I’m a hustler. I don’t say that as a boast, in fact, being a hustler is a gift and a curse. Hustling is a game of high-risk/high reward. It’s safer, more practical and ensures more stability when you settle, especially in times like these.
The word, “hustler” is often misused and misunderstood. In Hip-Hop, the word is often synonymous with a drug dealer. But a drug dealer is only one of many types of hustlers. A true hustler is one whose mind is sharp and “moves ideas” fast. A true hustler “fails fast”-he fails more than the average person but that’s because he “moves” (in mind, body and spirit) faster and more frequently than everyone else.
I think Jay-Z’s “On to the Next One” is a hustler’s anthem (no one MC has made more of them than Jay-Z, though 50 Cent, who is a great hustler in his own right, has made several) that gives a perfect picture of the hustler’s mind frame- if he succeeds, he’s “on to the next one”. If he fails, he’s “on to the next one.” If he’s successful, he strikes while the iron is hot and when he fails, he does so quickly and moves on in order to discover his next opportunity.
Since I started publishing this blog and subsequently, writing the book, “I Will Not Lose!”, the most poignant feedback and su... pport I have received have been from true hustlers. Some of them (like the professional ones doing their thing in corporate America) might not call themselves “hustlers”-but they are and they know it, the label “hustler” just has a negative connotation in mainstream of society. The reality is it takes hustle to be successful whether you’re in corporate America or one of those “Roc Boys”.
“I Will Not Lose!” is for hustlers regardless of the stage of your personal development.
“I figure frauds never hit a lick before
So they don’t know the feeling when them things get across…”
“Roc Boys”
The above lyrics connects with me-I don’t I have experience smuggling dope into the country and then “moving” it on the streets-but I know how it feels “when them things get across”; the process of turning nothing into something; the great challenge of making things happen when the odds are against you.
As for “I Will Not Lose!”, I don’t know how far it will go or how high it will reach- the text in the book won’t make you rich…and it won’t make me rich either. It’s your hustle and mine that will have us enjoying the “sweet smell off success” and then “reaching the next level” (two of the seven sections in “I Will Not Lose!”).
Last night, President Obama gave the “State of the Union” address here in the America. While the direction of your country is of vital importance, you must make a brutally honest assessment of the state of YOUR hustle. Where are you going in your life?
Though “I Will Not Lose!” has just been released and has yet to set the world on fire, I’m already humbled by the feedback and endorsements I’ve received from those who read advance copies. But the book is not about me, or Jay-Z, it’s about you. I expect the book to spark more passionate debate about Jay-Z’s legacy and his position on Hip-Hop’s “greatest of all time” list, but what I really hope is that all of you who “dream and scheme” will refer to the book as a source of inspiration and follow its blueprint to realize your personal greatness.
My book, “I Will Not Lose! The blueprint to greatness when good is not enough” is available today. You can purchase a copy here.
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