My son, Isaiah, is pretty patient kid for being 5 ½ years old. He can wait a whole 30 seconds before asking me where are we going, what we're doing, and can I have peanut butter on a spoon. I joke but really I can tell him to go play or draw some pictures and he'll be content. While I go teach a class or give a private lesson on free-styling and beat boxing as I did today.
Sometimes it makes me wonder is this my kid(You know I couldn't deny him even if I wanted to, the crowd would get me on Maury). Cause truth be shouted from the roof tops, I'm an impatient person at heart.
I read about The Roots touring in Japan, Add-2 in articles all over the internet, and the homie sleep getting his track in movies. I'm like man I need to push harder. I tell myself "I'm only one man and there's only so much I can do with a son, wife, and household to maintain." I know this is a legitimate reason, but it always has the familiar ring of excuses I hear from my students, when I say it out loud.
We get caught up in our grind that we don't take time to see how far we've come. Marshelle always reminds me of the good ol' days of hanging microphones from ceiling fans and neighbors below us with brooms to strike their roofs in Morris code for "SHUT UP!" Now people ask me what studio did you record in? Who did the mastering? When I tell them the answer they give me that impressed look like "Wow, you did this in your house."
The sonic quality has come along way just like my career, and I have to realize I'm right where I want to be. I am by no means content. My ambition has not been satisfied and I doubt it ever will. I guess you have two choices when you see success happening around you; Be appreciative of what you have accomplished, which energizes you to accomplish more, or get discouraged because you feel you're behind, which leads to stopping your pursuit all together or pushing too hard and burning out.
While it's hard to do at times, every time I think of what I've done, what I got in the works, and what I aspire to do, I feel more encouraged and inspired to keep going. The other piece to being appreciative for what you've already accomplished is that you begin to see that you did what you said you would do unaware that it could be accomplished. The first song, the first album, the first show, the first tour. There are major hurdles that you had to leap in order to be where you are and you did. This strengthens your faith (not necessarily a religious faith) and with strong faith you can be patient.
If you know and believe that you will do EVERYTHING you set out to do in life, it's like knowing the end to a film or basketball game. If you know the Tarheels will win the NCAA Championship this year, why would you worry if they happen to be down anytime during any of their games?
So I know I'll meet the people I need to meet and attract the opportunities I need to do everything I truly intend to do. How? That I'm not sure of and that can make me a little antsy at times, but I calm down. Speaking of calming down, enjoy this laid back beat-a-week called Isaiah's Lullaby. It's very mellow like a lullaby, go fig. This is a song about my son having nightmares when he was little (or littler, he still small). He use to cry in his sleep and it would take 15-30mins to wake him up sometimes. The lyrics tell the story, just enjoy the track for now.
One!
p.s. Yes I'm currently performing all over Portland. Join my email list for more details.
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