Benny

ART IS NOTHING TO FUCK WITH

Benny
ART IS NOTHING TO FUCK WITH

My weekdays are pretty simple. 

I wake up, thank God.

Eat breakfast and post a write up. 

Go to work. 

Go to the gym. 

Eat again. 

Write until I fall asleep at my laptop. 

Repeat. 

Weekends I just shut myself in and write and brainstorm all day and night. 

Do I want to go out? Yes. Do I miss being social? Yes. Is it worth me missing hours of potential writing? No. 

I went out this past New Years Eve. I was drunk. High. You name it. I left the club around 1am. I sat in my car for about 20-30 minutes drinking water and I was sobering up. I said to myself "Benny. Tighten the fuck up." 

I felt bad for missing 3 hours of writing. Like really beating myself up over it. I didn't give a fuck about how my body was affected by the drugs. I didn't give a fuck I threw money away on dumb shit.

I just gave a fuck about the craft. I just kept thinking about all the people I looked up to like Ta'nehisi Coates and Kurt Cobain. Did they give a fuck about partying when they were struggling like me or did they put their craft first? 

Now am I saying partying is bad? No. It's healthy sometimes especially with loved ones but for where I'm trying to go I have to be smarter with how I utilize my time because ... 

ART IS NOTHING TO FUCK WITH! 

You're either all in or not. There's no gray area in my opinion. 

I look around. Being an artist is the wave now. The word "culture" gets passed around more than groupie bitches. Being a "Curator" is the wave now. The word "platform" is coming out of everybody mouths these days. 

You see everyone dressing the same. Making the same poses in pictures. Saying the same shit. Coming up with quotes/tweets that fit the artist narrative. You're seeing everyone fall in love with the IDEA of being an artist but not falling in love with the sacrifices it takes to EARN it. 

ART IS NOTHING TO FUCK WITH! 

If you're in this just for money, popularity, etc then I have no nice way of saying this but just get the fuck out.

 

Be a fan. There's nothing wrong with being a fan but don't participate just for the sake of participating. 

What will happen is once you see that it's not easy and you're not making any money like you hoped or not making a name off of what you're doing. You're going to hop onto the next wave and try to exploit something else and just get in the way and fuck up the business of creatives who are serious and dedicated to their craft. 

You want to be a writer or run a blog? Are you serious or do you want to do it just to get a name? Do you truly want to help artists? 

You want to be a photographer/videographer? You know what that takes? You know how much money that will cost? You know how dedicated you have to be to it to be great?

I've seen dudes only want to be photographers/videographers because they think it's a way to get women. Dead serious. Not for the craft but to try and get pussy. Lame bozo shit. People like that are clogging up the lane and giving dedicated professionals a bad rep. 

You wanna be a fashion designer? You wanna own a boutique? Why? Are you doing it cause you think the checks will be nice and you just want to be seen? Is it cause you see Kanye doing it? Tell me why you want to get in the fashion industry? 

I'm asking you this because it's a vicious business. If I told you that you had to be broke for years would you still stick with it? If I told you that yo had to take losses would it still look cool to you then? Possible thieves and snakes. Losing friendships over jealousy and business. You're okay with that? You prepared mentally for that or do you just want to look fly for social media? 

You see a boutique open and you see people say some shit like "Damn if they can do it then I can do it too" and it's nothing wrong with that statement you should always be inspired instead of envy but the majority who say that have no "WHY!" They weren't even THINKING about it until they seen the people who was on the grind finally make a come up. 

People only trying to do shit because it look cool but have no actual emotion invested in it. They just see the rewards and not the journey and all the "No's" a team had to hear to get to success. 

Do you want to be a rapper or singer? Do you just want to be one because you see all these rappers counting up money? I deadass believe some dudes are rappers because they feel they're not good at shit else and never tried to search for their true purpose. They look at rap as a easy come up. Well you're not good at rapping either. Find something else to do. 

You wanna be a promoter? Is it all about you or is it about the people? Do you just want to stunt with bottles in pictures to give off the impression you poppin? If it's all about you then I'm here to let you know UPS is hiring because if it's all about you then all the events you throw will be empty. You have to be dedicated or you will fail. 

Quick story. I wanted to pick up DJ'ing. Not to do parties and shit but to learn how to make mixes. I bought a controller. Learned some shit. I sold it a week later on ebay. 

Why? It's because ART IS NOTHING TO FUCK WITH! 

When I was fucking with it I realized that I had to be all in to learn the craft and if I was all in on DJ'ing then that would take a chunk of my time from writing. It's not the time for me to learn how to DJ when writing is a passion I'm cultivating and I'm not where I want to be with it yet. 

I'll come back to DJ'ing when I feel I'm at a level where I want to be with writing first. I don't want to take any hours away from my goal of reaching 10,000 hours of writing. 

I take being an artist seriously. I'll fight people over it. I'm that serious about my craft. I wear it like a badge of honor so when I see people fuck around with art or think my aspirations are a joke I take it as disrespect. I don't care who it comes from, family or strangers I'm not for none of that shit. Zero tolerance. 

I've been writing for FREE. I'm giving out content weekly for FREE. I know what it takes to get to the money. The money will come. I have no doubts so I'm not worried or concerned about that. I'm focused on getting better.

If you see something you think you might be interested in, Go for it but ask yourself

"Do I Care?"

"Do I really want this for the right reasons?"

"Am I willing to put in the work?" 

"Am I willing to make sacrifices?" 

"What's my WHY?" 

Ask yourself those questions because ART IS NOTHING TO FUCK WITH!