Guess what today is GG fam? It’s MY BIRTHDAY!! Yes, I’ve been blessed with another year in this world. Birthdays for me are big. It’s a time for celebration, a time to count blessings, and a time to reflect on what I’ve accomplished, what I have yet to accomplish, and how I feel about my life as it is right now. That last bit is crucial, because you’re often too caught up in the flow of your life to recognize whether you’re even going where you want to go.
So now you’re asking, “Um, ok, but what’s this got to do with the Industry, Boogie?” I’m glad you asked. One of the trickiest things about being in entertainment is finding a balance between your work life and everything else. As everyone knows, work hours are long, there can be a lot of travel involved, and often your work and social lives blend because you’re attending parties and other functions for work.
It’s easy to lose sight and/or control of those non-industry things and people in your life. I can’t tell you how many kids birthday parties I’ve missed because I’m out of town, or dinners I’ve had to reschedule because I’m still at the office, etc. Entertainment can also be really superficial (obviously) and it’s easy to fall into the Matrix, so to speak. However, it is possible to remain yourself even after years in this game; plenty of veterans have managed to have both successful personal lives and careers; but it’s a conscious effort, and that balance is something I’ve worked really hard at maintaining for the last several years.
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I was only 21 when I started working in entertainment, and this life was everything to me. EVERYTHING. I was out every night: Justin’s, Cheetah, Speed; if there was a party, I was there. I was in the studio late, I was hopping flights to Atlanta, Miami, wherever to hit festivals and big parties. The “lifestyle’ was my life. I was all about being where everyone else was; all about the newest hottest latest. Now, having been raised in a family that was big on scholarship, culture and the arts, my mother was highly annoyed with me. Where were my old friends, she asked. When was the last time I went to a museum?
At first I brushed her concerns off, but then I realized she was right. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret a moment of those days. I was there for the legendary freestyle battles with Shyne and Mysonne in front of Justin’s and Daddy’s House, I was there for both of Puffy’s incredible birthday bashes at Cipriani, I’ve been to legendary parties, in the studio with incredible artists, met a ton of people, and I kicked it – hard. But, after a time I realized that I could barely have a conversation without name-dropping (not cute), or talking about this party or that video shoot, or where someone debuted on the Billboard Hot 200 or who got signed where.
Here’s a tip – if people who don’t work in music don’t ask about all these things, don’t overshare. It’s annoying. They don’t care that your artist is going to outsell someone else by 75,000 units. Anyway, I realized that my scope was narrowing and that scared me. At that point I sat down and looked at my life, went back to some goals that I’d put on the backburner, and got to work on having a fuller existence.
Needless to say, I’ve lost sight a couple of times along the way. It’s a downside to being passionate about what you do: you have tunnel vision. I’m sure many of you have heard that many top level female execs in this business either don’t have families or had them before they got to a certain level. It’s true that it can be diffic
