Let’s talk. Can we? You know, the way we used to do.

First off let me start by saying I enjoyed last night’s GRAMMY awards ceremony. As an artist myself, a Grammy is our equivalent to a Super Bowl or NBA Championship. Unfortunately with the latter two, it’s all about your performance, where as with the Grammy’s, your faith lies in the hands of voters who could be wrong. Nonetheless it was a good show. Very balanced and filled with great moments. I personally liked the performance from the Dave Matthews Band, the Green Day performance, Solange Knowles’ son’s speech, or lack thereof, Michael Jackson’s tribute and Jamie Foxx’s performance.

What made Jamie Foxx’s performance standout to me was the fact that he shared the stage with his sister who suffers from Down Syndrome. I’m sure the jokes poured in from several angles, especially online where an ‘lol’ or an ‘lmao’ is worth putting down another human being – that’s another story. What I’m getting at is that Jamie Foxx, amidst all his peers is not afraid to show the world what’s really important to him. Yes he likes to party, probably loves his sponsors, enjoys the company of a groupie from time to time but last night with just that simple move, the man showed character and courage. I applaud him.

Fear
That’s the elephant in just about all of our rooms. Ever wanted to do something but never quite got around to it? Procrastination you probably called it. Maybe even laziness. That could be the case, but more than likely it was fear. Humans are creatures of habit. Life shows us on an hourly basis that we can’t predict it but yet we try on a minutely basis to do so. We want to know what will happen, when, why, and how. In the absence of those answers, fear seeps in. Then the only way to avoid the perceived danger is inaction – not doing that thing that we want to do due to fear of the unknown.

I’m a fighter of fear. A lover of it, in the sense that I see fear and I go towards it. I say, “Hey, fear what’s up? ain’t seen you in a while. You think you’re gonna stop me from doing this, think again.” Then usually comes society. You know, your “friends”, friends, “family”, family, “team”, team, so on and so forth. The ones who really have their own personal best interest in mind as well as those who have yours. They indirectly or directly give you advice and suggestions that nurture that fear. That turns a small whisper to a loud echo in your head saying, “Don’t you dare try. You will fail. They will laugh. Hahahaha.” Dare to ignore their misguided warnings and these friends, family, and team will look at you strange. You’ll possibly be labeled one of the following: rebel, idiot, crazy, psycho, spoiled, immature, lazy (how ironic right?), angry, dreamer. They will support their advice with citations of history – telling you of times when others have failed.

My friends, please, don’t ever let fear guide your actions. Ever. I’m the embodiment of what happens when you wake up everyday and fight fear. I’ve done so since January 2007 and I’ll continue to do so for as long as I live. Now some would say, “Who the hell is Phella to be giving this kind of advice? Is he rich? Is he successful?” My answer first of all is that it’s not advice. I’m anti-advice. I may give suggestions, what I believe to be wisdom, knowledge, but never advice. I don’t know who’s reading this and what situation they’re in. To advise them would be silly. Secondly, no I’m not “rich” or even “successful” by the 2010 societal accepted definition. But yes, I am rich as hell and successful as hell by my own definition.

I have lost everything I ever thought I wanted and gained everything I truly needed in a matter of years. I worked so hard to please certain people, get certain things, go certain places, only to find out that those things weren’t even what I wanted. What I really wanted was THIS! Who I am today. Unfortunately and fortunately, I took the scenic route. The scenic route is good though, assuming you live to tell the story, you’ll see lots of things that will help define you when you arrive at THIS! Speaking of which, THIS isn’t a final destination – it’s fleeting. Meaning that you have to fight to keep it. Secondly, it’s lonely. You find yourself everyday trying to get others to join you, hence me typing this free write at 7:30AM. Most will shun you. Some may even react violently and accusing you of trying to change them. Change? Improve? Learn? Grow? God forbid we do that. We were born to stay the same, right?

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