21st Century Hustle

Lil Wayne on his early hustle:

When I met Stunna it was May 13, 1993.

Cash Money had a group called UNLV, they had an album that dropped called Uptown For Life and I went to the autograph signing at a local record store in my hood called Odyssey. Cash Money had an artist from my block named Lil Slim. I had already rapped for him in the hood¹, he told me that he was gonna tell Baby and them about me. I was a kid, you know me, I was looking forward to it. I told my mom and she was like, Boy! Basically, telling me don’t listen to no man telling some kid he’s gonna give him a deal.

I knew all the artists gonna be there, that’s like a once in a lifetime thing.² And my man DJ Khaled was working there. Also, Ebro from Hot 97. And when I was going down the autograph line Lil Slim saw me and was like, I ain’t giving you no autograph, nig*a.

I was like, I don’t want your shit anyway.³

He was like Baby, Slim, this the little nig*a I was telling you about!

That caught me right there, like he really told him! WOW! He really told him!

Baby was like, Oh yeah? You be rappin’, little daddy?

I’m like, Yeah.

What’s your name?
Lil Wayne.

He’s like, Let me hear something
And I rap,⁴ and that was when he gave me his card. He was like, I like that. Call me.

I kept in touch.⁵ He had a beeper. I would beep him all day.⁶ All you gotta do is put 580 behind it⁷ . I was just happy to be on the phone with damn Baby. I was like, can I come where they at?⁸ They was always in the same place every day⁹, always in their office, I just started going straight after school10 , straight to the office.

The Hustle Notes:

1. Start establishing who you are and what you do immediately- A lot of times we try to wait until we have it all together before we start telling people what we do. Really, we need to just put it out there.

2. Live right now like there is now tomorrow.
3. Game Over Fame- Stay focused on the main goal. Forget the hype
4. Always be ready to handle your business.
5. Follow up
6. Be persistent- If you want something from somebody you can’t take it personally if they don’t call you back. Sometimes you have to call until you catch them.

7.Know the language- Every industry has a language and some of these languages are as foreign as Basque. So once you got the dialect down use it to cut through the clutter.

8. Be Bold- Don’t be scared to ask for what you want. A closed mouth doesn’t get fed

9.Identify the homebase-You have to know where the people in your industry congregate. It might be the Four Seasons Brunch, the exclusive impossible to get into restaurant,or just the local coffee shop. Wherever it is get there.

10. Become a fixture- Show up and make your presence felt. You have to make it so that the scene feels empty without you

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