I just received a phone call from a good friend of mine in Ohio. She's a spoken word artist who's stage name is "NeoSouljah".I first met Neo in 2008 during an event held for an internet radio program out of Philadelphia known as Spotlight on Jazz and Poetry. Neo and I were among several other artists that the host of the show, Clayton "Big Trigger" Corley, chose to showcase. We became friends and kept in touch, with the desire to do some work on each others' future albums at some point.
Long story short, Neo beat me to the punch and had me featured on one of the tracks of her newest album that has just been released.
This is where the phone call comes in...
NeoSouljah wanted to let me know that a major music software company called Propellerhead, that endorses the producer of her new album (her producer's name is Mike Loyd and he is credited with mixing many of the albums that came from the Death Row Records label), has decided to feature the track that I recorded on for her on their website!
But that wasn't all.
Neo conferenced in Mike Loyd and proceeded to tell us that the Fox network has a heavy interest in using that same track that I recorded on as the theme song for a new TV series that they will be airing soon.
After hearing all of that, if I would have smiled any bigger, my head would have exploded!
And then there is the text message I got a couple of days ago from another friend of mine. Her name is Jill Washington Burrus and she lives in North Carolina. Jill and I met and dated together between 1991 and 1992. Jill is an artist and has shown herself to be a very talented painter, with a very recognizable style that she can call her own.
In any case, Jill was texting me to let me know that she had just secured a building that will become her very own art gallery!
Both the news from Neo's phone call and Jill's text message were truly exciting to me. But, you may be asking yourself, "what does that have anything to do with the title of this blog. And, why should I care?"
Well, lets put it this way...these women are getting it DONE!
It's so inspiring to see other artists, especially ones that I know well, work their way through some really rough times, only to finally gain an important triumph. All of us artists gain strength from such stories, because it provides us with the hope we must always keep in our back pocket that the incredible trouble we go through to live the life that we do, and produce the art that we do, is worth it all at the end.
In a broader sense, the reason that you should care is because these women should serve as a reminder that we ALL need to find a source of inspiration and hope during the challenging times that most of us are finding ourselves in these days. And, we all need to remember that, no matter how difficult things may get at times, there is always a way to triumph as long as we are willing to work hard enough and find new ways to be resourceful.
I'm so proud to have these two incredible artists as friends and I marvel at how good they are at their respective mediums. I would encourage anyone who reads this blog entry to at least check out their work, even if you don't end up purchasing anything. Here's where you can find them:
NeoSouljah - New CD release is located at Amazon.com and iTunes (just put her name into the search engine of either website).
Jill Washington Burrus - her website is at www.thecreativelounge.org and the address to her new brick and mortar art gallery is 300 S. Main Street, Winston-Salem, NC
Written by Shenole Latimer
