I had the pleasure of being courtside for a cool fashion show at Howard University the other night. It was a very well put together event with good music, good themes, and very talented models. Also ran into two good friends of Da Fam, Fresco & Matt. Below are some photos of the event courtesy of both of them.
I love being in studios. Especially ones with creative and energetic people. There’s a certain vibe people give off when they believe in what you’re doing and even if they don’t see the entire vision, they see enough that they want to help you get it out. It’s a great feeling for someone like me who comes from being the only one in the room who sees something and having to generate my own energy from within because everyone else is staring at me like I’m wasting time. It’s easy to believe in yourself AFTER everyone else believes in you, but believing yourself BEFORE everyone else does is the true test. I don’t think that’s grammatically correct — it’s 6AM so pardon me.
I’ve spent less time in actual recording settings than probably any other serious artist on the face of this earth. Just never had the resources or time to be in a studio for hours upon hours. So I will admit that I’m behind the curb as far as familiarity with recording, breath control (as you see in the video above), and things of that nature. If you know anything about me though, I pretty much get a late start on everything in life…..and then I pretty much always catch up…..then I pretty much always keep going.
Last week was crazy for me. The above picture kind of sums up the whole thing. Let’s go down the list.
Monday - Started off with the young lady that I thought for sure was “the one” making it clear to me that she wasn’t the one. That same night I had some crazy guy trip me while playing basketball. I fell on my elbow and scratched it up pretty nice. A few minutes after that another guy and myself collided shins. Once again, a nice bruise to show for it.
Tuesday - Not too bad. Just a $125 parking ticket and I think I spilled some milk or something. Also cut my finger while trying to peel a potato.
Wednesday - I returned to playing basketball. Before I could get to the gym a fire truck was coming my way and the only way to avoid it was to back into some hard snow. Of course the snow dented my rear bumper. Cost to fix? $350. I still go the gym nonetheless because basketball and running are my best stress relievers. This time no shins collided and no one tripped me. Some Edwards Scissorhands person did cut my wrist and drew a bit of blood. On the drive home someones car kicked up a rock that landed on my windshield and cracked it. Cost to replace? $240.
Thursday - At this point I just stayed home to regroup. No basketball, no knives, and no driving. Death was obviously next and I’m not ready to check out just yet.
Friday - I attempted to help someone jumpstart their car. Some how the jumper cables caught fire. Came within seconds of burning me and my car up. Thank God I saw the smoke and quickly took them off.
Then I went out that evening. Hung out for a few hours and had dinner at Park At 14th. Nice little spot in DC. The weather that day was just right. My music in the car was just right. It felt good. So good that I had forgotten all about the disastrous week that was.
From Friday to now, which is exactly a week, nothing but good fortune has come my way. I’ve been in a great groove. I guess the moral of the story is that the world goes on. It’s up to you to go on with it or stop and worry about your problems. Two good quotes I try to live by: “Be too busy in the day to worry and too tired by night to worry”. “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional”.
Brand new look and new style website for Kanye. Kind of makes me want to give this a little shake up but it’s cool. We got bigger brocoli to steam (ha! like the veggie reference?) Anyway, www.kanyewest.com
I have NO idea if anyone checks this website ever since I took the tracker off and the comments aren’t as frequent as before. For whoever is checking, here’s an update on a few things.
I’m going in the studio tomorrow to start and attempt to finish Winter Wonderland. I’m just excited to be recording again. I actually was in a studio earlier today but didn’t work. Just sat in on someone elses session and discussed music business and the nuances of it. Very enlightening discussion and a reassuring one as well.
I might live stream tomorrow’s session so if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter then look out for that. At the worst I’ll just record and then put up video footage. The live streaming thing can be kind of fun but also distracting. We’ll see.
On a personal level, life is life. Since I stopped putting my day to day activity on here I pretty much have no outlet for it other than music. Another reason why I’m so eager to record this new stuff and put it out there in the universe. Holding in emotions, whether good or bad, isn’t a good thing. I need my release.
Wish me luck for tomorrow. Thanks and peace!
Woke up this morning glad that it was only a dream. Craziest thing ever. I’m currently on my second bid as a vegatarian (you can read the story behind that here). Tomorrow will make it a full week and honestly it’s very easy this time around. I haven’t had any cravings to eat meat at all, or so I thought. Went to bed last night full on veggies thinking it was all good but at some point during my sleep things got ugly. I was being forced to eat chicken tenders by someone. I can’t remember who or where, only the torture. Tender after tender being fed to me and me eating them without much resistance.
Is this a sign that I’m soon going to revert to my meat eating ways? Should I avoid chicken eaters? Or is it an even bigger sign that I’ll soon be tempted by someone or something? Who knows. All I know is I hope I don’t wake up in a cold sweat again.
“a young!!!!!! i knew i fucked with you for a reason you about your shit all jokes aside my nig im being real honest when i first heard you in 05 on a track it was not plesant at all i just watched that video……nigga!!!!! some body been spring training in the winter as jay z would say no bull shit that vid was on my page all week i was like do i really want to be blown man you surpassed all my expectations a hundred times over the dream you going for is a hard one im not gon lie but if any one can do it you can because i see now your not just talk like alot of these fools out here keep grinding when no one is looking cuz when your time come you will be to bright for them to look away stay hungry my nig”
The above message came to me yesterday (February 14th no less) and made my entire day. As you all know, feedback about my creativity and my art is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO ME IN THE UNIVERSE. I can crash my car, get dumped by my girl, have my debit card charged twice and get pulled over by a racist cop….if I come home and one person during that day said my music or my words touched them, then I’m good!
This particular gentleman went to high school with me. We were good friends. The high school I went to produced some of the most cruel and harsh human beings you would ever come across in this world. He was amongst a select few who I played my first musical recordings for (when I was using a $10 mic from Staples and recording in my moms dining room). They ridiculed me to no end. I mean people were literally rolling on the floor and laughing.
At the time I took it very personal because I thought I was great and they were just blinded, but as I grew older I realized I was trash and had they not laughed at me, I would have never had the fire that burns in me till this day to keep getting better. Over the years I’ve been approached by several of the initial “focus group” who somehow have stumbled into my newer stuff in the neighborhood, online or at friends houses and a lot of them have been kind enough to say “hey man, you really took this thing serious and it shows. I like what you’re doing. keep going”.
To them I say thanks. Positive feedback from the people who’ve seen you at your worst means everything. Like I told him in my response to this message, by no means am I a complete product. I’m just now hitting my stride. Once I make this move up North and really get focused, God help me…..we’re going to the Grammy’s!
Important Sidebar: I see a lot of people leaving comments on older posts (guess ya’ll only visit weekly now huh? haha, i’ll take it…love is love). The point I’m making is I don’t have the comments going straight to my phone anymore so it takes me a while to see comments and respond if needed but I definitely see everything. Thanks for reading this
Happy……..New Year
