You know you’ve succeeded as a Troublemaker when you have an entire movement evolve just from pursuing your dreams.
Gangster rap, one of the most lucrative and coveted music genres, wouldn’t have blown up to the level it has today with Troublemaking megastar Dr Dre.
Dre used his passion for excellence and innovation to accelerate the careers of some of today’s biggest performers and create a brand everyone is clambering for.
It’s not just that gangster rap has a completely unique sound and literally anything goes – no such thing as too harsh or too extreme for rap lyrics- but the big part of it is the status that comes with the success. Gangster or not, make it as a rapper and you are considered a legitimate bad-ass, to be feared, admired and respected. In some cases, it’s craving this status, more than money or recognition as an artist, that gets young men in America picking up a microphone.
Dre didn’t shape modern music, he defined a modern culture.
So is Dr Dre actually a bad ass?
He’s done some prison time and has assault charges from back in the days of drinking and partying in his youth, as well as an FBI warning against his crew for the lyrics to their song, F*** The Police! which was thought to have created violence between youth and police in rough districts.
The group back up their music saying they were just telling a story that already existed, and bringing an already well-fuelled fire to public light. So yeah, there’s some authenticity to the name, but more than anything though, the guy is super passionate about music. He wanted it then and still aims now, (even with all his success) for music to be truthful. He followed that passion without regret or hesitation. His violent days he is remorseful of, and says that the ghosts of his past forever remind him to live a better life in the present.
When your passion is your compass, success will follow, in incredible amounts.
Dr Dre is 52 years old now and he’s lived every moment of his life in music. You can be a Troublemaker anytime, it’s never too late to uncover your passion and live it every day. Even if you’re 80, especially if your 80, you have the power to cause a disruptive eruption and get your message heard.
There is a really strong pattern showing up; that super successful entrepreneurs know their calling early, they start to realise their dream young, and never step off that path, no matter what.
“Find what you love doing and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Late blooming Troublemakers need to adopt that kind of all-or-nothing attitude. Starting later in life it can be too easy to hedge your bets, jump to the old life when things get shaky or find the excuse that you are needed and depended on by others, so you can’t go running around in the clouds of dreams. It would be selfish of you to neglect them to pursue your goal.
It’s interesting. No matter how old you are, you can always find someone who ‘needs’ you to be dependable, my Dad is a classic case. In school, he was asked to train with the best Australian swimming coaches for the Olympics, that’s how good his self-taught swimming style was. He was just a kid and the experience would have been incredible, only he declined, he had to look after his family. He dropped out of school and got a job. As we get older, it seems that excuse of having dependents becomes more solidified.
So many times, when I ask people why they aren’t doing the work to succeed in their dream they say because their kids come first. Family first. Their dreams constantly get knocked back because they are needed in another role. They are scared that if they put energy and resources into their passion, their lives will not be as rich.
I challenge you to start looking for ways you can get rich by enriching yourself.
When Dr Dre started out he was just 19 years old and had a child with his high school girlfriend. He ‘should’ have gotten a steady, low-paying job and provided for his family. That would have been the ‘responsible’ thing to do. He didn’t, the call to music was too strong.
So, is that selfish? It’s so easy to say ‘no’ now. Course not, he’s a multi-millionaire (almost the first ever rapper billionaire) he can provide for his family at the highest level about 100 times over… but at the time, no one knew that level of success was even possible. At the time, it was a completely illogical path to follow.
When you don’t follow your passion, what is your life like? Are you unsatisfied, frustrated, depressed, do you spend lots of time daydreaming, or maybe you feel inadequate, rejected or resentful? Maybe you spend your free time zoned out in front of the TV or working long hours. When you don’t follow your passion are you the parent you want to be?
Is being mediocre a skill you want to pass on to your children?
I’m not saying don’t love your kids, do, with everything you have, you can follow your dreams without neglecting them. It takes certainty, courage and great communication along with an awesome strategy for standing out and being different.
If you want to know if you have what it takes, then come to our free Disruption Tour and see exactly what your potential is!
When we talk about staying on track, you really have to mean it. The path of passion is sometimes littered with obstacles, distractions and tempting offers for taking things easy. No one knows that more than Dre who, not once, but twice walked away from money making contracts when they conflicted with his values. Yes, fame and success and money come from following your passion, but Dre is still successful and influential now, 32 years after his debut because he knew what his passion was, and it was never about money.
“I just want to get my music out and make sure that it’s heard in the right way.”
His first record success with N.W.A in 1985 offered a cheque and secured him a life in the music business, but not on his own agenda. He might have been young and didn’t have the first idea about what a contract was supposed to look like, but he knew what music was supposed to be like and he walked. He believed in what he wanted for his life so much that he left money on the table to get out clean, he walked away with nothing. Later, when his label Death Row Records became more about the status and less about the music he left everything behind, gave the label away and started over, making waves as he did with Snoop Dog, 50 Cent and Eminem to name a few.
When you know your passion you instantly know the right path.
Even with his producing success, there was still a gap between what Dre was creating in the studio and what people were listening to. He fixed that by co-founding Beats Electronic, to engineer studio quality headphones that undid what MP3 took out of music. With Dre’s Beats, you get to listen to all the music. Again, Dre didn’t just create headphones, he created a brand that people hungered for, the status of, I know music. The sale of Beats to Apple was an incredible three billion US dollars.
One man’s mission to have music heard changed the entire music industry (inside and out) forever.
Now that’s what troublemaking is all about.
Want to actually succeed in your passions? Don’t think about what it will cost your loved ones if you follow your dreams, ask …what will it cost them if you don’t!
It’s time to re-evaluate what selfish is.
What would be missing in the world if Dre had flipped burgers instead?
If you shine as bright as you can, if you do the very best that you can then it’s not just your family who have permission to do well and excel, it’s absolutely everyone. For Dre, he showed artists how to get ahead on their own agenda, he gave kids in the worst environments something positive to work towards.
If you have a passion that you are not following, ask yourself what the world is missing out on. If you are ready to find a way to give your family everything AND pursue your dreams, it’s time you came to the Disruption Tour and dance to the beat of your own song.
Stay troublesome,
Matt Catling
