No Sleep Till Brooklyn?

I've been having a tremendous battle with my sleeping habits recently. It's as if I can't shut my mind off at night, and can't turn my mind back on enough to know when to wake up during the day. For instance, it's a quarter until 4am right now, and I need to be somewhere by 8:00am. How? How in the world do I expect myself to function at that hour of the morning, and then be in the studio to record immediately following, and THEN be in the gym to workout before I head home and begin the routine all over again?

I came home tonight from an exhausting day expecting to pass out as soon as I saw my beloved bed, especially since I got only about an hour of sleep just last night. I thought I had the makings of a beautiful night's rest. Man, was I wrong.

So many people I admire that are in the same field as I am call it "the grind"; sacrificing sleep for the greater picture. However, there's someone else I admire by the name of Claude Kelly who specifically recommends making sure you have a good diet and good sleeping habits if you're to accomplish anything. Claude is a highly successful songwriter who I actually had the pleasure of knowing before he was signed, and his success inspires me with every move I make. Knowing him before success took over reminds me that it's possible! But I do agree, something's gotta' give if I'm going to maintain ANY sort of grind that will be worth anything to anyone, especially myself.

Each night I pray for continued strength and focus. Maybe I should start praying for a sound mind when I try to sleep at night, so I can be the BEST possible product that I have to offer, instead of the sleepy, rundown ShAY* that I'm bound to become if I don't fix this, and soon.

Why is Ignorance Breeding Not Outlawed?

So I went to check my now spam-filled inbox on my myspace page when I saw that there was a message from someone I knew (someone I neglected to do a background check on before working with) and decided to open the message. Low and behold, this fool has a brand new song about none other than, the redundant, murdered to hell concept of "T&A". But it didn't stop there, he proceeded to regard himself as a pimp in the video, jiggling the girls buttocks around like jello, and unfastening her bra. Dude, you are not Tupac, Jodeci, Jadakiss, or Luda. Stop playing.

There's something extremely grotesque about the ignorance of both parties. A) You have the artist that hasn't even MADE IT yet, but is trying to act like they have. Then instead of using a different approach to the game, they use the tired message of "let's portray women being fondled and disrespected." Oh, and I know they'll be the first to say that the video wasn't about that, and that they also have tons of songs about women empowering themselves. SURE! People like that are always the first to expose their hypocracy.

Then you have the B side, which are the girls, (no not women, b/c you have to be a little girl mentally to degrade yourself to that level) who stoop to the level of being in a low budget, poorly directed, poorly conceived song/music video for an artist that no one gives two thoughts about. And for both parties, wait for the day that your kids come to you b/c their friends have discovered the video and are wondering why their classmates are calling their mom a "hoe" and saying their father is a pig.

To the artist, you're a joke. To the girls, go get an education and better yourself. ShAY*, over and out.