Present Yourself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jd6Vx8mwX8

Normally if you've been keeping up with me, I would start an entry with a lil background story on how i came across the song i use for that post. but today I feel a lil outside of my self so I'll start with the song then we can flash back... lol
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*~The Presentation~*

Shake up the world, that is what i am bout to do

and homie ya aint even on my altitude

Im tellin you, I got enough clout for two

And like a n***a turnt Blood, I came out the blue.

They like "damn, who's Drake? where's 'Wheelchair Jimmy' at?"

On my Chris brown sh*t, "I'm still here, gimme that."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm gonna let everyone who knows how big a Drake fan I am, bash me. I JUST got the "Comeback Season" Mixtape......... AAAAHHH!!! NO STONES PLEASE! lol yeah. Im oh- so- very late. But I think it was well worth my wait. and to back it up, I got the So Far Gone tape at the same time, so Im on point now. Anyways... back to why Im here...

I want an internship this summer with some type of well known, well respected music media outlet... so I've applied at Interscope Records, B.E.T, Def Jam, HOT97, EbonyJet, and in the process of apply for VIBE and XXL. when i say i wanna work with the best, i MEAN i want to work with the best. For the VIBE application, i had to write a music review on an artist, a song, or an album. in looking for some inspiration from one of my close friends at this new school who is also a hardcore Drake fan, I told him, "I think im gonna write on Drake. simply because 1. I LOVE HIM! and 2. Im advocating for someone i truly believe in and who Im passionate about. He's the one to bring this commercialized Hip-Hop to its knees." My friend told me to go for it of couse. since that convo that happened like a week ago I have seen Drizzy (lol I hate that but its just so hilarious to say) on VIBE.com soooooo many times. with an interview posted yesterday. Im sooooo mad I couldnt get first dibs... maybe next time, WHEN I get on! lol

"Shake up the world, that is what i am bout to do"

Present yourself with something thats different than what is already out there. It's basic marketing... Let people, a company, anybody, know that you can be trusted to be the best. Let them believe in your product and your brand. let them know that you stand apart from anything else they have seen before. Shake up their world.

"homie, ya aint even on my altitude"

Go above and beyond to get noticed- especially if your going after something that is important to you. If you're passionate about it, let it show... it all goes back to marketing your brand and making people believe in it.

"I'm tellin you, I got enough clout for two"

Ok for those of you out there, who, like myself, didnt have any type of clue what clout is here's the definition via http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clout:

1clout
Pronunciation:
\ˈklau̇t\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English, from Old English clūt; akin to Middle High German klōz lump, Russian gluda
Date:
before 12th century
1dialect chiefly British : a piece of cloth or leather : rag2: a blow especially with the hand ; also : a hard hit in baseball3: a white cloth on a stake or frame used as a target in archery4: pull , influence

For the purposes of this entry and the context clues from Drake's lyrics, we'll go with the last definition: influence. (Disclaimer: Now, I may be WWWWAAAAAYYYY off with the actual lyrics and may be filling in the blank with what I think he is actually saying, so if this is not the word on the track please feel free to correct me!)

Ok... back to branding and stuff... besides making others believe and trust your brand, you have to and most importantly have trust in yourself!!!! Be confident in what your trying to portray. and remember to be CONFIDENT and not COCKY!!! so important. when you believe with all your might that you can succeed, the influence you have on other people will reciprocate itself. People will believe in you. carry that confidence into any and everything that you do...

"And like a n***a turnt Blood, I came out the blue"
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this play on words!!! OMG! anyways, i know i used the spelling "T-U-R-N-T" instead of "T-U-R-N-E-D"; lol i wanted to give you a lil feel for his flow... lol and plus i love how he says it (lol groupie moment)...lol but yeah... When trying market yourself, you have to come out of nowhere. this goes back to line 1... SHAKE UP THE WORLD.

"They like 'Damn. Who's Drake? Where's "Wheelchair Jimmy" at?"/On my Chris Brown sh*t, I'm still here 'gimmie that'".

While you're trying to make this big name for yourself through your marketing efforts, don't lose sight of who you really are. Remember who you were in the beginning when you had all this drive and passion for what you believed in. A peice of advice my old Drama instructor gave me WWWWWAAAAAAYYYYY back when, "all you need to do is revamp yourself. They will know that you are still the same person with a new outlook. Whether that outlook is the physical or the way you speak, they'll know they can't divide YOU from what they want you to be."

So... where do we go from here?? What are we gonna try and do now? In a nutshell, I've learned from this 1/4 of a verse to 1)Believe in myself, 2)make everyone else believe in me, 3)come on the scene offering something new and fresh, 4)remain ME.

Present yourself in the best way you know how, especially if your trying to do something you are passionate about. Let them believe that they need you in their life, as a part of their company, whatever, in order for them to survive... at least not in a manipulative way anyways... lol

PS... Since I couldnt find "The Presentation" for my playlist over there... I added the video to this individual post... enjoy! >MUAH!!<

Stay True!
*~Its all Brown Sugar, baby...~*

Be more than yourself.

Hey humans! it's ya girl yet again.... sorry it's been like 12 years since my last post but i really needed to try and get some things into perspective for myself. but anyways... im here and ready to go!

So... i was on the bus to school and im listening to my iPod... you know, the usual. and Aaliyah's "More Than A Woman" comes on. i havent been listening to Aaliyah as much as i used to so i decided to let this song just ride thru.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll Be

I'll Be More Than A Lover

More Than A Woman

More Than Your Lover

I'll Be

I'll Be More Than Another

More Than A Woman

More Than Another

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Be more.

Im struggling with trying to come into my own now. become my own person. you know, try to define my own identity. but i want to be MORE than what i know i am capable of. I want to be more than what people expect of me. thats all it comes down to... just trying to be MORE.

from me to you... be more than what you expect. achieve your goals and then push yourself even further. you'll never know what you can accomplish so... unleash your potential!

>muah!<

Its all Brown Sugar, baby!!!!

Don't Be Blinded...

Hey there!! lol welcome back to my second installment of Muziq 4 Da Soul. When I originally thought of doing this blog, I said I would post once every week... umm... lol as you can probably see from the date of my last entry, that is clearly not the case here. but anyways...

I was just going thru YouTube today looking at random videos and realizing how ADDICTIVE YouTube can be! But what else is there to do on a snow day with no homework?? lol So, I'm watching thee SPLENDIFFOROUS B. Scott ( www.lovebscott.com ), and his new video for season 2 on his channel. On this episode, he promos a song by Nina Simone called "I Aint Go No/ I Got Life". As I listened to the lyrics while B. totally gets hyped and starts doing the "paw paw", I realized that I need to find MY own inspirational song. You know, that song that just makes you wanna say "YESSSSS, HUNNIE. YESSS!" lol. i continued the video and B. starts his tangent about living your life and letting nothing bring you down.

After the video, I thought about my life and where I wanted to be while STILL browsing the "evil" site that is YouTube... I came across my FAV-O-RITE hip hop song of ALL time "I Used To Love H.E.R." by CommonSense. OH. EMM. GEE. This song gets me everytime. So. Im vibing listening to the song and watching the lil slideshow someone made of Common to replace the actual music video, and I see on the "Related Videos" list, Lauryn Hill's "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You". Clicked it. I have found my inspiration!

On the surface it seems like Ms. Hill is speaking of love or even God some would say. But I'm looking at this song as speaking about going after your dreams.
*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You're just too good to be true
Can't take my eyes off you.
You'd be like heaven to touch.
I wanna hold you so much.
~*~*~*~*~*~

When most people think of dreams, they think of something so out there that it's unattainable to them. I want to be accepted for this very exciting study abroad opportunity and two important internships I'm considering. I want these SSSSOOOOOOO BAD! These are my dreams... they seem so unattainable because I have no power in the selection processes of any of them. It's just like "write an essay and we'll get back to you..." uh. ooookaaayy.......? But like i said, I want this so bad. There hasn't been much in my life I've been passionate about- just the Arts, this study abroad program, these internships, and love. All of these things seem so distant to me. but I'm keeping my eyes fixed on them all and I am walking surely towards them.

How do the lyrics depict this??

"You're just too good to be true."
These aspirations I have are what some may call "out of my league". That's why I feel they are so perfect for me. They are perfect and literally too good to be true.

"Can't Take my eyes off of you."
I am keeping everything in my sight. like i said before, i am walking surely towards what i want. Keep your eyes on the prize man! lol

"You'd be like heaven to touch./ I wanna hold you so much."
If i could attain one of these ventures, I know i would be extremely happy. Again. I. WANT. THIS. they are each experiences i believe would make me a happy camper in my own right. Pure bliss.

So people. go after what you want. Make sure you never lose sight of what is important to you in your life. And if you are a spiritual person, Pray to God and all will be yours. Walk by faith and keep your eyes on the prize. Never let anything deter you from acheiving your greatness. Don't be blinded along the way by people trying to bring you down. Let them know that you WILL achieve greatness. So whatever you want to touch and make yours no matter how too good to be true it is, keep your gaze fixed. >muah<

It's all Brown Sugar baby...
~*Muziq4DaSoul*~

Why are you staying?

Hey everyone, it's your girl Brown Sugar... Let me introduce myself before we officially get intimate. I'm a fun loving undergraduate student studying Psychology and Communication with emphasis in Mass Media and Relational Studies. yeah there's alot going on there... lol but anyways, I enjoy helping people and learning what makes them tick. I am really into the Arts... Drama and Dance are my specialties, but I respect anyone on their grind pursuing a career in any form of Creative and Performing Arts. hmmm... what else?? I'm just here to share my story with you and hopefully you can do the same here. This blog is intended to inspire, motivate, and entertain. I'll give you my input on a certain artist, song, or album then tell you how that song, album or artist relates to my life thru music and lyrics and how my lesson can help you go thru your life. I'm not here to preach, only share my experiences and give my opinion and analysis of music. Since I am an avid listener of R & B, Hip Hop, and Pop/ Top 40 I will use music and artists in these genres MOST of the time. PLEASE feel free to comment and post your opinions. and if you want me to analyze a song outside of these genres or if you are an artist yourself or know someone who is, feel free to let me know! I am not here to critisize the music and tell you if an album is bad or not. but if you would like me to, i will. feel free to email me at anytime... muziq4dasoul@gmail.com with questions, comments, concerns. but also feel free to post to this blog!! >muah<
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
All right... Here we go!!!

So, I FINALLY went out to buy Ne-Yo's album "Year of the Gentleman" today... {yes. Im late. lol} and one song really caught my eye when i picked up the case and flipped it to the back.... "Why Does She Stay"... I buy the cd JUST to hear that song {I'll explain why... keep reading...} and as soon as the cashier hands me my change and receipt, i start to tear at the plastic wrap. By the time I finally get it off, I'm getting closer to my car, and i realize why I stopped buying cds in the first place.... the dreaded plastic tamper tape!! OH EMM GEE! I hate that stuff. well anyways. Im in my car now trying to get the tape off of my fingers. I end up getting it stuck to my coat and the steering wheel, i start the car and put the cd in the player. skip straight to number 6 "Why Does She Stay". For those of you who havent heard it, basically Ne-Yo is realizing that he is a sucky boyfriend who's taking his girl for granted and asks himself "why does she stay??" Im driving and listening to the lyrics and they are hitting me... HARD.

I recently went thru a bad breakup myself... I always saw myself as Bonnie to his Clyde, Beyonce to his Jay-Z... just his right hand, ride, or die or go to jail chick. so when things hit the fan between me and him I took it bad... i just couldnt handle what was going on. I called one of my best friends from my hometown just to talk about it. She reminded me that I had tried to leave multiple times before because I was scared. why? because things were just too good to be true... someting was bound to go wrong. so i tried to end it before either of us got hurt. At that point, I reflected on the entire relationship. from how we met to how it ended. I realized, i wasnt being loved the same way i was loving. I gave so much of myself to this one person, but i wasn't getting much back. but i will say that what i did get from him was wonderful... i just wished there was more.
In the song, Ne-Yo sings the chorus, asking himself why does she stay and answers back in the bridge.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"She's so much better than me(So much better)
I'm so unworthy of her (so unworthy of her)
Why does she stay
Why does she stay
Tell me why
Why?
Why?

She's in love..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When I was in the car riding home just listening, I asked myself, why did i stay? why? I answered myself back...

"I was in love."

Love will make the smartest people do the dumbest things. lol I learned that. from this song I learned that you need to look out for yourself just as much as youre looking out for the other person. You can be happy with mediocre, {trust me. I was.} but you may not realize it's mediocre if you never had better before. I am a very hard lover. When I fall in love, i FALL! lol I trip, fall, break my nose, but i get up smiling, holdin my nose so blood won't get everywhere and say "I'm cool! don't worry about it. imma be iight!! just need some tissue." but if someone isnt falling and breakin their nose for you, then that may be the point to reevaluate the relationship. so dont go out of your way for someone else's happiness if you cant go out of your way for your own happiness... ya feel me?? i can't really say "DON'T" go out of your way for someone else because that other person might just need you to make the first move so that they can open up to you. Love is about risks. if you can't take a risk how will your life end up? {think about it.} do what makes you happy. If loving makes you happy, do it. just dont over do it for NO reason. Realize your worth and make the other person realize it too. so ask yourself... why are you staying?

It's all Brown Sugar baby... >muah<