[0:00]Uh I think we are all naturally pluralist. I feel like a lot of times like, um the media, the way they look at things, they put us in boxes. Like Allen Iverson was a great football player too and he could play baseball. People don't know, but like we're pluralists, all of us. You do more than one thing. You do, you do more than this. You're passionate about a dozen other things and really good at it. This is what creative people do. They don't just all do one thing.
[0:34]So failure to me is less about that word and and the undeserved all that we put on it. And I, I, I kind of repurpose it as a lesson, right? The issue is is like, you fail a bunch of times and you're just like a failure, right? But if you don't learn the lesson a bunch of times, then you're just like someone who enjoys losing. One of my greatest issues in the past was vetting. You gotta vet people. The other thing is find people who are so much better than at their job than you are at your job. Yeah, amen. You know what I mean? Especially if it's your company, like everyone in there should be better than you. Meaning they've gone through crisis before, they can deal with crisis management, you know what I mean? Force major, like anything happens right now, they got it. They've been through it before. I never ran track, but I've always heard that like if you ever want to be faster, you got to run with a bunch of people who are way faster than you. And there's something that happens with us as humans. When you are surrounded by those who are like superior in in in their performance than you are, you're bound to be lifted up if you're as ambitious. If not, you're wasting everyone's time. On the other side of your discomfort is where your real true journey begins. You know, when you're walking around, you've decided, oh, this is my walk. You know, this is the way I stand. Oh, when I stop, this is how I stop and this is what I do, and this is what I do with my hand. And when I take my first step, this is what I do, right? That's not really who you are. That's choreographed and that is practiced, and that is what you've decided is the coolest way from your point of view. But the minute that you trip and fall, when you hit that ground, that's who you are. And if you really want to know who you are, it's how you get back up. When you get back up, because you have no cool on you then. Right? You're getting up in shame or you're getting up in pride. Whatever it is, that's who you really are. So, one, find something that you love to do. Something that you would do for free, just because you were happy to be there. Like you'd be happy to be an intern. Number two, try to find like a vocation connected to it. Do whatever it takes, find a vocation that is connected to something that you love so much that you would show up for free. Number three, if you can find a way to service humanity as well with that job, well, now you have a dream job that you wake up every day and feel like you get paid for free. And you are also contributing to karma, good karma or goodwill. Like that's the reason why you start a business if you're gonna start one. When we went in the studio with blurred lines, it was more or less like, let's just do something fun. Let's, you know, everybody's so serious. Like, what are we so mad about? Like we have good lives, you know, like, let's, let's push that. Let's talk about that a little bit. Kids don't think like that. They think like, do I like you or do I not like you? Do I believe what you're saying in this record or do I not believe what you're saying in this record? What you're saying and what you're doing, does this resonate with me? The melody, is it, you know, am I convicted by it? For a lot of us when we're young, it's like, oh, the big houses, the Ferraris, you know, depending on who you're talking to. The chicks with the spray on tans, you know, the jewelry, for some people that, that, that means a lot. Um, and definitely I've made songs that 100% would, uh, check that box. But more importantly, what's always been important to me, man, is the music. What, what advice would, would you give to a young artist watching? I would say believe in your direction and and do it. Spend less time talking about it and more time trying to like perfect it and put it out there and you know, if there's fire, the kids will sniff it out. They always do. I'm grateful. Yeah. Yes, sir. What, what makes you so thankful? Uh, self-awareness. Yeah. You know, recognizing the gift that it is to be alive. The gift to be able to do what I love to do every day. The gift to be able to take care of my family. The gift to be able to serve. All those things. I'm grateful for all of that. Our success is defined by all the people who help you, all the people around you. Um, all of the factors, you know, in the equation for there's an equation for success. And you're only one, you know, um, you, you yourself are only one part of it.
[5:16]There's a constellation of like many contributors to my success. When I turn 40, I understand, I understood that it wasn't me. And I realize because I would say, oh, we're gonna do this and it would work or not work, right? And then when it worked, you're like the man. When it doesn't work, it's like, oh, let's try again. Those are the things that humbled me because I didn't, I didn't plan it. And when you don't plan it and it becomes bigger than anything that your ego had ever made before, then you then you then you stop beating your chest. And you start putting your hands together and saying, thank you. You know, get lucky, happy, any of those songs. You know, I didn't I didn't I didn't see it. You know, so for me, I'm like, oh, okay. I I I get it. I get it. I'm just I'm literally just a molecule in a in a in a great body of existence. And some of which I have some control over, but a lot of it I don't. When you realize that, that's when you start really enjoying life because like, great things happen and you just know, wow, this is bigger than me. if the box is right here, then you thinking way over here. What keeps for rail living with us? Individuality. You know what if everybody else is, you know, what's what's what is it? The four or five? Mhm. Y'all got like 29 million highways out here. Yes, sir. Right? Take a different route. If everybody if y'all got traffic there, you get off on the next accident and you go somewhere else. I think that like individuality is a is a wonderful thing. It's the reason why Drake is so good. It's the reason why Lord is so good. You know, Tyler, the Creator and our future and Kendrick Lamar, like these are all like none of those guys sound alike. Yet and still, they're all out at the same time. So it's betting on yourself and betting on your difference and appreciating the rarity of how you think.
