The Name Is the Story
MCMXXVI is Roman numerals for 1926. That's not a coincidence or an aesthetic choice — it's the project's entire premise written into its name. In 1926, the Safe Bus Company was founded in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, becoming the first Black-owned bus company in the United States. That year, that company, and that story are what the project is built around.
Naming the project after the founding year is a declaration of intent: this is where we're starting, and that starting point is non-negotiable.
The Collaboration Behind It
MCMXXVI is a joint project between JRich — an Atlanta-based hip-hop artist, professional manager, and music engineer — and designer Jordan Daniels. The combination of those two disciplines is deliberate. Music carries a story through sound; design carries it through image and object. Together, they cover the full range of how people actually encounter cultural work.
JRich brings both creative and operational knowledge to the project. Working as a music engineer gives him a different relationship to sound than most artists have — he understands construction at the level of individual elements, not just the finished product. That precision carries into how the project is conceptualized.
The Safe Bus Company: What 1926 Represents
The Safe Bus Company operated in Winston-Salem from 1926 to 1972. During those 46 years, it provided transportation to Black residents who were navigating a city shaped by legal segregation. The company employed Black workers, generated Black-owned revenue, and operated with a dignity that the public transit alternatives of the era did not offer.
It's a story about what happens when a community builds its own infrastructure rather than waiting for permission. That idea — build your own table when a seat isn't offered — is the thematic core that MCMXXVI carries forward into music, merch, and live experiences.
Why This Story, Why Now
Stories like the Safe Bus Company's tend to disappear unless someone actively keeps them alive. JRich and Jordan Daniels built MCMXXVI as that active commitment — a way of saying this story deserves to be remembered and it deserves to be remembered in a form that reaches people where they are, in 2024 and beyond.
The Roman numerals aren't decoration. They're a timestamp on a promise.
