Business Etiquette 101 : How to fire an employee

I'm back ladies and gents. It's been a very interesting 8 months, especially on the business tip. Anybody that knows me knows I was working for an AWESOME marketing company named Epic 1 Media. Now mind you, when I say awesome, I mean this in VERY loose terms. If you're Fed Ex or International Paper, or anybody of that kind of Fortune 500 stature, then he's more than likely the man you want on your project. As far as his philanthropic efforts go in the community however, things could be improved. For example, I was hired (for what position I have NO idea) officially in February this year. After signing on with him, I, in so many words, made shit happen. A team was built, an office was found, ideas were born right out of my head and immediately handed to the company, more or less. But there were a lot of empty promises as far as his involvement in the music community goes. I don't think they've actually thrown ANY events yet for local artists since their last effort (I have NO CLUE when their last attempt was). Now he did shoot some free expose-type videos for a few artists, but to this date I haven't actually seen a finished product. Anyone that goes to www.epic1music.com will see a beautiful site, that is in dire need of updating. Snoop came to Minglewood months ago, Eminem has been off drugs (apparently) for quite some time now. And there is a distinct absence of local hip hop and/or r&b artists. What's up with that, right?
This company has been known to give jobs to people who's talents well exceed their current job placement, which is EXTREMELY dope and all, but (knowing from experience) not a lot of people, if any, are actually getting paid a living wage, if any wage at all. I can tell you for a fact my rent was paid twice, and every once in awhile I would get some dough when I REALLY needed it (basically when I had NO food, NO lights, and was about to get kicked out of my apartment). Now I'll be the first to admit, all of this was my fault. My fault for trusting somebody that didn't even have me sign W-2's or any kind of government paperwork so there would be a TRAIL of me getting paid. To this day, I believe the only paperwork that says I even existed with that company is the one I signed at the beginning, binding me to 20% gross of what I brought into the company (almost like I was a.......partner or something) Regardless, this all ended when the office was moved. When I say ended, I mean all communication was cut off, no one responded to calls or emails, and I was basically left in the dark to wonder, "So.............do I have a job, or what?". After about 3 weeks I decided to say the hell with it. But all is well though, good things come to those who wait and learn. And BOY have I learned something. You CANNOT trust ANYBODY lol.

Be cool,

10th Post: Beefs

Beef has always been an integral part of human nature. Whether it be elements beefing with each other to create a reaction (i.e. fire) or one country beefing with another one because they're "hiding stuff", either way beef has its place. But in the music community, there is a proper way to go about beefing. And I think we have forgotten that. Case and point. Lil Kim vs Niki Minaj (or however you spell her name). I completely understanding beefing with someone who has obviously bitten your style but to do it so long after the fact..............it almost makes the beef null and void. If you want to start a conflict with someone to make yourself relevant again, just go in on em, don't try to bring up past reasons you HAD to beef with them. In all honesty, it makes your cry for attention that much more obvious (no offense to the Queen B, or to Ms. Minaj. Minage? Minaje?) Now I'm no "Teacher" or anything. but the way I look at it, if you want to stop someone from taking over your house, stop them at the door.

9th Post: Giving Up.

If I had met myself 6 years ago. I pr obably wouldn't have liked myself that much. Then again, what 22 year old dude wants to hang out with a 16 year old male in the first place (despite popular belief, there is a GIGANTIC maturity gap). But the main reason I wouldn't have really taken a liking to myself is because of not only my distaste for my city of Memphis, but because of the fact that I didn't see any potential here. I saw a city full of uneducated people who either sat around and hated each other, or learned enough to leave. But as we all know, with age comes wisdom. Though i've only been in Memphis 8-9 years now, I've seen it go through many phases, both musically and communally and i'm here to say, Memphis can do it. By "it", I mean Memphis can be just as commercially successful as any other southern, or for that matter, American, city.

  

8th Post: Is COCAINE making a COMEBACK?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Chances are if you're reading this, you were probably born sometime between 85' and 90'. And if you've ever watched Scarface, Blow, or any other movie about cocaine, you'd know that the 80's was a HUGE time for cocaine. Billions were made, hundreds of thousands (probably millions now) died from crack overdoses and the ever so hilarious "Richard Pryor incident" (i know HE didn't die, but others did. You CANNOT light yourself on fire people!). But make no mistake, there was nothing funny about it, the only people using this as a "party drug" were those who could afford it at the time. Eventually even those people had to make a decision whether to stop or become junkies. Now, my entire life (88 till ----) the only drugs i was introduced to via pop culture was weed, and maybe a pill or two here and there. But it seems that cocaine is making a comeback in pop-culture (though I don't think it ever left, i.e. the mid 90's). Everywhere I turn its a song referencing in some very obvious way use of or distribution of cocaine. Needless to say they make it look VERY cool (that is their jobs, right?). And even on television, the LAST place i thought I would see coke peddled (not sure why), it is obviously being pushed as an accepted deviance. Now, weed is one thing, sure it's illegal and makes you act a little funny, but it never broke up a home or made a woman (or man) sell themselves. So I pose this question to the artists, their managers, and whatever PR firms is helping this degeneration: Why would you make it acceptable en mass via pop culture to sell and/or use cocaine? Who is paying you for this? I mean, if I were any worse of a conspiracy theorist, I'd say the U.S. Government was tied to this correctly (example: gun store, liquor store, fast food place, and church, the formula of every hood in america. Funny eh?) But I digress, people, if you weren't down with it before, don't flip the script because pop-culture says its "acceptable" now. Be you. Be yourself.

Peace.

7th Post: It's YOURS, not THEIRS!

Alright, i'm back. Apologies for the time lapse between posts, but life has been moving at a million miles an hour. New job, new roommate, but regardless, same R.I.C.O.. And that's the topic of today's column, staying true to you. Now a lot of people have a misconception of "keeping it real" and this eventually leads them to doing things that are, in all actuality, outside if their internal moral code. This could be anything from drinking when you know you usually wouldn't to (enter worse case scenario). Regardless, there is a VAST difference between staying true to yourself, and "keeping it real". One thing the people that constantly scream about "keeping it real" tend to forget is that the human being as an organism is ever-changing. From the time we are conceived to the time we die we are constantly changing, morphing,growing, shrinking, etc etc. So with this in mind, obviously the way we think is going to change over time is well. So if someone tells you that you're not staying true to yourself because you're not in the same mind frame you were 2-3 years ago, take it as a compliment. You've grown! Congratulations! There will be balloons!
Another thing people allow to dictate what is "them" and what is not is, unfortunately, other people. It's been this way for a loooooooooooooooong time (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery my ASS!). People tend to look to the crowd to find themselves and those that are shunned by the crowd are considered "weird" or "different" (or nowadays "underground" or "hip"). Honestly with all the groups and cliques in the world, if you can't fit in somewhere, well, thank god for the internet right? And to those of you that have a different mindset, possibly a positive one, that you think could be of some use, but nobody has your back, emotionally, or physically, guess what? A lot of people that started great revolutions were considered either "outside the norm" or if you really want to push it, "terrorists". I think my best example of this would be the Black Panther movement of the 1960's. Now here you have a group who is by all legal means justified in what they are doing. But not even the entire BLACK community could agree on whether they stood behind the panthers or not. And of course the masses considered them armed terrorists (which is why the FBI, CIA and COINTELPRO collectively oversaw the demolition and eventual media slander of these black power movements, but thats another post). But this did not stop the originators or their children from continuing the legacy and fighting for them same beliefs, despite obvious attacks and no support from the government. So you have to look at these things and realise that the masses aren't that smart. And the people that control them, do not have your best interest at hand. YOU have to have your best interest at hand.

6th Post: THANKSGIVING SPECIAL! (Getting outside your comfort zone)

So besides all of the historical injustices tied to thanksgiving, the holiday before Christmas is usually a time for food, friends, and thinking about what you're thankful for. But as we all know, as a musician, sometimes you can't make a holiday. This is something that must be understood if you are going for a star role as a musician (or really as any kind of entrepreneur). Holidays can be made up, but chances to advance your career cannot. Another give-in to those of us without money who don't get to leave their city that much, when you are given an opportunity to go out of town, especially to a major city, DO IT! No matter what you are doing, you're being seen, and of course being out of town gives you the chance to market to a whole new demographic and possibly set up shows and connects in that city. For example, I would love to be home with my family this holiday season (dysfunctional as they may be, I love them all very much) but I am in Nashville and will be until Sunday. While I am on "vacation", I am not simply chilling up here.
The moral of all this is, MOVE AROUND! Hometown love is wonderful, but national exposure is what gets you noticed.

I gotta get back to having a vacation, see you guys on Monday!

5th Post: WTF IS A HIPSTER?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Ok, it's Rico investigation time (that's right I referred to myself in the third person)! I saw something on facebook the other day for an event called "National Punch a Hipster Day" (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=160113817359108) and I immediately started laughing. Now I know, why would I laugh at obvious violence based on such a silly dividing line, the dividing line being whether you are a "hipster" or not. Then I started to break down in my head what a "hipster" might look like, act like dress like, then I looked at all the pictures of the "Attending" people. To say the least it'd be like if the black panthers held a "no muslims allowed" party. This is what I think a hipster is, and feel free to email me or post comments if I am wrong.

A) Retro Dress Atttire
From what I can see, hipsters would really like to be in the 60's or 80's, even occasionally the early 90's again (but I mean, who DOESN'T want to be in the early 90's right?). But apparently what makes this a hipster thing is that the clothes are not "authentic" and are "expensive". But they look REALLY good.

B) Dub Step and other type of Electronic Music
Big thing in the "hipster" scene. Lots of flashing lights to keep the kiddies entertained and some very talented DJ's up at the helm controlling this mass of, hip, cool sweaty ass kids at the club (shout out to NOCTURNAL and the whole ELECTROCITY crew)

C) Ray Bans
Ok, seriously, who doesn't like Ray Bans?

D) Bad Independent Rock Music
Another super fad nowadays is to have a shitty indie band (when was that ever NOT a fad), but in the "hipster" scene apparently tuning your instruments is not key, and lessons................pssssh, who needs em? Theory......................GETOUTTAHERE! Now there are some great indie bands out there that are popular in that scene, but your average band by  a bunch of kids in tight jeans and flannel will more than likely blow, but their friends will think its FUCKIN AWESOME!

E) Anorexia and/or Denial
All fo the "hipsters" I've seen are FUCKIN TINY! Either that or they're big guys (or girls YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, STOP IT!lol) in tiny or just very form fitting clothes.

That's about the gist of it. I believe. At any rate, none of this is grounds for a throwdown. Though I think this is a prime example of how people truly show their self-hate on facebook EVERY DAY................................

.........................or just aint got shit better to do.

PEEP THE YOUTUBE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JUST ANOTHA INTERVIEW Episode 1!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWOULZJPsrI

I'm Out.............