Loaded, Decoded

Dallas Joseph, a Middle Tennessee State University 2009 graduate, says he and a friend first used the word "loaded" in a song and wanted to turn it into something bigger.

"It didn't have a meaning but it just sounded good, and so we just came up with a meaning for it," Joseph said. "Get loaded, load your mind up with everything you want to achieve... and go after it."

The idea came at a time of impasse in Joseph's life when he was frustrated with his music career. "It came to a point where I just felt like hey, I can take control, I can just go buy my own equipment," Joseph said. "Life is what you make it."

Two years later, students at the University of Richmond sport their Loaded T-shirts on "Loaded Thursdays" and movements are taking shape in California, Nashville, Miami, Houston and Atlanta.

"It's not just one of those things where we want to have it centralized here at the University of Richmond," said senior Pierre Wynn.

Loaded is a mind state as well as an action, according to Wynn and Joseph. It's a movement that can support everyone in some way. When you see someone wearing the T-shirt, "you know they're going after something," Joseph said.

Although a lot of the focus has thus far been on music, "Loaded" is not limited to art. The support and motivation of Loaded extends to artistic, academic, athletic and other goals alike. If a person "wants to be a dentist, and wants to be the best dentist in the world, we're just trying to give them some sort of motivation and help them know that, hey, I can get off the couch and do it and its possible," Wynn said.

To date, Loaded has sold more than 100 T-shirts and produced three mix tapes. Joseph, Wynn and others are working on putting together a skate team and promotional parties as well. They said they also would plan to participate in Delta Sigma Theta's Concert for Change to benefit Ghana in November.

To find out more about Loaded, visit their tumblr http://load3d.tumblr.com/ and follow them on Twitter @getloaded.

Contact reporter Mary Nagle at mary.nagle@richmond.edu.