Uploaded and Unfiltered: Conversations about Personal Growth, Mindsets, and Advice with BIPOC Creators for Creators

I'm Listening to Music Differently Nowadays

• Jermaine Pulliam • Season 1 • Episode 75

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Ever wonder how a simple shift in mindset can transform your journey in content creation? This episode of Uploaded and Unfiltered promises a deep dive into the power of embracing authenticity and connecting with your audience. Reflecting on my own journey, I discuss the pivotal transitions from solo episodes back to engaging conversations with guests, and how music from artists like Tyler the Creator and Kendrick Lamar has inspired personal growth. I share my decision to switch from Spotify to Apple Music, aligning my streaming choices with my values around fair artist treatment. This isn't just about music—it's about understanding and shaping the narratives we consume and contribute to.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome. Welcome back to another episode of uploaded and unfiltered, the podcast in which I, your host, interviews another content creator in regards to their journey thus far. Sometimes on uploaded and unfiltered, I go solo, which I've been doing for the last few weeks because I was moving. Now that I'm done moving, I am spinning up the old invite guest train, so I will be having more guests on. I know I said that last week, but hey, I'm not rushing anything, I'm not trying to do anything that before it needs to be done. I'm making sure that I have everything set up the way that I wanted. My lights are up, my computer's up, I still need to work on my stream, but other than that, I'm not pushing anything faster than it needs to go. So all in due time. But today, as always, I do have a topic, and the last few weeks I've been listening to a ton of music, in fact this entire year. So we're going to talk a little bit about mindset, not only in regards to your own mindset, but the mindset of the people that are consuming your content. That is something that I've really never thought about or worried about, but it's something that I think if we do keep in mind when we're making content, it will be easier for us to attract our audience. So so sit back, relax. It's not going to be a long podcast, but I am going to drop some gems that I came across this weekend. It kind of blew my mind and I can't wait to share that with you. So, if you haven't already, go ahead and subscribe to the podcast. We're going to get this out the way early. If you know any other creators who can benefit from information or stories like these, please share the podcast with them. It helps out a ton. I'm trying to reach as many people as possible, because my goal in life one of my goals in life is to help black content creators make more content so we can control our narrative. Simple as that.

Speaker 1:

Now on to the mind-blowing revelation that I have had over the last few weeks. So let's start with this. I recently canceled my spotify subscription for a number of reasons. Keep amount is they keep going up in price, and I already have access full access to apple music. So it was kind of dumb for me to pay for both situations. While I'm not like directly playing paying for apple music, I'm using other services that it's bundled with, so it just came with the package. So, yeah, it was time to cut some corners. Also, spotify is a company suspect. I don't really think they have the artists in mind when it comes to making these platforms or making money for the artists. So mind, when it comes to making these platforms or making money for the artist.

Speaker 1:

So, and after a number of just different things, I've heard the ceo and different people who work there. Just hearing them talk although you know what I'm done, I'm done giving you 23 a month anyway. So I canceled it and immediately it was a span of a month. The first week they send a few emails like, hey, are you sure you want to cancel? What if it was a span of a month? The first week they sent a few emails hey, are you sure you want to cancel? What if it was cheaper? You should, uh, you should, join us again. You won't get a miss out on all your playlists. And then it just got desperate, like four or five emails a day, but one that they put out. That didn't, it didn't. It wasn't even close to getting me back, but I was like, oh, that's all right, whatever, I'm not gonna miss. That too much was my spotify unwrapped remix playlist. Here's all the musics you listen to this year.

Speaker 1:

And while I love, I'm a data man. I love data. If you give me data and statistics on things that I'm doing, I love it. That's why I can't wait until I can see, like I wish tiktok would just give me access to everything they think they know about me, because I just want to see what that looks like. I'm super interested. Anyways, I canceled that, went over to Apple Music. That really doesn't have anything to do with my point, but I just want to let everybody know that I no longer have Spotify. So if you send me links to Spotify, I probably haven't listened to the song that you sent me, so that's my fault. Probably haven't listened to the song that you sent me, so that's my fault.

Speaker 1:

This year, my favorite three albums, or three artists that put out albums this year, are doshi, kendrick and tyler the creator. And as I was thinking about all the music I was listening to this year and just the mindset that I was in it got me thinking about growth, and specifically with Tyler the creator Now, as you all know, I'm probably older than most of y'all listening to this, and when Tyler first came out, I was either not listening to music like that or, and it's probably more this reason he was just his music did not speak to me. He was young and I didn't sit down and listen to an album. I was seeing clips of videos of him doing dumb shit or doing dumb shit with his friends, and at the time I always equated it to me being older. Oh, I'm not listening to that music because I'm older and because that's what I've always heard my entire life. There's always that one person is like oh man, back in my day, music used to be like this, and the more I thought about it because, tyler, he's still. He's still the art. I'm not saying he's the same person, but he's still an artist.

Speaker 1:

He put out music, he's been doing it, and this his last two albums really spoke to me, really got me to listen to what he was saying, and the thing that I realized that changed for both of us is mindset. His mindset is in a different spot than he was when he was first making music. Therefore, the music he's making is different. Yes, I know that makes sense, but also for me, when I was whatever age I was when his first album came out, I was in a different mindset. It had nothing to do with age. While mindset can be tied to age, I don't think they're mutually exclusive. I think a 14-year-old could have a great mindset and I think a 60-year-old can have a shitty one. I don't think age has anything to do with it, but at the time, my mindset was not ready to listen to what he was playing. At that time, our mindsets were not in the same room. Therefore I could not enjoy his content, and I think that goes for everything.

Speaker 1:

If we are not in the right mindset, there are just pieces of content that we're not going to jive with, which should be two things. It should be something powerful for you to realize or recognize. That means that anybody who's consuming your content and if they're rocking with it, they are in the same mindset that you are when you're making it. So, rather than worry about those people who are complaining about your content or not understanding why you do what you do, rather than giving them energy, remember that they're not in the same mindset as you. Therefore, you shouldn't have to worry or don't waste any energy on it. Let them do what they do complain, whine, be upset. That has nothing to do with you Because, again, y'all don't have the same mindset.

Speaker 1:

And once I realized that, not only in my content, just in life in general, like if you don't have the same mindset as me, I don't really give a fuck what you say, like I'll listen but I'm not going to emotionally react to dumb shit you say, because we don't have the same mindset, we don't have the same perspective, so anything you say is from a different point of view. That is now mine, does not align with my values, does not align with the way I see the world. So there is zero reason for me to get upset or mad or anything that would cause me any anguish because you don't have the same mindset. And that's why I think I enjoyed this last two toddler creators it was probably even three, for sure, the last one he put out damn, it was so good. And that takes me to doshi. I heard a mixtape of her years ago before she blew up and just the things that she was saying in her record aligned with the mindset that I was in and it stayed that way. And then the fact is gotten even stronger. Whatever album she puts out, especially his last project like the things that she is saying, or the way that she feels or the way that she is viewing the world. I can understand. Therefore, I'm really into your music.

Speaker 1:

And then it takes us. That takes us to Kendrick Lamar. Now, when it comes to music, I encourage everybody to go listen to your favorite artists, and listen to it with the thought of what mindset were they in when they were making this content. Because I think I came in on damn as far as Kendrick goes, but I've always been a fan of his, but he has always had this. I don't want to say he's always had the same mindset, but he has themes, the tie to let the listener know what his mindset is throughout his whole career, from the beginning. Like he has not changed. If anything, this has only gotten louder and stronger with his opinion, with his thoughts, with his hey, this is how I feel. I don't give a fuck if you don't like it or not. That blew my mind. Like he's been so consistent with his message, the way he feels, the way he views things, and it's very inspirational, because that allowed me to look at the content that I'm putting out, or look at the content that I will be putting out in the future, and with the thing in the back of my head with the thought of hey, I'm going in it with this mindset, the reason I'm making this content is X, y and Z. This will align with the people who have that same mindset, and if it doesn't, then that's okay. Then you just don't have the same mindset as me and I move on to the next one. So I don't.

Speaker 1:

There's that, that piece of our brains that worry about oh my God, is this content going to be good? Is people going to enjoy it? That is gone now, because I don't give a fuck, because, of course, the people who have the same mindset as me are going to get it. Or to see people who have thoughts about changing their mindset. Maybe I'm going to say something that piques their interest and they're gonna be like oh, I didn't even know that was an option. They're gonna become part of my audience. So I no longer worry about who's gonna get my kind like.

Speaker 1:

I have an ideal set of people in my head of who I want to enjoy and engage with my content. I have a set of people in my head or who I want to enjoy and engage with my content. I have a set of people in my head of who I want to help do the things that I do, or do things that they want to do that I've never even heard of, but I know that are possible. I have a avatar of who that person is or who those people are, but again, it all comes down to mindset. So, rather than trying to envision a person or a specific group of people, I'm going to start focusing on the mindset that I want to portray to the world. I'm going to start focusing on the mindset that I want the people who are engaging with my content to have, and the more that I'm my authentic self, the more that I show up as who I want to be in this world.

Speaker 1:

People will either fuck with it or they won't, but at the very least, they can ask questions of like why do you do this? And I can answer in a nice way, and either they're going to love it or they hate it, or they're going to come aboard or whatever it may be. Whatever the case may be, but I no longer entertain those thoughts and it's been super, powerful, super. I'm just grateful that I had that little lesson when it came to why some music I can listen to and some that I can't. And I want to be honest. I never wanted to live listen to a drake album. I never had the words or I never put it past. This doesn't sound good in my ears and I left it at that.

Speaker 1:

And like when I was younger, in high school, yeah, I was listening to like rap music, like people, gangster music, hot boys, no limit, west Coast I was listening to everything. But I think that I was listening to it, not glorifying or thinking, oh, this is how life is. This is not the only perspective that I had in life. This was me stepping into the world of somebody who looks like me but has a totally different world experience than I do, and I got to sit in and listen on that and that was very beneficial to me. Like I didn't listen to it as like, oh, this is what I want to do. I was listening to it as a, okay, this is what's happening in other sides of the world. This is other people who look like me, what they are experiencing. I would have never known that it wasn't for this rap music. So I'll tell that to say this Figure out the mindset of the people that you want to interact with, you want to make content with or do you want to make content for and chase that.

Speaker 1:

Don't chase trends, don't chase things that don't align with who you are or who you want to be. Taste those things that speak to you, because, at the end of the day, if a person is upset with a piece of content you made and if they don't have the same mindset as you or the same perspective as you, arguing with that person is pointless. It's a waste of energy and it's a waste for both of you to get upset for no reason. Because, again, especially if they don't want to learn, if they're not willing to learn or listen, if you're listening to somebody and you immediately want to cut them off, more than likely you're not listening to understand. You're listening to defend or you're listening to rebut. Listening to understand will keep your ass silent. To rebut, listening to understand will keep your ass silent and, trust me, I am notorious for cutting people off during a heated back and forth. I'm working on it, but the more that I do it, the more I have to tell myself hey, listen to understand, understand why they did what they did. Then you explain hey, this is how I felt and this is what you made me feel like, and then eventually get to a point where everything's good to go.

Speaker 1:

No more sitting back waiting for something to happen. You need to push forward for your dreams to come true. I'm sitting in a room where I'm on the third floor. Outside this door is all my space. It is all my space to create the things that I've dreamed of creating. I've dreamed of this space for three, four years, and without pushing forward and making moves, it would have never happened. I could have sat there and waited oh, when I get time where I can't wait till it happened. But no, I promise you, one day we sat in the living room and we're like, hey, are we doing this or this? Are we doing this? All right, bet, let's get the ball rolling. And two and a half months later or three months, I don't even know how long it took we're here now.

Speaker 1:

So never give up on your dreams. If you think of something, then it is worth exploring. If you thought of something, a content idea or somebody you want to collab with and you were excited about it, pace that. Don't let that die, no matter how hard or impossible it may seem. Keep pushing towards it and, the journey along the way, figure out how to enjoy that, because if you get to the point where you enjoy the journey to your goal, there's no reason for you to stop. And stopping and not being consistent is what kills dreams and what keeps people in places they don't want to be, is what keeps people stuck, or the illusion of being stuck, because they stop because it didn't go the way they want it, like. I don't know how many ways I can say don't do that shit. But don't do that shit, that's it, I'm done.

Speaker 1:

I hope y'all had a great listening experience. I'm going to go ahead and edit this, get it up and keep our streak of 75 weeks going. Also, I'm super excited. I know I said this last week, but I'm excited to get back to streaming. I have so many ideas that I just I get to a point where it's like I need to remember that everything takes time and not to be frustrated with myself that I didn't put something out or that the idea that I wanted to do for weeks has not been executed upon yet, because everything takes time and it will get done and once it's done, it'll be amazing, and then I get to move on to the next. Other than that, I appreciate y'all for listening.

Speaker 1:

Like I said before, go ahead and send this to someone who you think could benefit from hearing words of encouragement, words of affirmations or just different stories about content creation from people who look like you, who have experienced things that you want to experience, just so you know that it is possible. The more perspectives you have in your life, the more views of a problem or an angle or any of that stuff that you have, the more beneficial it will be for you in the future. You'll be able to problem solve quicker. You'll be able to think of ideas faster because you have a wealth of different perspectives, point of views and ideas to pull from. Simple as that. Other than that, as always, protect your mental, keep creating content and I'll see you in the next one. Peace.