the you know like it's great it's no problem with these kids like that go the shows and they flip something make some money i love it i'm teaching my boys

how to do that but i also want them and really put an emphasis on the value of having of collecting something and and it meaning something you know like and what that meaning is to you and this remembrance of that and like stamping that in time. I really love that that's what you guys are doing and I feel that with what I've seen. No, I appreciate that. And like Ryan, you talk about it all the time on this show, right? Like I've heard you talk about like, yeah, of course, there's like a business behind it. Like we're here from those things and it's great. But that's not the foundation of this. And I think actually that's where we're in a big risk of, right? Like everything is right now about what, especially in the card side. But I mean, you could say about everything, right? Like

people have the market, like people are gambling on everything. It's about flips and what you can do to make money. And I saw what that did to the sneaker scene, to the streetwear scene, right? And like, those things don't last, people will move on to what's next, whether it's Labuboos, whether it's, you know, PlayStation's, whether it's sneakers, whether and cards happen to be hot at the moment, especially with, you know, some of the innovations and breaking is great and awesome. But what turns me off is like when I were a kid, like, of course, going back to my story,

of course, I wanted a King Griffey Jr. card, I'd buy a pack and try to get that and would love to get that. But you know what? I was happy when I got any Minnesota Twins card because I love them or when I got other players that I like. Nowadays, it's like, even if you get your, unless you get the hit, like kids are just throwing things away in the trash. And it's not, it's all about just what is the hit, what is the money, what is the money, what is the money, which sounds a lot like gambling to me. And I think that that, that is not a stable outcome long term. And what, what has me really scared, especially in the card sector of this, this world. Because it should be cool, like regardless. Like, yes, Of course, we all want the one of one hit.

Like, who wouldn't? And go sell it if it's going to change your life. Like, absolutely. But should also be doing this for fun because you love it. It's a way you engage in sports and like, you know, for me as a Minnesota sports fan, right? Like, I want those, you know, twins players and things. Like, that's why, you know, that's more meaningful to me than one of one outside of the cash. Yeah.

I mean, mine is, and I'm doing it. And that's why, you know, twisted your elbow a little bit is part of my. My reason for doing this show is I want people to send me stuff that I want to collect forever and put on my walls. It's like Matt Caesar, won a World Series for the Cubbies. And now as an artist did this one of one Michael Jordan for me in my radical colors, my brand colors. And that will never be for sale. And I do this with the boys. I went to Clemson.

We're from South Carolina. So we're Clemson guys through and through, bleed orange. Not a good season for us, by the way. But we collect Trevor Lawrence and all the guys. And like, so with the boys, we make a, you know, it doesn't matter. It's a $2 card. You know, like we're, if we get a Trevor Lawrence, it means something to us. And I just, I always want to be an advocate for it's the two sides.

Investment in business and then collecting because I'll tell you what, that pops Project 70. To this day, if I see one of those, I buy it. Like, it doesn't even matter what the value. It's just fun. And I told Brian Lundon and I were talking about this last week on the show. I was like, there's so much room. The reason I was like so disappointed is like the few artistic showings that we've had. I hope Topps better hire you to do some killer like replacements of Kaboom and downtowns

and all this stuff in the cards because what you did with Topps is. Project 70 and other things. We need more of that because, you know, I don't need to see the guy, you know, fielding a ball for the hundreds of time. Like, it's cool and all. I want to see the artistic interpretation of this. And it doesn't have to be one-on-one necessarily. It's just different and collectible. Yeah, I think you nailed it, right?

And I think, like, look, we're fortunate art cards are having a moment right now. And I think when we look back on this era, one of the catalysts of cards exploding is going to be Project 2020, which before what I did, Project 70 in those things afterwards. And, you know, it just onboarded a whole new demographic because people, you know, artists participating in it, there were some incredibly talented artists there. And they were able to bring in their communities that weren't card buyers while also, you know, taking card buyers and showcasing them these different styles and also creating real value from it. Like, obviously there was a bubble in those things in that burst.

But I think like, it actually probably some good buys long term because I think the nostalgia era, especially with us all being home in the pandemic and looking at the site every day to see what was there. Like there was this moment in time that you can't recreate. Even for me going out and doing that, like, it was one of the most fun projects I've ever done that's led me to like, actually, like, here's the Otani card that I did as part of Project 70,

which was based on his walkout sign song at the time was Jiu-Jitsu Kizen, which is the anime show. And he loved it so much, like I really leaned in and storyteller, like Shohay posted it up. I dropped it off. I went there to do an interview with Mike Trout and left the cloud house attendant some of the otani ones and next day it ended up on his instagram story and like seeing players like really react because we dig into something that's unique

and like they see the cards and the basic cards all the time and they get as to autograph this all the time but that has thought and creativity and culture like built into it that's different different is a winner 100% right and that's where like it's just fun for me right like and and and and that's what's important. That's how we onboard new generations. It is doing those cross-cultural collaborations where all sides can benefit. And that was a great example in Tops and the team there

that was behind it. It did such an incredible job of that because you were able to take this artist's world and this. And like when you hit on these collaborations there's too many collabs in the world right now, but when they hit in their right, like it just serves as an accelerant. I think we're going to point back to that as being a crucial market in a crucial time

in the hobby that there'll probably be a lot of nostalgia, 10, 15, 20 years. from now for those. So, you know, not investment advice, but I actually think like anything from early Project 2020 to, you know, even through some of the Project 70 stuff, those are going to go down as a lot of kids that's going to be the first moment that they had with cards.

Same way I'm talking about my Griffey card, you know. That's why I buy every, I buy them because I like them because it's different, but I also think there's a incredible. Yeah, there's sneaky play long-term strategy. Who knows? It's like, but it's cool regardless. It doesn't

pan out. It's just cool and different. It's like the first thing, like when I have cards like that, when I'm showing like a non-collector or somebody's like, whoa, what's that? I mean, it is. It's like what stands. It stands out. And that's what true art should do. And that's what DJ Ski does talking with my man. He is the curator of culture.

So what are you excited about today as we sit here? You're doing a lot of like cool shit. but like what's what's like really got you popping off so much i mean like it's been an incredible year for us i mean working like we've been fortunate to do it at the highest level i mean at the super bowl this year we had three clients philadelphia eagles kendr glomar and serena williams who we authenticated and took all of their memorabilia from which is insane right like yeah like it's insane and we're like working there did i fall on the floor or did you just say like you're the biggest like we're there they all happened to

to be doing Super Bowl like the same year. It's, it's just insane, right? Like we, we, I'm just so passionate and excited about what we're doing at the realist and like, you know, bringing these, yes, it's authentic products, yes, protecting fans for the first time, giving IP and rights holders a new way to, to engage with their fans while making these items available legitimately, not through just like the backdoor where they've historically been. But it's also like how we create new things and onboard a new generation and storytell in a deeper way. I always say like, we're just storytellers through, like our medium is, you know, your medium is the podcast. Our medium is physical IP, right? We have a bottle of confetti from the Super Bowl that represents, you know, one of the biggest, you know, moments of

you're Philadelphia Eagles fan in your life. And to anybody else, you don't really care, but to them, it's wildly valuable. And we're able to preserve these moments. And I think in an era of AI, of deep fakes, of fraud being everywhere and what's real and what's not, us being able to dictate that and legitimately provide fans that is wildly valuable. So to be able to do that and come with cool collaborations and projects and, you know, go to Japan and open up pop-ups with the MLBPA and launch products with like Shel Hey, Otani in the World Series. He has the greatest, you know, game in the NLCS before and goes down to one of the

greatest series ever is just, you know, dream come true. Like, still got to pinch myself. I'm still tired, though, from that 18-minute game. The World Series is freaking awesome. I mean, I got to be, I'd be honest. Baseball is like number of like four for me for sports. Like, but I'm a sports junkie in general. But that World Series and really a lot of the playoffs, like like rejuvenated me for the sport.

And like I, it was so cool like the other night, my four. We rarely get where we can like sit and like watch all one game together. They got sports happening. Lots of stuff. All four of my boys made. My wife was already like, you know, two hours of sleep. We're just sitting there watching that last. game of the World Series. It was cool as shit.

And it was just like, I don't know, the moment and how much tense, how tense it was, but the excitement, like, it was just an awesome game. I mean, the thing that people complain about baseball are what make it most exciting sport in moments like that, right? Like the dramatic pauses, like the strategy,

like the randomness, the fact that you know, you know the last play, LeBron is going to get the ball, right? You know, Tom Brady is going to be able to throw the touchdown. You know what's happening. In baseball, might be Miguel Rojas, the number nine hitter who wasn't even playing the series, hitting a home run to when everybody thought it was over, right? And then make it to play.

I think that guy everybody's a bill in L.A. again. It's like it's criminal crime. It's insane, right? So you never know what's going to happen. And it's just, you know, it's what makes it so exciting. And, yeah, there can be lulls. And you go through 162 games and long things. But I think, like, it was the best thing to happen for baseball is this.

And hopefully they can carry on. And hopefully, you know, there's not a work stoppage, you know, next. Yeah. in 2017. I think that that would be catastrophic, the same way 94 really took a lot of momentum out of baseball when I was a kid, right? Yeah, because they've got that going now. I think they really do.

They need to figure that out. But if you're not a love about what you're doing, though, with the realist, you know, we can't all go and be at these events and these things, like either unattainable monetarily, logistics, whatever it might be. But physically, but like putting them in the bottle, like stopping, time in a way and making these collectibles and then knowing the authenticity is there and the trust is there. That's what collecting is about, though.

It's kind of like, look, attention is fleeting. Moments are fleeting. We're pulled in so many different ways, but having these things that bring back nostalgia, bring back reminders, and being a moment that is sort of captured in time is really cool. You know that. I mean, like, look, I'll show you what's behind me. I have a 91 Twins World Series trophy. with a picture of me and my mom at the, you know, during the 91 World Series,

my mother passed away. But like, so for me, like, yes, as a Minnesota sports fan, the last men's championship we won, there's the obvious on field. That's the smallest part for me. That tugs on my memories as a kid, my memories with my mother, my memories of my father, right? Like, everything else. And that's what this trophy when I see represents that moment in time.

Yes, like, to me, it's priceless, right? Like, value in it. It's a gold trophy, but it's being there. And that's what I try to be. That's what I hope this represents. Like it's confetti. It's a novelty product. Let's keep it real, right?

Like it's confetti. We put a lot of effort into collecting it, which is why, you know, it's still like a $60 product because we literally are on the field at the Super Bowl collecting it. We literally seal it up protective tape with trackers on it. It can't be opened up unless one of our representatives of the factory. We want to make sure that even the factory, they're not trying to get cute and add in more confetti or take any of those things. Like, we want people to know what they're doing.

getting is real, right? And from the source, because it represents so much more. Again, to a lot of people, like, yes, on paper, Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl on February 9th and New Orleans, there's going to be some kid that is, this is going to be sitting on his desk 20 years from now, because he remembers watching it with his family, and that's far more important than the outcome of the game. This is just what encapsulates that. And that's what I'm trying to bring is like the same nostalgia that some of these items bring to me in memories. We want to preserve for others. and it just hasn't been available and it hasn't been in a trusted source. Like that's what we're here for.

And that's where I say we really storytell through these. And it's more than just the value of items. And if you're listening, that is what should be a holiday gift and not some socks or something. Yeah, exactly. This is gifting. I was an equal and I got that in thy gift. Like I'd be like, someone's paying attention. Like, you know what's great, right?

Is that the fact is that whether you are a billionaire or somebody that's impossible to buy a gift for or whoever. It's literally the best, right? And like, people will put it on. And like, by the way, it's worthless to us that aren't Eagles fans, right? Like to anybody else, it's not. But if you are, it is more valuable than anything else. And that's what I love. Like these items worthless to 99% of the population, almost everything that we sell.

But to that one percent that is a fan. of that team or loves that sport or loves that artist, it's, it's priceless. And it's really fun to be able to, you know, storytell it through products like that and bring that joy to fans. I mean, look, this is how deep I go with my fandom here. I could care less about the Eagles. But you know why I'd want that? Because I get Will Shipley or Jeremiah Trotter, both Clemson guys to autograph it.

Man, we got to do it. My Clemson memorabilia as priceless. And so like, yeah, man. I love the angles. Yeah, you nailed it. We'll get you one out too, Ryan. He's talking with DJ Ski. He is the curator of cash.

No, man. Tell me a story, man. As we close out a little bit here, I want a good story. DJ Ski, you've heard him name dropping. You know, he doesn't have to name drop. They're all names. But whether it's old school DJing, or, you know, like, you've done such amazing things.

I'll be honest, like, DJ, I, I just know, like, how deep you've been into, like, culture and these names. I'm like, how did this guy come out on the other side of it so put together running a company? And, like, because let's be honest, right, that's a roller coaster of a million, a million things that you, roads, you probably could have gone down. I don't know. You can make in the music industry, you can make it anywhere, which is why sports seems relatively tame now, right? I guess, right? But what's a good story?

What's something that everybody would be like, holy cow? There's so many areas. It's a tough way to start. But, I mean, just having the fortune to be around the greats and seeing what made them great, you know, I was fortunate to be around, you know, everybody from Prince, right, in tour with him. He wanted me to write a book on his tour, which is just insane. If you found out I was from Minnesota after I wrote a Billboard article on him, and when I went on tour with him,

every night I was picking up guitar picks and set lists. And it was like, somebody should do music memorabilia, right? Like, yeah. So that was kind of a lot of those things like put me on that path with it. I mean, being able to, I still vividly remember the first time I met Kendrick, top dog brought him to the studio. I just recorded 300 bars with game, which was kind of my breakout song that I produced and Kenduk was maybe 16 at the time and he freestyled for about 18 minutes and somebody has it on footage too there's there was somebody recording on camera so I don't know where that footage is I hope it comes out one day and I remember telling him like ah you can freestown like if you ever learns how to make like a song and consolidate it into a record it'd be pretty good

and like watching his growth and journey in the hard work and seeing him like be signed and like didn't happen overnight to you know one of the greatest moments was you know we were at the super bowl walkthrough but her they do a dress rehearsal the Thursday night before the game final walkthrough for artists every year. He got off and first person he talks to it and says this thing. And I hadn't seen him in a couple of years. And we just have this conversation. And he's asking about me.

It's not even about him, but seeing how humble he stayed. But like I remember and I booked his first show too, his first ever show, which I didn't realize he told me in an interview we were doing later on. And being, I was like, ah, it's a little better attended, you know, you come a long way from your first show. It was called the MBXpo thing that we did, just joking and sharing that memory and literally watching. I mean, I think it gets no better in a career.

Like, you're just not obviously not fault, but like almost like a proud, I don't want to say father. It's not the right word for that in any context. But like watching some, literally a kid that you took, not that, you know, I was a couple years older than him,

not much older, but at the time, like, you know, the difference between 16 and 19 is drastic. And booking his first show and watching him literally be like, people not giving him the time of day to being on the biggest stage and having the biggest performance of all time.

And having a front row view to both. And watching him be the same person was, it's just incredible to see, right? And like those moments are, I mean, it's still a dream. Like, it's obvious now, but nobody knew who's there to watch that whole journey. And a lot of things along

the way, too, is just wild. So it's, you never know what's going to happen and what life's going to take you. But you name two very different artists, but Prince is on my list of most talented like, I'm

me really like number one for me like a lot of people i think he's probably maybe become more known but like yeah he could sing yeah yeah but playing the guitar playing instruments like the musical genius and ability and talent that was coming through that man is never been like i don't think it's been duplicated ever i don't think it ever will be i mean when people ask me the most talented artist or musician. I mean, there's not even a, like, usually favorite album I have to think about favorite artists. Yeah. Most talented artists. No, no question in the world. I'll fight anybody over that. Like, seeing him every night, like, touring becomes very boring with most artists because it's the same show, the same set night after night, right? Like, you know what's coming and sequenced.

Prince, every night in the tour that we did was two shows a night, House of Blues of Smaller Style venues, a couple thousand people. Like, he intentionally did them small, which was amazing. Every show, he would come out different. One night he's rock prints, the next night he's RMB prints, the next night, total different set lists, had no idea,

and you couldn't turn away. It wasn't like usually the first, second show, you're like, I've seen it, you know, what's happening. By the third show,

you're already done, because it's, you know, like Prince every night was, was absorbing. And he's doing his own sound and mixing it. He fired a sound guy three times.

Like, crazy stories on that end, but like, he's doing it, like, but you're genius and you're so talented, like, nothing's good enough. Like, you know, Like, you're like, what do you do?

I mean, like, look, we always see this. Like, the great ones are always crazy, right? Yeah, Michael Jackson, again, who I'd put, you know, it's a different category in a way of it's music, but another level of understanding, like, beats and tying things together that, like, I consider myself creative, but like, but that is just like such genius, like, the way they can tie these together. But Prince was just, I mean, it's also so what's sad that,

it does seem to almost break them, you know, like because of their genius, right? It's a shame what happened to him, right? Like, he was the guy that was so shocking to the way that he passed, right? Because he didn't want anybody drinking around him. Like, I didn't believe it. It just shows, like, the power of, you know, like, you know, what can happen. You had bad surgery and got addicted to pain pills, right? Like, is how it ended, which is just shows it can happen to anybody because he was so against drugs and

drinking in those things and he just needed it to survive. and fortunately became, you know, addicted to those things, and it led to the downfall, but without question, the most, most talented, you know, musical artists.

And I mean, God, there will be nobody that's, these experiences that you've had, dude, like, I mean. I'm living a dream. I don't even know.

You are in a dream. I've done it, like, I'm very fortunate. Like, I'm, every day, you know,

I've lived, you know, I've lived to, you know, I'd be honored to live those things. Every, every day is a blessing to still. What's the biggest attribute? Like,

I'm getting almost into my, business show talk, but I have to because I'm just curious. But you got to be curious. I know you're, I bet you're insanely curious creature on some level. Most successful people are. But like, what's the one attribute, two attributes?

Like, what is it that's got put you in those rooms? I think it's like, you know, always providing value to others, not looking for others to provide you value, right? Like, there's always some value that you can provide. I start. I tell people. Say that one more time. I wonder everybody. I'm not.

This isn't a motivational show. This is a trading cards go. We talked about it, but I want people to hear this. Yeah, I mean, like, provide, like, you get hit up all the time. Hey, Ryan, help me out. Do this. It's like, you don't have enough hours in the day. Like, I'm sure you would love to.

It's just not realistic. And I think, like, for me, like, look, I got my break when I was 16. I wrote a letter. I was flipping PlayStation 2s. I was, you know, that's how I made my money, like flipping stuff. And that's how I was working as a kid. I got connected to Steve Rifkin, the CEO of Loud Records. He needed one for a son for Christmas, hooked him up.

and then just stayed close. And then I sent him an idea on what I thought he was doing wrong with his label when the internet was disrupting it. And I thought I'd get a Wu-Tang Clan shirt and be the happiest kid in the world. And he offered me a job and moved to L.A. when I was 17. So that was the foundation for me of everything. If it wasn't for me providing that value, I would have never been able to have that conversation and ideas for him. And he listened from it was there. So I think like providing value at some context.

And again, my value was it was right before Christmas. And you know, for your kids, you will do anything. and couldn't find a PlayStation. I was able to hook him up with that. So like small value in retrospect, something that many others could provide, I just happen to be at the right place at the right time. And then I think,

you know, just following your passion and trying to find your lane. For me, it's always, I'm not really interested by what's done. And that's where I think I'm really, well, obviously super deep in cards. I've really gravitated towards memorabilia because it feels kind of like,

just obvious going back to my point in the show. And I think that this is a category that has a much bigger, even an audience profile. It's not limited to just card collectors. I think everybody's a collector of something, whether it's music, film. We see the gladiator stuff behind us, sports, obviously. And I just think it's just an untapped realm.

And it brings so much joy to people. I've seen the joy that it brings to myself in my life. And I wanted to be there to provide that and have fun. So, yeah, that's my spiel. DJ Ski, he is a true one of one. I appreciate you, brother. Ryan, thank you for having me, man. Congrats on the success, as always.

It's always awesome to see good people doing good things. And you out here anything that you need, yeah, your stuff over. We'll get you some of the vinyl. I would love it, man. And let's stay connected. And I'd love to have you on the show periodically. And I just love your energy, man. Vice versa.

I'm here. Thank you guys. Thanks to everybody watching out there for the support and love. Like, we're here because of you guys. And, yeah, we're enjoying it. We can buy some of this stuff, learn about what it is. Give me some, let's hit some handles, websites, all that stuff. Everything that we sell is up on the realist.com.

You'll see all of our big partners across the NFL, NBA, you know, MLS, you know, music, et cetera. You can find more on me at DJSki.com and at DJSki on socials. And lots more to come. We're just getting warmed up. So we've got some crazy stuff coming. Thank you, brother. Appreciate you. Hey, guys, you never find us.

Collectibles. Dot show. We'll have highlight clips to full episode, links to YouTube, links to the realist.com, all the stuff. Go just read some of this stuff. He talked about some of those stories. But just go down. on the rabbit hole. He's worth it because you see how quality he is. You see what they're doing with the realist. And I can't wait to see some of that on the wall over here.

Me too. You too. Next show. Next show. Let's go. Oh, yeah, bro. We appreciate it. Hey, we appreciate everybody out there. We'll see you next time on TCC.C. Collectibles. Show is where you'll find all of the channels and learn more about what we're doing. And ultimately, hey, we want to hear from you. You do case hits at collectibles.com. Show. I want you to send in your favorite pulls of the week. And here's the difference. This isn't about just value.

Hey, we want to see some $10,000 hits. Had a couple of those myself a few months back. But it's not just about the values, about what you're collecting. What means something to you? Share a story. Share a video of you holding up the card that you hit last week. That was your favorite player and you nailed it. So case hits at collectibles.

Show, send in those videos. I want to know the stories. We're going to bring them to life here on the show. We're going to do a segment each week. Once we get rolling and get some videos in, where we share that on the show with us. We'll feature you on Collectibles Show. Thanks for tuning in to the show.

Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform and don't miss the full video version on YouTube. You can find us at www.comlectables. Show or follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Olford. Now get out there and collect yours.