3/9/10

Changing the Charge (Negative to Positive Energy)

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It has been an interesting 11 or so weeks for me in 2010. Lots of new music, networking, collaborations, and great events. It all seems to be looking up for the kid, and that's a beautiful thing. I really do believe that everything happens for one reason or another. I was all ready at the beginning of 2009 to go gung ho with the self-promo and music projects. And while I did pull off a pretty decent show in April, God saw it fit to pause my progress (via a major technical overhaul & revamp). As He is my witness, it couldn't have come at a better time. Seeing as how I lost my job & had to rethink my whole situation, it forced me to finally make some investments & rearrange how I was going to go about my career; crazy, right?

The reason I'm pointing this out is because of a few Twitter tidbits I read over the past few days in regards to the Oscars. First, congratulations to Miss Mo'Nique. I am extremely happy for her. Mo said something that really struck me, giving thanks to the Academy for judging the "performance and not the politics." This was a well-received comment, judging from the subsequent applause. Even though it may have seemed a trifle off-color (since she did win), it opened up a world of thinking for me. This was coupled by the different commentary I read online about the win directly after. I wasn't surprised to see that alot of folks were mouthing off about it, refusing to show support in exchange for their opportunity to front their own socio-political views on the situation. I wanted to vomit.

At some point, I tweeted something along the lines of, "Can we all just be happy for Mo'Nique, just for a moment?" I suppose it's a rhetorical question, because mankind in general has a hard time agreeing to any one thing anyway. But it did give me pause and really drove home the importance of support and positive energy. I know I've said before that I'm working on destroying my pride and contempt for alot of what I see in the industry, but this weekend made it all real in a way that other media & news have not. I support Mo, because she, like anyone else in this business, has had to fight for and work at earning her place. It is evident that none of her success was handed to her, and anyone that can wade through the red tape, politics, and pitfalls of media & entertainment gets a heavy round of applause from me.

With these added revelations in mind, I am making a more public & noted effort to A.) Keep my more obstructive opinions of some of my contemporaries to myself if unwarranted & B.) Be as supportive and positive of all the good things going on in the music business as possible, wherever they may be. I am finding more & more that positive energy and focus simply makes for better music. I've had a penchant for wanting to do things 'better' than some of the less favorable material I see in rotation, not realizing that all I need to do is ME. By doing me, my music, my positive energy, my hard work and the like, I will certainly get to where I need to go. I continually quote Wendy Williams when she said of the media industry, "there's room for everybody." And there really is...if you're willing to grind for it.