Hip Hop Wisdom Lesson #11: Give of Yourself

To give of yourself is one of the highest forms of gratitude there is. And yet, of all the ways to give of yourself, I think to teach someone is at the top of the list. Especially if you are teaching in the way of a trade or a professional practice. Imagine taking what you know and relaying it to at least one person per year. And once they mastered the teaching, they teach another for a year, and so on and so on. After a decade or so, there will be many skilled practitioners in your lineage.

Sometimes people don’t want to be a part of the solution because they don’t know what to do to help. Well, one of the best ways to help is to teach someone else how to make an honest living. Each year take a portion of your earnings, what you can afford, and put it to the side as a stipend for someone that is serious about being taught. As you teach that person, you are opening up a portal of financial success for those that come after you.

The main key to bringing on a student is growth. Once you bring on a student, it will be a signal that your finances are in a good place. Now, instead of hiring outside help, find a student and teach them “the game.” Pay them a stipend and add them to the payroll when you need help. After the yearlong process is complete the student should be ready to venture out on their own. Therefore, ensure that they are set up for success. In certain circumstances the student will need to finalize their formal education or complete mandatory certifications. In those cases stick with your student until such things are achieved.

If you have issues finding a student, or just not the teaching type, find an organization that you can donate your time or resources to. I think volunteering your time is better than giving valuables, so if you have a cause that you are passionate about, get your feet wet a few hours per week. Be open to doing whatever it takes to further that cause, from fundraising to planning and coordinating events.

I remember working on the debut album of a multi-platinum artist and part of the roll out was to complete a 12x12 canvas mural for the album release party. I thought the idea was dope and so I volunteered to get all the artists together and finish the task. However, in the beginning it was hard to get artists to participate. Either it was a conflict of schedule, they wanted more money than the budget allowed, they weren’t familiar with the artist’s music or they were generally not interested. Therefore, I had to get creative.

Instead of waiting on artists to hit me up and arrange meetings, I began getting on the phone and calling up as many schools as I could. Within 48 hours I had received more commitments than I had space on the canvas. To eliminate any logistical issues I dropped the canvas off at each participating school. Each school was given two days to complete their portion of the mural. Once their portion was finished, I would go pick the canvas up and take it to the next school. Along the way, I would take pictures and document the whole process for the marketing and publicity teams.

As a token of our appreciation, the administrators and educators that paved the way for our mural project were given an invite +1 to the release party. The ultimate payoff for me was seeing their faces when they first saw the mural in its entirety. Then it was exciting to see their reactions as celebrities and other big wigs in the entertainment industry used the mural as a red carpet style backdrop for their pictures. It was truly a sight to see. And to the students that did the real work, each was given a certificate of appreciation and they received publicity in various local and national outlets.

That project was the springboard to several other instrumental opportunities. Over the next few years I was an integral part of many teams that greatly helped the community. Here are a few things I learned along the way that I suggest when giving of yourself:

• Be passionate about giving

• Be fair and objective regarding selection criteria for giving

• Teach in ways that are exciting and fresh

• Keep your giving in check

• Listen to the ones you are giving to

• Maintain open lines of communication

• Be willing to modify your giving when necessary