Do people even want to be good anymore or do they just want to be attached to the benefits?
These days it’s so easy to get into different industries that people aren’t even students of their craft anymore, they don’t have passions that they spend time doing research on, that they get excited about diving into the history on, that they take the time and money to learn more about, or that they dream about and can’t get enough of. People aren’t students of the game anymore, a lot of times all it takes is for people to see enough people doing something that now they want to do it or they see people making money from it and want a piece of the pie.
Of course there are still so many creatives and artists that are still students of their craft and it’s admirable how focused and detailed they are about it such as Beyoncé, Doechii, Teyana Taylor, Solange, Tyler the Creator, Kollin Carter, Kanye West and so many more in so many industries. But I still miss the times where we had greats like Andre Leon Talley, Alexander McQueen, Karl Lagerfeld or those that are still alive like Hype Williams and Dapper Dan. I miss the times when you really had to put in your 10,000+ hours before you started feeling entitled to thinking you deserved a spot, I miss when artists felt the responsibility to actually produce their own work before just expecting to be handed opportunities. Now days I feel like everything is so accessible and sometimes even washed down that many people don’t even have to really know what they’re talking about to have a voice in industries they haven’t even scratched the surface in.
These days people think you start at the top, but it’s the work you do from the bottom up that prepares you to be on top. People want to skip the journey and the work when the work is the best part of the process. There’s so many artists that are seeing the fruits of their labor now, but they’ve been putting the work in for 20+ years, at this point in their career you can go back into the catalog of work they produced for YEARS and see how they refined it over time. Most people no longer see the importance of making something good before putting it out, people no longer have the urge to constantly make their work better. You still have those people out there that are 1 of 1 and amazing at what they do, but there’s sometimes so many others in their industry that are watering down the standard of that field or the skill set it requires. It’s okay to tap into something new but have enough respect for the craft to be serious about it and have true passion behind your intentions.
We saw creatives like Kanye, Pharrell and Virgil hitting the ground as teenagers to work towards the success they achieved, them knocking on doors and creating a seat at the table for themselves to showcase their talent, spending time even when no one is watching to become better in every aspect and not being afraid to put themselves out there. Be someone that strives to be good at what they’re doing and doesn’t just strive for popularity or notoriety.
