Lately the local Facebook Group has been the home to a literally pointless Facebook comment beef.
I pursue it because more people know my name than ever and it led to a paying Substack subscriber. They pursue it for only reasons they can provide. Ain’t no one trying to be libellous over here.
As I pursue life sleep deprived and passionate as ever, I can get triggered. Picture whatever meme that has triggered on it. That’s me. A triggered loudmouth Jew ready to open his mouth and spit verbal bullets. I do keep that tongue holstered a lot for the sake of decorum.
A younger me could have learned that lesson sooner. A current me is learning to embrace that speaking freely and clearly has consequences. People see your intentions.
Even when you speak negatively about something traditionally popular, like a church.
Again no one’s trying to be libellous here so moving on.
Being outrageous has always made people remember me
For better or for worse I have a very loud personality.
I have been labelled, correctly, with terms like annoying, obnoxious, at times bigoted, and definitely ignorant. Once I worked on the ignorance thing, the bigot thing chilled which made the annoying and obnoxious easier to tackle. As I get older in life wisdom gives me a better sense of time and place.
I often think of what my former colleague Elias used to tell me, “You can’t fight gravity”. He saw the uphill battles I was fighting and I wasn’t yet ready to hear what he had to say. He was trying to teach me to recognize when a fight has no path to victory and just play ball.
That being said, being a 30 something year old rapper who’s perma-stoned in corporate America was a vibe. People treated me like some caricature of a human. So I played into it.
A lot of people didn’t know what I did at work. I wasn’t great at that side of branding in hindsight. Most people knew who I was and that I was a rapping podcasting weirdo with great insight.
Arguably… I got no regrets with a past me’s sense of priority. There are colleagues of mine Is sincerely would apologize to for making their lives difficult. As I learned better, I behaved better. My daddy did not teach me how to move correct. I also lacked a circle of friends and peers to hold me in check.
Now I’m blessed to have evolved into someone who does have people with real moral compasses around me. Mine is morally void. I’m very okay with that.
Being a flagrantly offensive person is not a good way to live, but it is a good way to be remembered.
A lot of people remember me, even a chunk really don’t like me to this day.
If no one remembers you or cares then it’s going to be rough being a public figure
Anyone who really knows what they are doing in the public speaks to their audience.
Audience is just marketing jargon for a specific demographic group. It’s basically as prejudiced as it sounds. Like when I pitch I say, 18-35 year old women. We focus on a student perspective. Honestly, that choice is prejudiced. We are not focused on other perspectives. We know who watches our content and others are welcome but we know our core.
Now once you figure that out you need to engage them. This is where it gets hard. This is where it becomes fan by fan as you discover how boring you really are. You spit your song, post your pic, do your business meeting only to find out, no one remembers the details later on.
People are frequently surprised to learn I have not hosted an interview for Bridge the Gap since 2023. I’m often like, well if you watched the show, you’d know that. In my head of course, decorum things.
As you put things out, chances are it will be forgotten. Your hard work spinning down the drain. Don’t fret you get experience and all that so that next time you can be less boring.
A lot of the people you love, others hate. Our life experiences breed ethics that range across a variety of spectrums. The important thing is that you remembered the people that made you feel.
Well constructed and logical arguments do not make people feel. It’s a rare breed of human that geeks on reason. Most of us are emotional little heathens willing to throw down irrationally.
The key to people’s emotions lies in the art of storytelling.
Every idea spreads based on the power of the story that drives it
Here’s the story driving the sauce of the pickle movement.
One time I was live at twitch.tv/behindthatsuit and Vincent Pryce, along with 6 other people, were watching me freestyle songs. They had the audacity to tell me I could not write a song dissing pickle chips, after expressing my dislike of pickle chips. Considering the run I was on, this was not outside the realms of what’s possible. It’s so possible that this song came to be:
The first time I performed it, I had someone throw a bag of pickle chips with me. I did a little speech and threw it in the crowd. There’s literally a bag in the trunk of my car right now in case I want to do the song.
Then people started sending me pickle stuff and I started resharing it and now I’ve evolved into Mr Pimp a Pickle. Merch on deck, holla.
By the time I’m selling you, I’ve got you invested in this preposterous thing that is buried on my YouTube channel in the live streams. But everything I said is documented and I have proof it happened. People can tell I just represent those who feel bullied by the pro pickle wave of judgey food eaters.
When you buy my merch, you are representing a team. You are pledging allegiance. Or you’re really nice and supporting my art, y’all are lovely no matter the reason.
The point is now I’m the “Pickle Guy” to a lot of people. It’s very stupid, but because I used effective storytelling, I captivated enough people to care. Plus I always got the pickle chain on.
Yes, I do fuck with a Funk Lo original piece bouncing off my chest.
Authentic stories are going to be polarizing and you need to live with it
A lot of people hate my gimmicks and think my entire brand is goofy.
They don’t like my music, my use of props (I gave out 3 roses and 20$ yesterday when I performed) or my attitude. Sometimes my authenticity is misconstrued as disingenuous.
Recently someone didn’t believe how I told the story of Eclipse pulling up at King K LV’s album release on some over the top stuff, like a plainclothes officer was there. They photographed my license plate vibes. Thank goodness I had video of this because for the first time I saw someone go heh, how much of his bullshit is the truth?
As a storyteller I get lost in my own vibes. Sometimes I embellish or conveniently overlook details. I always control the narrative and often politicze friendships. What I’m trying to say is the way I present my “authentic self” is very hit or miss.
I got wild love and support from people and it means the world. On the other hand there are a lot of people who cannot stand me and never will ever want to see me win. It’s okay, I don’t want to see a lot of them win either. A couple of them I’d like to make money with while disliking each other peacefully. Some bridges will stay fragile and broken even after mending.
In the wise words of JS, you need to have NOREGARD. My mans Anu Budz is about to go support Israel in a rap battle with Dizaster. The comments are brutal on the promo post. Budz just be there taking it in, knowing his side will be there to support him.
If you want to make it in this game you need some controversy. You need to make some of them mad, so others can see how you handle it. You need to convert them into believers.
I’m grateful I get the chance to live a life where people do have faith.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone
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