Dear Artist
DON’T BE LIKE WANDE COAL, BE LIKE KCEE
Talent is cheaper than table salt, what separates the talented Individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work – Stephen King.
I have seen a lot of not so very talented artist, become very successful and people sit and wonder if na jazz him dey do, and vice versa very talented artist disappoint cos they keep telling themselves I go blow, i trust my talent…. Bro somewhere down the street there is someone very better than you praying and waiting to replace you.
I will give you an instance, I am a die hard Wande Coal fan, but around 2008 or so Wande was everybody’ sweet heart, expectations was high, I mean he literally changed the face of music and laid down the style and part for people like Wizkid and Davido to follow, 10 years later we all know and appreciate his talent, but he is not as celebrated as he should be, if you asked anyone 10 years ago who is likely to get a Grammy nomination, feature on R-kelly’ album, tour with Chris Brown and make music with Drake, he would have been your top pick.
What happened? Why isn’t he….. He simply relaxed and was depending on his talent to take him places, when other artists are probably trying to tour, network, do media rounds, he was probably sleeping at home hoping that whenever he drops a song, his sweet voice and nice lyrics will automatically endear him to our hearts again, like I always say, there are no loyal fans, at every stage and step in your life, you always need to work the hardest to impress your fans… They make or break you.
Another Instance is Kcee who is everything but talented, like me he can’t sing a note to save his life, but dude has been able to win it all, make a name and also make money for himself, through hard work, I admire that, and I can comfortably tell my child to emulate that.
Depending on talent alone is same think as praying for luck, and sincerely fortune only favours those who work for it……. As an artist if you don’t treat your music the way your father treats his day job, to put food on the table for the family, pay bills and shii…i am sorry you will never ever ever move forward, i know they say do what you like and passionate about, but if you don’t study the business side of it, you will never ever move forward.
Put time Into rehearsals, put time into understanding the business, develop a winning mentality, have mentors study their strengths and weaknesses, study and understand your competition (business is war and sports) be a good student of history understudy those before you what made them great and why they fell off….. Being an artist shouldn’t be only about going to the studio alone or getting money to pay OAPs, it’s much more than that it’s an occupation and treat it like one, don’t just chill at home, looking for groupies and listening to those who won’t tell you the truth. Hard work pays and God surely rewards it.
Get up start something no matter how little, don’t sit at home this year, praying and hoping for a different result.
Your talent is as cheap as table salt….. Very worthless.
Don’t be like Wande Coal, don’t be like Shank.. Instead, add Kcee’ hustle spirit to your talent and not his traffic like dress sense.
Wande and Shank are still my favorite artists.
