THE MOST IMPORTANT SAYING IN THE WORLD TO ME RIGHT NOW IS ONE I LEARNED ABOUT 9 YEARS AGO, BUT HAVE BEEN WALKING TOWARDS THIS VERY MOMENT TO REALIZE IT'S CORE TRUTH:

"You can be as big as your most dominant aspiration, OR AS SMALL AS YOUR MOST CONTROLLING DESIRE." - Unknown

Doing Music Fulltime For The Rest Of My Life is my most dominant aspiration.
Doing Drugs Everyday For Any Reason In The World is my most controlling desire.

Who I am and where I am in life reflects this reality more than any blog ever could.

:)

It's the weekend. i'ma go easy, I got some songs to write and a Boot Camp Click show to peep tonight.

Jay-Z, Live in Concert. Cut and paste this link and you're gooood:

http://entimg.msn.com/i/ExperienceData/p1-9/us/x.htm?sh=mmic&ep=jayzlive&ch=0

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Jermaine Dupri actually says something that I agree with! Wow:

peep his blog:

"Some people find it hard to understand my man Jay-Z's decision not to let iTunes break up his American Gangster album and sell it as single tracks. They say he's fighting the future and losing out on sales from fans who only want to download singles. But I say it was a stand somebody had to take in the music industry. Jay is speaking for all of us.

He's not the first. He's not the lone cowboy in all of this. Radiohead and AC/DC have turned their backs on iTunes for the same reason. Doug Morris, the CEO of Universal Group, has been fighting Steve Jobs on this for a minute now. But Jay is at a level people are going to pay attention to. He's had 10 number one albums. He may run Def Jam but he's also an artist who put his heart and soul into something that he wants people to hear all the way through. As the creator and investor, he has every right to demand this.

Not only that, I believe he's starting a movement that's necessary. More artists and producers are gonna take back control of how their art is sold because his strategy has paid off. Maybe Hova coulda sold another 100,000 to 200,000 units by playing it iTunes' way, but he still had the number one album last week. He STILL sold 425,000 units. Even more, he's proven you can still sell an album without those guys.

Jay made everyone realize that iTunes taking what we give them and doing what they want with it isn't the way it has to be. He put the light on and made other people realize, "Oh these guys are just selling our music, they ain't making it." If anything, WE made iTunes. It's like how we spent $300,000 to $500,000 each on our videos and MTV and BET went ahead and built an entire video television industry off of our backs. We can't let that happen again. These businesses exist solely because of our music. So if we as artists, producers and label executives stand up, those guys at Apple can either cooperate, or have nothing for people to buy and download on their iPods.

Apple thinks that's never gonna happen. They think that we as the record industry will never stick together. But Universal sells one out of every three records. All it'll take is for Warner Music to say, "You know what, I'm with you," for us to shut 'em down. No more iPods! They won't have nothin' to play on their players! We can take back the power if we're willing to sacrifice some sales to make our point.

These days people just assume that you need a number one single to have a number one album. But look at what's really happening. Soulja Boy sold almost 4 million singles and only 300,000 albums! We let the consumer have too much of what they want, too soon, and we hurt ourselves. Back in the day when people were excited about a record coming out we'd put out a single to get the ball going and if we sold a lot of singles that was an indication we'd sell a lot of albums. But we'd cut the single off a few weeks before the album came out to get people to wait and let the excitement build. When I put out Kris Kross we did that. We sold two million singles, then we stopped. Eventually we sold eight million albums!

Did consumers complain? Maybe so. But at what point does any business care when a consumer complains about the money? Why do people not care how we - the people who make music - eat? If they just want the single, they gotta get the album. That was how life was. Today we should at least have that option. Yeah, it's about the money, but it's also about quality. Creating each album as a body of work that means something gives the consumer something better to listen to, It's that simple. Otherwise all anyone would care about is making a bunch of ringtones.

A good album is more than just a collection of singles. American Gangster was a story with a beginning, middle and end. I came in at the end and did the last song, "Fallin'." But every joint was related. Each song gets better from listening to the one next to it, and the one after that. I didn't just sit by myself in my studio in Atlanta, crank somethin' out, and throw it in the pot.

That album was the product of the best minds in hip hop today: Jay, Puffy, the Neptunes, No I.D., Just Blaze and me. We all came together and threw ideas around. Me and Jay had long conversations about our favorite mafia movies, and that moment in all those gangsta stories - Scarface, The Godfather -- when the hero makes his big mistake and falls. We came in with respect for each others' craft so the whole album could do right by the story. We made quality music for our consumers. We made art.

None of this is new. Every record is in some way a concept album. The whole always strives to be better than its parts. I dedicate a whole chapter in my book to this process. Every thing I produce is a product of me spending time with the artist and getting to know where his or her head is at. Usher's Confessions album was all about where he was at that point in his life. Same with Mariah's Emancipation of Mimi.

Even if I'm not executive producing and I'm brought in at the end on someone else's album, I listen to what everyone else has done and try to make my tracks fit. I'm like an interior decorator who comes into a house and fixes up one room. It doesn't look like every other room, but at least it picks up some threads so that room looks like it belongs in the same home. Every album is created for you to hear the next song, especially on rap albums. Rappers make intros on their records for a reason- they want you to listen it to set the mood and get ready for that second song.

I'm not saying that music can't ever be sold as singles. Not every album is equal and consumers are always going to try to cherry pick the songs they like. But that doesn't mean the people who investing their time, money and sweat into a record shouldn't have the right to decide how it's gonna be sold, whether that's in single units or as a whole. My book, Young, Rich and Dangerous: The Making of a Music Mogul, came out in hardcover last month, but Simon & Schuster doesn't let the book stores tear it up and sell it chapter by chapter. A record is no different.

Asking us to let other people mess with all our hard work like that is disrespectful. It's like when you go an art auction, and an Andy Warhol painting is up for sale at $5 million, but a buyer is allowed to just by off the top right hand corner of the canvas for a hundred thou'

Apple, why are you helping the consumer destroy our canvas? We don't tell you to break up your computers into bits and pieces and sell off each thing. When you go to the Apple store you may only need one thing, but you have to buy all their plug ins and stuff. You have to buy their whole package, even if you don't necessarily want it, or your equipment won't work. We're just saying, if you have the audacity to sell your products like that, don't treat our products as something less than yours.

Respect the craft!"

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Jermaine Dupri, who was named the most successful R&B producer of all time by the Guinness World Records 2007, is a Grammy-award winning music producer, president of Island Urban Records and author of Young, Rich and Dangerous: The Making of a Music Mogul (Atria, October 2007). For more information about this blogger, click here.


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10 Spiritual Ways to Approach Money

Prosperity. Abundance. Riches. Wealth. Opulence. Plenty. Is your heart resonating "Yes" to these words? How about moolah. Dough. Greenbacks. Bread. Cash. Is your heart still saying "Yes," or are you having a more complicated reaction?

Money is an idea loaded with both positive and negative associations, but it's worth remembering that "the love of money," and not money itself, is considered the "root of all evil." With money, as with anything else, we can benefit by turning our spiritual attention to it.

Text by Susan Corso

Make Peace With Your Financial Past

What is your money history? Take time to write about this in your journal. Write whatever comes to mind, no censoring. Make time to reflect on your past actions with money and make peace with it. No matter what it is. Where you see flaws, forgive yourself. It is only when you accept where you're starting from that you can begin to go forward.

Ask God for Help

One of divinity's traditional names is Providence, the all-provider. God/Goddess/Spirit is intimately involved in all aspects of our lives, and finances are no exception. If human economics hasn't worked for you in the past, what do you have to lose? Try spiritual economics: where there is demand, supply will appear. Address your request to God, let go, and joyfully expect an answer. Give thanks every day and listen within: You'll be guided if there are actions to take.

Remember That Debt Is Trust

First, think about what debt means: Someone (or some company) trusted you would be good for the money. Now turn within and from the place inside you that knows what's so, look to Providence and give your trust over to all provision, a.k.a. Spirit, God/dess, Nature, Wonder. Clearing up debt is about learning to trust yourself and Providence.

Visualize the Flow

There are two major modes for dealing with money in life: circulation and congestion. Circulation is paying bills, tithing, giving to charity. Congestion is hoarding, saving for a rainy day, being stingy. It's no coincidence that one word for money is currency; it comes from the word current, which means flow. When you congest around money, the flow stops. Money, by its nature, flows. Picture yourself and your money in the flow.

Set Your Intention

Intention is everything when it comes to manifestation. What do you want money for? Do you want a new pair of shoes to match your new suit? Great. Do you want to start a foundation for homeless children? Great. The wild thing is, it doesn't matter to God as long as you intend the highest good for all. Tell yourself your intention, share it with God through prayer, and listen for guidance.

Pray Your Bills

Yes, of course, pay your bills, but first, PRAY your bills. Put them all in your lap, sit quietly, and pray for each bill. Give thanks for the service you received, and pray that you and your loved ones may continue to enjoy what each bill represents. For example, your utility bill can bring to mind a warm home in winter, hot meals, and clean water to drink. While you're at it, send the same blessing to those who helped provide for you.

Be Conscious of Your Judgments

Okay, let's really get into it now: resentment, envy, finger-pointing. Where you have judgments, you only hurt yourself! Try these on: Rich people are miserly; the IRS is a dirty, rotten scoundrel, the oil companies are greedy, money is the root of all evil (the misquote most often used about money). It's really very simple to get clear around money: Just wish for others what you would wish for yourself!

Bless Your Money

Whatever you praise increases. Praise works to increase anything, both the positive and the negative. Why? Because you are showing interest in it. The activity of praising is blessing. Bless your money! Every penny of it. Blessing is also a form of gratitude. You are thanking God for the money you have in order to create more money.

Receive Graciously

There is a cost to giving, dear one. The cost of giving is receiving. Conversely, the cost of receiving is giving. It's a wondrous cycle of circles where we all participate in all of its phases at all times. Learn to receive graciously! You go to lunch with a friend who has just gotten a raise. She offers to buy you lunch to celebrate. Do you let her? You let money out, don't you? Now, let money in.

Share the Wealth

You do not need to have a lot of money in order to give to others. Ask yourself, Where am I wealthy? Start your giving there. Do you have extra time? Give time. Extra money? Give money. Extra talent? Give talent. The feelings associated with genuine joyous giving are to be cultivated.

Secret: Wealth attracts wealth!

WORD LIFE. I want to be rich beyond my wildest dreams! Let's make it happen, universe. Use me as I use you, and let's enrich everyone...
Adhimusic