Episode 203: Music with a Message – Empowering New Songs from Brotha James

[INTERVIEW]

 

Jon: Welcome, everybody, to this Achieve Your Goals Podcast episode. Hey, I’m here with my brother, brotha James, one of my dearest friends. Jer, I was thinking about this a few minutes ago. You might be the person I have spent the most time with this year. I mean, it’s a close tie between you and a few of my kids and I was reflecting on this as I was walking over here. I thought, “Wow. Okay, what does that mean? Is that bad? Is that good?” It doesn’t mean anything. It just means that we spend a lot of time together. Actually, it’s all been beautiful. It’s all been really beautiful. And so, we’ve created so many memories. I feel like you and I have lived like three lifetimes of friendship just in the past couple of years and we have a lot of people to thank for connecting us and creating opportunities where you and I can work together. But it’s been awesome, man, just to be along for the ride and to get to be in so many magical places with you around the world. It doesn’t end. You and I are going to be in Steamboat Springs, Colorado in like two weeks, right?

 

brotha James: Yep.

 

Jon: So, we’ll talk about that today, maybe.

 

brotha James: And hey we’re just getting started.

 

Jon: We’re just getting started.

 

brotha James: We’re just getting started, man.

 

Jon: Right. The best is always ahead of us. We don’t know what it’s going to look like but it’s ahead of us. Jer, what are you doing in your life these days, buddy? What are you doing? You’re a musical messenger. I’m not the best person to ask what are you doing because I’m so close to it that I have like one frame of reference, but I’d love to hear your perspective. How do you answer that question? What are you up to these days? What matters to you? What’s important? What would you like to talk about on today’s episode?

 

brotha James: Those are like three questions.

 

Jon: Yeah. You really get to pick.

 

brotha James: I get to pick which one I want. Well, how do I answer, people? I do say I’m a musical messenger and they’ll say, “What does that mean?” And I’ll say, “Well, I’m a musician, I’m a facilitator, and I do a little bit of speaking and I use uplifting and inspirational music to lift up audiences at the individual level and also at the system level.” So, that’s how I explain it to people if they continue to ask but you say, “Hey, I’m a musical messenger.” And what’s most important to me right now, family is really important. Right after the holidays, I’m actually in my aunt’s house right now coming down here to Austin, Texas from spending three or four days in Northern Michigan with my awesome girlfriend and her son and her parents and brother and his little guy. So, Christmas was amazing, and just the family connection was so great, and now down here with my family. And just so you know, I walk in last night a poetry party and the first thing I do is play a song called Slow Down to kind of kick this poetry party off.

 

Jon: Nice.

 

brotha James: So, I’m just around a lot of family, a lot of great friends. That’s really important to me, taking good care of myself with yoga and my diet and making sure I have optimal energy and just that I’m excited about life is really important to me and continuing to grow. That’s really important to me. Thanks so much for recommending this book, Presence. It is a game-changing book and really, I can see how I can integrate it on all levels, in my work, in my personal life, and my relationship, everything.

 

Jon: By the way, we could do like a 12-hour episode just talking about that book.

 

brotha James: Yeah. I’m only halfway through. It could at least do 12 hours.

 

Jon: For those of you that are listening through the auditory method and you’re not watching on the live stream, the book, it’s Presence by Otto Scharmer and Peter Senge. I’m pretty sure there’s like a hundred books with the name Presence but it’s coolest one out.

 

brotha James: Yeah. But listen to this subtitle.

 

Jon: You have a subtitle? Hit it.

 

brotha James: Human purpose and the field of the future.

 

Jon: That’s Presence.

 

brotha James: Human purpose and the field of the future. And what’s interesting is the cover of the book is a little drop of water falling into a calm kind of pool of water creating the ripple. So, being present is what creates the ripple because we get to see what the opportunities are.

 

Jon: You already know. I have that book with me all the time in my briefcase. I have been holding that book for I don’t know how many years now and I only just noticed it right now when you held that up. Can you hold it up in front of the screen?

 

brotha James: Yeah.

 

Jon: I only just noticed right now that there’s also a very interesting visual metaphor and I could very well be reading into this and the authors had no intention of this but if you see what they did with the design of the cover, you see how they rounded out the top? It almost looks like that pool of water, it looks very similar to how you would see the earth, if that makes sense.

 

brotha James: For sure.

 

Jon: I’ve never seen it that way.

 

brotha James: Yeah. No, dude, that’s really awesome. When I’m looking at it like this, it really is very clear.

 

Jon: Yeah. Yeah.

 

brotha James: So, growing. I love this. If you’re not growing, you’re dying. Continue to grow yourself and your intellectual category and your physical category, spiritual, and emotional, and we consistently grow ourselves in those areas and we experience more fulfillment and more presence in our lives and deeper meaning.

 

Jon: I want to kind of unpack some of the things you’ve just shared. Oh, and thank you, let’s get to a song.

 

brotha James: This is the song.

 

Jon: And we’ll take requests if you’re watching on the live stream. We’ll take requests but for now, Jer, oh and hey, full disclosure. Matt Duncan called me out later. He said, “I love the lag between Jer and Jon trying to sing along over this live stream.”

 

brotha James: You’re actually right on. I know I got to sing the lyrics exactly like that.

 

Jon: You got to sing the lyrics just like you do like on the album.

 

brotha James: Yeah.

 

Jon: Because that’s the only way I memorize it.

 

brotha James: I’ll do this one like that.

 

Jon: All right.

 

brotha James: And I am more aware of doing that.

 

Not My Mind (Song)

 

Moving through the universe contagious is our energy

The decades of the things we’ve learned embracing who it is we be

Agree to fight a war for peace and make friends with my enemy

Where living in a mystery where they could write our eulogy

Chalk it up to bravery, start living in your fantasy

We got a place to be created by the galaxy

This ain’t no fallacy, it’s simply a reality

A universal policy to rid us of the scarcity

 

The choice is mine the choice is yours

Open up break down the doors

The voice inside might be telling lies

I’ve had enough now I decide

 

Whoa whoa – I’m not My Mind

Whoa whoa – now we decide

 

The lag is still there, everybody.

 

Jon: Yeah. Hey, Jer. Tell everybody a little bit about this song. What does it mean?

 

brotha James: This song is called Not My Mind and it’s about not always paying attention to the voices that are in our head that are just running rampant all the time. Because sometimes those voices might not serve us and maybe those voices come from past experiences, conditioning, a whole lot of stuff all bottled up that kind of makes that voice trigger. So, Not My Mind might be like there’s a line in here that’s moving through the universe contagious as our energy, the decades of the things I’ve learned embracing who it is I be, agree to fight a war for peace.

 

Agree to fight a war for peace and make friends with my enemy

Where living in a mystery where they could write our eulogy

 

So, agree to fight a war for peace, make friends with my enemies. Living in a mystery, they could write my eulogy. Like our enemies could actually end up being our best friends if we put away the voice inside of our head that is telling us that we don’t like someone but if we open up our curiosity and allow other voices to come in, we might find that that person is the very person that we want to have right next to us for the rest of our lives. And so, the song is about you can take that in everywhere else. When we, as entrepreneurs, we go into new opportunities and new ventures and in those ventures, we might only see the risk and not see the reward. And our mind is telling us, “Oh, be fearful. Think scarcity. Play it safe. Maybe you’re not good enough.” But on the other side of that is a voice that is saying, “You got this. You’ve got what it takes. You’re brave. You’re curious. You’re persistent. You’re disciplined.” And the only thing that kind of differentiates is like is questions. So, like and this part is like:

 

The choice is mine the choice is yours

Open up break down the doors

The voice inside might be telling lies

I’ve had enough now I decide

 

I decide just like I decide to take control of asking myself questions to focus on the things that are working for me versus not for me. And then the second verse is:

 

Not My Mind (Song) – second verse

 

Turn off the TV no more negativity

It’s time to tune in into a new frequency

Say goodbye to news that be giving you da blues

Turn your dial to the one that we can use

 

To help you and me feel amazing

Come on, Feel the way that we want to be

Come on, Jonny B, jamming the drums with me

I like the freestyle on the AYG podcast

Go, it’s time to just be the best person of myself

Thank you Hal Elrod,

Come on and get it right down singing

 

The choice is mine the choice is yours

Open up break down the doors

The voice inside might be telling lies

I’ve had enough now I decide

 

Whoa whoa – I’m not My Mind

Whoa whoa – now we decide

Whoa whoa – I’m not My Mind

 

The music is what we love

Helping you and me to rise above

The fear that we be facing

In this world that is racing

the music is the keys to the cuffs

 

So listen to the music cause your melody is soothing and the beat within you’s grooving when you’re feeling the good vibes.

Nothing to be losing so harness it and use it

Contribute to the movement of living this life

 

Whoa whoa – I’m not My Mind

Whoa whoa – now we decide

 

Jon: Jer, that’s beautiful, buddy. I love it, man.

 

brotha James: I’ve been throwing a little bit of a freestyle. I was feeling like halfway through that verse, I was feeling like just doing a freestyle because you were jamming on the microphone.

 

Jon: So, imagine for a sec, Jer, if one of our listeners is hearing you for the very first time and they’re like, “Hey, I kind of like that.” And what I enjoy is that you take what you do and I’m going to use this word carefully, very seriously. And really what I mean by that is you consider it to be a tremendous responsibility the importance of the words that we use. And you can hear that in your music and I’d love to hear your thoughts on that, buddy. What do you think about when you’re thinking about how are these words going to affect others? And what’s that journey been like for you if writing these songs? Because you’re sitting there thinking, I don’t know what you’re thinking. Actually, you tell me. I’m just guessing that you’re thinking something like, “I’m going to write a song that’s going to have a positive impact.” So, what goes on for you or what has gone on for you in that journey to find the words that are ultimately going to lift up others through your music?

 

brotha James: Yeah. I love that question. And you’ll appreciate this and for our listeners, this might be the first time you’re going to hear a couple of these names but what I think is, number one, I think I got to write this song in a way that I’m going to enjoy playing it for a long time. That’s kind of one of my number one things because I know I’m going to be playing this song for a long time and the thing that people will resonate with most is that will come through on the recording and especially comes through when you see me live is I love the songs I’m playing. And that’s a big part of people feeling the energy of brotha James, of myself. So, that’s one of the things that I consider. And none of these are in exact order. It’s just what I consider. So, that’s a consideration.

 

The next consideration is how do I write the song in a way you use the word positive but we both know from Martin Seligman’s work that not everyone is necessarily going to be like a happy or positive person but that everyone is wired for well-being. So, I use PERMA as kind of a guide in regard to the way I write a song. So, just Positive emotions. There are going to be some positive emotions in the song. I want to put some Engagement so like some things that people might be able to do or might be able to see in their own lives and how they might be able to engage with the message of the song. So, Relationships, so I have songs about relationships so I’m thinking about how do I create a stronger relationship with the listener by creating a stronger relationship with myself through this music. And also empower the person to have stronger relationships with others. And then PERMA, Meaning, so giving them meaning so I try to make the songs about something that is meaningful, conscious, that is very real both in the way that we are as humans interact with the world. And then the last one, Achievement for PERMA, and I try and find ways that within the songs there’s resolution.

 

So, that’s a combination of kind of all of that that’s happening which is storytelling but knowing that that’s kind of a formula because one of the goals in the music is to help you feel more well-being, more positive emotions, more meaning, more deeper relationships, more fulfillment, more achievement, more engagement and the words themselves are the things that create like the music is the canvas. There’s a whole energy behind the music and the chords. So, I’m thinking of what chords are going to make this song. The chords and kind of the meaning of the song, they’ve got to fit together, and the meaning is usually in the chorus. So, like with Grateful:

 

What am I grateful for

I think about the little things  

 

So, right there, what am I grateful for? So, I’m embedding a question, right? There’s no chance that someone says, what am I grateful for, while they’re singing that, I mean there’s a small chance but most people with the way the music is structured, major chords, with a little minor like a serious tone, back to a major chord, when you combine that question with those words with that music, there’s really only one way that the brain is going to come up with the answer and that’s going to be seeing the little things that people are grateful for. We know through the countless amounts of studies that when people do that, when they feel gratitude or see something that very grateful for, it puts them in a state. It opens up their radar to see more of it and it allows them to appreciate more of what they already have. So, that song is an example of I wrote it with the idea of a person falling into gratitude, and that was the main reason for this song.

 

So, that’s kind of the idea of and why I care so much is that if we reverse that, why I care so much and have – it might sound simple but I do like that’s a pretty simple formula if I continue to write music that way but the real reason I write music that way is because so much music is on the other side of that spectrum where there are powerful chords and powerful sounds with words that do the exact opposite. They take you into a different mind state and it’s most of music, unfortunately. It’s like music is one of the most powerful tools in the world based on the research behind the music and the power of our words, our words internally and externally and yet most of the music out there would fail horribly in the way that it empowers us as a species, as a system. If we are the system, the individual system is not empowered by breakups and drug songs and hardship and all those things. They might be real but so, anyways, I take a great responsibility in writing about things that are meaningful and moving forward and being grateful and optimistic for the future verse.

 

Jon: Here’s a fun line of questioning and a little game to play. I’m just going to name some of your different songs and if you want, you could play like a line from a song.

 

brotha James: Cool. This is awesome.

 

Jon: But that’s it. All right? Pick like a line. It could be the chorus. It could be a verse. It could be a bridge. It could be, I don’t know what other elements there of a song, intro, the ending, whatever you want. But so, I’m going to give you a name of the song, you play a line from the song and then tell us in like a sentence or less, what is the essence or the meaning of that song. How’s that sound?

 

brotha James: Great.

 

Jon: So, you mentioned earlier, Slow Down. So, let’s hear a little bit from Slow Down and then tell us what that song is about.

 

brotha James:

 

Slow Down (Song)

 

It’s time to slow down and  

give myself a little love right now  

It’s time to slow down and  

give myself a little love right now

 

So, it’s time to slow down and give myself a little love right now. If we don’t slow down and we don’t recognize all the great things that we’ve done and all the talents and strengths that we’ve already brought to make all those great things possible, it’s hard to feel the love for ourselves. So, that song is about slowing down and recognizing that we don’t need to keep up with the Jones and we don’t need to get anywhere, and we don’t need any more successes to give ourselves love right now. And that by giving ourselves love right now, we actually move faster towards those visions for the future.

 

Jon: I love that. And I just want to acknowledge as someone who’s been around as a friend of yours since before that song was around, what’s been really cool is to see that song in how so many of the audiences that you and I get to be together with our groups of entrepreneurs and it’s amazing how much that idea of slowing down resonates with a group of people who are often thinking, “I’ve got to figure out how to go further and faster.” So, I think there’s so much truth to the value of that idea of the way you said it, and I feel like that’s what we resonate to words. In nature, it’s called the heliotropic effect. Have you ever heard that word, Jer? Heliotropic effect?

 

brotha James: Only from you.

 

Jon: Do you know what heliotropism is?

 

brotha James: No, but I have a feeling you’re going to tell us.

 

Jon: Yeah. In nature, it’s the reality that things grow towards the light.

 

brotha James: Right.

 

Jon: And in life, we move towards those things which give us life whether or not we realize it. So, when people are gravitating towards your music or towards our businesses, that’s a signal that in some way we are serving as a source of light for people to move towards. So, there you go. A little fun tidbit. All right. How about Abracadabra? This is a song that you just wrote in the last year. I’ll let you play a tune here and let’s talk about this song.

 

brotha James:

 

Abracadabra (Song)

 

I’m feeling good inside  

I really love my life  

I’m putting out these good vibes every single day  

I’m like a shining ray  

This is the way I play

I want to play like a small ray

 

Whenever I feel low, I grab a journal and my blue pen

I think about what it is I’m grateful for  

And how it is that I want to spend  

 

With these words I create, Abracadabra  

Laugh are you ready to play, La la la la la  

Let’s make today a great day, with the words that we say

Words like Abracadabra

 

Jon: With these words I create. So, what is Abracadabra all about, buddy?

 

brotha James: It’s all about the more words that we use that are working for us, the more able we are to create anything that we want in our lives. So, be careful with the words that you use and be present with the words that you use. And I just want to make a distinction that it’s the words that we use with others and the words that we use with ourselves internally. So, I notice that I have a lot of chatter in my mind where I have to redirect the way that I’m talking to myself.

 

Jon: You should maybe see a doctor about that. No?

 

brotha James: You could either see a doctor about it or you could just become aware that it’s happening and as you become aware that it’s happening, you become very patient and little by little you start to recognize that you can start to flip it. So, you can flip the conversation in your head and make it a conversation with yourself worth having.

 

Jon: I like that better.

 

brotha James: Yeah.

 

Jon: I have about nine little voices in my head.

 

brotha James: And the other part about that song is…

 

With these words I create

Abracadabra

 

Abracadabra, one of the meanings of it is with these words I create. So, the other spot that I want to hit on with that particular song and, Jon, you need to tell us the exact spot people can find the study on this. So, what’s the study where the dude sets up the room with the mirrors with people who are taking the data and they find that…

 

Jon: Sure. Marcial Losada. Yeah.

 

brotha James: Perfect. Okay. Tell us that study.

 

Jon: Sure. So, a group of mathematicians took a meeting space and they converted it into a research laboratory where they took one of the walls and they turned it into like a one-way mirror kind of thing. And over a number of years, they allowed teams to come into this space to hold meetings. So, these would be teams that would be part of different organizations from different industries, for-profit, not-for-profit. The whole point is groups of people came into this. It’s kind of like a boardroom to hold meetings over a number of years. And during these meetings, they had the whole team of people on the other side of the one-way mirrors who were transcribing and recording and evaluating all of the communication that was happening. And after, I can’t remember exactly, it may have been four, five, six, seven years, they went and they looked at a handful of outcomes.

 

So, the first thing they did is they said, “Well, let’s go find these teams that were coming into this meeting room, again and again, meeting that we were evaluating and let’s go see how they’re actually performing.” So, they had their own way of measuring performance and they put the different teams into three different buckets like here’s the low performing teams, moderately performing, and here are the high-performing teams.

 

And what they found is that there were three major commonalities that were consistent with each level of performance across these teams. And I love this particular study because it has been correlated and tested in many different environments and it’s actually one of the most widely quoted studies from the whole field of positive psychology. Oh, and the reason I love it is because the implications are so profound and yet the application of the insight is actually very simple. It’s really simple to figure out how to start to put this to work. So, what they found is that there were three different patterns. Now, two of these are rarely talked about but here on Achieve Your Goals, we will tell you what they are. One of those patterns that is often talked about is the ratio of positive to negative interactions.

 

So, they found that the low performing teams is kind of what you might have guessed. They had more negative interactions than positive probably at a rate of like 2:1. The moderately performing teams, the ratio of positive to negative was kind of the inverse of that. And then the high-performing teams and it depends on which study you go follow up on but in different environments, this has proven to be true again and again and again. For a team or group or a couple or any group of people to thrive, they have to have a ratio of positive and negative interactions. It has to be somewhere north of 3:1. Depending on which study you look at, you’ll often hear 4:1 or 5:1 but if you’re really looking at the research, you’ve got to be at least north of 3:1.

 

Now, Jer, there are two other insights from that research that are really interesting. One of them, the other thing that correlates with low, medium, and high-performing teams is the number of times they use the word “I” versus “we” in the meeting. In other words, how often are people in there representing their individual perspective versus representing the mission of the entire team? Then the third correlating insight from that research was and this is my favorite is that there was another correlation between low, medium, and high-performing teams between how often members of those teams were advocating for ideas versus inquiring with curiosity. In other words, another way of looking at it is how much time are members of that team spending trying to influence other people of their perspective versus being open to being influenced by others? And they find that it’s exactly what you might guess, the highest performing teams have a lot more curiosity versus just advocacy. So, that’s the research. If people want to go find the study, they can look in Barbara Fredrickson’s book, Positivity. The implications and the practical learning from that I think are significant.

 

brotha James: Yeah. So, everything you just said even the “I” and the “we” like there’ll be a spot in several songs so Not My Mind where it’s like:

 

Whoa whoa, I’m not my mind.

Whoa whoa, now we decide

 

So, I’m using I and we in that to help people see exactly what you just said there. Several songs coming out on the new album that are going to have that same formula of I and we. And what you said about the north of 3:1, positive to negative, that is so “with these words I create” from the song Abracadabra, when you think about “with these words I create,” literally the positive that ratio is not just for teams and groups. That study is on the individual level, individual, relational and societal so, again, going back to that dialogue we have ourselves.

 

So, another thing that I think about when I write music is, what do I need? Because I’m a human being and I’m on the same journey as everyone else. And I’m writing these songs in many ways as musical kind of messages or affirmations to myself to help me to be the change that I want to see in the world, to help me to continue to grow and have a lens in which I see the world through the words I’m using. And so, I write the songs because I’m constantly with my guitar and singing and writing. So, Abracadabra is really about pay attention to the words and use more positive words with other people and yourself and more positive, more fulfilling, and meaningful things will continue to happen, and the inverse is true. If you use more negative words with yourself and with people, your relationship, your friends, your business, yourself, if you use more negative words, you will feel worse more often.

 

Jon: Thanks for sharing this, buddy. This is really cool. I want to ask you one more question.

 

brotha James: Sure.

 

Jon: And then I want to ask you about your crowdfunding campaign coming up.

 

brotha James: Awesome.

 

Jon: Which I want to make sure everybody who’s listening like if you’re listening on 1.5 speed or 2 speed, turn it down to 1 speed because I really want you to hear about what Jer is doing and what Hal and I are going to do to support Jer with his crowdfunding campaign. But the last question I want to ask you before we get to that, Jer, is and it starts as a compliment. And one of the things that I and many others have been able to learn just by your presence is, first of all, you’re one of those incredible listeners I’ve ever met. You are one of the most present people I’ve ever met. And I’ve also as I’ve gotten to know you, those are things people get to see right away.

 

As I’ve gotten to know you even more, I’ve also come to realize you are someone who is very clear on what he values and you are constantly asking yourself can I close the gap between what I claim to value and how I’m behaving in my life which I think is a fascinating question for all of us. Like the work that I do, I’m helping organizations to close that gap, but I can’t help but ask myself that question and I’m not always excited at what that gap actually means. And I think all of us are going to have a gap between who we want to be or what we say we value and every single decision we ever make. You’re someone who’s really clear on that. Show us the shirt that you’re wearing. What does it say?

 

brotha James: It says runs on veggies.

 

Jon: Runs on veggies. So, that’s just a great – and look at your big biceps. I can see them on this. So, I can’t believe carrots and tomatoes and cabbage created those big biceps, Jer, for all of those out there who don’t think that’s possible. But actually, I’m having fun with that because that’s just another example of something you really value. Can you tell me where did that come from? Did it come from your parents? From your environment that you grew up in? Was it a change later in your life? And then my follow-on question to that is what are some of the things that you are recognizing today that you want to change to be even more in alignment with your values? Because I know that’s something you’re always thinking about. Any thoughts on that?

 

brotha James: Yeah. I think I’m definitely without a doubt some of it comes from my parents. I have amazing parents. I have amazing parents. So, I’m really fortunate to have the seed from my mom and dad and then going into the Cutco world when I was a young chap at the age of 20 years old. I got a lot of training on being aware of what we’re talking about in regard to the way that your behaviors match up with your values. And so, Cutco was a big part. Failure has taught me a lot. Failure has taught me a lot because, in many times when I fail, I see the misalignment between my behaviors and my values. And so, failure is a great teacher as well as the achievements and the successes because you can see how when you have great successes and the way it fills up your heart, many times your behaviors and your values were aligned.

 

And then there’s two more, the third and the fourth. The third is Tony Robbins. The work with Tony Robbins I literally signed up for Date with Destiny and put that money down right there and it was because of the pitch for Date with Destiny was around values and rules. The values we have and then the rules that we set enable us to reach the values. That’s a whole different conversation but that’s a spot. And fourth is, dude, being around people like you, man. Being around people like you because I can pay the same compliment to you and in many ways, we complement each other in those areas. And it’s been a great relationship and you’re someone who inspires me every single day to pay attention to those, to that gap, and I thank you for that, man.

 

Jon: I appreciate it, buddy. It means a lot. When you talk about valuing where we invest, let’s finish by talking about your Kickstarter campaign which I don’t know the exact day that we air this episode but hopefully it will be right around, right before, right at the start of the campaign. But Hal and I – what’s your highest level?

 

brotha James: My highest level is executive producer with a slew of other rewards like a private brotha James concert and some other cool perks. My highest level is $10,000 and it’s your name as executive producer.

 

Jon: Does it come with a brotha James shirt?

 

brotha James: It comes with a brotha James shirt.

 

Jon: Does it come with a CD? Not that I use…

 

brotha James: Yeah. It comes with a CD and you get a download card.

 

Jon: Could I get shirts for my kids too at that level?

 

brotha James: Yeah.

 

Jon: Okay. So, Hal and I are definitely in at that level.

 

brotha James: Awesome, man.

 

Jon: You should create at other level.

 

brotha James: Thank you. I have another level in mind for you guys right now.  

 

Jon: Okay. I like that. Hey. So, tell us all about this Kickstarter campaign. What’s your mission? What’s the goal? What do people need to do if they want to experience the benefit of even more brotha James following this conversation?

 

brotha James: Yeah. Awesome, man. Well, the best way to experience more brotha James is to go to brothaJames.com and the crowdfunding campaign. Man, the crowdfunding campaign is like a reaction to the number of people, it’s also a surrender to the number of people over the last year-and-a-half who have asked me two things. They said, “When are you coming out with more music? And how can I help make that happen?” And those two questions, the answer to those types of questions is crowdfunding. There’s a great book by Peter Diamandis called Bold and in that book, he goes all through crowdfunding. He talks about how crowdfunding is such an incredible win-win. People who are advocates or are visionaries with you in what you want to create gets to literally ride shotgun with you and be like, “Hey, here’s $25, $100, $10,000 to help you to reach your dreams so that you create something that I can then use that I know that I will value, that I know makes a positive impact in the world, that I know will bring some sort of experience to me that I want to have.”

 

And so, the crowdfunding campaign is really, like I said, it’s an answer to the call from the audience that said, “More music. How can I help?” So, I developed this crowdfunding campaign. The video is going to come out shortly and there’s going to be an album called Abracadabra and most likely the first song on the album be called the title track, Abracadabra. It’s going to be 10 to 12 songs and it’s going to be songs about the words that we use. It’s Not My Mind, Slow Down, Warrior, Loving is another name of a song. Another song is called Feeling It. Another song is called My Life. So many fun songs and great songs that’ll just get you moving, shaking, dancing, thinking. And so, the crowdfunding campaign is set up to fund that album. I’ve brought on an incredible producer who is both highly talented and highly expensive. So, it’s a combination of…

 

Jon: As he or she should be.

 

brotha James: As he is. Right now, he’s literally in the United Kingdom touring with the band, Hanson, who he says, “Those three brothers are monsters.” So, incredible producer, incredible team doing the mixing and mastering, incredible team doing artwork and design, the video, the whole thing. And so, I’m asking the crowd to go to brothaJames.com and click on the homepage. There’s going to be a link for the crowdfunding campaign. It’ll take you directly to Kickstarter and all the incentives whether you just want to be someone who donates $5 or you want to spend some money and get the digital download before it comes out to everybody else or you want to get the CD.

 

Along those crowdfunding campaign is going to be a brand-new brotha James product which is going to be a book which is going to be called, I have no idea what it’s going to be called but the kind of the prototype version is stories about songs. So, it’s going to be a CD, a book that talks about the songs, the making of the songs, the meaning of the songs, what I hope people get out of the songs, and then there’ll be things like personal day with brotha James which is one of the incentives. Private concert with brotha James. A whole bunch of stuff. Really try to create incentives that could offer at every level. I’ve got a whole lot of people who have been really supportive and they all operate at different economic levels and I want them to feel good about giving like I said $5 or $10,000.

 

Jon: That’s awesome.

 

brotha James: Yeah. So, that’s what the crowdfunding campaign is all about. It’s creating more music and one thing that I want to share about the music is that it’s all kid-friendly. It’s not necessarily made for kids because it’s really not. I don’t think about making it like kid music. I think about making it about music that kids should be listening to and that adults can enjoy but that kids could and should be listening to and I invite you to share this music with your kids and have conversation with them around it because I think it will be great dinner conversations, great on-the-way-to-school or on-the-way-to-practice conversations, a family vacation types of conversations and experiences that can be created by the music. It’s the segue, it’s the glue that can help you to have an amazing experience for yourself and with your family.

 

Jon: Yeah. Just the other day, Jer, my oldest son, Ace, he’s eight and we were going through my phone to pick music on the way to school. You know our commute. There’s enough time for half of a song and he goes, “Hey,” it is one we haven’t listened to for a while. He goes, “Hey, I want that – where’s that song it’s the best day of the life.” I’m like, “Oh, the Front Row Anthem.”

 

brotha James: Yeah, dude.

 

Jon: And it’s so cool that my kids remember your songs by certain lyrics and it doesn’t matter what the song is. The lyrics that they remember them by sometimes it’s the name of the song. Oftentimes, it’s some line in the song but what I love is that it’s always positive and that means the world to me, man. Jer, Hal and I are going to be, we’re going to compete to be your biggest supporters.

 

brotha James: Thank you so much, man. Thank you.

 

Jon: Yeah. Dude, you’ve been an anchor. You’ve been an incredible influence in everything that I’m doing professionally. You’ve been a huge influence in the events that Hal and I put on and this is the least we can do, man. And as much as I’d love to say, “Hey, we’re doing it because you’re our best friend.” You know that might be true, but I would argue that that’s not the highest reason that we’re doing it because if you and I weren’t really friends but I was still familiar with your music, we would still be supporting it because you’re creating a value in the world that none of our other friends are creating. So, we’re just excited to support you just because you’re doing such great work. And it’s a beautiful convenience that it happens to be one of our best friends. So, it’s awesome, man.

 

brotha James: Dude, I really appreciate it, man. Should we play a song as we fade out?

 

Jon: Yeah. Let’s play a song as we fade out. That sounds great.

 

brotha James: Hey, were there any requests in the thing?

 

Jon: Let me see. People have different comments. Matt said, “I hear Abracadabra coming on.” We did hit that song briefly. What would you like to play, Jer?

 

brotha James: I think what I would like to play is dedicate a song to Ace and do the Front Row Anthem.

 

Jon: Nice. There you go. Ace, this one is for you, buddy.

 

brotha James: Hey, thanks so much for having me on, man.

 

Jon: You bet, buddy.

 

brotha James:

 

Front Row Anthem (Song)  

 

I’m gonna be a moment maker  

I’m gonna make this a beautiful life

 

Oh, I just had an idea.

 

Jon: Idea? Hit it.

 

brotha James: This one’s called The Miracle Morning song. I’m going to dedicate it to Hal. I figure that Ace probably isn’t going to be one of the listeners on the podcast.

 

Miracle Morning (Song)

 

When Life is Not Where we want it to be  

When we’re getting stressed out with our reality  

 

And we’re walking out the door 10 minutes too late  

Was driving to a job that’s good not great  

 

Well, I wanna be free, I wanna live in harmony  

And I need a miracle, no more mediocrity  

 

Well, I wanna feel great, I wanna change my fate

It’s time to make it happen and I know what it’s gonna take

 

This is our miracle morning  

We’re waking up to live our dreams  

This is our miracle morning  

Bring out the best in you and me  

 

Wake up to the full potential  

Miracle morning is so essential  

Win the morning, win the day  

Work done early, I could play  

 

Change our life and our behavior

Start the day with 6 lifesavers  

Time to make a little bit of space  

Slow Down Life’s Not a race  

 

Silence is my meditation  

I program my thoughts with affirmations  

I see the future with visualization  

My body gets right with activation  

 

The words we read, read what we think

Scribe our words into the ink  

Early to bed early to rise  

Time to be healthy, wealthy and wise  

 

This is our miracle morning  

We’re waking up to live our dreams  

This is our miracle morning  

Bring out the best in you and me  

 

This is our miracle morning  

This is our miracle morning  

 

Thank you for having me on AYG, my best, JB

I want to thank you for [inaudible – 42:34]

 

Wake up to who we are  

And let go of who we’ve been  

Wake up that shining star  

And let’s be the best version  

 

Let’s be the best version of ourselves

The best version that we could be

It’s a beautiful morning, beautiful morning

This is our miracle morning  

 

Thanks to you and Hal for having me on the podcast for being such amazing friends, supporters, advocates for the change that we want to see in the world, man. It’s an honor to be on this journey with you.

 

Jon: It’s so awesome, buddy. Best is yet to come. Journey is just getting started. Love you, buddy.

 

brotha James: I love you too, man.

 

Jon: Talk to you soon. See you, buddy.

[END]