Friday, May 10, 2013
Young Guru at DC Soundstage
Does this guy look familiar to you?! If
not, maybe his resume will be.
(Alicia Keys and Jay-Z performing "Empire State of Mind"
for Madison Square Garden/Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Young Guru is not just responsible for this 5x platinum, Grammy-winning record, but under Roc-A-Fella Records (Jay-Z's label), he is responsible for mixing down 10 of Jay-Z's 11 albums.
His skills as a DJ, engineer, and producer has shaped many aspects of the hip-hop game since the mid-90s when he teamed up with an artist by the name of Nonchalant, who had a "top-20 single" at the time called, "5 o'clock" - he became her tour DJ.
NOW...he's shedding light to aspiring musicians, producers, artists and engineers with an initiative called, "Era of the Engineer", sponsored by the Recording Academy/Grammy U (a collegiate division of the Grammys). I had the pleasure of attending his appearance in Washington, DC and the biggest thing that I appreciated from this brother was his down-to-earth vibe. He continued to emphasize the fact that he was no different than anyone sitting in the audience with dreams of excelling in the recording industry.
The dope thing about his speech was the fact that he really gave a valuable perspective on the MINDSET needed to pursue a productive career in not just the music industry, but many other industries as well.
He gave an example of his first studio session with DMX. He talked about college and the fact that going to school to learn about the studio might have helped him know what microphone to use, but how would he deal with DMX as a person? How would he adapt (or better yet, co-exist) to DMX and his style of working? Guru explained that the PSYCHOLOGY of your craft is of monumental importance when looking to get ahead professionally.
One thing about college that I know from personal experience, reading great books like "Mastery" by Robert Greene (author of 48 Laws of Power), and listening to Young Guru is that college will rarely teach the APPLICATION of your real-life experience. So getting your feet wet and seizing every opportunity to gain "hands-on" time is vital to today's professional being in demand.
In a nutshell, these are the main points he pushed for career success:
(1) communicate with your mentors and people you can build with
(2) map out a strategy of what you want to do and where (specifics!!!!)
(3) make sure that you can dumb your craft down for non-professionals (aka clients or relevant people)
(4) become the fan...the consumer...the other POV so you can critique your work
(5) stay informed of the latest trends and news in your field!!!!
You can find Young Guru at "@Young_Guru" on Twitter and on Instagram as YoungGuru.
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