Tag Archives: Hip-Hop
Takeaway #117 no victims via #TalibKweli
…Am I a victim or just a product of indoctrination?
They exploit it and use me like a movie with product placement…
Talib Kweli ♦ Hostile Gospel, Pt. 1
Takeaway 117: Are you the product or are you in charge of the product? Look, you can blame your circumstances today as a victim, or recognize circumstances as just opportunity for a new approach. Make up your mind and tee it up.
Takeaway #26: Lessons inspired by #Mos Def
***Mr. Fash-ion, that style never last long
The harder you flash, the harder you get flashed on
There’s hunger in the street that is hard to defeat
Many steal for sport, but more steal to eat
Cat’s heavy at the weigh-in, and he’s playing for keeps
Don’t sleep, they’ll roll up in your passengers seat***
Mos Def ♦Got; Black on Both Sides (1999)
The maxim: Eat your lunch or someone will eat it for you. Management does not want to enter the industry because it fears that it will lead to cannibalization of its current market share. The sad fact is that if the expansion step is not taken, there is a greater chance that the company will have an even greater market share taken by the current competition seeking any incremental revenue advantage possible. In the best market, there are always the hungry few. The scary part is that it only takes one desperate player to take a huge bite out of your piece of the pie.
The other reality is that overplaying your hand (“hard flashing”) can only make the desperate and hungry seek to “flash on” you that much harder. If you perpetually view investor relations as telling people how large your market share is, then you can view it as the same as putting a big red “X” on your back as a target for the competition. And it is not just the competition. The target is on the back for government regulators and agencies looking to make an example of you as one of the fat cats. You can get jacked from the passenger’s side of your ride by anybody.
BPM TAKEAWAY#26:
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FEAR HUNGER NOT CANNIBALIZATION
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GET A LOW PROFILE, DON’T GET PROFILED
Takeway #96: When time really is $. Ask Nas and Cee-Lo
***Popular, box-cutter flow
Time is money; the watch cost dough
…I’m in the pursuit of my own personal power And I only have an hour***
Nas f/ Cee-Lo ♦ Less Than an Hour
Takeaway 96: Efficiency…we need to operate in staccato. We don’t have time to waste anyone’s CAPEX. Bandwidth is limited and costly today.
Takeaway #13: Slow & Steady or Flash-free
**A jeep — doesn’t he make enough ends?
A genius like him should drive a Benz
Well he believes clothes don’t make the man or a car
And the man still makes five hundred grand
Every six months yo the kid is no dunce***
Chubb Rock ♦ I’m the Man ; I Gotta Get Mine Yo! (1992)
There is no doubt that everyone wants to be in the business that is sexy. It sounds great at a dinner party. People like the shiny stuff. Unfortunately some of us make widgets or even the parts that keep the widget running smoothly. The widget parts manufacturer is making great earning per share but may be tempted to get into the sexy widget movie business, even though the numbers do not add up. Stay in the widget biz. The widget brought you to the dance; don’t fall for the flashy product.
The company has a decent market capitalization should we buy another entity that will raise our profile? No. Should we spend on the trophy building? No. Take a look at the stark Wal-mart headquarters inArkansasand tell me if the money was spent on real estate and lobby furniture. Should we put on an over-the-top road show for the institutional investors? You put on the show and you will be struggling quarter-after-quarter to meet analyst numbers that exceed guidance and expectations.
When Chubb Rock wrote this people were getting car jacked in hustler-mobiles or pulled over by profiling police officers. The herb in the Jeep was getting home safely, night after night. He is the predecessor to the “Millionaire Next Door” profile. The low-key profile is the best.
BPM TAKEAWAY#13:
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NO FLASH, JUST CASH
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SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE
C.O.D.E. Mizell [.com] 