 What's up everybody once again is brand man Sean and I got a very special guest as you guys can't really see but you can see you see there's a little box over there. This guy is like he's just one of the dopest artists not artists technically he carries his writing out like art he's one of the dopest writers journalists out there in the game right now his name is yo yo Phillips. Now if you don't know of him he's a senior writer for DJ Booth and you're just gonna have to do your research man and read some of the articles he's definitely somebody worth keeping up with but you're gonna learn a little bit more about him in this interview. So let's go ahead and hop right into this thing and introduce yo what's good man. You're too kind that was a wonderful intro I'm gonna have to take you around with me. That was just too kind man I try I do my best. To make sure the writing is of a quality to be considered artists so I appreciate that but I just do my best brother. For sure man it was um it was super easy because I'm a fan man I didn't even prep for that so I was listening to myself as I talked. Very well done very well done. When I um just to make people clear before we even get deeper into the interview right like if you don't know DJ Booth like if you know XXL you know I don't know a lot of these other random publications complex if you really especially if you consider yourself an artist manager you really need to know DJ Booth like you gotta you gotta you know spank yourself a little bit because he is a far more serious publication nothing wrong with all the other publications but the way the writing is it's more long form it's true content when I say talk about getting yourself in a blog I'm talking about people carry them things out like DJ Booth some of the noisy articles not just a random blog post they put your your song up there write two lines and it's over that doesn't help fans right there needs to be a real opinion about you good or bad and that's DJ Booth he's a senior writer for DJ Booth so and he was one of the few people media invited to the Dreamville session if you don't know about that we'll get into that at some point as well so now again through hyping you up but really need these people to understand before they click off the interview because they like who is this guy he's definitely worth listening to so yo man how did you even get into writing in the first place like what made you do this seriously because we're in that age where you know blogging is considered dead by a lot of people for a lot of reasons you know it's funny living in Atlanta well I live right outside of Atlanta I was born and raised in the city and kind of been living outside of it for most of my life but I graduated high school in 2009 and if you were coming out of high school or even coming out of college at the time you knew we were hitting got here with the recession that was like the big thing so yeah high school you go to Mara high school okay so if you if you were around that time you can come out of school that time you knew that the job market was trash it was probably one of the hardest times especially if you didn't have any experience to get a job and that's what I was trying to do when I got out of high school I was just trying to write the work I was trying to make some money and because that was just something that couldn't happen like I could not get a job I was going on the interviews I was doing as much as I could to get work and I couldn't but that free time all I did was listen to music and read books that was it I was pretty much just like on that pit I was on two dope boys I was on now right I was on DJ I was on all the sites that were really like introducing the artists like J Cole Wale Charles Hamilton asher off like that's how I really got my foot in like that generational artists was just because I had time to study and listen to music and that eventually turned into wanting to share opinions about music so I had a few opportunities to write for some small blogs to smaller sites and did that for a couple of years and was just passionate about words was passionate about music and wanting to be able to share like what I thought was was good good opinions and what I wanted to if I had something I wanted to debate if I had something I wanted to so engage with people about the best way to get that out was to write it you know to share it that way I was interviewing a bunch of artists and all of that culminated to me getting the opportunity to write for a DJ Boots brother site Refine Hike that was ran by Nathan Slavitt and you know Nathan really liked my work Nathan was the first person to really acknowledge me as far as like a writer who did that for his life was writing you know I didn't meet anyone before him that's all they did I knew people that blog they also had like day jobs and night jobs but he was the only one I knew just had a site and was working it so writing for him having a editor to work with that really helped kind of find some of my writing a bit and then it went to DJ Z Z was one of the founders of DJ Boots when Refine Hike and DJ Boots decided to merge okay then my work crossed over and he was a fan you know that was a thing because Refine Hike was long-form and DJ Boots was mostly like music careers and music videos but they saw they recognized that long-form essays and articles had value and when they saw that value through Refine Hike it was like well let's just become one they merged and then that really kind of jump started me writing for DJ Boots and starting to get an audience that I was able to quit my job at Olive Garden and come work at DJ Boots for a long time since 2015. 3 years in congratulations man. Man thank you bro thank you man it's more like 4 going on 5 because I did some freelance stuff very early on like I was working with DJ Boots but it wasn't full time like I didn't get a chance to like quit my job until like the end of that 2014 year so but yeah like they've been rocking me for a long time I really appreciate them just giving me the opportunity to let me grow. Oh yeah not just I mean but not just that I'm just talking about congratulations for the you know you out the job and you working on what you're doing. Yeah man honestly it was something I had figured it wasn't going to happen for me until 2028 my birthday this year I didn't think I was going to be able to quit my job and you know I thought I was going to have to work a job until I was 28 before I would do anything full time writing so getting to do that early really was like it blew my mind like there was so many times I couldn't believe it happened this way you know they all leaking up every day and just focusing on writing you know that was something I didn't envision for myself until I was like knocking on 30 before it was it was a lot for me man it was a lot of process for a while. It was though because basically you live in a dream that a lot of artists are looking like that you know just don't want to do for a living. Yeah yeah I don't take it for granted. Most days I don't take it for granted that's for sure. Some days I run for the others man I'm telling you. Hey man like I think that's funny like when you mentioned just the opinions I wanted to give opinions because although we are in an error where it seems like opinions are just you know they're everywhere right it's still just the thing that creates the value at the end of the day like you almost just can't report like these like these days because it's not going to differentiate you. There were some I don't know if you used to see like the news but they probably still do them on complex right they'll like hear the news and yeah they got to they get a lot of views because it's complex and they have a lot of views but my it could be far more strong I've always felt this way could be more far more strong and get more views if they gave opinion but they're just sharing it you know they take this trip to personality out of people when they give news all that stuff and then it kind of start to show itself when everyday struggle came out and things like that but I always felt like like there's nothing no reason for me to come back to this. Especially once we start receiving news on like a social media speed which is everyone sees everything together like all that one time there's nothing to report and we're already engaging with opinions so what you want to do is be the platform to have that first opinion you know that's why I like the one that's reviewed that these are both album review style is so prevalent for the site is because we understand they're getting albums all together so if you as a listener is engaging with the album this way then we should be able to try and give you that same experience with from a critical standpoint so to still take that hot take as format but add that critical ear to it and I think that makes a world of difference because we don't live in a time where publications are getting albums a month in advance two weeks in advance three weeks in advance you're literally getting it with the public so and I mean kudos to all my my my writers who do get out in three days can have like the most concise critical analysis because it makes us think faster it's just we try to find a format where we're thinking as fast as the audiences and not a dictator you know but that's it like literally that is what we live in right now it has to be hot it has to be fast it has to be opinionated because we all are engaging with content that way yeah man I mean I get it I was thinking about the one listen review because you know I understand it from even SEO purposes and things like that but and I and I get it from a marketing and branding purposes too just from a concept it's dope right one of you and this is what we think after only listening one time being specific versus you know we listen to it is our thing this is it tells you more and gives you more context about it but it also but I love about it it also it maintains you guys journalistic integrity by seeing that is one listen as opposed to acting like it's this real critical thing back in the day when we first started we wanted to do like follow-up reviews but the thing is they weren't as I don't think the public was so interested in them because it was like well if you gonna take two weeks to do a follow-up we're already past that though you know we've already heard it we decided how we felt about it we moved on so now you're playing backwards you know I'm saying now we're trying to bring something back that's two weeks old but like if this two weeks old how old is that on the internet it's like two months older to this point like unless it's something incredible and if it's incredible you already know that you know you don't need to analyze something amazing but it's something that you might feel warm about and you want to engage with again the audience might not feel the same way so that's why we find other ways to talk about albums that's why we do you know what I'm saying are editorial pieces and you see an album consistently being written about that means our writers are engaging with that album consistently that means it was something more than oh that's good oh that's okay or what casting what you were doing maybe this will grow on me some of the growers do end up having some very interesting pieces but I knew last year when Saaba album drop having so many right about Saaba that tells you all this album is incredible this is doing something some of you are already writing about Cardi B something about that album is striking like it's this deeper than just views it's like there's something about this music here that is encouraging people to want to have thoughts to listen to it to engage with it on a consistent basis and cool things I would be I feel like I love that aspect of it now too I mean I love album review I really love seeing somebody break down that album that level comes after that that's not necessarily in a review format but and a more thoughtful less analytical way you know you're really you think you're thinking about this in a personal way you're thinking about this in in comparison to your life because Paris into your friends life you're looking at this thing as an experience now and not just something to review you know I never thought about it that way that's actually super dope because the first thing I think we say that is it's like this inward culture you guys kind of have where like we're peering into your culture you guys right y'all continue conversations and we get to hear you or your different conversations and opinions or say this solidify oh this this is the manifesto on this album like you want to keep talking about it in the same way I might keep talking about it with homies or something in some way and we basically get to see you keep talking about it in different ways so that's isn't that isn't that so true when you love the album and you take it to your homies you recommend it and y'all engage with the afterwards like that's just what we do as writers are we're able to inspire each other to take their thoughts on something and broaden it out to open that thing up and I mean writers it is a community of us it's not it's not a big community but we all are we all have the same job we are engaging with music full-time or part-time in some capacity so that's your job and that's your life and the other people around you are doing that too like naturally the things you love you're going to have those conversations and they're going to inspire you to do further writing that's going to be on just you know a quick review you know I guess it's always bigger than the review I love album reviews but to me what really is the best album to me and like to talk about class and talk about time like tell me how people wrote about this after release date tell me how many people took that album that was released in January and wrote about it until December and they continue to write about it that's all about 444 like how many people continue to be pieces about that album long after release date that was just one of those albums where it was so much dissect it was so much to peer into and you know when you have that opportunity to have an album that makes you think so much and make you consider things and make you at least consider how you view this person before how you view this person after how you view these songs how you view yourself like to that's the kind of artist you are much longer than a day or two right now you're speaking to artists right now like all artists need to hear that like if you can make that kind of on people you know I mean like that's that's something they're gonna remember you they go they were some way or fashion whether that's just clicking on articles to see read more about you and learn more about you or actually listen to your music like if you make an impact people are gonna keep that curiosity I would that Jay-Z project that 444 I'm curious since you mentioned it what if you could describe the impact that had on you or and your impact on how you perceive some like what was the change for you you know it's interesting when you are a child you look at adults as people who have everything figured out yeah and all going up is is realizing you don't have it all figured out and I thought Jay-Z as this superstar rapper at this moment as this businessman had his shit together right you think he has his stuff together and then you get the elevator scene when you see it you see it doesn't have it all together like oh there is something wrong here alright this is this is something money can't stop this is something that status can't stop this is something like you're having a very human issue and the elevator with your sister-in-law and your wife and then you take that same kind of feeling and you unravel yourself that's one thing I liked about 444 it unraveled Jay-Z the man he was no longer trying to be a persona he wasn't trying to be this larger-than-life person he wasn't you know that's my thing about Jay-Z Jay-Z is always the larger-than-life you know he said he rather live environments than dormant right and he did that he did that that was not a joke he didn't just that a rap while he was huge he unraveled himself he brought himself down to a level that looked human and I had to had to realize that man you could be almost 50 years old and still like figure life out you can still figure out like man I need to be a better husband man I need to be a better father man you'd be a better son like you can still hit these points in your life where you can self-analyze yourself and realize your faults and realize how you can be better to me that's all that I'll miss it's like Jay-Z looking at himself looking at how no woman wasn't a family fuse but you only get that after feuding with your family you don't wake up and just like oh man not like you have to go do that smile about his mother and how she came to the conclusion that you know not only am I going to be open about my sexuality but like I want to be free you know I don't want to hide that from nobody Gloria Carter is older than all of us but she can still have that platform that he gave her that platform to do that and I like I can only imagine how they made her feel you know like just this this this idea that as we're getting older we want to figure stuff out yes but that means you have to always be aware of yourself you have to be aware that alright what does being better mean you know you have to look at yourself sometimes in the mirror and kill that ego but you got to figure out what that ego is that's what like it's starting to I'm up to Jay-Z and not Sean Carter to speak so much to self-development like I don't want to hide behind a mask I want to be as open and honest about who I am as a person and hearing someone say that in rap where ego is such a big deal like that's like armor, ego is armor let's see him take that armor off this is like I don't I don't understand how anyone can listen to that out and not like self analyze themselves or be aware that as I get older I need to do this I need to kill my ego I need to be aware of myself at all times because it does affect the people around you you know you don't want to be Jay-Z in the elevator and that's not who you want to be man don't stand that's a bar for life right there that's a measure you don't want to get involved but I really think like I know as much as no one wants their life to be shown like that to me it was just such a good visual representation that even like the highest people love the people we admire the people we assume have these perfect lives their lives aren't perfect they're just not oh yeah I remember that through your life and I feel like that's all all you've been doing since then it's just like yeah I remember because very vividly like you would hear treating rumors after that and I was like I mean whether the treatment room was wrong or right like nothing ain't right nothing is wrong you're talking with you like that can you imagine if he had to go through a divorce we had to watch that unfold I don't think I was ready for that kind of like realism that's too real but I also think he had to acknowledge that man maybe we're not as good as we could be and now as I'm falling into the public so the same thing would be honestly like watching her as a person like there's just no age you stop growing if you want to grow and that's what I looked about the Lemonade 404 and see at the table try to fix it to me that's just about black growth you know what I'm saying like you're being evolved you can get better you can look at your past and heal your own traumas there's things that you have to do as you get older because they don't tell us this when we were young you just think you're going to figure it out but it takes a lot of civilization to do these things and that's what I love about at least the music you can see these grown people these heroes of ours do that do something with that human it makes you realize you're not above that you're not beneath that like you have to go through those same phases too just a true example in life yeah man we all take rappers man nothing jewels, nothing cars nothing real shit like that man because Jay-Z's always been introspective I think that was what allowed him he was just being introspective about his hustle life more so than that other side of the life which already contains a lot of ego and protection and privacy but every once in a while I remember he that's what made it so interesting because he wasn't talking about like streets and the way other people would talk about it but because it would be like more psychology driven the way he was written for the first time I remember even him just dropping a more personal gem was like the one that the first one I noticed was in Lost Ones he said like my nephew down in the car I bought and something like does that make it my favorite and like I thought about it when I didn't even catch up the first few times I listened to it but one day I just sat and thought about that like that feeling I was like that's some real like human shit right there cause you know it's your fault but he's thinking this that's when I really started to consider it wealth man if you have all this money you want to give back to your people you want to give back to your community but it doesn't make you God you're not able to protect everything or everybody so that he has to sit and consider like damn if I wasn't Jay-Z if I couldn't even buy him this car would he still be here stuff like that will hit you and make you have I got a process I mean it's hard not to it doesn't have to be your fault but something as small as a car accident will make you think about like damn I gave him that car I gave him that car you know you have no control over that you want to take some type of responsibility because it's like damn without me this doesn't happen but you know you can't do that you can't look at life in that way you know there's powers at work that you can never consider you know you just gotta kind of live it day to day otherwise I should have paralyze you yo you so finished you can't do shit man you sitting in a damn corner but we after like talking about well one last thing on them I think it was really interesting because I've never talked about it in a video or anything but always talk about you can either mastermind things or you can use shit that's already happening and flip that mastermind from there like energy that's already out there and I think they don't ever they never would have been where they are now without the elevator scene becoming so public because they were super notoriously quiet but they figured out a way to use that energy to work for them you know what I'm saying and I think that's not because you're my bad brother but I know people want to think like oh everything stays everything is like how they did this for marketing but I don't think that's how things tend to work for people sometimes I feel like sometimes you get hit by surprises and you don't know what to do with those surprises until you realize like okay maybe there's a sign here maybe we should be more public maybe part of the issue is that we want to be so private about our own personal things so if we're going to be these people we have to go outside we have to live with this why not we figure out a way to open up for them to see us right and then doing so you kind of open up for each other like I feel like there's like so much self healing and understanding that certain secrets are to be kept but also if we're going to be public figures there's something to the public that we want to give so they realize remember still people and I know we y'all coming out to see us in hordes and I know every word and all of you like these are the things but at the end of the day we're still people and sometimes it's the faults that help us remember that's something that we look up to can aren't perfect then it's just not perfect and then it becomes more inspiration versus idolatry which is a good thing yes every 100 percent like so all this like I said it kind of brings me back to some branding stuff and I think it's the perfect time and when we talk about their privacy your brand you got one of the strongest writer brands out there because you have your own you got a strong logo right and you know as people can see this interview your face isn't out there so where did that come from because you talk because you say like things aren't always masterminded you mentioned to me that it wasn't like a mastermind for it to happen I mean the thing about it is like just naturally as a person I'm not like big on like taking pictures it's just nothing it's not something I do like if I go out double homies you know like I always been like really big on living the moment and then I always felt like I don't want to impose upon anybody that I'm meeting as far as like rappers or entertainers or celebrities with like pictures like I was like that was weird so to me and then and then go and get the writer aspect of it even though we live in such a visual age my thing was to always represent myself in the words I always wanted that to be as close to a portrait of who I am than any camera here for me so it was just kind of like naturally this is how I always manage this like I don't pick pictures of like this is what I don't have an instagram that's like a prevalent part of my life and then it kind of became like oh he's just this mysterious person no one knows who yo is I'm going like I've gone to shows and they introduced the people and watched them do double takes I've gone and like I've been like it's the experience of meeting people that know you but don't know you is fascinating it is extremely fascinating I've walked in rooms and talked to people and then come back and be like I did not know you were you you know stuff like that but then like I also feel like people also like respected that they respected that he has this sense of privacy and we're going to keep that so even if I do a picture with other people like I won't see them online or sometimes I have seen them online but I've had Frank Blair on my face and things just like a little silly stuff but also just like respecting that and in the process of all this like I realize the power of you know deciding on what you want to share like you can control what you want to share you know and when you decide to not share some aspects to yourself depending on what they are those things can inherently turn into value you know like by not showing myself online more people want to meet me which I'd rather do I'd rather meet people like I'd rather you come to Atlanta and call me and then I'll pull up on you and we sit down and have a three hour conversation and you follow me on Instagram and figure out I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing every day I'd rather you come see me live and go live you know like that's just and I'd notice that like okay if this is what the brand is going to be it's not branding it's just like how I live my life and I think that there's nothing people can tell you what you should do you know like even if it makes you if it makes you uncomfortable you gotta ask yourself why is this making you uncomfortable how can I make myself comfortable because I feel like that the closer you get to you online the closer you get to you are online offline like once you have that synergy I feel like people feel like they get to know you better you're not trying you're not holding it somebody you're simply doing so it'd be different if I was like if I had a mask and people never saw me and I was sitting like like imposters but not like people know who I am that's not a thing people have come to the city I actually man I didn't pick up people from the airport who didn't know what I looked like like that one of my homies Michael Penn II he works in rice and balmy please he'll tell you like he had no idea what I was and I pulled up to get him but like he's come visit me every year since like 2016 he came to talk to my couch never saw me he's crazy about it don't do that don't be out here trusting everybody with no face you can't do that everybody but like I said I feel like it was just such a genuine reflection of myself and anyone that knows me like you know like many others that's just not him and even more so now because I'm in places where people are taking places like I'm just like it's cool I don't have to do it but you know maybe I'll switch the brand up in like a year to do the DJ academics okay that's gonna open shit up in a whole new way it's gonna be some good stuff that's funny because I always feel like someone's talking to me like oh you know if you showed your face more like you would have other like you would get more opportunities I don't know I feel like that's such a the idea is because that's what other people do you know like the concept of that thinking is like oh other people do that and this is what happens with them so if you do it it'll happen to you now I'm believing that I feel like if it's for me it's for me right no matter what I'm doing there's not nothing that's gonna stop the show so I by the side the change of the brand and things came my way I thought it was gonna come anyway because they were always for me versus like we try to force things like I'm not trying to force nothing I'm not trying to force our relationships I'm not trying to force no like no bags like not like everything has been like supernatural and part of that is because I continue to do things that makes me comfortable and I know what I need to be uncomfortable I know what I put myself in places where like okay yo you need to do this because it's better for you you know what I'm saying at least you can say you've done it and you know when those things come back like I just got to recognize that but yeah I'm telling you I try to tell everybody like dude it's just very true for me I'm telling you it's gonna fail I think that's real good for artists to hear especially because they always should I be on Instagram and be this blooming star should I do some skits and all this stuff to get attention all that kind of stuff blah blah blah but at the end of the day you can make it work how it's gonna work for you sometimes it might mean you have to go a slightly longer route sometimes they're just or sometimes you're not going that other way there might be a shortcut that you just wouldn't have seen if you didn't it all worked in the other ways but it's true they're so impatient and I've experienced some of the stuff even with like my online I don't mind as much like being seen now but like I don't know if you've ever seen if anyone goes back and see my first like 16, 20 videos they're like no face it's just a voice and that's typically more me but I'm also like this experiment type guy he's a fanatic to me too so I was experimenting with like videos like two or three showing my face so I was like oh man you should do this more often should I have taken it or should I not I don't know but I did whatever I say you know what I'm gonna keep doing the face the face for now and the videos are doing better you know I was just a marketing experiment guy for me but it wasn't about like if I had to go by my personality most people would know me in like real life they're like yo man I'm not like that much energy all the time like I'm more picking shoes I'm a real laid back type dude but I'm constantly trying not to play myself at the same time with me being out there you know what I liked about this is that you you tried something and it worked and then you made it comfortable for you you kept doing it but it wasn't like you coming at these videos trying to be anybody else you just changed that okay I'm gonna have my face but and I'm going to adjust myself in a way that I feel like this is gonna work for me but it's still all based on you you didn't say like oh so much like you didn't pick a person and say oh I'm gonna do what he did see that doesn't work that doesn't work like sometimes it does like you have to adjust your brain in some ways like I said like you have to figure out how you can do it in a way that still stays true to yourself or in a way that makes you as comfortable with yourself as possible even in an uncomfortable situation because that to me I've seen it feel a hundred times when people decide oh so and so it worked for you know so let me chase that like nah maybe you have to look at what your brand is figure out where can I make adjustments and see if it works for you and that's it not everything will always work but like I said it's self-awareness you have a little bit of self-awareness and be able to recognize what needs to be adjusted I think you'll always be able to have that foresight something's working and something is working for sure man self-awareness I can tell that's a huge thing for you it's a big thing for me too I know a lot of people follow Gary and me and all his advice like the only one that actually matters is self-awareness like that he talks about because so many things he says you wouldn't do if it wasn't for you like he always talks about like everybody's not necessarily meant to be number one in terms of the entrepreneur he says number 12 made more money than everybody else at Facebook than a lot of these other companies are entrepreneurs number 12 is like a billionaire or a hundred million there and a lot of people they gotta be an entrepreneur for money but most millionaires in the country do get made that are actually working with somebody else something we don't talk about a lot but I always say that because that's one thing I like about him even though he talks about all this other stuff the consistent undertone is like if it works for you don't play somebody else's game because that's why I do this stuff for myself you play somebody else's game even if you win in that game you know what I'm saying I think social media I think it's always been prevalent is that you watch somebody else and it might not be that you want what they have but you might feel like you need to be like why am I not in Alexa subconscious man it makes you consider but something that I'm trying to more at is realizing what do you want what do you want take everything okay how do you get there cool you get there what do you want because I think it begins there it begins to figure out your wants and then chasing those wants knocking off these goals but you gotta take other people out of the equation you gotta take their parents out of the equation you gotta take their friends out of the equation you gotta take anybody that can influence what you want that you might not if you can't consider why you want something you never thought like why do I want this and if it's simply because oh I seen so and so everyone like why do you want a hundred thousand followers why for what why do you want to be a brand for what is there something you want or even if you're a rapper why do you want a record deal if having a record deal does not make sense to you alright then why do you want one okay if you want a record deal it's cool but you know you gotta write certain kind of records you have to pitch yourself in a certain kind of position that is very uncomfortable for some people for some people that's what they want to be I think Drake is a perfect example of someone who said I want to be the biggest artist in the world and went and did that that's who he wants to be but you can't look at Drake like me I want to be Drake because you don't even know what Drake wanted when he decided to be Drake it doesn't start with saying like ah shit bro I'm just gonna do what he's doing that's never it never works like that I feel like that never takes you where you want to end up going it'll take you somewhere but I don't know that's where you want to be at you can follow people for baby steps just like to get yourself going get a template but you always have to be self aware to be able to say no am I going the wrong direction because you know at certain age you don't have certain experiences to even understand what you want to do you gotta constantly reevaluate at a moment like that where I was like holy shit like everything that I was doing was taking me in the wrong direction like I don't want none of this why am I doing this I had to have it my way it's funny how life will show you that if everything is taking you to the wrong direction like maybe you're going the wrong way like if there's a bunch of like bad encounters bad moves bad bad things that seem to happen you have to kind of stop like well this is just bad luck like maybe I'm putting myself in a position where these things are occurring okay well maybe even go over there I'm putting myself over there and see what happens but they're going to like they don't teach yourself awareness they don't teach us that we need to figure out what works for us not what works for everybody else you know I understand why it's so natural but also like we that's something I just want to pass on to people it doesn't really matter what you want but just make sure you want it and then figure out how you're going to get there your way and you notice it like I'm telling you the world will always show you if you're going in the right direction because it's always so nice bro it's always so nice yeah for sure man so this entire like first portion of this conversation I want like anybody who's going to be branding marketing or just building something in general like just really just life like you should probably listen to this thing like two or three times because the stuff that you're always talking about is it's just it's just necessary to figure out and you'll make shit way easier on your life yourself in general as opposed to just trying to follow and listen to every single thing that people talk about including my channel you're not you don't need to do everything I talk about yeah I do the shit that works for you that I talk about on my channel and that self-awareness piece is going to make life way but I know I'm here to be a writer but like this is literally just like the stuff that I process before and after like well not even huge articles man like the cool thing about these is that they've always asked me what are you passionate about like every assignment has began with passion so I've never felt forced to write something for clicks or to do something I feel like was going to be successful but I always got a chance to start with me and if it worked beautiful if it didn't sometimes you got to realize maybe I could have framed that better or maybe I could have figured out a better way of taking that passion and making it something adjustable but it always began with something that I wanted or they pitched me an idea and I framed it in something that I wanted and like I said that's just a beauty of working for a publication that is emphasis on great content without having to consider always like things being the biggest or being number one like of course we want to have that sense of pride but we get that from doing good work you know the reason it's for good work and it already can keep that up it's just knowing what you're passionate about I feel like that's the best where it comes from people to understand what they're passionate about sometimes it's not just like a particular subject like if you love battle rap alright you go into the battle rap space if you love Southern rap the best advice I've received from David Dennis he's a writer from New Orleans who moved to Atlanta and teaches at Morehouse a bunch of different places but he told me he was like find your space figure out like don't matter what the publication is figure out your space if your space is going to be Southern rap then always be the one they need to come to Southern rap that means anything that happens in the South World they need to come to you rather it's an editor about his people that you create that space for yourself or you can create multiple spaces for yourself but the best way of navigating all this noise is by knowing how to amplify your voice you can't be the loudest about everything but you can be the most knowledgeable about some things and those things you're almost knowledgeable about make sure you're the loudest about those so when you are you're able to get those pictures off you're able to get those reads people are looking to you you're no longer trying to force people to watch you they're coming to you for that and that's the thing I think it's just passionate writing so people come here even if you read something about an artist you don't know you know the way it's going to be written the way it's going to be delivered from DJ booth is always going to be from a writer that's passionate I think what's so important about that is it allows you to be you but it also differentiates you at the same time when you think about it personally people are now going to want to know what Yo thinks about Yo's voice like some shit might happen it might pop off and I'm like dang I can't wait for Yo to write an article about this and when you offer something like that people are going to come to see what Yo thinks in the same way that I mean no matter what like people are going to come to see what Yo thinks even if I've got an impan from somebody else right I might talk about one friend about this project and another friend about this project is like in the same way that someone might watch Skip Bayliss on ESPN Undisputed but then they still might watch Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman talk about it because they're talking about it from their unique perspective and their voice and that's the thing I encourage many people to read as many writers as possible because we all don't have the same opinion we all don't have the same writing style but you can appreciate the way this person over there says that's what I love about the space of writing there's so many people with so many opinions and you can appreciate them all without being like I only read songs I don't want you to only read me because I know you read me, you read my man over at Vulture like Craig or you read one of my homies over at XXL you read one of my homies over at Undefeated and you get all these opinions then you get the chance to start shaping the way you think the way you start to shape the way you believe something I understand what he was coming from but I don't agree with that guy and that what I'm telling you is sharpens your own mind when you start to engage with writers about how you feel when you start to think about why I saw him as you fell away and why I made him fall away we don't always have to agree but I thought we should always be able to articulate how we feel it makes complete sense iron sharpens iron and getting those different opinions and it's super dope because so many writers they have great precise thoughts on things you notice all the writers pretty much read a lot you read your iron sharp I can tell because you're always referencing something obscure well sometimes it's not even obscure I might know what it is but you're constantly making those connections because you read that shit somewhere at some point in time and that just adds more to your body of work it's probably the best advice first under Nathan Gable he told me that a good writer is a good reader I first heard that I didn't really know what that meant but the thing about this you're absorbing all these words you're absorbing all these ways but you feel like it's good writing but it's bad writing and how you try to challenge that to yourself you start to be like a lightning rod and you want to have as much lightning coming your way hitting you as possible because you want to be electrified when I'm not reading I feel so sluggish because it's like I'm missing something like a nutrient that kind of helps me get my day started I'm trying to read a book when I wake up I'm trying to read a book when I go to sleep so that way I start my day with the book and my day with the book and I'm writing it in between that because it's just like I said nah nah nah hell nah I know it would be one of those things but I'll have like two different books like that way I feel like because I don't have the power that getting through a book it takes a time to be longer and I have so many interests I'm so interested in so many things I try to I try to start things with two books so that way if I can get to one book then I'll start another one out but yeah I feel like the same thing with music the more music you absorb the more flows you hear the more production styles you hear the more you absorb that allows you to have a different way of finding your own style because I think every writer in every rapper you begin by imitating somebody you only imitate because you spend so much time listening and then you take the imitation you start to shape how you want to present yourself but I think it's always good to stay updated and always kind of know what else is up because you don't have to necessarily copy it but you are always like inspired like oh man he can rap like that cool cool cool cool maybe you don't feel any inspiration so it just makes you want to pick that out there now I want to make sure I inspire that next kid to want to be on his A game because I don't see nothing out there he works that way man we're pitting so much into the world and so is grabbing it that's why I make these books here like references because I want you to take that I want you to go read that because I know you don't pull something else out people have been making shit forever you know there you go into a record shop there's a million records not all of them are popular not all of those guys have the biggest homes or even rich when they pass they have some art here that maybe you can hear that and you can sample it and now it's a hit record now it's a big deal that's it man we're all just absorbing and repurposing what we have all these inspirations to create something that's it man you can take these small pieces one of my favorite examples of like that kind of like just taking these small pieces for sampling and things like that I listen to so much music because of my dad like one of those true listen to everything type dudes listening to a lot of shit that I would hate listening to growing up but one day I was listening to his one of his tracks and there's this track by Mandrill group and that's what shawty lo sample for it's literally like you know them old songs are like seven minutes long it's literally like four seconds out of that song they don't even do it more the rest of the song you wouldn't even think that it's it's wild it's like yo someone was listening to this like it's kind of classical music it's kind of it's African music and someone just took this one part and said I'm going to loop this and make a whole like make a hit out of it and that kind of stuff is interesting to me I know producers get in that bag a lot because they're constantly like they're constantly hearing music differently in the same way you're reading books always think that's super dope but art is shit that you have to really bring in inspirations and repeat together puzzles it's really you don't have to invent everything but if you can innovate and reconnect things differently that's pretty much the game right there yeah honestly and that's why I always looked about sampling is because it allows you to pass along history that allows you to you can take an album of samples and it's like an history book you're flipping through these songs and there's these little pieces of history that exist in the present now that you can go back before you hear that now and be like oh my god I love when I go out and hear a sample because like I'm like whoa I thought it was a whole different song like you'll be throwing off you'll be so confused because you'll hear a part in the song and you think you know that rap's coming that drum's about to drop and it's not it's like a trumpet solo now it's a whole different record but now you're just like wow now like you do sample something you really are able to have a relationship between two different songs with two different eras two different types two different like just two different periods I think the more you consider that like in the last scheme of things not just with like production but everything how you want to sample and you want to take and you want to borrow you want to allow as much that we have absorbed in this world like even when you can talk to your pops you can give you a hope and now you say that in the video the song takes that and they're like I'll never forget that I'll never forget that as much as we can pass down and pass along and the small ways I feel like has an effect and it can create something in somebody you know you never know what's up that's the sort of man just like an artist dropping a song I'll drop a video in the night night in life and people did your best video ever and then I'll even know how to feel about it somebody's gonna love something man that's what I find so fascinating about picking out anything in the world is you can throw a long way about it and you just never know what it's gonna do for somebody else you know I remember a bunch of just pieces that happened to be really popular that I might have not felt that well about when I was writing it or when it was published or even if it didn't get the most clicks and views that one person will hit you up and be like bro I read this saying it changed my day or it inspired me to write this or you know what I'm saying it motivated me to listen to that artist you know sometimes that's like I know social media is so big in numbers and analytics and everything but all you need is one listener to to really take one viewer or a world leader to potentially start that chain reaction that one person can take you somewhere you have no clue it's gonna happen just because you know they know somebody and they share with them they share with somebody and next thing you know you at the industry office because three people share a song it doesn't have to take four million views that's a wonderful right if you're gonna pay for it but a lot of times we're looking at these numbers and you look right down and no one's listening and the thing that you want like you want to get to that next level sometimes you can get there just because two or three people are paying attention that's 100% that's 100% like you have the right person someone might have a platform they might decide to do told me the other day he has some random meme page decided to use him and some montage and like he had more relation to him they somehow came across it and then other meme pages took that meme and like it just started spiraling for him and he had nothing to do with the situation like that's all you need and you don't get that without picking it out like presenting it I'm 100% believe you want to get everything as fine as soon as possible to make sure that you feel as good about the content you're making before it's out in the world but there's going to be some things that you'll never be able to get the perfect but they'll be perfect for somebody someone that's supposed to get perfection and them seeing that perfection you just never know what that can do not just for them but even for you and the same total it can take you somewhere we never imagined just by pitting it out just by having it in the world even songs you put out don't have more views for the first year that's why you're so fearless and not you up and you can see that comment because you were so worried about that first day that first week that's why it's okay to talk about first week sales but I should talk about end of year sales like how many albums you sell per year do that with patterns people miss things every day so the fact that we tend to focus so much on first week sales is silly when it's just like how is your year you've got an album that's incredible so how did you work that thing throughout the entire year instead of trying to make sure you got that number one for what seven days I mean that's cool but you want to be number one at the end of the year you want to turn the calendar every number one because you can't you can get those numbers up every week and by the end of the year you have accumulated more sales and everybody else if you work something like that but man we'd be so focused on the momentary it's like a bigger picture yeah it's weird it's like trying to go for the trophy as opposed to going for the win facts you twist the way it is people want to go to the the championship but now I play regular season you gotta find a regular season you gotta go to the playoffs you gotta go through all of that you just don't go to the ship you just don't go to the war at ceremony nah it's a whole process of getting there which to me you'll understand the rewarding that on the way but if you just want to jump there and get the trophy you don't even fathom what you missed out on and that's usually the best part yeah well yeah because you can't even appreciate it the same and it's funny you talk about those because when you think about insta I mean of course there's been a lot of records that still keep moving there's been a lot of things that have been impactful that like in hindsight like finding out they didn't even do what you would have thought they did when they came out like I was watching I don't know if you saw Robert Townsend's Breakfast Club interview but he talked about five heartbeats with a flop when it came out and that's like a cult classic in black community so many people know that movie it comes on BET all the time but when it came out it was a complete flop but then just a few later over time it made the money like I think he put in like 300k or 100k whatever it made like 10 million over time something like that but he's got that long game and it changes I got a piece coming out tomorrow I wrote about outcast get up, get out and I didn't realize it was a radio single it was like the third single suddenly played with six wow that was a single there's no way that did well cause it doesn't translate to the radio that's not his ball that's not Rosa Parks it's a really dope record but that's not going to work for radio so let's say they look at that song and be like dang but it didn't do it already it didn't chart but the cultural relevance of that get out, get up, get something like that it transcends the radio that transcends the time that's not just a staple that's a phrase people say to themselves to get up in the morning sometimes you can't sometimes you can hit the jackpot and hit something commercial and it's huge, it's big, it's wonderful you get all the trophies but sometimes you gotta appreciate when you're generational when you transcend that packet of time and you live on that thing that's far longer maybe not like economically as rewarding in the moment but have somebody talk about something you've been for 20 years that means that's going to live on for a long time and that's not an easy thing to do but when you did it right it's incredible you take perspective and consideration a lot you seem to be very very observant you had a quote and I actually just came across it today because I didn't know that you wrote another article about your dreamville session and the quote I'm going to start here but then we can dig into that and you were just talking about the fact that the fact that I write it down somewhere it don't, let me see know what this is the quote, you said reading all the commentary on social media allowed me to see how the outside perspective was formed based on the little information that I know from within it's something I've certainly done in the past building a structure with the bricks given while never allowing access to the entire blueprint there was reality and then there was this work version what was thought to be and then you talk about there was a bigger picture though like a picture may be worth a thousand words but how many of those words are true and you were just speaking on how this session completely changed your perspective right and I want to hear how and why that changed your perspective that's a couple of things I mean the thing is and the other journalists you get invited to a lot of things but a lot of things are public and then you get invited to things that are private you know, not disclosed, you can't talk about it they're not seen by the outside and I've experienced multiple of those things I've experienced going somewhere and people knew I was there and they did not have all the information they didn't know what was going on so I got a chance to watch as some commentary was being informed based on what was happening inside that just wasn't true I think one of the major conversations was about how there were like no women in media was invited I mean that's true but that's because no one in media was invited like I was invited through being in Atlanta and kind of knowing a bunch of people who were active during the session so I was able to get an invitation but they invited me as Yo, not necessarily Yo from DJ Group and then same thing kind of went with Jinx who is not able to struggle but there's a culture where Joe Biden Jinx was able to get invited as well through knowing people and also just being in Atlanta he was here for a time he left and came back so we weren't necessarily members of media but we were there so to kind of see this conversation being informed about members of media being present and women not being included but again there was no media there were plenty of women there there's plenty of people there but I watched as this conversation was unfolding I later heard that people had heard or they saw a tweet that other men were there that weren't there that were nowhere on the presence they weren't at all and it made me realize I was like wow watching that unfold based on information that wasn't completely true but seeing the discussion it's a necessary discussion we should always have women wherever men are the counterpart should always be present should be anywhere that's 100% true but to kind of see that conversation warped around something that wasn't true I was like wow how many times have I done this how many times have I taken something based on the little information I had and try and wrap some truth around it try and insinuate things without having the full scope without seeing the blueprint I'm trying to build a house but how can you build something with no foundation how can you build something without knowing what the structure is but I saw what happened and that was one indication I saw what it was a particular picture came out and I got chances to see people talk about oh this song probably sounds like this or this song probably sounds like that and I was like man they were just sitting there talking not a single song was made it wasn't even a B-plane it was just talking the picture comes out but now we're talking about what the song is like now we're talking about who produced it we're allowing our imaginations to run wild without knowing the context of the picture that could have just been somebody coming in saying I hate your guts someone capturing it all right on time but obviously like that nuance isn't there but again I've done it too I've seen things and I've gotten excited what do I know about this before I even begin to get myself excited not just tweeting about it but like before I even get riled up about something like what do I know about this who can I contact to get this information who do I need to talk to if I care enough to have thoughts on this let me get as close to the truth about this before I start insinuating like someone asked me the other day J. Cole is going to drop a song at 9pm called Mule Child and someone was like what do you think the song is I don't know it's just a song title we don't have anything people get excited people started thinking and I was like I don't want to do that anymore like I just want to know what it is show me what it is and then I'll take it for what it is if I don't have all the information I'm not formulating anything I'm not even going to consider what could be or what isn't until I get the full because I'm not even getting myself riled up arguing with people on Twitter about something that's not real like why am I even having these conversations why are we going back and debating if we both don't have the full scope of the information but yeah that was just my thing I got a chance to see so much of that I got a chance to see so much of how certain people how they move around and how they're cool and how maybe my initial thoughts on them was based on something that wasn't completely true or maybe based on information that wasn't able to articulate the fullness of this person I was like man we insinuate so many things about people we make up how a person is in their fullness based on little information someone can tweet you a certain way and you go like that person asshole he couldn't even have a horrible day and you ask a stupid question he had a dumb reaction but like people how people are I think we just try and create identities for people based on the information we have all it is take them from who they are like you show me who you are and that's all I can treat you but like I cannot add or subtract from that you know what I'm saying my experience with you is my experience with you and I'm just not projecting anymore I don't want to do that I'm too conscious of that now to do that and that's kind of what the piece was man I really wanted that article to be like man we sometimes get so excited about things without really considering how little we are and if we can't have the full information then maybe we should not get so wild up about discussions we can have certain discussions but just make sure those things are based on something with some legs something with some ways something with some truth to it and not what things are for things that's like I was like but I don't want it for myself I want that piece as much for me as for them because I'm like yo you can't be out here doing this now because you've been seeing it like you do this now like you're really out here doing something that you know is inaccurate and that's how I move like that that goes back to just that journalistic integrity that keeps the value and your shit in the long term that's that small little wall I was thinking about that when I read the article I was like so I wanted now are they going to be like you naturally answer I was like now are they going to be some moments where you typically would have written something before and now you just have this extra little might hold back or you change how you write it like you said I'm not going to say it like this right like it happens to me sometimes where I was like know what I'm going to say that I'm going to deliver the information but I'm going to say it like this instead because of the knowledge I might have of the situation it depends on what it is man one thing that I got I know I did the first piece and went the second day I was there I was trying to think about if I showed it every day for 10 days right and every day I wrote about these people that's happening in here how many days until they start acting differently around me you know how many days you not say something because damn is that going to end up in the article or how many days you do say something expecting me to quote you like how long until you start reacting to me being here rather than living around me that's one thing I thought about just like as a journalist as soon as taking what's happening somewhere and writing it out people that's not there like those details as cool as this is of course it's going to be something that's off the record but like I can watch something happen like oh that's great I'm going to go write that and then somebody was like hey bro I really didn't want to know that I fell and busted my head when I was walking up the stairs that day like you know like I was trying to figure out like how do you get between detailing what's happening in your perspective but also respecting people as people cause I saw some things that I was just like oh man I'm like it's not that it was bad things but there's some information where it's just like oh you might not be able to tell about that person should I be the one to tell that you know that's why I like they made me realize even how I'm interviewing artists I want to come into everything knowing the kind of information I want and hoping you take me there but not taking anything that's not there already like if it's not there it's just not there like it's not for me to say that's why I understand about off the record like things be happening and you might not be able to even tell the whole thing I don't want this information to come out in this way and I think that's just fair to people you just can't be out here or at least I don't want to be like I don't want to be that person who's known for pulling up on places and you taking information that is not supposed to be out but like respect the fact that people decide how they want certain stuff presented that's all I can all I can respect. Dreamville had a hundred cameras everywhere like there's going to be like things that's going to come out visually from the from the sessions so I knew like I didn't need to tell everything they they deserve the opportunity to present certain information and what they want to you know so it's to me just always being like respectful of people as a journalist but also as a person I don't need to I don't need to click that bad. I definitely respect that man because you know we definitely in an era where people find value in pride in trying to leak information or be the ones who talk about it first whether it's their story to tell or not so that's interesting to hear. I'm telling you I really just want what's for me man I really just all I want is what's for me. I don't want to get what's for me to any methods that isn't necessary and that's the thing like the reason why you do like the reason why I can't go into a place like that is because they respect my work as much as I respect their work so you know that's why I asked Eve to co-manager Eve. I was like hey can I write about this. It was like but we have already had a 20 minute conversation about just life man just like I just had a nice talk about that we were just talking about like the sessions and all that stuff before I left I was like hey can I kind of write about this and thought about it and he was like yeah you good just like he told me not to spoil any of the songs we'll see what happens and then the next I know he pulled me into the room like you got to hear this so you know it's like you just want people to be respectful of you as you are of them because I want to be as long as I can and I know a lot of people when you're on this long they can't and I want our report to be fair you know you don't always got to agree with my opinion I always want to treat you fair and I treat you unfair I want to acknowledge that like yeah bro I was wrong I was on the line because I always want you to engage with who you put to fairness that's all I can ask like you don't got to agree with me I always have to be on your side of history but we are always going to be on the their side of history if I can leave this game with everyone saying yo treat me fair I don't have a good career yeah especially in music yeah thanks bro thanks bro it's not a good story okay well tell me this man how do you write about like how do you choose artists that you write about do you ever how often do you try to put new artists on or break new artists or do you guys get delivered a lot of topics how does that work it depends we're always listening to music but first follow us like we're always we have like a slack with music like you know people drop slight stuff drop south out links spot up out links and we're listening to it my friends I recommend music I have a lot of people that I come to but really when it comes to writing about the artists I want to know what people's stories are like what is your story right like you can have the hottest song on SoundCloud you can have 10 million plays but like that's all writing like oh this is a really good song like not if you want people to know you you want people to engage with you and engage with your art in a way that makes them fans I think nine times out of ten unless you got something else going for you you want people like blogs to tell your story and help translate that to people the more you can able to translate your story and bring people to your music I think that benefits you in the long run versus just trying to get like a post or just trying to get like a quick write up and that doesn't really do anything for you like I'm telling you it doesn't do nothing but what helps in the long run is people engaging with you in a way that's like this is who I am and this is why you should want to tell my story that's my thing like okay who has a story that's not only worth telling but also makes me feel like I I would want to I would want to know you about this guy you know that's that's always the big thing too like I'm always thinking about how I was when I was 18 19 20 years old and just constantly on the internet and I know all my favorite artists are people that I knew their story I knew I know their story I knew Charles Hamilton's story I knew all their story and that helped me connect with them as a long term fan versus oh this is just a hot song like I don't need a hot song man I need like a hot artist I need someone that I believe in I need someone that makes me feel like man I want to see you go far I don't get that without understanding who you are beyond that hot song dope dope I think I mean that's that's a lesson for all artists I can't I don't think they can hear that enough because we focus on being one dimensional so many things I heard another I feel like you gotta be able to give people something to connect to something yeah it can be what separates you man you can give 10 people the same beat and use the same flow there's only one guy that's gonna stay something that's gonna get your interest like huh uh man he was homeless okay well what happened where where where what what went wrong what occurred in the picture in that position and even if someone's never been homeless your story of what happened and how your mom got sick and you didn't have any money and you had to live on the streets for a while but you were super passionate about music so you're still able to record and you were able to take the music and give it a recording and you know what I'm saying give it all and give it a couple plays stuff like that that's all it takes just allowing people an inside and now I can walk away not only know a song but like now I know who that person is and I know the stories when I see your name again I'm like bro I want to see you do well and you're like oh that's the same guy whoop whoop whoop that's the same woman whoop whoop like I know that now like I reckon that there's more than just being like who are you again who are you again like nice tell the story give me a story to tell okay gotcha gotcha that's important because the other writer I've heard I talked to another writer recently by the name of Armand Armand Seller he said something very similar so like if you were listening to these interviews or these conversations there's a cast that's for an artist and this many people saying it who actually do it there has to be some truth to it so don't just be lazy there's some truth to it I think it's hard for anybody to take this song become you know the superstar artist but all I think for everyone that I've ever like watched really enjoyed it was something about that was always deep in the music and how I got the information was always the blogs I was gonna I don't know how I'm gonna know about half the artists I know about not just like the music but then personally without constantly the interviews without having the opportunity to these interviews and knowing where to find them like you know Instagram is cool man having them see your tweets is cool and social media connects you but I feel like you gotta sit down with somebody that can articulate your story translate that for audience because that's how you build that up if you really really really want to build an audience I think got you at least being built on you as a person that's just that feature you got for 21 Savage just to kind of close things out man what are some important things that you learn since you've become a writer in terms of what makes a writer valuable that's a good question I think probably one of the most valuable things a writer can highlight one of the most valuable tools this perspective is can you take something somewhere else that no one else can take you know you can take an idea can you take a song, can you take an artist can you place it in a way that no one else can do it and the thing is we all got the same amount of words we have the same alphabet that exists for all of us that's not going to change but how we look at things and how we articulate the way we view those things can be what separates us from everybody else you can really separate yourself from the pack by just looking at things differently you know I remember one article that really made my editor think like okay I like the way you think was a juxtaposed Kanye's spaceship from Fonte's Good Fight and there were two different perspectives about like Kanye's like no way for your spaceship I'm trying to get out of here, Fonte's like no man you gotta work if you want this then sometimes you gotta have a job, sometimes you gotta do this and I was looking at these two things and I just inserted myself like as much as I wanted to be Kanye I gotta acknowledge that I might end up in Fonte my spaceship might not come I might have to get this job but it's just fighting a good fight it's not nothing wrong with that not everything happens because your journey is supposed to come true maybe your journey comes true and other ways and I was able to articulate that in a way where he's never read that juxtaposition of those two songs before that's my thing too I'm always trying to connect things that might not necessarily be something that I've seen connected before that's why I read a lot man I try and connect things that might be literature it might be from like the 1970s but incorporated with something that released last week and being able to frame these things in a way where it makes you not only reconsider how you saw it new new perspective on things I'm always got my eyes open to see something in a very brand new way and I think that helps writers a lot because the same way there's all this music out there's all these opinions there's all these thing pieces and the more you're able to send yourself away from the pack thinking differently and positioning that writing differently I think the more you're able to have people drop that from you you can do that in a different way of looking at things you can be that person I think man there's so much in that statement that you just made because for one as a writer or any type of creator if you're consuming the same information as everybody else then it's hard to differentiate how you're going to know a lot of different stuff so like you love this artist you're trying to be in this lane but you can't listen to that artist all the time you got to listen to some different artists you talk about being different we're in this weird time where it's cool, lured and ever to be different but there's there's this this vision of what different looks like which makes everybody to be the same at the same time yeah you gotta get working with those concepts chasing what something looks like rather than being what it is just be what it is you don't necessarily have to try and position yourself to be seen as this you just do it it doesn't matter I'll just tell my friends they're like oh how do you how would you start writing by writing do you want to be an A&R do the job you want to be a manager do the job start with the job before you get the title call me by that title so and so piss this producer and this person together they run this play they run that play A&R they'll give you the title they'll call you different before you have to feel like am I different nah you just figure out a way that you see things I started a year I was deleting twitter because I didn't want to explore as many thoughts if I'm on this one thoughts they'll be why I'm at the desktop I'm probably working right so I'm not looking at this as much but what I'm gonna replace that with this I'm gonna replace that with articles I'm gonna replace that with books I'm gonna replace that with movies I'm gonna replace that with stuff that I want to explore now I'm gonna do the information for me and that next step is like the information I'm giving and now based on what I have I can start taking things and like piecing it out the way I think about it focusing on what I want to interact with and in the ways that I take the information and dissect it and that way to me I hope it helps me get to original thoughts I get closer to something that how I feel about things how I want to write about things versus being so closely tired to what's viral being so closely tired to what everyone else is talking about feeling like I might need to speak on this like I just kind of not think that you have to be so far away from everybody because of course being current and being up to date is important but you don't want to be too too in the mix where everything is based on what someone else is talking about and what do you want to talk about what do you want the conversation to be like you can kind of like engage and change that which just starts with you figuring out like how is this unique to versus like man let me just insert what everyone, insert my thoughts on everything else that everyone's talking about impact I appreciate that man I think there's going to be a lot of value in so many things you say because not all direct advice it's a way of thinking which is what I try to push so many times in my channel I try to share that from other people as much as possible because I don't know I'm weird about giving direct advice if I don't have to the weirdest thing I think I used to be a little bit more keen on it I used to want to be like I'm going to give advice and get advice and then I started realizing that everyone has your experiences so like what worked for you might not work for them at all because they're interacting whatever they got going on uniquely you're not in their shoes so a lot of my ways of thinking now is coming from my personal experiences and how I'm trying to place my self and hopefully like it works out like I said when you're self-aware and you're constantly fine tuning you're picking up things, you're dropping things off you're constantly changing but what stays the same is that you're at least engaging with how things are changing versus accepting this is how things are I don't think I ever want to accept that this is how things are dope dope way I appreciate that man you guys follow it's not yo Phillips on nah nah nah it's like YLA 31 I want yo man but the kid won't give it to me we're just more strict yo but some kid picked that up and was like now he had the enemy he had the enemy like a couple months ago and was like how much you want for it no you don't want to give it up he's trying to slender me man hey man get a lot of people to report his account man let's see that minimal bully he got me he caught me slipping he got it first he'll catch it one day and I'll be there YLA 31 at Twitter you can definitely follow keep up the date with my articles and yeah man thanks for having me it was cool to talk about this stuff because I feel like the more we engage in having these conversations then hopefully it helps somebody somewhere yeah for sure man you guys definitely gotta follow this dude if you didn't know who he was before this I'm sure you can see that it's worth checking him out now I'll put all the social media stuff up there you know blah blah blah it'll be there other than that if you like this video go ahead and like it and if you like it mind as well share it and if you're not subscribed you know what to do hit that subscribe button