There's a popular song out by the Southside Houston rapper Big Moe called, "Hell Yeah!" There's a lyric in the song that goes, "..(I) used to be the drank man selling P-I-N-T's, so if I fall off or times get hard?, Moe go go back and attack the boulevard!" For those who are unfamiliar, the lyrics refer to his former days of distributing codeine syrup ('drank') on the street and his willingness to go back to that life in the event of the future failure of his musical career. There are a lot of our youths today that aspire to be rappers, singers and professional athletes. I always try to encourage them to chase after their dreams fervently, but at the same time, I have no problem with supplying the realities of society to the equation also..
So, you want to be a rapper huh?
Yeah!
Who's your favorite rapper?
50 Cent!!
So you want to be like 50 huh? What do you know about him?
Yeah..50 is the BOMB!! He grew up poor in the projects, sold drugs, got shot in the mouth and survived and now he's rapping and RICH!!
Yeah..I like 50 too..but the chances of YOU being able to follow that same path and just making it out ALIVE are very slim. For every 50 Cent, you see, there's about a couple of thousand other brothers out there, who did the same things 50 did, that are in jail, crippled for life or dead.
Aww mane!! Don't tell me nothing like THAT!!
It's true..if you REALLY want to be a rapper, you need to study hard in English and Math in school.
English and Math?? Why??
English, because if you're going to write rhymes, you've GOT to have a large base of words in your head..all that street lingo of 'Yeah mane" and "Fo real doh" will only be fresh for one or maybe two albums tops. If you don't have anything else to offer after that, then you're definitely going to fall off.
Why Math??
Because of all the things you do, you better know how to count your money for yourself. When they start throwing all of those royalty percentages, licensing contracts, A&R fees etc. at you and you don't KNOW how numbers work, then you'll be pimped for all your cash just like all the other naïve and uneducated artists that had to rely on others to manage their money. No matter what happens to you in your life, education is one thing that they will NEVER be able to take away from you. It's a sure 'lick' that will keep hitting wherever you go. Get it now why its free and you can, cuz its people like your grandparents who wanted to go to school but couldn't because they had to work out in the fields to help feed their families.
Aww man, you don't really know nothing about rap music..you're just messing with me!!
That's where you got it twisted podna, I don't know WHAT you heard about me…
The 'standard' American path of success is for a person to get the most education/training as intellectually and financially possible and then apply these learned skills toward performing the functions of their job. Of course, it's a very rare occurrence, where a person is actually employed in a field that they've always dreamed of and trained in. Too often the vocation of our dreams is but a distant fantasy somewhere off on the seemingly unreachable horizon. Thousands of employed professionals spend their free time musing about what they REALLY want to be when they grow up: right this minute there are, travel agents that are really undiscovered divas or retail clothing store managers who are really fashion designers or even project engineers who really just want to win major tournaments on the professional golfers tour.
Unfortunately, the world does very little to promote and/or support chasing these dreams. Instead we are so often shuttled back and forth like a herd of cows, branded by our socio-economic conditions and expected to accept whatever employment is available. Because as much as we may dream and aspire for lofty destinations, the reality of having a place to live, food to eat and clothes to wear greatly influences our short term vision. And too often this short-term vision of immediate needs is what keeps so many of us stuck in this massive herding pattern of life. It takes a very brave and courageous soul to venture off onto the road less traveled. There's a large group of people that peer down this small path, but never summon enough courage to take that first step. Other's make those initial first steps, but the surroundings are so foreign to them and the path is so difficult to discern, that they retreat and return to the sanctity of the familiar. And then there are those who think they're walking this less traveled route, but they lack the dedication and work ethic it takes to navigate the difficult terrain and end up getting stuck in a never-ending holding pattern of compromise.
Before any education or training, we all start off with natural God given talents. Most people associate talent with entertainment, like singing, dancing, acting and the like. Since these are the talents that are so often highlighted in the media, these are the ones that most children see and dream of doing. But there are many talents, which aren't as visible to the public, but just as rewarding and essential to the community. Skills such as teaching, farming, tailoring, machining don't get all the 'hype' but they are just as important as any other human skill. The obvious task for all is to identify our strongest talent and grind at it daily to get better, stronger and tighter. As much as everyone will agree that Tiger Woods was born with a natural ability to hit a golf ball seldom seen in man, he wouldn't be the success that he is today without the thousands of hours of work he's put in to prepare for his career. 50 Cent may seem like a complete rags to riches overnight success story, but 50 has been rapping on the local NY underground scene for years, selling homemade tapes out the trunk of his car while hustling on the street. Grinding is a required constant for the equation of success and when you apply it to God given talent, that's when, as we say on the Southside, 'you get skillz to pay bills, FO-REALZ!'
Now for all those 'skim' readers, that only like to read the HIGHLIGHTS, I'm going to summarize this article with 1 formula and 3 sentences. [Natural God given skills + grinding = SKILLZ]. Everybody didn't/can't go to a place of higher learning and get some letters behind their name, but no matter your position, you can always apply that proven formula. I like Big Moe's music and I would never advise/encourage anyone to do illegal things like sell 'drank' to make money, even when your real skillz aren't paying any bills. But my favorite part of that song is "...hell yeah I'm a G, with a college degree, put the knowledge with the streets.. ain't no way they stopping ME!"
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