A few weeks back I was one of the panellists on a music industry question and answers seminar for young people. After we all gave our introductions the floor was then open for questions but the room went quite as nobody wanted to go first. So one of the panellists kicked it off by asking me “what advice would you give a young person aspiring to have a career in music?” There are many factors that I always refer to when giving advice but that evening I sat down and asked myself

“what is the most important thing that’s also relevant to other careers?”

Reflecting on my journey most if not all opportunities presented to me has been based on me creating them for myself using whatever I had access to. This picture shows me at 12 years old with my first sound system I pieced together using my dads record player, an old wooden deck my uncle gave me, a realistic mixer my big cousin gave me powered by a ghetto blaster I borrowed from my other cousin which I used to record my mixtapes and DJ sets onto cassette.

This picture shows me 17 years later performing using top of the range industry standard equipment. Prior to having my own set up me and my brothers used to make cassette tapes with my dads record collection on the stereo we had in the living room, I decided to start selling mine, one of my dads friends brought one and was so impressed he went to the local radio station and got me a guest spot which kick started my career at the age of 11.

“What are you doing to attract opportunities? And when they come are you set up to grab them?”

There will always be someone along the way that can and is willing to help or signpost you, having something tangible to present to them can determine the outcome, just like having a portfolio or CV for a job interview. Therefore whatever you want to do start doing it now for yourself as it will also give you practice and as you know practice makes perfect.

It’s inevitable you will come across gatekeepers, people that close doors in your face and people that say you cant do it but for your life and your destiny they are irrelevant or better still they are encouragement to push you to achieve, be a go-getter and kick down doors.

As young upcoming DJs we wanted promoters and venues to book us on their shows but many of them overlooked us. We then flooded the streets with DJ & MC sets we recorded on cassettes tapes in my bedroom, using an echo chamber on the microphone to sound like it was live, then once we built our following we booked venues and held our own shows and them same people that overlooked us had to come and find us. This is common pattern that has followed me throughout my journey and played a key factor in me getting in to study at University and more recently becoming a University Lecturer.

In this day and age with all the technology and resources we have access to, whatever you want to achieve you have all the necessary tools to do achieve it “Create your own Opportunities” DO IT AND DO IT NOW!! #RuleYourDestiny

An elder once said to me “walk fi nothing is better than sit down fi nothing” because if nothing else comes from the walk at the very least you are getting exercise which is essential for the body