The Tim Ferriss Show - #141: Kaskade and Sekou Andrews: The Musician and the Poet

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Starting point is 00:03:18 It features one interview and one performance, which is a new thing. First up is Cascade, K a D E. You can say hello to him at cascade on most of social. He is widely considered one of the founding fathers of progressive house music. He's been voted America's best DJ twice by DJ times headline Coachella four times and has been nominated for Grammys five times. Next up, you'll hear Sekou Andrews. That's S-E-K-O-U Andrews. So at Sekou Andrews across social. And he is the most impressive poetic voice I've ever heard. I first saw him perform at TED where he blew my mind. And so I approached him afterwards. He is a school teacher turned two-time national poetry slam champion. He's presented privately

Starting point is 00:04:02 for Barack Obama, Bono, Oprah Winfrey, the list goes on and on. Each one of these takes a few minutes to get warmed up, so be patient. I know it's not a specialty for those in the digital world, but there are gems in both of them, among other things. Cascade covers his first breaks, making his own luck, formative music influences. If his music were, or I should say rather, electronic or dance music were a wine tasting, what would he recommend the varietals be? Who should we listen to? What were his biggest albums in the early days? And we dig into his note-taking process. As you may know, I'm a nerd, that kind of thing. I want to know the origins of his biggest

Starting point is 00:04:41 hits. How did they come to be? What was the time span between the first note taking and them going live, et cetera? We talk about all of that. Sekou will inspire you to be inspired by your story. So if you want to change your narrative, your internal dialogue to be more successful, this is a good talk to listen to. If you want to get back on the horse or have an effective pep talk in your back pocket, this might be the recording you listen to over and over again. Now, you should be patient. I'm going to mention this again because there's a lot of practical philosophy embedded in in between the lines. So you have to listen to it all and you have to listen carefully. And these are very contrasting, I should say, different, rather, personalities and very

Starting point is 00:05:27 different performances. And so I hope that you enjoy both of them. You can certainly skip around. And I'll mention just a couple of notes. These were both recorded at a live event in Los Angeles, and that sold out in 30 minutes based on an email that I sent out to my newsletter subscribers. If you're not on the newsletter, it's free, and you get lots of exclusives and cool stuff like Five Bullet Friday, which has more than a 60% open rate across the board.

Starting point is 00:05:53 For people who know what that is, that's unheard of. And you can sign up, try it out for a week or two at 4hourworkweek.com forward slash Friday. So all spelled out, 4hourworkweek.com forward slash Friday. So all spelled out for our workweek.com forward slash Friday. Now, since it was a live event, there were a couple of audio glitches early on. And in the case of cascade, we had a mic failure and I ended up pulling out my lavalier mic, you know, the clip on mic that was threaded down my shirt, pulling it out and handing that back and forth for a bit. So you might hear a couple of missteps here and

Starting point is 00:06:26 there, but what you missed was a little bit of background. He was raised Mormon. He was born in Chicago. He went to Utah for college and where he grew up was where they filmed Ferris Bueller's Day Off, among other things. So without further ado, please enjoy this episode with Cascade and Sekou Anders. When did you have your first, what you would consider your first break or mentor in music? Let's see. When I moved to San Francisco, I reached out to Ohm Records. They were a small boutique label based right in the city there south of market area and um really they were the only people i knew in san francisco because i had some demos and i was mailing music to people and that wasn't going so well but they showed a little interest

Starting point is 00:07:15 and i moved there luckily they hired me for like the funny thing is is like my wife and i we couldn't even make rent for what we were... I mean, she supported me for many years. She was working for Levi Strauss at the headquarters there. And it was great. I was like, yeah, you get a good job. I'm going to do music. Hey!

Starting point is 00:07:35 We'll see how that turns out. I'm awesome. Look who you married. Well, you know, if that were a stock that she had bought, she's pretty happy, I'm imagining. I mean, it's worked out. When did you realize that this is something you could do to support yourself full time? Or even think that was possible? It was like the mid-2000s.

Starting point is 00:07:59 So 10 years ago, you know, 10, 11 years ago. But people are like, when did you really decide you were going to do music? And I was one of those people that never wanted to admit that that's what I was doing. I kept telling my wife, she's like, well, what are you doing? What's your plan? And she was pretty organized and very driven. And I think I didn't want to say that because I didn't want to be a failure. I didn't want to have like, no, I'm to be a failure. I didn't want to have like,

Starting point is 00:08:26 no, I'm going to be a musician. I'm going to write music. My whole thing was like, no, this is a cool hobby. I'm doing it. These guys hired me. I'll go there. I'll work for them.

Starting point is 00:08:34 We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. That was always my thing. So what did you, at the time when people would ask you, because I know people do this in San Francisco as well as many other cities, but like, so what do you do?

Starting point is 00:08:44 How would you answer that at the time? Music. Which in San Francisco, people think that's cool. There's enough art community there. And people are like, oh, that's cool. What do you, you know, how are you living? Like, oh, my wife, she, she's got a good job. So is it, I had, in the course of doing research for this, read that when you went from Chicago to Utah, just to, I know we're jumping around chronologically, that that is when you started sort of producing or creating your own music,

Starting point is 00:09:18 because there wasn't much of a scene. Is that accurate? This is a great point. So what happened is, is I'm like, okay, I got into University of Utah. For Mormons out there, non-Mormons out there, it's like for me, I grew up as a kid in Chicago. There wasn't very many Mormon kids.

Starting point is 00:09:33 So I thought, I'll go to school in Utah and meet other Mormon people, see what they're about. I was friends with all these Jewish kids growing up in Chicago. It was like all my friends were Jewish. Anyway, so I went to Utah, and that was great. But growing up, going to nightclubs all through high school. Teen clubs were a big deal in Chicago, and that's how I got introduced into house music.

Starting point is 00:09:55 It was very much a part of my life. I was collecting records. As a hobby, I was a DJ. So when I got there, I'm like, what is this music you guys are listening to? This is terrible. I've got crates of records. Why don't you come over to my house? I've got some speakers.

Starting point is 00:10:11 So I started throwing my own parties, and I really had to get involved. That was definitely a point where I was like, wow, if I'm going to be a part of this scene or make music, I'm going to have to be active instead of just some passive guy. Because in Chicago, I'd just be the guy that went out and collected records and occasionally played at a friend's house party. But when I got to Utah, I was like, if I want to do this, I'm going to have to make my own thing. Which is good because it inspired me to get involved and really get motivated.

Starting point is 00:10:38 How did... Loud enough now? How did you get your first gear or equipment of course that's evolved a lot since but uh so i hit a local club owner up in utah and i was like i got crates of records um and what's your worst night that you have what's the slowest night when he's like monday i'm not even open i'm like dude let me come down on monday. And this is a bar that had opened in the 40s and it had all its original decor. It's called Club Manhattan. It's an amazing place in the basement. Anyway, the owner's like, you know, I'll give you a cut of the door. You have your

Starting point is 00:11:15 friends come in, whatever, invite some people and we'll see what happens. Anyway, it turned out the night was a smash. I mean, I did it for five years and I ended up doing two nights a week. It was Monday, and then I took on a Thursday. And things worked almost instantly. And I quit my, you know, I was working at a clothing store, you know, trying to support myself going to school. And I quit, like, after the first week. I was like, well, I'm done with that. I'm just going to do this DJ thing.

Starting point is 00:11:40 This is great. You know, I can make some cash, and I can pay for school so it started clicking and then when I was making enough money I started buying my first studio equipment and I slowly started producing songs and getting into that and learning my way around the studio and like wow how does a sampler work how does a digital audio workstation how does this all work and just understanding that which was great because it's like I was going to school. I thought I was really busy at the time, but I realize now that I had a lot of free time. I'm so busy. I'm going to sit here for 10 hours and work on this song.

Starting point is 00:12:14 You know, like anyway, so I had a lot of time to kind of just learn my craft. So it's a good time for me. And then when I moved to San Francisco, that definitely took it up a notch. I worked for OM Records for a couple years. And it was good because I knew how to make the music, but I didn't understand anything about the business. I wasn't really interested in the business. I was like, I just want to make music.

Starting point is 00:12:39 I don't want to know all this other stuff. But it forced me to learn some things about the business, which was cool because I I could see, like, oh, you can't just, like, hang out in your room and make tracks. You've got to get out and promote them and be a part of the scene and get out there, and people want to know who you are as an artist, who's writing these songs. And, yeah, so I kind of slowly started building up from there

Starting point is 00:13:02 in San Francisco. And I'm sure you get approached a lot with people who are hoping to create their own electronic music, or maybe they already are. If one of those people were to ask you how to create sort of a self-directed MBA, they're like, look, I have the time, I have a little bit of resources. What skills should I learn? what's the what does the curriculum look like in terms of setting the stage for being a successful musician in that category in this genre I always tell people that are getting started out I mean now there's schools for this and you can go you know 18 month things to a 12 month program so it's a lot easier to learn the craft now than it was back then.

Starting point is 00:13:48 Back then, I was buying these $25 magazines from the UK, electronic musician. I'm like, what in the hell, $25? I'm broke, man. But anyway, they had a lot of good tutorials. So it was very different back then. Now it's a little more accessible. But I always tell people, what's your passion? What do you truly love about this music? Do you want to write? Do you want to produce? Are you a songwriter? Find out what

Starting point is 00:14:09 you do best and put all your time and energy into that. Like, are you really good at just DJing? Is that what you do? You're a selector. Is that what you do? You can pull good tracks. You have a good ear. So there's some people that do that and do that really well. Then go out and figure out how to maximize that. Figure out what it is that you do best and really run with it like maybe you and you got to be honest with yourself it's like one of those things that it might take a year or two to discover you're out in the mix you're going to clubs you're trying to get gigs or whatever it is but I think it's just kind of good to sit back and like check the climate and like what am I doing well and what are people drawn to me like what's working here and then just do that as much as you can how did you and

Starting point is 00:14:50 feel free to to verify this also again just in the course of doing research but when did you realize that you were very good at more melodic uh music as opposed to beats or rhythmic based and I would love you for even to just differentiate those for people well much of dance music is very rhythmic my dad was like why is the kick drum so damn loud and I'm like that's dance music that um so it's very many people see as repetitive whatever that that's kind of the old dance music, because it was pretty simplistic. We didn't have the technology. It wasn't as sophisticated as now. And when I moved to San Francisco in 2000,

Starting point is 00:15:33 that was kind of like the beginnings of more melodic electronic music. Songwriting was getting involved, and there were a couple acts. There was one band locally called Solstice. They were great, extremely talented. They were a band, but it was more electronic sounding. And I remember sitting at the label. They were signed to OM. I'm like, because I'd been doing all this stuff

Starting point is 00:15:54 that was very sample heavy and rhythmic, kind of the trend at the time. But I wasn't making any headroom. There was no headway. I was just kind of like, because I was like every dude out there. You know, my demo sounded just like everybody else's. Anyway, as I kind of sat in the office and sat back and was like thinking what would work and how could I make myself different,

Starting point is 00:16:15 I thought, you know, there's not that much melodic stuff out there. What if I focused more on the song? And I had been in the scene quite a long time even at that point in my career that I'd seen like this goes in cycles and people get into different styles and one production style progressive house is cool today techno is cool tomorrow drum and bass is cool next week it moves really quick in the underground. So I was like, man, if I focused more on songs and songwriting, that could be my thing. That could be my space. And there's not very many people doing it. So I could make my own name that way. And it would be more evergreen, I guess, in that respect,

Starting point is 00:16:57 right? More durability. Yeah. And then, I mean, that was just, I didn't think of that at the time, but that's kind of what happened naturally. And it all kind of coincided with me meeting some people that were really good songwriters that were like, man, you're talented in the studio, but dude, that's just one part of it. Making the music, a song that's an instrumental, that's half a song, that's half an idea. And I was like, what, man? Oh, my gosh, this is great. I thought that was a song. That half a song that's half an idea and i was like what man oh my gosh this is great i thought that was a song dude that's a song you know and they're like no this is a song so i met and hung out with some people that had some different ideas um are there any particular songwriters who had a large influence on you or that you look up to um i mean i'd go with like classics like sting or or Morrissey.

Starting point is 00:17:45 I grew up in the 80s, so New Wave was a big deal for me. Robert Smith, The Cure, I love this guy. He's a brilliant songwriter. So that's stuff I was always drawn to. But as I worked with more songwriters, I was like, okay, I can develop this as a craft. I fancy myself a bit of a writer. Writing songs is different, but it's still kind of just getting your idea in a little short three-minute piece. So kind of marrying the

Starting point is 00:18:09 two things that I was doing. But then that's when everything kind of changed in my career. Things really, as I started producing that kind of music, people noticed me. And I started touring quickly after that. I mean, 2003 is really when things started to move. I think that year I did like 70 or 80 shows and I was like, this is insane. And that's when my wife's like, what did I sign up for? You're never here. You know, what, what is your record for consecutive shows or consecutive days with shows? Um, I don't know. I've never counted that. That's a really good question. I know I've done like 12 or 14. I mean, it's not uncommon for me to do 23, 24, 25 shows in a month in the summer. Summer is extremely busy. I mean, it's always summer somewhere,

Starting point is 00:19:00 so it's busy all the time, but I always take take our winter I always kind of slow down a little bit how do you what what type of rituals or self care do you have to keep from getting extremely sick during that type of just onslaught in a month where you're constantly performing very particular diet performance part of it's not hard for me because uh i feel very natural i mean i've been doing this for over 20 years so for me i feel very at home on stage and doing in my space and i feel like that just naturally keeps things out it's very uh aerobic you know it's like a workout really i walk off stage I've lost five pounds I'm drenched in sweat so I think that part of it is actually quite healthy and then just like eating and living

Starting point is 00:19:50 clean really when I'm on the road you know we're traveling from place to place it's like we travel during the day and we sleep we sleep on the planes and we perform at night and when I say we I travel with a small clique of guys that help me execute the shows. Although I'm the artist, I have a tour manager, a photographer, videographer, a lighting guy, a visual guy, sometimes a sound guy. It depends on the size of the show, but it can be anywhere from five people up to 25 people. But I think that kind of philosophy has just kind of worked its way down to everybody I work with. That and when I can, I travel with my family. I'm married and I have three children. So I'm always trying to figure out, okay, how can I make this work? You know, putting the stones in

Starting point is 00:20:39 the bucket, like, okay, what's really important here? And how can I fill the bucket with the things that are really important to me? can I fill the bucket with the things that are really important to me? How would you describe your parenting style? I'm sorry. Your parenting style. How would you describe your parent or how do you think of parenting? My style of parenting? Wow. I've definitely never been asked that. Oh man, I wish Naomi was here, my wife. She's amazing because, listen, she gambled on me and took a, she had no idea where this was heading or where it was going. And she's really been there to take care of the family

Starting point is 00:21:20 and been like my biggest fan and champion in my corner from day one. And without her, honestly, none of it would be possible because it is fully a team effort on every front in my business. She was my business manager for 10 years. And she's been the primary parent and the disciplinarian in our home because she's there and she has to be because I'm not there as often as she is. So, um, that's extremely important to note that cause, uh, that's how it's worked in my home. Um, me, I'm kind of, she always gets mad when I'm angry at the kids. She's like, no, no, no.

Starting point is 00:21:57 I have to be the angry one. You have to be like the soft guy that gives them everything. I'm totally cool. I could do that. I could do that. Like ice cream. It's Monday. No, because usually Monday and Tuesday are typically my weekend because I come home on, you know, Sunday or Monday from traveling all weekend. And then I've got Monday and Tuesday window to kind of hang out with the family, you know, and they're back at school. So I'm always wanting to do like, let's go to a movie on Monday night. No. I am a constant note-taker. And I watched an interview of yours where you talked about writing down ideas for songs in a notebook.

Starting point is 00:22:37 Do you still take a lot of notes? I have a notebook just like that at home, filled with gibberish and highlights and little things. Yes, I think that interview was about, early on in my career, I got pulled over or stopped in London after I had been on like a four-show binge. So I showed up at the border and I looked probably completely cracked out. I hadn't slept in days. And they pulled me over because I didn't have the right permits

Starting point is 00:23:03 or the right work credentials to get in there. And I sat in this room for 12 hours and I hadn't eaten. I don't know. It was a very down moment for me. But they had taken apart this notebook and photocopied everything. I mean, you know, this thing was almost full when I got there. But I keep one of these with me and I thought they thought it was some, like, drug log of where I was traveling, of my drop.

Starting point is 00:23:28 So they photocopied everything. I'm like, what does this mean? I'm like, that says to do my laundry when I get home. What are you talking about? It's not code. I need to do my laundry. There's no code there, man. Eventually, they let me off, and everything turned out okay.

Starting point is 00:23:44 Except I was escorted back on the plane the next day with a cop all the way that was funny um another time uh but yeah i mean this is how i organize my life uh i have a lot of ideas and thoughts all the time and i just continue to write things down and look over that and you that process. Do you have a particular routine for reviewing the notes? Or is it more of a journaling exercise where you just put it down and you don't go back and review it? For me, it's in the morning. When I first sit down, I look at what I was trying to accomplish the day before and what's

Starting point is 00:24:19 kind of overlapping and what didn't happen and kind of carries over into that next day. And then I look throughout the week. Um, and then I look at any potential song ideas or any notes that I have or ideas that could lead to a song. Um, what do those look like? I mean, and I'm assuming do your laundry isn't, isn't one of them, but like what, what is the, what form does it take? Is it just a, could it be a single word? Could it be a phrase? I always like to use the example. I wrote a song called 4 a.m. And it's one of my more popular ones in my catalog.

Starting point is 00:24:52 Thank you. And I'll tell this story because I was playing at King King, not too far down the street. I was in from San Francisco. And when I played King King, there was like a 6.40.m. flight so I'd play all night and then I could get French toast across the street and I'd take my luggage eat the French toast and then get in the cab and catch the flight get home get home on Sunday morning to see my family anyway I was sitting there at 4 a.m. and I was a just one of those massive nights in my career where I kind of

Starting point is 00:25:23 hit a moment where I was like this is really gonna. I have a few of these moments along my career, but that was one of them where I was like, what an incredible night. And I mean, looking back, it was a very small club. It holds like four or 500 people maybe. But it was like lying around the block and I just knew things were clicking. So I was on this, I was on a high, I was just floating. And it was four in the morning when I walked into the French toast place and I got my luggage there and I opened up my bag and I'm like, I have to write a song about 4am and sleepless gliding. And these words started coming to me and it was just like a couple phrases and talk about 4am meeting French toast and gliding on the streets without any sleep. And that became the first verse.

Starting point is 00:26:11 And then it just blossomed into an idea. I think it's kind of like looking back at my notes when I'm in the studio and thinking, is this something anyone else could relate to? And then making a song out of it, really. How long did it take from that initial note-taking to being out in the world as a song, would you say? I think I wrote that album

Starting point is 00:26:28 about six months later. So I was sitting around, circled in that book. I'd go back to it and like, oh, that's a cool idea. And then when I was in there, I was like, I should develop this more

Starting point is 00:26:37 and sit down and write a song about that moment. Do you collect anything? Records. Records, vinyl? Lots and lots of vinyl. Thousands and thousands of records. Okay.

Starting point is 00:26:50 Any particular genre? I mean, it's mostly particular. It's like dance music, house music, early house music, stuff that I started collecting when I was a kid. Then when I had a little bit more money, I started buying old New Wave records, old punk records, some hip-hop, just stuff that interested me, bands that were

Starting point is 00:27:10 seminal to me, personally. For dance music, if people hear, like myself, I'm naive of the entire genre. I can enjoy dance music, but I don't know the first thing about it. If I wanted to do the equivalent of a wine tasting with dance music, it's like, oh, yeah, I think that's Merlot but I don't know the first thing about it. If I wanted to do the equivalent of a wine tasting with dance music,

Starting point is 00:27:26 I'd try, like, oh, yeah, I think that's Merlot, I'm not sure. Try a few different options to educate myself. Are there any particular artists or albums that you would suggest people start with? Among many, of course. I'm not asking you to pick favorites. I guess I am. That's kind of an old-school way of thinking.

Starting point is 00:27:44 I think if you're into electronic music now i'd flip open spotify and go listen to there's like a million playlists that i i run cascade radio and i add four or five tracks on there every every week that i'm like oh this is stuff that i'm feeling and it's predominantly electronic music i wouldn't say dance music because there's a lot of left field stuff in there. But yeah, seminal records. I mean, Daft Punk homework to me is still kind of like one of the top

Starting point is 00:28:11 records that defined our genre. Or Discovery. Not as big a fan as Discovery. That's a very controversial thing to say, but I'm a homework guy because I don't know, that hit me at the right time, time in my life. That's a big one.

Starting point is 00:28:27 Any Kraftwerk record. I don't know, there's a lot of stuff out there. But I think going to Spotify and hitting it, because what's interesting about electronic music, I think at one point it was a genre, and it was a very specific, It kind of surrounded a culture. But now, really and truly, this is pretty much how most of the music's made. I mean, everybody works on a computer, on a laptop,

Starting point is 00:28:52 even if they're recording rock and roll, and it's all augmented and processed, and it's all electronic-driven, for better or for worse. I mean, that's another conversation. I could argue both sides. I see the downsides in that. But really, the way we were thinking 25, 30 years ago, working with drum machines and sampling and, oh, recording on a multi-track that's in a computer, this is just how everyone operates today.

Starting point is 00:29:17 I mean, that's what pop music is. I mean, you listen to it on the radio. To me, it's all dance music. I'm like, we were doing that 10 years ago. This is cool. This is a modern take on what was happening a long time ago. So I know we have a hard out and I'm really happy that you're able to make it. We have a couple of minutes. So I'm going to ask a couple of the normal questions that I tend to when wrapping up. What book or books have you gifted most to other people? If any. I knew you were going to ask this. I thought about it and I'm like,

Starting point is 00:29:50 man, I don't give many books away. But I did just recently give Lights Out to a friend. So I'm going to say that because it's the most recent thing I read. Lights Out. Yeah. And it's about cyber terrorism and how they are going to cut the power off

Starting point is 00:30:06 and we're going to be screwed. It was a really interesting read, and it scared the crap out of me. If you had to pick an underappreciated festival, what would you pick? Oh, that's a great question. And I'm stalling to... Oh, man, there's so many cool things.

Starting point is 00:30:34 If I wasn't here in California, I'd say Coachella, because to me that still is the best festival in the entire world. And I've played literally hundreds, if not thousands of festivals. But I don't know. They've got a lot of cool stuff going on in New York. Electric Zoo in New York is actually really cool. It's on Randall's Island, and you're looking at the skyline while you're playing. It's pretty cool.

Starting point is 00:30:57 But there's a handful of those. That's one I'd have to think and go through my diary and be like, where have I been recently? You do around, too, sometimes. When you think of the word successful, who's the first person who comes to mind and why? My wife. She's the rock. She's who I look to all the time. It seems like she kind of effortlessly glides between family life and supporting me and making everything work.

Starting point is 00:31:24 So yeah, she's she's success she's the model of success to me if you had one billboard anywhere you could put anything on it what would you put on it? Let's see. Probably Times Square, just because that's where most people would see it. I don't know. I'd probably throw one of my brands up there, Redo or something, or Cascade.

Starting point is 00:31:58 I don't know. I want a big picture of me, like, I'm coming to get you. Do you have any mottos or quotes or anything that you say to yourself when you're getting ready to perform that you could put on the billboard? MALE SPEAKER 2, No, but one of the quotes that always comes back to me in my career and something I always think back to, every time I left the house, my dad would always say, remember who you are.

Starting point is 00:32:20 And I'm always like, man, now that I'm a father, this is a very profound thing to me at the time I was like my dad what the hell you're so weird like I'm gonna forget who I am now I'm like gosh that guy's gonna seem smart you know that basically answers the next question so I think we'll we'll wrap up with just asking you where people can find more about you your work your music whether it's uh anywhere online really really. Yeah, I don't know. I'm on Twitter, Instagram, all the social networks, cascademusic.com.

Starting point is 00:32:50 Come and check me out. I appreciate the time, you guys. At Cascade with two Ks. At Cascade, K-S-K-A-D-E. Yeah. If you follow me on Instagram, you get some pretty crazy photos on there. I'm sure we would. Thank you so much. I really appreciate the time. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Starting point is 00:33:05 Thanks very much. I really appreciate the time. Anybody ever taken a soul selfie? Anybody? I know y'all take selfies, but have you taken a soul selfie? Y'all don't know nothing about this. I'm a hippie. I'm gonna put y'all on. I'll put y'all take selfies, but have you taken a soul selfie? Y'all don't know nothing about this. I'm a hippie. I'm gonna put y'all on. I'll put y'all on. The soul selfie is the way that you can remind yourself instantly that you are mighty enough, that you are beautiful enough, that you are powerful enough and strong enough to get through anything. And I want y'all to do with me right now. Everybody stand up real quick. Stand up, stand up, stand up, stand up, stand up. All you gotta do, all you gotta do, put one hand in the air, turn it around, make a little claw like you're holding a hand mirror, bend it off at your arm, lean into it, and when you see how powerful and beauty and mighty you are,

Starting point is 00:33:55 you got to say the words, I am awesome. Let's say it with me. Ready? One, two, three. I am awesome. Hold on, hold One, two, three I am awesome Hold on, hold on, hold on I don't believe you Hit it again

Starting point is 00:34:10 I am awesome You're damn right you are Sit down on your power Sit down on your power Damn right you are That's how you get through those days, right? One of those days like I'm having right now You know when my drive crashes, right? When

Starting point is 00:34:25 my self-worth stalls by the side of the road, my ambitions check engine light comes on mid-hustle and I find myself at my bathroom mirror, finger to glass, scratching the word can't into the heart and steam but as I stare at my murky reflection with these broken-down eyes my reflection sees its reflection in me from the other side and thinks to itself oh I don't know what he thinks he sees, but he must not be looking at me because I am awesome. So don't be wasting my tears. I am more than enough to get through this. And I got a scrapbook full of I can't do it to prove it for I maintain a level of awesomenity in everything I do. So my awesomation is not speculation but irrefutable truth. In fact, the Census Bureau just released a report that two out of every three people are awesome. And if that is true, then out of you and you and I, the question we must now ask ourselves is,

Starting point is 00:35:46 which one of you two is the one that sucks? Because I am awesome! Like finding money in dirty laundry, awesome. Like parking at that one meter that's broken, awesome. Like that perfect person at that perfect time saying that perfect thing awesome like making a living doing what you live for like somewhere rocking out in new york city is a dude whose resume actually reads national air guitar champion what National Air Guitar Champion. What? Somewhere in Ukraine is a woman who boasts a trophy for National Sand Art Champion. Here before you in Los Angeles is a dude who has earned the title National Poetry Slam Champion.

Starting point is 00:36:39 And thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that because to most of the working world, all three of those titles are equally freaking ridiculous. But, but, the most awesome five people on the planet are we who embrace our ridiculousness. We live what we love, and we love incorrigibly. Which is why I sleep quite well, but I go to bed horribly. Anybody else always hopped up on a triple shot of purpose, juggling my dreams like 13 flaming swords and chasing my aspirations through the graveyard shift so that the world can awake to my awesomeness. Look it up. And I'll admit, I'll admit, I used to think that awesome was a word for, you know, surfers and skateboarders, you know, smokers and valley girls. But I was like

Starting point is 00:37:37 totally mistaken. Awesome is gangster. Awesome is stupid fresh. Awesome is the new crunk and the new cool beans, the new bomb diggity and the new bee's knees. My new mantra that helps me breathe into all that I believe and see that within me is all the might I'll ever need. Because there are those days when I'm pushed to the edge where still waters meet earth and I fall to my knees to look upon the water's surface. But as I stare at my murky reflection with these broken down eyes, God sees his reflection in me from the other side and thinks to herself, I don't know what he thinks he sees, but he must not be looking at me because I am awesome. Like the science of miracles and the mathematics of purpose. Awesome. Like how the mind, the mind can always calculate the what of who and the when of where, but the soul must solve for why. Awesome. Like the thought of God and logic, having faith that we will figure ourselves out.

Starting point is 00:38:55 Awesome. Like how the moment I truly discovered the great I am is the same moment I discovered how truly great I am. And I am not perfect, but I'm perfect like I am. I'm not beautiful like I used to be. I'm beautiful like I am. Like the scar where a breast once was. Like survival where a breast once was, like survival where a death once was, like the better where a best once was. Every gray hair, a trophy, every wrinkle fold,

Starting point is 00:39:32 a story, every pound of fat, a challenge, reminding me that there is always something to pursue and always something to celebrate. That is why I never smile for no reason that is a concept i don't believe in dude you ain't never without a reason to show off your teeth a bit let me see let me see there baby there you go uh spread out your cheeks a bit let your gums breathe a bit if you can learn to reach deep for it, you can take yourself a piece of bliss and make yourself a feast of it. Like when you go buy a smoothie

Starting point is 00:40:10 and they fill it too full, right? Making more than your cup can hold. But instead of letting it just spill all over, what do they do? What do they do? They give you a little extra cup and you feel like you just won the smoothie lottery up in here. Awesome. Like that perfect day. What was yours? That perfect day, right? One of mine was like the first time the stretch limo driver pulled up to the first, the five-star hotel to transport me to my first class flight after my sold-out show and curiously peering at me through the rearview mirror he asked what do you do for a living and with a pocket full of sand and an air guitar in my hand i replied i am a full-time poet. Now roll up the damn divider.

Starting point is 00:41:16 Okay, I didn't actually say roll up the damn divider, but it would have been awesomer if I had, right? It would have been, but you know what? Hey, hey, next time. And you better believe there will be no shortage of next times. But that's the thing. Before you can believe it, I got to believe it. I got to believe there will be no shortage of next time. That's why this thing that I'm doing tonight is not just pretty words. It's not poetry for poetry's sake. This is survival for me. This is survival for us. I mean, this, you know, this is how we get through. We have to have instant ways to access our power and our purpose and our passion, our truth to get through those days and to do this thing we do. This entrepreneurial innovation, you know, me against the world, instigation, against all odds, death to all the

Starting point is 00:42:07 haters, thing we do. Okay, maybe not death to all the haters. That's negative. We'll stay positive. Like, you know, stubbed feet and paper cuts and warts to all the haters, thing that we do, right? And it ain't easy. I know that. I know that. Nobody knows that more than me. It's why I'm going to give you a powerful takeaway tonight. Okay? I don't care what is said on this stage. This will be the most powerful thing that you leave here with

Starting point is 00:42:32 to help you get through your challenging days of crafting your successful life. And all you have to do is repeat after me right now. At least I'm not trying to build a successful life from poetry. I got no sympathy for y'all.

Starting point is 00:42:53 Please. Whatever. Is it hard for you? What are you, in the tech industry? You're building in dollar industries? I built my business off the dead art form you hated in high school. Please. DJs and state boarders got it easier than poets. You know? People look, when I used to introduce myself as a full-time poet, people used to look at me like I said, hi, my name's Sekou. I'm a full-time mermaid. Nice to

Starting point is 00:43:18 meet you. All right? They don't get it, but that's all right. That's all right. Because with every moment of confusion within someone else, it was an opportunity for clarity of purpose within myself. I had to believe, and I did. I believed that I could create a new user experience for the art form of spoken word that could affect the masses. I believed that I could dissolve the line between business speaker and performance artist, right, and create a new experience that enhanced both. And so against all the advice of everyone saying forget poetry, instead I embraced my ridiculousness and I created a new style of speaking called

Starting point is 00:43:58 poetic voice that just blends inspirational speaking with spoken word poetry to create an experience that allows me to go out and inspire people and help them tell their story and show them the best version of themselves. Right. And to do that, to awesome find my life, I had to be OK. I had to be fine with people not getting it the first time so that I could believe in myself long enough to create no shortage of next times. Next times. And now you don't have to guess. Just check my specs. I'm no longer afraid to double down because I've tricked the deck. I've already seen my future, so I'm unfit to bet. That's why whenever failure challenges me to Russian roulette, I rock a waterproof poker face impervious to sweat because I don't gamble with my life. I count the cards.

Starting point is 00:44:51 So my success is mathematics. So long as my dealer is God, I can always even my odds. Even on the odd days I can't get over it, I go through it to list behind me. On the days I can't levy the waves, I just learn to surf tsunamis. On the days I can't slay the beast of despair with my mighty sword of confidence. Hell, I can still tuck a razor blade beneath my tongue and paper cut despair one positive affirmation at a time. And when I return home from the wild rumpus of my awesome fest, I'll always vacuum with a smile as I clean up my awesome mess. For there, there are bits of mountaintop

Starting point is 00:45:37 buried in the grooves of the soles of my shoes. Every footprint tracked on my floor testifies to the heights I've climbed and proves I made it back home each time. So please remember, embrace your ridiculousness. Please go out there and vacuum with a smile. Please remember your awesome nationness

Starting point is 00:46:00 and be the little extra cup for somebody else. Because I find that on those days when my weary soul can't seem to do another single thing, when the 24th hour threatens to pop my day's scenes, when the cup of my ambitions begins to runneth over into springs, that perfect person at that perfect time says that perfect thing and I am handed an awesome little extra cup by my my homie who shows up at my door with a bottle of Don Julio four dirty jokes and a scrapbook full of we gonna laugh about this later a little extra cup by my lover sipping espresso at midnight in a fireproof suit who takes over the juggling of my flaming swords and says, you need to get some sleep tonight, baby.

Starting point is 00:46:52 A little extra cup by my friends, my family, my fans, my colleagues, my community. this kind of community that shows up that comes here to hear me inspire and amaze and wants to hear that poem that ends with that fiery blaze but shows up to find me having one of those days when I stand on this stage trying to guide someone home yet can't seem to believe the words of my own poem but you do you see in my story your truth, that you are perfection in process, that you are rapture in root, and I stare at my reflection in this audience's eyes, and you stare back at your reflection that my pupils provide, and we shout aloud to ourselves with fire and pride. I don't know what you think you see from your side, but you, you must not be looking at me

Starting point is 00:47:57 because I am. Boss. Thank you all. Thank y'all. I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you.

Pet Camera - EBO Air 2

The Tim Ferriss Show - #141: Kaskade and Sekou Andrews: The Musician and the Poet

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Pet Camera - EBO Air 2

The Tim Ferriss Show - #141: Kaskade and Sekou Andrews: The Musician and the Poet

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.