introduction for years people have been encouraging me to pin a self-help book even waved a couple big checks in my face I always passed not that I didn't come close a few times I even got as far as Co authoring one the 50th law with the great Robert Green but still I never felt comfortable with writing my own I just didn't like the idea of present myself as an expert on life that may sound strange coming from one who has never been shy at telling you how much money he has how many records he sold or TV shows he's produced yes I've been comfortable sharing my success publicly but privately I'm sensitive to the fact those accomplishments haven't made my life all the way right there are many things I [ __ ] up money relationships opportunities friendships you name it I've absolutely failed as many times as I've succeeded which ultimately is the very reason I finally decided to write a book there aren't many people who have experienced success on the level I have within that Elite group even fewer had to pull themselves up from the bottom like I had to it's a story I told many times before but it's worth repeating here my mother had me when she was 15 as a single mom she was forced to turn to selling drugs to support me for several years she prospered on the street but as they do with almost everyone those streets eventually caught up with her her she was killed when I was 8 years old and I was forced to move in with my grandparents who were already raising nine children of Their Own by the time I was 12 I was selling drugs on the same streets that had claimed my mother it was the kind of circumstances that knock most people down and keep them there but I never stopped pushing I got into hip hop made a little noise and then got shot nine times over a neighborhood beef that would have been the end of the road for most people but I was just getting started I recovered kept working on my music and ended up releasing one of the best selling debut albums in history by the time I hit 30 I'd sold tens of millions of albums produced and started my own biopic and become one of the first hip-hop artists to create a mainstream brand I figured I'd left the struggle behind me once and for all but I was wrong over the next few years my manager me to Chris Lighty died under tragic circumstances I became a target for lawsuits and most of the money in the music industry literally streamed out the door as MP3s replace CDs in my unprecedented success people couldn't get enough of me even when things became complicated I grew unpopularity but for the wrong reasons the forces That Built Me Up were now taking pleasure in my potential destruction it was never a true Rock Bottom very few Rock bottoms align with Gucci wallpaper and Lamborghinis in the garage but my life felt like it was headed in the wrong direction so what did I do I rethought my Approach and shed people in excess baggage like a snake shed skin I hustled harder and smarter and in dedicating myself to building a relationship with my youngest son sire I would like to think I also became a better person within a few years I made a series of moves that led to some of the greatest successes of my career I created an executive produce to hit show for stars power soon I was dominating shows in the ratings the way I used to dominate other rappers on the charts but Power was just the start of my master plan this past October my company gunit film and television Inc signed a four-year deal with stars Lionsgate that is said to be the biggest deal in premium cable history and that's just one of the many projects I have in the pipeline the most accomplished and lucky ones achieved success once I've managed to make it to the top twice in many ways I'm proud of of my second trip to the summit than my first a lot of people wrote me off said that I was done even to borrow a phrase from one of my albums self-destructed I saw all the headlines heard all the talk caught all the celebrations of my failures which has only made my success in the television feel even sweeter it's also what finally spurred me to write this book I need people to understand that there is no such thing as making it that no matter how much money you stack Fame you achieve or success you taste there are going to be more struggles in your future more drama to deal with more obstacles placed in your path the goal is not just to be successful it's about learning how to sustain that success too a skill I had to learn the hard way and one I'm going to teach you in this book today I'm 44 years old a age I once thought I'd never come close to reach it hell just making it to 21 seem like it might be too much to ask at one point yet here I am in my fifth decade with a few Grays peeking through my beard still got a six-pack and strong hairline though but I'm comfortable where I'm at it's a more mature age one that allows me to look at my life and accurately assess what's made me who I am and when I try to sum up my ability to keep finding ways to stay on top I can see it comes down to two main characteristics I've got the heart of a hustler and I'm fearless my primary goal for this book is to help you develop the same characteristics but before we get into how I want to talk about those words feess and Hustler coming from me those words probably make you think of 50 Cent the gangster the guy who openly bragged about selling drugs who got shot nine times and didn't seem to mind who got into beefs with some of the most feared names on the street and in Hip Hop and never once back down those exploits all belong to 50 c a person I adopted in order to help deal with the chaos in the sanity that I saw All Around Me growing up but this book isn't designed to turn you into the next 50 Cent don't get it twisted 50 Cent was and still is a real part of who I am but if that Persona was all it was to me I never would have been able to maintain the success I achieved that's why in this book I'm going to share the thinking of both 50 Cent and Curtis Jackson I didn't start going by 50 Cent till I was older but ever since I was a kid I've always felt there were two sides to me two identities I had to be comfortable with the side that allowed me to exist in my grandmother's home where cussing wasn't tolerated and Sundays worth for church and the side did allow me to survive on the streets I needed both of those sides to get by there were times when I would actually wonder if there was something off about me did everyone else have that sense of Duality inside of them was I slightly off in the head today I can see that there was nothing off about it just opposite my ability to harness both personalities has been one of my greatest strengths 50 Cent propelled me to the top Curtis Jackson is the man who's been able to keep me there at this point I've been moving in Corporate America longer than I was hustling I was only making dirty money from the age 12 to 24 I've been earning legal corporate cash from 25 to 44 that's almost twice as long not surprisingly at this point the streets in the business world of often don't seem that different to me neither play fair both are ultra competitive they're both ruthless and you can still dominate each one if you follow several basic principles be Fearless most people run from what they're afraid of I run towards it that doesn't mean I think I'm bulletproof I've learned the hard way that I'm not or that I'm una way of danger I experien fear as much as the next man but one of the greatest mistakes people can make is becoming comfortable with their fears whatever's worrying me I me it head on and engage it until the situation is resolved my refusal to become comfortable with fear gives me an advantage in almost every situation cultivate the heart of a hustler hustling might be associated with selling drugs but it's also a character trait that's shared by winners in every profession Steve Jobs was as much of a hustle at Apple as I was on the streets the key to building up that trait in your own personality is accepting that you're never hustling towards a certain goal hustling is a motor that's got to be running inside of you each and every day and it's fuel is Passion if you can keep that motor running it will take you everywhere you want to go in life build a strong crew you're only going to be as strong as the weakest person in your crew that's why you have to be extremely conscious of who you have around you betrayal is never as far away as you'd like to believe that that's why it's imperative to find a balance between establishing trust and discipline in the people you work with and giving them the freedom to be themselves if you can establish that equilibrium you'll be in a position to get the very best out of your team know your value one of the cornerstones of my sustained success is that I don't rush into deals even though I become synonymous with getting paid I never chase money I evaluate every new Venture based on its long-term potential not on what the first check I get is going to look like the reason I do that is I have Supreme confidence in my own value and ability I'm secure that as long as I'm betting on myself I'm always going to win evolve or die if I've been unwilling or unable to evolve as an individual I'd be dead or in jail right now one of the keys to my success is that at every stage of my life I've been willing to assess any new situation I find myself in and make the necessary adjustments while I always draw from the lessons I learned on the streets I'll never be limited to them instead I'm always looking to absorb new information from as many sources as possible I don't care where you come from or what you look like if you've created success I want to learn from you shape perception everything you share with the world your words your energy what you wear tells the story you must make sure your narrative always presents you as the person you want to be seen as even if you're your reality tells a slightly different story one of the secrets to getting whatever you want in life is creating the perception that you don't need a thing that can be a difficult energy to project especially when you're struggling but committing to that perception will make you more attractive professionally personally and even romantically don't be afraid to compete some people try to portray me as a troll or bully but that's not accurate my first instinct is always to build positive mutually beneficial relationships with people but if someone isn't interested in being friends with me I'm more than comfortable being enemies with them the reason is I believe competition is healthy for all parties involved whether it's taking on established rappers or hit TV shows I've always experienced my greatest success when I met my rivals headon without any hesitation learn from your eles as many victories as I've racked up over the years I've experienced many more losses that doesn't make me an ception among successful people it makes me the rule I don't know an athlet rapper Mogul executive or entrepreneur whose losses don't far outweigh their wins what separates those people from The Pack Is that instead of complaining about or hiding from their losses they actively seek to learn from them avoid the entitlement trap nothing was ever given to me in life I've had to fight for everything I've earned that's why the concept of entitlement has never seeped into my mentality but almost everywhere I look from the streets to the boardroom I still see a lot of entitled people you're never going to find lasting success until you take full responsibility for what happens in your life no one owes you anything just as you don't owe anyone else once you accept that fundamental truth and accept that you control your journey so many doors that seem closed are going to open up in front of you growing up reading was often seen as an assignment that must be endured and instead of a tool that can help improve your life because of that mentality no matter how many Secrets I share in this book about happiness business and improving your life there are a lot of folks in the hood who still won't ever find them they simply don't sit down and read books they might walk past a book like this a thousand times until it's covered in dust before they even think of cracking it open it's not entirely their fault either a lot of books aren't written in a language that feels accessible to everyone personally I didn't get into reading until I found writers like Donald gos and Iceberg Slim who wrote in a voice that felt familiar to me their style made me comfortable and once I had that it gave me the confidence to start exploring authors who didn't come from the same background as me writers like Don Miguel Ruiz Pao quo and one who has even become a close friend and collaborator Robert Green even if you're not from the streets and given how diverse my audience has become there's a good chance you're not you still made an important step just by by listening to this book these days a lot of people have replaced reading with clicking they'll skim the surface of a topic maybe watch a short video maybe read a Wikipedia page and feel like they've put in work sorry but a few clicks and Scrolls just aren't enough I found that you need to learn about multiple examples and read about multiple scenarios before certain principles start to sink in after you finish this book you might only take a few of the principles with you even just one that's fine that was the case when I read Robert's 48 Laws of Power ask me today what that book was about and all I really can tell you is as the student never outshine the master there were 47 other laws in that book but that's the one that stayed larged in my brain and because it's never left me I've been able to apply it so many times over the years I've literally made Millions by remembering to follow that principle My Hope Is that you'll leave this book with at least one fundamental principle larged in your brain too maybe it will be about fearlessness maybe it will be about controlling perspective or the importance of involving whatever principle it is that resonates with you hold on to it carry it with you until it becomes part of your life when you get to the top of the game when you have all the money then your perspective shifts and you start to look at what really matters how you help people I'm not someone who's comfortable resting on their laurels if I'm around that 70 I still want to be contributing and participating it may require less of me but I'll still be a part of the culture helping Push It Forward I might not be jumping around anymore but I'll still be there trying to help I've helped people in ways that maybe you haven't seen or heard before but this book is one of the most effective and far-reaching ways I can do it for every Reckless tweet or wild lyric from 50 Cent trusted there's a method to how Curtis Jackson is moving a strategy behind each action that is Battle tested and proven to work this is my chance to share those strategies with you so you can move with purpose and confidence in your own life I'm excited that you're joining me on this journey chapter one finding fearlessness I wouldn't give a tinker damn for a man who isn't sometimes afraid fears a spice that makes it interesting to go ahead Daniel Boom a few years ago I hired a french guy named quarantine filmer to run my website when he wasn't working for me one of quarantine Hobbies was to take selfies in spectacular settings standing precariously on the edge of a cliff or sitting on the roof of a highrise with his legs dangling over the side when he show those pics to the guys in my office they would shake their heads and laugh saying only a white guy would do that to them them it was like skydiving or trying to pet wild animals an unnecessary risk that only someone who had never experienced real danger would take I saw it differently I saw opportunity for Freedom so one day I took quarantine up to the roof in my old offices in Time Square to take some pictures of my own but instead of just dangling my legs over the side I decided to up to Annie on the roof was a water tower a wooden barrel-like structure Rising several stories above us without any hesitation I climbed up his rickety ladder and took a seat on the edge I must have been 40 stories in air below me the people in the streets look like ants in a picnic if I slip it would have been a long trip down to the sidewalk the stakes and me were very high but I didn't experience any fear instead I took in a spectacular view the New York Times building towered over me to my left and the Hudson River sparkled behind me I felt incredibly alive seeing my hometown from a birds ey view filled me with the same ambition I'd felt as a younger man New York City was literally at my feet the city of dreams and I was going to keep hustling my hardest to realize every one of them I leaned back and quarantine snapped a spectacular shot for IG when I got back to my office I posted it with this caption I live on the edge I'm only free because I'm Not Afraid everything I was afraid of already happened to me a lot of people love to post that's real one wrote with another adding man that's a powerful word but not everyone appreciated it about a week after posting the pick I received a letter from my insurance company explaining that if I knowingly risk my life like that again they would immediately cancel my policy the insurance company shouldn't have been surprised though if there's one trait that has defined me since an early age is fearlessness a lot of people probably think I was born fers I might project that energy but it's not true I was scared of the dark as a child just like I was definitely terrified of being killed when I was on the street or petrified of failing when I started rapping I've experienced anxiety and angst of all kinds the difference is I refuse to allow myself to grow comfortable in all those fears Comfort I learned is a dream killer it saps our ambition blinds our vision promotes complacency the number one thing most people are comfortable with is fear not that most of them would admit it ask someone if they're living in a constant state of fear and they'll probably say of course not that's just Pride talking though fear dominates most people's lives fear of loss fear of failure fear of the unknown fear of loneliness I don't think there's anything shameful about experiencing fear a little bit of paranoia is actually extremely helpful there are a lot of real dangers out there a lot of people with bad intentions being aware of those possibilities makes it easier to avoid them what you cannot do is become complacent with any of those fears if you fear loss you can't spend your life avoiding intimacy and love something I've struggled with if you fear failure you can't stop taking risk if you fear the unknown you can't stop trying new experiences it is not death a man should fear said the Roman Emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius but he should fear never beginning to live I can trace the roots of my own sense of fearlessness back to one specific event the death of my mother that's a special kind of fear one that is hard to describe more than getting shot nine times losing my mother was the most significant thing that ever happened to me even the middle age I can still feel her loss but through her death my mother managed to give me a rare gift the seed of fearlessness it would take a lot of time for that trait to fully blossom in me I would unfortunately have to experience a lot more difficult and dangerous moments until it became second nature in this chapter I'm going to share some of the experiences and situations that helped encourage that sense of gutsiness in me that allowed me to accept that what lives on the other side of fear isn't danger or even death but freedom I want to show you that fearlessness is a strength that you can develop too a muscle you can build hopefully without having to experience the trauma that made mind so jacked you don't have to lose your mother or survive getting shot nine times to develop the belief that you can survive anything that happens to you that the only thing that you can't overcome is never taking risk in the first place don't be afraid to get hit team sports weren't my thing as a kid didn't matter what we were playing football basketball or baseball if we lost I'd always be quick to point out whose fault it was yo we got blown cuz you can't guard your [ __ ] man I might tell a teammate who got burnt on defense and basketball he kept busting your ass we lost because of you bro it wasn't that I was trying to evade responsibility if I made a bad play or couldn't guard my man I'd be the first to admit it it was more that I didn't like having my success right on someone else's ability or inability to perform it's a feeling I haven't been able to shake to this day I always say that if I were ever going to bet on a horse at the track then let it be me goddamn it because I know I'm going to run as hard as I can I was smart enough to accept I wasn't emotionally suited for team sports I needed a sport where if I lost it was my fault alone individual sports like Golf and Tennis boring Sports anyone I knew played I only lived about 20 minutes from where the US Open is played flushing but it might just as well have been in another state and in my hood you usually only find yourself running if someone was chasing you there was however a Police Athletic League boxing gym near me run by a local fighter named Allah understanding he was from the nearby basley projects and came up in the days when having a strong knuckle game was something people respected aspired to and feared I trained with understanding when I was around 12 years old and I knew almost right away that boxing was the right fit for me one day I was hanging out at the gym on a street dude named black just stopped by accompanied by one of his boys Blacky as we called him was one of the most respected dealers in basley a top Lieutenant for Supreme Team the biggest drug crew and queens at the time his boy was essentially his muscle a constant presence to make sure his Rivals would have to think twice before trying him already their reputations were well known around the neighborhood the kind of Young Guns you didn't want any problem with the gym got quiet as we all watch Blackie and his boy walk around then without a word Blackie's boy stopped in front of one of the heavy bags and started laying into it bam bam bam bam as the youngest kid in the space Common Sense would dictate I keep my mouth shut and just observe but maybe because I was the youngest I felt a little Bolder and my big mouth got the better of me soon as the guy was finish on the bags I called out to him hey man you look good hitting that bag I said loud enough for everyone in the gym to hear but that bag don't hit back Blacky whipped around what you say young boy you talking to me no I quickly replied I'm talking to him I said nodding towards his man most guys in that position would have whooped my ass or Worse on the spot but these guys took my [ __ ] talk and his stride Blacky had a generous Spirit fre of the greed that infected a lot of his peers instead of taking offense they both respected my outside's courage yeah I like this kid Blackie said gesturing to me we going to have some Champions come out of here because these little [ __ ] crazy that recognition alone would have made my whole day instead Blackie did us one better this JY could use some work if we going to get the most out of these Fighters he announced looking around at the shabby setting what kind of stuff y'all need write it all down two weeks later the gym was completely refurnished Blackie had gotten us boxing shoes trunks new ropes punching bags and a new set of Weights that replace the old rusty set that probably hadn't been updated since the 60s from then on black he took care of us whatever we needed he got us although it was technically the Parks and Recreation Department's building after that it was Blackie's gy I hadn't opened my big mouth just to get it fed but that's what ended up happening it was an important lesson for me to learn you need to bend fear into moments of action and every opportunity because the Fearless not only recognized but also often reward one of their own I enter understand this gym as a chunky TW 12y old the 150 lbs I was carrying making me seem older than I was you ever heard the expression punching above your weight well in that gym I had to punch above my weight and age from the first day there were no other kids my age in the program so a lot understanding had me fight whoever was in my weight class which usually meant opponent's four to 5 years older than me that might not seem like a big deal but there's a massive difference between a 12-year old and a 17y old those 17 year olds were basically men whereas I was was still waiting for my balls to drop I might have been in the same weight class but I lacked this strength and maturity it was intimidating as hell to step into the ring with those guys I never gave into that fear mostly because law understanding refused to let me one of the best things he and other coaches did was refuse to coddle me if a older boy hit me in the face while we were sparring they did not stop the proceedings to ask if I was okay they were going to teach me to keep fighting no matter how scared or how hurt I was the lesson I learned from those ass weopons be twofold first off I learned that I could survive them yes getting hit in the face wasn't pleasant it would leave you disoriented it would hurt it might leave your eyes watering but those blows didn't kill me hell didn't even knock me out once I realized I could absorb them and keep moving forward most of the fear I had felt evaporated second and I'm forever indebted to Allah understanding for teaching me this I learned that if I didn't like getting hit then I needed to do something about it keep your [ __ ] hands up you yo if I let down my guard my opponent tagged me if my opponent started laying into me with body shots after trapping me in the corner Allah would holler get back into the center of the Ring punishment a understanding taught me wasn't something I had to accept I could always do something about it they knew I was outsized and often overmatched but they refused to Cle me you ever see a kid fall down to scrape his knee how he reacts largely depends on the parent reaction if the parent runs over and worriedly asks oh baby are you okay the kid is probably going to cry but if the parent assesses the situation figures the kid is fine and doesn't ask if he's okay the kid is going to just brush his knee off and get back to whatever game he was playing that's the kind of parent of law understanding was to me he taught me to brush off being hit and get back to what I was doing he wasn't being heartless he was trying to condition me to brush off the inevitable blows life was going to rain down on me and keep me moving forward to where I was trying to go instead of where I was being pushed once I learned not to be afraid of getting hit I became a much better boxer instead of constantly staying on my heels worried about what my opponent was going to do to me I brought the fight to my opponent I learned how to dictate the terms of the confrontation if I lost it wasn't because I've been backed into a corner and beaten down it would be because I G for what I wanted it and simply come up against someone with more skill it's been a long time since I've gotten popped in the face inside the ring but I've tried to keep that attitude in everything I do I refuse to be afraid to take a punch I know the blows are going to come and some of them are going to stagger me but I'll be able to take a lot of y'all are like the kid that fell off his scooter and waited for his mommy to come over and say baby are you all right not me when I fall off I'm not waiting for a sympathetic word or some want to check in on me I'm getting right back on my feet and continuing my journey I've accepted that the punches are going to come in life and some of them are going to land but I'm always going to survive and keep fighting for the things I want that has to be your attitude too faing fear head on as I've said my mother's death is what forced me to build up my immunity to fear learning how to get punched in the face only increased by sensitivity for a while it seemed like fear might be an emotion I'd never have to deal with again it wasn't to be the case though getting shot definitely reawaken that sensation in me first and foremost in the weeks that followed the incident I found myself very afraid of the people who shot me I knew that they were still out there not very far away and eager to finish the job they started in addition to the emotional anxiety the physical pain of getting shot also reacquainted me with fear not in the moment I got hit the adrenaline stops you from feeling too much of that but in the months that will follow once the adrenaline wears off and the doctor tells you you're going to make it you start to acutely feel the effects of bullets ripping through muscle and pulverizing bone I felt pain everywhere when that went through my thumb or through my cheek for months it was like I had headaches throughout my body a Relentless and deep thrin I didn't know you could feel in your leg or your hand every time I had to go to physical th and put weight on my leg or break through the scar tissue on my thumb it hurt like hell I realized I was scared of going through that process again maybe even more so than dying but as my rehab continued I also came to understand another important truth I wasn't comfortable being scared that may seem like an obvious thing to say but I think it's actually what makes me unique most people are extremely comfortable with their fears afraid of flying stay off of planes afraid of sharks don't go snorkeling on your Caribbean vacation afraid of failure well then don't even try a lot of people Liv their entire lives that way not me I hated being scared I hated looking over my shoulder I couldn't stand the idea of staying off the block that things cool down to me hiding would have almost been worse than getting shot and some ways the physical pain I endured was my friend it pushed me further than most people are willing to go trust me when you get hurt that bad there's a shift you want to approach the problem instead of run from it which is exactly what I did after several weeks in rehab I went back to my grandmother's house in Queens literally back to the scene of the crime that in itself was a big step for me psychologically the easy held a sensible thing would have been to move far away a place where no one except my closest friends would notify me it didn't even have to be far in terms of mileage I could have moved to the Bronx for Staten Island and it would have been like going to another country I was determined not to give in an inch to my fear I was going to go back to where I wanted to be which was my grandmother's house when I left rehab the doctors told me to start jogging to build up stamina and strength in my injured legs I was committed to that plan but almost immediately I hit an obstacle one morning I took a peek out my grandmother's window and saw someone I didn't recognize in front of her house to me he was trying too hard to look inconspicuous and blend in I was admittedly in a very paranoid state so it could have been nothing but paranoia sharpens your senses the way anales acute sense of smell could identify a lion from hundreds of yards away maybe I was sensing my own Predator I canceled the jog I had planned for the day and the next day too after I saw the same guy lurking on the street again by this point I was experiencing in a lot of confusion were my heightened senses tipping me off to unseen danger or was I imagining Min that wasn't really there I couldn't tell all I knew for sure was the fear was starting to consume me I decided that if I stayed in the house and didn't follow the rehab plan I had already lost when fear interrupts your routine or makes you rethink it in any way has gotten his hooks deep into you and will hold you back forever cowards died many times before their deaths brot Shakespeare the Valiant never taste of death but once I wasn't trying to go out like a coward the best way to get past a fear that's holding you back is first to acknowledge it and then come up with a plan to get past it so that's what I did first I accepted that I was afraid then I gathered my most trusted friends in my grandmother's living room and explained that I was going to need them to go jogging with me the next morning no doubt everyone said we'll be back tomorrow when the next morning rolled around however only one of them actually showed up my galim I don't think the rest of them were scared of any potential drama they proved themselves in that realm too many times already I think they were more afraid of the idea of having to do some cardio in the morning that wasn't something they were comfortable with I decided to head out with just elim even though he wasn't the ideal candidate he was in even worse shaped than I was more important I had serious doubts about how he might react if a threat did present itself in a crew full of dudes looking for any excuse to let one fly Halen's nature was to look for a way to avoid confrontation as for hen since he was out of shape I gave him a bike so he can keep Pace alongside me as for my second concern I opted to take matters into my own hands literally I took a small pistol put it in my good hand and wrapped it with medical bandages everyone knew me as a boxer so to the Casual eye it just looked like I busted my hand in the ring I used so many bandages that the gun disappeared into my cast almost completely with only the barrel peeking out I told halem to P alongside me and keep an eye out for anyone who looked like they wanted to jump out of the bushes and take a shot at me all he had to do was sound the alarm and i' take it from there Hal and I performed this routine every morning I was committed to getting my strength and stamina back I wasn't going to let a threat perceived or actual get between me and my goals was I actually scared on any of those runs at first I was but I took comfort in knowing that each time I set out i' done all I could do to take the necessary precautions I had both a lookout and protection which was at least more than what I had when I've been shot it was an extension of what a la understanding had taught me instead of being afraid of getting hit and just giving up do the things that make you a difficult Target in the ring it meant staying on my toes when moving constantly and keeping my hands up on the street it meant jogging with a bodyguard and a pistol up my sleeve no one ended up challenging me and I was able to get myself back into shape through those runs but looking back I can see that I didn't have to be so aggressive and confronting my fears I didn't have to run through the same streets where i' just been shot I could have just as easily gone to a local gym or even put a treadmill in my grandmother's basement I was just so uncomfortable that anything less than jogging outside in full view of the whole neighborhood would have felt like a complete concession to fear a concession I wasn't willing to make today I'm a little less likely to be so aggressive in confronting things head on in fact if I'm being completely honest there are still some fears I barely confronted at all the one thing I'm still afraid of we can spend our entire lives and many people do trying to ignore something we're actually carrying around with us every day but you can't from something you never put down to give you an example when I look into the mirror and take an authentic assessment of where I'm at in life the thing I'm most afraid of is family it's a fear I haven't wanted to admit because I know for the vast majority of people family brings incredible Comfort security a sense of well-being and connection I've never had that feeling family makes me uncomfortable as hell it doesn't make me feel safe it makes me feel extremely vulnerable that's probably not a surprise given my background the number one fear every child experiences no matter where they live or what their circumstance is losing a parent it's built into our DNA you don't have to download that app onto your phone it comes pre-installed psychologists say the fear of losing a parent is especially acute between the ages of 4 and8 every kid in that age range is going to start worrying when their parent is late coming back from the store or goes away for a couple of days of course the parent always comes back and in time the kids stops obsessing over the possibility they won't well my mother never came back so when every other child's worst fear actually came true for me it made it very very hard for me to open up myself to that type of love I had for my mother with anyone else as you probably gathered things didn't get much easier as I went to my grandparents house their love was unquestionable but the environment was chaotic even in the best of times there was never enough money attention or stability but there was plenty of drug and alcohol abuse a lot of dysfunction my grandmother's house was not the ideal place to mour my mother but they were the only family I had I never met my father I don't even know who the guy is a lot of people who have grown up fatherless have a desire to reconnect when they get older but I've never felt that way in fact I'm glad he hasn't come forward the things he could have helped me with the lessons he could have taught me those moments have all passed I don't think there's anything positive he could add to my life now like many people do at first I continued the cycle of dysfunction that began with my mother's death when my son Maris was born right around the time my rap career was blown up I thought I turned the corner I remember telling the interviewer when my son came into my life my priorities changed because I wanted to have a relationship with him that I didn't have with my father that was my pure intention but it's not what happened instead Mar 's mother Shena and I got caught up in an extremely dysfunctional relationship of our own I'll talk about some of my frustrations with Shena and Maris later in the book but for now I'll admit a lot of the criticism I've received for how I've dealt with that situation has been Justified I'm someone who's incredibly honest and transparent and the things I've said publicly about my oldest son are the same sort of things a lot of parents who are stuck in bad relationships also think and feel they just don't articulate it that doesn't make it right but it might make it a little bit more relatable if I done one thing right when it comes to family it's that I've tried to break the cycle of dysfunction with my youngest son s his mother and I aren't together but I've tried to be much more present in his life he lives with his mom so I go see him whenever I get the chance we hang out at the pool play video games and watch sports the normal things Fathers and Sons do most important there's no tension when I see him his mother and I are on the same p page and do a great job co-parenting so when sa sees me walk up for a hug it's nothing but love it brings me a lot of Happiness to know that I'm always going to be a big part of his life and be there to help him navigate the inevitable Peaks and valleys to make sure s doesn't have to make the same mistakes that I've made that's what I wanted from Maris but neither his mother nor I was emotionally mature enough to create that foundation for it the truth is I was scared of having a family maybe she was too our sons suffered for it and now my relationship with Maris is just a reflection of the negative energy between his mother and me my relationship with Maris is the area in my life where I've got the most work to do there have been times even recently when I thought about writing that relationship off forever I don't want to do that but sometimes when you've been hurt a lot and you've done your share of the hurting too it feels best to walk away I came extremely close not long ago after I unexpectedly bumped into Maris and my Jew store at Manhattan I didn't even know he was in the city at the time so I was shocked to see him I tried to start a conversation but he immediately accused me of having him follow I told him that was crazy but things only went downhill from there the energy between us was terrible Maris even said what I'm supposed to be afraid of you that really messed my head up this was my firstborn son my own flesh and blood and we couldn't even speak to each other let alone hug and laugh at an unexpected encounter finally without a word Maris basically fled the store leaving me dumbfounded a couple of my guys went down to the street and tried to catch up with Maris and say why are you bugging this is your father come talk to him but Maris had already disappeared he didn't want to be found I couldn't even follow them into the street my mind was Fuzzy and I couldn't think straight I had to take several minutes to compose myself there are very few times when I'm completely off-kilter but when they happen they always involve family let me bump into a rapper who disss me or a CEO I've had intense negotiations with and I'm good in fact I'm great those moments don't face me they what I live for only family seems to face me it's not just my relationship with Maris either I don't even like going home on holidays anymore because see my family makes me so tense I stopped by my grandmother's old house the day before Christmas to kick it with my grandfather but I won't come back on the actual holiday even if I only bring positive energy into the house someone is inevitably going to bring their negativity towards me an aunt or a cousin will end up saying I'm tired of everybody kissing his ass because he 50 Cent shitty ain't that special instead of a celebration the entire night will be about what I did for one person but didn't do for everyone else that sort of energy makes me extremely uncomfortable I know my fear of family isn't healthy and I'm working on it it may take years but I'm committed to the process so by the time I'm my grandfather's age I hope I have a solid relationship with my children and maybe their children too raise your hand I know I have a reputation of being a high head but in reality no matter what private jet I'm flying on or a corporate boardroom I'm seated in I'm always relaxed the person operating under the least amount of fear I'm confident nothing that get said threaten or promise in any of those conversations are going to hurt me sure I'd like to seal that $30 million distribution deal or land a roll of a lifetime but I'm not afraid it might go away why would I be scared I've already been through some of the scariest [ __ ] life has to offer so how do you harness the same kind of confidence I have to keep cool where most people would be sweating through their shirts it's not rocket science the only way to access that kind of confidence is by putting in the work that's it have you truly dedicated yourself to learning everything you can about your feel do you give 100% every time you walk into the office sit down in the classroom or step onto the stage for an audition if the answer is yes what do you really have to be afraid of you've already done everything you can do now you just need to make sure the world recognizes it that is a challenge especially if you're not someone who's been raised from an early age to think that you belong in those meetings if you're not a white guy or didn't get into the right Prep School you might have to go a little harder to get the credit you deserved it shouldn't be that way but it is what it is for now you're going to have to project the the confidence that you belong that you've got the answers even if the people you're talking to aren't giving you the credit all your hard work isn't going to be worth [ __ ] if you're not ready no determined to share it with the world I'll give you an example a guy in the music industry who I've known for years hasn't been able to translate his hard work and talent into the success he deserves I won't say his name because he's a great dude and I don't want to hurt his confidence see I am matur he started as a street guy but thanks to his charisma intelligence and work ethic he was able to make real enrs in the music business he became close to several Mogul myself included who really trusted his judgment and taste he made good money and was respected in the industry but he was never quite able to reach Mogul level himself and I knew that frustrated him he'd asked me for advice but I couldn't honestly put my finger on what was holding him back then one day we went to a meeting with some big Executives at a record label smooth guys with suits good haircuts and nice leather shoes guys who were extremely self assured they were confident but they also didn't really understand the project we were there to discuss my guy did though up and down back and forth we spent hours talking about it and he understood it both factually and instinctively that's why I bought him with me because he could articulate what needed to be done better than I could I expected him to blow them away but when those Executives started asking questions and spitballing ideas he just sat on his hands didn't make a peep he would have thought he was just a buddy of mine along for the ride instead of what he was which was the one true expert in the room at first I couldn't understand what he was doing or not doing then it dawned on me he's afraid he's scared to raise his hand because he doesn't want to give the wrong answer he put in the work but in the presence of those Executives selfish shance he lost his faith in himself and that meant the executives never noticed him never made a mental note that he was a guy to keep an eye on never offered him the platform that he was looking for and deserved instead he stayed stuck in place it was a pretty good place one that a lot of other folks would like to reach but not where he aspired to he was stuck at a level that wasn't equal to his skill when the money in the music business started to dry up he found himself in a very vulnerable spot if he had made it to that Mogul status he would have been okay he would have already put away his r day money instead the rain came and he got soaked he was one of the first to lose their jobs it's great to be a high paid exec but when things start to go south those are the first people to get the axe sometimes it's better to be a little underpaid today he tries to do Consulting work but he's on the outside looking in becoming the old man in the space that prioritizes youth don't make the same mistake if you put in the work and know your [ __ ] raise your damn hand every single time there's nothing worse than being someone who spent hours even when you're off the clock at home studying your company's reports but when your boss asks for that information you always let someone else provide it first that person probably hasn't put in nearly the work that you have but they're also not afraid to be wrong so when your boss looks at this person she sees someone who is active who's participating who seems passionate when she looks at you she doesn't know what to think maybe she doesn't think anything at all it's not fair but that person with their hand always up is going to get promoted before you they're going to get an office before you they're going to leverage their promotion to a better paying job at a competitor before you even get a raise you were better trained better prepared but you didn't let the world see that because you were scared that fear is going to stop you from getting full value for your work don't let it happen on other side of this coin is the person who's too quick to raise their hand they're doing it because they're fearful someone else is going to get props before they do so even if they don't know the answer they're going to say something anyway I knew a guy like that too we go into a meeting and he'd be shouting out a solution before anyone had even identified the problem he just wanted to be heard whenever he'd start doing that I would just shake my head and think yo what is wrong with you bro it got to the point where I had to tell Chris Lighty my manager at the time not to bring this guy to any more meetings it was unfortunate because he was smart and talented but he was doing too much he was so fearful of someone else getting the shine that he ended up causing himself opportunities being fearful can trip you up in so many different ways in both your professional and personal lives that's why it's so critical that you identify the things that you're afraid of and to put in the work to get past that fear in your personal life letting go of all that baggage will be such a relief you won't know how heavy the load you've been carrying around all these years have been until you finally put it down once and for all the moment you do you're going to feel nothing but Freedom chapter 2 heart of a hustler things may come to those who wait but only the things left by those who hustle Anonymous in 1978 a young Brazilian woman named Maria d Silva received an internship at Petrol BR the country's largest oil and gas company it didn't pay but the internship was a major accomplishment for graa Sila she had been born in one of Rio's notorious faelas the city's desperately poor neighborhoods that make the southside of Queens look like Beverly Hills she had spent her childhood picking rags and collecting scrap metal to help her family pay for her education The Internship represented a way out of the slums and into a better world she was determined to give it everything she had graa Sila later known as graas Foster ended up spending over 30 years at Petr PR it wasn't easy to climb the corporate ladder Brazil has a notoriously Macho culture where women regularly face discrimination and harassment she didn't let any of that slow her down she'd already experienced much worse growing up in the flla and was determined to outwork all of the men who were her competition she was so Ren that she earned the nickname Gara which is the term Brazilians use for iron cars police use to periodically clear out criminals from the favellas in other words she was like a tank slow steady and strong a Relentless worker who just kept moving ahead no matter what obstacles got put in her way when graa Sila started at Petro bras she didn't enjoy any advantages she was from the slums not from one of the country's fasty neighborhoods she was never going to be a part of the boys club at Petrol bras the odds were absolutely stacked against her she overcame them by outworking her competition it took her over 30 years but her work ethic got her to the absolute top of her industry in 2012 she was named Petro BR CEO becoming the first woman in the world to lead a major oil company Forbes would name her the 16th most powerful woman in the world while Time Magazine would put her on a list of the 100 most influen anal people in the world from her childhood picking trash she has managed to become one of the most powerful people man or woman in the world when asked how she managed to overcome so many obstacles she said the answer was simple it has been a very long story of hard work and personal sacrifice it sounds cliche to say hard work is the most critical ingredient for success but it's a fundamental truth that has to be repeated over and over again if you're not hustling your absolute hardest you're never going to reach your full potential in life none of the strategies in this book that involve hustling smarter like building a strong crew embracing Evolution knowing your value or controlling perception can be successfully implemented without also hustling your heart is first a strong work ethic is the one trait all successful people share I've never met anyone at the top of their industry who wasn't fully committed to their job who was willing to give anything less than their best yes there are some people who find Success Through Talent luck circumstance or even inheritance those same people never hold on to it you might see a picture of my new car or a view from my apartment on IG with the hashtag Work Hard Play Harder the cars in the view are real but the hashtag is fake the truth is that I work much harder than I play because I enjoy to work more my attitude towards my my career is whistle while you work every 18-hour day on a set is fun for me every all night in the studio is a joy every 4:30 wakeup call is a blessing the signal that I'm getting another chance to do something I love I get bored easily when I'm not working I have places I like to go on vacation like montico Bay Miami and Dubai but the first thing I pack isn't my swimsuit it's always my computer I know after the first day of jet skiing or hanging out in the far I'm going to be ready to get back to work figuring out the next deal working on the next script or planning the next album is more exciting to me than any Beach or fstar Resort my work ethic can be hard on the people around me there have been many times when after a long day in the office followed by a night in the studio my driver has dropped me off at home at 3:00 a.m. and I still tell him yo man come back and pick me up for the gym at 5:00 a.m. I know that means he's not going to be able to grab more than an hour nap in his car if you're rolling with me you have to be prepared for nights like that I just don't know any other speed to go at that's why a lot of people that work with me compare me to a robot or a machine I made of Flesh and Blood just like everyone else but I want it more what really Separates Me From The Pack Is that I'm willing to hustle harder and make more sacrifices than 99% of the population think about it I have a good ear and a catchy style but but I admit I'm not the most talented rapper out there I'll never be as lyrical as NS or as funny as Biggie and while I pride myself on staying in shape I know I'm not the best looking Entertainer out there either even though I'm proud of power I know I have a long way to go before I'm mentioned in the same breath as some legendary TV producers so despite not being the most talented the best looking or the most experienced how do I keep finding success in so many different fields I hustle as hard as I can they in and they out plenty of people might be willing to out rap outperform or even outsmart me but no one I mean no one is ever going to outwork me committing to a clean lifestyle it's not enough just to say you want to work hard you have to commit to lifestyle choices that allow you to have the energy the focus the stamina to actually do the work too so many people prioritize lifestyle over work then wonder why they can't get ahead there's a reason I can get up and go to the gym after only a couple hours of sleep or have the stamina to work consecutive 18-hour days I prioritize leading a very clean lifestyle unlike most of my peers I largely abstain from alcohol I will have a rare drink from time to time but that's it I have never missed a session at the gym a meeting or early morning flight because I had too much to drink the night before that doesn't stop me from going out and partying I'm still in the clubs I just don't need boo to enjoy myself if I'm at an event promoting Branson coniac or leim de champagne or one of my other alcohol Brands I have a routine I always follow first I pour drinks from a bottle of champagne for everyone who's in VIP with me when the bottle is empty I'll give it to one of my guys and have him quietly refill it with ginger ale for the rest of the night I'll have that bottle in my hand I'll take swigs every now and then just to keep the vibe right but I'm not drinking anything but Canada Dry my energy is the same as everyone else's I'm smiling and laughing maybe even doing a little twep to the music I'm also checking out everything that's going on around me making hundreds of low calculations in my mind a lot of artists want to stay away from the clubs once they get famous that world starts to feel too chaotic too dangerous for them they'd rather stay home they find themselves in a hot sweaty place where the energy is turned all the way up with something bad can always pop off that's never an issue for me I always have my head on straight and my judgment is never impaired I can see issues coming from a mile away and be long gone before situation gets serious being able to still hang out with people is the real Advantage for me the clubs have always been and always will be the incubator of whatever is coming up next in hip-hop it's very hard to stay relevant and keep your finger on the pulse of the culture if you're afraid to go out and absorb the music in the club setting staying sober in a setting where everyone else is drinking can open up all sorts of opportunities for you let's say your boss invites you and all your co-workers out to drink on a Friday night normally you might take full advantage of the company's credit card and get trashed it's understandable you've been working hard all week and want to let off some steam doing it on the company's tab makes it that much more appealing but next time you get that offer as temp as it might be to let your boss get you that beer or vodka and cranberry just get a Seltzer instead you don't even have to announce what you're doing stick a lime in there and it will look like you're enjoying a gen and tonic of your own as the evening progresses you'll probably start to notice how sloppy everyone else is getting how they're starting to let down the facades they work so hard to keep up at the office if this information you've been looking to get out of your co-workers or even your boss this is the time to get it your normally tight lip co-workers would be more than happy to tell you what projects they're working on or what they overheard your boss saying about the future of the company put a couple of drinks in most people and they will tell you almost anything with the little coaxing outside of the competitive Advantage you can gain from not drinking I'm also hyper aware of the damage alcohol abuse can cause I've seen it firsthand when I moved into my grandmother's house after my mother died a few of my aunts and uncles were full-blown alcoholics I had one uncle in particular who was a cool guy most of the time but put a few drinks in him and all of a sudden he became Marvin Hackler every comment no matter how innocent was taken as an insult and he'd want to put hands up even with a 9-year-old my reaction was to stay out of his way as much as possible but even from that distance it was still very clear to see that all boo did was bring out his weakness and render his character unstable and it wasn't just him across the board it seemed the people in my immediate family were prone to alcoholism there's a lot of evidence out there that alcoholism is hereditary if it seems to run in your family sticking with ginger ale might not just be about getting a Competitive Edge it might be about keeping yourself out of a lifelong state of dysfunction and addiction another Advantage I have over my competition especially within hip hop is that I also don't mess with drugs to hear some rappers tell it drugs open up a pathway to creativity they claim they do their best work when they're hot they might feel that way but in my experience drugs ultimately become a crutch something rappers can lean on when they're feeling insecure or lacking Focus they might be helpful when you're getting started but you're never going to go too far when you need a crutch to move forward I witness this all the time in the studio I know so many rappers who honestly don't believe they can make good music without being high in one way or another they wouldn't dream of getting in the booth if there's no liquor to sip or weed to smoke they're completely fearful that without that support they can't perform or properly connect with the music they're trying to make my thought has always been suppose that crutch isn't available what if you're at the studio and suddenly get a call that Dr Dre is coming through and want you to record a verse for him or just blaze timberin or mustard is coming through you're going to tell one of these guys you can't record until someone runs and get you a bottle or until a weed man rolls through that opportunity might have passed by the time your man comes back if you're a true creator you have to be able to practice your craft in any situation it's imperative that you create your own comfort zone without depending on any substance for help yes you might believe the weed makes you a better Rider or the liquor makes it easier to be yourself but you also need the confidence to know that you can do it without them otherwise you're never going to be in total control of your own situation no matter what situation or setting you find yourself in you don't ever want to depend on anything or any other person to make you feel in control and comfortable that sense of confidence should always come from within not from an external source to be clear I don't judge people who do like to drink and smoke in fact I'm happy to sell you a bottle of Da to help you celebrate the next time you're out partying all that I ask is that you're honest of your appraisal of the road drugs and alcohol playing your life some people are able to truly be social drinkers or smokers they enjoy participating in Social settings but they can also just as easily go without they can have a bottle of boo in their kitchen or a bag of weed in their dresser and never feel the urge to consume it I can have cases of Branson coniac orim and D champagne in my office and never think about them until it's time to do an event someone else might be tempted to crack open a bottle every single time they walk by or they might start drinking a whole bottle every day on a slot if alcohol or drugs have that sort of pull on you it's important that you address it head on it's going to require a lot of discipline and focus but you can build a lifestyle for yourself that doesn't need to be fueled by Boo or drugs to get things done I also understand that it can feel very overwhelming when you're the one person in your circle who doesn't drink or smoke it can be hard but I've been that person for years and I've always managed to obstain so it is possible I doubt there's anyone in the history of the world who has said no to more blunts or Booz to me I've spent hours in cafes in Amsterdam where everyone in gunit was blowing ruler siiz blunts in my face I might have gotten a contact high but I never took a hit Snoop Dog be real red man Method Man whis Khalifa I've hung with all those dudes I have a great time with them but I choose not to smoke with them and please don't say well they probably leave you alone because you're 50 Cent nothing could be further from the truth everyone wants to be the one to finally get me to smoke I'm like the pretty girl who won't date anyone so everyone wants to ask me out but I just keep saying no for example I recently hosted my Tycoon party in NYC and Snoop was one of my special guests so when he tried to pass one of his blunts my way everyone around started cheering for me to hit it not wanting to kill the mood I took a big hit and then just let this smoke swirl around in my mouth before I blew it back out that's as far as it went Bill Clinton has probably inhaled more weed smoke than me everyone was excited that I'd taken a hit but there was no way I was actually inhaling that weight especially if something as strong as the stuff Snoop smokes the very few times I've smoked has made me extremely paranoid so why would I get high surrounded by a thousand people all pushed up together and I'm the one in charge of the entire event I wouldn't have been enjoying the music if I inhale I would have been freaking the [ __ ] out of all the things that could have been going wrong at my event I'm always at my most comfortable when I'm in complete control of my surroundings and that's very hard to do when you're high in order to truly be in a position to hustle your heartest day in and day out it's not enough to only avoid or at least cut down on the booze and weed you also especially as you grow older need to proactively try to preserve your body the best way you could do that is through eating eting right and working out my diet is pretty straightforward I avoid carbs and process foods whenever I can and focus on eating as many Whole Foods and veggies as possible I'm not really a breakfast guy so just a smoothie or protein shake of some sort will do for lunch it's usually a salad if I'm eating out for dinner which is hard to avoid for me I'll order something like a chicken and lettuce wrap or a steak with asparagus maybe it's not the most exciting diet but it's simple enough that I'm able to follow a version of it almost every day and it features ingredients that are on most American or european menus consistency and availability are important when you spend a lot of time on the road dealing with this constant temptation is to cheat while I may cheat on my diet from time to time I'm absolutely religious about working out no matter how late I may have stayed at the studio or Club the night before I'm going to hit the gym the next morning sometimes I switch up gems I actually have memberships to two in my apartment just so things don't get repetitive or feel stagnant if I'm on the road I'll hit the gym in my hotel or rent a private Studio doesn't matter if I'm jet lag or having trouble adjusting to time zones or not sleeping well because I miss my own bed no excuses I'm still getting that workout in most days I'll do a session with my trainer that might include non-weight work like push-ups pull-ups jumping rope Sledgehammer swings and hidden heavy bag then once my training session is over I'll Stick Around the gym and hit some weights on my own my go-to routine is lifting light weights with very short breaks for rest between sets that helps get me toned and get a cardio workout at the same time if I'm preparing for a film roll where I have to look really cut then I'll also work with the heavy weights to add bulk if I'm trying to lose weight for a roll or photo shoot I'll incorporate running into my routine generally I try to go between 3 and 4 miles per run if I'm at home I'll usually work out on a treadmill or in the gym but if I'm on the road a lot of times I'll go jogging on the streets around my hotel it's a good way for me to get outside without attracting too much attention there have been times when my fans have been lining up outside a hotels waiting to see me and I've joged right past them without anyone recognizing me they're all expected me to pull up in the limo not jog past them in sweatpants and a hoodie unlike a lot of people I don't look to caffeine to enhance my energy coffee has never really been my thing and you won't find me knocking down DIY Cokes during the day though I do enjoy Ginger ra with my salad I get my energy from working out and that hour or two in the morning carries me through the rest of the day working out is not only good for my heal but it's a critical business toour as well I absolutely do some of my clearest thinking in the gym I'm not looking at my phone or being distracted by calls or someone walking into my office with questions the time in the gym gives me a a chance to think about everything in front of me for the day instead of coming into the office wiping sleep out of my eye and feeling scatterbrain when I get in I'm already feeling fully in control energized and mentally prepared it's the only way to show up at the office if you want to make things happen one aspect of my lifestyle where I know I need to improve is getting as much sleep as possible when I'm locked in on a project I do become that robot I can go 18 hours straight and barely feel fatigued I love to know that I'm outworking my competition but I also realize that I need to find a way to make sleep a bigger priority like a lot of n fans I got gassed up when I heard him rhyme I never sleep cuz sleep is the cousin of death it sounded so deep and mysterious that a lot of people began to associate staying up all night and burning the candle at both ends with the Hustler's lifestyle I contributed to that misconception for many years I used to say things like sleep is for broke people or I don't like to sleep but because I might miss the opportunity to turn a dream into a reality the basic motivation behind these messages was correct that you have to be willing to hustle harder than your competition if you want to win but I shouldn't have connected hustling harder to sleeping Less in recent years I've learned that some of the most successful people out there are also big sleepers Amazon's Jeff bezo says he prioritized sleep in 8 hours every night because it makes his thinking much clearer Facebook Co Cheryl Sandberg all also makes getting enough sleep a priority saying to stand up all night might help you get more things done in a moment but in the long term proves to be very counterproductive cuz it makes people anxious irritable and confused it's a strategy echoed by former Google CEO Eric Schmid who says the real secret is the most successful people have awareness of what their body needs and sleep whenever necessary I'm trying to learn from those leaders and adjust my Approach maybe I could get away with skimping on sleep when I was younger especially because I don't drink or smoke but now I understand it's a shortcut I can't take anymore one way I tried to improve my Approach was by going to sleep around midnight every Saturday night then I allow myself to sleep late on Sunday till around 9 or 10 since it's the one day I never have anything scheduled in the morning my goal moving forward is to get those 9 hours in another two or three times a week I'm confident if I can get those extra hours in I'm going going to be even more productive than I already am good luck to my competition keeping up a lot of the steps I'm prescribing in this chapter soety working out eating right and getting enough sleep can feel very daunting if they're not currently a part of your lifestyle don't let that deter you I'm a firm believer that no matter how formidable they might feel there are very few negative habits you can't break in 30 days whenever I'm trying to improve an aspect of my life 30 days is the goal I set for myself and I've always been able to meet my goal in that time frame the key is how you approach adjusting the Habit let's say you're trying to improve your diet cut down on how much you drink or reduce the time you spend on social media it's not helpful to make a sweeping generalization like I'm not smoking weed anymore or I'm going vegan those sorts of statements might sound good in a moment but they also can feel so ambitious that you give up before your transformation ever truly gets started instead of saying I'm not smoking weed anymore just say I'm not smoking for the next month then just focus on the next week in front of you if you see that you're supposed to go to a party where everyone's going to be lighting up choose not to go do something with your non-pad friends instead that night then take a look at what you have planned for the following week is getting high before going to the club one of your rituals then plan a week with you have other things to do during the evening or just stay home and watch TV if you think being around smokers is going to be too tempted catch up on some shows you've been meaning to watch or better yet go work out every night before you know it you'll already be halfway there if you can have that confidence in your commitment by week three you're going to be coasting your evolution is going to have some momentum behind it instead of constantly saying damn I want to light up right now you're going to be able to take a accurate assessment of what your life is like without getting high it might feel so natural that you're ready to make a more permanent adjustment in your lifestyle or you might say I don't need to give up weed entirely I just need to set some boundaries about how and when I consume it that's a conversation that's going to be much more productive at the 30-day threshold than at day one whatever it is you want to improve or correct commit to it for 30 days and see how it changes your perspective give yourself the opportunity to identify with something different you're going to find that some of the things that you couldn't live without were actually standing in between you and your best life when you break those habits you're going to be amazed at how much you can accomplish when you free up your focus and put everything that you have into your work finding your focus hard work and dedication are two of the characteristics found in all true Hustlers another is focus because if you're not able to focus focus and direct your hard work you might be hustling hard but you won't be hustling smart one of my favorite examples of someone who was able to combine hard work and focus is a gentleman named Isaac Wright Jr in the early 1990s Isaac was wrongly imprisoned on a life sentence in New Jersey for being an alleged drug kingpin in fact he was one of the first people convicted under the statue in New Jersey the one problem with that is he was actually innocent Isaac refused to accept the sentence and began looking for ways to get it overturned even though he didn't have any legal training he set about learning the law in the prison Library he became so skilled that he began working as a pargal on other prisoners cases helping several of them get their sentences overturned eventually he was able to get his own life sentence overturned but he still had several other convictions on the books that threatened to keep him behind bars for 70 years Isaac still wouldn't give up he eventually managed to find a police officer who had testified against him who was willing to admit that he participated in misconduct and coverups no one gets cops to snitch on themselves except for Isaac it was an incredible Victory unprecedent it really and after 7 and A2 years behind bars and the suicide of a prosecutor involved in his case Isaac was finally set free today he's a practicing attorney in New Jersey the state that wrongly locked him up Isaac story was so compelling to me I developed a hit scripted project called for life on ABC based on his story there are a lot of people way too many who've been wrongfully locked up but never came close to fighting their Injustice the way Isaac did the only hope for most guys in this situation is finding a prison rights Foundation or big Law Firm to take up the case pro bono Isaac wasn't willing to wait for someone else to decide if his life was worth fighting for he took his fate into his own hands so what allowed Isaac to achieve what all those other mmat couldn't this combination of hard work and focus when Isaac got locked up he didn't spend his time debating on who were the best rappers with other inmates or writing to old girlfriends in the cell or bullshitting out in the yard he spent every single free moment he had teaching himself the law he refused to allow any distractions to get between him and his goal there was no confusion in his mind about what he was doing with his time if he was eating sleeping or on work duty he had his head in those law books at first it was hard those books are not written for amateures you're not supposed to be able to understand them unless you've had training but in time the language started to flow more easily as Isaac began working on briefs and seeing them help other prisoners he started getting excited that created its own momentum which made him hit the books even harder he ended up doing four years of law school in less than 2 years because he was so locked in no pun intended once he had all that information at his disposal he was able to set the process in motion that eventually led to his release none of that could have happened if Isaac would have allowed himself to feel defeated if at any point in the process he had become confused about what he was trying to do he wouldn't have been able to write his own ticket out of jail it only happened because he was so determined to save himself the story behind Isaac's Journey was a natural fit for television when we tested the pilot episode it receiv received one of the strongest positive audience reactions in the Network's history I'm not surprised Isaac's hustles to get his life back is that inspiring keep in mind that Isaac wasn't hustling for jewelry cars or houses he was hustling for the most important goal freedom and thanks to his Focus he was able to achieve it in spite of a corrupt system aligned against him yes Isaac was a hustler a Kingpin even but not in the way the government had tried to paint him he was hustling for Freedom the one question Isaac story should make you ask is what could I achieve with the same level of focus in my own life what if you spent seven or eight hours a day working towards something without any distractions without Gods telling you to turn the lights off at 10 p.m. without your stomach hurting from lousy prison food and your back aching from a lumpy prison mattress without someone in the next cell keeping you up all night screaming out at their demons or loudly jerking off with mayonnaise from the prison messhall what could you accomplish without those kind of distractions then consider the distractions that are probably keeping you from hustling your hardest right now bullshitting on social media arguing with your boyfriend feeling like you need to roll up a blunt sleeping late cuz you were out drinking the night before if you were able to apply only a small fraction of the focus Isaac was able to tap into after even just one month you start to experience the same momentum and excitement Isaac did that wave could pick you up and help carry you to whatever goal you're aiming for passion makes perfect one thing I always try to assess in new business partners is what I call their passion stance just how passionate are they about making this thing happen someone with the weak passion stance will probably get knocked over the first time they meet resistance I'm not interested in being around that sort of energy someone with a strong passion stance on the other hand will really dig in get their feet planted and shoulders squared up so no matter how much the world pushes back or how much negativity gets thrown that way they ain't budging an inch that's the sort of energy I want to work with the type of people I'm willing to put my money behind a strong passion stance is what separates the hustlers who win from the people who always seem stuck in place passion is what allowed me to lose more than 50 pounds playing a football player dying of cancer in the movie All Things Fall Apart in 9 weeks I went from 214 lb to 160 lb by going on a liquid diet and running on a treadmill for 3 hours a day now that might have been a little easier for me than the average person I was more comfortable with a liquid diet because I'd been on one after I was shot but it was still an extremely challenging two months I was dropping weight like crazy but every day when I looked in the mirror all I could think is I need to get smaller I was passionate about nailing that role part of it was personal the story was based on an actual close friend of mine and I needed to do a story justice but it was also professional I'd never received the accolades as an actor that I gotten in the music business as a result I didn't have the same confidence as an actor that I have as a rapper or an entrepreneur my passion for acting however is just as strong as it is for music or business there's something about the craft that is always fascinated me and captured my imagination like a lot of people in my era I've been particularly inspired by actors like Robert Dinero and alucino in their gangster roles I loved how they were able to convey a certain type of aggression through their body language I wanted to bring that sort of energy to the screen I know I didn't have and would probably never have the same sort of acting ability as daero that wasn't going to stop me from putting in the work I read about how he gained 40 lbs for his Oscar roll and Raging Bull so when I sorted my role and All Things Fall Apart called for my character to lose weight as he underwent chemo I decided to commit physically to my role the same way Dao did for his and Raging Bull I didn't win an Oscar or any award for All Things Fall Apart I also didn't care I proved to myself that I was passionate enough about acting to do whatever it took for the role I saw some folks try to clown me clown thinks he's the Nero or something [ __ ] out of here because I put in so much work for a movie that ended up going straight to video those jokes don't slow me down for a second I know damn well I'm not daero I'm still going to work to get to that level and even if I never win to Oscar my movies have made over 500 million at the box office fair to say that's a number a lot of other actors would dream about putting alongside their name Dao was actually one of the people who taught me just how important passion is to acting in 2008 I was supposed to star in a film with him called streets of blood he invited me to his apartment and asked me Point Blank if the movie was something I was serious about he wanted to know if I was only doing it for the money or the look I told him I was absolutely serious about it if I just wanted money I could easily make more touring for two months than being on a movie set I took the opportunity to share with him how I've always loved his work and I was honored by the possibility of working alongside him Theo ended up not being able to do the movie because of his schedule conflict and was replaced by Valk kilma another act that I had a lot of respect for but we became friends after that call we'd finally get to work together alongside Forest Whitaker on another movie Freelancers however that call with Dao left an impression on me he was one of the biggest names in the history of film and streets of blood would have been a minor film for him but he still took the time to call me and make sure I was truly passionate about what was in front of me that's one of the the reasons he's an alltime great he understands that even if one person in the cast is just showing up to collect a check the film won't be a success everybody on the set has to share the same passion for the project music is another space where passion is Paramount take Tupac no disrespect but he was not an all-time great MC if you judge him strictly by his skills he wasn't able to articulate street life like NS talk slick like Jay-Z or be funny like biggie he couldn't spit as hard as Eminem what he had in abundance was passion when he rhymed his passion just poured through even if he was actually an art student playing the role of a thug he delivered the lines with so much intensity that you felt every word that he said that's what made him an all-time great a lot of rappers have tried to become Stars by taking on a thug person J Ru for example but they just weren't as committed as Pop yeah J growled a lot and called himself a murderer but he wasn't believable he didn't have the same hunger that Pac did Pac committed to his passion the way Dao committed to his role in Casino or Good Fellas you could say that Pac was so committed that he ultimately paid for it with his life I'm looking for the same kind of passion and the people that I work with maybe not putting your life on the line but at least being willing to consider it might sound dramatic but that level of commitment is often what it takes what are you hustling for not too long ago after a hectic morning for the meetings contract negotiations and photo shoots I left my office in Manhattan to head to a movie lot across the river in Queens as my car crawled through traffic on the FDR Drive I noticed a Solitary Man playing handball on a court near the road the guy was just smacking that rubber ball against the wall over and over while the hectic City buzzed around him the scene struck me so much that I picked up my phone and posted this on IG yo I just saw a grown man listening to music and playing handball by himself in the middle of the day I've been on the phone working his life might be better than mine of course the internet accused me of trolling as it's quick to do how could 50 Cent sit there in his airconditioned chauffeur driven luxury vehicle and be jealous of some guy playing handball I can see why some might have felt that way but I promis I wasn't trolling when I saw that guy I saw someone getting in a good workout listening to music he liked breathing in fresh air and enjoying himself without spending a dime I mean who knows that guy could have been out there because his wife kicked him out of the apartment and he had nowhere else to go or maybe he just lost his job and was smacking that ball over and over again trying to get his mind off it all I know is that in the brief moment I saw him outside my tented window the only energy I felt coming from him was contentedness it made me legitimately ask myself yo is this guy [ __ ] beating me in life I felt a mixture of envy and competitiveness because he seemed to have what I wanted Above All Else freedom freedom to do what I want when I want and how I want all the jewelry watches cars or Mansions you seen in my videos on IG that was never what I was truly working for what I was hustling for and what I'm still hustling for today is freedom to Be an Effective Hustler you must be able to identify what you want it doesn't have to be a big concept like Freedom it might be something much more specific you have your site set on your goal might be to be the first person in your family to graduate from college or to open your own restaurant or to save up enough money to travel the world I have a friend that lives with his family in an apartment in Brooklyn and his goal is to make enough to buy them a house with a backyard yard nothing too crazy just enough space to let a dog run around and to sit outside with a cup of coffee when the weather's nice when he's working late at night or on the weekend the image of that little backyard is always on his mind pushing him forward when he's tired or when things don't seem to be going his way when he feels like he's a drift on the Seas of his career the image of that little backyard is his North Star that gets him back on course you need to set a goal for yourself ask yourself what what is it that I want be honest it might be something that will help a lot of people or it could be something incredibly selfish it might be a seemingly impossible goal or something that's almost within your reach it might be a plan you're proud to share with the world or something you're never going to tell more than a handful of people about any of those scenarios are fine as long as you are crystal clear about whatever it is without that Clear Vision your hustle is never going to take you anywhere significant it's also important to accept that your vision can oh no make that should change when I first started selling crack my goals were very simple first I needed fresh sneers not the kangaroos my grandmother got me but aidas and felus once I got the sneakers and clothes I wanted for myself I set my sights on jewelry once I had the right chains I focused on a set of wheels at first I just wanted a car so I wouldn't have to pay a cab to wait for me when I took a girl to the movies a basic Honda would do but soon I needed a flashy Rod to announce to the entire neighborhood that I was a forc to be reckoned with so I kept working on the streets until I was pushing the 400 SE BS I've probably bought a thousand more cars since then but I still missed that one once I collected all the typical drug dealer status symbols I turned my sites on signing a record deal once I had that I wanted a hit record that was was my wish and it came true in a very big way still I couldn't settle even with Grammys and platinum records under my belt I set my sight on making movies and so on and so on all the way up to my work in television today I'd say my biggest goal now is to give back when you reach a certain pay grade you become conscious of what's Happening back in the communities you came from instead of worrying about what you're about to do you shift on focusing on your legacy and how people people are going to remember you am I going to be remembered for making popular songs and selling flavored water or positively impacting the world I hope that it will be for the second that's why on a local level I put my money behind projects that clean up playgrounds and promote healthy living for young people on the global level I've developed projects that promote conscious capitalism more on that later and support the United Nations world food program which is going to provide a meal with every energy drink that's sold through our project being able to cop a new pair of sneakers is a much different goal than trying to make a dent in world hunger but in my journey theyve both taken the same amount of significance and in spite the same amount of focus and hard work a lack of clarity about what people really want is what's holding so many folks back they don't even know how to ask for what they want when they have an opportunity it is not enough for you to say you want someone to put you on or even worse to tell someone that your goal is to be famous in order to get the most out of your hustle you have to be able to clearly Define what you're working for for examples of how not to do it take a look at my Ig you won't have to scroll far to find dozens of people pleading your fif sign me to a record deal or man you need to let me jump on power I can act sorry but those sort of ridiculous acts do not constitute hustling it's even worse in person people stop me on the street or even approach me on TV and video shoots they think they're putting in work or taking advantage of an opportunity by stepping up to me and asking put a brother on but the second I hear those sorts of vague asks I know I'm dealing with someone who isn't worth any investment if you can't even articulate to me what you're trying to do why would I help you it might sound out of character for me but I believe vision boards are a very powerful tool in calcifying what you're working towards when you force your yourself to articulate your vision in words you set a powerful energy in motion you give something that was just a thought or maybe even just a feeling a real presence in the world you make it a real thing it's easy to get started on your computer go to Google images and type in everything you think you'd like to have in your life beachfront property Range Rover pitbull puppy but what if your dream isn't a physical thing if you want a promotion that your job Google an image of a corner office if you want to design your own Street Wear Google a picture of Ronnie F or Virgil ablo if you want to go to college Google Harvest graduation ceremony you should always aim high on your boards if you want to fall in love Google an image of your favorite celebrity couple or even put up a picture of your grandparents if they've been together for 50 years I think fishion boards are even a great way for couples to get on the same page put together your own board and have your significant other do the same then compare notes the things that show up in yours but not in your partners are the things they're going to have to learn to accept about you and vice versa making boards with each other is a great way to get a lot of unspoken things out in the open I once told a journalist from GQ to make one with his girlfriend he did and wrote it when he looked at hers it had more babies than orphanage they hadn't talked about having kids yet but their Vision boy put what she wanted front and center I've seen vision boards make a real difference in people's lives and the stats back me up a study by Dominican University found that you're 42 times more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down and a study in psychological bulletin found that people are 90% more likely to achieve their goals that are challenging and specific that's not saying that the universe is going to drop a bag into your lap because you said you wanted one you still have to put in the work a lot of it but by identifying your vision and giving it a name you're taking a big step towards realizing your goals if you're feeling even a little bit uncertain about what you want take the time to make a vision board the power of vision boards is real and very accessible never break your stride as you probably realize hustling can also mean selling drugs my mother was a hustler in that sense I was too as were a lot of my friends and enemies back and Queens I'm not g to give you a crash course on drug dealing here I've talked about that stuff in my first book my movie and a lot of my songs chances are you already heard those stories what I want to address here is the attitude you have to develop to be a successful drug dealer the mentality that no matter what happens to you on the street you're not going to break stride let's say you bought some coke you thought was pure but was actually cut with lax stiffs instead of bitching and moaning you have to address the situation and say it's cool I'll get my money back on the next pack that has to be a constant attitude on the street I'll get it back on the next one in what I call a civilian World a lot of times when people encounter setbacks they dwell on them instead of moving on to the next one they get stuck if a dealer we're working on falls through or they don't get the promotion they thought they deserve they let it slow their momentum they start to feel sorry for themselves they blame other people they say the system was rigged against them that their boss had an infl them or that their teachers were biased against them the list of excuses and rationalizations goes on and on if they hit one little bump on a road of Life they pull a car over do a U-turn and head home the streets don't allow you the luxury of excuses something goes bad and your reaction is to point the finger at someone else hey that's cool until that person hears what you've been saying and decides to blow your head off you want to complain that the system is rigged against you you can yell about that at the top of your lungs but no one on the street is going to give you a break because of it no [ __ ] of course it is who didn't know that rather than complain about it get to work on outsmarting those cops POS judges and politicians who would like to keep you locked up there's no time for a defe wo is me mentality on the streets your daily mindset has to be I'll get it back on the next one or you'll wind up one of three ways broke dead or locked up we spend a lot of time talking about privilege in this country about how certain people are handed things and put in positions to win there's a lot of Truth to that but we're not looking at the other side of the privilege coin those boys and girls who get sent to the best schools and the best colleges and then walked into the best companies certainly have a lot of opportunities but what they lack is resiliency they've never truly been tested okay they've been tested in the literal sense they better get a good score on the SATs or else they won't get into their top college choice but how does that really compare to overhearing your single mom say damn how are we going to keep the lights on this month or hearing your father say they said if we don't pay the last two months rent they're going to evict us that's a different level of struggle and to be fair there are levels in other countries that we can't even imagine they're going to turn the lights out isn't [ __ ] compared to if Isis makes it over that mountain they're killing this whole village if you spent your childhood worrying about pass through bills family members in jail or gunshots on your corner but are still out there trying to make it happen you possess real resiliency acknowledge that about yourself and then use that to your advantage contrast that with your coworker who's been at an advantage their whole life whether they realize it or not maybe they got the job because they prep school classmates father runs the place that guy is comfortable with success hell he expects it what he's much less comfortable with is adversity even just a little bit of it if his pck start coming up dry he won't know what to do he might start drinking heavily or blow his money on coke because he's so confused losing was not in his Playbook I've seen Wall Street guys and high powered lawyers take an unexpected loss and literally be ready to jump out of their office window one loss and they're ready to end it all coming from where I've been I would never let a defeat or a setback have that sort of effect on me and if you come from a similar background you shouldn't either if I somehow lost it all tomorrow I promise I would not be faced I'm sitting at my desk in my office as I write this looking out my window I can see a guy on the sidewalk selling peanuts if I lost everything tomorrow I'm not jumping out this window nope the next day I'd be out there on the opposite Corner setting up my own peanut stand let's call it 50s nuts maybe to make the car stand out I'd introduced chocolate covered nuts and some cherry coated ones too because I'm offering more selection than my competition I create a little buzz on my block then I figure out a way to use that buzz to get 50s nuts over to Yankee Stadium and sell them in the stands and after that open up a restaurant in The Concourse and then another one back in Manhattan and before you know it I've got a chain and with that I'm back in the game baby having a hustler mentality I would never allow myself to think [ __ ] I just lost everything my enemies are going to clown me my critics are going to have a field day I don't think I can do this anymore no if it all goes away I'm confident I'm getting my money back and then some this mentality is why people like me Jay-Z puffy Nas and so many others have all done so well in Corporate America we keep finding success because we don't get thrown by life's inevitable setbacks we've already experienced the type of lifestyle that a so-called loss might bring we know it's not going to break us forever so we keep our momentum going look at puffy the popular perception is that he's been on top for the last 25 years but he's actually experienced plenty of setbacks during his career in 1991 nine people were trampled to death in a concert he threw at the city college in New York That was supposed to end his career it didn't then he got fired from Uptown records where he launched the careers of artists like Mary J blud and jodessy for being a hothead that would have been the Final Chapter for a lot of people not puffy he started Bad Boy Records and took that label to the top then biggie the artist he built an entire movement around was murdered a blow like that would have slowed a whole lot of folks all the way down puffy didn't stop for a second a few years later he got Jennifer Lopez one of the biggest pop stars in the world caught up in an attempted murder case the same case that got his top artist at the time Sean sent to jail for 10 years that would have been the final straw for most people not puffy he swallowed all those elves probably washed it down with a shot of pink grapefruit Sarat and kept it moving bad boy doesn't have hits anymore people don't wear sha John and saraka is losing his market share but puffy is still looking ahead now that his kids are grown he's trying to put them on when puffy says Can't Stop won't stop that dude really means it and I respect his hustle here's the bottom line whether you're a rapper stock broker scientist school teacher or drug dealer you're going to experience Peaks and valleys even when you think you've been through it all you're going to find out there's still more [ __ ] to go through one of the most important realizations I came to early in my business career is that I'm running through an endless tunnel what I mean by that is that I came to understand that there's no happily ever after no matter how many records I sell cases of look I move and hit TV shows I create and executive produce there's never going to be a moment where I say okay this is the end of the road I finally made it and take my foot off the pedal I know there's going to be another challenge right around the corner and another one right after that some people might find the endless tunnel idea overwhelming or even depressing they spend their entire lives working towards finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel so it could be difficult to accept there won't ever be one but there isn't I actually find it liberating to know that I'll be hustling for the rest of my life accepting that I'm going to be working just as hard though maybe a little bit slower at 70 as I am now makes me happy in many ways that knowledge gives me the freedom that I've been looking for I hope you'll be able to understand the Hustler attitude I've developed in the streets and then apply it to your lives to have that sort of resiliency and positive outlook without having to go through the heartbreaks and violence I've experienced to move like the type of Hustler 50 Cent used to be but in the types of settings Curtis Jackson is in now trust your instincts another Advantage I've gained from being active in the streets is learning how to trust my instincts was another dealer going to rip me off I had to go on my instinct his the corner I'm about to set up on going to be targeted by the cops I have to go on my instinct could I trust someone not to talk after they got busted I had to trust my instinct I noticed a lot of people who weren't raised in the street environment have lost that connection with their Instinct they'll go to business school and study how to move in the professional World maybe they'll internalize what their professors teach them long enough to pass the midterms and then promptly forget it all in a couple months even if they end up retaining what they've been taught they're still learning to rely on instruction rather than intuition a business professor might have some good tips but nothing he or she can teach will ever outweigh simply listening to your own Instinct the neighborhood teaches you to always follow the most instinctive route it's an invaluable power to possess if you weren't blessed by having to develop Your Instinct on the street don't worry it's still a skill you can develop whenever you feel confused about a situation it's imperative that you find a way to turn down the volume and reconnect with what you're truly feeling for me working out definitely helps quiet that noise at some point in the workout the physical exertion I'm putting myself through seems to wash the BS out of my system I can literally feel myself breathing the distractions out of my mind when they're gone the only things left behind are my good ideas my true instincts the thoughts I need to listen to more closely it's very important that you have something similar in your own Arsenal some people can access that state by simply taking a walk in the park or gardening or even painting whatever it is you have to incorporate some activity into your lifestyle that allows you to disconnect from the noise of both the past and present and reconnect with whatever you're feeling in your gut in the moment final word on hustling just because I'm encouraging you to trust your instinct doesn't mean I don't believe that there's a strong role for strategy and hustling when people hear Hustlers say things like make it happen or scared money stays home they think it implies that there's a certain recklessness to the Hustler's mentality that's not the case you might have even thought this if you listen to 50 Cent the rapper people loved it when I rhymed have a baby by Me Baby Be A Millionaire I write the check before the baby comes who the [ __ ] cares I'm stanky Rich I'm going die trying to spend this [ __ ] sounds like I'm just throwing money up in the air right but those lines simply created a perception the reality is that Curtis Jackson is not Reckless with his money at all in fact I'm only put my money behind things that a I'm passionate about and B I've done all my homework on even though Hustlers are always aggressive they're not always gambling a skilled Hustler will always strategically assess all the risk and rewards before he commits to something I have to understand something completely before I write a check to back it I'll spend hours online researching the industry tracking its history and figuring out who the most important players are then I'll call any smart person I know who has experience in that space and try to pick their brains do you think there's room for growth or is the space flooded am I going to meet resistance if I make a move what's that resistance going to look like who do I need as an ally once I have those answers I'll read gossip sites blogs and any other sources that can help fill me in on what's not being reported in the mainstream press after I have all of that information if I still feel I can make an impact I'm going all in to me that's not really gambling that's making a bet on a short thing when I feel that mixture of passion and understanding I'm operating with Supreme confidence so much so that I don't even bother to put together a plan B why would I need a plan B when I'm dead certain that plan a is going to work the only time I'll get involved was something that I don't have a complete understanding of is when I'm not putting up my own money if someone approaches me to executive producer project or lend my name to it in exchange for Equity I'm okay with a slightly bigger risk if there's already a strong team in place and all they need is a little boost for me to put it over the top I'll be a little more willing to fly blindly into something even then I'll get involved only if I feel passionate for what I'm doing I'm not signing up for anything just for a check that's the easiest way to dilute your brand and lose your money your fans will know that there's nothing organic about what you're doing and won't support it and if you're not passionate about the idea you're not going to be emailing for updates checking in with your partners for any changes you're basically hoping that you can write a check and wake up one day and find that someone has dropped a big bag of money in your lap that's not gambling that's basically asking to lose your money the only time I got close to embracing gambling was when I was hanging out with Floyd Mayweather he bet on everything $250,000 on if someone would make a halfcourt shot during halftime of a basketball game a million dollar on a preseason football game because he fed off for that sort of adrenaline when he'd win one of those bets he'd ride that energy for days all night parties followed by trips to the auto dealer in the morning but when he lost it was a different story if his team lost at 8:00 p.m. he could have 30 people in his suite ready to party but he'd be in bed by Night the loss sucked all life out of him then the depression would LIF a few days later and he'd be back betting stacks on something crazy I'm not built that way I put little BS down maybe 20,000 here and there just to try and keep them company but I just didn't have the stomach for it first off betting on things that I can't fully research gives me anxiety why would I do that to myself the other thing is team sports have never really been that important to me I don't really care who wins the Super Bowl I don't bleed orange and blue for the Knicks there was no emotional attachment to those bets the one exception is boxing I did all right when I bet on Floyd to win but then I lost $20,000 when I bet on Adrien Boner to beat Pacquiao in 2019 after that I was pretty much done with gambling at the end of the day I like betting on Shore things and the only short thing you can count on 100% of the time is yourself chapter 3 constructing your crew if you don't have the right people around you and you're moving at a million miles an hour you can lose yourself Dave Chappelle ask any successful entrepreneur what their greatest attribute is and you might be surprised at their answer it's not their negotiation skills strategic planning or ability to understand new technology no they're all going to tell you the same thing their greatest skill is being an astute judge of character nobody not even a rapper makes it on their own yes I'm alone in the booth when it's time to spit my Rhymes but outside of the booth there's a small army support me managers attorneys agents Engineers producers Ries assistants stylists publicist and friends I trust to keep it real with me probably the most valuable members of my crew people like to make fun of rappers entourages I'll admit having your own we carrier is ridiculous I don't smoke but if I did I damn sure roll my own blunts why would I want someone touching and licking something I'm going to put in my own mouth but you must surround yourself with people who can help support grow and articulate your vision pick the right people and you can build a team that can take you to the top but pick the wrong people and it can derail your vision before it fully gets on track you can recover from blowing the lucrative deal missing out on a change in the marketplace or failing to upgrade your operation blowing those kind of opportunities will hurt but you'll recover provided you have the heart of a hustler but if you pick the wrong person for a job especially a critical one the results can be catastrophic this is true for every kind of business back when I was slinging rocks one of the jobs that needed to be filled in every crew was the steerer this person wouldn't have any money or drugs on them but would direct customers to someone who did lots of dealers wouldn't even think twice about who they hired for for that job it was an entry-level position and anyone who approached him was viable if you weren't a cop congratulations you're hired there was Zero consideration about the person's character or who could vouch for them nonetheless Darren presented an extreme liability to the operation since the usually had the shortest tenure they also had the least invested in the crew which means if they got busted they had little reason not to name names to the cops understanding this forigner ility instead of grabbing whoever crossed my path I tried to pick people who seem to possess a strong character who seem like they would be able to stay cool under pressure and have confidence that I'd bail them out more on that later a lot of my steerers did get busted but because I considered their character before hiring them they usually didn't flip on me dealers who hired without much thought they generally didn't last too long the ability to recognize character or lack thereof is just this is critical on a corporate level let's say you're the CEO of a Fortune 500 company and you hire a new guy to be your CFO everything can be fine for years you become very comfortable with the guy he's proficient with numbers maybe more so than you are you get to know his family outside of the office and go to his kids we 16 he's so capable that you're able to increase your distance from the day-to-day Financial details and start focusing on the bigger picture mergers that are going to make you a legend and Gayla events with celebs as you build your brand then one morning you wake up to find the CFO has looted the company's accounts and flown off to Debby with his girlfriend time to kiss your legendary status goodbye maybe even your job too sure a true Hustler can survive that sort of blow they're always going to figure out how to make more money because they know the frequent lurches between feast and famine but they'd also much rather put the right person in that position and sidestep any potential drama than have to deal with the Betrayal the importance of Judge of character is especially important in marriage if you look at the guys who end up on the cover of Fortune columnist shows where they took their biggest losses is always the same divorce billionaires don't lose the bulk of their money to competitors or new technologies they lose it to their exes Jeff Bezos of Amazon reportedly had to pay his wife McKenzie $38 billion when they split up I don't care what happens with Amazon down the road but it's no way the company itself is going to lose that much money for him people get divorced for all sorts of reasons but a lot of wealthy individuals marry without knowing the true motive of their Partners I can promise you that every millionaire who's had to pay out a huge settlement has wished they were a better judge of character when they said I do rather be robbed I've never had the fou for divorce but I'll be the first to tell you I've had a lot of issues in my personal life and at the top of the list or trust issues a few years ago I was talking with a woman who had taken some psychology classes in college we were discussing a situation where I'd become convinced someone close to me was going to stab me in the back when I was done venting she looked at me and ask you've ever heard of the word pistanthrophobia nah what's that it's what you have look it up I typed it into my phone and got the following definition the fear of trusting people due to pass experience and relationships gone wrong can't lie it sounded exactly like me I think everyone's a little afraid of being too trustful but I'm definitely worse than most in my life I feel like I've been betrayed by people I deserve better from people I've given money to opportunities to love to even life to because of that for a long time the only thing I had faith in was money I only trusted the paper that says in God we trust this is one of the reasons the theme of betrayal is so prominent in my show Power it's an issue that's always on my mind so much so that I even called the last season the final betrayal I'd rather be robbed at gunpoint than be betrayed not that I suggest you try it at least getting robbed is exciting there an undeniable Rush when somebody pulls out their piece and growls get on the [ __ ] floor once it's over provided you don't get shot you can go tell your friends yo they just stuck me me up your pockets might be lighter but you'll be much stronger overall having survived the experience getting betrayed is different you don't get a great War Story out of it I've never heard anyone get hyped telling their friends yo you won't believe this but I just got backstabbed by my mans there are no Stripes earned for that [ __ ] when you open yourself up to someone either financially or emotionally and they go left on you it's a different kind of pain even more dramatic than a stickup kid physically taking something from you like Malcolm X said to me the thing that is worse than death is betrayal you see I can conceive death but I could not conceive betrayal because I find betrayal so painful I put incredible thought and consideration into the people who surround me as I detailed in this chapter when I was first coming up I made a mistake of confusing loyalty and location it's a miscalculation a lot of people make one to believe that just because someone is from the same streets as you that they're going to have your back forever I learned the hard way that that's not the case sure when you share a common experience with someone there's a greater chance for loyalty and understanding but it's far from guaranteed to achieve lasting success you have to strive for balance when building your team if you only surround yourself with people from your past then chances are the past is where you'll be stuck but if you abandon the people who were in The Trenches with you for people you just met the ones who might be charismatic but have never proved anything to you you're probably going to get burned if you look at my team today you'll find a mix of old and new blood weed soldiers alongside of impressive people I've met since my initial success walk in the unit records and you might see guys that were right there with me on the streets of Southside proving that they could remain cool Under Fire some people form that Bond going to school or playing on sports teams together definitely from serving in the military when your life's on the line and the bullets are flying you form a very deep connection with the people who have your back this is why I believe you can learn more about what someone is made of in 2 minutes on the streets than 20 years in the boardroom in business it takes a long time to get a gauge on true nature instead of having the luxury of watching someone in action you have to rely on Instinct more but once you do feel confidence about someone's loyalty and work ethic that's a person you need on your team it's a rare combination in the business world but one is extremely valuable that's why in addition to those day one veterans I've tried to round up my roster of smart business people who I feel I can trust despite my Hang-Ups like my general Council Steve who oversees my legal and business matters or my publicist Amanda who doesn't freak out every time I post something on social media and cleans up when I make a mess or my book Agent Mark who helped put this project together none of them have set foot in the southide but they've all been critical on keeping my brand expanding and moving in the right direction a great example of someone I've only met in the last 5 years but who has really helped me evolved is Chris Alber the former CEO of stars networks Chris built HBO into what it is today before taking over as stars he's taught me a tremendous amount about how TV Works while giving me the freedom to be myself plus he's from Queens too so it's almost like the relationship was meant to be Chris's number is one I'm never deleting from my phone I don't care where he goes I'm going to try to do business with him I consider television to be my second career after music and I would never have reached the level I'm at today without establishing a relationship with yes we're from different parts of queens and have pretty different backgrounds but we've clicked since day one and have really been able to help each other Chris might not be one of my day one homies but we've been through some Wars of our own and we know we have each other's back if I hadn't been open to Bringing new people like Chris and their knowledge into my life there wouldn't be a second stage in my career or whatever comes after this if I had kept my circle exclusive to my day one homies things would have stagnated I'd be another rapper who fell off after a couple of albums and who was never really relevant again maybe I make my rounds on TV shows and podcast spending my time complaining about rappers today they can't really spit maybe it even appear on a reality show or two but I've avoided that fate the key was finding the right balance of old and new to keep moving forward without losing my footing in this chapter I'm going to share my strategies for assembling that resourceful dedicated and trustworthy crew that can help you build on what you've already grown and create new opportunities bring in the hood with you growing up in the south side of Queens I knew that once I made it I was going to bring my neighborhood with me in the streets you're taught from a very young age the stronger your crew is the stronger you are the streets are a jungle and you want to be perceived as being part of a strong pack not as prey this is why most of the top rappers in the 90s made a point of championing their neighborhoods Nas got on and brought Queensbridge with him biggy got a deal and brought beffer serson with him in La NWA put Compton on the national map and Snoop re Long Beach a few years later I was determined to do the same with Southside for the first several years of my career as a rapper everywhere I went the Southside came with me Tony yo and Lloyd Banks of gunit wereing guys I met at some industry conference they grew up around the block for me you saw the neighborhood in my videos and during my live shows and most important you heard it in my music I wanted that energy near me at all times today I call that energy the homeboy complex when you feel a need to keep your homies as close to you as possible my homeboy complex was the main reason I bought Mike Tyson's mansion in Connecticut when I came off my first tour for get rich or die trying suddenly I had $38 million burning a hole in my pocket around the same time I did an interview with a journalist who casually mentioned that Tyson was selling his home oh I'm going to buy that I replied I had just been talking [ __ ] but a couple of weeks later I found myself in Harford Connecticut I consider Harford a music Mecca it's close to New York but just far enough away that it has its own energy and taste I found that if a song from a New York artist creates a buzz in Harford there's a good chance that it can break in the rest of the country so I tried to stop through as often as possible to take the Pulse of what people were listening to on this trip I realized I wasn't too far from Tyson's place so I had someone call up the broker and went over to check it out once I was there the vibe and scale seemed right for me the money wasn't an issue I bought it outright with a wire transfer the next week there was no family living with me at the time so I didn't really need a house with 18 bedrooms and 25 bathrooms not to mention a movie theater Indo an outdoor pool indoor an outdoor basketball courts a nightclub named TKO and 17 acres of land but I bought it so that the southide would literally be under the same roof as me there would be nights out in the middle of the country the closest city Harford Connecticut was 10 mil away where if you Clos your eyes you swear you were standing on the corner of s Boulevard there was music playing people dancing and dice rolling the same people I grew up with eating Chinese food takeout on the stoop were being served by waiters at my dining room table and instead of watching a bootleg DVD on a grimy couch I was able to show a first run movie in my own movie theater doing things like that for people I came up with gave me more validation than selling millions of Records at the time it seemed like a necessary move today I come to accept that it was one that I didn't have to make first off that house cost way too much money to maintain I was spending close to $70,000 a month on maintenance alone I don't care how rich you are you never get comfortable paying a $70,000 utility and maintenance bill every month especially when you're on the road most of the time Bill Gates would look at a bill like that and say do we have to run the AC every night it was great to be able to have 18 bedrooms at my disposal but I could only sleep in one of them at a time I had to concede that I wasn't using that home correctly in many ways the estate came to serve as a metaphor for my relationship with the hood yes it served the purpose for me initially I got a lot of support from my roots and I gave a lot of people opportunities that would never have had otherwise but it was time to cut the cord I didn't cut everything everyone off the core group I mentioned is still very much a part of my life and business Pursuits but a lot of folks who were with me for a long time got let go the 18 bedroom mansion has been downsized to an apartment though a pretty damn nice one my 2-hour commute is down to 20 minutes I'm not sure why I even waited so long to make the move at first money was part of it at one point I'd even been talked in the list in the house at over $15 million which was an unreal realistic price when someone puts a number in your head every time you move off that number it feels like a loss you can't get tricked into the thinking that way I might not have gotten what I wanted for the property but in the end I didn't care about losing money and I ended up giving the proceeds to charity anyway I had won by moving on with my life I cleared my plate and refocused on the future instead of being held down by a relic of the past back back in the barrel another mistake people make time and time again is that after they found success they feel they still owe something to the place that they came from this is especially prevalent in the African-American Community when a black person from the hood reaches a certain level of success they seem to feel obligated to maintain their Roots You Don't See this nearly as much in other communities if a chinese immigrant works his ass off for years and build a chain of his own stores he'll probably move to a big house in the suburbs the first chance he gets he won't feel like he owes anything to his fellow immigrants back in Chinatown he'll do what they do if they came in the money too move to the biggest house and the safest neighborhood with the best schools they could same with the Mexican woman who grew up in the bario if she ends up through her hard work and hustle becoming a real estate magnet she's probably not looking to stay in her old hood nope she's getting a big house and a nice safe neighborhood too without any guilt when the Irish Italian and Jewish immigrants started making money the first thing they did was beat it out to the suburbs it seemed like it's only in the africanamerican community that we have a hard time walking away from our struggles if we don't stay connected to that struggle we'll somehow lose whatever it was that made us successful I know that feeling very well being afraid to cut the umbilical cord to the hood is why I bought Mike Tyson's place but at least I had the sense to bring the hood to me instead of staying in the hood itself I know a lot of people who have made that mistake and some have paid the ultimate price for their unwillingness to walk away a tragic example was my friend and Mentor J Master J who was from haris Queens as a member of rund DMC Jay personified the Pinnacle of success in our neighborhood he saw millions of Records he Tour the World rocking stages from Europe to Asia as part of the first breakout hip hop group he was an inspiration to millions of black kids and queens in around the country once they hit the big time the rest of Run DMC left queens and never looked back Rev Run and DMC went to Jersey and their manager Russell Simmons set up shop in Manhattan but Jay stayed in Queens his entire life he opened a recording studio in Jamaica where he Tau inspiring local rappers myself included the final points of constructing a song it seems like a great story local DJ becomes famous towards the world and comes back to his old stomping grounds to share his gift with the Next Generation in reality it was a death sentence by staying in Queens Jay never separated himself from the negative elements close to hip-hop especially in our neighborhood in Queens the drug dealers were the first people to have real money Hip Hop was a hobby just something to do with your homies on the stoop or in the park the cash was in selling drugs Jay's generation was inspired by what the drug dealers had nice clothes fly cars and beautiful women on their arms the peak coats and Godfather hat that J help make famous with Run DMC that's what he saw the dealers wearing same with the gold chain Run DMC and later LL guj help popularize they represented drug dealer fashion before they became hip-hop today the opposite is true rappers can make way more money than drug dealers thanks and no small part to the path of early Pioneers like J Master J helped BL BLS Jay's mistake was he didn't keep moving forward if he followed run Russell and DMC to Jersey Long Island or Manhattan I have no doubt he'd still be alive today instead he stayed too close to the wrong kind of people people who not only didn't have his best interest at heart but were actually jealous of his Fame and success they didn't celebrate him for staying in the neighborhood and mentoring inspiring MC's they actually hated him for it by staying around folks like that he made it inevit for sucker [ __ ] to happen it was a similar situation with nipy hustle I didn't know nipy as well as I knew Jay but he seemed like a standup guy when I agreed to shoot the video for y G's tooted and booted which nipy was featured on I told the guy at the record company hey make sure you bring that kid who looks like new that's how we met in person nipy was a great dude who seemed focused on both his community and his family sadly the same sucker [ __ ] that got Jay also got nipy when nipy got killed people started pointing their fingers at everyone except those suckers on Twitter or IG the first thing you would see is the government killed nipy the logic was nipy had been working on a documentary about Dr sebie the famed Honduran herbalist who some people felt had been jailed and later killed because of his controversial views on Western Medicine Dr seb's teachings were a threat to the pharmaceutical industry so nipy had to be killed before he could help spread them to the world to hear other people tell it nipy was a threat to the government because he was teaching the hood about financial empowerment and social justice if too many poor young people became enlightened because of nipsey's work it would threaten the status quo in Los Angeles so he had to go for that there's no doubt nipy was doing great work in his hood especially with Vector 90 a co-working space and stem Training Center that taught Tech skills and though I don't have any strong feelings on Dr se's teaching I wouldn't be shocked if there was some elements in the pharmaceutical field who wanted to keep that work under WS but when people say the government killed nipy they're just not being honest or realistic the government didn't kill nipy allegedly a sucker named shitty cuz killed him that's the depressing truth and he didn't kill nipy because nip was a threat to any status quo and no one paid him to kill nipy to protect fiza or Johnson and Johnson no [ __ ] killed nipy because he was a hater plain and simple he was a snitch and when nipy called him on it shitty reacted with violence he couldn't stand as someone as successful and beloved as nipy didn't want someone as unsuccessful and untrustworthy as shitty around the crab and the barrel mentality is what killed nipy just like it killed Jay and so many other successful black folks that stayed in their communities after they found success that's why when I started making legitimate money I left the hood and never look back sure I'll visit from time to time but I'd never move back permanently if I did there's zero question I would have been negatively impacted understanding that mentality is why I don't have any second thoughts about not sticking around do I give a lot of money back to the streets through my Charities absolutely do I work to make sure those kids have better legal opportunities that I had no doubt I'm not living under any Illusions though on the streets there just isn't enough space for both success and suckers the quicker you understand that the quicker you'll get the most out of your journey demand discipline I'm not suggesting you drop all of your day one homies the second you taste a little success those are the people who know you best and if they're true friends they'll keep it the most real with you they'll tell you when your verse is whack or your shirt is too young or that influencer who's promising big things actually seems like like they're full of [ __ ] those are some of the positive qualities that your day ones can add to your team but they can also bring some of the negative qualities of the hood beefs traumas and clashes of ego to make sure that doesn't happen you have to first instill and then demand a sense of discipline in your team that became clear to me early in my career when I was supposed to perform with NS at a concert in Central Park getting the sherff stage with him was a big deal to me as a superstar coming out of Queens Nas was someone I really looked up to when I got to The Venue Nas was already there and it looked like he brought all of Queensbridge with him there must have been a couple dozen guys from Queensbridge standing backstage drinking smoking and hyping themselves up for Nar a set I realized they didn't know what to do with the energy they were creating it was like they were starting a fire they couldn't contain sure enough they started fighting with each other it was Queensbridge versus Queensbridge even though his crew was turning on itself NS was either unwilling or unable to put out the fire soon the cops got call and the concert got shut down before Nas even stepped on stage in my eyes Nas had mishandled the moment I understood why he brought so many guys from Queensbridge with him Central Park is no man's land and there's no telling who he might have ran into there a crew from Brooklyn a couple guys from the Bronx or maybe a rival crew from another neighborhood in Queens it was smart to make sure he was surrounded by his own people what wasn't as strategic was the failure to keep them in check by failing to control the energy he' brought with him he lost a chance to perform that day it probably cost the money down the road too when promoters here it was a problem at a high-profile venue like Central Park it'll make them think twice about booking you so by the impulse to bring Queensbridge with them was understandable their presence came at the expense of his overall growth watching those Queens bridge through his fight each other I vowed to myself that when my crew and I hit the road I would have zero tolerance for internal conflict I knew that if I couldn't control my own people there would be a pretty low ceiling to how high I could build my brand plus I understood that there were no minor fights when you're living together on the road let's say two guys get into it over a girl one of them ends up smacking the other in the face whoever got touch is going to feel humiliated long after the physical sting subsides every time he sees that other guy on the bus backstage in the hotel lobby waiting for a plane he's going to want to reassert himself that sort of resentment can boil below the surface until it explodes and the Fallout from a serious enough explosion can take down an entire tour that's why as soon as gunit hit the road I was very clear on my policy on guys getting into it with each other I told them we're going to encounter a lot of people who are jealous of our success if you have some steam you need to let off fight one of them I'll have your back no matter what happens [ __ ] I'll have your back if you end up punching some random stranger in the face but if any of you guys fight each other you're going home the next day period for a while everyone obeyed my edict yes there were moments when it looked like something might pop off but I was always quick to remind the wouldbe combatants I'm not playing you're going home if you steep on him then in the quieter moments I will pull guys to the side and explain my motives I wasn't trying to police them just trying to help them win we're trying to build something with G andit I say this tour and the attention is going to create are going to be the building blocks for something special but if those blocks keep shifting whatever we're trying to build will come crashing down then we're going to be back on the corner instead of out here eating lobster and staying in nice hotels and meeting girls in every city that little pep talk would usually get through to people and I didn't have to send anyone home that is until we got to Philadelphia the problem started with Mion less the legendary Philadelphia sports clothing company sent some complimentary throwback jerseys to our hotel this was the era when Mich less jerseys were basically the official uniform for hip-hop everyone wanted to be seen in one and some of the rare additions were worth thousands of dollars even though the shirts Were Meant For Me the package ended up in the hands of a guy named Marcus who was our tour manager he knew I always buy my own clothes so he decided to take a couple of the jerseys for himself he felt that since he was the tour manager there were some of the spoilers he was entitled to bangham Smurf didn't see it that way though bangham was someone from Southside that I was considering signing to gunit so I taken him on the road to help him get some exposure bangham had potential but he made the mistake of thinking just being on the road meant he already made it he started drinking his own juice before he proved anything he didn't have a single he didn't have any Buzz the the girls didn't look at him and say who's the cute one to the world he was just another dude on stage shouting the end of my lines that experience alone got him so Gass that he thought the rules didn't apply to him the morning after the Philly show we were scheduled to get on the bus at 5:00 a.m. and head to the next city but instead of my alarm clock I got an early morning wake up from the sounds of a fight taking place under my window I pulled back the shades to see an unexpected sight Marcus and bangum rolling around in the Street tring blows over a Michelin Nest Jersey it's mine I can hear bangham shouting not that ain't yours yell Marcus yours had a piece of gum stuck on the side this is mine apparently bangham had decided one of those jerseys was his and when Marcus wouldn't hand it over bangham was just going to take it not what I wanted to deal with at the Cracker da I went outside and immediately broke them up then I asked bangham what the hell he was thinking n fifth bangum started to explain he's trying to take my shirt I had to check him I wasn't trying to hear it man you know I told everyone no fights on the store then I looked at Marcus and said point to bangum get this Punk a bus ticket he's going home it wasn't until that moment that bangam realized I wasn't playing when I said Zero Tolerance I met zero if you're going to maintain control of your team you must make people respect the repercussions even if it means ending relationship so bangham got sent home right then and there he'd have plenty of time to drink his own own juice back in Queens bangham thought he was bigger than the crew but it turned out he didn't know how to move on his own he started working with some other local rappers and from time to time would try to get me to support them but nothing really caught my hair without my support no one wanted to give him a break instead of being on the road with me making legal money and seeing the world he eventually caught a case back in Queens he asked me to bail him out but I explained to him that wasn't my job he eventually got deported back to Trinidad where he was born on to this day he blames me not himself for his situation whenever you find success in life there would be people who believe some of it belongs to them bangum was that sort of person when you removed him from your life instead of looking in the mirror they get angry at you if I had let bangham slide with a warning I would have lost my authority all the other eagles on the tour and there were plenty of them would have started the bubble too soon there wouldn't have been fighting no Michelin n jerseys there would have been beefing over girls who got the most time on stage or who was getting paid what that kind of descension has grounded many tours before and since to a premature ho I wasn't about to let that sort of energy mess up our momentum almost 20 years later I'm still touring the globe I performed in countless countries to millions of people recently someone flew me overseas to do a concert for several million dollars not a bad little check for a flight of on a private jet in one day's work but it was also the kind of check that comes only after you establish yourself as a seasoned profitable and reliable toring act the kind of reputation that I was focused on building all those years ago back in Philly those choices don't have to be as dramatic as getting someone a bus ticket home if you're a supervisor at a company it could just mean transferring them to another department if you're a manager at a retail store maybe it means moving that kind of person to another location if you run your own small business it probably means firing their ass immediately you won't have the luxury of carrying anyone giving you anything less than their best no matter what position you're in when you make rules that benefit the collective good you need to enforce them don't let someone who's only focused on themselves ruin it for everyone else they can be hard rules to live by but doing so will always pay off in the long run handle internal problems first no matter matter how high you build your Empire you'll never be able to maintain it if your house isn't in order just like I told bangham back in the day if the blocks from the bottom aren't solid it's just a matter of time before everything comes crashing down a classic example of this is what happened to the Brooklyn rapper tekachi 69 tekachi is a half Mexican half Puerto Rican rapper from Brooklyn his multicolored hairdo and over the top energy one him millions of fans across the country especially white kids they might might not be able to dread their hair like the Amigos but they could definitely put in all the colors of the rainbow like tekachi he went from being a virtually unknown SoundCloud rapper to one of the biggest stars out there not much more than a year tekashi's image was of a tough Reckless instigator but he was actually a sweet kid at heart much closer to a WWF wrestler playing a role than the actual gangster so to reinforce His Image they started surrounding thems with Street dudes but those guys were not playing a role they were the real deal once they realized tekachi wasn't they started seeing him as food and food is never would you want to be perceived as by real Street dudes as the star rose tekachi and I begin to build a friendship I like that he was Brash that he didn't seem to be afraid of the moment a lot of people even said that takachi reminded them of a young me one day he called and ask if he can come to my office he had some run-ins with the law and promoters were starting to get nervous him he needed advice when he arrived I didn't see a brass young man or an arrogant rapper I saw a scared kid settling into a chair in my office tekachi got right to the point 50 what am I supposed to do I had to give him credit he acted well in public but in front of me he was willing to be vulnerable he was smart enough to know he was in over his head he and I had never had conversations about what was going on but as an experienced Observer I had a good guess where the roots of his problems L your biggest issue is going to be internal I told him you got too many people around you and they're not really supporting you they're supposed to be your team but they don't have your best interest at heart if you don't get that situation together it's going to be a problem I told him this because I've been here and he'd been switching up Crews a lot one month he'd have a bunch of guys around him the next month they'd be replaced by a new group he was swapping Crews the way some guys swap cars ride one for a while then trade it for another he probably thought that was all a part of the ad but I knew it was a serious miscalculation when you bring people around as a rapper there's an expectation that you provide them with opportunities help them get noticed as an artist themselves or get established as a behind the scenes player introduce them to Brands they can get checks from you only have a limited amount of time to make good on that expectation if you don't confusion will set in it will grow faster if they see you suggesting opportunities to other people when that happens the original crew will start feeling disposable you never want anyone around you feeling that way when someone perceives themselves as disposable any sense of loyalty will vanish instead of waiting for an opportunity they're going to aggressively come after you for what they think is owed to them they're going to extract that debt however they can being a smart kid to cous sord of value in my advice and conceded that he was in a precarious spot he even started to make moves to replace the guys that he knew had it in for but it was already too late not long after our conversation tekachi was arrested on federal Rico and Firearm charges in the indictment the government even alleged that several members of his crew had plotted to kill him I'm sure that was a scary realization for a kid who thought he was a WWF wrestler not someone who was actually playing with life and death Stakes as I'm right takachi has just finished testifying against his own crew and was sentenced to two years behind bars I believe one of the things that tripped up people like tekachi and Jau is that they grew up on the outskirts of the hood they weren't from the hood but they had been exposed to it it tricked them into thinking they were equipped to handle situations they weren't actually built for contrast them with someone like Drake who isn't even from the outskirts of the hood he's from a completely different environment I never see Drake associating too closely with the artist he puts on he always keeps a good deal of space between himself and whoever he's associated with at the time he's smart enough to judge his own character and conceive that there are some forces he won't be able to harness tekachi was a great judge of what white kids wanted to listen to in order to piss off their parents but he wasn't as good at assessing people's characters and intentions sad or still I really think tekachi is a perceptive kid if he would have slowed down and taken the time to study the people around him get a feel for their energy he would have realized that they were in the right fit for him instead he was in a rush the Instagram likes and retweets were coming so fast that he probably started to confuse social media with reality on social media the guy throwing up signs next to you is your man until the end your ride or die in real life things are never that simple jealousy and envy grow very easy especially when they start getting a taste of success if you bring a bunch of wolves in your circle you better be damn sure to feed them otherwise it won't be long before the pack turns on you if you want a textbook example of the right way to replace an existing crew with a new one consider what Jay-Z did while president of Def Jam records at the time a lot of people couldn't understand why an artist is successful as Jay-Z would want to switch up roles and take a job sitting behind a desk I'll admit I didn't quite understand it at first either for a while I was running gun records and I found that incredibly stressful no matter how hard you work for artists they are never happy as an artist himself Jay would know that but as I observed his tenure at dejam it began to dawn on me what he was up to he wasn't there to run the label he was there to construct a new team before taking over Death Jam Jay's crew had largely comprised the Philadelphia rappers he recruited and groomed under the state property franchise artists like beanie seagull freeway Chris and meek and deelo Sparks those guys were certainly and still are respected artists but none of them broke out commercially the way Jay had hoped his plan was for one of them to turn into the next Jay-Z just like I was hoping for Tonyo to be the next 50 Cent but it never happened by taking over Def Jam Jay positioned himself to make that label's pre-existing Superstars his new crew instead of being closely associated with beanie seagull in freeway he became associated with Kanye and Rihanna it was a major commercial upgrade and unlike when he was running Rockefeller records Jay didn't have to put in any work grooming them or investing money in their careers de Jam had already done that it was like moving into a fully furnished home and better still after he stopped running Def Jam Kanye and Rihanna still saw Jay as their boss he got to take all that furniture with him when he moved out I salute Jay for a sophisticated strategy there was nothing unethical or disloyal about it he gave those Phil artist plenty of opportunities when they were on Rockefeller records but when they never quite became what he set them up to be he was Savvy enough to move on a lot of people hesitate to make those moves they'd rather stay connected to those same group of people even if those people aren't getting them closer to success Jay didn't fall into that trap still hasn't provide encouragement in addition to maintaining discipline and stability within your crew to be a truly effective itive leader you also have to be able to motivate people with encouragement as tough as I can be on people who get out of line I'll also pride myself on being able to deliver heartfelt pep talks when they need it if you're primarily known as a disciplinarian the moments when you step out of that role and show that you have a real concern about someone will carry extra weight some of the best pep talks I've given have been before boxing matches there's something about that set and it really brings out the motivator in me one I remember specifically was when I was in the dressing room with Deontay Wilder before his rematch in the barklay Senter with Bain St one of the keys to delivering an impactful pep talk is being able to read the energy in the room and my read of that energy at that moment was it was not where it needed to be Deontay had his whole Entourage with him and there was no Focus everyone was laughing and talking [ __ ] like they were at a party Deontay had already beaten stver once before and it was clear to me that everyone had thought the fight was over before had even begun but that's a very dangerous way to approach a fight yes Deontay had beaten stver but the fight had gone the distance the first time that had happened in deon's career he needed to be locked in on the job in front of him a lot of Fighters have wound up knocked out because they didn't take their opponent seriously enough I waited until I got Deontay into a corner of a dressing room where there weren't many people around you're not focused I told him evenly I see you hitting the and everything but you're not in the zone man Deontay didn't have to say anything he knew I was right stop bullshitting this man the is standing in the way of what you want for the second time are you going to let him do that no I'm not Deontay replied good so let's make him pay for his mistakes then I told him my voice Rising suddenly everyone around us realized the energy was changing the room got quiet listen man I continued my voice taking on a menacing quality you gonna make him pay for thinking he could step into the ring with you again you were gon to take this man into the deep Waters and then drown him now I had Deontay locked in he went back to hit in the mids this time with a purpose then I walked him out into the ring while performing mini man the party was over now it was time for business it didn't take long Deontay knocked stver down three times in the first round before the referee called it the ref literally had to jump on Deontay back to get him off stver it all happened so fast that I didn't have time to make it back from The Ring to my seat in the Sky Box afterward Deontay said that he had felt possessed in the ring I was standing on the outside of my body just watching and observing myself beat this man he told the in the corner podcast I know he was able to get to that state because I helped bring him that before I spoke to him Deontay was going to walk into the ring in an unfocused state after our talk he went in there with a laser focus which is what you need when your opponent is trying to smash your face in I gave a similar talk to Floyd Mayweather before his fight with Victor Ortiz when I came into the dressing room before the fight I immediately became uncomfortable with how comfortable Floyd was it was clear to me that Floyd and his team thought this fight was going to be a walk in the park well I wasn't going to let Floyd walk into the Trap I wasn't the only one who noticed Floyd's energy was very nonchalant the TV announcer observed as Floyd slowly made his way to the ring he's not worried at all he has no fear or butterflies confidence is great but too much of it can make a fighter vulnerable but for a fight a boxer should have butterflies they should be a little nervous they should feel like they're about to run into someone who's going to try and kill them because that's exactly what's going to happen even someone like Floyd arguably the greatest defensive fighter of all time should never allow himself to believe that his opponent isn't capable of knocking his head off I needed to shake Floyd out of that state if I couldn't make him scared I figured I could at least make him angry Ortiz hadn't demonstrated any animosity towards Floyd leading up to the fight if anything Ortiz's energy has said thanks Floyd I really appreciate the opportunity I was worried that Floyd was starting to feel friendly towards Ortiz I had to get Floyd in a more appropriately aggressive mind state if you watch the video of the fight as Floyd I approach the ring I whispered something in his ear the microphones didn't pick it up but this is what I told him [ __ ] this bum he's trying to make sure you can't feed your kids what you say F Floyd responded this [ __ ] is trying to take food out of your children's mouth do not let him do it when I told him that it's like he went into a trans first he started stomping his feet then he ran into a ring a man on the mission Floyd ended up knocking Ortiz out in the fourth round after the fight we all piled into a van to go back to Floyd's hotel as soon as we pulled out Floyd started yelling yo five said some [ __ ] to me he was happy because he knew I put him in the right head space before I got in his ear he was probably feeling bad for a teas probably didn't want to go too hard on him I corrected that mindset knock him out and make sure that the money is straight going forward which is exactly what Floyd did when I was first casting for power I had one person in mind to play the lead character ghost Omari harwit I had seen Omari in the movie Next Day Air and I identified him as someone who could be a leading man in a hit TV show the network has some other actors in mind but I was focused on Omari to me he embodied the combination of intelligence masculinity unpredictability and violence that was ghosts I just needed to help Stars see it too when it was time to begin casting we first brought in Joe Shakur to read for a role of Tommy as you're probably not shocked to learn Joe absolutely killed it from the very first page he was completely at home with the character the energy in the room was vibrant as he went through his lines as soon as he left no one had to say a word Joe had the roll next up was Omari I was excited because I spent weeks hyping him up to the network executives now was his time to prove me right but unlike Joe Omari was very flat he read the lines but his energy was lacking it was clear he wasn't connecting with the character something wasn't right when omari's read was over and he left the room one of the executives look at me and said sorry but we don't know if this is the right guy I understood why they felt that way but I still believed in my vision of Omari playing ghost I just needed to help Omari see it too so that night I got on the phone with him yo you all right I asked him you didn't seem like you was into it today yeah I'm all right okay but they're telling me they're not sure you're the guy what are we going to do about that well if they feel that way they should probably just go with someone else that wasn't the reply I was looking for it meant the conversation was going in the wrong direction I had to get Omari turned around and prepared to fight for the role instead of feeling defeated I needed to take the gloves off and be real with them you're talking about just give it to someone else but then what are you going to do next I asked him do you feel good enough about your career to just walk away from a staring rooll without giving it your best do you have a strong Plan B for what happens when someone else gets the roll in all the glory if so fine but if you don't you better get back in there and read that role the way I know you can Omari kept telling me he didn't care if he lost a role but I knew he didn't mean it that was just his ego talking he was disappointed that they didn't respond positively to his read Omari knew he could act he just was internalizing the information instead of performing it listen there's a reason why you're on top of the call sheet I told him I insisted that your name was first and the reason I did is because I saw you an next to a I know you can kill us rooll we wrote it with you in mind you are going to be the star of a TV series playing ghost do not let your ego trip you up here if those execs don't think you're right for the role go back in there and prove to them that you are finally he began to see things my way we started talking about ghost motivations in future story lines his energy picked up Omari begin to see what I saw you're right 50 he told me I can be this guy by the end of the conversation he was excited and ready to read again I set it up for the next day and this time he was completely locked in he had Swagger and and was medent but there was a deep intelligence in his eyes too he was in the pocket he was Ghost today it's almost impossible to think of anyone but Omari playing that role but there was absolutely a moment where Omari was prepared to let that opportunity pass without putting up a fight what a mistake that would have been Not only would it have negatively impacted power but it would have cost Omari so many opportunities that have come with being the star of a hit TV series he's a household name now with multiple movies about to come out all because of what he's done as ghost in order to get the best out of the people around you sometime you have to clearly and forcefully articulate the opportunities you see for them just because you see something for them you can't assume they see it too if someone's not responding to or taking advantage of the opportunities you've created for them you're going to have to take them to that place that's literally what leading means you cannot construct a team and expect everyone to instinctively know the position they're supposed to play That's How confusion and later frustration sets in if someone is not in a competitive mode then it's on you as a leader to activate that mode for them from your top Lieutenant to the lowest person on the totem pole you need to be able to articulate not only where you need the person to go but also the steps they should follow to get there most of the time getting people to the right path will require require bringing their competitiveness and Cockiness down a few notches helping them like in the case of bangham Smurf be a little bit more realistic about what they're capable of and where they stand but occasionally like in the situation of Omari you're going to have to take the opposite approach you're going to have to lift them up a bit remind them of what they're capable of believe in them so openly that they start to believe in themselves the key is understanding that different people require different tactics you can't coach everyone on your team the same way if I had barked on Omari the way I barked on bangham Omari would have never came out of the shell just like if I had gassed up bangham the way I gassed up Omari bangham would have imploded on a spot except that everyone on your team is going to have their own Hang-Ups issues and insecurities and then address them with the appropriate energy you can't have a one-size fits-all mindset when it comes to effective leadership you need to tell a specific approach to every single person on your team in order to get the most out of them learning to trust again on August 30th 2012 I was in my office working on a promo plan for New Day a track I just done with Alicia Keys when I received a urgent phone call from a friend he had devastating news Chris Le my longtime friend and manager was dead I had been standing in the middle of a bustling office but when I heard the words Chris is dead it was like the noise around me suddenly turned turned off I can't believe I just heard you say those words to me I told my friend say it again so I'm sure I'm hearing you right but there was no miscommunication no mistake Chris Lighty the man who helped guide my career both through the valleys and over the mountaintops was gone even more devastatingly I was being told that he had shot himself that Chris Lighty one of the smartest most self- assured and most motivated people I'd ever met had decided to take his own life to this day it doesn't feel right Chris's death was a blow on many levels the most devastating of course was knowing what his loss would mean to his children Chris's daughter Tiffany and I in particular were close and I knew she worshiped the ground He Walked on soon as I learned he had passed I made a vow that I would look out for Tiffany in his absence I tried to live up to that promise rewriting my will to include her I'm so supportive of Tiffany that I didn't even flip when she knocked the mirror off one of the Lambos I let her drive that's how you know is love Beyond its impact on Chris's family I was also worried about what his death would mean for me out of all my business associates Chris was easily the one I felt closest to I had met Chris early in my career when I was first out supporting my mixtapes even though he had grown up in the Bronx and was a little bit older than me I felt like I had known him my entire life we were very similar in our background and our energy Chris going by the name baby Chris had come up with a bronx crew called the violators from snatching people's chains and clubs he graduated to carrying records for legendary DJ Red Alert that relationship led him to becom a aour manager for groups like tribe cor Quest and deaso he later became a successful executive at Deer before launching violator his management company with Mona Scott just like I was always seeking to find balance between 50 Cent and Curtis Jackson Chris had two distinct sides to him as well Chris Lighty the executive could sit down in the boardroom and have no problem cutting a multi-million dollar deal but baby Chris from the Bronx would still want to smack you in your face if you play too much around him we were both constantly walking the tight rope between respecting our street and demonstrating our corporate character for that reason alone we deeply understood each other with Chris for the first time in my life I had someone outside my immediate family who I trusted implicitly with my money with my visions and with my future a trust as I've said that is very hard for me to build I didn't realize how much I trusted Chris to not long after he died and I had to appear at a deposition about one of my businesses as a lawyer quits me about how the operation was run I began to realize that my answer to almost all the questions was that something Chris would handle it really brought home to me what a huge role Chris had played in my career I've really struggled to feel that voice since Chris past I know I'll never find another manager like him but there is someone out there with similar qualities that can help me who could take some of the burden off me and allow me to focus on the bigger picture who could advise me push me towards even greater achievement who could understand both 50 Cent and Curtis Jackson I started this chapter saying the greatest attribute of most successful entrepreneurs is being an insute judge of character so the question I have to ask myself is have I lost faith in my ability to judge people astutely or have I been uneasy opening up my life and career to someone the way I did with Chris because to really let a manager do their best work you've got to let them into almost all aspects of your life I believe the answer is that I've been too guarded in trying to find another Chris one of the goals I got to set for myself is reestablishing my confidence in ability to evaluate and read people I've always been confident in that regard so I need to embrace that skill set and start the process of establishing that trust with someone again it can be scary to open your life up to someone new but when you pick the right person it can also be incredibly beneficial chapter 4 knowing your value know your worth then add tax un know own wouldn't it be great if you always got paid your worth without having to fight for it if every time you went for a new position tried to negotiate a raise or ask for a bonus you were compensated fairly of course life doesn't usually work that way if anything the opposite is true whenever you work for someone else they're going to try to pay you less than what you're worth it doesn't matter if they're a good guy a friend or even family if they can save a couple of bucks they're going to try to at your expense you can't even be mad it's just business but what you can do is be strategic ensure that instead of getting overlooked swept to the side or hustled you'll always receive maximum value for your efforts it's not as hard as it might seem even more surprisingly often the best way to extract maximum value is by choosing not to drive the hardest bargain give me the loop I got my mind on my money and my money on my mind [ __ ] you pay me those classic hip-hop lyrics and many others like them helped reshape people's attitude about the maning their full worth that energy is one of Hip Hop's greatest cultural contributions the eely brothers are funky as hell but they aren't putting out [ __ ] you pay me energy I love earthwind and fire as much as the next man but they don't have folks ready to demand a raise hip hop gave you that energy on steroids and washed down with a Red Bull we may getting paid in full a Cornerstone of the culture the critics don't want to admit it but hip hop absolutely empowered people to stand up for themselves in a way no other art form has as 50 Cent I've definitely promoted that mindset as much as anyone from the moment I picked up a mic I've been rapping about getting money do a gif search of paid me and my face is literally one of the first images to come up I'm proud to have helped spread that energy Curtis Jackson however he's become a little more nuanced I learned over the years that though the pay me energy is incredibly powerful I have to apply it judiciously if I walk into a situation with my aura screaming give me the loot give me the loot it may match the 50 Cent Pana but it will also grind a lot of situations to a halt before they can get moving into the right destination today I'm extremely strategic When approaching a new opportunity instead of focusing on just how big my initial payday is going to be I try to evaluate all the ways the situation can benefit me even those that don't include a check if there's been a single Hallmark for my career outside of rap it's been my ability to identify value in unexpected situations if I had just followed the normal rappers Playbook I wouldn't have had much of a career outside of Music a couple of endorsements and then off to the hip-hop retirement home I've always had other the plans though I was going to get all the money my talent deserve even if it meant taking some unorthodox steps the right dealers out there wait for it because I'm known as a pretty aggressive guy who moves quickly towards the action it might surprise you that one of my greatest negotiation strengths is actually patience no matter how much money's on the table how much pressure I'm under or how good or bad my last Venture performed I will always wait for the best deal before I commit the best examp example of this is my decision to sign with Eminem Shady Records and in the scope it's a decision in retrospect that seems like a no-brainer a layup that anyone could have made maybe but I promise you that the decision wasn't so obvious at the time a lot of people including some very respected names in the music business thought I was crazy for turning down some of the other deals I had been off at first to understand why they felt that way let's consider the context my first record deal was with Jam Master J jmj records which I signed when I was around 21 years old Jay is the guy who taught me how to actually put together a song before I met him I was just spitting Over beats without any direction Jay groomed me he slowed me down and showed me how to incorporate Melody and structure into a fully fleshed out hit song Those were critical skills for me to develop but at the end of the day jmj wasn't a real label it was more of a production company Jay had a studio where he recorded artists and sadly where he would later be murdered once he thought an artist was polished enough he would bring their music to an actual label like Atlantic or Death Jam to pitch to their anr Department if the label was into the music Jay would sign a deal for JJ then in theory the artist would get paid out of Jay's deal I wasn't aware at first that that's how it worked I thought once I'd sign the jmj I officially made it I won't ever claim to be the smartest guy in the room but I do catch on the things pretty quickly once I realized jmj wasn't going to put my records out directly I said nah this ain't it and asked for an exit Jay didn't want to let me go scotf free and in the end I had to pay him $50,000 to get out of my contract after that I hooked up with a production door the track masters and through them was able to do a real deal with Columbia Records I recorded a bunch of songs from my debut album but then things St more on that shortly before the album could come out I got shot as the rumors began to spread about what was behind the shooting Colombia panicked and dropped me at that point I was almost 25 years old very young for a teacher a doctor or a lawyer but not so young in the euphorian culture like hip-hop worse I was perceived as damaged goods on top of being shot I'd already forced my way out of one deal and been dropped by a major label most people in the industry didn't think I was worth the headache a lot of rappers in my situation would have felt very uneasy they would have worried that their dream was about to slip out of their reach racked by anxiety and confusion if a label any label offered them a deal they probably would have signed it that day and yet that wasn't my mentality I didn't care about what had already happened to me I wasn't signing anything unless I was sure it was the best deal for me in that moment and going forward my past wasn't going to cloud my vision for the future the first deal I got offer of was from Universal they said they wanted me but when I had a lawyer review that contract I learned the actual deal they were offering was a joint venture with $1.3 million for a solo album and a gunit project I saw it for what it was a way for them to work with me while hedging their bets I wasn't looking to partner with anyone who wasn't prepared to go all the way in with me I passed on universal then a guy named 3 from Capitol Records reached out he flew me out to LA my first trip to the West Coast when I got there I was surprised to see he was this little white kid it seemed crazy to me that he already had so much juice but I thought it was Ill he had already maneuvered himself into this position of power he was hungry and cocky not unlike myself I was very tempted to work with him then his boss at Capitol got cold feet he told Triple H I was too scary and that he didn't want bodyguards at his house he wasn't incorrect there was a menacing Aura around me at the time and bodyguards follow along everywhere I went I wasn't going to try to convince someone who couldn't see my value as much as I like Triple H I knew that Capital wasn't the right situation either at the time I was represented by violated Chris was my manager and someone I leaned on for advice he supported me when I didn't take those deals but I could tell it wasn't easy for him Chris had to worry if I was ever going to give him a return on his investment in me yes I had the streets buzzing through my mixtapes but I had a lot of baggage too the safe move would have been to take one of those deals and finally get my debut album out things got even more complicated when Todd mosich who was working with Chris at violator lined up a deal for me at J Records Todd said it was the perfect situation I'd be working with the industry Legend Clyde Davis which would calm a lot of folks fears about me Todd pushed hard for me to sign with j recers at almost the same time Todd was making his push I got word that Eminem was interested in signing me to Shady Records his imprint on inos scope I knew right away that that was the right situation the martial matters LP had just sold 22 million in was the reason so many white fans were embracing hip-hop culture it was the type of Association you might get access to only once in a lifetime if you're fortunate I was faced with the difficult decision today people believed I would have succeeded no matter what label I signed with go the chat rooms and message boards and you'll even see fans claiming things like 50 was so hot back then he could have sign with cotch and still sold little markets yeah I was hot but even if my ego would like to believe otherwise my career wouldn't have had anywhere near the same trajectory had I signed anywhere other than inos scope not cotch not Universal not J Records it wasn't just Eminem's presence either inter scope gave me access to Dr Dre one of the greatest producers of all time there was no other team out there that could match the power of that tag team I knew I had been groomed for the Moment by all my other failures and misses when that door opened even just a crack no one had to tell me twice to walk through it before I could take the step though Todd MOS had to get out of the way the J Records deal would mean money for violator the Eminem deal wouldn't Todd refused to let it go so some of my crew and I had to go to Violet to discuss the situation Todd came on very aggressively explaining that we were contractually obligated to sign his deal I looked at Chris for help but he Shrugged the shoulders like there was nothing he could do he was caught between what was best for his artist and what Todd thought was best for his company it was a surreal situation listening to this guy in a sports jacket and dress shoes trying to convince me I should pass up on an opportunity of a lifetime to sign what I knew was a lesser deal what Todd was saying didn't sit right with me or my people we expressed Our concern concerns we might have been a little aggressive in articulating them at one point I remember Todd running out of his office and down the stairs towards the street his dress shoes clicking and clacking on the steps the whole way down suffice it to say that was the last of any talk about me signing to J rets inter scope would be my new home we all know how the deal turned out it made me one of the biggest stars in the history of hip-hop but I have to stress this again at the time it was not a clear-cut decision it was harder to tell Violet to know I didn't give a rat's ass what Todd MOS wanted but Chris was a good friend passing on J Records put him in a tough spot he stuck with me when a lot of other folks had abandoned me he kept it real when others had blown smoke up my ass it would have been a lot easier to just sign the J Records deal get a good check and make everyone happy it would have been a compromise but one a lot of people could have lived with not me you cannot under any circumstances compromise when is your vision on the line you have to be prepared to go against popular opinion and turn down money even if it jeopardizes your relationships until you're confident you found the right opportunity would you marry a man just because he proposed or a woman because your friends think she's great I hope not you don't make a commitment like that just because someone else wants you to I don't care if you're single 37 years old and every time you talk to your mom the first thing out of her mouth is when you giving me a grand child you wait until you're 100% sure he's missed the right before you even think about saying yes would you put an offer in the house because the agent you're working with is getting tired of showing you around and just wants his commission hell no you get another agent and go from open house to open house until you finally find a home you can afford that you're excited to spend the rest of your life in when you settle you're demonstrating a lack of confidence if your journey hasn't been easy you might start to question the value of what you're doing maybe you better grab the next thing to get offered before you never get offered anything again when you begin thinking like that you've lost the Hustler spirit I was recently talking to a friend who was struggling to find that confidence he started a business from the ground up and poured his heart and soul into it after years of hard work he found success and bigger companies started making offers he looked at where his industry was heading and decided it was the right time to sell he entered negotiations with company and spent months and months going over terms of the deal they spent tens of thousands of dollars on lawyers then just before he was about to sign on the dotted line the other company pulled out the deal was dead my friend was stunned it seriously messed him up he had already started thinking about that dream house we would buy with the proceeds vacations he'd take his kids on he'd seen all those zeros in his bank account and now they were gone he was depressed he felt like he had spent so much time and money for nothing the idea of starting new negotiations gave him anxiety he told his loyers to find the quickest deal they could he wasn't worried about fit he wasn't worried about long-term potential he just wanted to get something done he lost confidence in his value it was time for a pep talk he needed to reconnect with the Hustler spirit that leted him to start the business in the first place remember if just one person was interested that me your idea has value I reassured him don't panic don't settle for something else unless it's right there are companies out there who pray on people in your exact situation don't walk into their trap get back to work and wait for the right partner to emerge I could address his uncertainties directly because I could relate to what he was feeling when you pour everything you have into something and it doesn't work out insecurity SS in that's When You're vulnerable the Predators will sense that self-doubt and try to take advantage of it I felt the same kind of vulnerability after I got dropped from columia the self-doubt started to sabotage my energy my fans probably didn't sense it but it was there thankfully my Hustler Spirit was stronger than any pessimism that might have infiltrated my spirit I had the confidence and patience to wait until the right deal was in front of me I believed in my value and eventually I was rewarded for it in just a couple of years I went from being dropped to releasing one of the best selling hip-hop albums of of all time now the guys that I used to sit next to that I hustled with they would say I was lucky the in the scope came after me but as my grandmother would say you are truly blessed it might seem obvious but people don't always see the value of a strong Association sometimes and this is especially true with artists they get so caught up in their own hype that they don't think they need anyone to cosign them they believe their heat alone is more than enough to get the job done it's great to have confidence but never let your ego blind you to an association that can take you further than you can go on your own I saw this happened firsthand with a Philadelphia rapper named Gilly the kid he was brought to my attention by the legendary Philly disc jockey Cosmic Kev at the time I was riding sky high off my first couple of albums and constantly had people picture me their artist Kev was season so he knew the best way to get my attention was to approach me humbly yo I never asked you for anything he told me which was true but I need one favor I need you to listen to gillies's Joint cuz this is going to pop I had a lot of respect for Kev so I gave it a listen he was right it felt like a hit I like the song so much I decided I would walk Gilly into in scope if you're not familiar with that term it means that instead of making him pitch his music to an anr person I would personally take his music to the executives in charge having someone walk you in is what you want as an artist it allows you to to bypass all the lower level people and talk directly to the top brass it's especially valuable if the person walking you in just sold 25 million records for the label then you really got everyone's attention I played Gilly song for one of the top Executives at first they weren't as so as I was then I told them my plan listen I don't think it makes sense to put Gilly on gunit I explained I didn't know if it sound would mesh with what we were doing at the time but if you guys him I'll give the project my full support I'll put the battery in his pack the executive said okay that changes things let's do it if I co-signed it they knew it was going to sell we sent word back to Gilly that there was a deal on the table at in scope I forgot how much they were offering but I remember it being fair evidently Gilly didn't see it the same way nah [ __ ] that you replied when Kev told him the number they got to give me a million to sign I was surprised his response but out of respect for Kev I went back and told the EXA what he wanted they felt it was way out of line for someone without much of a track record they were willing to bring him on but not for a million bucks outright Gilly wouldn't budge people tried to talk to him telling him that there was momentum he needed to harness but he had his mindset on that million dollars and when in scope wouldn't give it to him he passed on the deal it was an ill mistake his error was he allowed himself to get in his Zone where it was all about the money his vision was too limited another Factor was his environment Philly is a big enough City but it's rappid Community is pretty small everyone knows what the other guy is doing Gilly probably heard what Beanie seagull had signed for or what Philly's most Wanted had gotten and figured he had to hold out to be in the same league it was the wrong way to assess the deal instead of focusing on what the next man got he should have focused on the larger opportunity which was having me get behind his project with all my momentum I could have given him the heed he needed and then some I have zero doubt that with my coai Gilly would have ended up making way more than a million dollars from in scope instead he signed somewhere else and several years later released an album that didn't get the proper support or attention that was pretty much it he never had his moment despite his proven skills today Gillies a respected OG on the Philly scene and has a popular podcast but he never experienced the level of success he should have as a rapper focus on the potential not the payday when we look back at how I evaluated the Eminem deal notice all the positives I focused on Elite Talent to work with a lack of internal competition and access to a new fan base now notice what I didn't mention money I knew whatever number we agreed on would ultimately be irrelevant compared to what I would earn long term with the proper plan in place my signing bonus for Shady Records Was only $1 million but I ended up earning so much money off that deal the signing bonus is almost irrelevant it might sound counterintuitive especially in the chapter titled know your value but the first check you receive should never be your biggest concern always focus on the long-term potential instead that was the principle behind one of the best business decisions I ever made which was my deal with vitamin water back in 2004 today I'm celebrated for that decision but like when I sound with them andm at the time it had a lot of people scratching their heads that includes Chris Lighty who was skeptical when I first told him I wanted to invest in a water company sell water to who he asked at the time a lot of rappers were making money promoting liquor like Hennessy or cavasier in Chris's mind booze was the smartest space to invest in there was a method to my Madness though I knew through personal experience people don't always drink alcohol at Live Events maybe they're under 21 or don't want to Shell out $20 for a stale beer one thing that's always available and popular at any concert however is water it's always going to be the top selling beverage at events one day I was walking through the water aisle in the supermarket and noticed a premium brand selling for $3 then I saw the noname brands were going for closer to 75 I thought to myself if you blind blindfold to me there's no way I could tell which one was which the premium brand had just done a better job at marketing and promoting that was another breakthrough it had never occurred to me before but just like booze you can mark up water not to mention water was a more authentic representation of my lifestyle I don't really drink alcohol but I definitely consume lots of water and because I consume so much of it I know drinking pure water alone got boring to switch things up a bit I started drinking flavored water one day I was working out in the gym in LA and my trainer gave me a bottle of something called Vitamin Water I took a swig and liked it so much that I made a mental note that that was a company I should invest in just to make sure I didn't forget I actually threw my empty bottle in my gym bag when I got back to my hotel I called Chris and told him about the flavored water that I like so much he did some research and found out it was distributed by a company called glasso that was based in Queens of all places with my insistence we decided that this is the brand that I should be working with once I sold Chris on my vision we hatched the plan during a commercial for my Rebox sneakers that showed me working out in the boxing gym We snuck in a shot of me taking a sip of Vitamin Water it was barely half a second but it was enough a friend of Chris's who worked at glasso sort a spot and reached out to see if I'd be interested in an endorsement deal they had just developed a new product called formula 50 because it contained 50% of the RDA of seven vitamins and minerals who better to sell formula 50 than me I agreed but I count it with something different than the standard endorsement deal instead of taking a five or six fig deal to appear in the ads I wanted to invest in the entire company instead of taking cash from them I actually wanted equity in the company it was a very aggressive ass and it caught glass off guard they weren't opposed to the idea but they were nervous about getting into business with me on that level they only knew me as a rapper been shot nine times and they weren't sure they wanted to be associated with that sort of energy I needed to put their minds at ease so I took a meeting with the company CEO I didn't show up with an Entourage just chring me I expressed how much respect I had for their brand I was already a loyal consumer and how hard I planed to work at spreading the word I didn't give off the Arrogant attitude or aggressive energy they probably were expecting I presented myself as someone who saw a special business opportunity and was prepared to work his ass s to make it happen and that was the truth my Approach helped them get over their apprehension and we were able to strike a equity deal the next order of business was to reimagine formula 50 to me Vitamin Water was just a more upscale version of quarter water the flavored drink she would get in bodegas for 25 cents a pop as anyone from the hood can tell you the most popular flavor of quarter water has always been great no one from the hood was trying to mess with lii or passion fruit flavor water which was what they had been thinking about formula 50 had to be great to resonate with my base glasso respected my vision and changed the flavor of the grape once everything was settled I promoted the hell out of Vitamin Water I was on billboards and bus stop ads across the country I filmed the iconic commercial where I conducted a symphony orchestra playing in the club while taking sips of formula 50 it seemed everywhere you look I was extoling the virtues of vitamin water glass market share begin to rise and the beverage industry took notice so much so that in 2007 Coca-Cola purchased glasso for $4.1 billion of course I got a piece of that I'd like to give you a number but I signed a non-disclosure agreement to never name the actual price let's just say I did very very well it was the biggest come up in my life which I later celebrated in the song I Get Money I took quarter water Sol in the bottles for two bucks then Coca-Cola came in board for pains what the [ __ ] what the [ __ ] was definitely what the rest of Hip Hop was asking once they heard how much I made there had been groundbreaking hip-hop deals before Run DMC and Adidas LL cooj and FUBU but nothing even remotely on this level in an environment where everyone was looking for the next deal I had identified with something that was sitting in plain sight but no one else had been able to see I was confident enough in my vision not to get get caught up worrying about The Upfront money to be fair I was still riding high off of the success of my recording career and wasn't pressed for another 100K I understand that not many people may find themselves in that position still no matter what your situation is financially if you really believe in something I'd always recommend that you go for a piece of equity over an upfront payday when you ask for Equity you're essentially betting on yourself when I did that with Vitamin Water it was a fairly unique bet to make now with the rise of startups it's a form of compensation that a lot of people are looking for especially in the tech and media Fields it's always smart to negotiate for Equity but you also have to be Savvy about what sort of equity you're getting because all slices of the Corp P are not always equal if you're about to negotiate a deal with a company that might include Equity the first thing you must do is hire a lawyer I don't care if you're broke this is something you must do borrow the money if you have to the make sure someone who's familiar with corporate governance don't hire your cousin who does Real Estate work or the guy that handled your divorce because they'll do it a little cheaper you're someone who specializes in these kind of contracts spending a few extra dollars at this stage even if it hurts for a minute can save you a ton of money down the road you should also familiarize yourself with some basic issues so that you're educated when you do speak with someone most people aren't going to be in the same position I was in with bitamin water where I could actually actually get a piece of the company instead you're probably going to be in a situation where the company is offering you a lower salary offset by stock options before you can determine if that's a good deal you need to know the overall valuation of the company if the company already put out an IPO an initial stock offering you can calculate its market value by multiplying the company's stock price by the number of shares outstanding if it hasn't issued any stock yet it's going to be harder to figure out your probably going to have to ask the founders what their method of determining the valuation of the company was if they don't want to tell you or give you a vague answer that doesn't make sense then it's probably not a deal you want to pursue anyway if you're being off of stock you need to know whether it is vested or not most stock options are vested which means you have to stay with the company for a certain amount of time before you can cash them in if your option does invest for 4 years you need to ask yourself if you're comfortable staying with the company that if not the equity might not be worth it a lot of times people hear the terms Equity or stock options and think that they've hit the lottery it is true that equity and stocks are one of the quickest ways to get a lot of money but you can't just walk into a startup situation blindly you have to educate yourself and ask a lot of difficult questions early in the process that way if the startup you're working for does become one of the rare ones that ceases value Skyrocket you're going to be perfectly POS position to reap the rewards I've seen a lot of people miss out on a golden opportunity by chasing a check instead of maneuvering for a piece of equity probably the most egregious example is my former associate shamoney XL I met Shia when I was first getting into music before signing the in the scope I recorded a lot of songs for my mixtapes in the studio sha operated in the basement of his house in Long Island it wasn't a professional setup by a long shot but it got the job done more important sha provided a safe and secure space to record when a lot of bigger Studios didn't want to [ __ ] with me because of his loyalty and consistency during a difficult time I considered Shia my partner we never formalized our relationship but in my head it was a foregoing conclusion that when I sign my next major label deal Shia would eat off the situation too so imagine my surprise when one of the first things Shai did after I signed my oscope deal was Pres the label with a $50,000 invoice he wanted to be reimbursed for the recording sessions we done at his house that blew me away on several levels first off we've never discussed Shad charging me for the time at his place and if that was something he felt that he was old why would you submit something so overinflated $50,000 to record in his basement it was disrespectful I decided to try and talk some sense in the shot look I didn't think you were going to hand me a bill for what we we did at your crib I told him but if you feel like you need to get paid for those sessions just take $30,000 and a point off the album I was offering less cash than he wanted but it was actually a very generous deal a point was an industry term that meant for every album sold shot would receive 1% of the royalties in the record business points to what everyone is looking for if an album really takes off there's no limit to the amount you might make judging from the buzz around me we would talking about an album that was definitely going to take off Shia wasn't interested in the point even his lawyer told him he was crazy take the [ __ ] point the guy told him I'll give you $20,000 right now for it what the [ __ ] is wrong with you he wouldn't even listen to his own attorney sha wanted his 50k for me and wasn't going to budge he ended up getting it but it would be a decision that cost him dearly that single point on get Richard die tryan ended up being worth 1.3 million he didn't just lose over a million dollar either after get rich of di tryan started flying off the shelves and T scope offered me a $15 million deal for gunit records once that deal was signed I knowed sha started hanging around my office a lot I guess he thought he was going to get some of that budget too nope you ain't getting none of this money I was quick to tell him you took your Equity out of the situation when you demanded the 50,000 now you've been paid for everything you done our relationship was never the same in just a few months I'd gone from seeing shy as a partner I was prepared to share Millions with to just another contractor sha undercut his own position by not understanding how to negotiate he got fixated on that $50,000 and could not get himself unstuck this is one of the biggest mistakes you can make when entering the negotiation never get fixated on a number you want the person you're negotiating with to think is stuck but when the right moment comes you have to be prepared to move off it that's not undervaluing yourself it's just a matter of understanding successful negotiations are built on give and take if you refuse to concede anything the conversation isn't going anywhere if sha had understood that basic principle he would have seen that there was a very easy path towards getting what he wanted and then some let me show you how he should have handled it when I offered him $30,000 in a point he shouldn't have dismissed it out of hand instead he should have come back to me with some humility you know what fif I was tripping by submitting that bill don't worry about the 50k even if he didn't believe it in his heart he should have sensed I was pissed and softened his position a bit once he had gotten me to let down my guard just a bit he could have come back with a stronger ask I know I was thirsty with the bill but I did put a lot of tal to this album we were really in the trenches together on it and I I really appreciate you offering the point but instead of one could we do two points if he had said that I wouldn't have been upset he was in the trenches with me after all he had proved his worth and loyalty I would have probably said let me think about it and then count it with one in a half points in all likelihood that's where we would have settled sha would have walked away with close to $2 million from that deal alone plus our relationship would have remained on strong terms it would likely have gotten points on subsequent album as well instead he got only a fraction of that I was offering him a chance to enter a new tax bracket and he negotiated himself into nickel and dimes due to Ego insecurity and possibly lack of faith that's not hustling stronger it's hustling weaker I believe one of the reasons sha failed to negotiate his proper value is because he took the process personally maybe his pride told him he shouldn't have to ask me for anything maybe he didn't trust me or maybe it was just plain old greed whatever his reasons sh clearly let things get personal this is the other huge mistake people make when they start negotiating they take offense to what's being offered because they feel it's an unfair representation of what they put in please understand this negotiations are not personal again I don't care if you're dealing with a longtime business partner a friend or a family member the other person is never going to start at a number you think is fair it's just not how how the process works they're always going to start at a lower number and then come up when you push back just how high they come up depends on how good of a negotiator you are but they're never going to start at that number trust me I've been a part of thousands of negotiations and none of them have started where I wanted to be even with all the leverage I have as a proven entrepreneur and Entertainer to this day I still have to work to get to the number I'm looking for the key is I never react act emotionally even if the energy I'm projecting is of someone who's pissed off and about to walk away internally I'm cool I'm just waiting to see how my energy is received if I push and push and the other side still won't move then I'll walk away but more often than not a few pushes get me to where I want to be and then we seal a deal once it's done it's like all the postering and threatening never happen everyone hugs raises a toast and talks about how excited they are to be in business together when I first started operating in Corporate America I can't lie this threw me off a bit in the streets there are certain words you can't come back from in the boardroom is different people will call you outrageous liar [ __ ] and [ __ ] but then act like it never happened once the deal is reached in the streets those might be the last words you say if you say them to the wrong person but in the corporate world it's different those words never really carry any weight to them it's all a part of the process something that has to be tolerated to reach a common ground you should always fight for your worth but never take offense that you have to fight in the first place when you do that you're moving off of emotion it might not be fair but to get what you want you can only move off of strategy anything less will leave you hustling backwards creating real power one of the best deals I ever negotiated was with stars for my TV show Power it was also at least initially one of my least lucrative deals but that didn't phase me at all my strategy when I started talking to Stars was not to get the biggest check possible it was to create the biggest opportunity possible from the moment I came up with the idea for power I knew that I was sitting on something special my goal wasn't just to launch a single TV show I was looking to create a franchise where the characters were so compelling that eventually they could support their own spin-offs what Marvel had done in movies I wanted power to do in TV I wasn't trying to create a planet I wanted to create a universe to bring that Universe into existence I had to be very humble with my initial demands despite my success in music and movies my track record and television wasn't as strong my only other foray into TV an apprentice s reality show on MTV called the money and the power had been canceled after one season I had to accept that I didn't have the leverage to demand a superstar size Check Yes Stars believed in my vision but they weren't ready to break open the bank the budget they were offering was limited if I wanted the show to be a hit I'd have to spread that money around that's why I agreed to do the first season for just $177,000 an episode over eight episodes that came out to $136,000 mind you it wasn't just $177,000 for acting the show I was also the executive producer that meant I spent months in the writer's room and working with showrunner Courtney Camp when it was time to promote I had to be front and center on Good Morning America calling into radio stations and shaking sponsors hands I was making a total commitment to the show for 136 Grand from a strictly Financial perspective it looked like a terrible deal for me I could have made three times the amount just by doing a few Club appearances or a 10-minute show forget about getting paid fairly given how much time I invested I basically paid myself to make that first season P when some people found out how much I had agreed to do the first season for they were shocked they figured I would have told Stars man I'm 50 Cent I can walk into a club pretend to drink a glass of champagne for 5 minutes and get paid $50,000 no way I'm signing this that response may have seemed in character for 50 Cent but it would have been a very short-sighted strategy that's how sha money or Gilly the kid might evaluate a situation but not Curtis Jackson by doing power for well below my normal rate I was betting on myself again and this bet paid off spectacularly power quickly became star's highest rated show by a wide margin over the past 5 years it's single-handedly driven the network success that metric has given me a lot of Leverage in negotiations when I first started talking to them I had to be a little down to earth after the show blew up I could afford to be more aggressive I built up so much leverage that I just resigned with stars for $150 million the deal includes a three- series commitment and a fund to help develop other gunit projects when it's all said and done it will probably be worth a lot more than that even when I was hustling on the set in the wrers room and on the promo runs I never for a second thought my True Value was only 177,000 an episode that was just the number I had to agree on to jump start the process my True Value was going to lie in executive producing and starring in a hit TV show that would birth multiple spin-offs and multiple revenue streams everything I was doing in season 1 was meant to put me in a better position to make that happen to be fair I can afford to work for cheap that first season I understand most people aren't in such a fortunate position for you taking less money up front might mean encountering real hardship it might mean having to work a second job on top of whatever Venture you're pursuing it might mean taking out loans or giving up your apartment and moving in with a roommate I realize steps like that can be demoralizing I promise that these choices will be worth it in the long run securing the best long-term potential is always worth making sacrifices in the moment just do [ __ ] not long after power launched I was at a party at Jamie Fox House in La at one point I was telling Jamie and a bunch of guys on his team a version of the same story I just shared with you how I went to stars with a vision didn't get caught up on how much I was getting paid and use that Financial flexibility to fully execute my vision you see that you see how 50 just did that Jamie told his friends while I was done he just be doing [ __ ] we got to stop asking and just start doing [ __ ] too let's go Jamie was just trying to motivate his team in reality he makes as many things happen as anyone but in that moment he managed to capture one of my fundamental principles in creating success just do [ __ ] it seems like an obvious enough approach but we spend a lot of time just waiting for permission to do [ __ ] instead of just making it happen we fall into the Trap of thinking The so-call Gatekeepers a boss an executive a agent a Critic have to unlock that door ahead of us when more often than not it's really wide open just waiting for us to walk through one of the best way to bypass those Gatekeepers is to go directly to the people with your idea the more time I've spent with corporate Executives The more I've noticed how clueless they are about how to connect with the public they'll form focus groups commission studies higher influences everything but go directly to the people my strategy has always been opposite I always try to connect with people on the most basic level take my involvement in the spirits industry when I first got involved with FM vaka back in 2015 the conventional wisdom said that the best way to sell vodka was to make it appear aspirational premium liquor had to represent a lifestyle that was slightly Out Of Reach that might have been what the marketing departments thought would work but that's not how I was going to approach things I decided the best way for effing to increase his market share was for me to literally be within reach of my fans the way I would do it was by hosting as many promotional events as possible when I first got into the music business meet and gree were an incredibly effective way to sell SE if I did an event at Tower Records Best Buy or virgin mega store there would be lines out the door and around the corner people wanted to shake my hand and get a picture to have a connection with me even if it only lasted 5 seconds then MP3s replace CDs and there wasn't anything to sell in person anymore meet and greets largely went out of style I could understand the music business moving away from them but why couldn't they be relevant for Spirits CD sales Dr dried up but last I checked no one had figured out how to stream a bottle of vodka I didn't see any reason why meet and greets couldn't be extremely effective to sell liquor that desire for a connection was still there to test my theory I decided to do a series of meet and greets in liquor stores around the country specifically I focused on smaller cities places like Milwaukee Pittsburgh and Jacksonville where I knew my presence would be a big deal the meet and greets were extremely successful people would hear I was going to be in liquor store in that town and they line up just like they used to for CDs even better when people waited and lined up for CDs they usually bought just one but if you wait for 2 hours to see me at a liquor store you're probably not going to just buy one bottle instead you might say I'm going to get one bottle for tonight but I might as well get another couple bottles because Christmas is coming and a lot of people are going to be over just like that I've sold three bottles to one person and the line is around the corner my to appearances were so successful that puffy tried to copy them by having one in the Bronx with French Montana for sarra it didn't work for him though the problem was that French is always in the Bronx you might see him pull up to the liquor mod on a regular day so why wait in line to see him what puffy should have done was follow my lead in holy event in a smaller market then he would have sold some bottles in addition to meet and greets I use social media to connect with the public as someone posted a picture of them SES on IG holding a bottle of effing I might repost it to my page that person would see their followers increase dramatically and they become loyal to the brand other people would see what was happening and be encouraged to post their own picture with effing bottles I was training my fan base to see the incentive in support NE it became a cool thing to do I had created an online movement without spending a single marketing dollar I see a lot of parallels between how we moved in the crack game back then and how Savvy people are moving on social media today people move based on Direct interaction not on what a suit tells them the internet is making The Gatekeepers much less relevant for instance back in the day if you had a great idea for a film you had to pitch it to a studio because you needed access to their money and promotional potential the studio was the gatekeeper that confirmed whether your idea had any value today if you have a film idea you're passionate about you don't need that studio to get it off the ground you can literally shoot that movie with a smartphone edit it on your laptop and distribute it yourself on YouTube if your work is good enough and speaks to your audience people will watch it it might take time but eventually the word will spread you've made something of value then the studios will reach out to you you've proved that you have an audience but even more important you've shown that you actually know how to make something that's critical all sorts of people have ideas some people even have scripts but very few people have proved that they actually know how to make something to build it from scratch that's actually the most important thing to a studio they want to know that if they sign you to a deal you're not going to waste their money and never deliver anything sure they prefer it not suck but the most important thing to them is that it actually gets made do you ever wonder why in Hollywood some directors keep getting rehired even though they haven't made a hit in years because at least the studio knows they're going to deliver by creating your movie on your own you've already passed that test you've shown that you can make something that if a studio gives you a check you're actually going to give them something back in return combine that with the built-in audience and Bam now you've got leverage you're not a dreamer with an idea hoping that someone takes a chance on you you're a proven asset that can sit back and wait for the best deal I'm using film as an example but adopting a just do [ __ ] mentality will help you in every field don't sit around hoping that someone will invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in your restaurant idea start a food track for a lot less and make sure that what you're serving is so delicious that the lines are around the block if you do that it's only a matter of time before an investor shows up with a check another example that I'm inspired by is travel bloggers those kids aren't waiting for a big travel agency or a TV network to write them in check they bought a plane ticket in a decent camera traveled to some cool places and started creating their their own content no Gatekeepers told them they can do it they just did it in fact a lot of older folks hated on the concept these kids want to get paid for posting videos on vacation Skeptics would say they need to get a real job but those kids had a vision they're stuck with it and basically created their own industry today over 30% of Travelers say they consult travel blogs when picking their next vacation because of that tourism boards pay travel bloggers hundreds of millions of dollars to promote different locals Resorts give them free rooms Airlines give them free flights there's a reason it's become one of the most desired jobs for Millennials but it never would have happened if some young kids with the connecting flight and the camera hadn't said let's just do this [ __ ] the greatest expense I've bought a lot of luxury items over the years more watches and chains than I can count enough Lamborghinis rolls-royces Maseratis and Ferraris to fill up a parking garage and one of the most opulent manions in America but easily the most expensive thing I spend is time I've taken chains back to my Jeweler most of them actually I once even returned to Ferrari because I couldn't figure out how to start it and yes I did sell that Mansion but I don't have a receipt that can get me back the time I've put into something that's why you have to place a premium value on how you spend the limited time you have the person who really drove that lesson home for me was Eminem many years ago I was hanging out with them in the studio and I started thinking about putting together a massive World Tour it could be me you Dr Dre and Snoop I told him that show would sell out stadiums all over the world there's nobody who wouldn't want to see that show even as I was pitching it to them I could see the stadium is filled with excited fans I could see millions of dollars going into each of our bank accounts it was like a dream sequence in my mind and we need to do this I shouted almost jumping out of my seat M heard me out and said man it sounds great it sounds really amazing but I don't want to do it his answer didn't register with me did he just say that we're not going to go get that money that couldn't be right why not I ask incredulously because I don't want to go on tour for months then come home and Haley's grown he explained referring to his daughter in that moment I didn't understand where it was coming from I couldn't get past what I viewed as a missed opportunity but over time I come to understand M's perspective better yes it's always nice to pick up a check but a check is never more important than an experience you value granted M had the luxury of already having made tens of millions of dollars he didn't have to worry about financially supporting haly he was good on that count he just needed to focus on emotional support but I believe M would have made the same decision even if he was still broke and living on 8 Mile Road in Detroit one of the reasons M has been so successful is that he never chased things he's never let external forces tell him what to care about he's cognizant of what matters to him and that's what he focuses on and I would argue that not chasing dollars is one of the main reasons he's made so many of them if M had chased easy money he would have come out of the gate presented himself as a Vanilla Ice knockoff or he would have made rock and roll records which is what a lot of folks told him to do but he had too much talent and respect the hip-hop too much to do that he was going to pay his dues and establish himself as a real MC even if it meant putting off getting paid at first money is the goal but often times in order to get it you have to retrain your brain to Value you experience especially if you weren't born with a silver spoon in your mouth maybe you weren't able to go to a college where your friends could walk you into their parents company and get you a good job if you weren't blessed with any of those advantages you have to figure out how to get access to whatever world you're trying to get started it and a lot of times the easiest way to break in is by working for free as an intern I did that a couple times when I was trying to get into the music business the first time was when I was working with J Master Jay I was getting frustrated that I was stuck out in Jay's studio and queens for most of the time and wasn't really getting the taste to the larger scene so Jay did me a solid he was friend with a guy named Jesse itler who was active in the music industry Jesse had written a bunch of songs for artists like tone Lok as well as the New York Nicks theme song Go New York go through that he'd gotten a job to run the Nick street team after Jay introduced us Jesse made me an offer if I'd help him with the Nick street team he show me the ropes and the music business sounded like a good deal so every day I linked up with Jesse and spent a few hours a day driving around New York in a Nick Van handing out team wristbands and keychains then we'd head back to Jesse studio and I'd help with whatever songs we were working on maybe help him find a sample or figure out how to voice A Chorus my only payment was free Nick gear but it was a great education for a kid who was trying to figure out how songwriting and the music business worked my most valuable internship came a few years later after I signed to Columbia once I realized they was stalling the release of my album I was left with the choice was I going to head back to the hood and [ __ ] about how this label was [ __ ] me over or was I going to do something constructive while I waited I chose to construct path the way I saw it Columbia might have been stolen but I was still signed to them I still had access to their office I was going to make the most of that access nobody invited me just do [ __ ] but I decided I was going to be an unofficial intern at Columbia Records I'd been an unofficial intern for Jesse Isler who was just hustling for himself and I learned some valuable information so why not a major company like Columbia what were they going to do tell me no I knew they was going to let me in intern because it would be easier than having a conversation about why my album didn't have a release date every morning I would take the subway from South Jamaica to the Sony building in Midtown Manhattan when I got there I wasn't messing around trying to flirt with assistant or smoking weed in the stairwell like most of the visiting rappers nope I got to work I would pop in on every department and try to soak up as much information as possible I'd visit OJ who oversaw Street radio promotions I pick his brain and try to understand how he approached getting a single out to the right people then I'd go and sit with Evette Gil who was my publist I'd watch a work the phones with editors and journalists trying to get stories placed in magazines she was dealing with other people's projects but I wanted to learn how to publicity machine worked then I'd go and Shadow Julian who was in charge of artwork I'd asked him about his thought process when he was designing an album what sort of visuals were effective as selling albums and what sort of images didn't work as well well I basically did that with every Department I kept asking questions and soaking up information until I finally came to a realization the label couldn't do everything for me that may seem like an obvious statement but back then most rappers didn't truly appreciate the limitations of the label they thought once they got signed by a major they could put things on cruise control and allow the folks in the office to do the rest those artists thought the record companies were God but after poking around iar learned that they were very human labels can do some things well but there were other elements that were pretty much out of their hands through interning I was able to see that I was going to have to make myself hot before OJ could get my song played or a vet would be able to get me magazine articles I realized that the labels could build on momentum but they were limited when it came to creating it that's why I ended up releasing how to rob I realized that I needed to create a buzz that was going to jolt the label into action I needed to create my own energy and I hope that someone was going to flip a switch for me I would never have come to that realization if I hadn't first decided to create my own internship they weren't paying me to come in every morning but the information I absorbed was invaluable having a realistic understanding of what a record company wasn't going to do for me probably saved my career today internship seem to get a bad rap a lot of young people have complained that they're exploitative some folks even want to make unpaid internships illegal that's shortsighted if you're interning in the industry that you're passionate about you're not being exploited it's just up to you to get the most out of the experience a internship is an open door once you're in you must take it upon yourself to check out every room in the house let's say you want to be a sneaker designer through a lot of hustle you've managed to land an internship at Adidas but in the marketing department you don't care about marketing but you take the position anyway smart move because now you have access you must attack working for marketing like it was actually a design position and win the respect of your bosses then you parlay being in the building into making other connections figure out who works in design and approach them in the cafeteria compliment their kicks strike up a conversation keep making a point to bump into them until a little bit of a relationship is formed then let them know that you're true passion is design ask if it's cool to come by the department one day and just be a fly on the wall if that person senses your siner in your hunger they'll probably say sure come through now you have an in you're around people who are doing what you want to do capitalize on that opportunity ask questions make observations and soak up G even if it doesn't lead to an actual job down the road though it might you'll leave the situation with a tremendous leg up on your competition you'll have real information on how your passion gets put into practice someone who really capitalized on intern experience was quarantine VMA the photographer I mentioned earlier quarantine grew up in France where he was a huge hip-hop fan in 2006 he decided to move to New York City so he could be closer to the culture when he got to NYC one of the first things he did was look up the number for the gunit offices since he was a big fan of our music and lifestyle he called called up asked if we were hiring and was told nope no jobs were available quarantine didn't accept no for an answer though instead a few days later he physically showed up at the office and knocked on the door hoping to make a case for himself in person he explained that he had just moved to New York from France was a huge three unit fan and was willing to do whatever it took to work with us he met Nicki Martin who was intrigued by his story but since there really weren't any jobs available Nikki told him we'll be in touch if anything opens up usually that phrase marks the end of the story but quarantine still wasn't ready to give up in addition to being a hip-hop fan quarantine was also a skilled computer coder at the time we had just launched thisis50.com which was running on flash quantin knew the site would run much better on HTML which at the time very few people were knowledgeable about so he called the office back and explained that he knew a way to improve our website now he really had our attention when it was clear he knew what he was talking about we offered him an internship working on the site quintine jumped at it and true to his word almost immediately made the site better that establishes value within the organization I promoted him from an intern to the person in charge of all my internet platforms since he was also a very skilled photographer he became my in-house photographer in that role he's gotten to travel to globe with me from Africa to Australia taking pictures and experiencing hip hop on a global scale quarantine was able to make his dream back in France a reality because he understood two key Concepts the first was persistence he didn't wait for us to post a job listing somewhere he took the initiative to co- call our offices when that didn't lead anywhere he showed up at the office that visit didn't directly lead to a job but it helped him establish a connection with Nikki it allowed him to go from a name on the email to someone with a story someone who made a positive impression the second smart thing quarantine did is he didn't call us back asking for an internship instead he offered us something he studied our organization saw where we could use Improvement and then saw where he could add value I don't care if it's hip hop film or the financial sector if you can make a convincing case that you can add value to an organization they're going to find a spot for you once you've got that spot now you can build up your value either within that organization or within another one once you get some experience and titles under your belt get it on paper a final word on making sure you always get your fair value while it's critical to establish your worth once you do the most important thing you can do is get it down on paper getting all your agreements promises and plans down on paper in the form of a contract is absolutely essential never let your value rest on someone's word so many deals in in Hip Hop have been cemented with a handshake or a pound instead of a signature on a dotted line I've heard so many big promises that never get delivered on it's easy to promise someone half of nothing it's easy to promise someone you're going to take care of them once we get on but as soon as someone starts getting paid those promises get forgotten handshake agreements aren't worth [ __ ] when the money starts coming in the knives start coming out in Hip Hop particularly words like family and forever get thrown around freely but they aren't worth a thing ask freeway beanie seagull or Hell Dame Dash how tight Rock La Familiar really was not very puffy loved to talk about bad boy for Life a shine or Lon how long that life lasted hell to hear Young Buck or Lloyd Banks tell it I've probably let them down too I see it a different way as I'll explain later but that's been their perspective at times but the bottom line is this promises aren't worth [ __ ] you have to get papered up whether you're collaborating on an album a TV scrip a landscaping business or a brewery you need to get the terms and expectations on paper before you sink too much of your time and Equity into it trust me everyone loves each other at the start that handshake agreement feels firm when you're starting out but jealousy and envy are real they might be buried so deep in a person's nature that it might take years for them to come out but they'll find a way if there's money involved protect yourself put it on paper chapter 5 evolve or die look around you everything changes everything on this Earth is in a continuous state of evolving you were not put on this Earth to remain stagnant Steve maraboli in 1974 David Faulk was a student in George Washington University law school he got it in his mind that he wanted to work at prur a small sports agency in Washington DC that specialized and representing pro tennis players for months and months he called the pro serve office trying to get a meeting with the company's founder Donald Dell he never got a reply one day he even called 17 times during a 3-hour period Dell either impressed or just annoyed by folks tenacity finally took the call at the end of the convo Faulk had talked his way into an unpaid internship Faulk excelled as an intern and landed a full-time job at proserve when he graduated law school Faulk wasn't much of a tennis fan though basketball was his favorite sport while the rest of the agents were focused on signing tennis stars folk started targeting college basketball players he built a relationship with Dean Smith the legendary coach of North Carolina and signed several players for the program when they went to the NBA that relationship really paid off when folk was able to sign a young star from North Carolina named Michael Jordan in the summer before Jordan's rookie season folks set out to get Jordan a sneaker deal at the time the sneaker deals for NBA players were pretty straightforward he picked a brand Jordan himself preferred Adidas and negotiated a contract and maybe got a supply of sneakers to wear during the season if you were a superstar you might also appear on a promotional poster or TV D that was it the sneaker companies didn't want to commit too much to NBA players because there was an unspoken belief that it would be difficult to Market an African-American athlete to mainstream America Faulk didn't have any use for the same blueprint everyone else was using he noticed when tennis agents in his office struck a deal with the brand it wasn't just for sneakers if a tennis player signed with Nike in addition to sneakers they'd also WRA Nike tennis rackets sweatsuits shirts pants and socks tennis players were promoting a complete lifestyle and folk didn't see why NBA player especially one as spectacular as Michael Jordan couldn't do the same thing the agents and Brands may have been stuck in their old way of thinking but folk sensed that the public was ready to embrace and support black athletes the way they've supported white icons like Mickey manto and Joe NE folk pitched Nike on a deal is centered on Jordan being the face of his own Nike Lifestyle brand which Faulk later dubbed Air Jordan then he added a Twist at the time players only got a flat endorsement deal but Faulk demanded did Jordan receive royalties on all Air Jordan sneakers sold Nike agreed to fol terms on a 5-year deal but with the caveat if Nike didn't sell $4 million worth of a Jordans in the first three years they could walk away from the contract they were still skeptical that a black athlete could connect with the American public there couldn't have been more wrong and fault couldn't have been more right forget about 3 years Nike ended up selling 70 million worth of Air Jordans in the first two months after the line launched in 1985 turned out black NBA players could support a Lifestyle brand after all Faulk would go on to become one of the most powerful and successful agents in NBA history negotiating over $800 million in salaries and of course a Jordan would become one of the most iconic sports brands of all time in 2020 it's expected to erate $4.5 billion in sales folks deal for AED Jordan is the type that almost every entrepreneur dreams of so what enabled him to execute such a winning Vision more than anything it was his ability to evolve Beyond whatever sorts of roles and expectations had been assigned to him and create a new model to support his clients folk didn't talk his way in the Pro serve and then settle into the routine of repping tennis stars sure tennis was extremely popular at the time but he could sense that the NBA was about to blow once he got in the door he started pushing the company to evolve by pushing for change Faulk managed not only to change his own career but also to revolutionize the entire Sports Marketing landscape in every professional field the most successful people are always the ones who refuse to settle into the status quo who don't get satisfied and complacent once they achieve something but always push towards the next goal or challenge conversely people who get too comfortable or are unwilling to adapt are usually the ones who get left behind no when the shift in 2009 I appeared on a single cracker bottle alongside Eminem and Dr Dre it was a big track and went to number one in the US the UK and Canada and would later went a Grammy for best rap performance by a Duo group to capitalize on its succcess I went on a quick World Tour hitting places like Croatia Switzerland and India everywhere I perform people went crazy for the song there's nothing like standing on stage in a foreign country in front of 50,000 people when hearing them sing your lyrics it's an electric energy you can feel running through your body when I got back to the States I decided to hit the road for some spot dates when I performed the same song for an American audience however the response was totally different where the international audience had been alive and pulsing the US audiences were lethargic it was a number one song but people weren't reacting to it it would have been easy to come up with the rationale for the crowd's reaction Eminem and Dre weren't performing it with me it hadn't been properly promoted in the Urban Market or we were playing the wrong kinds of venues those would have just been excuses I'd performed songs without featured artist before just like I performed songs that hadn't been promoted properly before and venues that were the wrong size none of that had mattered before for I always Rock the crowd I'm not interested in excuses what I'm interested in is analyzing information and coming to conclusions when I took a hard look at my situation the answer was clear hip-hop culture had decided to give me resistance I had come into the game as the underdog but now that I was an international success they couldn't see me in the same way anymore I know I was still the same guy but hip-hop had moved on it was imperative that I diversify if I wanted to keep growing financially and professionally it wasn't an easy conclusion to accept but I understood it I'm a close Observer of our culture and I recognized that my own career had fit into an unmistakable pattern hip hop loves things that are damaged expended defining trait of the culture that's how it's been since dudes were raming in park jams in the Bronx in the 70s and it looks like that's how it's going to be until they turn off the damn lights in this thing of ours think about it every few years a new Danger dangerous and damaged rapper appears on the scene and captivates the culture it started in the Bronx in the early 80s with groups like grandmas Flash and the furious five they might look funny today with their skin tight jeans knee high leather boots and studded bracelets but when they broke on the scene they were dangerous America hadn't seen anything like them before and most important they were damaged they set the tone for what the culture wanted from its Heroes by the late ' 80s acts like the furious five had been phased out by newcom like NWA no one has seen a group that damaged and dangerous before and NWA made those ogs seem safe and cuddly by comparison for several years NWA was the illest thing in sight and two Wu tanks stormed onto the scene and grabbed that mantle they were young wild and out of control the culture couldn't get enough then Pac brought the West Coast back no one was more thrillingly damaged than Pac after he signed with death row he was taking shots at undercovered cops Straten in courtrooms and surviving assassination attempts there's no telling how long his rain could have lasted if he hadn't been killed after P it was my turn I raised the damage bar as high as it can possibly go he got shot nine times and didn't die but eventually the culture didn't see me the same way anymore either I might have been phased out but the pattern kept going and going the most recent rapper to harness this energy was tekachi by the time this book comes out there will probably be another young boy who has filled tekachi shoes or maybe even a young girl because nowadays female rappers like Nicki Minaj and cardi B are going out of their way to let you know that they're just as damaged as the guys the Fatal mistake a lot of rappers make is refusing to accept the pattern in their minds they're still damage still the same person that broke into the game but as I wrote earlier people tend to stop viewing you as human once you taste success in the Public's mind once you make it your f time to move on to the next one the perceptive artist accept this reality and evolve the non-observant keep fighting the inevitable all the way Into Obscurity if you look at the rappers of the past which ones are still relevant today outside of myself is Ice Cube Dr Dre Method Man and Snoop and it's not because of their music times change and no one's checking for that anymore it's because those first three recognize their time as a rapper wouldn't last forever and they transitioned into other Pursuits mea man into acting Cube into acting in the big three basketball league and Dre hit the jackpot with headphones and apple those guys were smart enough and humble enough to understand that the public could never be wrong when people don't respond to what you give them they're telling you they've moved on loud and clear if you don't hear them then you're just not listening I'm still passionate about making music but it's not my defining identity anymore let's say I went into the studio one night and was able to capture the magic that's behind every great song the energy was right the Beats were slapping and I laid down some of my best verses when the sun rose in the morning I was sitting on hits I might have just created great content but I still probably wouldn't release those songs myself instead I'd give all those songs to a solid Young Blood someone with tats all over their face who is on Molly and lean who always looks like he's in a zombie mode someone who seems like they're really damaged why because I'm realistic enough to concede that the public is going to be more receptive to it coming from their voice than from my own why not give that talented young artist something that can take him to the next level I can have a piece of the song and he can get a taste of success sounds like a good deal for everyone I've accepted that my role in the culture has changed that doesn't mean I can't still impact it I just have to utilize different methods no matter matter what you do you have to be able to accept that your role is going to change when you first break into a space or industry you view that inevitability as a positive if a company's or organization's staff didn't evolve you'd never get a chance in the first place that endless evolution is the key that opens the door for you then you work a few years and start to get comfortable you start to develop habits if you're good you might make your company some money maybe even a lot of it then you'll start to think that the company owes you not only for what they're paying you in the moment but for all you've done for them in the past too maybe you start to take your foot off the gas a bit and begin to believe that your track record will secure your spot forever sorry but the world doesn't work like that the same change that brought you in the door can sweep you right back out if you don't keep pushing forward no matter how many promotions you receive how many Corner offices you moved into or even how many times you've seen your name in the headlines you can never settle you have to keep finding new ways to challenge yourself a guy named Ray Delio runs Bridgewater Associates one of the largest hedge funds in the world his personal worth is about $18 billion he knows a few things about what motivates continued success here are his thoughts on the importance of personal Evolution once we get the things we are striving for we rarely remain satisfied with them the things are just debate chasing after forces us to evolve and it is the evolution and not the rewards themselves that matter to us and to those around us this means that for most people success is struggling and evolving as effectively as possible I can promise you that Ray understands what it takes I've gotten all the things I've ever strived for and then some and I'm still not satisfied with my situation I've sold almost 30 million records evidently a few people like like me as a rapper but every time I step into the booth I'm still trying to come up with that killer line I still want to prove that I've got the best verse just like I want to create more great TV sell more books and launch more liquor Brands and a couple of years from now I suspect I'll have some new projects I'm about to launch that I'll be just as excited about as when I was signing my first deal with in the scope the moment I close the door on my personal evolution is the moment I need to hang it up I don't see that door closing anytime soon change with the culture being willing to evolved in your own job or position is just part of the battle you also have to be willing to change with your culture too there are a lot of reasons why power has become a Bonafide hit I received a lot of support from Stars my showrunner Courtney Kemp has blessed us with fantastic scripts cast members like Omari Harwick Joseph Shakur notori Newton La La Anthony and Leela Lauren all did an incredible job breathing life into our vision but one of the biggest factors behind the show success is that I constructed it to reflect my audience's Evolution I conceived power for my audience and my audience only I wasn't trying to tap into a new demographic or attract a wider viewership I understood I was going to get one chance to get it right with power and in order to do that I had to speak directly to my people I was very very confident in my ability to do that I am nothing if not observant and I spent a lot of time paying attention to my fans over the years when I first came out my core audience was young college age kids or 20s somethings who were going out to the club for the first time so what did I do I made music that I knew would connect with their lifestyle take the famous line go shorty it's your birthday we going to party like it's your birthday that had to connect my audience was in the club and every night it was going to be somebody's birthday that line reflected how they were living and it could never lose its relevancy by 2014 my audience wasn't in the club every night anymore if it was their birthday they might be having a quiet celebration at home with their spouse and young kids they were maturing this is why I built the show around themes that would speak to an old audience what happens when the love from someone's youth unexpectedly reappears on the scene what is the Fallout when a husband and wife don't have the same vision for their future or when a son betrays his father those are things that resonate with adults at the same time I needed to capture the energy and excitement my audience felt back when they were still living the life still partying and getting into drama every night that's why I insisted on power being very graphic especially sexually it needed that spark when I came into the game rapping about I'll take you to the candy shop let you lick the Lolli pop it was still considered risque now you have women singing eat the Booty like groceries the anti has been uped and power needed to match it it was no easy task Saturday night has traditionally been a TV Raiden graveyard outside a Saturday night lob there have been very few hits during that time slide over the last 40 years it's the night when the least number of people are sitting home in front of their TV sets by putting power on Saturday nights stars was basically setting up the show to fail instead we shocked the network and the entire industry by pulling in very strong ratings on Saturday night the executives couldn't figure it out at first but I knew exactly what was happening my audience was staying home on Saturday nights I was giving them that old energy but from the comfort and safety of their couch then younger people heard the buzz and started DVR in the show like crazy so they could watch it the next morning or they were watching it on their phone via Stars app we were killing it across all platforms it's been a winning transformation for stars too I allowed them to tap into an audience that they didn't have before before power the network lacked identity but now they're realigning themselves to be a younger and more diverse version of HBO it all started with power power's not done evolving yet either we're going to roll out four spin-offs on Stars including one star in Mary J BL and Method Man that I'm very very excited about we've also got a drama about the Black Mafia family coming next it's such an organic project combining the rap and music elements that are so fundamental to hip-hop I'm confident it's going to be a smash maybe even bigger than power if one generation knew me as a rapper there's going to be another who knows me as a TV Mogul but only because I was willing to change with the times and my audience refusing to evolve if the success of power was one of my greatest accomplishments then one of my biggest disappointments is the unfulfilled potential of Lloyd Banks and tono of gunit both Powers rise and guns fall are Testaments to how growth is often the key element in any successful journey I always felt that if I had done a better job teaching Banks and yo how to evolve and change their habits they each would be in better places right now instead they both stayed stuck in their mindset and as a result the success they desired has eluded them in bank's case a lot of his failure to grow as an artist is connected to his emotional composition Banks grew up in the same neighborhood as me but was never a part of it in the same way I actually hustled with his father Banks was more content standing on his porch and watching the world from there there's nothing wrong with that but it underscored a particular aspect of his personality Banks wanted things to come to him as supposed to going out and getting them for himself that's not me trying to assassinate his character the guy has lazy Lloyd tattooed on his armun he literally wears his laziness on his sleeve he's always projected an unhelpful mixture of being both introverted and cocky at the same time the kind of person most comfortable being a big fish in a small pond if banks was hanging out in studio with a bunch of unknown MC's he'd be very confident he'd enjoy being the center of attention but if I suddenly showed up he'd feel like he got demoted he'd be bitter he didn't feel like the center of attention anymore I get it I can take up a lot of the air in the room the problem is that he never fight to get some of that oxygen back which is exactly what a star is supposed to do I believe a true star must possess four fundamental abilities create great material be a high energy live performer have a unique appearance and POS a strong personality Tupac had all four so does Mary J BL Chris Brown too biggie didn't have all of them but he was able to compensate in the areas where he was weaker his appearance wasn't strong initially so bad boy got him new sweaters and put sunglasses over his eye and kept moving all over the place he couldn't move around the stage so much as a performer so the head of his label became his dancer it was a great distraction the overhaul worked for biggie he came in the game with Transcendent material and then they picked up the slack in the areas he wasn't as strong in he transformed himself into a star with the little management if I'm being honest and evaluating Banks he possesses maybe one of those qualities he's a very good Lyricist among what are known as the punchline rappers rappers who will in their bars with a funny or tongue and cheek line Banks like to call himself the PK or punchline King I don't know if he's the king but I'll get give it to him that he's in the conversation he is not however a great live performer stylist dresser or domineering personality so if he doesn't check those three boxes how is he going to get bigger and become the star in real life he is in his head to me one answer was to change how he interacted with the culture that's why years ago I told Banks to film a video of his life and posted on YouTube introduce people to his lifestyle let the camera follow him around for a while and see how he moves maybe something he says or does will create a spark go viral and then he'll have some heat around him again what I didn't want him to do was sit there writing punch line after punch line and then grow resentful when no one seemed to care about his mixtapes anymore they say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results if that's so Banks's temperament was definitely a little crazy I'm not saying anything here that I haven't said to Banks directly another time I sat down with him just when IG was starting to pop off and tried to drop this gem on him you got to get on Instagram I encouraged him you can be a little awkward in person so this is actually a better way for you to communicate with people you just put pictures of what you think is cool on your page that way you can control the conversation without having to feel uncomfortable it's perfect for you N I don't want to do what he said why not you just put up the pictures then write some with [ __ ] around it you can literally put punch lines under your pictures you can utilize what you're good at to make some new fans nah that's corny he told me before adding Biggie and Pac didn't do that [ __ ] they're dead my man I told him they died before this stuff was even invented and how do you know they wouldn't be posed on IG if they were alive but Banks was adamant Biggie and Pac didn't do social media so he wasn't going to do it either it was a line of thinking that really blew my mind it suggested that if Tupac was alive he'd still be wearing leather vests and red bandanas tied around his head sending girls his beeper number or the biggie would still be wearing Coogi sweaters and playing Mortal Kombat 2 every night it's ridiculous those guys would have evolved with their music style and personality too biggie was hysterical his IG would have probably been one of the most popular pages in the entire world I believe Pac would eventually returned to his revolutionary Roots he would had an impact on society Way Beyond music hell even I had evolved in my attitude towards Instagram when it first came out I also thought it was corny in 2014 I told the UK Guardian I think it's messing up everything it's giving us all really weird habits taking pictures of things you don't even like I felt that way at the time but I didn't close up my mind to it over time I started to realize that I just didn't know the platform well enough I didn't Inuit it the rhythm of how to post or understand what kind of content resonated most important I didn't appreciate how effective it was in directly reaching people so I jumped all the way in and embraced it fully today is one of the most important public facing tools at my disposal Banks was resistant to that sort of evolution his mind was stuck in the mid90s and he was in no hurry to release it from that trap to be fair the banks it's actually a natural instinct scientists start learn that the music we listen to as teenagers has a greater impact on us that music we might hear at any other point in our lives our brains are developing at their fastest Pace between 12 and 22 and it seems that whatever we listen to at that period tends to get embedded in our minds forever Banks was around 14 years old when Biggie and Pac were both popping so that makes sense that they still resonate with him so deeply I can relate I still loved the music from when I was that age too the difference is I haven't pattered my career after ks1 in Coogi rap what would be the point of that they were both incredible in their moment but I've always been concerned about creating my own moment rather than copying theirs when Banks made that comment to me I'd realized he had gone as far as he can go in fact my exact thought was this is someone I can't invest another minute or dollar in everyone knows someone like Banks the person who only respects a certain era and thinks everything else is trash it could be music but it could also be TV film sports or fashion at first it seems kind of cool that they're so passionate about protecting the Legacy but after a while it gets tired most people don't want to keep being lectured about why whatever they're enjoying in the present isn't as good as what came before it it's great to respect the past but never to the point that it stops you from moving into the future or even making the most out of the present people are stuck in the past age prematurely their driver's license might sit at 30 but their mentality is older than a lot of folks in their 50s and 60s age isn't about what year you were born it's about how you approach the year you're in right now if you're open to new experiences willing to take chances and curious about new topics you're young period on the other hand if you're setting your ways and aren't interested in trying new things or think you've already learned all is to know then you're old in fact you're dying my beard has a couple of gray hairs in there but I'm young I feel and look fresh not because I still got a six-pack or wear cool sneakers but because my spirit is youthful I'm excited about what's going to happen this year as I was in 2002 or 2012 someone could put me on to a new rapper tomorrow and I'd be as pumped up as I was the first time I heard NS just like I could watch a new come and laugh as hard as the first time I watch Sanford the son I'm never going to cut myself off from new experiences I really did try to help Banks but you can't help anyone who is stuck in either a time or mind frame if you feel stuck yourself then you have to have the courage to come out of whatever little cocoon you've wrapped yourself up in and experience all the excitement the world still has to offer Tony yayo's issues were a little different like Banks Yayo was for my neighborhood but unlike Banks he didn't stay on his stoop he was very much in the street and running into as much action as he could Yayo was wild from the day I met him in our world was a temperament that served him well he was liable to do anything at any time and people gave him a wide birth because of it at the time I ateed Yayo and being so wild as a crew we needed that aggressive and unpredictable energy even after we first started started experiencing success we were still living that lifestyle we didn't see any reason to change that meant we were going to be very aggressive and taking what we felt was ours if someone disrespected us or got in our way our response was to get them out of our way whatever it took one of my skills is I absorb information and process it faster than most people so even as we were running wild through America's stadiums nightclubs and hotels I was beginning to pick up signals that we were going to have to change how we approach things the most obvious sign was that there were police everywhere we went Stadium concourses hotel lobbies out in front of clubs the cops were always there you would think there was no other crime happening in whatever City we were in considering the way they followed us around some of the other signs were less observable there was a lot of nervous energy around us it's an easy thing to miss when everything's moving so fast but if you look past people's acquiescence the fear is evident I could read it in radio jock Studio Engineers TV hosts Club managers booking agents and program managers they wanted to do business with us but not if they thought a gunfight might break out in any second realizing this I accepted that I had to change how I approach dealing with disagreements and confrontation I was going to express my dissatisfaction differently I would have to press for what I wanted using managers and agents I was going to have to fight with lawyers I was going to have to diversify my strategies if I wanted to capitalize on the opportunities that success was presented to us I also recognized that we had to change how we approach time commitments in the streets if you wanted to start selling crack at 1 p.m. then that's when you started if you want to take a break at 5:00 p.m. you took it want to skip two days out right that's on you just make sure you get it sold it's a lifestyle that conditions you to do what you want when you want so long as you get the product moved it's not a lifestyle however this conducive to interacting with corporations if a radio station expects you at 8:00 a.m. you shouldn't wander in at 1: p.m. and still expect them to play your song just like if a record label booked you to record in the studio for 2 weeks you shouldn't wait till the 10th day to finally show up and start recording transitioning from a street lifestyle to a more public Persona was going to require a new mindset Yayo didn't seem to register that if I got into a disagreement with another artist Yo's reaction was let's just bang him because that would have been his response back in the neighborhood if we got $100,000 for a series of Club appearances Yayo wasn't thinking about putting it in the bank his first thought would be hey this could get us three and A2 kilos of cocaine let's flip those and we'll be sitting on some real money time and time again I'd have to tell him yeah yo we can't do that nothing else is going to work if we're just running around doing that dumb [ __ ] we're going to be out of here just as fast as we got in here in Yo's mind I was being too uptight we had always done what we wanted how we want it when we want it that's the attitude that had made us hot why did that have to change in retro a large part of the problem was the success initially came very easily to Y he was locked up when G Richard di TR and first broke as soon as he got out of jail I put him on stage there was no transition period he didn't have to spend time as an unknown MC slowly getting his feet wet learning how to interact with industry folks and getting a feel of what it was like to be around corporate people instead I dropped him directly into the national Spotlight and put a lot of money in his hand at the same time I should have realized that it was not the ideal circumstance in which to suddenly ask him to change habits that had been developed over a lifetime if anything I should have known those habits would establish an even tighter grip on them I learned that when things are moving very fast and you're constantly being put in new situations and environments most people tend to lean back into their old habits not develop new ones after years of begging controlling and threatening them to start doing things differently I had to accept that yayon Banks were not capable of doing much more than what they were used to you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink those guys have been standing by the well for years and were still going to die of thirst it was extremely disappointing but I had to accept that many of their dominant character traits recklessness resentment and a lack of discipline were always going to impede their progress it was just who they were it might not sound like it but I worked very hard to ensure their success as I said I would have loved for Yayo to become the next 50 Cent If Yayo had been able to capitalize on his opportunities it would have opened so many doors and empowered me to move even faster I could have transitioned to focusing on other opportunities earlier instead I ended up having to be50 a lot longer than I ever intended it wasn't just Yayo who I wanted to elevate the idea was for everyone associated with gunit to eventually become bosses in their own right all they had to do was follow my example I had set them up to succeed by putting them on my records and letting them share the stage with me on tour once they were established all they had to do was replicate the same formula with new acts that they had selected repeating the process all the way down they never did it either they didn't want to or they just didn't know how to identify a new artist that they could then own a piece of my intentions were for gunit to be the first branches in a family tree they started with me and would go on to launch generations of rappers instead I created a family tree that went on to live for one generation before dying it shriveled up I birthed my sons but they didn't bear me any children it all stopped with them the writing is never on the wall back in the days of the Old Testament there was a Babylonian King named Bazar he led a decadent lifestyle even by ancient standards I'm talking about keeping a harm full of beautiful women and throwing drunken orgies that would last for days one night he decided to really push the Royal envelope he usually held his parties in his Palace but on this night he decided to hold one in the city's holiest Temple the king got so drunk that at the height of the party he started drinking wine out of sacred cups that had been brought to the temple from Jerusalem they were only supposed to be handled by the Temple's priest but Bazar was on a mission to prove there wasn't any taboo he wouldn't break almost immediately after he finished drinking from the cups the king suddenly saw a disembodied hand writing the following phrase on the Temple's wall many many te a Parson at first he probably thought he had too much wine but when he took a closer look he saw the words were really on the wall that sobered him up quick he called this wise man over to explain what the hell was going on but they couldn't understand what the word said either then he called over the Hebrew Prophet Daniel who was able to translate what the words meant God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end you have been weighed and found wanting it was a serious warning but Bazar wasn't worried he was the king of Babylon after all no Hebrew God was going to tell him what to do so he kept the wine flowing and his party going he should have listened though fed up with the disrespect that Hebrew God struck beles all dead that very night and left this Empire in Ruins I share that story because it represents the origins of the phrase the writing is on the wall back then it was about a king who defied God today we use it to describe a moment where it should be obvious that the situation is about to take a turn for the worse in a business context you might say that the writing was on the wall for Blackberry once the iPhone came out or that the writing was on the wall for Blockbuster once everyone started ordering movies from Netflix of course in hindsight it's easy to look back on what happened to the Blackberry and Blockbusters of the world and identify when their fortunes were about to take turn for the worst to actually identify when that turn is happening in real time especially when it's happening to you is a much harder task that's because the writing is never actually on the wall if that was the case it would be easy to know when to shift up your business plan start looking for a new job or even get out of a bad relationship but no one flew a plane over the Blockbuster headquarter the trailing AB Bandit it read hey CEO renting DVDs is about to be a thing of the past in the future everyone will stream their movies just like you're not going to walk into your job and find a note on your desk that says just a heads up we're going to be downsizing in the next year and your job is going to be eliminated might want to start looking for something else now or just like how you're definitely not going to come home one night and find a posted on the fridge that says hey baby I just wanted to let you know I'm having a share with your best friend no if you're the CEO or Blockbuster you got to have enough Vision to see where things are going and transition your business to a streaming model before Netflix Corners the market if you're that employee you got to have your finger on the pulse of the industry realize your company isn't doing as well as it happened and start looking for that new job while you still have some leverage if you're that wife you need to cut that friend off and have a serious talk with your husband or maybe even just kick that out of the house it would be great to get Advanced Intel whenever we're about to enter a tough period but unfortunately none of us will ever be worn as plainly as belis saw was you might not ever be able to read the writing on the wall but what you can read is the energy around you if you're willing to be observant and listen You'll Find the messages that energy carries are spelled out almost as clearly as B's AR warning for example let's go back to 2009 the Y when on tour in support of crack a bottle I had sensed that the crowds weren't responding to my music the same way and my album sales definitely confirmed it when I dropped the album before self-destruct later that year it would go on to only move a million copies worldwide a fantastic number for most artists especially these days but a dramatic drop for me at the time in contrast 2003's get Richard D trian sold 14 million copies worldwide the massacre was dropped in 2005 sold 11 million worldwide my numbers were clearly moving in the wrong direction but when I visit the oscope offices people were still speaking to me like I was selling 10 million records we love you 50 one exec might tell me while another might put his arm around me and say 50 we want to be in this business with you forever that was nice to hear but it wasn't the truth the unspoken truth was that the record industry was dying it wasn't just my sales that were falling off but everyone's No Label was was ever going to make anywhere near as much from monetizing streams as they had from selling CDs unlike some of his peers inos scope CEO Jimmy ivine identified the storm that was headed his way he calculated that if in the future most people were going to be listening to music on portable devices headphones were going to take on a much larger significance in the marketplace based on that intuition he started evolving from someone who sold records to someone who sold headphones that foresight paid serious dividends for Jimmy but it didn't pay off as well for the recording artist on his label turns out that it's not optimal to work for a record label that isn't actually focused on selling records that's why if the writing on the wall were a real thing when I showed up to the in scope offices there would have been a banner hanging from the side saying sorry 50 but we don't [ __ ] with you anymore that was exactly what they felt but again no one was going to spell it out for me I had to decipher that message through the energy that was being directed towards me I had to notice the differences between how I was handled when I was truly important to the bottom line and when they were just acting like I was when the money was flowing in I was treated like a franchise player my marketing budget was unlimited no request I made got turned down every flight was first class every hotel stay was in the presidential suite when I stopped by the offices people waited on me hand and foot from the receptionist to Jimmy everyone was excited to see me and shower at me with attention why wouldn't they I was putting money in all of their pockets once the S started slowing I felt the energy begin to shift subtly at first contract started to take longer to get done my phone calls and emails weren't getting returned as quickly I was spending more of my time meeting with Junior Executives instead of top dogs unlike a lot of artists I try to be a student of the industry I would read Publications like billboard variety and Hollywood Reporter I was aware of the fact that music sales had dropped over 50% from 14.6 billion to 6.3 billion in the decade between 1999 and 2009 nobody was selling like they used to taking into account the energy I had detected in the office as well as the overall trajectory of the industry I decided to make my move instead of waiting for the inevitable acts to drop I decided to beat in the scope to the punch I set up a meeting with Jimmy and told him I was ready to move on you guys aren't really in the music business anymore I told him I'll be better off as an independent plus I'm going to start getting more active in movies and television that's what I'm passionate about oh you want to do both Jimmy asked me he presented it like he was surprised but I could tell it was more of a relief to him than anything else I guess they wanted me out of their hair it would have been easy to feel resentful in that moment Jimmy was never my boss he was my partner and as partners we done very very well together I could have taken a moment to ask why despite that success he hadn't always had my back why he hadn't done more to support my last few records even as he sunk lots of money into clearly inferior projects like Puffy's Last Train to Paris actually I do know why I'll save that for the next book I was already focused on the future a future that will find me becoming heavily involved in film and television instead I read the energy in the building sense the way the industry was heading and took control of my own future always a better plan than waiting for the writing on the wall to appear expanding your mind through your circle whenever I hear people say money hasn't changed them I always think the same thing that just means they haven't made enough of it yet trust me when you're making real money a lot of things change and one of the most important things is the type of people you hang out with I've made a lot of new friends over the last 15 years many are just industry friends people I see at events take a selfie with [ __ ] with for a couple minutes and then keep it moving but there are a smaller number of people who have really had a beneficial impact on my life friends that have dramatically changed how I see the world through a sharing their experiences insights and philosophies one of my favorite new friends is Robert Grant the co-author of my book the 50th law Robert is definitely not the type of person who would have been in my previous circles he's a middle-aged white guy and there's nothing Street about him at all he's a real history Bob someone who's happiest when he's reading and studying I didn't know anyone like that prior to my relationship with Robert I had friends that would read a couple books here and there including Robert's classic the 48 Laws of Power but I didn't know anyone who was a true scholar who could speak with real knowledge on on any number of different subjects and periods of History before becoming friends with Robert I'd never been too interested in subjects I thought didn't directly involve me my attitude was like how could something that happened in Ancient Rome or Imperial China have any significance for my life the stories Robert told me made me realize I was being very close-minded there was in fact an almost unlimited pool of strategies and techniques I can draw on from the examples of History Robert explained to me that when you read about a Napoleon or brismar you couldn't just think of them as old white guys in Dusty history books but Geniuses who understood how to match strategy to their circumstan and this is what maintaining power is really about of course our relationship is a two-way street I educated Robert about my experience and helped draw him out of his books a little bit by rolling with me he got to see someone putting some of the strategies he studied into practice in real time I think that was exciting for him one time he even told me you know in America you and I aren't supposed to be friends people want there to be walls between us because we supposedly come from different worlds history and Hip Hop aren't supposed to meet why not we've both got a lot to learn from each other our friendship is a way to break down those walls one thing I really appreciated about Robert was how even though he spent his life studying the various ways people manipulate power power it's not actually the kind of thing he is obsessed with in his own life every year he gets flown around the world to meet with Kings presidents and heads of States I can't say which ones all of whom want to pick his brain on strategy he shares his information with them and then goes back home to his books if anything he can be a little too soft especially in his personal life there have been a few times that I had to tell him that it's okay to be a little ruthless with people it's really not in his nature to destroy someone just because he can he knows about manipulation but at heart he's a compassionate guy that's a good person for me to be friends with because some of that energy rubs off on me it helps me be more sympathetic in certain situations another person I formed the unlikely friendship with is deac choer the bestselling author and wellness expert if Robert Green is something like my teacher when it comes to history deepo is my spiritual teacher one of the the most valuable things you taught me is the importance of getting my head into a more conscious and relaxed space that's always been tough for me I'm someone who's constantly thinking and strategizing I felt that if I take even a few seconds of mental relaxation someone else is going to catch up and overtake me deepo helped me understand that the best way to ensure I stay mentally sharp is to actually give my mind a breather the technique he taught me to help me take that break is meditation he explained that there are a lot of different types of meditation you can practice but the one he recommended is a mantra based technique if you've never tried it a mantra is a phrase or word that you repeat over and over again in your mind until your brain starts to calm down a lot of times it's a Sanskrit word but deepo told me I could just use the phrase I am he said that whenever I felt like my thoughts were racing faster than I was comfortable with I could just sit down in a quiet room close my eyes and repeat I am I am over and over again until the noise in my head was gone I tried following his instructions but I found that after saying my mantra for a few minutes there were so many thoughts racing through my head that I get distracted and forget about what I was supposed to be doing I didn't want to quit so I hit up deepo for some advice and he told me that this was normal the purpose of meditation isn't to stop thinking or to make you stop having thought thoughts but rather to help you lower the volume on those thoughts so that when you're starting to feel overwhelmed by whatever is in your head you have a tool at your disposal that you can use to slow things down and begin to think more clearly that made a lot of sense to me so much so that I actually set up a little area in my apartment just for meditation whenever I'm feeling a little stress I'll sit in that room and sa my mantra for 10 or 15 minutes it's a very easy way to regain control of my mind having that room is great but I find that I do my best meditating on airplanes knowing that I'm going to be stuck in the same seat for several hours I always try to spend some of the flight meditating it's tempting to open up my laptop and watch a movie or TV show but that's not really doing anything beneficial for me instead I'll commit to saying my mantra for at least a half hour for the first 10 minutes or so I'll keep losing track of my Mantra and drifting back to whatever thoughts were at the top of my mind but if I stick with it after a while I get into a Groove I might not totally let go of my thoughts but I definitely get into a much more peaceful mind frame when I'm done meditating I feel much more clearer in my thoughts and decision-making process it's a great way to turn a flight into something constructive when I was growing up in Queens if you had told me I'd end up being friends with the white guy who was a history buff and the Indian dude who was into meditation I would have laughed at you I simply didn't associate with the anyone who seemed different from me today I can't imagine a world where I don't have friendships with people like Robert and deot they've both in different ways fundamentally help reshape how I see and interact with the world I can see that I'm in a different situation than most people chances are you're not going to have the opportunity to meet one of your favorite authors or world-renowned healer there's nothing stopping you however for seeking out more well-rounded people and bringing them into your world not every every one of your friends have to be into the same things that you are for example if every time you're out with your homeboy the conversation is always about hip-hop in the NBA then you have to do better or for your homeboy still wear jeans and sneakers to every event you need to do better on that front too I used to be like that growing up in my hood suits were only for funerals or court dates but I've adjusted as I've grown I've accepted that there going to be occasions where I need to wear a nice tailet suit with Le shoes I still get people asking me why are you wearing that but I'm not going to stay stuck in one place just because that's where they're most comfortable even if my natural instinct is to draw in a fitted with some jeans and sneakers I appreciate people who can put me on to new designers or places to pick up great suits you need people in your life that are going to invite you to places that you might not normally go or send you interesting articles you might not normally read or have you try food you might not normally order you must find people who are going to inject new energy into your life because if you keep having the same conversations with the same people year after year your energy is going to stagnate your ideas are going to get stale your momentum is going to get stuck I'm not just expanding a circle of people I socialize with I'm also committed to expanding the circle of people I interact with professionally in practically every corporate room I go into I'm surrounded by people who likely have had a lot more schooling than me who have read more than me who have been exposed to more culture than me there was a time earlier in my career where those situations might have made me a bit insecure where I might have looked for a reason to not enter that room in the first place because I didn't want to feel stupid or uninformed I was able to get past those insecurities by accepting those people weren't more cultured than me they just had been exposed to a different culture the culture I experienced growing up in South Jamaica was every bit as real as the culture a kid growing up in Beverly Hills or upper east side of Manhattan had been exposed to they just had different foundations and priorities I also came to understand just as I was intimidated by what I didn't know about their culture they might be equally intimidated about what they didn't know about mine their kids might go to private school in Beverly Hills but they were playing my music in the car on the way there this meant there was no imbalance and we were on equal footing culturally these days I'm not intimidated anymore instead I'm looking for rooms where everyone else is more knowledgeable and educated than me I love those sorts of rooms not because I don't value my own experiences but because I know that when I'm around Highly Educated people I'm going to be able to extract real value out of their input when I combine that information with my own instincts and experience it's the perfect formula to make amazing [ __ ] happen your time is never Wast wasted when you're gathering information this is why I always prioritize information over a check recently I got a very nice check to play a show in Israel I didn't have to show up until the day of the show but I told my people to book me to arrive a day early you want to see the sights they ask that's not it I explain I need to meet the [ __ ] who can write a check like that I didn't know what this guy did but I knew I could learn something from him it's not only a professional priority I love talking to anyone who can provide me with new information that can change my perspective that can be a subject that I feel like I'm rock solad on that there's no way anyone can change my mind on it then a smart person hits me with a new perspective on it an Insight I hadn't considered before and everything changes that happened to me recently I was talking to a friend about the news that vice president Pence said he wouldn't meet a woman for dinner without his wife present people were upset with his remark but I didn't see what the outrage was about what's wrong with that I asked my friend when he said that there's a side of me that identifies with him he's got a system that works for him leave him alone but this friend wasn't willing to leave Pence alone or me with my limited Vision listen 50 you need to look at this from my perspective he told me I have two daughters and I'm not having any more kids those two are my future let's say one of them excels in school and wants to get into politics she works her way up through the rank does all the right things and gets involved with an issue now she has a chance to meet with the vice president for dinner and his office tells her that his wife has to come along or she can't get to Mee him that's not fair why not ask he's just trying to stay focused he's aware of his imperfections we should celebrate that not attack the man for that no he deserves to be criticized he replied first of all he's going to the dinner as the vice president not as a man so when he says he can't meet my daughter without his wife present that mean he's looking at her as a sexual object not as a lobbyist a policy expert a senator whatever she might be he's seeing her as a sex object first and foremost he had a point I was starting to see where he was coming from but my friend wasn't done here's the other problem 50 you know that the vibe is different when it's just two people talking business versus when one of their spouses is present when it's just two people they can get down to the nitty-gritty talk [ __ ] about their enemies conspire together trade notes and trade dirt discuss stuff they might not talk about in front of other people that's how a lot of business gets done in the real world but when the spouse is there the vibe changes the conversations about kids Vacations or what TV shows everyone watch it doesn't get down to the dirt if my daughter is talking to the vice president I want her to be able to get into the nitty-gritty I want her to be able to talk about making real moves with someone in the position of power I don't want her to be penalized for being a female to have to limit herself to a different type of conversation than a man in her position would have [ __ ] that oh [ __ ] how did I see that I asked my friend when he put it like that to me it was like a bomb went off in my head I had been seeing the issue in black and white and he helped me see it in Technic color my vision was limited because I had been identifying with Pence as a single man as someone who is familiar with l I could appreciate his position I had failed to identify with the woman in the situation with how she was losing out despite doing nothing wrong I live for moments like that when I can identify where I've been wrong about a subject and start to evolve my thinking I don't live to be right all the time or to have a bunch of Yes Men tell me that's right boss when I say some dumb [ __ ] no I want to have my mind expanded and my perspective shifted by as many intelligent people as possible every single place I go I'm studying people the way they say things their attitude the information they share I could be on the train and I'd be watching people taking notes that's how I learned business by studying people I admired and how they conducted themselves smart people give away so much information through their words or their actions grab every single one of those gems that you can hip hop has brought about a lot of positive changes in the country and improved countless lives one area it can improve however is to stop putting so much priority on being cool we like our rappers to be damaged but we don't like them to be insecure or nerdy we need to change that up just say it's okay to admit you don't know things that you don't have all the answers that you feel unsure of yourself in certain situations it's only by admitting that you have some growing up to do that you can even start the process there are some people who always position themselves to be the smartest people in the room they do that because it soothes their insecurity they'd rather present the impression of being important than actually put themselves in position to grow never be that person always challenge yourself to be around people who might be informed in different ways than you are who have had different experiences and most important aren't intimidated to share that information with you those are the people that are going to supercharge your Evolution into your best self chapter six power of perception the world will see you the way you see you and treat you the way you treat yourself Beyonce when get Richard di triying was released I still had one foot very much in the streets that connection and struggle made me very relatable once I achieved success on the highest level however that connection was lost with Fame and Fortune I stopped being human I was closer to a comic book character than someone with real feelings the perception was that if you cut me I wouldn't bleed over time I've been able to let go of any resentment connected to the perception that I'm not susceptible to the same pains fears and disappointments as everyone else I accepted that there was certain assumptions about me that I wasn't going to be able to change what I could do however was hustle smarter to make those perceptions work in my favor I noticed the trend and how the media covers me when I'm killing it I'm known as the music mogul 50 let something go bad and then I'm the rapper 50 Cent it would have been easy to develop a negative fixation about that irregularity instead I saw an opportunity by referring to me as a rapper when I do something controversial the Press offers me a kind of Freedom one that other people in my position don't have we live in a climate where most people are openly afraid to speak their Minds especially those of power and influence they're worried that if they say the wrong thing on social media or in the Press they'll lose something an endorsement a role friends maybe even their careers they'll be cancelled I never worry about being cancelled I've been transparent about my issues from day one so the expectations aren't the same for me as they are for my peers there's an acceptance that I was messed up to start with when I do say something in while being labeled as the rapper 50 Cent becomes my shield any cancellation talk bounces right off it even the most critical voices out there will concede that's just 50 being 50 that freedom to be myself W and all has become incredibly valuable one of the greatest tools at my disposal is my Instagram page which has 25 million followers why do so many people mess with my page because it's always popping off they gravitate to it because it's raw unfiltered and actually run by me there's no publicist overseeing my post telling me what to take down or a 25-year-old social media manager sitting in a cubicle trying to think of how to make a promotional post sound like me it's a true reflection of me on each and every day very few of my peers can say that here's the twist the popularity of my page has been one of the driving forces behind the success of power and my subsequent Mega deal with stars when the Press wrote about that deal I damn sure wasn't the rapper 50 Cent my hustle had shifted the perception Curtis Jackson the Mogul the businessman and entertainment executive is who made that stars deal happen now that I recognize the advantages it brings I'm comfortable with being known as both 50 Cent and Curtis Jackson 50 Cent is the perception Curtis Jackson is the reality that doesn't mean 50 c is fake not at all 90% of the things I've wrapped about I've lived not to mention that there are plenty of things that I've lived through that haven't shown up in my music I can now use the Persona of 50 Cent the Persona I earned the hardware to my advantage to both protect and Elevate Curtis Jackson the greatest fear many people have is just being themselves there are probably some of you listening to this book hoping that you can become the next 50 Cent if that sounds like you let go of that intention being me is not going to fit your journey and neither is trying to be anyone else when you pattern yourself too closely after another person you're putting weak ineffectual energy out into the world you're running away from your most inexhaustible power supply being yourself what I want you to take from this chapter is understanding about how presenting your best possible version of yourself is going to have an incredible impact on your success influencing how people perceive you doesn't make you fake it doesn't make you phony it makes you someone who knows how to control energy to your advantage imagine your energy is being like water for thousands of years people have sought to channel the energy of water the ancient Greeks built water wheels to use the power of the water to grind wheat into flour in ancient China they use pot Wheels to lift water out of rivers and into irrigation canals Islamic engineers in Africa and in the Middle East used it to power liftting machines in modern times we built colossal projects like the Hoover Dam which took the power of the Colorado River and controlled it to irrigate dry land control floods and Supply power to millions of people none of those measures which brought so much change to civilization altered the basic nature of water involved the only thing they changed was how it was utilized try to view harnessing the energy of how you are perceived in the same way the fundamental essence of Who You Are doesn't change you're just using it to innate power in a smarter way shaping perceptions my first experience trying to shape people's perceptions were born out of necessity I was around 12 years old and just starting to get into hustling drugs it was clear I was going to be an earner but I had a problem on my hands I didn't have any free time to get out on the corner I was in Middle School at the time and there was no way my Nana was going to let me drop out the only possible time for me to hustle was between 300 p.m. when school let out and 6:00 p.m. when I had to be home at the time my Nana was in the habit of walking me to and from school which would make sneaking off to hustle impossible I had to come up with a reason to walk by myself I was already around 150 lbs at the time damn near the size of a small adult so I told Nana that people were beginning to make fun of me in the neighborhood there are kids in eighth and nth grade that are smaller than me walking home by by themselves I told her everyone's starting to think I'm slow or something you got to let me walk by myself it was hard for n to say yes to that because walking to school had become my ritual it was when we talked about what was going on in my life or any of the questions about the world that was going through my young mind those walks were where we really bonded still no grandmother wants a grandson to be bullied so she eventually let me start walking on my own the next problem I had to overcome was how to explain why I wasn't home right after school let out I might be able to buy an hour or so and claim I was out playing basketball with my friends or taking a quick trip to buy candy but there was no logical reason I'd be out every day tell my curfew then I came up with the solution my school had an after school program where students could catch up on homework and take part in activities that ran into 600 p.m. I enrolled in it and brought home the papers to Nana they showed I would be staying every day until 6 she loved the idea of my doing extra work and signed the papers I went the first couple of days and then stopped showing up the school was much more LAX about attendance after school than during regular school if I didn't show up they weren't going to send any Tru officers looking for me I was finally free to hustle every day between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. I even figured out a way to fess getting out of going to church every Sunday which was mandatory in Nana's house everyone one followed her mandate until one year she joined a new church after a couple of Sundays it was clear that the new preacher was a bit of a hustler my grandfather who didn't like going to church any more than I did saw his opportunity I don't have to go to church on Sunday and have this guy try to tell me about God he told Nana I'm just going to stay home and read the Bible on my own instead when Nana didn't put up a fight I made my own move I want to stay home with my grandpa I told her my Grandpa was stunned since I'd never shown much interest in hanging out with him the baby wants to stay with me he asked but he must have sensed that I was a bit of a co-conspirator because he quickly took to the idea and overrode Nana's objections no no let Curtis stay with me he said it'll be good for the boy we were both just looking for ways of getting out of church but Sunday morning ended up being with me and my grandpa really bonded before that he was kind of a distant figure someone who was at work most of the time on those Sunday mornings we got to know each other we spend a lot more time watching football games or hanging around the house than studying the Bible but my n didn't have to know that we were forging a bond this lasted to this day it was during this period that my grandfather demonstrated another valuable lesson about importance of controlling perception especially in a relationship my grandfather worked at the local GMC factory and he had a ritual when he got paid every other Friday as soon as he walked in the door on payday he would give my grandmother his check she wouldn't have to badge her or hassle him he just hand it right over to her as a child it never made sense to me you worked your ass off all week then just give your payche to someone else I used to think what sort of system is that but recently we were on a trip together I take him on at least one trip with me every year and I said to him Pop I never understood how you just gave her all the money you couldn't understand it at the time because you were too young he explained but I gave her all the money to stop her from looking at things that I couldn't give her instead of having her head filled up with fantasies I let her work with reality having that peace of mind at home was worth more to me than a few extra dollars in my pocket I finally understood his strategy if he had been secretive about how much he made it would have been understandable that my grandmother would have become suspicious he was holding out on her she might have bothered him for a nicer dress or an expensive pair of shoes he's probably got it she might have thought to herself he's just being cheap by showing my grandmother exactly what he was bringing home and then giving it all to her my grandfather had shifted the energy in the house if she wanted the nice pair of shoes or the more expensive dress she was going to have to justify that purchase to herself not him and by handing her everything my grandfather became a sure thing in my grand grandmother's life most people are always going to stick with a sure thing when I looked at it like that his action suddenly made so much sense to me while I was happy to build a closer relationship with my grandfather during those Sundays I didn't particularly like lying to Nana especially about what I was really doing after school but I was beginning to understand that in order to get what I wanted at the time I was going to have to juggle Nana's perception of me with who I was becoming on the streets I could have done what a lot of kids did my hood which was just drop out of school and say I don't give a [ __ ] whether my family likes it or not but my love for my Nana was too strong I had to let her hold on to her perception of me as her baby more than anyone else in my life Nana understood me even if I tried to keep part of my life hidden from her after she died my aunt was reading my Nana's old Bible and saw that she actually used to write down her prayers on little scraps of paper which she would tuck between the pages my aunt showed me one of the pray in which Nana wrote please keep Curtis safe from himself because he has a temper lord it's not his fault because that boy has been through a lot when I read that note it was one of the most emotional moments of my life I would have given my life to save hers in that moment that's how much she meant to me my love for my Nana is why I committed to keeping up two identities at home I would continue to be boo boo the sweet kid who followed Nana's rule of no cursing under her roof who led her pork and beans with Franks who was polite and show respect outside of her home I developed a different Persona I wasn't known as 50 Cent yet but I was becoming known as someone you didn't want to cross as someone who was going to do whatever it took to get what he wanted while my nana would have seen me as her baby outside of her home I wanted the neighborhood to notice me to view me as someone worthy of respect there were a lot of elements I knew I couldn't control being poor parentless and maybe a little funny looking but I was determined the elements that I could control my appearance and presentation were going to make an impression on people the first thing I set out to change was my physical makeup as I mentioned as a kid I was overweight remember when I rhymed I love you like a fat kid love cake and 21 questions I was that fat kid I spent too much time on the couch watching TV while woing down cheese sandwiches and drinking cranberry juice I was headed on a path towards obesity diabetes and so many of the issues that plague way too many African-Americans getting into the boxing gym corrected my sloppy physical presentation once I committed to putting into work I transformed from a fat 12-year-old boy to a sleek and Powerful young man what surprised me most is I began to Crave the discipline of boxing more than I crave the cake cookies and soda the cake made me feel good for a moment but then the rush was gone training and standing shape made me feel good all the time outside of the physical strength it endowed me with I like knowing that my body could sway how people felt about me if other males weren't outright intimidated they treated me with more respect a lot of women were attracted not only as eye candy but to what my muscle said about me that I was someone who was disciplined that I wasn't averse to putting in consistent work on something they were focused on the indication of those qualities even more so than rubbing on a man biceps or shoulders is extremely attractive to women ever since I first started shedding the pounds in the boxing ring staying in shape has been a fundamental part of my Persona the only time I've slipped up was after I went on tour to support getrich of D TR we were on the road constantly for over a year and I wasn't properly prepared for the challenges created by the touring lifestyle lots of hotel room service and even more fast food I slipped back into my bad habits from childhood and started eating whatever I wanted while working out less and less not surprisingly I put on way too much weight I started off the tour looking like the headlining artist but by the end I looked like my own security when it was time to shoot the cover for my second album to Massa I had a problem on my hands or more accurately my chest one of the lasting defining images of get rich of drr was a shirtless picture of me on the cover looking muscular with a diamond cross hanging from my neck that's the image people associated with 50 Cent it had a proven track record of selling records the reality was different when it was time to release Massacre I was no beast but there was flab where there used to be definition I couldn't abandon the shirtless Motif so I came up with the solution I used another shirtless photo but this time I took a pen and Drew in the missing muscles to divert people's eyes from the flab I gave myself definition around my pecs shoulders and arms I also put on gloves so that the whole image took on a cartoon like quality the diversion worked no one was talking about fat 50 Cent they were just talking about the music the massacre sold 1.5 million copies the week it came out and ended up moving over 10 million worldwide still I vowed never to compromise myself like that again projecting the right appearance ever since I had to pull out my pen for the massacre cover my have been real I will admit however that there have been other times when I've manipulated how people perceive me in other ways to further my agenda one of the first times I realized that I could attract what I wanted by projecting success when I was initially trying to make the transition from selling drugs to music I was doing very well on the streets but no one was really taking me seriously as a rapper yet I knew I needed to meet the right people if I was going to progress with that mission in mind one night me and and a couple of my boys decided to go to Bentley's an upscale hip-hop spot in Manhattan Bentley's would broadcast at Friday night parties on the radio which drew a potent mix of rappers athletes celebrities and models if you wanted to break into the game Bentley's was a great place to do it provided you can get past their doormen they were there specifically to make sure every hood dude in the fire barrels looking for a record deal couldn't get in the door we pulled up in my 400se bins which was an extremely fly ride not many people have one as I Cruis past the club out of nowhere someone ran up on my car and slapped the hood I'm someone who does not appreciate being surprised and my displeasure must have Shone on my face yo my bad son the guy quickly apologized I thought you was my man Kenny he got the same whip once my alarm subsided I took a good look at who was talking to me it was Jam Master J from Run DMC one of my heroes I immediately pulled the car over jumped out and gave j a pound I told him I was from South Jamaica and had always followed his career he laughed and apologized again for running up on me explaining he thought I was NBA star Kenny Anderson another Queen's native I asked if he was about to go into Bentley's no doubt I'm about to run up in this spot and see what's up he said I decided to decisively seize the moment yo we coming with you I told him Jay looked at me thought about it for a second and then said that's what's up let's go just like that we were past the bouncers and inside Bentley we would never have gotten in without him he literally walked me into the music business that night Jay and I formed a friendship which eventually led to me signing with JJ records and everything else that followed here's the thing Jay would have never invited me into the club with them if I wasn't driving my 400 SE if I had just walked up to him on the sidewalk he wouldn't have stopped to talk to us let alone take us inside that's not a against him or his sense of judgment random people approached him everywhere he went and there's no way Jay could ever accommodate everyone but the moment Jay saw my car and thought I was Kenny Anderson I was operating under a powerful perception even when it turned out that I wasn't an NBA player I was still somebody to him somebody that deserved his attention once I had it it was up to me to capitalize on it which I did there are certain material goods and cars are at the top of the list there signal to other people that you are someone that should be taken seriously that you are different from the rest of the herd especially in New York City you can't drive your fancy apartment or Brownstone down Broadway but you could damn sure Roll by slow and your whip picture this a older rich white guy is driving around in the Rolls-Royce and I pull up next to him in the hoopti suddenly I noticed there are Flames coming out from under his car if I motion for him to roll his window down he's going to take one look at me and then just stare straight ahead I might be trying to save his life but he's not giving me any attention his perception is that I'm not someone he should be interacting with now let's pretend I pull up next to him in my Ferrari I notice his cars on fire and motion for him to roll down his window he's going to roll on that window and say what can I do for you 10 times out of 10 I could look exactly the same and be projected the same energy but he's only rolling down that window when I'm in a luxury car of my own what I'm sitting in controls his entire perception of me it's not just cars I was recently talking with a very famous media personaly and he mentioned that he always notices when someone's wearing a good watch and if he doesn't know who they are it makes him want to know I'll start to wonder what the hell does he do for a living He told me and then I'll try to figure out a way to talk to him because he must be on to something there are some people who are that way with sneakers if you walk into the room wearing the right pair kicks that person is going to notice you you might not have said a word but that person is immediately going to single you out as someone who is probably worth their attention for a lot of women there's a similar energy around handbags most men couldn't tell a difference between a $20,000 Birkin and a fake Gucci bag from Canal Street but to other women the bag someone's carrying speaks volumes you come into a room with a ill bag a lot of antennas go up you can say well that guy should have treated you the same no matter what you were drive or you shouldn't be interested in someone just because of the watch they wear but that statement doesn't align with reality every time you walk down the street drive somewhere in your car go to the supermarket work out in the gym or post a picture on social media you're being judged by a few people you know and a lot more you'll never meet there's no sense complaining about it or saying it's not fair instead it's in come in on you to accept that you control how you're perceived and then prepare the best presentation possible I will tell you straight up that I judge every single person I meet on their appearance as I'm shaking your hand I'm also scanning your entire outfit for whatever Clues I can glean from it especially if we're meeting to conduct business for the first time before you open your mouth your appearance is already initiated a conversation with me make sure it's saying the right thing I pay particular attention to the people who dress casually around me let's say you come to our meeting wearing a t-shirt and some jeans that tells me you're comfortable not necessarily a bad thing if I sent you're going to do great work then that Comfort level is appropriate if you don't transmit a competent air however then I'll view it as a liability it suggest you're not taking the situation seriously enough you'd be surprised on how many people do that one time GQ Magazine sent a reporter to interview me he showed up in a T-shirt and jeans with scuffed sneakers it might have been a hip outfit amongst his friends but to me it signal that he might not be locked in at his job at one point we started talking about the importance of presentation and a reporter asked me what I thought of his outfit I told him maybe it was fine for him to interview me dress that way but I suspected that it was undermining how his colleagues saw him back at the office look GQ may send you the interview 50 Cent because you dress casual I explained but they would sent a guy in the suit to interview George Clooney the reporter admitted that I might be on to something to find out he conducted an experiment where he wore a suit to work one day instead of his normal outfit of t-shirt sneakers and jeans the shift in how people viewed him was immediate several co-workers went out of their way to compliment him on his appearance and one of his editors even took his picture and put it on gq's Instagram page that's a very big cosign at GQ I don't know if they ever sent them to interviewed George Clooney but there's no doubt changing how he dressed also changed how he was perceived at his job as I told him when you clean up people will notice when I see someone has put effort and thought into their choice of attire it tells me that they value our relationship whether I like their particular style or not isn't important I just want to see the effort the other day I met with a TV Rider to discuss a potential project he had jeans on but they were crisp he had sneakers on but they look fresh out of the box he wore a loose fitting sports jacket with dark frame glasses everything about his outfit said intelligent business casual it projected the correct energy for what we were working on after we talked a while and I decided that I liked him I told him that I was curious about his intent in picking out his outfit probably not the question he was expecting in a meeting about a script but he was cool with it oh I wanted you to take me seriously he told me add but I also wanted you to think I wasn't too formal that I would be a flexible person to work with he added that the glasses were a recent addition to his look for a long time I wasn't wearing glasses because I thought they made me look old he explained but a few years ago I decided to start wearing them because I figured they'd make me seem smart which is probably a good thing if I want people to pay me a lot of money for my services you nailed it I told him it does not register anything but intelligence to me I look at you and go he's a smart guy he put those glasses on so he can [ __ ] see mind you it was not necessarily an outfit I would wear myself the sneakers were a little plain and the sports jacket wouldn't have felt right on me but I didn't need to see him dress the way I do I just needed to register that he had the right aesthetic for the job some of you might not be in a position to afford stylish clothes or have a fresh new pair of kicks every time you go to a meeting that's still not an excuse whatever your situ situation is you can afford an iron even if your clothes aren't the coolest if I noticed that you ironed them and laid them out the night before I'll register your intent it lets me know that even if you don't have a big budget you do have the right energy I can work with that conversely when I see someone who is consistently sloppy or doesn't seem to mind wearing wrinkled clothes it tells me that they don't value themselves that they're not willing to put in a little extra work every day to present the best version of themselves it doesn't take much to iron your shirt or clean your sneakers a bit if you don't value your time or appearance enough to do those little things every morning why would I expect you to Value me how to control the conversation I know how most people in Corporate America view me as a gangster a thug a bully if they have a meeting schedule with me their top priority going in probably isn't getting the deal done it's leaving the room room without getting shot I understand why and part of it is my own doing I won't say that I intentionally cultivate a gangster image that sounds too calculated but I was always very honest in articulating the type of Lifestyle I was living back in Queens and people who aren't from that sort of background tend to gravitate to those details when I first started taking a lot of corporate meetings I was surprised that everyone in the room seemed so nervous around me what would were they scared of I was there to talk business not to shoot up the place over time I realized I could manipulate that nervous energy if I wanted to truly control the room the best thing I could do was give off the least gangster energy possible if people were expecting me to radiate aggression or arrogance I gave them humility instead I smiled a lot I even seemed a little shock those execs have been mentally preparing themselves for an Arctic blast but all they got instead was a cool Summer Breeze the difference between their perception and my reality disarmed them by controlling the energy in the room I learned I'd have a much easier time setting my agenda people become so amazed at how nice I am that subconsciously they grow much more agreeable and receptive to whatever I'm proposing even as I'm smiling and being sweet I still find ways to let the room know that I'm in charge one technique I'll employ is touching the arm of a person I'm talking to never in a heavy or invasive way just lightly on their forearm it doesn't seem like it should matter but it's an incredibly effective way of making an impression on someone I'm not just saying that scientists have done studies proving a light touch makes people much more agreeable to your request a study by the Society of Personality and Social Psychology found that waiters and waitresses that apply light touches to people they were serving got better tips than those who did not another study this one in the Journal of non-verbal Behavior found that applying a light touch made random people on the streets more likely to help with finding lost objects and even signing petitions in short a properly applied touch gets people to do whatever you want them to do why scientists think it's because when someone touches you in the right that is nonaggressive way it causes your body to release chemicals like dopamine oxytocin and ser Onin that make your brain happy simultaneously it causes the level of stressful chemicals like cortisol which would be triggered by an aggressive touch to go down the result is that one Simple Touch can put someone into a more relaxed mood where they'll be more likely to agree with whatever is being proposed the key is applying the touch properly first off you can't touch people anywhere other than between their elbow and their wrist this is especially true if you're a man interacting with a woman moment don't touch someone's shoulder biceps or face and definitely not anywhere below their waist don't go out there do some dumb [ __ ] then try to say 50 told me to do that you apply the touch is on forearm only zero exceptions also only apply touch if you're sitting or standing close enough to someone to do it without being awkward if you've got the lean across the table or reach over someone else it won't work the touch has to seem effortless just just a normal extension of the conversation if you're reaching for someone it's actually going to make them uncomfortable and therefore less receptive to you the same is true if you try to grip their arm or try to physically control them in any way try this technique out the next time you're trying to convince someone to help you with something instead of just asking your mother for a ride to the mall ask while giving her a light touch on the forarm no matter what sort of mood she was in beforehand I promise that her energy will improve and you'll get that ride or if you're at work and you're trying to convince your boss that you're the right person to lead a project just touch them ever so gently on their forearm as you make your case again it can only be on the forearm and it should never seem flirty or suggestive your energy has to remain completely calm and controlled if you can do that no matter how difficult or reluctant your boss has been in the past you'll see the energy change for the better you'll get that assignment another way to subtly control the energy of the room is by talking softly maybe not the advice you were expecting from a rapper but it's another trick that I found really works the person who put me on to it was the legendary actor Bruce Willis Bruce and I first met on the set of a heist film the setup one night during filming the cast and crew went out to eat together I was seated at the same table as Bruce and throughout the night people would come over to pay their respects I noticed that every time someone would initiate a conversation with Bruce they'd have to lean in close to catch what he was saying similarly whenever the entire table was engaged in conversation if someone asked Bruce his opinion he'd answer in almost a whisper the entire table would have to lean in towards him to hear after dinner Bruce invited me to join him in the hotel lobby for a cigar as we smoked I asked him about what I observed say man I said how come every time someone asks you something at dinner you answer it in damn near whisper you're not talking like that now Bruce started to laugh you notice that huh he said very observant of you that's something I picked up years ago whenever you're around a lot of people and everyone's trying to be heard the secret is to speak as softly as possible when someone speaks like that our natural reaction is to lean into them as close as possible we don't realize it but when we do that we're transferring all our power to them damn I said that never occurred to me before I'm used to people trying to control the room by being as loud as possible try it Bruce said you see what I'm talking about so I gave it a shot and Bruce was absolutely on point the more quietly I spoke the more intently people listened in testing the technique I found it giving people less than they expected wasn't just effective with verbal Communications but with body language too for example I noticed that Executives always respond to non-verbal cues when they're talking to a room if if they make a point they expect something from you in return it can be a laugh a slight nod a raised eyebrow or even just a shift in your seat something that communicates to them yes important person I'm receiving your information even if we're not conscious of it we usually end up giving them that affirmation that they're looking for I decided to do an experiment when I was doing around of meetings with TV Executives for some reason they seemed just a little bit cockier and more arrogant than other execs and really like to control the room I wanted to see if I could snatch that control out from under them without them even realizing it every time some Big Shot TV exec was pontificating about their plans when they looked to me for that affirmation I just sit there stone-faced no nod no laugh I would not offer them anything it would completely throw them off they became very flustered once I had them off their game it was much easier to assert my agenda and move the conversation in a Direction was more beneficial for me I was hustling harder but literally without moving a muscle try it yourself if you're in a meeting and your boss looks to you for affirmation don't give it to them that doesn't mean stare at your phone or off in the space while they're talking by all means maintain eye contact and show that you're listening just don't offer them any non-verbal feedback beyond that I promise that if you do that the person is speaking will become fixated on you subconsciously they will be thinking everyone else is giving me verification but this person isn't giving me anything what's going on you could be the most Junior person in the room but after that meeting you're going to occupy some Prime real estate in your boss's head they're going to be thinking that's a smart person I need to pay more attention to them you will have made a positive and Lasting Impression on your boss now it's up to you to capitalize on that Advantage you've created for yourself if you don't follow that meeting with impressive ideas and a strong work ethic the impression won't be worth much but if you can use your boss's new found interest to showcase the great work you've been doing it's really going to propel your trajectory fake it till you make it Bill Gates and Paul Allen were computer nerds who met in high school in Seattle where they both shared an interest in early Computing systems several years after graduating Allan found himself in Boston working for Honeywell while Gates was a student at nearby harvi one day Allan met up with gates to show him the latest edition of popular electronic magazine the cover story was about something neither of them had seen before a personal computer previously computers were only for big companies or the government the article introduced The Game Changer the aler 8800 a personal computer invented by a company out of New Mexico called mits mits mits today we wouldn't even recognize our out as a computer it didn't have a screen or keyboard it communicated by little red lights that lit up on his box likee frame to Allan engaged though it seemed like something out of the future they also saw it launch as a potential opportunity the out ran on a very slow and unreliable operating system Allan and Gates had been working on a program they called basic which they were convinced would make the aler much more user friendly they decided to contact mits and Pitch them on their program they got mit's CEO on the phone and explained that they've been working on the out tier and developed a new program specifically for it the company CEO Ed Roberts was intrigued and invited them to New Mexico to give him a demonstration Allan and Gates were ecstatic except they had one problem they had never actually bought an alter or finished writing basic as soon as they got off the phone with Roberts they ran out and bought an alter then they spent the next several months frantically writing the actual RP for basic of course Roberts ended up loving the program and even hired Allan to work at Ms that experience led to Allen and Gates launching their own company Microsoft which would go on to make both men among the richest in the entire world Bill Gates and Paul Allen would never have set out on that Journey however if they hadn't been willing to [ __ ] at Roberts on that first phone call they weren't lying about their talent as computer programmers or their confidence in improving the out here but they damn sure exaggerated what they' actually done prior to that call in order to make the best possible impression one of the main reasons they both went on to have such legendary careers other than their skill and work ethic was that they both understood the importance of crafting and Narrative of making themselves appear to have already achieved a higher level of success than they were actually at in time it wouldn't have to fake a thing but if they hadn't been a bit bold with the truth when they were first starting they might never have got their own company off the ground one of Hip Hop's favorite Expressions is fake it till you make it which is exactly what Bill Gates and Paul Allen did the idea is that even if your circumstances are disadvantaged or you lacked experience so long as you project the energy and confidence of someone who's successful it's only a matter of time till true success comes and finds you it's an expression that's been used so often it's almost become cliche don't let it's overuse fool you though I can promise you that this principle has real power even after you make it a great example is when I released the 50 centers the future mixtape it was the first project I released after being dropped by Columbia I was in one of the most vulnerable spots I had found myself in and I knew I had to do something to grab the industry's attention at the time bootlegging was a major issue in hip-hop industry insiders have been getting their hands on albums before their official release dates and then selling in the Bootleggers those Bootleggers would sell a disc with a fake cover on the streets for $5 to $10 a pot instead of the $20 a CD might go for at Best Buy of Virgin mega store that left the artist completely cut out of the process financially the Bootleggers wanted to carry whatever was hot that the major label were putting out albums like Nelly's Country Grammar or nza Stillmatic those artists Nars in particular would then do anything possible to keep their music from getting into the bootlegg his hands and if they did come across some unlucky immigrant illegally selling the album a Beatdown usually ensued I saw a situation completely different from those major label artists because I needed a buzz I actively wanted my music to get bootlegged to make it happen I hatched the plan no one would give me a record deal but I decided to put the future out on my own anyway the key was to do everything possible to give it the appearance of a major label release I hired a photographer to shoot the front cover and a designer to create a package that looked like a regular release I even put a fake barcode on the back cover to make it look as official as possible then I had my people leak the album to every boot legger they would take it my plan worked to Perfection the Bootleggers quickly started pushing my album not realizing they stolen something that I was trying to give away all over the city in different hoods and multiple street corners word begin to spread about a new 50 Cent album that wasn't available in stores you had to know the right boot leer to get your hands on it because it was so hard to find it instantly became the cool thing to have the perceived exclusivity only drove interest higher in one instance the perception was too strong one of my homies was walking down Jamaica Avenue and saw an African guy selling the future on a table unaware of my plan my friend thought the guy was ripping me off he ran up on the bootlegger flipped the table over and punched the dude Square in his face he ended up knocking the dude's teeth out of his mouth afterwards my friend reported back to me what he' done thinking I'd be pleased what did you do that for I scolded him fool we need him to sell the CD because we ain't got no deal yet we're trying to create the bus don't be punching anybody else in the mouth you messing with the whole thing man my friend was apologetic oh my bad 50 I thought the dude was trying to steal from you nah this is part of the plan I told him in fact go back and buy a few copies just so him and his people know the streets really want it I took a much softer approach with the Bootleggers one time I was walking towards Chris light's office in Manhattan when I saw a guy with a bunch of CDs laid out on the sheet on the sidewalk what you got I asked him oh yeah I got that new 50 Cent man it's the bomb he told me obviously not realizing who he was talking to oh word let me see I told him sure enough he had 50 centers the future I love knowing my CD was the one he was pushing first I gave the guy a big smile and bought two copies off them had to keep that demand going one of the major values that labels offered artists was their distribution Network the labels controlled which albums got into the right stores as well as how they were displayed and promoted by leaking my own music I figured out a way around that those Bootleggers became my own personal distribution Network as long as there was a demand they were going to keep making copies and getting my music and my name out there I'm confident that the success of my bootleg album is what helped me get on Eminem and Inter scope's radar I wasn't content sitting around hoping that someone would decide I was hot I lit my own fire instead by creating the perception I was as hot as the major label artist of the day I basically paved the way to becoming one myself act like you don't need it another technique you can employ to get something you want is to act like you don't actually need it it's a technique that requires finess nuance and unshakable confidence employ correctly and it will get you Real Results suppose you go into an interview for a job you really desire it's in your ideal field and pays much better than your current job if you get it not only will you be furthering your career but you'll also be able to get out of the credit card debt that's been drowning you not to mention your commute will drop from 45 to 15 minutes it's everything you've been looking for when you sit down for your interview in your ironed outfit of course your instincts will be to express just how enthusiastic you are about the position you've already spent weeks fantasizing about what your life will be like once you get that job now you just want to spill that energy out in front of the person who can actually give it to you do not succumb to that instinct do however Express in no uncertain terms that you are interested in the job make it clear that in the event you accept it you are confident you can not only meet but exceed expectations for the position but do not ever give the impression that you need that job or that you're dying for it even if that's exactly what you're feeling you must suppress that instinct because of this fundamental truth neediness is a turn off to everyone except the most compassionate people the vast majority of people are attracted to the things they think they can't have no matter what the set unattainability is the ultimate aphrodesia when you looking for someone to invest time money or energy in you you can never let them think they're doing you a favor you must make them believe that the favor is actually coming from you that by being brought into your orbit they will be setting themselves up for a win I became acutely aware of this phenomenon once I became successful when I was struggling no no one wanted to give me a break now that I made it everyone wants to cut me in on great deals or rare opportunities if I go to an award show I'll get a gift bag worth tens of thousands of dollars billionaires invite me to fly on private jets or stay in their luxury villas hedge fund managers give me investment tips everybody it turns out wants to do you a favor precisely when you don't need it when you hear about successful people who are already doing great getting $30,000 gift bags or free flights on private jets it's easy to Grumble man the rich always get richer but grumbling won't change your reality what will change it is figuring out how to project the energy and confidence that will make people want to treat you in a similar way one of the true magicians of the act like you don't need a strategy was the financier Bernie maid off he's the guy behind the Ponzi scheme that milk people out of over $64 billion dollar that's right 64 billion I'm not celebrating what Midol did he ruined a lot of vulnerable people and organizations and even contributed to his own son committing suicide but when I read about his story I couldn't help but notice how masterful he was at employing an I don't needed mentality to get people to give him their money in the simplest terms mid off scheme worked like this he would encourage people to invest with his firm but instead of actually putting their money in the stock exchange he put it into his personal bank account then he' make up fake stock reports that showed his investors getting incredible Returns on their money he guessed correctly that as long as people saw their money growing at above Market rates they would keep it with him and let it ride the only issue would be when people ask for their money back since Midol never actually invested the money it would be impossible for him to cover those acts the money wasn't in his account anymore he had already spent it on homes cars and planes all that good stuff in order to keep the scheme going Midol would have to constantly bring in new investors and keep the finances flowing because he needed as many new investors as possible to prevent his scheme from collapsing you probably think M would be very aggressive in going after potential targets especially in cultivating the big money folks he met at Galla parties in Manhattan Hollywood and the Hamptons you'd assume he'd be whining and dining them gifting them front row seats at sporting events flying them around on his Jets getting the guys call girls whatever he could do to getting their good graces nope mid off did the exact opposite whenever one of those deep pocketed people approached him about investing with his firm molf would turn them down he would tell them his fund was full that there was no possible way he could take on any new investors sorry he just couldn't do business with them that would drive those Rich folks crazy remember these were power Brokers who were never told no instead of walking away it made them want to work with made all even more they became convinced that M off was sitting on a more lucrative situation than they've originally thought let's say a rich guy offered to invest $5 million when he first approached maid off a level of investment most managers like maid off would jump at after hearing no the guy might come back to Mid off with an offer to up their investment to $10 million nobody says no to a $10 million investment but Midol would still act like he wasn't interested the rich guy would be flipping his wake he'd get pushed he'd have their mutual friends call maid off and Lobby on his behalf instead of being courted the guy would start courting maid off he'd be determined to get as much of his money to ma off as possible because his attitude convinced them that he had to be some sort of Mastermind after all who else would turn down all that money finally only when the number got high enough for him made off would pretend to give in all right fine he might say you can come in for $15 million but don't don't tell anyone else I did this it's just for you just like that he take the guy to the cleanest the guy might as well have said Bernie would you please steal my money maid off did this to very bright people Hollywood directors owners of professional baseball and football teams actors and actresses people who were extremely shrewd and successful in their own field none of that mattered they all got finessed by someone who acted like he didn't need it Midol pulled this off and H Society but I've seen it work in Street situations too on the street people are used to constantly being asked for things yo let me hold something my man can you spot me the next week folks are always on guard to make sure no one plays or gets over on them people who understand this Instinct can use it to their advantage let's say a Comm man bumps into one of his old homies at the bar and senses the opportunity to work some of his magic first he' buy the guy a few rounds top shelf no well liquor make his seemed like Money Was No Object after a few he might casually mention the bins he had parked outside or the trip to a Ru he just took his girl on all his energy and words would project the impression that he was operating out of abundance the exact opposite of someone looking for a handout eventually the guy's friend would want to know what's funding the lifestyle the car man will reply very humbly he's doing well in real estate he won't say much more and instead will'll push the conversation back to funny old Stories the time we took those girls to Coney Island or when the fight broke out in the park the friend will remain fixated on the money though hey what sort of real estate deal is you doing he'll eventually ask that's when the K will make his move oh it's complicated basically I'm just flipping city-owned properties he might say yeah this thing I got going on right here is really great I know some people in City Hall and they've put me on to some serious opportunities especially this new development I just got some money together for I think it's going to make a killing the Trap has been set and more often than not the needy person will walk into it yo my man what's good you got to let me in on this the car man will take another sip of his drink and pretend to mull it over look because we've been people for a long time if you want in I can hook you up but the absolute most I can let you put in for is $10,000 I'm sorry but the rest of it is pretty much spoken for I'm the friend will say and start to make arrangements to get the money together and just like that he's been had the reason he felt for it so easily is because the Comm man acted like he didn't want anything if he had said yo give me as much as you can get your hands on or had pressed his friend for a certain amount that would have set off Al larm Bells by applying zero pressure he was able to circumvent all his friend security systems the guy was so conditioned for people asking and pressing him for things that it never occurred to him to watch for the guy who wasn't asking for anything here's a little test to see if you're understanding how to use the power of perception let's say I gave you $1 million but then I told you in order to keep it you had a month to turn it into 2 million otherwise I'm taking it back what would be your strategy to double your money would you try to start a business and hope it grew quickly would you give it to an investor and hope they weren't the next berning made off would you buy 10 kilos of coke and try and flip it that way I hope not because none of those represent the easiest path to that $2 million all you have to do is put that money in your bank account then walk over to your local branch in this situation I even give you permission to address casually when you get there ask your branch manager to open your account their eyes are going to get wide when they see all those zeros on the screen they're going to become super friendly very eager to help you in any way they possibly can you just stay poised and confident after they ask you what they can do for you calmly say I'd like a loan for a million doll please it might seem like an insane thing to ask for but they're actually going to give you that million dollars so fast you might get Whiplash fill out a few forms make some small talk and in an hour or two everything will be official and just like that bam you done it why would the manager be so quick to give you the money because they saw that you already had a million dollars they didn't care whether you got it from a r a debt relative or a drug dealer they just knew that you had it you might have walked into that Branch as just another customer but all those zero made you an instant VIP if you really got the heart of a hustler you won't stop there once you have your 2 million you stroll over to another branch and turn it into three I'm making it sound simple but I've seen people successfully apply these techniques in other situations they might not start with a million dollars but they know how to give off the perception of being a millionaire maybe they dress like one or vacation like one or convincingly drop the names of enough people who are rich until it sounds like they are one too hell this is how half a Hollywood made their Fortune people will get their hands on something of relatively little value a verbal commitment from an actor a treatment for a movie idea or an option on obscure book but they act like they're sitting on a pile of gold then they keep flipping and flipping whatever they're holding until they're a producer of an actual movie the most important character tra they'll demonstrate his confidence every time they hit a hurdle or seem to be on a dead end road that confidence will be what gets them through they also never seem to be asking for anything they always project that heir of someone who already has what they need that actor might have said sure I'll star in your movie when he was drunk and barely remembers the conversation but that Hollywood Hustler will act like they have a signed contract with him that movie treatment might only be three pages long but the Hustler will project the energy of someone who has a finished script I'm being honest I've even had someone do this with me several years back I decided to go on business with a movie producer I met named Randall emit he had experience producing films so when I decided to create my Film Production Company cheet Vision I hired him to help run it for me I paid for everything including the office staff expenses the whole thing I even acted in movies we produced for significantly reduced quotes all for the greater good of building something new Randle wasn't an employee of CH division but he positioned himself differently publicly he allowed people to believe he was my new production partner there was a very smart perception for him to cultivate it allowed him access to people in places he wouldn't have had otherwise it also LED people to write checks that would never have been written if he was on his own ultimately he went off on his own with one of the people who raised money for projects I was okay with it initially since I understood how the Hollywood game works but I started to have a problem with it when Randle attempted to take credit for power and my overall deal with stars Randle might have been pretty good at getting movies made but he had never been able to get anything going on TV he was not involved creatively with power and he had absolutely nothing to do with my overall deal at stars actually while Randall was involved my original deal at stars was terrible I ultimately learned that was the case after my attorney contacted stars to renegotiate and build my first overall dip Randall had over played his hand for years he had actually owed me around a million dollars of profit brought from the company but I hadn't stressed him to pay it back after a long time passed with him running his mouth though my patience had run thinner than whis Khalifa I had my attorney call him up and ask for my money while unbeknownst to Randall I was sitting right next to him listening Randall started off the conversation very aggressively are you kidding me get the [ __ ] out of here he told my lawyer after all that I done for 50 after I got him a $150 million deal with stars you're going to sweat me for a lousy million [ __ ] off I had planned to stay quiet but I couldn't believe my ears what is wrong with you Randle I calmly interjected there was no reply I'm curious what's with the tough talk I continued we both know that's not who you are I'm not dealing with you anymore after this but before this gets any worse for you I strongly suggest that you agree to the payment plan that we're offering Randall must Rand out of tough words when he realized he was talking to me because he got off the phone quick then he started texting me excuse after excuse of why he couldn't get me the money right away I had planned to handle the situation privately but I was so disappointed in his attitude that I decided to air him out in public that's how the I'm sorry fa the text got out there more of that later and of course I ended up getting all of my money it's always a balance in that when you're trying to project and I don't need it energy if you're not for ful enough in your conviction no one is going to believe you but you also can't start believing your own hype Randle was stupid enough to do that even as you're telling the world you don't need a thing you can never forget there are certain people who you're always going to need on your side don't try to run the game on them always have a select few you remain honest and humble with what I'm attracted to ever since a early age I've been what you might call a ladies man I don't say that to brag it's just the truth I don't look like a kll but I've never had an issue connecting with the opposite sex it's likely because I've always been comfortable with myself which is a very attractive trait men however don't become truly sexy until our success is publicly noted so when I started doing well my perceived attractiveness shot up to a new level I was cute before but once I was actually famous I became one of the sexiest men alive hey I'm not saying that People magazine says so women are attracted to the stability that comes with money and fame they looked at me and saw someone reliable who could provide everything they needed I'm not talking about gold diggers or groupies either I was pursued by some of the most incredible women in the world not just physically attractive women but women who are also incredibly successful in their own right lawyers doctors actresses and entrepreneurs women with the complete package I remember back when I was touring forget rich and die try I found myself in a hotel room with an extraordinar attractive and intelligent woman just before things started to go down I excused myself and use the restroom as soon as I shut the door I started doing a little jig and grinned from ear to ear at myself in the mirror I was so excited I even jumped up in the air and clicked my heels I just had to take a moment and celebrate I literally couldn't believe the caliber of woman who was waiting for me in the other room today I'm a little more laid-back in those sorts of situations but I never lost sight of the reality that as much as I enjoy a woman's company my sexiness will always be tied to my success even if a woman presents differently at first I still suspect this part of her motivation this makes it very difficult to determine who I want to pursue a deeper connection with I'm always wondering does she want 50 Cent or Curtis Jackson This Is Why I'm definitely more attractive to women who aren't overly impressed by the Persona 50 Cent In other words the ones who act like they don't need 50 Cent but could be interested in Curtis Jackson for example a lot of people have been curious about my relationship with the comedian Chelsea Handler I guess we seemed like an OD couple I didn't care about what anyone else thought Chelsea and I met on her talk show and I started pursuing her right after I called the office and asked to speak with her she didn't hit me back at first but finally I got in touch with her when she was about to go to Nashville for an event I asked if I could fly down and meet her and she said okay after that we ended up hooking up when whenever we were both at La I even made plans to go on vacation with her and her family don't worry I'm not putting her business out there she's talked about all this publicly we had fun times when we were together but what really attracted me to her was how she moved professionally in addition to a talk show she also had a reality show and was writing best-selling books she was a real boss with all of her various hustles she was probably pulling in over $30 million a year that was sexy as [ __ ] to me most important she made it very clear she didn't need anything from me Chelsea had way too much going on to ever look to me for making something happen for her if anything I was probably trying to soak up a little bit of her energy ultimately it never went anywhere serious there was a bit of a miscommunication before my ex-girlfriend Sierra was scheduled to appear on Chelsea's TV show and we stopped talking after that I still think she's amazing though she's achieved so much success and what makes it even more impressive is that she done it on her own terms I've never been a big proponent of marriage maybe I'm jaded because I spent a lot of time in Hollywood where I've learned husband is really just another way of saying my serious boyfriend at the end of the day I view marriage is a business deal and not a particularly good one for the person coming into the relationship with the most money but as I get older I start to find myself getting more open to the idea of settling down and building a more stable family life when I go through the mental checklist the things I look for and a potential wife I'm not starting with looks or fame those qualities aren't as important to me anymore the most critical quality for any woman I'm going to be interested in is self-sufficiency both financial and emotional otherwise I'm always going to think they're just trying to get me to sign one of those bad contracts as I was telling a friend the other day taking care of a woman is not a bad concept but taking care of a woman who has to be taken care of is a terrible concept once once I keep going down the checklist I'm going to have to see qualities like compassion sense of humor love of family and ambition okay being cute won't hurt either but it's that absence of neediness that's going to make me receptive to the possibility in the first place that's how powerful putting out a aura of self-sufficiency can be it can even get a jaded Bachelor like me to talk about putting a ring on it and settling down own your narrative we've been talking about why it's so important to craft your own identity and now I want to share some examples about people who have been hurt by letting other forces control how they're publicly perceived I often think about my close friend the late Prodigy of mob deep the duo which included his partner Havoc was legendary for the gritty depiction of life in Queen's notorious Queensbridge projects Prodigy was an incredible artist and without a doubt one of the best rappers of his generation but for a lot of people the defining moment of his career came in 200 when Jay-Z infamously mocked him by putting him on the Summer Jam screen if anyone isn't familiar with this story Jay-Z and MOB deep were involved in a public beef at the time which led to Jay Rapp in the following about Prodigy when I was pushing weight back in ' 88 you was a ballerina I got the pictures I seen you it was a reference to the fact that Prodigy used to be a dancer at the ballet studio his mother ran in Queens and yes Jay had actually gotten his hands on a picture of Prodigy in ballet tights which he later infamously put on the screen at Summer Jam the implication was clear Prodigy talked about how much of a gangster he was in his music but at heart he was really soft in hip-hop you can't get much softer than being a ballerina Prodigy clapped back at Jay but it didn't really reverse the damage that picture of him in ballet tights on the Summer Jam screen was a major blow one did he never truly recovered from I never felt it should have been that damaging though yes it was true that Prodigy's mother ran a ballet studio and then he used to take classes there what was so embarrassing about that he had a mother who raised him in the Arts he was cultured to me that sounds like an amazing childhood and nothing to be ashamed of if anything I felt like Prodigy's arts background made him more prepared as a performer than the rest of us he was a force in the studio always coming up with new Hooks and Concepts I even remember going to his house one day and noticing several movie scripts laying around man when did you learn how to write scripts I asked him oh I read some book that showed me how to do it he answered casually I've been writing them ever since that's the kind of ability he possessed he could pick up a book digest it and then start turning out scripts like it was nothing most rappers struggle to write 12 bars let alone a movie they just didn't have the same artistic tradition to draw from I felt Prodigy should have embraced his background more it's what made him special and would have allowed him to create more significant art instead he felt pressured by Jay and others to live up to the Persona he had cultivated ated in his music Tupac found himself in a similar dilemma like Prodigy he had a cultured mother who raised him to be incredibly informed about arts and politics Tupac didn't grow up writing raps he grew up writing introspective and revolutionary prems he was exposed to the same kind of energy as Prodigy I always felt Pac and Prodigy were art students who adopted Thuggin as a theme instead of embracing all of the culture and pride they had been exposed to they tried to run in the opposite Direction by doing that they ran into a trap in Prodigy's case it meant getting lowed into a battle with Jay-Z he could never win once Jay sniffed out that Prodigy was only representing the theme he knew how to batter his public perception Pac paid a much heavier price by raising the thug flag so high he sent out a very dangerous signal one that attracted all the real thugs to him once they were present there was no way that he can control that energy it would have been difficult for a true gangster but for a art kid like Po it was outright impossible it was that energy that ended up getting him killed Prodigy and I were close friends and I miss him a lot he was such an interesting and well-rounded dude every conversation I had with him taught me something new if I have one regret is that I didn't push him harder to let go of the thugging thing and get closer to his true Roots if he had done that it not only would have revived his career but also enhanced the overall state of hip-hop it would have shown a new generation of rappers that it was okay to embrace their background no matter where they they came from let people be honest about themselves there was a time I didn't understand the importance of letting people be themselves back in the early 2000s gun in-house DJ was a guy named hook kid in addition to playing one of Hook's jobs were putting out mixtapes which were extremely popular at the time and played a very big role in creating jun's Buzz one day hook kid was talking to a anr guy at Atlantic Records and happened to notice an unreleased new single from fat Joe's Terror Squad on the guy's desk who kid knew it was a valuable exclusive so when the anr guy wasn't looking he stole it of course Fat Joe Big Pun and the rest of the Terrace guard were not happy when their song leaked on who kid's next mixtape they wanted blood so when they saw him at a club a few weeks later they immediately tried to grab him and stomp him out who kid was from Queens but from Queen's Village which isn't quite as tough as Southside someone from Southside would have taken that ass kicking just to make sure they got in the few licks themselves not hookit when he saw Terror Squad coming for him he ran away fast as he could those teror Squad guys didn't even lay a finger on him who Ki couldn't run forever though eventually Big Pun caught up with him and actually threw him in the back of a van who kid managed to talk his way out of it though usually hearing that one of your crew had avoided an ass whooping would be caused for celebration not in the gunit instead I was outraged when I heard what hook kid had done yo yo bro they telling me you ran from Terror Squad I said yeah I did he replied what I asked incredulously are you a [ __ ] yes hooki quickly replied yes I am I was floored I literally didn't know how to respond where I was from you never ever wanted to admit you were afraid once you did that you were fooled being a coward ran countered to everything I'd been taught growing up it was like telling a kid that been raised in the church that there was no God or telling a kid who grew up in Chicago in the '90s that Michael Jordan was a bum on the court nothing short of blasphemy evidently hook kid's experience was a little different from mine he didn't mind being seen that way the difference in perspective left me at a loss how could I possibly have someone representing gunit who had no problem being thought of as a [ __ ] my initial reaction was to fire him on the spot to give him the pereral bus ticket home I might come across as Reckless sometimes but the truth is I don't like the make rash decisions unless my environment forces me to no one was pressing me so I took a moment to consider the possibility I was overreacting what exactly was Hook's job with J was it to fight no his job was to play music get the crowd's hype and he was great at that hook kit was a pro at getting the energy turned all the way up his job was also to put out mixtapes that we keep you and the buzzing in the streets obviously he took that job very seriously what did it really matter if he was afraid to fight not much at all I had to admit who kid never got that ticket home in fact I came to respect him for being honest it would have been easy for him to say something like nah son I'm no [ __ ] they're just saying I ran I was about to like those guys up but they dipped before I could get at them a lot of people have lied to me over the years like that claiming they were about to handle things they never had any intentions of touching they talked tough because they thought that's what 50 Cent want to hear not because that's what was in their hearts sure 50 Cent wants to be surrounded by guys who aren't intimidated those kind of guys have always been around and always will be Curtis Jackson on the other hand has come to understand that he needs different types of energy on his team people who don't always seek out conflicts but can get things other ways I want both types of people on my team all I need to know who is who the situation with hook kit is when I learned that as a leader I have to empower to people under me to be who they are if people feel there's only one energy that I'll respect that limits what we can do collectively who kid gave me his truth and because of his honesty we've enjoyed a very fruitful relationship almost 20 years another person who was very honest with me was Jimmy Iving who ran in Scope when I was selling millions of Records Jimmy was comfortable working with gangsters and making music to reflect their lifestyle but he was very clear that he was no gangster himself if the the conversation ever turned to Serious Street business around Jimmy he'd quickly tell everyone hey watch what you say around me because I'm a rat don't tell me anything cuz I'll definitely rat you guys out if I have to a lot of people used to laugh when he said that because it sounded so ridiculous to those of us who grew up on the street we were taught to snitching was the very last thing you ever do let alone admit to but I appreciated Jimmy's cander even if some found it a little hypocritical hey be a gangster in the songs just not around me and real life I'd rather know where a man stands and adjust accordingly than think I'm operating under a certain set of Standards when I'm not some people would say [ __ ] Jimmy if he's cool being a rat my reaction was then just don't tell your business around Jimmy seems pretty straightforward he and I were selling tens of millions of records together why would I walk away from that or the money because he said something that was unacceptable in another context that would have been foolish instead I F it in my mental Rolodex and went on conducting business with and when he eventually made decisions that were good for him but not necessarily for me I was prepared for that whether you're the boss a partner or just a worker you have to create an environment where people can be honest about their character with you otherwise you're going to build unsustainable situations that's what ruined ja ru's career J grew up as a Jehovah's Witness on the better side of Queens than I did the only time he came to my part of town is when he would knock knock on the door and try to sell copies of the Watchtower a nice religious boy there's nothing wrong with that but the people around him like her tried to turn him against his true nature as a gentle God and transform him into a gangster instead of accepting His blessings his talent for fun female oriented music they were hell bent on turning him into something negative when they got a record deal with de Jam what did they call it Murder Inc records They had an open road in front of them but they decided to paint themselves into a danger Corner since none of them were actual murderers they started seeking out people who had that energy they eventually found what they were looking for and it almost brought the whole company down if you take a close look at guys like jyu you'll see that they walk with a crutch in his case it was the image of a gangster he took DMX's flow dressed up like Tupac and tried to rap about other people's Lifestyles it worked for a second but as I said when you're walking with a crutch there's a limit on how far you can go if the people around J had understood this and given him the confidence to embrace his true nature things would have probably turned out much better for all of them they could have kept making feel-good female friendly records for years those records never go out of style instead Murder Inc hasn't put out an album in over 10 years and today CH Ru is best known as the fraud making a fool of himself in the fire Festival documentaries it's always better to empower the people around you to live their truth when you force them to perpetuate a role eventually people will see it one of the main reasons I'll always be relevant is because no one can be a better 50 Cent than me they can be younger than me have a better sense of style and a better year for Beats but they can never be a better 50 Cent than me though that hasn't stopped a lot of people from trying as long as I'm always myself no one can beat me at that as long as you're comfortable walking your truth no one will ever beat you at being you either chapter 7 if we can't be friends disagreement is something normal Dal Lama for years I didn't like Oprah Winfrey she's not the type of person tough smart and powerful you'd want to have an issue with but I felt the type of way about the things she said about hip-hop music in the past it seemed like every time opal would go off about how Hip Hop was misogynistic and ruining America's youth she was talking about the same things on my album what actually bothered me was being kept off her show I wanted to be on it Oprah was where a-listers would go to promote their project sell books move albums hype movies I considered myself an aista so how does that look that I'm not there too I felt I had to explain my absence to my audience so as I tend to do I kept it real about the situation I did a few interviews where I said the reason Oprah wouldn't have me on her couch is because she's a reflection of her audience which is made up of middle-aged white women that audience finds me scary so it would figure Oprah wouldn't be into me either I also named one of my dogs after which I admit was a little bit much after I made those comments I didn't spend a lot of time worrying about how Oprah would take them she'd already made it clear I wasn't coming on her show so why would I care about upsetting her she had her business business to run for the record I think she should have kept her afternoon TV show after she started own and I had mine then one night I was at a fundraiser in New York City for the nyrp a nonprofit founded by B mler it's a fantastic organization and sponsors a lot of renewal programs for parks and neglected areas in New York City it wasn't my normal crowd a lot of older white people and tuxedos but I love bet and respect the ca so I bought a table at one point in the evening bumped into Gail King Oprah's best friend now Gail is a real deal a very sophisticated secure and smart lady she's never afraid of a situation as she showed with her R Kelly interview so she marched right up to me and basically said why you talking [ __ ] about my girl I had to explain to G that I didn't have a true beef with Oprah listen I'd love to be Oprah's friend I continued but if we can't be friends can we at least be enemies when I said that I saw a Gail Arch eybrows and look at me a bit different it registered to her that while I might have been talking trash about her friend there was a method to what I was doing okay you're different than I thought Gail told me I'm going to tell Oprah she needs to meet you you two need to talk true to her word Gail set it up for me to be on Oprah show it was a great episode she came to my old house and queens met my grandmother and walked around my old neighborhood with me eventually we got to our relationship the did you say things to be proactive she asked or did you just not like me I replied with a smile I would see moments when you discuss your feelings on the culture rap culture and everything that was wrong with the culture was on my CD and I was like ah she doesn't like me you're talking about the n-word a Oprah misogyny all of those things views against women violence you know things like that Oprah replied not backing down just those little things I said laughing in that moment I'm thinking she don't like me because there's so many different Impressions and not to say those things were wrong but it made me say if I can't be a friend at least let me be an enemy so I can coexist I said before adding I just use it as a strategy oh that's interesting said Oprah looking at one of her producers off camera the reason Gail and Oprah was so intrigued by that phrase was because it shattered their preconceived notion about me before meeting me they had Bor into the 50 Cent person that this was someone who got into beefs or drama because he couldn't help himself but when I said at least let me be your enemy they understood that when I got into a beef it was never driven by emotion instead I was moving off a strategy my strategy was pretty straightforward I'd always prefer to be friends with someone but if they're not interested then I consider being enemies the next best option why because if you hate me you're more likely to talk about me if you feel passionate about me in a negative way at some point you'll probably say to your friend man I can't stand 50 your friend is going to ask you why and just like that I've become the subject of a conversation that's all I'm asking for now I've got a foot in the door maybe after hearing about me your friend won't feel quite as negative maybe they'll think this guy sounds kind of interesting I'll check out his music or watch power maybe that's even how you got to this book in the first place to a friend that conversation would never have taken place if you felt neutral about me no one ask their friends if they listen to a song they felt neutral about no one mentions a writer or designer that doesn't elicit a strong reaction in them we only bring up things we love or things we hate I'd always prefer the love but if I can't get that I'll take the hate there's always a chance I can turn that hate into something positive the ancient Greeks belied in a concept called Aon which roughly translates as an idea of people coming together for the purpose of contest or competition to the Greeks the most basic energy in the world was a battle between two forces a debate was a fight between two people over an idea exercise is a fight between energy and fatigue study is a fight between you and the material every day is a fight between light and darkness the Greeks didn't shy away from those fights they believed the competition in any form was beneficial the most famous example of putting that belief in the action was the organized athletic competition they created which today we know as the Olympics the Greeks valued the Olympics so much that they would actually stop battles in the middle of fighting so that contestants can walk through unharmed to make it to the games on time today the Olympics give out silver and bronze medals to contestants who don't win the ancient Greeks didn't believe in participation trophies each competition had only one winner the Victor went back to his village a hero and everyone else went home a loser the ancient Greek's attitude towards competition reminds me of hip-hop culture today since day one every rapper who picked up the mic has wanted to be acknowledged as the best whoever did it no rapper is competing for a silver or bronze medal every single one of us got into the game to take home the goal that mindset was born in Hip Hop's roots in the street that Dynamic For Better or Worse keeps the culture youthful unless you can keep your grip on the throne it's out with the old and in with the new because of my upbringing I'm extremely comfortable with the concept of competition I don't care if it's music TV clothes liquor or sneakers if I'm looking to get into a space that someone else is already occupying watch how fast I turn it into a competition some people shy or even run away from challenge but I always stroll confidently towards it it's a sensibility that has earned me a reputation as a bully in the minds of many I really dispute the title but it's an oversimplification I don't wake up in the morning looking to pick fights with people I don't celebrate conflict again I'd rather be friends but if someone says they want a problem with me I respond no problem because it's never a problem for me to compete competition brings out the best ever since he was a teenager growing up in Italy Enzo Ferrari had a passion for car racing in 1922 at the age of 20 he began working as a test driver in Milan and later joined Alpha Romeo as a driver he spent a few years on a racing circuit but retired after the birth of his son race car driving was dangerous business back then and he decided that instead of risking his life every week he would focus on the development side of the car business in 1940 he founded his own Manufacturing Company Ferrari which would go on to become one of the best known and respected brands in the world around the same time another Italian car Enthusiast for rucho Lamborghini was establishing a manufacturing business but unlike Ferrari Lamborghini was making tractors not race cars he enjoyed racing but his larger passion was focused on the inner working of machines after purchasing a Ferrari himself Lamborghini recognized the number of flaws in the design the cars were too noisy and had a notoriously touchy clutch which had to be repaired when he took his car in to have the Ferrari mechanics fix it they wouldn't let him personally observe their repairs which pissed him off since Ferraris were already considered the best luxury sports cars on the market Lamborghini saw these flaws as inexcusable he decided to bring his critiques to Enzo Ferrari himself Ferrari was deeply insulted that this trctor mechanic thought he could teach him something about race cars and rejected the advice the moment created his deep-seated rivalry between the two stung by Ferrari snub Lamborghini decided he turn his interest in cars into a professional Pursuit he wasn't playing around and 4 months later the Lamborghini 350 GTV debuted at the Turin Motor Show Enzo Ferrari had a head start over Lamborghini in his Buton rivalry he had already been in the business for a number of years was older and had far more racing miles under his belt not to mention he had already made a ton of money Lamborghini on the other hand had technical knowhow on the inner workings of cars a Insight that Ferrari's founder lacked it was said that Lamborghini's office building was intentionally built next to their manufacturing facility which allowed him to take a quick trip to the factory and work on cars in person when a problem arose he had a willingness to get his hands dirty literally to see his dream shine as competitive Rivals Lamborghini and Ferrari will bring out the best in each other's work Ferrari was never too interested in making street cars as his passion laid in racing Lamborghini was more focused on practicality in everyday use if he hadn't been pushing the market in that direction Ferrari might have never come off the racetrack and onto the street the sense of competition forced both companies to evolve into stronger more versatile versions of themselves as it said Iron shoens Iron the results of that competition were Innovation and the building of dynasties Ferrari and Lamborghini could have been friends but a peaceful and gentle first meeting may never have inspired the creation of some of the best cars in the world I've personally been a supporter of both Brands over the years I had a few Ferraris and a few Lambos too and while both are incredible cars I've got a crown Lambo the winner of this particular competition a couple of years ago I bought a beautiful Ferrari 488 the dealer told me the car had to be plugged into a outlet in the wall in my garage when it wasn't running so the battery would charge I followed the directions but every time I tried to start it up nothing happened the car looked great but what am I really doing with a car that won't drive anywhere that thing was a limit so I had to go back fucho Lamborghini wasn't lying back in the day those Ferraris don't always run right Lamborghini and Ferrari used their competition to push themselves to Heights neither of them ever dreamed of when starting out forget about just being successful companies 100 years later each of their last names have become synonymous with quality and luxury that's making an impact I really believe that the better your opponent is the better you become it was true in the Luxury Auto business and it's true in almost every field it's certainly at the front of my mind whenever I start working on a new project take music whenever I'm about to hit the studio I try to think about all the great musical moments I've experienced from different artists I say great moments because I don't necessarily have a favorite artist but I do have favorite moments usually it's a song that jumps out at me and captures a feeling I find inspiring black Rob's wo was like that to me I can't say Rob was one of my favorite artists across the board but for the 4 minutes and 7 Seconds that record was playing no one else was better than me same way with boogie down Productions the bridg is over even though cars1 was dising Queens his aggression was so contagious that I Lov that song listening to it even 35 years later puts me in in an aggressive and confident mood when I'm trying to get in the zone creatively I'll catalog 10 of those moments in my head it doesn't even have to be a complete song it could just be a great hook or a catchy chorus I'll collect all those moments and label them my creative competition the entire time I'm recording I refer back to those moments if I'm listening to a verse I just laid down I'll ask myself was it as fire as wo if the answer is no then I need to go back in the booth and give it another shot the same thing with each chorus and hook I compose I compare it to those great moments I've cataloged if I feel like it's falling short I'll go back and do it again I keep holding up what I've done against those moments I've cataloged and ask myself is it good enough now is every song I record going to be a classic like wo or the bridge is over of course not but by forcing myself to measure up against a song like that I bring out the best in myself it's like the old saying shoot for the moon even if you miss it will land Among the Stars but in order to push yourself to be great that way the first thing you have to be able to do is to appreciate the greatness in others you cannot go around believing no one is as good as you and therefore you don't have anyone to measure up against that's [ __ ] no matter what you do or what you feel there's someone else greatting it too so instead of believing your own hype identify that individual and make them your competition people like to say I'm a hater but nothing can be further from the truth what I am is an appreciator I'm always appreciating what other people are doing competing is not hating it's actually putting appreciation into action you must be an appreciated no matter what you do let's say you're a novelist identify whoever the writer is you think is the best and measure whatever you write against them if you're an architect walk around your city and measure yourself against the most beautiful buildings you see you need to stare at those buildings and say you know what that staircase was really [ __ ] good and then store it away in your mind and if you really think your work is nicer than anything you see compare yourself to whoever built the Eiffel Tower or the Taj Mahal no matter how confident you are in your own abilities there's still someone out there for you to compete against never think you're above competition one way I see people fall into this trap is by listening to the individuals around them this happens with rappers all the time a guy will get in the booth and spit of ver and one of his homies will say yo that was a hot line bam that's all it takes now in the rap's mind he's already the greatest of all time his friends will go on to tell him he's better than whatever SoundCloud young boy is hot at the moment the rapper will eat it up and grow even [ __ ] here but notice what his homies are not saying that he's better than Jay that he's better than Kendrick that he's better than me those are the standards that you need to hold yourself up against before you start thinking you're the goat if you only compare yourself to inferior opponents you'll feel like you're doing something when you're really not doing much at all this is why a lot of rappers challenge me prematurely their friends make them think they're ready when they haven't achieved anywhere near what I have that's fine with me I just have to knock them back down the size a bit no matter what you've accomplished you're never done competing I've sold over 30 million records but every time I step into the booth I know I'm about to be measured up not against anyone else either against myself whenever I put a new song out people are going to say that's cool but it's not like when you first did it I used to get frustrated with that response but now I accept it I'm not going to get another chance to make it for a suppression till I put down the mic for the final time I'm going to be locked in a rivalry with myself that doesn't frustrate me anymore I'm dope why would I be mad at the comparisons now I need to just go out and beat myself the bearsville boot camp roughly two hours from New York City just outside of the town of Woodstock near the home of the famous music festival of the same name you'll find the Bearville Studios the recording studio which kind of reminds me of a barn was founded in 1969 by Albert Gman a legendary music industry promoter Gman is best known for once being Bob Dylan's manager as well as the man who guided the career of Janice Joplin and folk stars like Peter Paul and Mary Grossman's dream was to build a studio in a rustic setting close to New York City where rock artists could escape the noise and distractions of the city for many years the studio was considered one of the finest rock and roll music recording spaces in the country in 2000 kman was long gone though his wife Sandy still ran the place but he and Dylan were replaced by another type of artist New York City rappers responding to the same impulse that had motivated Grossman over 30 years earlier the hip-hop production team that track masters had decided to rent bearsville out for 3 months the duo comprised of producers tone and poke took over the studios and then invited a mixture of established and unknown rappers and producers to travel up to Woodstock and record with them there wouldn't be any clubs to go to or entourages hanging around it was basically a hip-hop boot camp where the only agenda was music music and more music Here's how I wound up there with them one day I saw Cory Rooney a producer and songwriter for Sony and Marky D from the Fat Boys at my neighborhood barber shop I had just finished the demo tape so I asked Corey if I could play it for them Cory said okay then led us to his black convertible 500 SL BS parked out front and we all piled into the car to listen a couple of seconds into the first song Cory's phone rang and he picked it up I didn't like that he kept talking through the second song Meanwhile Mary seemed disinterested after a few more songs Cory turned to to Mary and said I don't know what you think man it's cool Mary replied but I'd already seen enough I knew I wasn't nobody to them but I wasn't going to sit there and be disrespected give me my take back I growled popping the demo out of the stereo y'all old school I grabbed my tape and jumped out of the rod it was a pretty Brash some might say stupid way to treat two industry veterans I figured I'd never hear from him again then a few days later I got word that they were looking for me it turns out Cory had been listening guess he was a good multitasker after all and had passed along the tape to tone and poke they'd like but they heard Cory told me over the phone and wanted me to come Upstate to work on some music with them I was excited to like my music but it also sounded like a setup I just insulted these two and now they wanted me to take a ride up state with them seemed like a trip I might never come back from I was torn my street instincts were on high alert but tone and poke were respect producers who had had a string of hitss with NS Will Smith and R Kelly I really wanted to work with them I invited Cory and Mary to come back by the barber shop so I could take their temperature before committing to anything when they pulled up they didn't seem pissed in fact they seemed really eager for me to come Upstate with them my instincts told me I'd be safe I packed a small bag and took off with them that very afternoon I ended up staying in bearsville for 18 days Albert Gman might have envisioned the studio as retreat but my time there was one of the most competitive and creative periods of my life I arrived at bville as an MC whose reputation barely extended past my neighborhood suddenly I found myself surrounded by some real industry Heavy Hitters not just ton and poke but established producers like l s AL West and KT gy as well Pros who really knew their way around the studio and made beats to the highest standard there were also rappers there like Nori Slick Rick and ler Nar who were already very established in the culture it would have been very easy even understandable for me to be intimidated by the environment at Bearville I was far away from home in some studio out in the middle of the woods most of the other artists there were way ahead of me in terms of success a lot of rappers in my situation would have looked around gotten unnerved and taken the first bus home fled back to the safety of their neighborhood instead of subjecting themselves to the intensity of being locked in the building with their competition for two weeks I wasn't going anywhere bearsville was like heaven to me I loved that we were in the middle of nowhere and there was nothing else to focus on except the music I was completely locked in I wasn't the most polished rapper there or the best Lyricist but I was determined that no one there was going to outwork me other guys might start their day hung over or sitting in their room getting high but I didn't hear those sorts of distractions once I woke up the only thing I was doing was going for a jog in the woods then it was time to hit the studio I'd usually be the first one there once checked in I go from room to room asking each producer to let me hear the latest beat they were working on once I'd listened to it a couple times I'd go sit down in the corner somewhere and try to write a verse for it once I finished I go back to the studio and ask the produce if I could record what I came up with it was a very tough crowd to impress but I was determined to stand out I wanted to hear someone say nah he's got some [ __ ] every time I finish the vers I was a total Beast day in and day out it got to the point that I had spit verses on every track ton and poke came up with and I still wanted more I ended up rhyming over unfinished tracks basically just drums because my creative juices were flowing so strongly and I was overflowing with material I recorded over 36 songs in bville many of which were going to appear on power of the dollar I'd come into the boot camp a relative unknown confident in my ability but also unsure about Where I Stood as a MC after those 18 days I knew damn sure that I belong it is extremely powerful to meet your competition head on and walk away from the confrontation knowing you have what it takes that confidence stays with you for a long time my time in bearsville left me with more than enough material for what was supposed to be my debut on Columbia we submitted the music and the label gave me a release date I started preparing for what I knew was going to be a major launch but as the release St started getting closer and closer it became clear to me that I was the only one doing any real preparations Colombia didn't really understand me as an artist I could see that they were just going to throw the album out there and hope that something was just going to pop if it did great if it didn't I'd just be gone that might have been the way they did things but it wasn't an acceptable approach to me I'd thrown everything I had until the time in bville and I knew I had the right material my entire life was riding on the album being the if you're just going to throw me up against the wall and hope I stick then I'm going to turn into your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man I didn't have a plan B for my album not working so I started looking around for a way to make myself a priority I was going to create my own glue at the time Hip Hop was in a cautious State because of the recent deaths of Biggie and Tupac everyone was afraid of a new war popping off and it became taboo to mention another rapper's name in your song If people did take shots at each other there were sub ones that only a hardcore fan would catch for instance when Nas wanted to diss JayZ he didn't do it by name at first instead he rhymed something like 20g bets I'm winning them threats I'm sending them Lex 3 TV sets to minimum ill sex adrenaline party with villains to the outside world it didn't sound like anything but those of us in the culture knew that Jay-Z rode around in Alexis with three TV sets so that was a subliminal shot of Jay Nas might have been subtle in his attack but in the void created by the unspoken truths amongst rappers I saw a golden opportunity I hadn't signed any truths there weren't any rappers out there who had value to me as a friend but as enemies well that was a different story I knew if someone had the confidence to come out of the shadows and re-embrace Hip Hop's tradition of firing direct shots the buzz would be definite I decided to be that person how to rob wasn't intended to just this one person it was a this to the entire industry it was as if I was saying if none of y'all want to be my friend then we're all going to be enemies I let almost everyone have it Jay-Z wuang Big Pun Missy Elliott Will Smith Jay the pinket Slick Rick DMX Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston all got called out by name in order to signal that I was only interested in competition not hostility we threw in the line I've been scheming on tone and poke since they found me directed against the track masters too just to show that even my guys weren't above being thissed then we added the Mad rapper in the chorus saying this ain't serious being broke can make you Delirious to bring a little levity to the situation even with those disclaimers the record created an uproar the moment it dropped on Hot 97 New York City's Premier radio station at the time most of those artists weren't prepared for someone saying their name in the song throughout the culture everyone was asking whoa who is this new guy because he's saying everyone's name and don't care about nothing some of the biggest ones including Jay-Z Big Pun and wuang had responses for me which was exactly what I hoped for I needed something that was going to create a tension around me and Hadar Rob got me noticed immediately Colombia snatched up the song and put it on the into deep soundtrack which exposed me to a wider audience everything was going according to my plan but then I got shot which essentially derailed everything I put into motion it would end up taking a few more years to experience the hit debut worked so hard for but I still learned the valuable lesson with how to rob people always respond to a competitor when you're viewed as someone who's going to run into the fry as opposed to running from it you'll always have eyes on you whether it's rap Sports politics Media or business there's always going to be an audience for someone who isn't afraid to mix it up with their Rivals all you have to do to capitalize on that appetite for Action is keep your emotions out of the process I didn't have a problem with most of the artists I mentioned in that song I respected the hell out of guys like Jay Pon and rayquan but being respectful wasn't going to put me in the position I needed to be in to realize my dreams I had to demonstrate my competitiveness to make the industry take notice of me so that's exactly what I did they haven't stopped paying attention to me since Curtis versus graduation if how to rob announced my competitive streak to hip-hop culture my competition with Kanye West is what introduced it to Main M stream America our battle took place in 2007 when Kanye's third album graduation was due to come out a week after my third album Curtis when I saw that the dates were so close to each other I realized we had a chance to do something special by turning our releases into a head-to-head competition I pitched Kanye on the concept of us dropping on the same day being an independent thinker himself Kanye saw the value in my vision and agreed to move his release date up he understood we could collectively generate more buz was by hyping up our battle than being out of individual promotors the media loves a spectacle and few things were more of a show than Kanye and me going head to-head we both played it for all it was worth doing appearances together and adopting the role of two prize Fighters before a big fight to be clear there was no actual beef between us Kanye had never expressed any discomfort about the success I had and I respected him as an artist it was truly just a case of two people being comfortable with the concept of competing against each other personally I knew competition was what I needed at that point in my career I was in the most vulnerable state an artist can reach confusion so much had happened to me in such a short period of time that I had lost touch with my sense of self competition would help take me back to my roots in order to regain that spark I even moved back to my grandmother house in Queens for a little bit so I can soak up some of my old energy Kanye was in a different point in his career at the time but he took the competition just as seriously as as I did in the weeks leading up to the release he locked himself away in the studio redoing mixes and trying to make his album sound as tight as possible he reportedly mixed stronger over 50 times before he was finally satisfied neither of us were treating it like a stunt both of us were playing to win in the end Kanye took home the goal it marked the first time two artists had moved over 600,000 units in the same week since 1991 of course he did beat me but what the public couldn't see was was that I did still earn a major victory the truth was by the time Curtis was ready to drop inter scope was already starting to pull back from me I was in agree with them financially as my first two albums had sold a combined 20 million albums but despite that success it was still to their discretion whether to continue spending marketing dollars on me despite all my success they decided to slow down the cash flow even more damaging than holding back on the marketing dollars they were undercutting my promotional strategy for the album my plan had been to build up a Street bus with a song straight to the bank which spoke to my core audience once that song was bubbling a bit my idea was to release amusement park that had more of a pop feel it was the same strategy I used when I released wankster before in the club get your core audience engaged first and then drop something for a wider audience intercop should have supported my plan it had worked in the past but when amusement park did not hit number one as fast as they expected they started to second guess the strategy that threw off the energy I was trying to build to make matters worse when the record went to print the whole album leaked prematurely those records should have came out after Curtis drop instead of in the weeks leading up to it once those leaks happened I was in a bad spot the public was none the wiser but I knew in scope had already severely damaged my launch thankfully I knew just what to do instead of sitting around and moaning about my label I took m into my own hands just like I had seven years earlier when columia was dropping the ball I created a competition that would generate a buzz my label wasn't capable of creating even worse I was competing against an artist whose label was doing everything and I mean everything to make sure he beat me Jimmy iven might not have cared about beating Kanye but Jay-Z who was the head of Def Jam at the time damn sure cared about beating me Jay had been extremely uncomfortable with my running NYC for years so he did everything under the sun to make sure he could beat me through Kanye I realized what I was up against in the week leading up to the release when Kanye and I both agreed to do joint appearances on BET I had planned to bring him and in with me but bet told inter scope we couldn't have guess inter scope said fine and told him not to come then the day of the show I get there and Jay is performing with Kanye so clearly Jay had gone to some lymphs to get around the No guest R whereas in scope had just let it go they simply weren't as motivated as Jay Jay took a lot of pride in Kanye's Victory I think that's one of the reasons he's so disappointed in Kanye today Jay knows how much he supported Kanye during that period but it still wasn't enough of Kanye that probably hurt J Jay even mentioned my battle with Kanye in his book decoded taking a little shot at me when he wrote rappers who use beef as marketing plan might get some quick press but they're missing the point I congratulate for doing the right thing by his artist in that situation but I think he was the one who missed the point first like I mentioned there was no actual beef in that particular competition second without that competition I have little doubt that due to inter scope's missteps my sales would have been much lower our competition actually turned what would have been a tough first week for me into a very respectable one if I had just left in scope to their own devices I might have only sold 400k that first week instead I managed to salvage a tough situation and create a historic moment as I later told an interviewer Kanye West gets the trophies 50 Cent gets the check that's no shot at Kanye he made a lot of money too but it's a trade I'll take every time Curtis Lannister sometimes in the case of Curtis versus graduation you can create your own competition other times the world will try to choose your opponent for you when that happens you need to be hustling at your smartest because when you should never run from competition you do have to decide who your opponent is whenever possible you can't allow yourself to get into a battle with someone just because that's what the media or fans want to see you have to put yourself against the opponent who not only gives you the best chance of winning but also leaves you in a more favorable position if you do end up losing when power first came out on stars in 2014 it didn't seem to have any direct competition then Empire dropped on Fox in 2015 and suddenly everyone wanted to stack the two shows up against each other on the surface the comparison seems reasonable both shows were set in the world of hip-hop both had black casts and plots that revolved around strong female characters both featured soundtracks that were Central to the energy of the show both shows had black executive producers I understood why people wanted to P us against each other at first I was happy to play into that perception Fox was spending a lot more money on Empire than Stars was Al ating for power so it was advantageous for me to tie into their marketing I also noticed fox trying to co-op some of our narrative when putting out a promo that said Empires are built on power they even did a promo photo that was almost identical to one I did with gunit that resulted inaji P Henson and I having a fun little back and forth on social media while I was comfortable manipulating Empire's early momentum I didn't want to be Associated too closely with the show long term first of all I was was worried about being pitted against another show just because we both had a black cast second despite the cultural overlap I viewed Empire andow is fundamentally different kinds of shows Empire was on Fox which meant there was free network programming there was a limit to the type of content it could contain power was on Stars which made it premium cable and because of that we were able to present a much more edgy and graphic package to our viewers as I wrote on Instagram Empire is some [ __ ] you should give for free now that power is worth paying for stars premium cable why would I compete against a free show on Fox when I was putting out a show on premium cable if I was going to compete against a show it had to be on the same playing field I occupied so I took a look around and decided to go up against the biggest kid on the Block if you're going to compete do it against the best and there was no one better on premium cable at the time than HBO's Game of Thrones so I made it a point to come for go time and time again I wouldn't miss any opportunity to put Power in the same conversation as go after someone superimposed my face on Terry and Landon's body I went on the offensive on IG this [ __ ] ain't nothing but Hating Ass game of thron fans sitting there with too much time on their hands mad because power is number one [ __ ] you and your flying dragons we on some real life [ __ ] ho people ate it up what I didn't mention was that the clever trickster was actually an artist I keep on payroll precisely to create viral moments like that people say I'm a bully but I have zero problem poking fun at myself if it helps build Buzz an actual bully doesn't possess that sort of self-awareness their skin is way too thin to post those sorts of pictures of themselves but I'm not moving off of motion my skin is tough enough to do whatever it takes to keep my brand popping everything I posted concerning go was a calculated exercise to make sure that fans foes immediate Outlets knew that our intentions with power never had anything to do with quietly succeeding the critics might not have put Power in the same conversation as go but I managed to steer the public conversation to put us side by side the impact was substantial HBO had a larger paid subscription base and a much much bigger budget but po still managed to slay the dragon a few times in the rating even better since the fantasy series hit his finale in 2019 power's viewership has been steadily outperforming anything else HBO is bringing to the table I'm confident that Al Show's word of mouth is so reliable because of my Express passion and support for the fans looking back it's unlikely Powers reduced resources in smaller footprint were ever going to tople America's oldest paid subscription cable network but that's how competition works you can join a losing fight and still come out of it with something [Music] valuable I mentioned I didn't want power to be labeled as a black show there's a good reason for that the longest and most celebrated competition in America is black versus white it's also one competition I choose to sit out it's the one I know is rigged against me it doesn't mean I'm not proud to be black or supportive of black artist none of that power is without question at its core a black show I'm the executive producer Courtney km a black woman is the showrunner and writes the scripts the stars are all plc with the exception of Joseph shakure the show has employed a lot of talented black people and people of color as do all my TV shows I still do not want it known as a black show basically doing so would be to put it in a box one that's almost imposs to break out of it's what happened to me with get rich of DD Ry think about that movie it starred me a black man and was about a rapper fighting his way to the top it was directed by Jim Sheridan a feisty little Irish dude who had helmed award-winning films like my left foot and in the name of the Father the score was by Quincy Jones someone who has been able to connect with Americans on every level the script was written by Terrence winter a writer and executive producer on The Sopranos and bwalk Empire it was shot by Dean Quinn an award-winning Irish cinematographer in his bones G Richard D Tran was a mainstream movie but that's not how Hollywood saw it they saw it as a black film and black films don't get to open in as many theaters as mainstream ones this is why when get rich came out it only opened in about 1,700 theaters now compare that to another movie about a rapper fighting his way to the top 8 Mile that movie had all the same elements is get rich with the major difference being that Eminem was white 8 Mile opened in about 3,200 theaters that means 8 Mile had almost twice the opportunity in his first week at the box offices get rich did I have zero beef with him over that situation but I have big beef with the system that decides my film would only appeal to a black audience the reason they gave me a movie deal in the first place wasn't because I was black it was because I was a superstar and the reason why I was a superstar was because tens of millions of white kids had bought my album and the reason they bought my album was because they were fascinated with my life so how did stand the reason that a movie about my life would not appeal to those same white kids there no reason it's an illogical system that prevents artists from being able to compete on a Level Playing Field so I try to stay off that field I'm always going to hire black actors black directors and black showrunners but I'm not blind to the realities that are still out there when they made the poster for power I made sure Joe sha cor's character Tommy was on it just as Russell Crow was on the American Gangster poster despite it being Denzel Washington's vehicle my goal is to never be the best in one category or or Niche my only goal for power as with everything I do was to make it bigger and bigger and attract the widest audience possible don't keep your competition afloat one of my imperfections is that I can enjoy competition too much sometimes I'll actually help my opponent by bringing them into my Orbit longer than they deserve there have been a lot of artists that I publicly beef with who have benefited more from those encounters than I did they remind me of those parasitic organisms that live off a larger host as long as they're attached to the host they're okay but as soon as the host moves away or they lose their grip they die that's how I view my relationship with artists like J Ru Rick Ross Jim Jones French Montana and the locks none of them came up with a long-term way to generate interest in themselves outside of getting into a war of words with me they've all tried to Branch out into different Endeavors but their primary function is to sell records and they know they're saying something to me keeps their record buing audience watching them so they come at me I understand why they do it everyone wants to stay relevant but it's a flawed long-term plan if all your shine comes from someone else's son what happens when that person moves away because once I get off them it's like they don't even exist anymore people will say where's Rick Ross at did he fall off the planet that's what happened to all these guys once I shifted my focus to film and television development it was like their careers hit that block of ice that sank the Titanic without me as a foer they were sunk Johnny vachi once said it is nice to have valid competition it pushes you to do better I agree with that the problem is when you're engaged with inconsequential competition there are no wins for the more established party in that sort of battle what I need to work on is being more disciplined at not taking the bait just the other day Rick Ross tried to lure me back into an engagement by saying I'm not relevant to the culture anymore it was easy to see what he was trying to do he's the one who was irrelevant so he needed to re-engage me to get that relevancy back I just pointed out that artists like him need to position themselves next to guys who have momentum and try to survive off that just pointing out what should be obvious I shouldn't have even given his comments that much consideration I got to do better at removing myself from competitions like that earlier the longer I stay engaged the longer they stay relevant why would I allow myself to be locked into a competition with guys like this he's trying to sell records I'm trying to sell TV shows and build networks he wants to compete but we're playing two totally different games sometime the right move is to disengage with competition is inconsequential in other situations you got to be very firm and establish your dominance a lot of people wonder why I went so hard on Tiara Marie on social media when she was a seemingly inconsequential opponent well let me explain what happened and why Tiara a onetime singer in reality TV star sued me for allegedly conspiring with her ex-boyfriend to put their sex tape on social media I never did that a judge saw what she was up to and not only dismissed her case but also ordered her to pay $30,000 to cover the legal expenses I incur defending myself in fact as of today the awards continue to increase TI cry broke and all across social media people were calling on me to forgive her debt a 50 she ain't got it one person might say oh just let it go cuz another would write you don't need that 30 grand those people were missing the point or multiple points first off I didn't tell her to pay me 30 grand the law did it's not for me to forgive the debt because people could identify with not having $30,000 The Compassion was directed towards her even though she was the one who had done the wrong she also wouldn't be giving me anything she was simply being told to put the money back in my pocket she had already wrongfully removed second I had to send a strong message on how I responded to that particular situation in my heart I have no doubt the only reason she suit me in the first place was because I have a gigantic bullseye on my back that's the reality in America if your pockets are deep someone will take a shot at you legally and see if they get lucky so yes I'm sorry she she was broke but I still plan to collect every last penny of the $30,000 not because I needed it but because I needed the larger public to understand that if you want to take a frivolous shot at me you will pay for it I'm not going to just shrug this sort of action off I'm going to win and then I'm going to collect speaking of collecting I was trying to send a similar message with my pay me by Monday IG campaign if how I handled tiarra Marie was a warning to the public the money by Monday was a warning to to the people I knew directly don't try to borrow money from me and just forget about it the message was received trust me for as many people as I outed for owing me money there were a lot more that I didn't put on blast but after they saw me out in Rand Emit and comedi and Jackie long they made sure they got on a private payment plan quick what's interesting is people didn't respond to me going after Randle the same way as when I went after Tiara no they loved it I had him so shook he was calling me fofy in his text messages they love that he was begging me to take my foot off his neck why because everyone understands how it feels being owed money by someone disrespectful especially someone who has the money and still chooses not to pay you back that's something we can all relate to no matter who you are there's probably someone out there who owes you some cash but doesn't seem to be in any rush to pay you back they might give you a hug and a smile every time they see you and never even bring it up hell they might even sit up in your house with their feet up on your coffee table and act like they don't have a debt in the world Meanwhile your head is about to explode from the disrespect so when I put my foot down and say screw that I'd like to have that money back please that's a sentiment that almost everyone can support keep a book at some point in your life you might have owned a lacash shirt you know the ones with the alligator on the front but you probably aren't familiar with the history of the company Laos was founded in 1930s by a French tennis player named Renee Laos his nickname as a player was the Crocodile because he was so tenacious on the court that's how the shirts got their Insignia lacass was an international tennis star by the time he launched his brand in the 30s but only a decade or so earlier he wasn't considered a top player he was getting served literally by most of the players he was going up against he decided he need to come up with a new strategy to compete he realized his best chance for an advantage would be to create a book on his opponents every time he went up against an opponent or observed one as a spectator he would write an inry about the person in this book he would list their strengths and their weaknesses he would note their temperament and how they seem to react to different scenarios lass book became his secret weapon in the era before TV and highlight Clips most tennis players were operating in the dark when they took to the court against new opponents there was no way to know about someone tactics or habits their strengths or their vulnerabilities thanks to this book lar had a unique Advantage for his matches with his combination of knowledge and tenacity he went on to become one of the best players of his generation winning 24 titles including Wimbledon and the french open today L's technique of creating a book on opponents is the Norman Sports almost every team from pop one football to Major League Baseball keeps a book on their opponents we might call those books scouting reports today but it's fundamentally the same concept it's keeping a record of your opponent's strengths and weaknesses so you could put that knowledge into practice if you ever meet them in competition books and scouting reports are now ubiquitous in sports but they are barely utilized in other competitive situations what proves to be effective in baseball and football could work just as well in film television fashion marketing Etc if applied the same way I certainly keep a mental on individuals I consider my competition I follow all the moves they make carefully if someone does something I consider smart I make a note of it and try to think of a way I could do something similar if I see my competition do something I consider foolish I make note of that too and then I look for a way to leverage that vulnerability against them down the road the key is that I remove emotion from the equation when I make my mental notes I don't get jealous when I see someone make a smart move just like I don't get excited when I see them St stumble I just make note of what happened and follow way for later I do that with my hip-hop competition but also in film and TV I always watch successful producers like Shonda rhes Dick Wolf Tyler Perry and Ryan Murphy I note which writers they like to work with and what sort of material they like to focus on I'll observe how they roll out new shows and identify the messaging that's effective as well as what doesn't seem to hit I'll study how they navigate their relationships with the various networks and how they create leverage for themselves when I sit down at night and hit the power button on my remote control I am not watching as a casual fan I'm studying each show the way Renee Laos studied tennis players back in the day or the way an NFL scout watches his team's opponent for the following week that's the level of commitment that's required to separate yourself from your competition if you want to be a writer you have to take notes on every author you read if you want to be a chef every time you eat a meal at a restaurant you have to to be thinking about how your competition works with flavor texture presentation and ingredients if you want to be an ad executive you just can't walk past a poster on a subway platform you have to study every poster Supermarket sales display and bus WP that you see and make note of what catches your attention and what doesn't hold your eye don't complain that it takes the fun out of eating at a restaurant or watching a Mindless TV show at the end of a long day if you're truly passionate about your dream you'll want to analyze as many TV shows as possible or visit as many cut and Edge restaurants as possible when you're hustling at your hardest you're going to observe and engage in anything that gives you the slightest Advantage I keep my notes in my mind but a powerful exercise is physically writing a book on your competition if someone in your company has a senior position you like to occupy write down the book on them try to identify what constructive things they do every day that has them in that position do they come in earlier than you do do they have a better relationship with the boss are they more outgoing do they have a tendency to get ahead on issues are they confident in presentation faster to respond to emails anything you think they do well write it down then take note of their weaknesses do they tend to overpromise do they like to leave early at night do they trust their underlings to do too much of their work for them play a little fast and loose with the expense account get caught up in inter office relationships that they probably shouldn't write all those down too and then study that list in it you have the information for improving your performance as well as the information that will reveal the most opportune places for you to strike when you're ready to make your move on that job whenever you write something down it promotes a more focused way of thinking when ideas only live in your mind it's easy to lose track of them even if they're extremely powerful they get lost in a stream of new information that's constantly entering your head you can have an incredible idea of how to earn yourself a promotion but it can get dislodged by the thought of what you might get for dinner then that idea that has promised gets swept back into the poers and piles of ideas that we all have crowding our Consciousness maybe you'll get back to that great one or maybe you won't writing those ideas down protect you against those ideas getting lost once it's on paper or your computer file it's there forever staring your back in the face whenever you look at it whether or not you act on it it's still on you but at least you won't forget it once you have it down on paper you're setting yourself up to make something valuable happen chapter 8 learning from your elves mistakes are a fact of life it is the response to the error that counts Nikki Giovani ever since he was a young child so or Honda was obsessed with cause I know the feeling Honda grew up in Royal Japan where he learned learned about making bicycle and engine parts in his father's blacksmith shop Hondo wasn't much of a student never making it past elementary school he spent almost all of his time tinkering with spare parts and trying to build things in his father's Workshop in 1922 when he was just 15 Honda left home by himself to take a job at Art shokai one of Tokyo's first auto repair shops lacking formal education Honda had to start off sweeping floors but over the next few years he developed a reputation as a serious and creative worker one of the ways he proved himself was helping design one of the first racing cars made in Japan which was named I'm not making this up the Curtis after a few years Honda was put in charge of a new branch of Art chokai in the city of hamamatsu Honda's Branch did very well and when he felt he finally earned his boss's respect Honda decided to pitch them on an idea that been brewing in his head drawing on his experiences in his father's blacksmith shop and working on a Curtis Honda approached his bosses with a new way to design car Pistons their feedback was negative they told him his idea wouldn't work and refused to support him Honda was sure he was on to something so he quit his job and launched his own company to kaii to produce the Pistons he sunk everything he had into his company even going so far as to pawn his wife's jewelry he spent night sleeping in his Workshop until finally he felt the Pistons were ready he packed 30,000 of them into several trucks and traveled to Tokyo where he presented them to a buyer at a new auto company called Toyota the buyer looked over the Pistons and then delivered some bad news Honda's design was substandard after reviewing the Pistons Toyota decided that only three out of the entire batch were up to standard they refused the shipment Honda was in an extremely tough spot he'd sunk all his money into making his own pistons and they'd just been declared worthless most people in his situation would have cut their losses and closed up shot not Honda instead of walking away he decided to take a hard look at what had gone wrong if his Pistons were being declared DOA he was going to perform his own autopsy on them before he gave up his dream when Honda reviewed his design he was able to identify where he' screwed up he relied too heavily on his firstand experience in his father's shop and later at Art showy he hadn't spent enough time actually studying the engineering theory behind his design passion wouldn't be enough he'd need education too instead of shutting his company down Honda committed himself to becoming more educated about both design and Manufacturing he spent the next several years traveling around Japan taking engineering classes and visiting steel factories trying to soak up as much new information as he could after years of study and observation Honda felt ready to go back to the drawing board this time he was able to overcome come the design and Manufacturing issues that had tripped him up and produced a batch of working Pistons it won him a new contract with Toyota Honda's difficult times weren't over though in 1944 toward the end of World War II one of f piston factories was destroyed and an American bombing raid then only a year later a massive earthquake destroyed another of his factories having two factories destroyed in two years would have been the final straw for most people even even the most hardened Hustler might not be able to get back up from that but Honda still refused to stay down he sold what was left of his company to Toyota for just 450,000 Yen with the proceeds of that sale he set up a new company which he called the Honda technical Research Institute that company known as Honda for short will go on to become one of the most profitable car manufacturers of all time Honda himself would become internationally known as The Henry Ford of Japan and would be credited as one of the most Innovative businessmen of the 20th century when asked towards the end of his life what had been the most important lesson of his journey Honda pointed out the moment he delivered the Floyd Pistons to Toyota he had failed but his determination to learn from his failure transformed him into a much more potent entrepreneur many people dream of success to me success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection Honda said in fact success rep represents 1% of your work which results only from the 99% which is called failure so eir oanda story really connects with me I know how hard it was to accomplish what he did a lot of people have great ideas only a small percentage of them have the passion and work ethic to actually follow through and put them in the motion of that select second group every single one of them will still make a mistake or experience some sort of failure during the struggle to bring that idea to fruition how that person responds to their failure is going to determine the outcome of their Journey or they going to let it kill their passion is that perceived failure going to make them settle for something less risky like a 9o5 working for someone else or will it experience a reaction to that obstacle even more severe they might become so dejected that they go off the deep end and start drinking or getting high every day or they might get so stressed that they find God and they walk away from it all those are the reactions that the majority of people even the most driven have when they encounter failure don't let yourself have that reaction approach failures the same way Honda did as a tool that can help you get things right the next time we treat failure like the scariest thing out there like it's Freddy cougar Pennywise and Michael Myers rolled into one just mention its name and people start running don't look at failure as something you need to distance yourself from try to embrace it instead wrap your hands around it and examine it believe that you can use it to rebuild your idea and take it to an even higher level than you'd originally conceived that's the approach all true winners take it's the attitude Honda possessed when he said my biggest Thrill is when I plan something and it fails my mind is then filled with ideas of how I can improve it think about it he didn't look at failing as a setback or defeat he called it a thrill something to be excited about imagine if if you can view your own life that way nothing would ever be able to get you off your game there could be Myriad reasons why your plan didn't manifest your timing could have been off you might not have executed your plan the right way someone you were depending on might have falling through a market could have shifted hell someone could have Dropped a Bomb on your factory the bottom line is whether you started from [ __ ] or you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth you're going to encounter resistance every successful person has scars from those encounters you just can't see most of them I certainly have those scars some of them I'm just starting to share with the world for many years in the hood we've labeled failures as L's short for losses the term has become a symbol of something you don't want to have associated with you man he got to take that out what we need to do is flip the concept instead of worrying about holding that L focus on learning from that L instead because your elves or where your greatest instructions will always be found it rarely feels like it in the moment but experiencing setbacks losses and disappointments will absolutely make you stronger in the long run I've determined this based on my experience and observations and now science is even starting to back me up a recent study published in a scientific journal Nature Communications found that people who experience failure early in their careers actually have more long-term success than people who don't initially to experience any setbacks we realized we may have succeeded in understanding success but we failed at understanding failure Dr dashun Wang one of the studies office and a professor at the Kellog School of Management told the New York Times we know success breeds success maybe we just haven't looked at people who fail closely enough admit that you're wrong the first and most important step in learning from your eles is identifying that you made a mistake in the first place maybe that seems painfully obvious but it's actually a step that a lot of folks are unwilling to take let's say you and I go out for a drive if I make a wrong turn and find myself in some neighborhood I'm not familiar with I'm going to turn to you and say yo my bad I don't know what we did but we're lost let me plug the address into Google Maps and figure out where we got to go I'm not embarrassed to say that I made a wrong turn I'm not worried that it reveals me as stupid I've identified that I'm in Uncharted area and I want us both to get to our destination I'm going to do what I need to in order to correct my mistake a lot of people don't share that response they will drive around in circles for hours and never admit their loss you could be looking out the window and thinking I know this isn't the right way but that person will keep telling you don't worry I got this that individual will keep driving in the wrong direction past all sorts of landmarks and signs until they literally run out of Gras your both be stranded and calling Triple A simply because that individual didn't want to own up to their mistake I know people with this character trait I've literally been in the car with people who drive for an hour in the wrong direction just because they don't want to admit their loss try telling them that and they'll become even more adamant about not turning around it's very difficult to learn from your mistakes if you have a bunch of yes men or women surrounding you this is why it's very important that your friends and Associates feel like they have the freedom to offer constructive criticism to tell you about yourself a bit that is why you never want to be a boss or a leader that screams at or intimidates people under you doing that might make you feel powerful in the moment but it will cost you dearly in the long run Floyd Mayweather is a person I observe doing this he has a guy working for him let's call him Bobby out of respect who he constantly belittles in front of everyone Floyd is generally respectful towards the people who work for him but he says crazy [ __ ] to Bobby something relatively minor will come up and Floyd will cuss him out what the [ __ ] Bobby he'll yell for everyone to hear what the hell is wrong with you get that [ __ ] right Bobby would just mut my bad champ before slinking off to fix whatever is allegedly wrong the two of them are trapped in a dysfunctional relationship Floyd never fires Bobby and Bobby never quits they both just stay locked into a pattern of Floyd embarrassing Bobby and Bobby just taking it the issue is is while Floyd may only be addressing Bobby everyone else hears him they register that even though Floyd claims to be mad he never really does anything about it that tells the other employees that Floyd doesn't actually care about performance or productivity he just wants that Whipping Boy around I better keep my eyes down and focus on what's in front of me because I don't want to get treated like Bobby that's how they'll start thinking and I damn sure won't tell Floyd when I think he's making a mistake that's the absolute worst attitude your employees could have walk around on eggshells and hoping that they're not your next verbal victim you want them to feel respected to feel free to offer opinions and insight you have to remember they're around you every day and see things you might miss which means that they might be able to identify certain mistakes before you do Empower them to express those opinions to you if you could promote dialogue and encourage feedback you might gain some valuable information that could help you avoid obstacles before you hit them yourself on the other side of the coin if you happen to be that employ who screamed at all the time you need to do some self-evaluation look in the mirror and ask yourself why did I get singled out for this role you didn't apply for the position of Whipping Boy but that's the position you found yourself in a quick note on the term Whipping Boy you might think it comes from slavery but it actually refers to a practice with young princes in Renaissance Europe if the prince failed the test his tutor wasn't allowed to whip him which was the punishment back then you couldn't put your hands on the prince so so the tutor would whip the prince's servant or Whipping Boy for his mistake instead now that's a shitty job you'd have to ask yourself how you get there what sort of energy did you project to your boss that told them you're the one they can be most comfortable yelling at did you come off as someone who seemed timid and wouldn't push back or did you register as the type of person who would be looking for a confrontation remember a lot of folks even if they're not conscious of it seek out people they can have drama with whatever sort of energy you're able to identify you need to change it try projecting a more strong will or less acquiescent energy depending on the situation if you don't notice a change in your boss's attitude in 30 days that's when you start looking for a new job once you've been cast in the role of the whipping boy or girl it's very hard to rebrin yourself it's not like Floyd is going to start treating Bobby differently and then promote him to a better position Bobby feels some sort of emotional need and Floyd is going to keep him right where he is don't let yourself become the Bobby of your workplace admit that you made an error in the type of energy you initially presented and then look to move on but still make sure to learn from the situation the next time you sit down for an interview make it clear that you're there to produce not to have someone's emotional baggage dumped on you the boxing promotions game is one of the most ruthless ones out there I was in it for a while and can attest that it's as Cutthroat as hip hop or even drugs take a look at Mike Tyson he's not the type of guy you take money from Mike is the furthest thing from a sucker but even he got taken by Don King it's just very hard to avoid as a fighter boxing isn't like other professional sports where is a league overseeing the business side of things if you're an NBA rookie and higher crappy agent you're still going to get paid same with the NFL the league puts all sorts of Provisions in place rookie contract sales minimum salaries Etc to essentially protect you from yourself not to mention they tell you who to play and when to play them they don't leave any other thinking and planning to you you just got to show up and play boxing doesn't provide that sort of infrastructure you're essentially an independent contractor and it's on you to make the deals happen to determine who you're going to fight and win and for how much for guys who usually don't have much in the way of business experience that's a lot to consider it's not that boxers are dumb fighting requires a tremendous amount of mental focus you could take a few plays off in basketball or jog a couple of roots in football but take even a half second off in boxing and you're liable to get knocked the hell out boxers have to pour everything they have into what happens in the ring they just don't have the bandwidth to focus on the details with the same intensity outside of it they feel like they need someone else to orchestrate the business for them and this is why people like Don King and bar arum have such an easy time stepping into that void boxing is the only sport where the Lions become afraid of mice Fighters earn the money but they don't trust themselves to get the deal done even if that's how they present themselves publicly they depend almost completely on someone else to figure out the money one time Floyd asked me to go to a meeting with him with a company that wanted to start a boxing equipment line for him they were going to put his name on gloves cups boxing shorts and other gear and sell them in Outlets like Walmart it was a very professional presentation and the whole time Floyd seemed engaged he gave the company's Executives positive affirmations when they addressed him and he asked more questions from time to time but when we got back into his car after the meeting he turned to me and asked yo five what them people was talking about it struck me that even though he seemed to be concentrating and staying engaged he didn't trusted he'd understood what he heard he needed someone he trusted to confirm the information for him it was safe to ask me because we were friends at the time he could trust me not to try and steer him in the wrong direction or try to slice off too big a piece of the deal myself I had my own money and didn't need to eat off my friend most people aren't in my situation and most people aren't his friend that means that almost every other time Floyd walked into a meeting he was dependent on someone else to confirm what he heard that's an extremely dangerous position to put yourself in you might be wondering how does a guy in Floyd's position not have someone watching his money the answer is that someone is watching it's just that it's in that person's best interest to watch the money go away why because if it were up to Floyd he'd probably never fight again he's got an undefeated record something he's extremely proud of so if you see him talking up about that doesn't make sense like fighting the MMA star Conor McGregor or the Japanese kickboxer T chin nasukawa it means one thing the money is gone that's why ing the manager promoter and accountant's best interest for him to stay broke otherwise he's never going to list those gloves up again and bring in another massive check chapter nine the entitlement trap there's joy and work there is no happiness except in the realization that we've accomplished something Henry Ford I never had much in the way of expectations for middle age as a teenager I figured I'd be dead or in jail by the time I hit 40 even after I experienced success as a rapper I assumed by 40 I'd be completely washed maybe chilling out on a tropical island somewhere eating cookies with my belly hanging over my swim trunks that Island definitely sounded better than a grave or a cell but I can't say I was excited about the prospects of Growing Old everything exciting in my life I assume was going to happen in my 20s or early 30s and yet here I am today staring middle-aged Square in the face and I feel as enthusiastic about what's ahead of me as I have at any time in my life I can feel that I'm all my way up again and I'm going to rise higher than I ever have before this is why I refuse to carry dead weight anymore my public personic can come across as Gruff or callous but behind the scenes I've always been something of a softy I've had a bad habit of tolerating counterproductive characteristics in people because I feel bad for them it's almost as if I somehow blame myself for them not realizing their dreams pity apparently makes for foolish allowances but As I Grew Older the one thing that becomes clearer to me each and every day is that I don't owe anyone a thing and neither do you some people are not built to make it that might sound harsh but all my experiences have taught me is true no matter how much support you provide them or love you show their lowest habits are going to pull them right back to whatever struggles they come from that's why one of the keys of being able to hustle smarter is learning how to identify these kinds of people before they drag you back down to the bottom with them one of the first rules of lifeguarding is never get too close to a drowning person why because when you reach them just before they go under that person is just going to jump on your back and cause you both to sink you always want to try and keep something a float a board or a piece of wood between you and the person you're trying to rescue if they get too close punch them dead in the face and get them off you otherwise you're both going to die life can be like that too you want to save people but in order to do it without you both getting pulled under you need to keep a little distance that is not to say you should never try to help does it feel good to put a person on to a new opportunity of course it does I've spent my whole career trying to do exactly that when I've played basketball I've always gotten more pleasure of an assist than scoring on my own but if someone keeps missing the shot you set them up for it's not your responsibility to keep feeding them the ball there are a lot of players out there your job is to win games not keep running back up and down the court with the same clowns who can't get the job done time to call for a sub most people of course don't like to be subbed in for they feel like they should get to stay in the game no matter how many shots they've missed or turnovers they made they feel like they're entitled to that plan time I've seen a lot of people pollute their potential after sipping from The Well of entitlement this is certainly true of many of the people I've been associated with over the years even my own son what they need to understand and what I want to relay to you in this chapter as well is that you should never feel like the world owes you anything it doesn't there's no version of hustling harder or smarter that involves relying on the assumption that someone is going to do anything anything for you you must accept that it's all on you that might seem like a very cynical way to view the world but I would argue that it's actually liberating you can only feel betrayal when you feel like you're owed something from someone you can only feel resentment when you had expectations for assistance when you accepted this all on you only then can you finally be free to focus 100% on being the best version of yourself the 20-year vacation when I first got together with Shena neither of us had much we were both living in what we perceived to be the bottom our goals didn't extend much past having a decent place to stay and fresh clothes to wear then my situation changed and I suddenly had resources at my disposal a lot of resources and I wanted to share them with Sheniqua we weren't together anymore but she was the mother of my son she was with me before the fame and I acknowledged and respected that she saw me and I wanted to help her find her own success with that in mind I would ask her what you want to do with your life did she want to go to school do she want to learn interior design fashion I kept asking her to identify the occupation that would provide her with some kind of purpose that could provide both wealth and personal satisfaction Not only would this be good for her personally but I also wanted our son to be raised by someone who had a career of her own but no matter how many times I asked shenik would never had an answer for me I'd bring up different possibilities and scenarios but there was never a connection it was incredibly frustrating I didn't like sending a check every month to someone who didn't seem to have any interest in working she might as well have been on welfare back in the hood the only difference here was she was getting a bigger check from me than she would have from Uncle Sam it finally came to her head one day when I was visiting her and Maris one weekend so what do you want to do I asked her once again she looked at me rolled eyes and said ain't nobody working if they don't have to oh [ __ ] I sputter I suspected people thought that way but no one had been ill enough to actually say it out loud in front of me you already did it she said firmly so why should I have to do it too I'm good I don't mean to sound dramatic but it was one of the most shocking conversations of my life and I've had a lot of conversations people would consider shocking I'm extremely serious about the value of hard work I believe it created not only success but happiness too you can never feel satisfied if you're not applying yourself to something you feel passionate about when Shenika said ain't nobody work if they don't have to it was like she was dismissing everything I believed in at that moment I knew things would never be right between us we just saw the world different ways I was disgusted that she didn't want to work and she was disgusted that I thought she should I understand that she had the responsibility of raising our son largely on her own I tried to apply less pressure on her when he was younger because of that but once he was in his teens and didn't need someone holding his hand every second I hope Shenika would finally start to show some ambition there was a period where she made some noise about getting into real estate I thought that was a great idea Atlanta was a growing market and I offered to pay for the classes she would need to get her license but after a few months it was clear that the passion wasn't there she wasn't excited walking into a house for a first time and envisioning all the Poss posibilities for it or by taking out old the property fixing it up and flipping it for a profit she just liked that being a real estate agent was something you could do from home of course nothing ever happened looking back I can see that the moment Shenika said ain't nobody working if they don't have to is when our relationship hit the point of no return up until then I have visions that we could still fashion some sort of partnership maybe not romantically but at least as parents with a common goal a business we could start would benefit our son down the road when it was clear that she not only did not share that Vision but was actually offended by it my attitude towards her completely changed I became Petty it was like I was a fitness buff and she was obese every time she pick up another proverbial cookie I'd be like damn you really need that cookie it's just going to go straight to your hips I was barely conscious of it but I was being mean in the hope it would embarrass her into some sort of action it had the opposite effect though the more I HED in on her lack of Hustle the more she began to resent me the resentment kept building up between us until it matured into hate a hate that is still present to this day what's upsetting isn't that our relationship has become so toxic but that she passed that sense of resentment and entitlement along to our son he'd been given every advantage in the world far beyond most kids born in the ghetto but he still feels like he's been somehow cheated or robbed by me it's a scenario I never imagined I'd find myself in with my friend firstborn child but here we are entitlement creates resentment there have been a lot of disappointing moments in my relationship with Maris over the past few years but the lowest was when I saw him post a picture of himself with Kyle McGriff the son of Kenneth Supreme McGriff without reaction too much bad history Kenneth McGriff was one of the biggest drug dealers in Queens and the man the authorities believe was behind the attempt on my life so by posing with his son Maris was basically co-signing an individual who might have tried to have his father killed I had known Maris resenting me for a while but I never imagined he would hate me so much that he'd allow himself to be used as a prop by my enemy someone recently sent me a quote from Benjamin Franklin that really resonated with me Franklin's son had sided with the British in a revolutionary war despite the fact that his father was one of the leaders of the Revolution it messed with Ben Franklin for the rest of his life he wrote nothing is ever hurt me so much and affected me with such Keen sensation as to find myself deserted in my old age by my only son and not only deserted but to find him taking up arms against me and a cause wherein my good fame fortune and life were all at stake Maris might not have been literally taking up arms against me but he was standing next to the son of someone who might have I could recognize Franklin's pain I spent a lot of time searching my soul trying to understand what can make a son forsake his father like that I've tried to put myself in maris's shoes just as he doesn't know what it's like to grow up under the circumstances I did I don't know what it was like to grow up as the son of 50 Cent certainly on the surface he had everything he wanted but there must have been pressures and insecurities from being my son that I can't identify with I accept that I still can't see how those pressures and insecurities would force a child to go against his own father especially a father who has provided everything for him as I go over our relationship in my mind the only answer that I can come up with is that I actually might have done too much for Maris how do you make a privileged child feel deprived or angry I guess by getting him whatever he wants like many kids from his generation Maris has always been into sneakers because he's my son he couldn't just rock any of those sneakers either if a new pair of Jordans came out he had to have them right away away if Maris asked for a pair of Jordans on Monday his mother would make sure they were on his feet by Tuesday it still didn't make him happy instead of being excited to rock his new pair of Jordans all Maris could think about was all of the Retro Jordans he didn't have all the different flyways and colors that weren't in his closet when he should have felt gratification all he really felt was disappointment I could not relate the kid didn't have a job but somehow wanted to collect $300 sneakers and then still felt unhappy when he actually got them his entire mindset was alien to me I have to believe his mother was behind his disappointment he thought he could have every sneaker ever made even though he hadn't actually earned any of them he's not regular she would tell me when I asked why he needed another new pair he's your son she had already established a pattern that you didn't have to work for something to get it Maris was just following her lead I didn't want that sense of entitlement to become a core part of who he was I was determined to help him learn that he would actually be much happier when he worked for the things he wanted that their value would increase exponentially one day I was driving through Harlem when I noticed that a sneaker store was going out of business on one 25th Street my mind immediately flashed to my son Maris loves sneakers so I pulled over to see if I can grab him a couple of pairs on the cheap being naturally inquisitive I asked the owner why he was going out of business if sneak were so hot he explained that he picked the wrong location and never got enough foot traffic to make it work my mind started clicking say how much do you pay for a pair of Air Force Ones I asked about 40 bucks he told me and how much you sell them for about 80 bucks that seemed like a pretty solid profit margin to me what are you going to do with all these Air Forces now I asked I don't know he said probably just stashed him in my basement till I figure out my next move I tell you what I told him I'm going to buy the rest of the inventory from you right now at cost the guy jumped at my offer suddenly I was the new owner of a couple hundred pairs of Nikes I hatched the plan Maris was in Atlanta where I knew storage space was cheap I would ship the sneakers down to him where he could put them in a warehouse instead of opening up a brick and mortar shop which would have taken a lot of investment and dependent on foot traffic he could set up an Internet site selling sneakers what is referred to as direct consumer sales all it would require would be for him to run the site and maybe hire a friend to manage the warehouse side of things the idea felt like a winner as soon as I left the shop I called up my son yo Maris you know how you always been fascinated with shoes I asked well I just figured out a way you can afford them yourself and start to earn a little money of your own too I broke down the whole plan for him I explained how it was a great opportunity that would not only support his passion but allow him to get a nuts and bolts understanding of how business works this is a layup I told him not too many stores get to start off with free inventory you could really do something with this if you're truly passionate about sneakers this is the time to show it Maris said all the right things on the phone how excited he was and how it sounded like a great opportunity so I had the shoes Shi down to Atlanta then I never heard from him about it again weeks then months pass finally one day his mother called called me and announced that she and Maris been talking instead of an online sneaker store they wanted to open a clothing boutique in Atlanta I couldn't believe what I was hearing the plan I envisioned didn't include her I wanted our son to learn how to be responsible for himself by injecting herself into the mix she was just trying to keep him a boy a little longer I still wanted Maris to get some experience so I said sure let me know when you guys want to do something but of course their Boutique never went anywhere and the online sneaker shop didn't either my issue with Maris wasn't that he wanted all those sneakers when I was a kid I wanted sneakers too the difference is that I was willing no make that determined to do the work necessary to obtain them I wouldn't for a second want Maris to have to resort to the type of work I put in to get my kicks at the time I perceived selling drugs as the only viable option in my environment so I pursued it Maris has so many more options in front of him than I ever had I just needed to see him pick one and put in the work there's nothing wrong with wanting things the sense of want can be a tremendous motivation tool feeling like you want more than what you have is what keeps us from getting complacent I've pretty much got it all but I never feel like I do when I was younger I always wanted more in the way of material things today what I want more of is validation no matter how many awards accolades or headlines I get It's never enough I'm still obsessed with feeling like I've got the hottest show or just dropped the hottest verse needing the respect of my peers and confirmation of sales is what keep me pushing forward I need to feel like they're looking at me and saying man 50 did it again that's what gets me high what sets me apart is I never expect anyone else to bring me those accolades I go out each and every day obsessed with putting in the work that will earn me whatever sort of validation I'm looking for when it comes to maris's approach with dealing with wanting something the Apple fell from the tree and kept rolling and rolling sure Maris never following up on the sneakers might seem like a small thing the type of irresponsibility and lack of initiative teenagers and young adults display all the time but it was a huge disappointment to me forget about being able to afford his personal sneaker collection that online store could have ended up making us both a killing we had that conversation years ago since then on online sneaker sites have become incredibly lucrative goat.com is valued at $550 million while stockx.com has a billion doll valuation if Maris had followed through of what we talked about he could have been included in that conversation he could be independently Rich [ __ ] he might be in a position to tell me to go [ __ ] myself in my money if that's what he wanted to do I'm sure when Maris reads about goat or stockx deep down he probably realizes I was right maybe he says why did I not listen to my father and start that [ __ ] online shop or maybe he can't bring himself to say that I don't think he's accepted that no matter all our ups and downs I still have his best interest at heart there's nothing that would make me feel better than to see him Blossom no Grammy no Emy no pitcho on the cover of Forbes would mean more to me than seeing my son turn into the person I believe he can be in the Lions then another relative who doesn't [ __ ] with me because of entitlement issues is my cousin Michael Jr a rapper who goes by the name 25 Michael's problem is that he always looked to me to make his career happen instead of making it happen for himself he feels like I haven't supported his dream enough and we barely speak anymore because of that Michael has resented me since he was in high school in Queens one day he told me some kids were messing with him oh word I replied yeah you know he said and then moved on he didn't speak on issue again so I let it go a few months later someone told me Michael was running around with a rag in his pocket he joined the Bloods gang I told his mother my aunt jarine and the two of us had a conversation with him in which we tried to steer him away from that affiliation instead of taking our warnings to Heart Michael lashed out at me remember when I told you I had a problem at school he asked me angrily well you never came and help me but they did I couldn't believe it Michael wasn't my job to come to your school to handle your beef I told him if anything having me short would have put a bigger Target on your back you could have handled that for yourself if you think being a blood is going to make things better you got another thing coming let's see how that works out for you Michael wouldn't listen to us he even got mad at his mother claiming she loved me better than him his rationale was that she become attached to me when she used to babysit me as a child it never developed the same affection for him it was ridiculous here she was begging him to change his ways and he was telling her she didn't care about him another example of how the crazy ideas you get in your head as a kid can really stagger you as an adult if you don't change how you think Michael began to embrace the Persona of a gang member he would really pour it on in his music when I rapped I would talk about Street situations but only ones I'd experienced or observed firsthand Michael was just making stuff up it was a dangerous game to play I didn't like the direction he was headed in so I didn't help him the way he had anticipated instead of accepting that rapping might not be for him he kept looking for a record deal that search led him to the offices of Jimmy henchman Jimmy's in jail now locked up for life on a murder charge but at the time he was a fierce enemy his office was absolutely the worst place in the world Michael could have been not being a real Street dude Michael was blind to the danger he walked into he was in the mouth of a lion and couldn't even feel the fangs hover right over his neck say you're 50's cousin right Jimmy asked nonchalantly at one point when's the last time you guys spoke thankfully Michael kept it real with him honestly I don't really [ __ ] with 50 like that Michael replied I see him at Thanksgiving and whatnot but that's about it he was oblivious to it but it was the only correct answer he could have given there were serious people in the room that would have hurt him badly if he would have said anything that would have made it seem like we were tight Michael hasn't been able to create any Buzz for himself as a rapper but he could never look in the mirror and admit that it just wasn't the right calling for it sometimes he says he can't get ahead because people resent him for being my cousin other times he'll say his lack of success is due to my lack of support whatever Theory he's running with it never has anything to do with his lack of hustle ambition or Talent someone else is always to blame when did I become responsible when you pray for Success you don't add an extra little prayer asking for jealousy or entitlement but when the success does come jealousy envy and entitlement often still turn up as byproducts when you reach the level I have people will always feel like you owe them if you buy them a car they'll take the keys from you but they might also say that was cool but damn you could have bought me a house when I hear that my reaction is wait a minute when did I become responsible for your entire life I never agreed to that and why did you expected someone can say 50 was my man I held him down but when you hold that statement up to the light what does it really mean you didn't get into any altercations when people were out to get me you didn't bring me any new business deals you didn't write the hook for my new song so what exactly did you do provide moral support I'm asking because I don't know how to compensate someone who would have done something I only know how to take care of people who did do something I've noticed one of the main reasons people feel entitled is because their friends Gass them up I've seen it happen so many times let's say someone was friends with me back in the day maybe even went on the road during one of my early tours they didn't distinguish themselves in any way mainly they just stood around looking tough and tried to meet girls after the show that might have been the extent of their involvement but every time I'm in the headlines with the New Deal or project that person's friends will bring me up damn son you've been down number 50 forever you should have been taken care of he can't hook you up with something on that TV show and that guy would say yeah no doubt I need to talk to him about that he'll start to think there could be a possible angle that he wasn't considering before even if that individual hadn't actually felt like he was owed anything his friend on the outskirts of the situation hyped him up into feeling that he was that's when I find myself in award conversations a guy who I've known for years will reach out and ask to meet we'll link up and after some small talk he'll start mumbling yo son I'm just saying you know we've been down since forever and I was just thinking you know no I don't know finally he'll spill it he wants a job a loan a car note paid a bill taken care of a roll on power bail money for his brother it could be anything I've heard it all sometimes I'll even give the person what they want other times I'll tell them I can't help them and keep it moving one thing is always constant those conversations leave me feeling depressed on the one hand I know I don't owe anyone a thing just because I took them on a tour almost 20 years ago or we Once Sold drugs together but on the other hand I'll start to think it is true we known each other a long time and then I might start to waver I might wonder if maybe I am being selfish when those thoughts start to creep into my mind that's when I need to take a deep breath and regroup if I was feeling shaky then I'd tried to find some strong mental ground to stand on I remind myself while it's okay to feel conflicted about a situation depression is a luxury that I can't afford I cannot allow another person's lack of success to start undermining my own I understand that technically depression is something I could afford of course I could pay to see a therapist and talk all of this out but I'm not talking about depression in a clinical sense if you feel like you are clinically depressed by all means go see a therapist I'm describing the feeling of my energy being sapped my enthusiasm being dampened my passion being depleted by someone else and their proven lack of hustle sorry but I simply can't afford that sort of confusion in my life I don't care how long I've known you I'm going to remove you from my life forever if I start feeling you're holding me back embracing responsibility Sigman Freud once said most people do not really want freedom cuz Freedom involves responsibility and most people are frightened of responsib ibility well I must not be most people then you already know how I feel about freedom and I absolutely love responsibility too I want as much of it as I can possibly get my hands on I believe taking complete responsibility for your life is the best way to make sure you never fall into the entitlement trap in order to be a true Hustler you have to chase the gratification that can only come from making things happen yourself when you have a vision that no one else can identify with and pour everything you have into it you find yourself in Valley after Valley and can't quite catch a glimpse of the mountain toop but you keep pushing forward until that one day you finally do make it to that peak man that's going to be the best damn view you ever saw in your life you're going to soak up every bit of that mountain a and enjoy every inch of the Panorama spread out in front of you but if someone just drove you up to the top of that mountain if you just sat on your butt in the car turned on the AC and cruised up to the top it would not be the same you didn't sweat and sacrifice to get up there the drink of water you took on the mountain top wouldn't taste as invigorating the air wouldn't feel as amazing The View wouldn't be as inspiring you can only get true fulfillment and happiness from enjoying the achievement you made happen yourself here's another scenario let's say you've started a marketing business with a close friend you agree to split the equity and responsibilities in the business 50/50 you're going to handle the client's side while your friend is going to handle bookkeeping and paperwork you guys start with very little in the way of capital but work day and night to build up the business you start taking on clients and create a strong reputation after a couple years of toiling bigger firms start sniffing around and make inquiries about acquiring you it seems like you're on the verge of the success you've been working so hard for then one day your friend comes to you with a confession the business is out of money say what Revenue have been growing every year you've got several big name CL clients how could you be broke your friend breaks down and explains he's had a drinking problem he's hidden from you he hasn't been looking after the books he hasn't paid certain bills in years the creditors are already coming after you both the only thing you can do is pay off what you can and shut the whole thing down how would you react to that scenario sure your immediate reaction might be the scream at your partner you might even want to lay some hands on him but what good would that do it feels good for a second but it's not going to get the money back it would only make things worse would you start assigning blame go around complaining to your clients and everyone you know about how this person ruined your life that would also be a natural reaction but it wouldn't solve anything either would you be consumed with resentment would your mind constantly be clouded with thoughts of how this person done you wrong ruined your dreams sabotaged everything you work for no one can blame you for feeling that way but it still wouldn't fix anything no you need to take the following actions in a situation like that take whatever money you have left and go somewhere to relax for a few weeks that might sound impossible considering what happened but force yourself to take a break you're not going to recruit what you lost in the last few weeks anyway instead give yourself those weeks to clear your energy to let that anger resentment and confusion get out of your system you must do that to create space for new energy to come into your life once once you feel like you've created that space go back home and start the process of putting your life back together again if you're broke work on your new company during the day and drive a uber at night or deliver pizzas don't think those jobs are beneath you never allow your mind to start obsessing over the idea that a couple of months ago you were talking about an acquisition and now you're driving a uber understand that you won't be driving a Uber or delivering pizzas forever they're just stepping stones you're going to have to utilize to get back to where you were don't let the thought of starting all over again make you depressed understand that most successful people end up chasing the same dream multiple times before they ever come to fruition except that what seemed like a disaster was really a temporary hardship that every Hustler goes through you're know better or worse than any of them keep saving and grinding until you're in a position to start that business up again this time you'll be a little more thorough in choosing a partner you'll be a little more careful in overseeing the books and making sure everyone is doing what they're supposed to do your new model will be stronger with better infrastructure and when those bigger companies come sniffing around again you'll be in a position to sell on much better terms than you were with the first one when you do sell if you're Petty you can invite your old partner to the Celebration you're going to throw but I wouldn't advise that he'll probably already know how badly he messed up without it coming from your lips here's the key that scenario that I just laid out can only happen if you take full responsibility for what happened with the first company yes you didn't screw up your friend did yes you didn't fail to pay the bills or develop negative habits that you hit your friend did those things those problems however are yours and yours alone to correct if you don't immediately get back on the grind and take responsibility for fixing what happened you are the one that's going to suffer you can't allow yourself to fall into the resentment trap even when it seems to be the most natural thing to do the only way you're ever going to experience that feedom Freud was talking about is to accept complete and total responsibility for creating it importing hustle I doubt there's anyone reading this book who has been set up for Success the way Maris and J it were did your father buy out the inventory of a brick and mortar store in order to help you launch an online site did you make your debut in front of 880,000 screaming fans I didn't think so but even without the advantages they enjoy you might still experience some of the same sensations of resentment or entitlement that have tripped those guys up this is especially true if you're still in your 20s or early 30s there's a growing perception that Millennials don't have the same work ethic as previous generations a poll by reason rup found that 65% of American adults think the younger generation is entitled that might be what the poll say but I can't lay the blame solely at the feet of the internet babies Shena isn't a millennial neither other the guys in J they're from the same generation as me we were all raised with the same expectations there's also a perception that entitlement is a specific byproduct of being a spoiled white kid I don't believe that either my son's rich but he sure isn't white none of those dudes that grew up with me and queens were white either I don't view entitlement as an issue that's about young versus old or black versus white if anything is becoming an American issue in this country it seems like we resent having the hustle for Success we celebrate glamorous jobs or high-profile positions but the 9o5 grime seems beneath us we suck our teeth stocking the shells at Target or collecting tickets at the movie theater unless a job reflects exactly what we think we deserve which let's be honest most jobs never will we act like it's a waste of our time you don't feel that energy nearly as much in other countries I've probably laed the globe three or four times by now I've eaten in a thousand restaurants overseas stayed in a thousand hotels and ridden in the back of a th cars I can report that the attitude about work is usually different a proda people take their job seriously no matter what level they AR I see this in Asian places like Japan Taiwan and Singapore from the street sweepers up to the entrepreneurs I meet it seems like everyone is hustling hard no one is acting like they resent their job everyone seems to be trying to get ahead it's the same way in the countries I visited in Africa and the Middle East from the dudes selling water on the street corners to the women working in the hotel shops no one is slacking everyone seems dialed into whatever task is in front of them remember the hypothetical peanut stand I wrote about earlier the one I'd open if I ever went broke well when you're overseas it seems like everyone has the same approach they accept that they have to hustle relentlessly and if they do day after day year after year they believe they can hustle their way to a better life despite all the opportunities we enjoy I'm not sure people have the same confidence in this country over here the sense of entitlement is found at every level of society I certainly feel it among the rich it seems like the people in the million dollar pin houses feel like they have the right to live there everything about their identity is tied up in not losing that position they believe their lifestyle is their Birthright at the same time the people in the lowen housing feel like no matter what they do they're never going to get one of those pen houses themselves so instead of hustling harder they stop caring that's one of the real lasting effects the slavery has had on African-Americans if as a people you work for 300 odd years and never see yourself move even the centimeter up the success ladder it impacts You Hell forget about 300 it probably had an impact after 5 years that sense of no matter how hard I work it's not going to matter becomes ingrained in people's mindsets this is part of the reason reason a lot of folks in the hood have lost that ambition to keep pushing themselves they have to battle with a different type of entitlement feeling like you're never going to make it happen for yourself so someone else is going to have to do it for you an immigrant isn't going to identify with either one of those mentalities from their perspective there's no difference between the bricks in the skyscraper and the bricks in the housing project the entire country looks like the most beautiful place in the world compared to where many of them are coming from this is especially true in my hometown of New York City there's a reason tens of thousands of people are trying to get here every day even from Halfway Around the World they can see shining opportunities that we've largely become blind to they understand that it really is a Big Rich Town and they want in I consider immigrants to be the backbone of New York they keep its Hustler Spirit Alive we always celebrate the Wall Street guys or the tech CEOs but the immigrants are the ones making it happen day in and day out according to a study from the center for American entrepreneurship 56% of all Fortune 500 companies in the Metro NYC area were founded by immigrants that African guy that got his teeth knocked out for selling my bootleg back in the day there's no way he wasn't back selling CDs the very next day he probably kept selling and selling until he opened his own chain of stores today he might even have one of those big companies or perhaps he went back to his home country and opened the chain of stores there we've been very successful in exporting American culture across the globe but at the end of the day all we make in America is people we're exporting a lifestyle a dream we're not creating anything real anymore that's why it's time we import some of the hustle that seems to be so abundant in the rest of the world then we can stop feeling like people owe us something and start realizing that our hustle can lead us to whatever we want in life are they making a deposit do it there's one question you must ask about every person in your life no matter how long you've known him does he or she ever make deposits in my life or do they only make withdrawals if the answer is withdrawals then that's someone you need to distance yourself from immediately remember no one only makes one withdrawal would you only go to a ATM that kept spitting out free money just once hell no you would go every single day until the bank figured it out well people are the same way until you shut them down they will keep taking and taking until there's nothing left I'm getting rid of all the people who only make withdrawals I've already lost people whove meant the world to me namely my mother and grandmother and I'm still doing just fine there is zero reason I can't cut all the other people that are trying to drain me instead of fil me up this is why I don't particularly care if my father ever makes himself known to me at this point he would only be coming to make withdrawals from my life there's nothing for him to deposit I already have enough people like that in my life every day they look to make withdrawals from the bank of 50 c I've already discussed the people who are straight up looking for monetary handout but just as frequently is people seeking my Association on its own hey we got this phenomenal idea that could be a hit and make us some money they say before getting to the catch we just need you to make it work I'm not looking to partner with people like that anymore I want to be associated with Concepts or ideas that can work with or without me I want to be around talented folks who can help lift me higher not people who want to piggy back off my success the first time I ever met Mark Walberg was at dinner with a group of people I just met I ate my food hung out a bit and then went to the restroom on the way back I decided I've been there longer than I needed to be so I paid the check when I got back to the table I told the group yo I'm running out see you guys later great meeting everyone and don't worry about the bill I took care of it I didn't do that to be a big shot it's just a role I've gotten comfortable in Mark couldn't believe it what you did what he said almost jumping out of his seat wait a [ __ ] minute wait a minute I finally found a guy who can find his [ __ ] pockets and he's leaving bro we got to get together we got to hang out he was excited because he was always the guy people expect expected to pay the tab now someone was finally willing to make a deposit that caught his attention We've Ended up becoming good friends after that night and marks made plenty of deposits into my life he's someone who already did the rap turn TV executive thing with Entourage in bwalk Empire and he's given me a lot of valuable advice and insight I would never have made that connection with him if I hadn't reached for my wallet that night I know everyone reading this isn't in the position to pay for a fancy meal in the LA restaurant but you are in position to make deposits with the right people professionally you can always contribute to morale no matter what position you're in if you're part of a team it doesn't cost a sent to be the one with the positive attitude that doesn't mean you have to kiss your boss's ass or be fake you just have to stay upbeat about things be the person who doesn't bit your moan when you get a tough job or assignment be the person who is smiling and open to interacting with co-workers instead of putting on headphones and hiding behind a computer screen be diplomatic and try to identify a resolution when your co-workers aren't getting along the easiest deposit you can make it work but one it will pay off in the long run it's just to show up on time you have no idea how aggravating it is for a boss when employees just roll in whatever it might be tempting to think well if it was my company I'd get there early but why would I rush over there to make these guys money if that's your attitude you're never going to get your own company this is definitely an issue I struggle with concerning my own employees as I said earlier one of my weak points is that I like to be comfortable in the workplace I like to be around people I know and trust unfortunately the comfort that I'm looking for can make the entire environment too relaxed after some time people start to forget that they have real responsibilities I'm paying them for that's when they start making their own schedules they might think I don't Noti this but I do and I won't comment on it so long as everything's rolling the right way but if you're strolling in at 10: or 11: every morning and the work we're producing is not tight then we are going to have a problem I was giving you rope and letting you come in when you want it but now you just hung yourself with it unless you're directly contributing to your company's bottom line in a significant way please do not trick yourself into believing you can just go in when you want instead make sure you're the most consistent person in the office at just showing up it might be as simple as setting your alarm 15 minutes earlier in the morning but if you can get into the habit of just being on time that is a recognizable deposit your boss will value as long as you're making consistent deposits it's okay to approach your boss and ask to discuss arrays but whatever you do do not start that conversation by pointing out how long you've been at the company if someone comes to me talking about how long they've been around all they're doing is giving me confirmation that it might be time to get them the [ __ ] out of there if you have been around forever and I'm not proactively giving you a raise there's probably a reason instead when you have that that talk keep the focus on what you've been contributing revenue of course is the best thing to be able to point to but it could also be some of the non-transactional things we've mentioned upbeat energy helpful diplomacy punctuality and creativity if you've been making those deposits on a consistent basis it's probably going to stand out and you'll be rewarded a lot quicker than the person that's been at the company a long time but is only interested in drawing a paycheck it is important to remember that not every deposit someone puts into your life is going to be monitored a person might never give you a dot but still bless you in all sorts of other ways my aunt Geraldine and Uncle Mike deposited a lot of affirmative energy into my life without asking for anything in return a rare trait in my family the three of us must have been drinking different water than everyone else we all understand that no matter what happens in your life there should never be a moment when you feel it's okay to stop working and start looking for a hand out Uncle Michael and Jordine proved that when they won a million dollars from a scratch off ticket Michael bought I remember being so excited for him when he told me what are the odds of that actually happening I asked him that's incredible it was a nice little layer of comfort to add to their lifestyle he and my aunt bought a bigger house and traded in a couple of their cars for something nicer but that was it all they did was upgrade what they didn't do was quit their jobs they didn't say okay we made it and try to go on one of those 20year vacations they were wise enough to understand that while the extra money was a blessing in a few years it would be gone and they would have to keep living it is very easy to run through a million dollars in this country and they did thankfully they never quit their day job so they're fine with their strong sense of self-sufficiency we've never run into some of the issues I've had with other family members my aunt and uncle are not looking to get anything from me only give it's been like that forever even now Aunt jine still buys me socks for Christmas and tries to cook me a meal I don't need the socks and I've got a personal chef but that's not the point they just symbolize the love she has for me she wanted to provide for me to give me things since I was a little boy she's the person that gave me the nickname boo booo might seem like a small thing but to a kid who lost his mother that term of endurant was very important to this day the people I'm closest to still know me as Boo Boo and are the only one's allowed to call me that my son s has brought that sort of positivity into my life too everything is in place for us to have a healthy and loving relationship whenever I see my little guy there nothing but happiness and excitement he's not looking for a thing for me he just wants to show me where his front teeth just fell out or a picture he drew in school there's nothing better than sitting on the couch watching TV and having him come into the room and without a word snuggle up next to me he's not looking for a thing no money no favor no handouts he just wants to be close to his father being on the receiving end of that sort of unconditional love is something I'm not used to but need to become better acquainted with giving back I'll admit that there are times that I don't feel very charitable if I walk down the street and I see a guy with a funny sign in a cup begging for change my immediate reaction might be I don't feel the need to help this guy because his spirit is already broken whatever bill I put into his cup is not going to make the slightest difference if someone has the ability to write something so humorous that it's going to make a callous New Yorker reach into their pockets and that person has talent unfortunately he's only comfortable using that talent to ask for a handout instead of going out there and applying it in a more constructive and productive way I don't want to support that over the years however I come to understand that this attitude isn't always helpful yes an individual would rather pray on people's sense of compassion then put in the work but that doesn't mean there aren't many many more people out there who really do have the work ethic and Hustler spirit I promote could have been caught in circumstances beyond their control they do require some sort of help being in a position of abundance I'm becoming more and more focused on using my money to help those kind of people when you've experienced success and validation over a sustained period of time it allows you to take the focus off yourself a little and become more conscious of what's happening in the different communities around you the older I get the less I'm impressed with people who areass money and the more inspired I am by the people who are committed to give it away I never realized it before but now I can see that the givers are going to be the ones with the strongest presence in their absence when they're dead and gone people are still going to speak about them in reverential tones 50 years from now people will remember Bill Gates more for the work he did supporting sustainable agriculture around the world than for whatever he figured out with computer chips just like the music mogul David geffin isn't going to be remembered for making hit records he'll be celebrated for the advances he supported in the medical field Warren Buffett may be incomprehensibly wealthy but he committed himself to donating 99% of his fortune to charity by the end of his days he's been following at off and has made philanthropy his new calling pushing other billionaires to do the same with the giving pledge their examples made me become more conscious of my own legacy I've had to myself do I want to be mainly remembered as a person who sold a lot of records and made a lot of hit TV shows at one point the answer would have been hell yeah I still value that experience but now it's more important that I'm also thought of as someone who did something positive with the money he made it's not enough anymore for me to say well I'm giving back by showing people that it's possible to go from the bottom to the top I need to do even more I'm committed to take the money resources and connections I've gained on my way to the top and invest them directly back into the bottom so that the people living there might have an easier time making a similar Journey one of the first times I became really interested in the concept of philanthropy was after I traveled to Nigeria I didn't know much about the country but hinin was paying me $4 million to do four shows so of course I packed my bags and got on a plane one of the first nights there I was chilling in my hotel room in Legos and ordered room service the hotel brought all his food into my suite and I was about to dig in when I noticed the chicken wasn't Dev vined something about that made me queasy my appetite was spoiled and I wanted to get out of my room and into some fresh air suddenly an idea popped into my head I told my road manager Barry to grab $115,000 out of our PM money put it in the bag and get a car ready once Barry had the cash I met him downstairs got in the car and told the driver just take us to the hood I've definitely seen some rough neighborhoods before but I've never seen anything as harsh as the neighborhood the driver took us to forget about housing projects where the elevator spell like piss these people were living in little Huts made of sheets of corrugated metal no AC no window no running water if that wasn't bad enough there was a river of piss and [ __ ] running in front of the Huts the basley projects and queens look like the Four Seasons compared to what these people were living in as we were driving I also noticed that people were carrying on their heads anything that was Heavy that needed to be transported if someone had a 30 lb package they needed to get across town they weren't calling FedEx they were getting it up on the tops of their domes and walking it across town that way the site really blew my mind at one point we had to slow down because the street wasn't anything more than muddy alleys I took some money out of the bag roll down the windows and started handing out hundreds to people who came up to the car once the folks in the hood realized what was happening the energy was ridiculous more kinetic than at any concert I've ever performed at this was a country where picking up an extra $40 might change your life for the next few months and I was handing out hundreds like candy at Halloween word begin to spread that I was throwing money and by the time I got back to the hotel there were probably 3 or 4,000 people waiting for me the scene was insane even after all the money was gone people just wanted to touch me not in a negative or threatening way either they just wanted to share the energy they were feeling with me one guy pulled my do-rag off my head so fast that it didn't even knock my baseball cap off it was incredible my actions ended up causing such a disturbance that we had to cancel the final show of the tour and go home there were just too many people trying to show up and see if I was going to throw some money their way it felt great to know that I'd helped so many people in a short amount of time but I also realized that driving around the slums throwing bills wasn't the smartest and most effective way to use my money to help people I needed a better plan I used to think I was from the bottom but my trip to Africa was a wakeup call it turns out I didn't have any idea what the bottom looked like my African brothers and sisters were struggling in a way I wasn't even remotely familiar with people in the hood might not understand this when I tell them about Africa they'll tell me yo fifth we hungry here man no you think you're hungry but across Africa hundreds of thousands of people are d every year due to starvation that's true hunger my understanding of how bad this situation is got even deeper in 2012 when I teamed up with the world food program and traveled to Kenya and Somalia to witness the impact the hunger crisis has had on those countries I thought my experience in Nigeria would have prepared me but I couldn't believe what I saw in Kenya and Somalia in Kenya I visited a school where all of the 500 kids were often and 48 were HIV positive they got to eat one meal a day cornmeal with protein powder dumped on it there wasn't anything else on the menu that's all they got each and every day I'd never seen anything so desperate but these kids still had the most incredible energy I'd asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up and they'd say I'm going to be a doctor or I'm going to be a lawyer they'd been dealt some of the worst cards you can possibly get and they were still optimistic and upbeat about the future that total lack of resentment made me think about how I used to [ __ ] that I had to wear kangaroos instead of Nikes or Maris feeling sad because he wasn't wearing the right Jordans if every kid in America could spend 5 minutes in a school like the one I visited in Kenya they'd all be ashamed that they ever acted so entitled I know I was after that trip I committed myself to working with the world food program to fight Global hunger especially in Africa at the time I had just launched the energy drink sh King I pledged that for each drink purchased I would donate a portion of the earnings to feed one hungry kid to get the program off on the right foot I wrote a check that covered the cost of 2 and a half million meals we were able to feed a lot of hungry kids through that program but there's obviously so much more work to be done my hope is that programs like the one that we did with Street King could create a template for What I Call Conscious capitalism that means instead of hitting a billion dollar lick and just sitting on it these CEOs start to make given a fundamental part of their business plan the World Bank says that if the top Fortune 500 companies donated just 1% of their earnings to a charitable organization it could alleviate extreme poverty across the globe just 1% I don't think that's too much to ask of any Corporation I'm as focused on the bottom line as the next entrepreneur but none of us need that 1% so badly that we can't use it to help those kids out there it's just that a lot of these rich folks are in condition to give things away their mentality is similar to the one I used to have when I walked by a homeless guy well I work for it these other people just sat around not concentrating on what they want for their lives so why should I have to come up with the solution my answer is to take a little bit of your money and fly to Africa to visit the kids I spent time with at their school or meet with the kids in the Middle East Asia or South America who are living in similar situations when you experience the energy these kids have in the face of so much oppression you'll realize how it's not about your work ethic versus someone's lack of one about recognizing that you've been blessed to be able to apply your work ethic in a country with as many opportunities as America has when I think about those kids it makes me question the motivation behind a lot of the decisions I made earlier in my career everything I once did was meant to prove that I had more than an X-Man but now that I've grown and experienced more that sort of mindset doesn't match my sense of morality anymore I don't want to give the impression that I'm only focused on helping kids in Africa either when I saw my man in Connecticut I donated all of the $3 million I earned to my G Unity Foundation the money went to support programs that provide academic enrichment in poverty-stricken areas in America I've also given a lot of money almost a million dollars to help restore public parks where I grew up in Queens I want kids coming up there today to have green spaces where they feel comfortable playing outside and getting familiar with nature it all feels like the right thing to be doing with my money once I've provided for the future of myself and my kids how many more toys do I really need not many what I need to do is figure out more ways to give back in the past I tended not to talk about the charity work that I was doing because I didn't want to foster a sense of entitlement around me I didn't want people thinking it was my responsibility to give them money on either a personal or organizational level I'm not worried about that pressure anymore in fact I welcome it I want to be known as someone who will write a check for a charity that Mar it I want to be associated with philanthropy I've made a lot of things cool in my days using a sing song FL on my RS bullet proof vest paying your debts back by Monday now I want to make charity cool too if I can do that that would go down as my greatest accomplishment