IVLifestyle: February 2011

"If God gives me breath for twenty more years, I see myself changing the world. 'Cause my thoughts patterns are so opposite of what's the norm. So I would have to change the world or be changed by the world."

~Tupac Shakur - recorded interview with Vibe Magazine

There are few quotes that completely and utterly resonate with me when I hear them. Most of them happen to be rap quotes. For example Jay-Z's D'Evils where he says "I rather die enormous than live dormant." The first time I heard that line I never forgot it. It resonated with me probably because of all the death I had to deal with at an early age. Another quote, again from Tupac, is "...I can feel the shadow's depth." This is another one. The day I received his poetry book The Rose That Grew From Concrete, I read every poem, and while "And 2morrow" was one that stuck with me conceptually, "In the Event of my Demise" and the aforementioned line from that poem stuck.

I go by Dreamhard and dreams are good. But the deeper I fall into this passion for entertainment my dreams are evolving in to beliefs, dare I say convictions. So when Vibe released the recorded Tupac interview this past fall I watched and listened to all six parts. And as I listened to this young man, not much older than me, speak with such conviction and assuredness, it was, again, something that completely resonated with me.

This IVLifestyle, this creation of talented individuals, is in constant evolution, thus I constantly evolve with it. In the fields of music production rapping, writing, film production and so forth, it is extremely easy to "make it" by making shit material. And by shit material I literally mean niggas are making shit and putting it out and feeding our audience shit. It's like urban music has turned into fast food, when it used to be fine a cultural cuisine. It is unacceptable.

That is why in my journey as an artist and an IVLeaguer I fashion myself after those who have withstood the test of time. Artists like Charles Burnett, Michael Jackson, Lauryn Hill, Tupac Shakur, Roy Ayers, Spike Lee, John Singleton, Bootsy, Dexter Wansel, Marvin Gaye, Miles Davis amongst others. I could go on for days, but my goal is to feed the masses good shit. Material that will bring a family to their living room to enjoy what I've done 20 or 30 year from now. When I write, work, sit down to make music, I have this in mind.

Yeah, I Dreamhard. But watch me turn that shit in to our reality. So when Pac says he would have to change the world or be changed by the world, I feel the same way. Am I ballsy enough to liken myself to Tupac or any of the other people I mentioned? Naw. What I aim to do and am doing is working in their tradition. Carrying that good shit on. Til we can't no more.

If you don't believe anything, you can beLeague dat.