My First Blog (The Final post on The Book of Jackson)

I'm just, tryin to stay above water y'know

Just stay busy, stay workin

Puff told me like, the key to this joint

The key to staying, on top of things

is treat everything like it's your first project, knahmsayin?

Like it's your first day like back when you was an intern

Like, that's how you try to treat things like, just stay hungry

[Source: 1996 MTV, Notorious B.I.G. interview]

There are few people that I really respect in Entertainment, but it’s those people who have the ability to trade in their current fame and leverage it for success at a higher level.  I always related to Andre 3000 because I always felt like although I came in the game a certain way, I wouldn’t go out the same way.  Big Boi once said that Andre and him wasn’t growing apart, Andre was just into different things.  I’ve felt that way for about two years now.  Six months into being publicly known as a blogger I was thinking to myself, “I really don’t want to talk about relationships anymore.”  But I had to build my brand and get my name out there.  Behind the scenes I knew that I was much more mature and complex.

That’s how the game works though, you get your foot in the door and then later on you can make suggestions as to how to style the room.  Second piece of advice I can give anyone is to never stay in a place too long that you learn to master something that’s not your passion.  I wrote poetry from the time I was a child until now.  I always wanted to be a great haiku poet, and I am.  But I needed to get people to listen to them, and for that I started doing slam poetry.  I slammed to get my foot in the door.  Slam poetry took me to the Nuyorican, but when it was time, I decided that it was time to move on, I was just into different things. 

I wanted to produce music and write songs and raps.  I didn’t have the resume to do that at first, so I took a small job as a studio engineer.  I spent mad time in the studio with my mouth closed running sessions for a bunch of no name artists.  In my spare time, I worked on my craft, when it came time and the right people were there, I opened my mouth and my personal collection.  And yes, I impressed.  At that point, my boss wanted to throw me a management deal, but I had to decline, I was just into different things.  I got what I needed out of that relationship.

I came into college as a Drama major, but that didn’t really rub me the right way, so I decided that maybe Film was better, but then after watching a P. Diddy interview, I decided to go get a business degree.  They’ll never let you do what you want, if you work for them, so you got to work for yourself and then answer to only yourself, and turn the they into you.

Faced with many tough decisions in life, you have to decide who you are.  In this world, there are losers, trendspotters and trendsetters.  I’ve had to come to grips with the truth, I’m a trendsetter.  I’m a trailblazer in a world where everyone sits back and watches someone do something first and then they emulate it.  I’d rather be understood in the future, questioned now, but I refuse to stay in the past.  So I told a reader last week,

“I came to grips with the fact that most of my friends don’t read my blog, they don’t read anything about relationships.  Even my boys, the ones who I relate to the most, we rarely have these conversations about relationships.  The women I associate with don’t think it’s all that complex or difficult to understand.  And I realized that I didn’t need to have a conversation about relationships anymore, I wasn’t looking for a different perspective.  Let your results dictate your position.  And my results are that, I’m having no problems in the relationship arena.  So why be a Gladiator, when you’re really a King?”

She asked me if I thought relationship blogs were beneath me.  I replied,

“No, they’re not beneath me, they’re behind me.”

The obvious question is, “Well Jay what’s next?”

I can’t show my whole hand, but I can tell you this much.  Against my original intentions, I’ve decided to meet my readers in the middle.  I’m not going to take down Book of Jackson just yet, but there is an expiration date on it.  One day you’re going to type in The Book of Jackson and it’s going to say, “Page not found.”  So if there’s anything you want to make sure you always have, you should probably take it now.  My posts on the internet will be about different topics.  I’ve always been into the Lifestyle genre more than sex and relationships.  (I don’t read Cosmo, I read GQ.)  So sit back and watch me talk about; life, fashion, culture, travel, and politics.  I won’t be around as much though, I’ll be on break from The Book of Jackson for a while.  I may occasionally return and drop something here and there.  Personally, I just don’t feel like I have anything to say right now, but if I have something to say, then I’ll say it.

I’m working on a new (WordPress) blog myself.  But I’m still dedicated to SBM.org and getting that to the next level.  I’m a huge fan of Mr. Spradley and WisdomIsMisery, and I want to help them in any way that I can to make them better writers, assist in them reaching their goals and therefore improve the entire collection that is the SBM Staff.  We could be the Odd Future of this whole thing, but probably more accurately described for the purposes of this conversation, N.W.A.

In addition to all that, I’ve recommitted myself to getting my standup back in shape.  I’ve got three events I’m emcee’ing this fall, a wedding and two pageants.  That’s my talent right there, I’m a great host.  I am also writing for an Improv group; I’m thinking about transitioning into another one.  And yes, there’s the book, it’s still there, and it’s time I spent more time working on it.  And if all that isn’t enough to keep this “blogger” busy, I feel like it might just be time for me to get behind the camera again.  (And in front of it from time to time.)

It’s funny, not too long ago we joked, “Dr. J, you’re not average.”  That’s true, maybe I’m just different. 

So for now, see you soon.  It’s time for me to move on to something else and approach it with the same vigor and dedication that I gave my first blog.

“If too many people know your name, change it – then change it again.” – Sean “P. Diddy” Combs.

Cheers,

JustJax