23 Aug 18: For The Stunt - Russ

Song: For The Stunt

Artist: Russ

Album (year): For the Stunt - Single (2016)

Notable Lyric: Too busy eating my own fruit to check if yours is sweeter. Too busy watering my grass to check if yours is greener

Until this week I hadn't given Russ much of a second thought and I can't explain why. Having first heard him on a Swagytracks playlist in 2015 and since then stumbling across a couple of his songs I've known that he was talented but this week helped me generate a new appreciation for this rapper, singer, producer, mixer, engineer, artist.

This song in particular has been on my radar for a while as well as making it onto my "Hyyyyyype" Spotify playlist. The reason I chose to write about it was because of the main message I took from this song.

*Please turn your pages to Verse 2, Lines 1-2*

Too busy eating my own fruit to check if yours is sweeter. Too busy watering my grass to check if yours is greener.

Try your best to focus on yourself instead of worrying about what other people are doing. And after all the focus, energy, and effort that you put in, the results will show. Be patient because soon, oh sooner than you think, you'll be able to STUNT!

And that brings us to the chorus; take pride in what you've achieved. Do it for the stunt. There is absolutely nothing wrong with celebrating your successes. (*Sweeping-generalisation-based-on-my-personal-experiences warning*). Sometimes I feel that British society doesn't want you to be proud of your achievements. Pride is frowned upon and you should always downplay your efforts and rewards. And we conform to this - why? Perhaps the reason for this is because you don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. So now you need to keep quiet because all the hard work you put in makes others feel insecure about themselves!? Gerrarahere!!

Watching Amazon Prime's documentary "All Or Nothing", Manchester City FC manager Pep Guardiola spoke about how people shouldn't be afraid to be great. Appreciate that people around you will try and knock you down, bring you back down to their level to make themselves feel better. Everyone becomes and expert and thinks their nonconstructive feedback is supposed to mean something to you. We loooove to take someone off a pedestal. However, if someone is telling you to simmer down for the sake of looking arrogant then tell them go fuck themselves.

Watching this documentary was clearly my motivation behind the theme of this post because it brought out a competitive side of me that has been dormant for a long time.

Of course, don't be a dick about it. I'm not encouraging you to be obnoxious so be wise enough to read the situation. Celebrate your victories but also celebrate other people's victories. Present yourself in a way that allows you to be an inspiration and an example to others. There's a fine line between arrogance and confidence but we err too much on the side of caution. It's "sorry" this and "sorry" that. It's "not too bad" or "yeah it was alright". Fucking hell - own what you did! If you pressure people into a mindset of mediocrity just for the sake of avoiding discomfort then you're not allowing yourself to truly express how you feel.

"I dropped 11 albums last year, they all flopped, but I learnt from it"

This line is so important. The world-renowned fall down 7; get up 8 line. It's so much easier said than done but I have to highlight the importance of putting yourself out there and take risks. You can't fail if you don't try but you're also doing yourself an enormous disservice if you don't.

So off you go then. It's not a failure if you managed to learn something from it to improve next time. At the end of the day you can stuuuuunt and live your best life!

Reading this back I feel like you could play "Inspirational Quote Bingo" but sometimes you just need to be reminded. This may not resonate with you now but one day you may re-read this and it will light up that fire inside you to put those thoughts into actions. Don't hold back.

Now, I just need to take my own advice...