Today, we’re going to tell you another crazy celebrity story in the life of a rap coach.
Now, if you remember the other day I did a video called, “If You Run Into J. Cole… Ignore Him”…
The basic point of that story is leave celebrities alone in situations that they CLEARLY don’t want to be bothered.
In that case, it had to with J. Cole being seen on a bike going to haircut (YEAH A HAIRCUT) in New York, and how that is the WORST time to try to hand him your demo or rap for him…
In my case, I told a story of my dumba$$ asking Jonah Hill for a picture at a private party when CLEARLY he thought he was avoiding creepy fans since it was an invite-only type of thing.
What I’m really saying with the Jonah Hill story is don’t ask for silly things like pictures if you want them to take you seriously as an artist.
People in the comments were acting like I was saying if you’re just a normal FAN with no music aspirations, and you see someone in the line at Starbucks…
Don’t even say “hello!” To them or whatever…
NAH… I’m saying if you want to WORK with an artist or you’re trying to get into the INDUSTRY…
The easiest way to get “It’s a no from me dog” or even worse get BLACKLISTED is to do something dumb like ask for a picture or hand a demo when they clearly don’t want to be bothered.
Now, I was kind of geeked that video did so well…
Most of my videos are more like “hard teaching” and step-by-step trainings on how to rap and make music…
But this one was more of a “teach through storytelling” type vibe and it introduced me to a group of new people.
The reaction was so strong, I’m thinking about doing a whole “Ignore Him” series with different artists and additional arguments on why harassing artists is a LAME promotional tactic if you trying to get popping…
(Let me know if you like this idea in the comments)
But truth be told… the real reason this topic gets to me so much is because I’ve made the SAME mistakes my D#MN self quite a few times and hard to learn the hard way.
The whole point of this channel is to help up-and-coming artists AVOID the same mistakes I made myself…
And so with that being said let’s break into how I learned a HARD lesson in networking from none other than Jody Highroller (Riff Raff) and DJ Mustard… in the space of like two hours.
How Riff Raff Sonned Me In The Most Respectful Way
So, as I mentioned in the Jonah Hill story, a couple years back I was running with this rich investor dude who wanted to make rap music based on his life and all kind of wild flexing stuff.
Part of his value-trade is he would take me on the road with him to write songs for his business, plug into his rich-people network, and overall learn how to become an entrepreneur himself.
The reason I was at the Jonah Hill event is ‘cause I was running with this dude.
Anyway, so one day around that same time period, we were taking a flight from Los Angeles to Vegas to do some business.
If you know anything about the relationship between LA and Vegas when it comes to music industry…
Most of your favorite rappers and producers have small-time residencies and events on the regular where they perform in Vegas, get a quick bag, and go back home.
Because a flight from the Hollywood Hills straight to the Vegas Strip only takes like 90 minutes door-to-door…
Many of these artists simply live in LA, flight out to Vegas to do their show, and then fly back the same night to get some well-needed shut-eye after a performance for some quick cash.
It’s not uncommon to see some type of musical performer on a flight from LA to Vegas is what I’m saying.
ANYWAY so I’m standing in line for our flight waiting to get on, I look to my left and none other than Jody Highroller himself… Riff Raff is next to me.
He would’ve balled for the Mavericks, but they found bricks in his baggage…
You know that dude.
Anyway, my position on Riff Raff is that he’s a hilarious character in rap. I’m not much for his music but I’m not even clear if he really is trying to be a superstar or make life changing tracks.
I kind of think of him as one of the Godfathers of the troll movement that 6ix 9ine and them perfected…
But if you watch his interviews you can tell he’s a solid dude and it’s as much a persona as anything else.
So in MY mind, this is somebody who probably wouldn’t have a problem chopping it up in line or dare I say…
Taking a picture.
I turn over my shoulder and just say, “What up man, what’s good?”
He just gives me the obligatory “what up” nod without saying anything…
And yet again, my dumbass says, “Aye man you think I could get a picture my G?”
He gives me a little bit of a “lookaround to see if anybody is watching” kind of vibe and then he’s, very respectfully might I add, like…
“Nah man I’m just trying to keep it low key right now”
TRANSLATION: NO MF’ER I DON’T WANT TO BE STUCK ON A PLANE WITH A BUNCH OF PEOPLE WONDERING WHO TF I AM! I CAN’T EVEN DIP IF I WANTED TO!
You ever been stuck in a conversation or situation that you can’t get out of easily?
I’m talking like your girlfriend’s parents force you to have dinner with them or something and now you GOTTA act nice even though you want nothing else but then to get the HE## out of there?
Yeah, I’m sure that’s somewhat how these CELEBRITIES feel when stuck in a line or on a plane with a bunch of randoms asking weird questions and trying to take pictures.
In the same way that being on a BIKE is pretty much God’s way of saying LEAVE A MF’ER ALONE he ain’t in the mood to “network” with your homeless harassment acting self…
Being at an airport…
One of the most FRUSTRATING experiences in life EVEN FOR A NORMAL PERSON…
Is the Big Man Upstairs way of saying NO I DON’T WANT TO BE FRIENDS!
ANYWAY, I somewhat intuitively understand why he might not be in the mood for it, kind of shrug it off and move on towards the plane.
(I don’t even think the rich dude knew who the Vanilla Gorilla was so, there wasn’t even a point of bringing it up to him)
So, now I’m in the plane looking for my seat. It’s on the aisle.
I look at my ticket and find my spot… the seat next to me is already filled with the other passenger, who I can see is a brother with a hoodie on, looking like he waiting to pass out after take off.
I sit down and do the obligatory, “Hey how you doing” that say to most people you sitting to on a plane before hoping they NEVER say anything else to you again…
…And when he nods back at me I see that it’s none other than DJ Mustard.
NOW – PA– USE
After messing up with Jonah Hill, making myself look #6ix9ine voice STOOPID with Riff Raff not five minutes earlier…
Somehow I realized that the BEST course of action is to leave this MF’er alone at least until AFTER the flight is over so he can get his rest and it ain’t AWKWARD…
There is perhaps no pain in life greater than looking forward to passing out on a flight and the person next to you wants to chat.
So, at least I knew that much.
In any case, the flight’s only like 45 minutes long so I let him pass out, I listen to music and before we know it we’ve landed.
Over the flight I realized that if I WAS going to ask something it had to be of some kind of VALUE to him…
Rather than just something I WANTED FOR ME.
So when we all stand up to get our bags, I say in a chill tone, “Ayo man, you got a residency here right? Well, we host VIP events at the Encore each week (true story) and have kind of curated it for the best people in town to swing through, might be a bag in it for you”
He listens and sort of nods passively before saying, “Aight cool… well definitely get at him” at points at another guy a couple aisles ahead.
Clearly this guy is part of DJ Mustard’s team.
I give the same quick spiel to the dude and he provides me his contact info and says to hit him up.
—
Now, let’s breakdown quickly what I learned from this and what you can take out of it:
“The Gatekeeper”
The guy DJ Mustard pointed me to is what’s known as a “gatekeeper”. A gatekeeper is essentially a person who is the social “drawbridge” between the celebrity and the outside world.
It might be a manager, it might be an assistant, it might be a lawyer. Sometimes it’s multiple depending on the situation…
But there’s almost ALWAYS a gatekeeper… and as you run up the ladder to more famous and famous people…
There is DEFINITELY a gatekeeper, and when you get to like Drake level… There’s like FIVE of them.
In any case, I was smart enough to recognize that I need to speak to the GATEKEEPER rather than the ARTIST.
Even knowing that there IS a gatekeeper and that THAT’S who you need to convince will put you ahead of like 75% of artists.
Value Proposition
The second thing I did better was offer something that could be of value to THEM first rather than trying to just say we should do something that I WANT.
With Jonah Hill AND Riff Raff, I stupidly just blurted out something that is only useful FOR ME…
And so immediately they were like, “NAH FOOL”.
In the J. Cole example, one of the main reasons I was like, “LEAVE HIM ALONE” is because all of the ideas of how to talk to him I saw in the comments were things that only help YOU not the artist.
If you don’t have a good VALUE proposition for the artist, they are likely NOT going to want to work with you…
Or even if they DO take a picture… they ain’t gonna think of you as a potential ally.
Situational Awareness
The last thing I did right was be smart enough to recognize WHEN would be a good time to OFFER value.
So, in the case of J. Cole on a bike, Jonah Hill at an art gallery, or Riff Raff in line at standby…
The situation itself dictates THIS PERSON WANTS TO BE LEFT ALONE!
This is NOT the same situation as Big Sean at a radio station that he was already well KNOWN at approaching Kanye’s manager before rapping for him, as many people said in the comments…
THESE situations are times in which even NORMAL people want to be left alone…
SO WHY BOTHER A CELEBRITY?
In any case, I chose the best time IF I was going to ask Mustard about something…
And that of course was when we were getting up to leave, SO if he wasn’t interested in my value…
We were already headed out anyway, and it’s no harm no foul.
—
Hopefully these lessons come through the story and help you see some tips for interfacing with potential famous people to help your career!
- Subscribe to Rap Game Now on YouTube
- Follow Rap Game Now on Instagram
- Follow Rap Game Now on Twitter
- Follow Rap Game Now on Reddit