There are a million reasons why your brand could do well. There are a million reasons why it won't. These are the biggest reasons I've found working with clients that hold people back from achieving their fullest potential with their brand. Do any of these ring true for you?

It happens to all of us all too often. Someone mentions something about our work and all of a sudden we are having doubts. Maybe your Dad doesn't like your song, or your mom Ninjas are confusing, or maybe your girlfriend doesn't like all of the loud bassy sounds coming from your speakers. If your brand is speaking to you, then your brand is speaking to someone else too.  Its easy to have the words of people who love us (and some who don't ) affect us. People try and make an assessment about your person, and they are not the most informed opinion. Sometimes opinions are just that. Opinions. Subjective points of view.

You have to be your biggest fan. That is the only way other people will understand where you are coming from. Your passion should punch through. Unless your friends are sitting you down and having an intervention on some life-task of yours, then there is no reason why you shouldn't pursue your craft and want to get better.

Heres a way to beat the critique: Ask 10 of your trusted friends (5 that are similar to you in lifestyle, and 5 that aren't). Ask them all what you are the worst at, and what you are the best at? List as many things as possible. Tell them to give you the worst things first so you can end on a good note. Watch for patterns amongts peoples assessment. I guarantee anything you thought you doubted yourself on, is probably what people love most about you.

You may have a bad habit of scrolling. Perhaps it's youtube rabbit holes. Whatever your distraction kick is, your brand is suffering massively because of it. 3 minutes turns into 30. 30 minutes turns into 10 hours. Take a look at your current daily average screen time and weekly average. Are there some apps that you can cut back on? It's noticeable when companies are trying to sell to you on these apps, but it is less obvious that the app keeps making you go back. How many times have you closed an app to literally go right back to it and open it up?

Make some serious efforts to start running your own ads or just look at your company as a production company and not a consumption company. Unless you are dealing with current events as your mainstay product, you really don't have time to consume every single piece of content that was intended for you that day. Set a small amount of time aside for distractions, and set timers on apps to help curb the cravings.

A good way to beat the distraction: Allow yourself some actual break time that is dedicated to brain fodder and mental stimulation that is purely for entertainments sake. Your brain is a muscle, so you have to give it time to rest. If your resting-mode is watching Netflix, so be it. If your resting-mode it PS4 or some other computer game, great! Just give yourself a hard cutoff time and get back to work as soon as possible.

Similar to the damage of listening to others' opinion is the damage of looking up to people that are toxic and negative. Maybe they always degrade you, even though you love their work ethic. Maybe they are hypocrites that talk a good game but are never in the field leading by example. Maybe they all are lackeys and you feel forced to work with them to make them better because they are your friends. No matter the situation, remember you are a morbid sum of the 12 people you hang-out with and talk to the most. Make sure you are in contact with people that have a positive outlook on life and innovation.

All of these examples can hurt your brand in very specific ways. If you look up to people that don't do good work,  you use their methods to approach your situations and that could damage your working relationships. If you are doing the most work out of all of the people in your circle, you probably are in the wrong circle. Make sure that if you take a day or a week off that your associates will continue to carry the right amount of  their own weight that will have you feeling supported and inspired enough to pick up right where you left off. Not to mention if you are pulling other people with you, obviously the brand growth goes at a much slower pace.

Ways to beat a weak circle: Reach out to people doing what you want to do or people doing more of what you'd like to do. Even if they are beyond your reach in your imagination, if you provide value, they won't turn down a good contact.

Most people like to talk. There is science behind your brain thinking you did something when you said you would do it. It even happens when you see people doing what you want to do. You feel as if you are already doing your goal, and then you don't ever carry that energy over into your actual life. Your task remains undone or on the forever growing "to-do" list. Not the "to-do" list that is stacking up for the day, I'm referring to the list that you area dreading. Takes a second and ask yourself "what am I avoiding doing?"

If you say you will do something. Do it. If you say you will do something within a certain time, you should do it earlier. Always reach out, and then reach out again This is referring to real opportunities, not things that aren't opportunities. If you are following up on something discussed, be sure to do a strong e-mail with the information you said you would provide.

How to beat the poor follow-up: Undersell yourself. Under-promise and over-deliver. If you say you will send an email, reach out in multiple ways. If you say nothing, you can surprise them with a follow=-up, but honestly if you stay level-headed when you are making plans, you can realistically deliver when it is your moment. Thats when you over-deliver and blow away your contacts.

It's too easy to get caught up in the real life problems that appear, but consider the art that wouldn't exist if the greatest of us folded under the pressure of the times. Yes it may seem like the world is ending, but you really don't know what is going on on anywhere you can't see. If you spend time thinking about the major problems you have no control over, the mountain will seem un-climbable.

Most people have this age in their head when they should give up. I had a friend that didn't put time into his craft and said he will go will go all-in and go on tour if nothing happens by the time we turned 30. I asked why are we waiting? Why not do the tour now? Of course all of a sudden everything seems so distant of a plan. Well, we turned 30 and he still hadn't done much in regards to his craft.

Sometimes people choose to not to attack their passion because of things in their life. If they put the craft up against their life, everything seems so difficult.

Ways to beat the test of time: Create a legacy. Everything you do, make sure you are doing it to help someone in some positive way to day and in the future. People will appreciate you no matter what time period you are in.

When you don't have a point of view of gratitude, you will be attracting the negative energy you send out. If someone wins and it wasn't you, you should be excited. Even if they are your competition. It is important that the entire industry rises. If you are the only one rising, what happens when you decide to stop? Why should the industry rest on your actions only? Get excited when anyone pushes the community forward?

Are your standards just high? Do you feel like your position isn't where you wan't it to be? That's okay. Be thankful you are alive. Remember you are involved in your industry. If you are involved in your industry, you are involved din your industry. It's that simple. Now find ways to build from where you stand. Wins will come, and wins will go. Same with money.

Ways to find gratitude: Write the things you are grateful for. Everyday write down on a page the things you are grateful for being, things you are doing, and place you are living. If you wan't a real challenge, write down the things you don't have that you are grateful for that you want. If you talk about all of the things around you from a place. of gratitude, you will get more opportunities because you will start to notice them more through this exercise.

Without getting too religious or spiritual, if you don't think there is something super intelligent that is keeping everything tied together in a magical dance of creation, science, love, and information, then you will have a hard time believing things have a way of working out. If you are reading this, you are moving in the direction of your calling. It's something you can't explain. If you add some practicality to your gut feeling, you will be able to achieve highly in your creative career. Some people don't think that is possible, however it requires practicing the other techniques in this list to be able to get in touch with your center. That and meditation.

How to beat the lack of faith:  Spend 5 minutes in silence everyday and listen to yourself. Close your eyes and breathe. Focus on your breath and not on your thoughts. Whenever you have thoughts, come back to your breathing. Eventually you will be able to attack your daily tasks with a full amount of your own energy because you will be fill of yourself. Thats not a bad place to start.

I am forced to get the news from social media. Social media is my primary news source (obviously). As a 29 year old, I am blessed to be able to live and speak freely where I can. However, I still find it odd as a black man, I am still slightly crippled by the fact that if I do anything in the states that seems scary or offensive to a cop, I may get shot by a cop. I also think it's crazy that if I break any real ground with a project that was actually structurally correct to do, I may get shot and killed in the street by unknown assailants leaving people to wonder what even just happened.

It is very obvious that Nipsey Hussle's death is at an upper echelon of situations because it is not immediately clear who is the assailant. In 2019, depending the level of "necessity", someone can be anonymously killed, even in public in broad daylight, for the right price. Why this particular situation matter is because of his involvement with a very serious documentary.

I just want to say 3 things.

1. Rest in Peace Nipsey

2.  You don't know who killed Nipsey Hussle, and you don't know who killed him.

3. If you decide to take this opportunity to think his death is a conspiracy related to a medicine documentary, I really think you should look up the information that he was trying to convey to public. It is very accessible. If you choose not to follow his message, I don't believe it's appropriate to take his name as weapon for you to "virtue signal" towards freedom of expression or the government trying to keep the black man down. Those things are still true, but if Nipsey Hussle's message was as important as people posting about his death being a conspiracy, there would be more mainstream posts about more conscious eating, generally more plant-based and herbal based eating, and conscious (visual/ audio) consumption. I don't see that from my social networ in the droves that I see the "we don't trust our government" screams. The internet is too available to be a rebel-detective on these high-reaction events, and an uninformed "broke" person who can't afford to eat better or live a better lifestyle on all the other days. Please work on yourself before everything.

That is all.

I moved from Brooklyn to San Juan, Puerto Rico and one of the dope things about my move is that cannabis is legal in Puerto Rico. Cannabis legalization in Puerto Rico recently happened, and was a complete deal-sealer when deciding to move to San Juan. I documented my adventure in the video below if you don't want to read.

Cannabis and cannabis products are medicinally available in Puerto Rico, and if you have a Cannabis ID, you can buy up to 28 grams of cannabis a day! If you want to buy from one of the dozens of dispensaries in Puerto Rico, you need a few simple documents. There are two ways you can get qualified to enter a PR medical dispensary: 1. as a resident or 2. as a tourist in PR.

Before you decide which option you want to choose, you have to understand the order of documents and why they matter.

1. State ID or Passport
2. PR Doctors Recommendation
3. Permit from Dept of Health (Dept De Salud)

In order to enter a ANY PR dispensary FOR THE FIRST TIME,  you need a Puerto Rico Issued cannabis ID (or a temporary permit) from the Dept. of Health, AND a Puerto Rico issued doctors recommendation. After your first visit to that dispensary, you will only need your cannabis ID, as they will already have you in their system. 

In order to obtain a cannabis ID in PR,  you need a Puerto Rico Issued doctors recommendation. They are not expensive or hard to find, and as of the writing of this blog, there are companies and dispensaries in San Juan that do all of the service for you in one visit to make the whole process faster. I used Island Med PR.

IF you get a service to file your paperwork, your temporary permit will be available at your local dispensary within a couple of days. That is the paperwork that you can use as a tourist if you stay for more than two days on the island and you want to visit a dispensary.  After a couple weeks you will pick up your ID at your local dispensary, which is usually the one closest to the address that you used to file.

​Every shop has a one time entry situation where u present your ID (or your temporary permit) and your dr. Recommendation. Once you do that you just bring your ID and keep your doctors paperwork at home. I keep it in an envelope in case I'm ready to visit a new shoppe and then bring it along. Every shop’s “primero visita” or “first visit” usually is data entry first and then you can go in. Theres a lot of record keeping with them and their systems. Your ID is yours once you have it and that alone gets you in all the remaining visits to shops you have been to before.

The cannabis industry is exploding in San Juan.. Everything is. The closest thing I found right now as the leader on all of the levels of the industry in PR is Cannaworks. They do all license training and regulation training for pretty much every level top-down from genetics to tending. 
They are here: https://cannaworkspr.com/certificacion/

​Hope this helps! Happy 420!

I recently played at Big Dub Music Festival in Artemis PA. I thought I was fully prepared. I imagine you wouldn't need much if you don't actually need much. I thought I had everything I needed, but I was sadly mistaken. Some of the things I forgot to bring totally reminded me why black people don't go festival camping. Here is my comprehensive list that every black person should remember to bring to a festival. Also I made a mini-documentary. LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE!

At any point you could get into trouble and it is important for someone to be able to properly identify you. Especially if you are NOT the black person they are looking for. You want to make sure they know One of the best ways is having an ID card on you. That could exonerate you from accusations toward someone with a different name. In the event YOU are the droid they are looking for, you will want to have a stash amount of money that could get you out of jail in whatever mountain forest festival town you end up.

Bringing a homie that you know personally will help in a few situations. In general they will have your back. In addition, you want someone to be able to identify when you are not being yourself. They will be able to spot when you are getting too negative or too overly excited. Perhaps you get too fucked up. You want someone to be able to know when you need nutrients and not more shots. Bring a homie that does that. The more the merrier, just don't overdo the crowd dynamic.

Clothes to swim, clothes to chill, clothes to sleep in, clothes to shower in, clothes to change into in the afternoon. You can never have to many types of situational outfits. Maybe a pair of sneakers, a pair of garbage sneakers, AND a pair of boots will cover every type of situation you will want to walk in/on in the unpredictable weather situations. Also bring plastic bags to put dirty or wet clothes in after you hang dry them..

You should ONLY be drinking water during your stay at a festival. If you decide to drink alcohol, you should be drinking 2.5 times the amount of water that you usually would drink. Anything else is asinine and lame. I don't bend on water issues.

Buy a Nalgene on ebay. Keep it full. Carry it with you everywhere. 

It is bad enough people don't drink water on a regular. Don't play yourself. You will end up carted out on a janky, half-broken cot, pulled by a golf cart, with a cheap police siren-light, driven by a sweaty festival medic, on a bull-horn, trying to herd people out the way, so they can put an IV into your arm, while you sit for hours in a hot "chill-out" tent. Don't be that person.

Drugs are bad and people experiment. You don't do drugs, and neither do I, but if this is the ONE TIME you decide to try molly, make sure you test your stuff. Especially if you are getting it from a stranger. At a festivals, it isn't hard to find good recreational substances. The sellers are easy to spot, they are ALWAYS walking up to you asking you if "You Need Anything bro?". A good peddler will also have test kits. A GREAT one will test-kit it FOR you. If you don't have a test kit, bring it up to them and if they don't have one they can kick rocks... literally. Don't risk it and end up doing a deadly fentanyl concoction. Or even better, some zombifying bath-salts mix that will have you and your homies chewing off each others faces in no time.

Sage keeps all the bad vybes AWAY. it works. Its real. Buy a couple of sage sticks before you head out to the festival. While you are there, carry it on you as much as possible. Light it as much as possible. You will make your day and everyones day around you. Also, sage sticks are the BEST thing to bring into a porta-potty for when you have to inevitably release your waste. The sage will turn your shit hole experience into a meditative world-class ass-release.

Garbage bags will help contain anything you need to inside the tent. It will also be good for closing up shop too. You will accumulate trash very quickly. Keep it together in a bag or two When you are finished camping, throw all of your shit out. Do't leave it. Take it with you if you have to when you leave and drop it at your first rest stop on the way home. Don't be a dick and leave your trash where you camped. 

You should bring a headlamp and a few flashlights. Headlamps work best. There are cheap ones on ebay. Once that sun goes down, you want to be able to see in every situation. Don't rely on you phone battery. That is super lame. Get a proper few lights for the night. A great alternative to lights and lanterns in the tent is glow-stick bracelets. You can make a bunch of circles with them and hang them around your tent for an incredible illuminescent experience.

Cops in small towns get bored and they are like sharks on a drop of blood when they see an unfamiliar vehicle riding round the festival camp grounds. They want to catch something awesome, like a car full of illegal drugs. Bringing anything with you home on your way out of a festival is not smart at all, especially if you and anyone in your car is still in a hangover. It give cops more of a reason to fuck with you. I was followed at the last festival I went to, and after I passed the driving test and made a wrong turn, I saw a different set of girls get pulled over by the same cop car very soon after. They WILL fuck with you. Don't risk it, especially if you are black.

Irish Exiting involves leaving without telling anyone you are leaving. A true to form Irish Exit from a festival is dipping out with out even telling the people you came with that you left. Don't to THAT. Modify your exit so that you and your people you came with all leave together the evening before you planned. Maybe SUPER early the morning you decide to leave. Whatever the plan is, if you all work together and coordinate a proper Irish Exit, you could beat the rush of festival campers trying to leave the campgrounds at the same time. No lines, no hassle. You also LOWER your chances of getting caught by police because they stand-down until the storm of drivers leave at the end of the festival. BE smart and move undetected.

I had a blast at the Gradient Perspective Pirate Stage. Great job all around! I uploaded my set to the YouTubes for your consumption at your homely convenience. I hope you enjoy! 

If you make a mistake, it's important to own up to it. If your mistake affects people other than yourself, you naturally will want to say "I'm so sorry." Don't. It's old and played out.

Say "Thank You" instead. People appreciate that way more.

To keep it simple, saying sorry is telling the other person something about yourself. If you are sorry, that doesn't address your awareness of your mistake. That just tells the listener that you are lame. The definitions of sorry includes these words: Regret, pity, deplorable, grieved, & sad. Don't bring those negative vibes into a conversation, especially one about yourself, that YOU start.

Instead show gratitude. Late? Thank the people waiting for you at brunch for being super chill. Taking up too much space? Thank the person next to you for being patient. Flaky? Don't say you are sorry that you are flaky; that is lame and no one can do anything with that information. Instead thank the person you are flaking on all of the time for being such a good friend or associate. Tell them you suck and tell them you appreciate them dealing with your jerky characteristic.

There is really nothing more to it. Here are the top reasons why/how replacing "sorry" with "thank you" is very dope to practice.

Saying "I appreciate" or "I'm grateful" makes it rub off on you.

Remove emotion, and add a level of focus to your problem-solving routines.

Give someone love for having incredible qualities as a person builds confidence.

​Say what you did, and acknowledge it sucks. Trust me you will avoid it next time.

Separating facts from feelings makes it easier for everyone to move on.

Do you agree? Has this worked for you? Is there a situation this wouldn't work? Comment below!

Be dope. I wish it were that simple. You need to juggle so many aspects of your career to consider yourself an earning independent artist. These are techniques that have gotten me the most positive results in my environments. There are tons more rules to consider. These will spark some new direction in your journey.

Send people to your website. Let your website send them to all other useful social media sites. Sharing your instagram with people you meet is awesome and effective, and a website link in your bio will KILL IT. Let people see you've invested some time into yourself when they go to look at your account.

It doesn't matter what you use to host a website. Google how to make a website and click the first website creator you find. Buy your domain and GO!

I learned this by watching J Hatch from iStandard. He always told me to under-promise, and over-deliver. It is easy to let your word get away from you, especially when you are a nice person. You always are making promises and tossing out favors by word. Don't let your words run dry. Make sure you mean what you say, and follow through if you make a promise.

The best way to KILL IT, is by offering someone a LITTLE bit of help, KNOWING you can do so much more for them. When you help them, make sure to do what you said and MORE. Maybe deliver something sooner than you said. The ways are endless. Be a person of your own word and simply under-extend what you can offer, to shine past your own word.

The more you communicate with people, the better your results will be when anything comes up. Be clear about what your part of a project is. Clearly let a venue know what your situation is. Thoroughly explain your position.

Maybe you don't want to talk to everyone about everything all the time. Make sure, you communicate effectively to people how to properly contact you. If you don't want someone too close to you, tell them how you prefer to communicate. It saves you a headache and you don't run the risk of looking like a jerk when you leave them on "seen".

Lastly, communication covers your ass when you can't keep your word. Better to communicate when you can't keep your word, than to let something go sour because you preferred to stay quiet. Even though excuses are boring, you'd' be surprised how understanding folks are about most "excuses".

Being nice to someone because they can help you in the future is smart, and shady. Sometimes you have to be a part of some quasi-maniulative shit that may use someone else's resources. Do not openly seek these situations out.

Maybe you really need an e-mail addresse from an important person. If you bring that up within the first couple of minutes of speaking with them, make sure you have something to truly offer them from the bottom of your heart. People can tell when you want to just use them for their resources, and sometimes they will respond negatively to that.You could also negatively affect those around you when they see your moves in the open. People prefer to be tricked than to be told they are being tricked. KILL IT by laying in the cut and knowing when to listen. You don't always have to just listen. Try not to bee too socially divisive (plotty) around people you don't know. If you can't control yourself, prepare to deal with emotional reactions to your actions.

Speaking of responding emotionally, try to avoid emotins when it comes to dealing with improving yourself. If someone wants to tell you something about how to carry yourself or your personal brand, listen and respond with gratitude. It is one of the hardest things for me to do. Sometimes the person giving the advice doesn't get what you're doing. Later on you can decipher if it is worth keeping the advice for yourself. You are still your own person. A great artist also knows when (and HOW) to ignore advice.

Another great way to KILL IT is to also step up and give a constructive criticism when appropriate. Giving feedback on a person should be given TO THAT PERSON as direct as possible. To get the best results, it helps to use the "BUILD, BREAK, BUILD" method. First you "BUILD" them up by telling them something that is actually dope about themselves. Then give them your critique... thats the "BREAK". Finally, "BUILD" them back up by giving them sufficient materials to work with.  A bad critique is as useful as any opinion about Kanye West.

This also ties in well with taking criticism well. OWN when you make a mistake or fall short. You don't know most things, and you aren't always correct, and you need to be okay with that. I always recommend researching something you don't know. Everything is on the internet. If you "can't" do it because you "don't know how", you just aren't using the youtube well.

Also if you ever are having a disagreement with someone else's about their opinions, take a step back. Especially if you aren't sure about your stance. The best way out is saying you don't know, or you aren't sure about the facts on the issue. Most cases, you will find that you are arguing with someone about something you BOTH shouldn't be riffing about because you BOTH don't have sufficient enough facts and information.

KILL IT by always steering conversations toward ideas rather than people and what people said/did.

When I took Martial Arts growing up, my Dojo ran on disciplinary pillars and ideals. One of the ideals read "I am my brothers keeper" &  "each one, teach one". Similar to "no child left behind", this perspective helps keep a strong sense of community as you grow. Instead of building walls and pretending your shit stinks less, find ways to provide value to others through sharing information. Sharing means asking for as much information as you are giving. You also may learn something dope in the process. 

The best way to KILL IT is to link with people who can teach you while you teach them. You both will be empowered to work more.

If you don't value your own time, you are more prone to waste it. You also run the risk of looking like a time-waster to people that move and shake. Do you always have to be working on something important every moment? No. Think about your time as hours you can either produce or consume. Consider right now if you are producing, or consuming. In short, not all consumption is a waste of time, and not all work is productive. Figure out where you land. Right now, in the markets, money is time/attention.

A good way to find a mark is ask yourself how much each hour of your time costs. Would you work at the library for $5.00/hr? Would you work at the library for $500 /hr? What if you had to work 7 days a week? Figure out when you should hire someone to do a task and when it's best to do it yourself to save money/time. KILL IT by charging people for your time. That will help you figure out how much value you ACTUALLY bring to the table.

 This ties in a bit with my manipulation point. Always act as if you will talk to someone again. Chances are you will. If talk too much about every possible plan in the universe with someone when you first meet, you give yourself too much pressure to follow that energy up. Better to underplay your hand, or play neutral and factual when you first meet someone, THEN make a strong follow up. If you want to seal a deal with a first impression, make a stronger follow up than your initial meeting.

Its healthy to be competitive, and a good way to ensure you are a valuable player in the market is behaving like you will see people again. If you have an idea, instead of trying to land every big contact by over-pitching yourself in one conversation, say less and say you will reach out soon. Make sure you snag a useful point of contact (you can usually doing this by casually asking someone the best way to reach them... simple huh?). That is how you BEHAVE LIKE YOU WILL SEE THEM AGAIN. FOLLOW UP. FOLLOW UP. BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD. Mean what you say, and follow up + through. If you don't follow up, the next time that person sees you, what are you going to say to them? Excuses are boring.

Stop looking for a manager. Manage yourself. I heard it once said at a music seminar that you don't need a manager unless you are getting paid for your product. YOU KNOW when you are being paid for your work, because you most likely will need a lawyer. You don't need a manager unless you have a lawyer either. Most good entertainment lawyers will act as a stand-in manager on important issues until they link you with someone who actually CAN be your manager.

That being said, you are also your own agent. Dig deep within yourself and conjure up a show. If no one books you, book yourself. If you don't want to play alone, book people around you that you like. If that is too much work, you must be too expensive to hire yourself. Imagine what it would cost for someone ELSE to do that legwork for you. In any year past 2012, you should be able to manage a small business online using the googles. Treat yourself like a small business and facebook your google to any craigslist facebook venue group wall. See the people booked at the venues you want to play and talk to them. Ask them how to situate yourself like they do. If they tell you go away, be humble and find another valid way in. Maybe somewhere else. Think outside the box, and whatever you do, keep trying.

Indocumented my Brooklyn adventure to see Rusko! He does it properly. Peep the night from my POV!

Some parts of New York City are really expensive. Others are quasi-expensive. People still are moving in by the U-Haul load.

I took a trip to Family Dollar and this happened.

To fill in the empty spaces between shows and posts, I am bringing you extra content from my days. I meet incredible artists all the time, and I'd love to share those conversations with you.

I got to kick it with Choppy Oppy from DC. We talked about the state of affairs of the East coast in the bass scene. We also discussed how the Mainstream and Underground meet beautifully to create a blossoming exploration of sound. Watch the interview below and listen to his message and get with the program!