As Malice Of The Clipse aka Gene Thornton prepares to release his book, “Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind and Naked” to the world, I feel it’s an oportune time to share with you my Clipse story and why Malice’s video blogs and forthcoming book are so important to me. It’s part journal, part exposé, and part persuasive essay as to why you should support his latest endeavors. Other than being a fan and the ecnounters you’re about to read, I’m not affiliated with Malice or the Clipse in anyway. Just sharing my story and my thoughts as always.

Many moons ago (2006 – 2007 ish) I was a 19 year old guy fresh off of “dropping out of school to rap”, or so THEY said; I think THEY know now that my plans were far beyond that. I was young, to an extent angry, frustrated with the conditions my family was living in, unhappy with who I was inside and ready to do whatever 4 what I thought would make me happy, money and fame. That down 4 whatever attitude took me places I didn’t belong, doing things I had no business doing. Enter the Clipse.

I’ve never been a fool and I know that 91% of what most rappers deliver is simply fabricated jargon that they hope the masses will buy into. Some guys know in their hearts that some of it is destructive and misleading but continue because they have to feed their family and I can never knock that hustle, it’s just not for me. What was for me was the truth. The Jay-Z’s and the Clipse’s of the world. There’s a certain feeling you get when you’re dealing with authenticity that just can’t be replicated when dealing with less than authentic. People whose stories you really identify with, even if your story isn’t exactly the same.

Jigga man was a bit before my time and a bit over my head in the sense that when he was at the height of talking his fly stuff, I was about ten years old and at that point unexposed to just how real it was. But now it’s 9 years later, I’ve been exposed, and I want in — not for cool sake but like I said, I wanted to change living situations and change them quick. I hadn’t developed the foresight and guiding light that I possess these days. Blissful ignorance had kicked in and taken complete control over me.

So life is pretty good at this point. I’m in my Chevy doing the damn thing; enough to be able to change living conditions without being on anyone’s radar and I got the perfect soundtrack to keep me going, the Clipse’s music. In my mind, they were me and I was them. Dudes that could easily rap circles around anyone with a microphone but would rather find other means of surviving than to be bothered with the circus the music business was becoming. So with my Gucci sneakers, gold bracelet, and Polo everything, I was determined to follow in their footsteps. Luckily for me, things came crashing down quicker than I ever could have imagined. That, coupled with some reading, some soul searching, and an Obama speech that I attended, I no longer wanted to be like the Clipse; I wanted to be me.

Still I remained a huge fan. HUGE FAN. I ran into Pusha T a few times and began to tell him how I had this big vision for the Clipse and to get them the recognition they deserved. Keep in mind that at this point I had a job within the recording industry and I wanted the Clipse to be my main project. I fought for it like I do everything else that I obsess over. Pusha gave me some time of day but he probably knew that a guy named Kanye would show up years later and get him his proper shine. Their road manager, Steven Victor, was more interested in telling me about his latest BMW acquisition than anything I had to say about working with them. Kyambo “Hip-Hop” Joshua was extremely courteous but he’s freaking Hip-Hop; when you’re priorities are Roc-A-Fella, Lil Wayne, Drake, and Young Jeezy, some 20 year old kid named Phella with his Clipse dream goes to the bottom of the pile, naturally.

Success didn’t come until I tracked down the Clipse’s other manager, Geezy. This was the man to talk to. Unlike everyone else, he made an actual attempt to hear me out, even calling me one day while I was driving and listening to the Clipse. I turned it up and said to him “See, I’m not fronting. I’m a real fan”. He chuckled and then we continued conversation. Discussed everything from their then new clothing line Play Cloths to what kind of records were best for them at that point. I was my typical self when motivated; talking way above my head and selling Geezy a dream he couldn’t refuse. We hung up with plans to continue another day, but that day never came.

I woke up one beautiful spring morning to read on AllHipHop.com that Geezy, real name Anthony Gonzalez, was facing an 82-count Federal indictment. My heart sunk. Not because my Clipse connection was going away and with him, probably my only chance of ever working with them, but because a man who I had spoken to over the past month, who showed me the utmost respect, who is a father, was being put away. Whether he did what he was accused of wasn’t for me to judge or even care about. It was just a sad day and  I felt for him, the brothers, and everyone else affected.

That same morning, I resigned from the music industry company I was working with and decided to start Da Fam Inc back up. Starting my company meant getting back to music and getting back to business. Around the same time, Malice of the Clipse was releasing these very spiritual video blogs directed by some people called Illusive Media. The messages in the videos really resonated with the transformation I was going through and the way the vids were shot were so impressive that I got on the phone to Illusive and said I had to work with them. A few trips to VA later, a price quote that was way above what I could afford, and a sold Chevy later, I paid Illusive and we got our video.

The video was great, but even greater was the experience of working with those guys. They pretty much have done everything media related for the Clipse and had great stories for days about the group, about Geezy, about Pharrell, about everything. To prove how small the world is, I would later run into Malice’s son (an artist in his own right), Fame, at a studio session. He looked, sounded, and behaved just like his pops and was another good person to meet. I was impressed that a celebs kid could be that humble; even helping me with a few of my songs hooks.

I say all this to say that when the book drops on February 14th, it’s one that anyone who enjoys reading what I write should probably check out. I have no clue what’s in it but judging from all the videos leading up to it, I can only assume it’s similar to the thoughts I try to share daily. About not chasing cool or riches. About finding ones self. About being true. About hitting rock bottom before you can know what the real mountain top is. About belief and faith. About repentance and forgiveness. That’s just if I had to take a wild guess though. We’ll find out soon enough.

-Phella

To close off, the guest of honor was Lou Lamoriello–the CEO of the New Jersey Devils hockey team. I live in downtown Newark where they play so I see NJ Devils stuff all around me all day long. It was an honor to see the man behind all that. What I didn’t know is that I was in for about 30 minutes of the best speaking you would ever hear. A few minutes in, I realized it was going to be something special and turned my ipod recorder on….the quality isn’t the greatest but trust me it would be worth it to sit through this 22 minutes…listen very closely. I even ask him a question at the end.

Lou Lamoriello Speech At Seton Hall

Ever since I made that purchase last month, I’ve been meaning to sit down and write a song by song review of The-Dream’s “Love King” album. Problem is, every time I’m ready to hail him as the best contemporary artist we have, which I think he is, he says or does something that makes me not want to give him any praise.

However, personal life aside, The-Dream makes, not good, but GREAT music. Case in point would be this song “Take Care Of Me”. I have too many favorites on the album but this is definitely high on the list for me. Sonically it sounds like something Michael Jackson would have done, like a “Dirty Diana” type of style to it. Lyrically it’s equally as strong and potent. The gist of it is basically him threatening/warning the girl he’s in love with not to break his heart and not to take his love for her for granted. He does this in a borderline psychotic yet smooth manner that few can pull off. “I’m not the same as them. I’m not the one, so you better take care of me. If I fight for you, you better fight for me. You better take care of me.”

15 Take Care Of Me

I think I identify strongly with the message because it’s similar to how I view relationships (business or personal). I’ll do any and everything for you but the minute I feel used or taken for granted, the walls have to come tumbling down. Normally it just happens though. It’s rare that you sit a person down and say “hey, I’m going to do everything to build us up but I’m watching you; play me and I’ll destroy this whole thing.” Crazy! It’s very Sam Cooke, very Prince; just name an artist from the past that wore their hearts on their vocal sleeves.

Then the song ends by transitioning into the next track– “All Black Everything”, which is as contemporary and 2010 as a song can get. Hate or love the guy, and most hate him, but you can’t take away from his ability to compose great music.

–

Hello world… I’m good. Counting the days and still smiling. Most of those smiles come from hearing my kids’ voices over the phone. The others come from reading fan mail. Let me just say that I have the best fans in the world! The devotion, dedication, support, love, and most of all, prayers are simply the best. I never imagined that I could have such an impact on people’s lives. Because of this, I vow to be a bit more careful of what I say.

So I’ve been writing and let me be the first to tell you that the lyrics that I’m writing are… well there’s no word that I can think of that properly defines them. Amazing would be too typical and perfect would be unfair. I listen to the radio sometimes, emphasis on sometimes, and I hear the new music. I like some. I applaud my Young Money family for what they’re doing. As I’m not surprised. This is what we’re supposed to do. Congrats to Drake and Nicki for all their recent success. Those 2 are going to have me retiring early. I love my team. Much love to Tez and Mack. I know that people are inquisitive of what I do all day, so here goes. I wake up around 11AM. Have some coffee. Call my kids, and my wonderful mother. I then shower up. Read fan mail. Have lunch. Back on the phone. Read a book or write some thoughts down. Have dinner. Phone. Pushups. Then I listen to ESPN on the radio. Read the bible, then sleep. That’s my day.

I’ll end this letter, but never my love. I’m gone. Oh, and how ‘bout dem Lakers!?!

P.S. I thank my fans for appreciating me the way you do.

Tunechi.

I can’t lie, I’m a very positive person, but every now and then when negativity is brought to my doorstep, I care to entertain it. It takes A LOT to do the whole Diddy ‘you hate me but I still love you’ thing. Doesn’t help that I’m a Leo. If you step into our den — trying to provoke us, we’re contractually obligated to tear your bones apart till you’re lifeless. Then stand over your carcass, wishing you would have just left us alone.

Don’t go the Leo route. Go the Diddy route. Negativity produces hot breathe and other things we don’t want. We don’t want conflict. We want hundreds of years of success. We want laughter and joy. We want to treat our women with the care and respect they deserve. We want to raise our children and see them grow to be better than we were. We want to learn and grow for the remainder of our days on this planet we’ve been given. Life is beautiful. Not everyone sees that, but still we pray for them and wish them speedy recovery. Whenever they are ready to join, we’ll be here to hug and love them.

www.diddyblog.com/category/love

How sick is this? I’m new to Janelle Monae. Honestly know very little about her and this is the first song I’ve heard but I love it. Love the song, love her rap, love the video, the style, everything. Not to mention two of Atlantic Records finest are featured on it. I give this an A+.

Jokes aside though, we talked about everything from marriage to politics to music to why it seems our society has issues with face-to-face and phone conversations. Just life stuff. I like all my friends but I’ll admit I’m a bit more partial to the ones that can cover the whole spectrum and help me grow as a person each time I talk to them. And also the ones with rooftops.

That’s what I believe you’ll be receiving if you attend the above. My friend and business partner Kunle Oki, founder of Skc, will be taking things to a new level next month when he hosts his inaugural workshop at the University Of Maryland. This isn’t a business website, but more so a place where I share my personal experience, thoughts, and ideas with the world. So in that spirit, I won’t go into any further detail about the workshop, instead I’ll share a bit of my personal experience with the man that’s hosting the workshop.

Since our initial meeting at Howard University last Fall, Kunle and I have discussed theories and philosophies on everything from women, to of course, business. Mostly what we discuss is life as a whole and ways to make it work for you. A few examples are below.

This of course is me paraphrasing and giving my interpretation of some our conversations. I don’t know exactly the format of the workshop but I would hope some of this gets shared:

Emulate Nature…Accept Nature

To emulate nature means to be natural. Nature is unpredictable. Nature is caring. Nature can be seen as harsh. Nature doesn’t stop for anything or anyone. Nature is capable of so many different things and is unapologetic for it. If we adopt the characteristics of nature and apply it to how we live on a daily basis, success and happiness will NATURALLY follow.

Give People What They Deserve…Only Accept What You Deserve.

Believe it or not, we’re only given what we deserve in this world. To give a person more than what they deserve would be cheating yourself and setting yourself up for disappointment. To give a person less than what they deserve would be cheating them and setting yourself up for resentment. Whether business, personal or in between, give only what is deserved and you’ll be able to live with the outcome. How many times do you hear a woman saying “I gave him the best ten years of my life then he cheated on me”? Hate to break it to you lady, but he probably didn’t deserve the best ten years of your life. You made an error in judgement and gave someone more than what they deserved. Whether a job, a relationship, or a business transaction, if you’re receiving less than what you deserve and you’re aware of it, you’ll begin to feel resentment. That resentment can turn into hate. Hence why most people “hate” their jobs. They feel they deserve better.

To take it further, only accept what you deserve. Sometimes if we play the wrong cards well enough, we can get lucky. What I mean by that is, sometimes we take on more than what we deserve and feel because it worked that we’re entitled to it. I’ve been down that road quite a few times and it’s fun up until nature kicks in and reminds you that you never deserved such. One of my favorite recent rap lines is from Malice of the Clipse:

“With a family of 4, never did I deserve a two seater Porsche”

How crazy is that?

Levels Of Trust

Trust doesn’t have to be so hit or miss. We always say “I don’t trust this person” or “I trust this person with all my heart”. Those are two extremes and extremes are rarely the way to go. The theory Kunle shared with me is that it’s okay to trust a person 10%, maybe 20%, maybe even 100%. You make the call, then act accordingly. You wouldn’t ask the 10% guy to take your daughter to school; her safety can’t be at 90% risk. But perhaps that 10% is enough that you’ll invite him to an event you’re having, knowing there’s a 90% chance he won’t show up. If you look into the crowd and see him, be thankful. If you don’t see him, shrug your shoulders and keep it moving. This scale can be adjusted as frequently as it needs to be. Sometimes the 100% trust people in our lives show that they’re really just 50% trust people. You quietly scale it back and proceed. No need to fight or argue, just accept.

Those are just three concepts that I can think of off the top of my head out of hundreds. I believe as long as we’re learning and unlearning in this world, we give ourselves a good shot at prosperity. Friend or no friend, business partner or no business partner, Kunle is a guy you can learn and unlearn from and I’d encourage you all to inquire about the workshop if it interests you.