One lesson that is blatantly obvious yet usually ignored is that most things and life can be boiled down to a numbers game. Success is about application and consistency. Think about it.
The more you play, the more you win.
Or a more relevant music biz example:
The more beats you make, the more beats that you have made that don’t suck. The more beats you make that don’t suck, the more beats you have made that are awesome. The more beats you make that are awesome, the more likely that you are to produce a hit. Therefore, more beats = more hits. Hmmmm. Maybe that’s why successful people like B. Cox are working all the time.
Also, in addition to being productive, when you constantly apply yourself, you get BETTER at what you do. Therefore, we can adjust the previous example by adding:
The more beats you make, the better you get at making beats that don’t suck.
Therefore, by working consistently, you exponentially increase your rate of success. Now get off the computer and do something productive. But don't forget to check back later!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
You Might Be a Groupie If......
You Might Be A Groupie If:
You might be a groupie if you don’t work in any aspect of the entertainment industry, yet you know more than one celebrity on a first name basis.
You might be a groupie if we are listening to music together and you tell me which street the artist has a condo on. Go home.
You might be a groupie if you ask me if I know Jermaine Dupri. How come Jermaine Dupri doesn’t ever ask me if I know you? (Credit: Bertell)
You might be a groupie if I text you that I almost crashed my car into a ravine and you respond back “I sat next to OJ the Juiceman tonight!”
You might be a groupie if I have seen you at the studio multiple times, but each time with a different rapper.
You might be a groupie if you get invited to the studio from Club Onyx at 3:45am. Period.
You might be a groupie if you get a call from any rapper’s bodyguard to come to the studio.
You might be a groupie if you are sitting peacefully on the studio couch and the artist gives his security the evil eye and has you replaced.
You might be a groupie if dropping the rapper’s name to get in VIP doesn’t work so you drop the ball player’s. Apparently you really do know them both, what a coincidence.
To be continued...
You might be a groupie if you don’t work in any aspect of the entertainment industry, yet you know more than one celebrity on a first name basis.
You might be a groupie if we are listening to music together and you tell me which street the artist has a condo on. Go home.
You might be a groupie if you ask me if I know Jermaine Dupri. How come Jermaine Dupri doesn’t ever ask me if I know you? (Credit: Bertell)
You might be a groupie if I text you that I almost crashed my car into a ravine and you respond back “I sat next to OJ the Juiceman tonight!”
You might be a groupie if I have seen you at the studio multiple times, but each time with a different rapper.
You might be a groupie if you get invited to the studio from Club Onyx at 3:45am. Period.
You might be a groupie if you get a call from any rapper’s bodyguard to come to the studio.
You might be a groupie if you are sitting peacefully on the studio couch and the artist gives his security the evil eye and has you replaced.
You might be a groupie if dropping the rapper’s name to get in VIP doesn’t work so you drop the ball player’s. Apparently you really do know them both, what a coincidence.
To be continued...
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Have No Fear
I was talking to Jessica of TeLuv the other day, and we had a very enlightening discussion about fear. Specifically, we were talking about the fear of failure and its ability to prevent action. The fear of failure can stifle you because you will always feel like you should be reserved, just in case something goes wrong. Therefore, you never give your all. In order to be successful in anything, you have to come to grips with the idea that you might screw everything up and fall flat on your face, accept it, and go hard anyway. I can think of a million examples, and I had to learn this fact the hard way.
When I first moved to Atlanta, I had an internship at a major studio. The internship was six months long, and when it was over, there was a hands-on test to see if I would be hired on as an assistant engineer at the studio. I was anxious to be an engineer, and this test weighed heavily on my brain for the entire six months. I was thinking, “Shit, this is it. I have to pass this test. What will I be able to do if I can’t work here?” It was as if my entire future depended on the outcome of this single test.
The effect of worrying about this test so much was that when it came time to take it, I was overly anxious, and performed poorly. I was trying TOO hard instead of just using my brain and trusting in my talent and experience. I could not think clearly, therefore I could not troubleshoot. As a result, I was not hired. However, with a recommendation, I got an internship at another major studio, and a second chance.
This time I made up my mind not to be afraid of failure or mistakes. I decided that ACTION would be the theme from now on. I figured if I made a mistake, I could fix it afterwards instead of worrying about it beforehand. It is rare that a mistake is made and there is no opportunity to correct it. There is a phrase that I have always tried to incorporate into my belief system:
“More is lost through indecision than a wrong decision.”
With this in mind, I made moves. I stepped up for every opportunity, and even before my internship was over, I was an assistant engineer at a major studio in the market of my choice.
When I first moved to Atlanta, I had an internship at a major studio. The internship was six months long, and when it was over, there was a hands-on test to see if I would be hired on as an assistant engineer at the studio. I was anxious to be an engineer, and this test weighed heavily on my brain for the entire six months. I was thinking, “Shit, this is it. I have to pass this test. What will I be able to do if I can’t work here?” It was as if my entire future depended on the outcome of this single test.
The effect of worrying about this test so much was that when it came time to take it, I was overly anxious, and performed poorly. I was trying TOO hard instead of just using my brain and trusting in my talent and experience. I could not think clearly, therefore I could not troubleshoot. As a result, I was not hired. However, with a recommendation, I got an internship at another major studio, and a second chance.
This time I made up my mind not to be afraid of failure or mistakes. I decided that ACTION would be the theme from now on. I figured if I made a mistake, I could fix it afterwards instead of worrying about it beforehand. It is rare that a mistake is made and there is no opportunity to correct it. There is a phrase that I have always tried to incorporate into my belief system:
“More is lost through indecision than a wrong decision.”
With this in mind, I made moves. I stepped up for every opportunity, and even before my internship was over, I was an assistant engineer at a major studio in the market of my choice.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Be A Boss
You know what really grinds my gears? When a grown man blames another man or woman for something going wrong in his life. I don’t care what it is, everything that is happening in your life, with the exception of circumstances in which you did not have even the most remote possibility of involving yourself, IS YOUR FAULT. Notice I said, “involving yourself”, not “being involved”. Be proactive people, it’s your life. I take the responsibility for my outcomes upon myself, and I think everyone else should too.
For example…Do I show up to the studio 15 minutes before the session starts, find out that the room is a mess from the session before, and start blaming other engineers or assistants for the fact that I don’t have the room ready to go when my client gets here? FUCK NO! I show up an hour early and make sure everything is clean and organized, and that the gear is tested and ready to go. What is the result of this? I am usually ready when the session starts instead of being stuck with my thumb in my ass blaming other people.
What are you really doing when you point the finger at someone else? You are saying to me that you are not competent enough to overcome someone else’s errors. A grown man doesn’t do that. A grown man does what he has to do to get the job done, regardless of other people’s fuck ups. If you still can’t get it done, that’s ok. At least you did everything in your power. Admit that you fell short, and you will be respected. More will get accomplished this way than any other.
This is the difference between the employee mindset and the employer mindset. The employee does only what he is told to do, with no regard for the outcome. A boss does things simply because they need to be done and he is there to do them. I recently saw the OWNER of a major studio mopping the floor before a listening party, because the intern was out doing a run.
Be a boss. When something goes wrong, instead of looking at what other people screwed up, look inward. Was there something you could have done to avoid the error? Or maybe you should have done the task instead of delegating it, if the other person couldn’t complete it properly. Maybe you could have delegated it to someone better qualified. Whatever the solution, take responsibility upon yourself.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Loso's Way + Mix Magazine
Damn, Its been a while since i updated this blog. How I forgot to tell you about the following things is boggling my mind. Anyway, the short and sweet version:
I recently got my first Major album credit for Fabolous' new release: Loso's Way.
The album debuted at #1, selling 100,000 copies the first week.
I worked on 2 songs that made the album... "Throw it in the Bag", and "Pachanga"
Everyone go buy the album, help me get my first plaque.
ALSO:
I was briefly mentioned in Mix Magazine. Nothing serious, I just thought it was cool so i wanted to share it. Click here to read the article.
Anyway, you can expect more frequent updates at this point, because I have more to talk about. Project Super Engineer is full throttle, ya dig?
I recently got my first Major album credit for Fabolous' new release: Loso's Way.
The album debuted at #1, selling 100,000 copies the first week.
I worked on 2 songs that made the album... "Throw it in the Bag", and "Pachanga"
Everyone go buy the album, help me get my first plaque.
ALSO:
I was briefly mentioned in Mix Magazine. Nothing serious, I just thought it was cool so i wanted to share it. Click here to read the article.
Anyway, you can expect more frequent updates at this point, because I have more to talk about. Project Super Engineer is full throttle, ya dig?
Monday, June 22, 2009
THERE IS NO OPPOSITION
I’m so focused right now. And I can tell you that until a few days ago, I didn’t even really realize what being focused was.
I always thought that being focused meant keeping your eye on the ball, and always remembering what your goals are. And to a certain extent, this is correct. But this is the easy part.
The hard part is being focused when shit starts to go wrong. Here is an example.
The AC in my truck went out on Friday. So immediately I knew I wasn’t going to drive back to STL for the weekend, because it was 100 degrees outside. First thing Saturday morning I drove to the shop and had them look at my car.
$1,700!!! Apparently every piece of equipment dealing with having cold air in the car was out of order. In addition, I had an O2 sensor out, and my catalytic converter needed to be replaced. I didn’t get the work done yet, because I wanted to get it done at my dealership, thinking that some of the work would be covered by my warranty. Knowing that I had this new repair to pay for, among other things, I decided to get my grind on all day.
After putting in work for a few hours, I hit another roadblock. The truck started smoking as I pulled up to a studio to drop off some promotional materials. At this point, I’m like, you know what, I’m gonna go inside and do what I came to do before even worrying about what the hell is going wrong with the car. So I go inside, make my money, and come back out, and the car is cooled off and no longer smoking under the hood. However, when I started it back up, the power steering had gone out.
So I’m thinking, ok, first my AC, then my power steering. But you know what? I’m on a mission today, and I’m not letting a fucking thing stop me. Fuck it. I can’t just grind all day now, I’m bout to grind all night, too. So I called my homeboy Brian Foxx, and told him that I was going to attend his event at Django’s and do some promotion up there. I still had some time to put in work before that, so I started driving to the next place with no power steering.
I get there, and my car is smoking again. In my head I’m thinking, ok, I have 2 choices. I can either bitch out, and stop working until I get my car fixed completely, or I can run this fuckin thing into the ground, and be a champion for one day. This was actually a tough decision. I like my car. I don’t want to destroy it. But I also knew that I needed this. Not for the money. Just for the simple fact that I needed to win. I did not want to let this kind of thing defeat me. Not me.
So I strut my happy ass into the business, and give them some flyers and put up a poster. I pull my camera out to take pictures (that’s how I get paid). I turned it on and it gave me an error message, and two options. I could either turn off the camera, or format the memory card(and lose the last weeks worth of work). I turned the camera on and off several times and tried reinserting the card. All in vain.
So now, I’m like WHAT THE FUCK?! The AC, the O2 Sensor, the catalytic converter, the powersteering/overheating…and now my fucking camera doesn’t work? I mean, I literally can’t get paid for my promo work without my camera…
It took me a moment to calm down from this. I thought about it, and realized that the universe obviously did not want me doing promo today. So I drove my car back home, parked it and went inside. I really wanted to just lay down and go to sleep. I wanted to escape. But I realized that a change had occurred. None of these options made any sense.
That was not me anymore. The old me would have sat down and tried to relax, and get rid of the feeling of the world trying to defeat me. The new me just banished any and all thoughts of opposition. THERE IS NO OPPOSITION. I would STILL not lose my focus. Just because my car wasn’t working properly and I couldn’t do promo for the day didn’t mean I had to give up. So I continued. I began fixing up an old MPC 2000xl that I bought to sell online and never got around to it. I rearranged some furniture in my room, something that had been on my to do list for months. I didn’t stop. I kept going, all night. I just kept knocking out things that I knew I had to do. I didn’t go to bed until 6:00am.
He who works the hardest, wins.
This change was life altering. I now not only know what it looks like to keep going in the face of many challenges, but I know distinctly and specifically what it FEELS like. And I can incorporate that feeling into my daily habits. In fact, upon writing this, I can tell you that I already have. I woke up MUCH earlier than usual today. I got so much shit done today its retarded. I did it all without a car.
Faced with all of these challenges, something inside me snapped. I am forever changed. I will stop at nothing, and my grind will be intense. See you at the top.
I always thought that being focused meant keeping your eye on the ball, and always remembering what your goals are. And to a certain extent, this is correct. But this is the easy part.
The hard part is being focused when shit starts to go wrong. Here is an example.
The AC in my truck went out on Friday. So immediately I knew I wasn’t going to drive back to STL for the weekend, because it was 100 degrees outside. First thing Saturday morning I drove to the shop and had them look at my car.
$1,700!!! Apparently every piece of equipment dealing with having cold air in the car was out of order. In addition, I had an O2 sensor out, and my catalytic converter needed to be replaced. I didn’t get the work done yet, because I wanted to get it done at my dealership, thinking that some of the work would be covered by my warranty. Knowing that I had this new repair to pay for, among other things, I decided to get my grind on all day.
After putting in work for a few hours, I hit another roadblock. The truck started smoking as I pulled up to a studio to drop off some promotional materials. At this point, I’m like, you know what, I’m gonna go inside and do what I came to do before even worrying about what the hell is going wrong with the car. So I go inside, make my money, and come back out, and the car is cooled off and no longer smoking under the hood. However, when I started it back up, the power steering had gone out.
So I’m thinking, ok, first my AC, then my power steering. But you know what? I’m on a mission today, and I’m not letting a fucking thing stop me. Fuck it. I can’t just grind all day now, I’m bout to grind all night, too. So I called my homeboy Brian Foxx, and told him that I was going to attend his event at Django’s and do some promotion up there. I still had some time to put in work before that, so I started driving to the next place with no power steering.
I get there, and my car is smoking again. In my head I’m thinking, ok, I have 2 choices. I can either bitch out, and stop working until I get my car fixed completely, or I can run this fuckin thing into the ground, and be a champion for one day. This was actually a tough decision. I like my car. I don’t want to destroy it. But I also knew that I needed this. Not for the money. Just for the simple fact that I needed to win. I did not want to let this kind of thing defeat me. Not me.
So I strut my happy ass into the business, and give them some flyers and put up a poster. I pull my camera out to take pictures (that’s how I get paid). I turned it on and it gave me an error message, and two options. I could either turn off the camera, or format the memory card(and lose the last weeks worth of work). I turned the camera on and off several times and tried reinserting the card. All in vain.
So now, I’m like WHAT THE FUCK?! The AC, the O2 Sensor, the catalytic converter, the powersteering/overheating…and now my fucking camera doesn’t work? I mean, I literally can’t get paid for my promo work without my camera…
It took me a moment to calm down from this. I thought about it, and realized that the universe obviously did not want me doing promo today. So I drove my car back home, parked it and went inside. I really wanted to just lay down and go to sleep. I wanted to escape. But I realized that a change had occurred. None of these options made any sense.
That was not me anymore. The old me would have sat down and tried to relax, and get rid of the feeling of the world trying to defeat me. The new me just banished any and all thoughts of opposition. THERE IS NO OPPOSITION. I would STILL not lose my focus. Just because my car wasn’t working properly and I couldn’t do promo for the day didn’t mean I had to give up. So I continued. I began fixing up an old MPC 2000xl that I bought to sell online and never got around to it. I rearranged some furniture in my room, something that had been on my to do list for months. I didn’t stop. I kept going, all night. I just kept knocking out things that I knew I had to do. I didn’t go to bed until 6:00am.
He who works the hardest, wins.
This change was life altering. I now not only know what it looks like to keep going in the face of many challenges, but I know distinctly and specifically what it FEELS like. And I can incorporate that feeling into my daily habits. In fact, upon writing this, I can tell you that I already have. I woke up MUCH earlier than usual today. I got so much shit done today its retarded. I did it all without a car.
Faced with all of these challenges, something inside me snapped. I am forever changed. I will stop at nothing, and my grind will be intense. See you at the top.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Focus
First off, the reason I have been MIA is that I have been in the studio working with A.1.O. - I mixed their new street single "Swagga Talk" which you can download and listen to by clicking on the image below:
That being said, lets catch up.
Lately I have been focusing on sharpening very important skills to any producer. Engineering Skills. As I polish these skills, I get better and better at figuring out how to get the sounds I want, which is absolutely ESSENTIAL as a producer.
More importantly, I am working in a major studio as an engineer, thus making major contacts. Every producer has their own path. Some make some hot beats, and sell them until one blows up. Some work entirely with one artist until that artist blows up.
Me, I'm working my way up from the inside of the business. I'm not even marketing myself as a producer right now. Yes, I make beats. My trade is Audio Engineering. I have a master plan to transition to production eventually. I don't think you need to know the details of my master plan, but for know, know this: Engineering now, Producing later.
Although, I can't lie. I am still a producer at heart and stay up till the wee hours of the morning making tracks and envisioning them unfolding into hits.
That being said, lets catch up.
Lately I have been focusing on sharpening very important skills to any producer. Engineering Skills. As I polish these skills, I get better and better at figuring out how to get the sounds I want, which is absolutely ESSENTIAL as a producer.
More importantly, I am working in a major studio as an engineer, thus making major contacts. Every producer has their own path. Some make some hot beats, and sell them until one blows up. Some work entirely with one artist until that artist blows up.
Me, I'm working my way up from the inside of the business. I'm not even marketing myself as a producer right now. Yes, I make beats. My trade is Audio Engineering. I have a master plan to transition to production eventually. I don't think you need to know the details of my master plan, but for know, know this: Engineering now, Producing later.
Although, I can't lie. I am still a producer at heart and stay up till the wee hours of the morning making tracks and envisioning them unfolding into hits.
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