Logan H. James takes over SXSW 2025

International recording artist, entertainer, and marketing powerhouse Logan H. James made a lasting impact at South by Southwest. Accompanied by his wife, Unique James, his manager, DJ Squirt, and rising Houston recording artist S.O.S, James and his street team left no stone unturned. They maximized every opportunity to promote James’ music, merchandise, and marketing and advertising services.

Marketing & Advertising

Logan H. James’ marketing is nearly impossible to miss. Wherever he goes, so do his branded signs featuring his image and QR codes linking directly to his website, ItsLogan.org.

Before even stepping onto Sixth Street, his team was in motion, hanging signs out the window of their vehicle while blasting songs such as “For Real For Real,” “For Real For Real Remix,” and “London Town” featuring Renegade El Rey. People walking the streets of Austin could also hear James’ latest single, “YKHIC,” which can be purchased at ItsLogan.org as an NFT, offering fans a unique digital luxury experience.

Once they hit the heart of Austin, James’ crew transported a merchandise cart stacked with apparel from Baltimore-based brands Angel Park Boutique and Nu Language, as well as Natru-Rollups, all while his music pulsed through the active crowd. The plan was to be visible and activate organic experiences so that James could connect with fellow artists, entertainers, and brands.

James reflected on what made this year’s SXSW experience different from years past: “So for me, first, to be honest, I had to thank God because the trials and tribulations I had to go through to get here made sense for all the people that were around me. To be able to have an experience with people who are like, ‘Yo, I got the sign!’—it’s a difference between holding a sign and promoting the person that they’re holding the sign for, like actually jumping around and being engaging. Shout out to Angel Park because they helped sponsor a lot of what we did with the squad. I just think that having that team embodiment made all the difference in the world. And I think that not just my team, but the people at SXSW were able to see that Logan H. James is bigger than just a rapper or an artist—it’s a collective of brands that create one big, massive resource.”

Performances

James rocked many stages at some of SXSW’s most popular venues, including Pour Choices, Moonlight, Voodoo Room, Club Tellers, and Club 420 ATX. However, his return to Club Tellers was particularly special, as it was the venue where he had his first-ever performance at South by Southwest a few years back. His performance was one where fans got to experience his stage presence firsthand. Instead of just performing on the stage, James jumped on top of the bar and worked the room.

He described what it was like to return to Club Tellers: “Well, it was amazing. The first time I performed was downstairs at Tellers. I performed upstairs at Tellers on that same weekend. It was great to be back at Tellers because I was around the people I started with. When I first performed there, AJ saw me perform and offered me a space on his stage. He had five stages that year, putting me on all of them! Shampoo had two stages. He put me on both of his stages, and I was able to not only perform at AJ’s stage but also do a mic drop performance with Shampoo, which was dope. Man, it was awesome.”

Networking

In addition to pounding the pavement and tearing down several stages, James networked with as many people as he could, doing mic drops and reconnecting with familiar faces—simultaneously showing his support and allowing others to share in the experience, whether through taking pictures or exchanging pieces of wisdom.

When asked about his biggest takeaway from SXSW, James shared: “I’m super appreciative of everybody coming out and supporting—having real support and not just coming out with the phony, you know? Even phony love, man, I appreciate that too. You know what I mean? Because it allowed me to know who really is with me. Sometimes, we get so focused on somebody—‘Oh, he did or she did me wrong’—instead of realizing that now you can understand the difference between the true love that people have for you. For me to be able to see real love from real people all around the country in one space, and to be able to show my team that, hey, if you really do the work and you really show love, it’s going to come back to you.”

He added, “It starts with who you are and what you have going on with you. Once you get that, come holler at us, and let’s build a real big resource for all of us to be interconnected. And that’s the key. What we really want to do is say, ‘Listen, when we come to your town, we’re going to bring so many resources that they overflow into other towns. When we leave, those resources shouldn’t dry up—they should multiply. You should learn from how we move to be able to multiply your resources among each other. And we don’t have to snake each other, you know what I mean? We can support each other and not extort each other.’ The last thing I want them to take away is always to remember the slogan: It’s Logan.”

By Darian Kelly