This Frequency Isn’t Free
The Imaginators Are Gathering. This Is Your Invitation.
The Blessing
You’re here. Still breathing.
Still dreaming. (you better be.)
Still dancing with the unknown.
I’ve been reflecting on what it means to imagine, like for real, for real truly imagine, at a time when algorithms are scripting our thoughts and anxiety is numbing our vision.
But here’s the thing:
God’s power is infinite.
And imagination is the transmission line.
You’re not broken. You’re being sculpted.
And your nervous system isn’t lying to you
it’s just been trying to get your attention.
So let this newsletter be a little reset.
A reminder. A mirror. A mixtape for your soul.
You’re not alone, and you’re not late.
Let’s begin.
This week is about rewilding your imagination and remembering your worth.
THE DROP
First Screen: Why the Power Shift in Hollywood Is Bigger Than You Think
TikTok isn’t the new TV. It’s the new studio lot.
And the first screen is no longer the one on your wall—it’s the one you own.
Your app. Your AI twin. Your FAST channel.
Hollywood is quietly freaking out. They should be.
Because creators with vision, speed, and systems are building
what production companies used to take 12 months to launch—in 72 hours.
I’m calling this the creator-owned studio era.
But this isn’t about followers.
It’s about infrastructure.
Here’s what I’m seeing:
📱 TikTok-to-FAST pipeline is becoming a legit syndication strategy.
🎥 NBA players are launching full-on film festivals (more on that below).
🧠 The smartest creators aren’t going viral—they’re going vertical.
This is the age of the direct-to-consumer empire.
You are the first screen.
📡 Signal One: You Are the Platform
It’s not about how many tools you have. It’s how you combine them, how you remix what’s been handed down, rewire what’s been torn apart, and make a system from spit, prayer, and bare hands.
This photo by Jamel Shabazz sits right here above you for a reason.
Three men, Jamaican, Dominican, Cuban bent over in the Bronx, trying to find the red and green wires. No gloves. No blueprint. Just instinct and rhythm and survival. That moment became hip-hop. A global transmission. A system built without permission.
Hip-hop was always technology. The hood was always engineering. These were the hackers. The system-makers. The rhythm coders. The remix scientists. Just because they didn’t go to Stanford or Georgia Tech doesn’t mean they weren’t architects of a new world.
One of the smartest economists I’ve ever met was a man I sat in a meeting with today who served 20 years in Prison. Another was the biggest Don in Los Angeles at one time. Both knew the math of power, supply chains, leverage, and loyalty better than any boardroom executive I’ve met. Genius doesn’t only wear a blazer. Sometimes it wears scars.
You are the platform.
You are the source code.
You are the signal.
Don’t wait for permission to transmit.
🏀 SIGNAL 2
Basketball Is the New Film School
We just went from 5 films to 45 films at NBA Summer League.
Think about that.
Athletes are showing up to Vegas not just to scout
but to screen.
To build.
To distribute their worldview.
I’m hosting panels this year with legends like KG, BD, and Matt Barnes
on how to architect your own media company.
Add in Sac State with Mike Bibby and Shaq investing in podcast labs,
plus NIL giving players more capital than some Series A startups…
You tell me who the media moguls of tomorrow are.
🔒 SIGNAL 3
[LOCKED: Your Workflow Is Your Weapon]
Teaser:
Building your own AI workflow isn’t optional anymore.
I’ll show you how I turned a week’s worth of voice notes into a distribution system that fed 3 projects, 2 decks, and 1 investor convo.
→ [Upgrade to Access]
🫶🏽 Feeling this? Don’t keep it to yourself.
Hit that share button and drop this in your group chat, Slack thread, or Telegram fam. Forwarding this might be the spark someone else needs.
🔒 SIGNAL 4
[LOCKED: Athlete x Creator Flywheel – The Blueprint]
Teaser:
From NIL to NBA to Nigeria.
This is how we build pipelines that fund, platform, and protect creator-athletes.
→ [Unlock the Flywheel]
🔒 SIGNAL 5 —
The Third Signal
[LOCKED: A Letter from the Borderless Self]
Teaser:
Reflections from the edge of what’s changing.
On breath, blindspots, black belts, and the blessing of being broken open.
→ [Read My Signal]
🗝️ THE KNOCK
This is more than a newsletter.
This is the front door to the ecosystem I’ve been building for years.
If this crate spoke to you, here’s what happens next:
🌀 Decoder’s Signal: “Your portal is open. Don’t look away.”
(If you know, you know.)
🔓 Your Gift: Mini-Course —
Creator OS: From Idea to Investor
You’ll get:
🗺️ My voice-note-to-deck workflow system
📎 A real deck template from one of my active projects
🎙️ A bonus voice note breakdown (how I train my GPTs)
🔁 The AI loop I use to refine and ship ideas
The “Free Huey Newton” Coloring Book I Used To Color In.
→ [Access the Free Mini-Course] (with paid upgrade path)
💼 What Paid Members Get Weekly:
Full Signals 3–5
Exclusive Rich Cacao mixes
AI and creative strategy breakdowns
Access to private community (beta)
Live Zooms, panels, decks, and group experiments
→ [Become a Member]
That’s Crate 004.
The last one you get for free.
What comes next?
Only those who knock will know.
✊🏾
—James
🎧 UNDERNEATH THE SIGNAL
A Sonic Portrait in 8 Tracks
This isn’t just a playlist.
This is my fingerprint.
My heartbreak journal.
My DJ booth turned confessional.
This is me without the performance, without the pitch and with all the gifts God gave me at my disposal.
If you’ve ever wondered who I am underneath the vision decks and voice notes, the strategy calls and mixtapes… lean into these 8.
They don’t tell a story they transmit a frequency.
And if you’re listening for real… you’ll feel me.
1.
James Blake – “Retrograde”
The ache. The reach. That moment where tenderness meets atmosphere and rearranges the room.
This is what it feels like when my heart still hurts and I still believe.
“Suddenly I’m hit / Is this darkness of the dawn?”
2.
Anderson .Paak – “The Bird”
The autobiographical groove. Grit meets grace.
A man who’s been cracked open but still moving with rhythm.
“Mom was the only dad I ever knew…”
A poem in motion. Feels like a quiet prayer.
3.
Yussef Dayes – “Blackfriars”
No lyrics. Just motion. Sonic diaspora.
Me in creation mode — dreaming, building, floating.
Dubai, LA, Toronto, and inner space — all in one track.
4.
Solange – “Things I Imagined / Down with the Clique”
The sacred weird.
My reverence for women who hold multitudes. Who bend time and raise dimensions.
“I imagined it…”
Because imagination is creation.
5.
Hiatus Kaiyote – “Building a Ladder”
Perseverance in melody.
This one is my inner work song — always remembering, always returning.
“From the ground to the sky…”
No more hustling for worth. Just ascending back to it.
6.
Marvin Gaye – “I Want You” (Vikter Duplaix remix)
Seduction Frequency. But not just for pleasure — for closeness. For devotion.
This is barefoot-by-the-door energy.
Velvet. Real. And full of longing.
7.
Sampha – “What Shouldn’t I Be?”
When the strategist dissolves and I speak from the bones.
This is rawness. This is confession.
“I should visit my brother / But I haven’t been there in months…”
That line hits every time.
8.
Earth, Wind & Fire – “Devotion”
The closer. Legacy coded in groove.
A reminder that all this — the music, the heartbreak, the longing — is sacred.
“Open up your heart and let your love come out…”
That’s the altar I’m building.
If you’ve ever loved me, wanted to know me, or tried to understand me — this is your entry point.
And if you’re hearing this for the first time, welcome. This is where I begin again.
Not just a playlist.
This is Attunement.
This is Underneath the Signal.