I'mma let you finish, but you can learn a lot from Kanye West

You should know that I've been a Ye fan for a minute, and while it's damn hard to defend him at times, when it comes to music production and growth in general, I haven't seen someone consistently advance their craft as much as he has in such a short amount of time. That being said, a friend put me onto a complex mag article that broke down the production of his last album and it really struck a chord with me. Some note-ables from the article:

"During my five days in Hawaii, Kanye never slept at his house, or even in a bed. He would, er, power-nap in a studio chair or couch here and there in 90-minute intervals, working through the night. Engineers remained behind the boards 24 hours a day"

"The studio kind of reminded me of back in the days when I used to work on three or four projects at once, doing it all in the studio. That's what he was doing—running back and forth from room to room to room to room. He had Kid Cudi upstairs, he was working on his album downstairs, then doing a mix on another record, and it straight reminded me of what I used to do back in the '90s."
- Pete Rock-

"...if the delivery guy comes in the studio and Kanye likes him and they strike up a conversation, he'll go, ‘Check this out, tell me what you think.’ Which speaks volumes about who he is and how he sees and views people. Every person has a voice and an idea, so he's sincerely looking to hear what you have to say—good, bad, or whatever."
-Q-Tip-

All in all, a great read and you'll come back from it ready to make shit hot. Get that inspiration bitches!

full article

Persistence, that's all there is

Music is a pretty powerful weapon and it's awesome to see that weapon used to motivate. If you really ingest this song, you'll see why I have this joint on repeat every week. Get that inspiration bitches:



All of the Illz music is dope and free at his site

Jay-Z X Warren Buffet X Steve Forbes = A Badass Discussion on Success

Those of you that know me might remember me saying that Jay-Z is a bit overrated as a rapper and I still hold to that, HOWEVER, I never said he wasn't a smart dude. Spare 52 minutes and 39 seconds to get soak up this good shit because at the end of the day, these 3 gentlemen most definitely know what the hell they're talking about. Get that inspiration!

"You can do it too" words of wisdom from a n.e.r.d.

I'm gotta start out this blog just by saying that I'm a fan of P. No, not the crazy ass people who worship fools, but rather the type that really admires and tries to learn from how an individual or group of individuals can step on a scene and forever change and inspire everything around them. For me, that moment happened 8 years ago when I heard the Neptunes remix of Sade's 'By your side' and Daft Punk's 'Better, harder, faster, stronger' song. I realized then that those cats were on some other shit, not simply bringing hotness to hip hop but bridging musical gaps and cultures together. As I followed the Neptunes career they did just that and I realized that their success wasn't just fly by night, they were gonna be relevant for a minute and to pull that off in this world, you have to be smart. You can listen to how smart they are right here:




Get that inspiration bitches.....peeeeeeeewwwww, peeeeewwwwwwwwww

Lupe is that guy!

With everyone in the world stepping on other peoples necks just to get ahead in systems that don't give a f*ck about you, it's really great to see someone honoring another person's moment in the sun. Shouts to Lupe, all my real friends, and any other person that's not contributing to fuckery. Get that inspiration...

The Sickness

A good friend and I were having a conversation last night and we started joking about the preschool/Montessori times when as young children we would have lunch and then a nap. Somehow the concept just seems so natural to human health that we were actually both legitimately shocked as to why the activity is not continued well into adulthood (at least in the states). Instead you go out, eat a rushed lunch, return to work, down some caffeine, then continue the day like proper over worked bees. There is something quite wrong with that mentality and it seems that it goes a lot deeper than a missed nap.

No less than 24 hours later, I was again reminded of this concept of unnerving wrongness when I just happened to catch a few parts of an old interview with Jimi Hendrix by Dick Cavett. As to be expected, Hendrix sounded blitzed out of his skull, but to me everything he was saying made absolute perfect fucking sense. This Hendrix inspired epiphany then led me to think about the use of drugs (even the religious kind) and all the people that I know and have known that do all types of shit to get by. So many people get fucked up to just to get on the level of a fucked up world situation and then when that person royally fucks up, a using society blames them for being a user. I'm not pardoning dumb shit, but I am questioning the true source.

When does the common person wake up, when do they start changing the world by changing themselves? So many people are unhappy and they say that they're not but I can see it in them like a cancer, they don't allow themselves to hear their own discomfort and they drown it out with a continual stream of material possessions, people, or comforting weekly/bi monthly paychecks.

I don't profess to have the 100% full proof answer and I'd beware of the people that say they do, but I can say that with observation, fearlessness, dedication and precise action you just may find what in your heart you know your looking for.

Be A Nig*er Too

Really not much more to say, get that inspiration bitch

Kanye on life

I know its been a while since the last post and I do apologize. I just got back from Japan chasing a dream. I'm recently trying to do only the things that I want to do. I know that may sound childish and/or immature, but after looking at so many people throughout my life, I can think of no more than 3 that are doing what they actually want to do in their life. Thats dumb. I can't live like that and I refuse too. My being broke off my ass at the moment is a direct product of that, however, thats ok, because I chased down something that I wanted. In two to three months I'll be moving to Tokyo (something I'v wanted since college days) and working for a game company that I really respect. I had no clue 6 months ago when I left Rockstar games that this would happen, but hey, it seems until you step out on your dreams, you never know what you are capable of. And a person I admire for going after what they want in life is Mr. Kanye West. In spite of what many people say about him, he gets it:

"I don’t do anything I don’t love anymore… I loved the flashing lights vid so it didn’t matter 2 me if someone one else didn’t. While people chase money I pursue happiness. So many people talk about there investments or how much money they have but there’s so many rich people who spend a lot of that trying 2 buy a piece of happiness. If there’s anything my mom taught me is to enjoy life."

Get that inspiration y'all

full source article

These kids are better than you!

What are you doing today? Getting up, getting ready to goto a job that you hate whilst your real passions slowly die inside of you? Hopefully you are refining whatever craft you have and cementing your badassery to every fool around you, because if your not, at 8 and 5 years of age, these kids are better than you having more fun than you. Give it 10 to 12 years and they will still be better than you having more fun than you because by that time, they will be utter badasses that do what they want creatively. That is unless you fly to Japan and cut off their hands but being the fact that it is Japan, they'd probably get those things electronically fixed and they'd once again resume the position of better than you having more fun than you. Enjoy the vid and get that inspiration bitches.

original link

Happy Belated New Year

Yea I know I'm late as shit with a blog post celebrating the coming of 2008, but I just got around to actually starting my blog so y'all will have to pardon me. In preparation for this bountiful time, which I declared would be my year of blowin' up, I left a shitty ass corporate job in late November and started my opus for '08. This was imperative because I couldn't begin such a great year while still feeling miserable as shit around the ever expanding k-mob and terrible fuckin' management .
My exodus gave me the time I needed for mental preparation and visualization and its been beautiful ever since. I think Lupe's attitude in this video perfectly reflected how I wanted to feel. The giddy tone of his voice, as he talks about his sky scrapper, struck me; he sounds like a kid telling the whole class what he wants to be when he grows up and in his minds eye that shit is tangible. Hope it inspires y'all as it did me. Take that inspiration bitches...