Long Beach rapper Joey Vercher, known by the stage name Joey Fatts, is using his clothing brand’s first brick-and-mortar location to continue his mission of uplifting and uniting the city’s Black and Latino communities.
“Where I come from in Long Beach, Blacks and Mexicans never really got along like that. And last year, if you remember, it got real bad,” Vercher said.
In response to the rising racial tensions between Black and Latino communities in Long Beach last year, Vercher helped organize a march through the city on July 3, 2020 to call for peace.
During the Peace Walk, protesters walked 7.7 miles in the summer heat from downtown to North Long Beach, with participants holding signs that read Black Lives Matter and waving Mexican flags.
Many protesters waved Mexican flags of different sizes as they marched during a Peace Walk in Long Beach on July 3, 2020. (Kristen Farrah Naeem | Signal Tribune) 
A protester holds a sign near the corner of Atlantic and Alamitos, at the end of the Long Beach Peace Walk on July 3. (Kristen Farrah Naeem | Signal Tribune)
The synthesis between Black and Mexican culture can be seen in Vercher’s newest line of clothing for the Cutthroat brand—which sold out online within a few days of being released.
The Spanish slogan “Por Vida” (For Life) is emblazoned on many of Cutthroat’s newest items. Under this slogan, Vercher sends a message of unity between Black and Latin American cultures.
“It’s like crashing both cultures together, and ethnicities, to where everybody we’re all one,” Vercher said of the slogan.
The ad for the Cutthroat store’s grand opening included footage from the highly publicized armed robbery of street vendor Bililfo Fernandez on June 29, 2020.
But the footage of the attack only lasts a split second in the ad, sandwiched between recurring scenes of two young men of different races traveling through Long Beach together—taking the Metro, going to a skate park, and shaking hands at the end of the video.
“We control our narrative, you know? Whatever happened before, it’s not easy but it’s okay to acknowledge it, but that doesn’t define us,” Vercher said. “We can move on and be better.”
The video of Fernandez being robbed was one of multiple videos showing attacks on street vendors that were widely spread online last year.
The comment sections under such videos were often focused on the attackers’ race, filled with racist insults by some Latinos against Black people in general.
“I just feel like we’re all crabs in a bucket in Long Beach, you know? We’re all minorities and we’re going at it with each other instead of trying to better these situations. And that’s more so what I was trying to give off with that commercial,” Vercher said.
One T-shirt released in his latest online clothing drop shows a modified version of the logo for Tapatio, a Mexican-American hot sauce.
Under the large red sombrero, a skull replaces the iconic smiling mustachioed face with the phrase “Snitches Aint Safe” written on the red banner below. Two rats sit on the skeleton’s shoulders.
Scenes reminiscent of classic Latin American romance films appear on another shirt, with illustrations of cowboys and women in China Poblana dresses.
Besides creating clothing that sends a message, Vercher also wants the Cutthroat store to create opportunities for local communities of color, especially the youth.
He plans to host workshops and seminars on topics such as financial literacy and more.
“Just to give them insight and a little help on being them and, you know, growing up in a place that’s beautiful, but full of a lot of bull crap. And just trying to stay away from that. […] really just trying to give them a head start,” he said.
Vercher is familiar with the impact that guidance and mentoring can make in a young person’s life, having himself been taken under the wing of the late ASAP Yams early in his music career.
“He seen something in me I didn’t see, you know,” Vercher said. “My hustle, my ambition, my want for it. He just exploited that in a good way, you know, put me up on a lot of game. It’s almost like he knew he was going to pass away, as much stuff as he taught me in such little time.”
The direction Vercher received from his mentor had a lasting effect on his life goals, teaching him to value people over profits.
“That played a big part in the way I carry myself, the way I move, the way I want to help people because he didn’t benefit nothing from helping all of us,” he said. “He died broke, so it’s not about money to me. It’s more about impact.”
Vercher is also using the new storefront to provide gainful employment to the local community and is currently hiring all its employees at above minimum wage.
“I have multiple employees,” Vercher said, “They range from $17 [an hour] and up. No one gets paid lower than $17. It’s not all about profits. We’re all trying to get by, you know? We all play a role in keeping this company going.”
Vercher has first-hand knowledge of the problems in the community surrounding his new store, having spent his childhood in that neighborhood.
“I grew up three blocks away on 7th and Olive,” Vercher said, “I used to always go by [the clothing store] Proper and stuff like that, because they had all the dope shoes and stuff, so I always wanted to shop there. But I never could afford it. I grew up poor, like super poor.”
Now a successful business owner, he wants to give back and change the landscape of the community he was raised in.
“I really want to be of service to people. I believe a man is not known for what he possesses, or what he had,” Vercher said, “It’s more so what he did for his people.”