A Birthday Show For Enuff
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Saturday night, I stopped by DJ Enuff’s birthday party to show my appreciation for his support of my records at radio:
A Surprise Visit
Last week, I had the honor of being invited to participate in the Hearst Publication’s Ultimate Prom 2009 kick-off.
Each season, MyPromStyle.com plans a dream prom for a high school in New York City, complete with red carpet, celebrities, and big prom concert! Last year, St. Francis Prep earned the prom with performances by JoJo, Ashanti, and Lloyd. This year, the students at the School for Fashion Industries earned the party and to my surprise, chose me as their guest. When I got the invitation, I absolutely had to accept.
When I turn on my radio, I hear plenty of songs about being paid, getting money and spending it on the luxuries of life. The hope, the promise and the potential that I witnessed that day in the eyes of those students reminds me that it’s just as rewarding to pay it forward as it is to get paid. Though we often take it for granted, time (especially time spent encouraging one another) is a luxury that we can all afford to spend!
Four Mics, Seventeen Spins
Life on the road is always an adventure. A few nights ago, I stepped off a plane in New York from Miami and immediately jumped in a car to drive to Springfield, MA to perform at a High School basketball tournament. Due to technical difficulties, I had to switch mics four times. This clip catches me performing “Diamond Girl” on the third mic. At the start, you’ll see I’m holding 2 cordless mics in one hand and performing into the announcer’s corded microphone. Check how he’s totally not concerned as I’m rockin’ the crowd from his table. Finally I was able to get a fourth microphone and managed to pull of 17 consecutive spins:
When life throws a curveball, improvise. The show must go on.
Good Lovin’
I recorded this record with Slim a few months ago on my birthday (Sept. 25). It just so happened that he was celebrating his birthday on that same day as well:
I happened to be shooting a fashion story for Vibe magazine earlier in the day with four of the girls from my first “Addiction” video. Two of them, Gaye McDonald and Jeneil Williams, accepted our invitation to sit in on the process as they had the evening free. I also invited DJ Clue to the studio. When he likes a record, I can get an early co-sign and a commitment on some influential radio spins. The version I played him included my original rap verse (the album version features Fabolous). Slim’s deal as a solo artist is through Asylum Records, headed by Todd Moscowitz. You can hear and see Todd at the end of the clip predicting that this record would be a hit. Last week Slim moved over 430K downloads of “Good Lovin” on iTunes. Todd was right.
In Regards to Black Cards
Just a few minutes ago, I posted a status update “…just got his Visa Black Card, advertised as only available to 1% of Americans. Good credit is valuable! Pay your bills on time!” and a received a flurried polarized reaction to it on my Facebook profile. I’m posting this to explain my position on credit and why it’s important:
As a young college student, I was uneducated about fiscal responsibility and I buried myself in debt buying clothes, CDs and stereo/music equipment on an AmEx Gold Card that I received via a student program. My parents, being officers in the Salvation Army, began to receive the collection notices in the mail and were in no financial position to rescue me. Furthermore, they were very adamant about me accepting responsibility for my spending. My bank account was overdrawn and eventually closed. Though I was very nice to the collection agents that called my phone (which eventually was turned off due to late payment), my credit was severely damaged. All of my cards accounts were closed. Over time, I eventually paid off some accounts and settled others.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that bad credit follows you and stays on your record for 7 years. This made it nearly impossible to even get a new bank account, and certainly made me dependent on others to have my own apartment or get approved for a car loan! In 2001, I decided to face my credit score head on and take matters into my own hands. I applied for a secured card through Bank of America and slowly but surely began to rebuild my credit by paying my bill on time.
In 2003, I began working with my business manager to write letters to all of the credit agencies to clean up my record, and about a two years later I was approved for the entry level American Express Gold charge card. I emphasize that it took me nearly nine years to get back into the good graces of American Express after I had irresponsibly abused their trust.
I have my parents to thank for my burning desire to be an overachiever (I went to Harvard out of my junior year of high school). Once I was accepted back into the AmEx family, I vowed that I would be responsible enough as I grew my business to be worthy of their highest level of service – the Centurion card. It was a milestone in my life when that envelope came. It meant that I had earned the respect of that financial institution, and I had done so via determination and careful attention to my finances.
As crazy as this may seem, not everyone accepts American Express – not even the the Centurion card. Just as I’d been shut down one too many times, I ran across an advertisement for the Visa Black Card. It read: “The Black Card is not for everyone. In fact, it is limited to only 1% of U.S. residents to ensure the highest caliber of personal service is provided to every Cardmember.” As a test of the credit record I had spent so much time rebuilding, I applied.
My site update was an announcement of Barclays Bank’s decision to grant me a card. I made this post because I feel very strongly about credit and how much it matters in America. The American Dream of starting one’s own business in many instances is built on loans from banks or yes – maxing out credit cards so that you can get started. In order to be a successful entrepreneur, this was a lesson I had to learn the hard way. This election symbolizes the opportunity that this country affords us to achieve any dream in spite of our racial background or financial history. I hope this post encourages you to teach someone to about the value of financial responsibility, even if it means teaching yourself. For me, good credit provides a gateway to the capital necessary to build my vision for NextSelection into a tangible enterprise.
God bless…and here’s a favorite video illustrating my AmEx Centurion in action:
How It Was Supposed To Be (Video 2)
So much to write about this video. First, I had a concept that I shared with Shiv and the two of us fine tuned it into a treatment. I shopped it to some directors and when they told me how much they expected it to cost ($200K), I decided to direct it myself to give my staff an incredible learning experience. Two weeks into the planning and production process, I ran into Tyson Beckford at the G-star fashion show and invited him to direct the video with me. I could write a book about the production of this video – scripting, rehearsal, styling, filming, editing, sound design, color-correction… Instead, I’d like to focus on three themes:
1. You can do anything you decide to do as long as you have the resources and relationships to do it.
2. Don’t worry about your figure, outward appearance, or financial status with regards to your personal relationships. If someone loves you – they will love you as long as you are a good person on the inside. That goes for friends and lovers alike.
3. When you have something good, it’s inevitable that people will want what you have, and some will even try to (and succeed at) taking something you’ve worked hard to achieve. Your response? Achieve higher heights and greater success.
This is a big one for me. God bless and much love!
