Awash in the back-to-back successes of their debut album, glbl wrmng, vol. 1, in February and March’s performance at
the NAACP Image Awards Pre-Show, Nola’s own GLBL WRMNG has been making waves from Lake Pontchartrain to the Pacific. Though the music collective has begun to wade into the waters of national acclaim, the city remains their physical and spiritual basin into which they continue to pour their artistry, creativity, and more recently, their philanthropy. Simple and sustainable, GLBL WRMNG’s “504” bracelet collaboration with Glass Half Full Nola and Nola Alchemy presents a stylish solution to an environmental issue facing New Orleans—that is, recycling.
Poised against the looming ecological disasters of the disappearing wetlands and of course, actual global warming, more local concerns—such as glass recycling—can fall to the wayside. So, like many in the city, Nate “Suave” Cameron—who, along with rapper-producer Pell founded the collective—was not “aware of the fact that New Orleans doesn’t recycle” and stumbled upon Glass Half Full and its sustainable jewelry initiative, Nola Alchemy, through a shared contact with a head of the organization, Travis Laurendine. Unlike its paper and plastic counterparts, glass recycling in the City of New Orleans can be a pain with no curbside pickup and few (and only established last year) recycling centers. As a result, New Orleanians often forgo the trip one of the city’s hubs and instead toss their glass in the trash.
“The idea of what GLBL WRMNG wanted to do for the community at large was to promote sustainability—land, water and air,” says Pell. “[The “504” Bracelet] kind of was just a natural idea,” he added. “Once we had that idea that literally took probably 20 minutes of brainstorming” and in a few weeks, a glass recycling drive was set for March 20th, gathering pounds of glass that would later be crushed into coast-fortifying sandbags, glass products or the blue beads on the signature “504” bracelets. While their “504” bracelet may have been born of a sudden stroke of insight, GLBL WRMNG’s community initiatives are far from haphazard, instead reflecting a fundamental value of the collective.
“I think that our role is…to amplify the voices that were already there in a way that aligns with what we share in our music and what is most important to New Orleans” explains Nate. These “amplifications” center a host of environmental awareness projects like the “504” piece. Just two months ago, they partnered with the Concerned Citizens of St. John Parish to highlight the air pollution produced by the chemical plant and its negative impact on Covid-19 deaths. Beyond even these endeavors, GLBL WRMNG also aims to participate in more community programs this summer, as a way to “use the platform the music give[s] us…and mak[e] sure that the namesake is holding its weight.”
The “504” bracelet is available on GLBL WRMNG’s as well as Nola Alchemy’s online stores for $60 at glblwrmng.com/store and nolaalchemy.com/shop.
Brianna Navarre is an early career journalist and recovering English major from the Northshore. She spends her time writing reviews, music news pieces and (sometimes) bad poetry.
