Permission To Play
How to discover, nurture and play with the artist within you
MY JOURNEY AS A CORPORATE ARTIST
I’ve always known that being artist was more than just someone who holds a mic or paints a beautiful painting. “I am an artist trapped in a business man’s mind and body” is what I often say. As I become more and more comfortable in my patterns of creativity and business experimentation I own more and more of my artist self. I’ve been at the turn of every major technology transition and each one I have approached like a songwriter writing songs for a new album. Makes sense my corporate career started working at Sony Music with individuals who had dreams and looked to me as a partner and conduit to make those dreams come true. I can recall with great detail sitting in Wyclef Jean’s East Orange, NJ studio describing this album cover he wanted to create for his next Fugees album. Maxwell who was the first artist I worked with at Columbia Records would describe in great detail the way he saw his first music video. He would bring to my office independent films and say “look at the spatial relationship between that actor and that wall.” BTW, I never met anyone who could speak to me in fonts, he knew his brand down to very unique fonts he wanted to use. Four years ago I would end up spending close to a year working in Kanye West’s camp, staying up late at night at his Calabasas compound listening to the visions of one of the greatest creative minds I have even been exposed to. I was awestruck not just by the number of ideas Kanye would have but the process in which he implemented to capture. There was a morning that stands out vividly. Kanye agreed to meet with the CEO of a startup I was advising and despite confirming the night before was nowhere to be found after the CEO flew in to meet with him. “Kanye went to Tokyo last night to meet the designer of a children’s playground he met yesterday.” I was pissed and secretly envious at the same time. Kanye had to be in Japan because he was so inspired by the meeting and was chasing the spark. Understanding how and when to go after the creative spark can be life changing.
EVERYONE IS AN ARTIST AND CREATOR
We all have the God-given ability to be an artist, it is not only an occupation it is a way of being. Creativity is not just painting, making a track or recording a funny Tik Tok video. Creators are coming up with solutions to problems, finding the right conversations to curate online, and even sneaking into the club. Yes, I mentioned “sneaking into the club” because I under appreciated my journey of being a creator and often leave out the fake ID business I had at Palo Alto High School which enabled several teen age boys to dance at San Francisco dance clubs. All of us are walking around this planet as living artists. We take in large volumes of information, filter, translate then create an experience, product, methodology based on what we perceive. The technology tools have never “come with an instruction manual” it has always been up to us make it work for our project. This is essentially what Hip Hop music and culture comes from and I’ve been a part of the Hip Hop community since the first day I went to the carpet store to go get scraps of linoleum floors to spin around on as a break dancer in the 80’s. Being an artist is a posture. Being a creator is a way of seeing the world and tuning in.
CREATING AT THE SPEED OF CULTURE
Knowing and timing where we are is part of the art and creativity. The movements of the technology waves feel like seasons to me. I can remember sneaking into Meyer and Green Library at Stanford seeing computers speak to other computers in what we now know as the internet. I can still see myself sitting up late at night in NYC after working a full day at Sony Music playing with this thing called AOL and spending time exploring chat rooms. We sometimes forget the ability in Web 2 to “make friends” which for me started at Black Planet which was before Friendster, MySpace and ultimately land on the college campuses of America through something called The Facebook. I was not in college at the time and remember getting my baby cousin to give me her .edu address so I could explore. The ability to feel the moment, have the freedom to experiment and space to reflect, translate and even communicate where you are is part of the process of creating at the speed of culture. You often hear “the technology is moving so fast”and it is if you allow to move fast. Artists and creators don’t operate in this kind of timing and never worry that the technology is moving too fast. Today Chat GPT, AI, AR, VR, Metaverse, Crypto, De-Fi, DAO’s and even humanics dominate the headlines. Riding the wave and deciding to surf is the first step and the only step you have to take today. Driving down PCH and staring at the ocean doesn’t make you a surfer. You have to find the energy of the water and be prepared to swim. Parisa Rose, my business partner and a retired NCAA All American swimmer always says “good swimmers have a great feel of the water. A body awareness of where they are in the pool and an intelligence of hydro dynamics” Your opportunity to be playing in the current marketplace is about awareness. Your reward is a freedom that I can’t even describe and I have spent my life and career chasing this freedom.
YOU DON’T PLAY ENOUGH
I’ve recognized that the more successful I became the more removed I became from discovering that spark that only comes from play. Over the past few years I have given myself permission to play and I’m a work in progress. I desire to think like an artist, continue to create businesses like a BAWSE, own the waves of culture like a surfer and show up in the world with the energy and confidence of an old school rapper. Here’s a few things that I have been doing to allow myself permission to discover the power held within play.
Make a funny Instagram video
Write Poetry
Start A Room On Clubhouse
Learn How To Cook
Spend Time Living In An Airbnb In A Town You Don’t Know Anyone
Find a new shortcut on your drive home
Hang out at Dave & Busters playing games with young people
Go To An Amusement Park or Boardwalk
Play is so important that I structured a block of time weekly to explore. In full transparency I have not always made it a priority. I do know its going to make me a better entrepreneur and human and exploring play this week has me energized. Let me know what you discover about yourself on your journey of play.
Join Us On Clubhouse To Talk About Play
This week on “Proof Of Culture” we are joined by Ashton Cantou an incredible transformation coach and speaker who I have first hand witnessed on her IG her commitment to play. Ashton will drop a verse and/or bust out a sick dance move with the ease and grace of a b-boy and MC. I’m super excited to be on stage with both she and Parisa Rose to talk about “The Power Of Play.” Join us live this Friday at 12pm PST and if you miss it catch it on the replay.
If you are looking for a great book on how to access your creativity, check out Rick Rubin new book “The Creative Act: A Way Of Being.”
Culture Signals
Supporting an incredible creative entrepreneur Harry B on his Youtube debut and agency launch
Two new studies look to frame the creator economy. Citi looked at the growth of Creator Economy over next two years. Gen.video looks deeply at social shopping in Q4 2022.
Meta is working on a mashup of something that feels like Twitter and Mastadon with a splash of WhatsApp.
Creator Curios brands were a big hit at Expo West food show.
Iranian girl risk their lives dancing to an Afrobeat song. An average day on Tik Tok is an act of defiance for this young women.
Miley Cyrus's hit song, ‘Flowers,’ has appeared in nearly 600,000 Shorts, some of which have received more than 40 million views all on their own.
Introducing Open Sauce: a creator-friendly event featuring combat robotics, food trucks, talks, panels in San Francisco
Starbucks launched its first paid NFT on Polygon as part of its Starbucks Odyssey rewards program.
