I Did It Myyyyyyyyyy Way!! (Sinatra Voice)

If there is one thing I am the most proud of in my life (outside of fatherhood) it's my music. It is the one thing I can look back on and say "I succeeded, I did it on MY OWN, and I did it my way." I know some of you wouldn't understand it because you tend to measure musical success on actually "blowing up" or "becoming mainstream", and hey, that's cool, but it honestly gives me the chills when I think about how far I came and what I have managed to accomplish in the 20 plus years I've done this ON MY OWN. I never set out to become a famous rapper or to blow up (for various reasons). I just wanted to take the talent I had and just put it to good use. Take all my built up thoughts, depression, anxiety, happiness, ups, downs, experiences, and crazy ideas and just make beautiful music out of it. I was a twelve year old kid who took two cassette players and used one to play the beat and the other to record my voice. I always had the talent and people would tell me to do something with it, and some even offered to help, and it was all good, but I always wanted to do things MY WAY. Some people would call me stupid and say I would never get anywhere trying to do it on my own and I always blew them off and let them know that I would be just fine. I've had two opportunties to sign on dotted lines but never wanted to go that route (again, for various reasons). When my bro Dre aka Skrilla Stacks was at his peak with his deal and riding a very successful wave with some of the industry's top at the time, I never asked him if he could put me on or if I could come hang or be a part of what he was doing. I stayed supporting him and I continued to do my own thing and kept doing music my way even if it meant still using those two cassette players to record. When I was dating Natalie (yea, we kept that major low key lol) while I was living in Florida/Michigan and she was riding her high wave with her group thing on her label and appearing on some popular songs that made national airwaves, I stayed supporting her while I quietly learned how to finally make my own mixtapes and built a bootleg home studio with my producer friend Casper. I didn't ask for her help or guidance or if she could help put me on because she easily could've. I wanted to do it my way and I did... on my own. People continued to praise my talent but would always let me know that I wouldn't get anywhere at all doing it on my own. I continued to blow them off, smile and tell them that I would be just fine. I kept doing it all on my own: making music, shooting my own videos, doing my own promotion, creating, editing, and posting my own mixtape preview commercials, StatTv... Never did I think it would reach some interesting names in the industry (who I would later associate with), or end up in people's cars or even be praised by people overseas. Never imagined people wearing MY "Statastic" shirts. Never imagined I would have such a huge social media following with people from all over the country (and even outside) who know who I am and know my music and check out my blogs and offerings all the time. I mean, I knew I could do it, I just never thought it would go as far as it did as far as the expectations it surpassed. Every bit of it accomplished by ME with NO HELP at all. It's just all a really proud accomplishment of mine and goes to show that when you REALLY set your mind towards something, you put your all into it, and you brush off the negativity directed at you, you can truly accomplish ANYTHING. Never let someone or something set your limitations for you. I didn't and for that, I have truly succeeded and I can hold my head up high and say "yep, I did that." Which is why my musical journey had finally come to an end. In my Frank Sinatra voice "I did it myyyyyyyy waaaaaaay".