Published: Tuesday - December 4, 2007
Words by Donny Goines
Blog by Donny Goines (Photo: Don Michaels)
The name of this blog, titled "Hustle Harder," is a dedication to a good friend of mines who passed away earlier this year. His name was David "Disco D" Shayman. Not only was he a good friend, he was also a great mentor who helped to guide me within the music business. Without his advice and help, certain things would have never been possible.
Having a mentor is something that can be really useful and benificial to you in many different ways. When your starting out, sometimes it can be hard to navigate through the music business, but having an experienced person on your side can help to make that journey a little easier. They can also help you to avoid the mistakes that many people make when entering the game. Mentors are also great when it comes to your craft and music (D helped show me why I should rap from my heart, about song arrangement and how to work very hard in the studio) and can really help you to come into your own.
Mentors can be anyone. They don't have to be artists (D was a producer) or someone rich and famous. They don't need a college education or some sort of certification either, as long as they are knowledgable, passionate and truly intrested in helping they can mentor you. If you find a person like this, I would suggest you take full advantage of the situation and absorb the all information you can. Put your pride and ego to the side, listen and take heed. Pay attention to everything this person tells you. Write things down if you have to, whatever it takes. Also don't be afraid to ask questions. I would ask D all sorts of questions and even tho he got annoyed as hell sometimes, it was well worth it. If you look at alot of successful people, you will find that many of them had mentors and speak highly of them. I am a firm believer and adovacate of mentoring and know from my own expereicne how benificial it is.
Althought D is gone I still carry with me the many lessons that he taught. It's amazing to know the logic and knowledge he passed on is still useful to this day. I learned so much from him and I will never forget all his advice and help. He's a big a reason why I give advice to you.
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