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Kid Cudi’s new album ‘Entergalactic’ will drop with an animated Netflix series

Earlier this week, Kid Cudi has announced that he’s dropping his first solo album in four years, sometime in the near future, and he’s teaming up with Netflix to do it.

The forthcoming LP is titled Entergalactic and is expected to feature Black-ish creator Kenya Barris as executive producer as well as Ian Edelman from How to Make it in America as executive producer and writer.

The innovative series is the next step and evolution of what we’ve been seeing with album bundles and packages. Except, instead of selling action figures like Travis Scott or merch like DJ Khaled, Cudi has a television show.

The series will showcase music from Cudi’s new album which, according to a Netflix press release, will  “follow a young man on his journey to discover love.”

The Netflix show is also the first of it’s kind with it being an animation completely based off of an LP. The only thing close we’ve seen is a movie soundtrack, making this collaboration extra special.

The animated project becomes the third show that Barris has premiered on Netflix in the past year after he negotiated an early exit from his ABC Studios overall deal and signed with the streaming juggernaut.

If “Enter Galactic” rings a bell for you, it’s the name of a song on his 2009 album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, signaling, at the very least, a revisit to themes of past albums that earned Cudi his cult following.

The record is to be released on Republic but does not yet have a release date. He only says, “it’ll be here before u know it” in a tweet, so there’s real time table on when it’s coming out but one could assume next year.

Between 2016’s Passion, Pain, & Demon Slayin’, which was an experimental rock album for Cudi and 2018’s joint venture with an unstable Kanye, one could argue that we haven’t seen a pure Cudi album in a good four years.

Entergalactic deserves to come in with a bang that it steaming up and it’s good to see that Cudi is in a good headspace to deliver it.

In the meantime, Cudi is also set to star alongside Chloe Sevigny in the HBO series We Are Who We Are from Call Me by Your Name director Luca Guadagnino, further adding to his growing filmography as well.

 

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Kid Cudi is booked and busy. Still his fans, I’m sure, are ecstatic about the content he’s getting ready to unload

Tom Hanks has some big shoes to fill: 4 reasons why Mr. Rogers is an icon

Tom Hanks has been tapped to play Fred Rogers in a new biopic titled A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, documenting he and his revolutionary show, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.

The film is based on an article written by journalist Tom Junod (played by The Americans Emmy-winner Matthew Rhys), that centered on the TV star Fred Rogers and the ensuing friendship the two formed before Rogers’ death in 2003.

If you ask a child today who Mr. Rogers was, nine times out of ten they’ll have no answer for you. While the 34-year-long run of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood ended in 2001, making it unlikely and in some cases impossible for children today to have seen the program but it does feel weird, seeing a generation completely oblivious to who he or his show still feels off.

For over three decades Fred Rogers created a safe place for millions of children, like me, tackling life and all its complexities with kindness and honesty.

If you didn’t recognize him by his red sweater, you did from him opening jingle and if you didn’t know the jingle you knew him from his warm invitation to be his neighbor. And it’s just doesn’t feel right when someone says they don’t at least know of him.

At its peak, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’s ratings were at 2.1 percent, or 1.8 million homes, and ended up being the third-longest running program in PBS history. To say he was beloved is an understatement. He touched thousands and gave broke barriers.

Given how polarizing our current social climate is, some would say Mr. Rogers is exactly what this nation needs. At least that’s what the A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood director, Morgan Neville thinks.

When asked if neighborliness was still “alive in the land” by ABC News reporter in a June 2018 interview about the film, Neville responds, “that’s why I made this film:

“I want to know. Let’s have a discussion, are we living up to what Fred Rogers wanted us to do?” he asked.

Well, now kids, Trump and all who “need” him finally get that chance when A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood arrives in theaters on Nov. 22. Before that, however, let’s take a look into the hype.

So often when legends have gotten older or past their prime and even when their dead, people tend to dig up sore parts of their past and uncover things about them that make their legacy problematic.

Mr. Rogers is quite the opposite. Here are four things you didn’t know about Mr. Rogers that made him the best neighbor of all-time.

Mr. Rogers was a minister

If you want to know anything about Mr. Rogers, very high on the list should be that he was a Presbyterian minister whose life’s work was built around Leviticus 19:18 (Love your neighbor as yourself). It’s from there where the neighborhood was derived.

Mr Rogers Handshake GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

He once said in an interview, “to love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now,” and his life’s work reflected that.


Mr. Rogers was a revolutionary who challenged racial stereotypes

Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was one of the first programs to feature African-Americans at a time where they had little visibility on camera, playing a police officer at that.

The scene was of them cooling their feet in a pool together which, as François states, was intentional. Rogers was inspired by the new testament’s account of Jesus washing the feet of his new disciple, Peter.

François was also gay. And, although being a minister, Fred saught to protect and not oust him.


Mr. Rogers spoke plainly about the truth

One of the biggest gems of Mr. Rogers and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was how he never shied away from the truth.

In contrast to children’s programs today which are live, action-packed animations full of color and fluff, Mr. Rogers regularly tackled topics like divorce, depression and even death.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MRC0qu75TU

In one famous episode, they ask “what does assassination mean?” after the murder of RFK in 1968.

Rather than trying to hide or minimize or gaslight because it seems too hard, they leaned right into it, naming true things and simply holding space to let children deal with them.


Bisexual icon?

Now, there’s no true way of knowing for sure being that he is deceased but Fred Rogers does have a quote that may shed light on how he feels about the LGBTQ community.

A quote from The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers went viral earlier this year. The quote, a response to the idea that sexuality is a spectrum, was classic Fred Rogers, honest and open. “I must be right smack in the middle.”

Mr Rogers GIF by Won't You Be My Neighbor - Find & Share on GIPHY

“Because I have found women attractive, and I have found men attractive,” he told his openly gay friend Dr. William Hirsch.

Fred Rogers wanted to love everyone. He wanted everyone to feel accepted and for all to work with one another. I think it’s safe to say he was successful.

Here’s a commencement speech in his later years in life. Get fuel for your soul and make sure you look our for the Tom Hanks movie on his life in November.

The power of self value: You’re the only one that deems yourself worthy

Who determines if we’re good at something or not? Who is the individual with the final say on our potential? Who is this person going around staking a claim on our future?

Because for some reason, more people are vesting the fate of their future in the opinion of others, and, for the life of me I can’t figure out why.

It’s either a “they think I can’t make it” or “they said I was too this,” if not that it’s a “he cut me from the team.” For some people, they let doubter stand in the way of where they are and where they’d like to be.

And that’s the issue: Too often we put our purpose, fortitude, and ability to defy odds in the hands and opinions of other people.

I’ve heard creatives, professionals, struggling students and many alike, give reason after reason as to why they can’t and won’t make it in life but, oddly enough, none of the reasons come from themselves. It’s always someone else.

Whether it’s lamenting about being told they’re not enough, fussing about not being on a list or cry about a lack of acknowledgment, it seems we like the source of a lot of our sense of self-worth comes from other people, not ourselves.

And, actually, it’s more common than you think. Even famous D.C rapper, Wale is guilty of it. Despite being Grammy-nominated, acknowledged by the greats as a lyricist and has, to be honest, quite an above-average career, he’s been relevant for over a decade and still signed to a major label.

The “Lotus Flower Bomb” lets the internet get under his skin with the slander and jokes he gets in on the regular. In an interview with The Breakfast Club in 2014 Wale said:

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE MONEY, JO. I LIKE THE SPORT OF RHYMING. I WANT TO HAVE QUADRUPLE ENTERDRES ON CERTAIN RECORDS AND EVERYBODY TO BE REWINDING THEM… THAT’S WHAT I CARE ABOUT.”

Who doesn’t relate to always feeling like you’re not good enough or that you must prove yourself to everyone? Who isn’t in it for the glory or to be the best?

I think we’ve all forgotten that. We are the only ones that can deem ourselves worthy of anything. We’re the only ones who can say we’re good enough or if it’s over for us, no one else.

Just like Wale, we all need to be reminded that we can instill and empower ourselves. The peanut gallery is nothing more than the peanut gallery and nothing is over until we say it is.

When you speak value into yourself and when you’re actively proactive in putting in the work, no one can tell you anything about yourself or where you can potentially go.

It’s just up to us.


Talk your shit

Sometimes we have to speak up for what we believe and what we deserve.

‘Fake it till you make it’ is a phrase that doesn’t get the credit that it deserves because of how it sounds. But honestly, faking is nothing more than practicing. No one can tell you anything when you’ve put in the work — at least that’s the way it should be.

Yet somehow we’ve normalized self-depreciation, and we let other people determine our worth for us. This does nothing more than destroying the very ego that’s needed to demand what we want out of this life.

Tell yourself what you’re made of every day — say it in the mirror if you have to.


Do it

A major factor that plays into proving yourself worthy of whatever you’re going after is the work you put in that proves that you want it.

At the end of the day, what we do defines us. Regardless of what people say or what their perception of what you do is, as long as you know you’re doing what it takes, nothing else matters.

Kemba Walker was recently on Desus and Mero on Showtime and he spoke on silencing doubters. Kemba is barely 6’1″. He just signed a super-max contract with the Boston Celtics and is currently one of the best guards in the NBA.

When asked what he would tell other kids from the Bronx — like where he’s from — for inspiration he said:

“I would always tell kids don’t ever let someone tell you, you can’t do somethig, cause it’s not true. I’m living proof — I’m small and im from the Bronx — there was always doubt, but I never listened. I just felt like I could do it.”

Only we know the work we put in when others are sleeping and where we’ve come from and the lessons we’ve learned along the way. We’re the only ones that can define our own odds.

The moment we realize that is the moment we become free.

Master the soft approach: How to hone in on meekness and vulnerability

It’s easy to get caught up in the tunnel vision of what we deserve and become blinded by how we feel we should be treated.

Cut me off on the road and I’m cutting you off in return. Talk about me behind my back and you’re getting a mouth-full of unpleasantries when I see you. Don’t honor my hard work and I’m quitting on you with no two weeks notice.

It seems like we live in an era that leans towards using the strong arm over the subtle one. Our feelings reign supreme and anyone who crosses us is susceptible to our wrath and vengeance.

Don’t get me wrong, people will only treat you in the manner in which you allow and we all have principals that should never be a compromise. Still, that doesn’t mean being reactionary is the answer.

Yes, we have the right to be angry and sure, there are aggressions and microaggressions that we most likely have to deal with on a daily basis, but we’ll never reach our full potential or go as far as we’d like in life unless we master the crafts of meekness and vulnerability.

The textbook definition of meekness defines it as remaining peaceful — submissive even–  in the face of provocation. In the same vein, vulnerability is defined as susceptible to being wounded — unguarded.

As “weak” as these two terms may come across, they’re actually methods to unlocking success in our relationship and in our lives overall.  It’s all a matter of recognizing what the combination of the two can do. 

Preservation of energy

As satisfying as getting the last word can be, it’s an entirely different ball game when you detach, fall back, and not say anything at all. It reserves your energy, protects, your mind, and makes you look better in the long-run.

Getting into it at the moment with someone, who, most of the times, is someone not even worth getting into it with, is like giving someone the power to get you out of pocket.

Before engaging in conflict we have to seriously consider if we’re just wasting energy, frustration or if something constructive going to come of it. Because if it’s the former, it’s not worth it.

It’s crucial to remember the long-game at all times. What may seem like a loss in terms of a shouting match or battle of wits, or however warfare may manifest in your life, won’t be won in one moment.

Besides, how effectively does it end up being anyway?


Effectiveness

If you think about it, nothing really gets done in an intense argument. There’s arguing and fighting and a lot of talking, but the true resolve comes when tempers have died down and the two parties are talking civilly.

This is why meekness and vulnerability should be active tools we use in all areas of life. Being the bigger person isn’t conceding victory. You’re not losing by walking away or choosing not to get as worked up or disrespectful, which is a common belief.

If the matter at hand is really worth it to both individuals, it’ll be up for discussion at another time, which will allow us to communicate in a more effective way.


Relate deeper

A large reason the idea of being vulnerable isn’t attractive on paper and why a lot of us don’t think to utilize it in professional and tactical manner is because they think it puts them at a disadvantage.

For a lot of us, we think if someone knows our weaknesses they’ll use it against us or if you show how much you appreciate somebody, they’ll think they’re better than you. These are assumptions just aren’t true and real. Really, they are insecurities that block us from establishing deeper connections that could take us exactly where we’re trying to go.

When we open up and we’re honest about how we feel with our co-workers, bosses, partners, or lovers, no matter how difficult, true bonds can grow.

Conflict is usually a symptom of misunderstanding and miscommunication, which is why cultivating the most conducive environment for those two elements to thrive should be our main priority.

The higher road isn’t a route taken to runaway, it’s a different strategy and gameplan. Use meekness and vulnerability in your life and see just how much your world will change.

The impact of instinct: Why trusting your gut unlocks potential

When was the last time you acted off of instinct?

I’m talking about following through on a gut check, actually doing what you’ve said you’ve always wanted to do, and simply satisfied a desire within?

As children, dreaming came easy. If someone were to ask what you wanted to do a couple of decades ago, without hesitation, you would have rattled off fireman, doctor or some other occupation.

Now that we’re older with responsibilities and obligations it seems that we’ve not only lost our ability to dream but the basic fundamentals of navigation.

We went from being able to speak about what our dreams were at the drop of a hat to not expressing them at all. When did reading ourselves become so complicated? When did knowing what we wanted to become so blurred?

I think it’s because we’ve become disconnected with our instinct.

When we were young and unknowing, all that mattered was what we wanted — what the ticking inside of our chest told us to go after. But with age came knowledge and, for a lot of us, that meant life telling us our wants were too big or that we’re undeserving.

In result, no one is listening to their instincts. People have numbed the pulse to their heart. Ignored their passions and have decided that the life they want to live is the one they can count on. Yet, they wonder why they can’t achieve their potential.

It comes a time in life when we have to make the decision to either live the life that’s laid out before us or roll the dice on the opportunities that make us happy. While it may seem hard and may not make sense, that’s what risk and instinct are all about.

That’s what it’s going to take to live the life you always wanted.

Just do it

The first and probably hardest part to following your instinct is just doing it.

The impulses, passions, and motives that we feel pulsating through our bodies don’t just come from anywhere. They shouldn’t be dismissed as mere rushes of creativity. Whether it be an urge to help your community, the idea to start a book club or learn to code, these bursts of inspiration should respect and taken seriously because you never know where it might lead or how big it might get.

Instead of honoring a desire, we second-guest our ability to do it, then rationalize ourselves out of the running before the race even begins. That’s why it’s those who control their overthinking are the ones with clearest minds and who make the best decisions.


Instinct is a nothing to lose mentality

The second key to trusting your instinct is adopting the idea that no matter what, nothing supersedes chasing your passion. It’s important to think this way because if we deem something more important, we’ll never go far in fear of leaving it behind.

That’s why we must approach our dreams as if we have nothing to lose, so in the event that you do or you might, you won’t feel like you’re missing out. We have to make a decision that our biggest dreams are ours, no matter what.

We hear about success stories of individuals living out of cars between auditions and checks, like Tyler Perry, and standing out in the rain for hours at a chance for a conversation, like J.Cole. These individuals attacked their dreams with reckless abandon.

Cole didn’t care if Jay-Z dissed him (he did) all he knew was that he wanted to rap — he had nothing to lose. Tyler Perry didn’t care if he didn’t have a roof over his head; that didn’t stop him from still auditioning — he had nothing, quite literally, to lose.

Maybe some of us have too much. Maybe we need to make less or be a tad bit more marginalized to go after what we want because too many of us won’t risk losing average for the chance at something greater.


You deserve it

The last reason we should trust your gut and the unction deep inside calling us for greater because we deserve it.

A lot of times, for whatever reason, we feel guilty for the things we want or having the dreams we have or wanting to leave and go to the places we want to go. We may talk a big game, but when it comes down to it, we never take that leap when the opportunities come.

Well, we’ll never reach our potential until we find ourselves worthy of it.

We have to tell ourselves that we deserve greatness, capable of accomplishing big things and should be in the rooms we deserve to be in. We can’t expect anyone else to see something we can’t see in ourselves.

For many of us, we abandon our instincts because we think they’re foolish, but in reality, they’re beckoning.

As cheesy and cliche as it is, trust your heart. No matter how uncertain, follow your gut — and watch you reach levels you’ve been trying your entire life to reach.

Owning your glo-up: How to make the poppin’ life you’ve always wanted

Everyone wants more.

It doesn’t really matter who you are, what your status is or how much you have, every single one of us, to some degree, have an innate ticking going on inside of us irking us to evolve.

In fact, I think the kids today call it a “glo-up,” that, per the Urban Dictionary, refers to a person’s incredible transformation. It’s usually based on an increase in style and self-confidence (and potentially one’s squad).

The only issue with this burning desire to be in our best shape, work at our dream job and live our best lives, is that we think it just happens to us. We hope for that one random day and external force to swoop into our lives and just make something happen.

This, unfortunately, is not the case. Not even remotely so and that’s where so many of us get it wrong. We are responsible for our own glo-up. It’s up to us and not a soul-else to make our dreams happen for us.

Blame it on the facade of Instagram and its projection of perfection that too many of us put stock into, keeping up with the Jones or just plain envy. Still, for some reason people assume that everyone who is where they’d like to be got there by some other factor than their own hard work.

It’s sad, because not only is it hating, but it keeps them stuck, running in place, making no progress.

The secret is that we have the keys to our destiny. Not another individual, job, system or entity. It’s just up to us to own it. But first, we have to accept and recognize that we have the ability to do so.

Make it your own glo-up

The first step to owning your glo-up is realizing that it’s possible and accepting that it’s our job to make it possible.

It’s easy to let misfortune and life’s inequalities get us side-tracked or throw us off completely from pursuing our passions. Get dealt a bad hand or have something unfair happen and, in a flash, we’re throwing in the towel and crying for our proverbial workers’ comp.

But there are no compensations for life’s incidents. We can’t let bad times define the rest of our time, or dwell on it too long. We have to be strong-minded enough to know that no matter what happens, we are in sole command of how our life plays out.

No scapegoats, no excuses, but we are the ones who dictate the outcome. If you notice, the people who aren’t going anywhere in life, have every reason in the world why they aren’t going there. Don’t let that person be you.


Strategize your glo-up

After accepting that we’re the ones who are ultimately responsible for making the lives we want for ourselves come into fruition, it doesn’t stop there. We must strategize how to make it happen.

There’s no better way to get a jump on our dreams than being proactive and intentional about how to conquer them.

Every day we should be breaking our goals down to daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. Also, we must track our progress and re-evaluate our approach. Instead of waiting around for a handout or a random miracle, find out what, on a day to day basis, can be done to slowly get closer to where you want to be.

Except, people don’t want to do that because it takes work.

You’ll really know how bad someone wants something based on how hard they work to get it. Glo’ing up sounds good and looks great from afar — that’s why everyone wants it for themselves — but that takes strategy and strategy takes work.

Making an outline when you don’t know where to start, brainstorming ideas when you feel stuck, and tracking the progress you make may seem like small insignificant things, but they’re all strategic exercises that keep you in the game — not stalling.


Wait for your glo-up

The last yet most crucial part to you glo-up is the wait.

A lot of us claim we want our next and swear we’re ready for that next level, yet the moment the process takes a second longer than expected we call it quits.

Contrary to popular belief, glo-up’s don’t happen overnight, and the reason why the half of us never end up ascending to that next level we so desperately want for ourselves is that we don’t have to the fortitude of patience to do so.

Think of a caterpillar and a butterfly. If the worm was to rush the process, the wings might not be developed, the color and elegance might not be the same, hell, the butterfly might not even happen. But it’s when the caterpillar undergoes the full duration of the metamorphosis that you get the beauty that is a butterfly.

Short-term success is temporary. If accepting the responsibility of making it happen and putting in the work, we should at least give ourselves a chance to make it come to life.

Progression vs perfection: How to rethink the way we define success

Success is defined by outcome. It’s a sad, honest, truth but most people today define how they’re doing in life by what they can show.

We must show and prove and if we can’t, we’re nothing. Some blame capitalism while others credit it to social media’s pressure on us to portray our best, but too often do individuals beat themselves up, put themselves down and hold themselves back all due to a mistake they won’t allow themselves to get over.

You either win or you lose. Hit a homer or strike-out. Get the job or get looked over. We’ve conditioned ourselves to unrealistic expectations and, while audacious, it’s ruining our lives.

The curse of ‘having it all together’ is really just a big fat lie. There are tens of thousands of adults who’ve been adulting for a damn long time who’ve yet to grasp the concept. Yet, still, it’s the measuring stick so many of us use to size our lives.

We want a perfect score on every exam and for our business sales to take off the first week and to be discovered by a major label already because we’re clearly the best emcee in our city.

But here’s a newsflash: perfection is a myth and the success we think we’re chasing is buried in the pile of failure we can’t bear.

The problem with always getting it right is that there’s no learning curve. We can’t survive off information alone.  We need the context of experience to complement it. When tough times hit you’re going to want to know you can handle what to do, not just how to do it.

That’s why we should switch our focus on progress, not perfection.

Perfection is a mythological creature that only exists in fairy tales and progression is something you can monitor and modify. And while perfection may paint a pretty picture, the live, real-time look progress gives us is far more useful.

As important as focusing on the finish line and envisioning ourselves where we are in life might be, the truth of the matter is if we’re not taking the necessary steps to get there a vision is all we’ll ever have.

We have to start learning to see things through the goggles of progression, not perfection. When we do, we’ll gain control over our futures the way we always wanted.

Responding to failure

One of the biggest reasons perfection shouldn’t be the aim of our lives is because a standard like that can become depressing.

Failure is inevitable and at times happens more frequently than success. That can become an issue because most of us aren’t used to facing defeat that many times without giving up.

It’s important to be unphased and completely immune to failure. Failure shouldn’t scare us, shake us or make us question ourselves. It’s what separates the ones who’ve mastered their craft and profession to the ones who haven’t.

When we look at our progress instead of how we’re not perfect, we put ourselves in a position to respond more positively to failure. We won’t let shortcomings ruin us and we’ll confide in the work we did manage to do.

Most importantly, we’ll be inspired to jump back on the horse to give it another shot.


Learn the lesson

When we chase perfection we’re not open to the lesson. Instead of going back to the drawing board and assessing where we went wrong, we keep our same methods and behaviors and systems. We’re not open to the lesson because we think we’ve already learned it.

When we adopt progress as our guide we not only look at what we did right but we’re open to changing our approach. That’s what separates the people who excel and the ones who end up stuck in place.

Progress serves as the hyperreal excel spreadsheet to our lives. Once we break out of the habit of judging ourselves with these impossible standards, we’ll give ourselves more shots at what we’re aiming for and we’ll do it more confidently, too.

Success is indeed what we make it. Make sure you choose to compare your life through the gaze of progress, not perfection, and the accuracy in which you’ll see your life and pursue your dreams will never be the same again.

Success & self-care: Why the secret to achieving is in how we’re feeling

It’s hard to remember a time where more people, collectively, have been so focused and determined on achieving their definition of success. It’s as if people have finally caught wind of the opportunity that lies in the digital revolution and how possible it is.

Everyone wants to be a creative, entrepreneur, business owner or whatever it is that one could ever dream to be. Every day it seems like the internet gives birth to a new star. A star with their own lane and platform.

One snowball effect, however, has been the resurgence in “hustle” culture and the golden age of motivational speeches. While working hard and positivity is great, many of us are having trouble balancing the workload of it all.

Taking into account that we already live in a capitalist-driven economy where careers are competitive and scarce, young adults are feeling the pressure to give up free time, take on extracurriculars and “link up” at networking events more than ever.

Meanwhile, sleep’s stock is on the heavy decline. Either no one has time for it or sees the use in it anymore. If you’re not juggling college and paying for said college, you’re working two jobs trying to maintain a way of life worth living.

It’s why thirty-nine percent of American adults were more stressed in 2018 than in 2017 and why eighteen percent of American adults have an anxiety disorder.

It’s also why self-care content is flying off the digital shelves. People are posting about self-care all the time, as are advertisements and radio host. Even Charlamagne, a prominent hip-hop personality, has a best-selling book on mental health: Shook One: Anxiety Playing Tricks on Me. 

The thing is, you don’t have to wait until you’ve gotten to a point where you feel like your anxiety is out of control or your health is deteriorating before you address it.

In fact, the very thing people end up compromising their health for — success, glory, the pinnacle, — is best achieved with daily practices of self-care.

Forgive yourself

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One of the most important steps we can and ever will take toward caring for ourselves is first being able to forgive ourselves.

I hate when people associate knowing better and doing better. The reason why? A lot of us know better yet fail ourselves on the daily. It’s good to recognize where we fall short and self-awareness is a gift, but it does us no good when we beat ourselves up.

When we waste time reliving in negative situations we block the possibilities for positive ones. On top of that, we let the guilt manifest in self-destructive matters.

If we ever want to accel in life and go forward, we have to let go of the past. Forgiving ourselves is a pillar to self-care that if we master, we’ll never be too far off our desired path.


Tend to yourself

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Just like watering a plant, feeding a dog, we must tend to our selves. That means our physical, mental and spiritual.

The reason so many of us keep blowing out tires and becoming burned out in the pursuits of our dreams is that we’re not conditioned.  We’re not sweating, we’re not releasing endorphins, and we’re not giving ourselves recreation time.

It’s important for us to set aside time for the gym, watch Netflix, or whatever it is that gives us the escape we need. Hustle culture tells you to go, go, go but never tells you when to rest.

Steve Harvey caught much-needed heat for spitting some of that same rhetoric during his talk show…

“Rich people don’t sleep eight hours a day,” the Family Feud host told his studio audience in a video that’s since gone viral online.

“That’s a third of your life. It ain’t but 24 hours in a day. You cannot be sleep eight hours a day. You can’t live in L.A. and wake up at 8 o’clock in the morning. It’s 11 o’clock on the east coast. The stock market (has) been open two hours. They already making decisions about your life and your a-s was sleep.”

Luckily most people didn’t buy into to this, but there are some who do subscribe to this logic and are okay walking around bitter and unpleasant to everyone they’re around because of it.

Rest is productive; when you tend to yourself you give yourself the opportunity to operate at your best. Unless we take care of our health, we’ll never reach the heights we set.

We should never get so caught up in where we’re trying to go that we overlook managing the way to get there. You are the vehicle. You are the vessel that is supposed to be there at the end of the dream.

It’s up to take care of it. Forgive and tend to yourself and watch just how much faster you gain on your goals.

How HaHa Davis leveraged the internet for comedy’s highest throne

HaHa Davis is comedy’s king.

Not Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, or even Mike Epps, has more digital equity than that of the 24-year-old online comedian from Detroit.

Born, Terrell Davis, HaHa Davis, aka Mr. Big Fella, is the love child and byproduct of both social media and comedy. Davis fell in love with comedy and became an internet sensation in 2013 when his skits on Vine and Instagram frequently went viral.

If you can’t recall him by name, you’ve probably heard one of his many popular phrases such as “Big Fella,” “This beyond me, “What a bummer,” “I’m Puzzled,” or “Bucko.” But it was his “Guard” skit that really put him on.

While Davis did a good job generating a buzz by himself it wasn’t until 2015, when he met Snoop Dogg, that his platform and brand went to another level.

In a 2017 interview with The Source, Davis spoke on his relationship with Snoop and the impact the Godfather of hip-hop has had on his career.

“Snoop puts me onto a lot of game,” said Davis.

“He’s been in the business for a long time and he puts me onto the ins and outs of things so anytime I get with him it’s always a conversation about going to the next level and figuring out what’s next for me.”

In the interview, Davis also shares a gem Snoop gave in a conversation the two had when they first met. He still quotes it to this day:

“Don’t get the fame before you get the money.”

At the time, about a year ago, Davis had a lot of fame but not as much money as he wanted to. Snoop told him to trust the process and be patient and a year later Davis has arrived.

 

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From meeting Snoop, Davis went on to work on a Grammy-nominated album with Chance the Rapper. He was featured on “No Problems,” “All Night,” and “Blessings,” on the album Coloring Book.

Davis has even ventured into launching his own merchandise, Big Fella Clothing.  The brand has its own custom shirts, underwear, socks, stickers, and candy bars. That doesn’t include making appearances in Meet The Blacks 2 or his recent cameo in Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” music video.

While Davis doesn’t gross as much, have the same amount of followers, or as big a platform as the aforementioned comedians, he is more in tune with the youth, the culture and this generation.

Amy Schumer, Nick Cannon, and Aziz Ansari may demand more on the dollar but not a single one of them have the entire internet saying words twice to emphasize meaning, calling every brother, mother and child “big fella,” or screaming out “guard!” for no apparent reason.

It’s not even close. Not one comedian has the touch Davis currently does.

Comedy has transformed with the digital age and HaHa Davis was born in the right generation. But he’s not alone. It seems as if most comedians coming up using the internet rather than comedy clubs.

From D.C. Young Fly to Jess Hilarious, who got roles on Wildin’ Out and Rel, respectively, to Famous Los, Shiggy and Khadi Don who all have leveraged deals from the comfort of their Instagrams, it’s clear that comedy has found a new talent pool.

Even Netflix is in tune. The streaming platform recently announced a commitment to premiere at least one new comedy special a week, further proving how companies are adjusting to the new way content is consumed.

Probably the biggest reason you have to give HaHa the comedy throne now is due to the fact that he’s just getting started. Without having really established an offline presence, with the impact he already has, his ceiling is limitless.

Plus, the right role in the right movie would make him a bonified star.

HaHa Davis is a perfect example of using the tools you have to make a name for yourself. He, like the other comedians online, are showing just how powerful social media is as well as eliminating the excuse as to why you couldn’t do it too.

HaHa Davis is opening the door for other comedians whose only resource is the phone they have in their hand.

Make sure to keep up with HaHa Davis and his moves on Instagram.

 

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The art of being present: Why living your best life starts by seeing it first

Last year, comedian, actor, and fairly new recording artists, Lil Duval, had everyone singing about living their happiest existence. On his break-out hit “Smile” (Living My Best Life) feat. Snoop Dogg, he expressed the need to no longer engaging in backs and forths with the simple-minded with the surprise

Everything about the song is fun, from the concept to video, but what people don’t understand is they don’t have to be a rap star or have a lot of money to achieve that level of peace and tranquility in life.

In fact, what if someone told you the only thing keeping you from living your best life is your recognition of right now?

It may sound a bit counterintuitive — focusing on today when our sights are on tomorrow or even years down the road —  but you surely won’t ever find enjoyment otherwise.

See, while we learn from the past and preparation prevents poor performance, if we aren’t able to mentally engage in the now without emotionally reacting to our thoughts, how will we ever appreciate those moments?

It’s gotten to a point where we’re becoming numb to the feeling of satisfaction, or even worse: We’ve gotten to a point that we’re never satisfied.

It’s natural for us to worry about the future and lament about the past because the present is already here. Our mind perceives the present as something not worth dwelling in.

But if we learn to be present and cultivate mindfulness we’d not only feel more in control but also experience life more fully and truly live the best lives we’ve always wanted.

Your best life shouldn’t have a price tag, its free in our day-to-day lives. It’s just a matter of recognizing it.

What does being ‘present’  look like

Being present, otherwise known as “mindfulness,” is an action, not a constant state of being, meaning it’s something we must intentionally practice and a technique we can hone over time.

When you decide to live in the present you’re making the decision to accept a day, moment or point in time as-is. We’re not always going to like our lives as-is nor want to accept it for that matter. Still, if we do stop and smell the proverbial roses, we will be able to appreciate a good moment.

Being mindful can look a variety of ways and be incorporated in almost any activity. You can bring mindfulness into gardening, running, biking, swimming. It’s all about living in the moment and intentionally appreciating it while you’re in it.


Your best life happens every day

One of my favorite sports stories is about the Cavs improbable ’16 NBA championship where LeBron led his squad back from 3-1 to defeat the best regular-season team of all-time, the Golden State Warriors.

When the final buzzer had gone off in Game 7, it marked the end of the playoffs and dubbed the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Champions. Bron and his team hadn’t even noticed.

They were so locked in that they were looking for the next play, defensive rotation or whatever what was needed. It wasn’t until confetti hit their faces that they had realized they’d finally done it.

While the concentration should be applauded and was probably much-needed in their victory, imagine if they never looked at the moment? Imagine if after they had won it, they never stopped to soak in the win. What if they shook hands, had no ceremony, and went on looking to next season?

As absurd as that sounds, that is how a lot of us are living. We let society and social media tell us what our championships are, and what’s happening. We’re not celebrating monumental moments — only looking for the next ones.

A lot of us are chasing a “best-life” that doesn’t exist. The pure bliss you see on Lil Duval and Snoop’s face can be ours, too, every day. All we have to do is remember to recognize them as such.

When we decide to be mindful of the day we’re living in and not so caught up with the days that are gone, we’ll start to see just how great our lives really are.