!MY SURVIVAL GUIDE!
What Is My Dream? Why Is It Important To Me? I want to build a musical empire with my friends. Music is the center of everything. Music may be the most diverse thing in the world. It’s literally everywhere. You hear music when you type on a computer or walk down the street. It’s absolutely mind-blowing. I want to change the way music industry and take my best friends with me. We are on our way there! We are already good artists with a decent local fan base, and we’re definitely still growing. Our efforts to become one of the more known artists in the game is just the first step. Then, we will pursue XXL Magazine. If we make it on XXL Magazine, then our careers will take off. Our lives will change.
How Do I Survive? In the music business, there isn’t exactly an educational requirement, but experience will take you a very long way. There are very rare cases where people don’t know a lot about music, but they’re a natural, and they find success very quickly. They can either sing, or just have a certain mojo that attracts people’s attention. For example, one of my favorite artists of all-time, Kanye West, has some things to say about surviving in this music world. “I mean everyone out there in TV world, real world, whatever world you stay in, needs to know that I’ve never done a publicity stunt in my life. Any time I went up and spoke my mind, whether it put my career in jeopardy or whatever someone so called said, it was always what I thought was the truth. Whether I'm like reading from through a teleprompter or whatever I felt emotionally. I don't follow like rules of normal celebrity or what their publicist tells them to say. So I don’t do publicity stunts, period. So don’t ever think that.” This quote means something to me, and it should mean something to every artist that is trying to make it in 2017. I am not promoting that every artist says whatever is on their mind, but what I am promoting is the power to build your own image. Don’t let other people control YOUR life. Artist or not. My favorite artist is a man named Chancellor Bennett. His stage name is Chance The Rapper, also known as Lil Chano From 79th. Chance had some interesting things to say about how he opened up his award-winning mixtape, Coloring Book. “CTR: But that record is so much of the record because it talks about faith, it talks about, you know, there's other blessings in the world and on the album but, you know, at the end of the day music is what we have, you know what I'm saying, and you know we're blessed at all times but you know, waiting on your blessing or thinking that your blessing is in an album is not what it is, you know what I'm saying? It's, there is no higher miracle in this project or in any of the material things in the world, but the materials do exist. So the music is what we have.” One of the smartest rappers to ever do it is a man by the name of Sean Combs, also known as Diddy. He is the richest rapper to ever be alive. Diddy’s business ideas and ambitions is what made him huge. He thought outside the box. “No-- I'm not going after the YouTubes of the world. One of the things that we're doing that's different is that we are actually curating-- you know, our content. Our content is curated. You know, back in the days we had Soul Train, we had American Bandstand to find out, and we trusted those experts and even MTV to tell us what was new and what was coming up.”
My Timeline 2017: Graduation from high school; investment from mother and grandmother. Obtaining a local fanbase. 2018: First year of college in Atlanta. Leave halfway through the year to tend to my music career (things get too crazy) 2019: This is the year that I become a XXL Magazine Freshman, and my career is really taking off. I also pay back my family. 2020-2025: These five years include many milestones. I acheived work with Chance The Rapper, Kanye West, Noname Gypsy, Lil Yachty, Eminem, Smino, and Nebu Kiniza. I was also nominated for 16 grammys and won 6! 2026: This is the year that I start my record label “$$ Records.� 2027: My label gains recognition as one of the more popular labels in the country, behind the signing of Hare, Werk, and Fredo. These new artists were huge in the world, and my knowledge of music allowed me to sign them at just the right time. 2028-2035: I wed a wealthy wedding planner. My label has become an absolute powerhouse. We take over the music industry. All new & hot talent wants to be affiliated with $$. 2036: I get honored as one of the strongest black men in the world. 2037: My daughter is born into the world on August 23rd, 2037. 2038-2050: My daughter is now 12 years old and I have been married for 20 years.
My Expenses! I am anticipating about $15-20,000 in expenses just from attending college at Morehouse College. This is pretty much subtracting grants and loans. This number is very vast, but if all goes well I will be able to recuperate and profit about five times as much money in the next year. I will also have to consider each and every investment that my family & friends loaned me. I am estimating about $2500 in loans for musical purposes. I am looking at around $22000 in expenses. I am very confident that my music career will take care of all my expenses if I decided to part from Morehouse.
Non-negotiables God forbid, but if I was presented with a problem then I would have to make sure that I do not sacrifice my friends or family. My family & friends are non-negotiable. There is no if, ands, or buts about it. Money is replaceable. Money is frivolous. Therefore, money is sacrificable. My morals are very important to me. Family and friends are very important to me. Any person who has put me first in their life at any time, has a special place in my heart. I will not sell my soul. Music will not change my views on family and friends. I will try to use music to bring me closer to the people I love.
My Backup Plan? I am projecting a lot of money to be invested into music. With the support of family, friends, and external sources, music is possible. It’s not going to be easy because all of these people will probably want their money back, which is when I will have to hold up my end of the deal and deliver with quality music and good work ethic. I believe I’m a talented artist, so I’m not exactly scared. Although I’m not scared, anything can happen. I can have an accident and lose my voice or I can just flop. The music business is extremely hard to get into. This is where the backup plan comes into play. The backup plan is quite boring, but it may be necessary. My backup plan is to simply get a job until I can pay back all my loans from when I went to college and to all my family & friends who gave me money to kickstart my career. Then, I will re-attend college after two or three years of working. During my time working, with my free time I will continue to write music (I just can’t help it). Never know the journey you have to take. I could write a hit song, number one in the world, while working at McDonalds.
Some Inspiring Quotes From Great Artists! “Pay attention to whom your energy increases and decreases around. That’s the universe giving you a hint of who you should embrace and who you should keep away from.” - Diddy “People can try to reinvent themselves. I don’t think you can really change who you are, though, because who you are is pretty much where you came from and what you’ve done up to now.” – Eminem “Never stop fighting no matter what anyone says. If it’s in your gut, your soul, there’s nothing, no worldly possession that should come between you and your expression.” -Kanye West “Negative energy that comes at you in some form is energy that can be turned around to defeat an opponent and lift you up.” – 50 Cent “Fame or perceived success - it all comes from groupthink.” - Chance The Rapper
My Dream Studio!
Closing Statements It’s important to understand that being an artist isn’t specific to one talent. If you aren’t a strong writer, you can still be a rapper. If you aren’t a great drawer, you can still be a visual artist.
Innovate. Create. Innovate.
Works Cited " Diddy". Web. 27 May, 2017. “Chance”. Web. 27 May, 2017. “Kanye”. Web. 27 May, 2017. Image: "Studio." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 May 2017.