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Jay Prince – Good Right Now

I guess I’m feeling good right now, a little something for the hood right now…”

I turned 31 today. 31 years in outer space is nothing short of a miracle and today I’m overwhelmed with feelings of gratefulness. The ghetto programming I have to overcome is strong man. Sometimes I can’t accept why I’ve been so lucky to be privileged. I work hard so it’s not that I don’t deserve or think down on myself but I just feel like I still have people behind. As long as the ‘hood’ exist I’ll always have that feeling though and I’m understand that it’s my calling to help eliminate that place.

Give a damn how you feel, we just tryin’ a keep it real.”

Keeping it 100 is my absolute obsession right now. I just watched a documentary on Netflix about Marina Abramović called The Artist is Present. In it she spoke about her come up as an artist and how she never once compromised. People didn’t understand her, critics asked her if her performance art could even be classified as art and she was so broke that she lived in a van. It’s at that breaking point that most people get a job or seek forms of comfort but she held on to later find acclaim, fame, respect, stability and fortune on her own terms. She kept it 100 through thick and thin.

I guess I’m feeling good right now, a little something for the hood right now…”

I love that and it’s reigniting my inner Howard Roark. People are going to disappointed when you do your own thing, they’ll dislike you, you’ll let them down but at the end of the day you’ll find power in staying true to yourself. The price of compromise is much more than any of us truly comprehend…

Indeed, the truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers the most: and his suffering comes to him from things so little and so trivial that one can say that it is no longer objective at all. It is his own existence, his own being, that is at once the subject and the source of his pain, and his very existence and consciousness is his greatest torture,” – Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain.

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Music

An Artist’s Life Manifesto

1. An artist’s conduct in his life:  

– An artist should not lie to himself or others  
– An artist should not steal ideas from other artists  
– An artist should not compromise for themselves or in regards to the art market  
– An artist should not kill other human beings  
– An artist should not make themselves into an idol  
– An artist should not make themselves into an idol  
– An artist should not make themselves into an idol  

2. An artist’s relation to his love life:  

– An artist should avoid falling in love with another artist  
– An artist should avoid falling in love with another artist  
– An artist should avoid falling in love with another artist  

3. An artist’s relation to the erotic:  

– An artist should develop an erotic point of view on the world  
– An artist should be erotic  
– An artist should be erotic  
– An artist should be erotic  

4. An artist’s relation to suffering:  

– An artist should suffer  
– From the suffering comes the best work  
– Suffering brings transformation  
– Through the suffering an artist transcends their spirit  
– Through the suffering an artist transcends their spirit  
– Through the suffering an artist transcends their spirit  

5. An artist’s relation to depression:
– An artist should not be depressed  
– Depression is a disease and should be cured  
– Depression is not productive for an artist
– Depression is not productive for an artist  
– Depression is not productive for an artist  

6. An artist’s relation to suicide: 

– Suicide is a crime against life  
– An artist should not commit suicide  
– An artist should not commit suicide  
– An artist should not commit suicide  

7. An artist’s relation to inspiration: 

– An artist should look deep inside themselves for inspiration  
– The deeper they look inside themselves, the more universal they become  
– The artist is universe  
– The artist is universe  
– The artist is universe  

8. An artist’s relation to self-control: 

– The artist should not have self-control about his life  
– The artist should have total self-control about his work  
– The artist should not have self-control about his life  
– The artist should have total self-control about his work  

9. An artist’s relation with transparency:  

– The artist should give and receive at the same time  
– Transparency means receptive  
– Transparency means to give  
– Transparency means to receive  
– Transparency means receptive  
– Transparency means to give  
– Transparency means to receive  
– Transparency means receptive  
– Transparency means to give  
– Transparency means to receive  

10. An artist’s relation to symbols:  

– An artist creates his own symbols  
– Symbols are an artist’s language  
– The language must then be translated  
– Sometimes it is difficult to find the key  
– Sometimes it is difficult to find the key  
– Sometimes it is difficult to find the key

11. An artist’s relation to silence:  

– An artist has to understand silence  
– An artist has to create a space for silence to enter his work  
– Silence is like an island in the middle of a turbulent ocean  
– Silence is like an island in the middle of a turbulent ocean  
– Silence is like an island in the middle of a turbulent ocean  

12. An artist’s relation to solitude:  

– An artist must make time for the long periods of solitude 
– Solitude is extremely important  
– Away from home  
– Away from the studio  
– Away from family
– Away from friends  
– An artist should stay for long periods of time at waterfalls  
– An artist should stay for long periods of time at exploding volcanoes  
– An artist should stay for long periods of time looking at the fast running rivers  
– An artist should stay for long periods of time looking at the horizon where the ocean and sky meet  
– An artist should stay for long periods of time looking at the stars in the night sky 

13. An artist’s conduct in relation to work:  

– An artist should avoid going to the studio every day
– An artist should not treat his work schedule as a bank employee does  
– An artist should explore life and work only when an idea comes to him in a dream or during the day as a vision that arises as a surprise  
– An artist should not repeat himself  
– An artist should not overproduce  
– An artist should avoid his own art pollution  
– An artist should avoid his own art pollution  
– An artist should avoid his own art pollution  

14. An artist’s possessions:  

– Buddhist monks advise that it is best to have nine possessions in their life:  
1 robe for the summer  
1 robe for the winter 
1 pair of shoes  
1 begging bowl for food  
1 mosquito net  
1 prayer-book  
1 umbrella  
1 mat to sleep on  
1 pair of glasses if needed  
– An artist should decide for himself the minimum personal possessions they should have  
– An artist should have more and more of less and less  
– An artist should have more and more of less and less  
– An artist should have more and more of less and less

15. A list of an artist’s friends:  

– An artist should have friends that lift their spirits  
– An artist should have friends that lift their spirits  
– An artist should have friends that lift their spirits 

16. A list of an artist’s enemies:  

– Enemies are very important  
– The Dali Lama has said that it is easy to have compassion with friends but much more difficult to have compassion with enemies  
– An artist has to learn to forgive  
– An artist has to learn to forgive 
– An artist has to learn to forgive  

17. Different death scenarios:  

– An artist has to be aware of his own mortality  
– For an artist, it is not only important how he lives his life but also how he dies  
– An artist should look at the symbols of his work for the signs of different death scenarios 
– An artist should die consciously without fear  
– An artist should die consciously without fear  
– An artist should die consciously without fear  

18. Different funeral scenarios:  

– An artist should give instructions before the funeral so that everything is done the way he wants it  
– The funeral is the artist’s last art piece before leaving  
– The funeral is the artist’s last art piece before leaving 
– The funeral is the artist’s last art piece before leaving

Marina Abramovic