It's midterm time again, and everyone's stressed. I like to think that I don't allow myself to be overworked, but at times I do. I'm taking a break from studying business law, and I wonder if commercially successful hip hop artists (musical) have any equivalent experiences.
For example, I'm writing this after two hours of studying and ten minutes of creasing a pair of pants for a recruiting meeting with a company tonight. After I write this, I have to get dressed, catch the bus to campus, turn this in to my editor, then go to the employer briefing in Grainger (my favorite place). I then have to go to the library to resume studying, in my uncomfortable-as-hell business-casual attire. I then have to find time to sleep, prepare for a 9:30 a.m. interview, go to work, and then go to class. Then the weekend comes, at last. The funny thing is that I have three more exams next week, so I may not really have much of a weekend. It's cool; it comes with the territory.
All I know is that this better pay off. It's not looking too good for an immediate payoff. I can barely get an interview, and I have three majors! Sucks, don't it? When a rapper gives an interview, he or she doesn't have to wear a suit, let alone a tie. I've seen interviews in which the artist was either too high to speak, or just didn't really feel like speaking. I've seen some of the greatest writers reduced to mumbling idiots in television and print interviews. What exams are necessary to be in the hip hop industry? There are more than a few artists with degrees from institutions of higher learning, but there are veterans and new jacks alike who never had to pass a high school equivalency test. There's no studying involved in being an artist. Producers and emcees alike will tell you that they must study their competition and predecessors in order to stay current and realize their potential. Which would you rather study, boom-bap or finance, G-funk or urban land economics? That may be the hardest choice you'll make all year.
Don't get it twisted. I know that there are things that we as students generally do not have to worry about, especially if the majority of our time is spent on campus. We do not have to worry about being killed at almost any time or at almost any party or at almost any bar. Too many artists do. Before we came to the university, few of us had to worry about where our next meal was coming from; I know I didn't. Too many artists did. We don't have to worry about getting the short end of a recording contract and going bankrupt, but artists shouldn't either if they have any sense. At least those that have to compromise their integrity to eat are eating (hopefully). Now that we've established that, let us get on with the complaining.
I theoretically have a good fifteen hours of studying ahead of me over the next couple of weeks, not to mention class and work. Over that same time period, how may relationships or formulas will Redman have to memorize? How may times will Xhibit have to wear something that is not at all comfortable? As a matter of fact, Snoop is on tour as we speak and will be doing shows while I'm dulling #2's filling in little stupid circles. That's life. While Pete Rock is deciding what he wants to do next, I'm checking my schedule to see what I have to do next. I know the life of an artist is hectic with all the flights, the autographs, the performances, the groupies, and everything else. How about we hold an artist-student exchange program for a day? I need some rest.
