And I should get the money…”
Quoting myself (with a little help from Wu-Tang), I wrote these words a few years back to begin a lyrical poem about making money. I called it “Money for the Movement”. My inspiration – besides growing debt, bleak job opportunities, and the desire for less stress due to cash flow – was to express my reasoning of why getting money is so important in today’s world…if not yesterday and tomorrow’s worlds as well. You see, at the time, I was fresh out of college and still heavily influenced by a predominantly pure socialist way of thinking. Having studied political science, I became aware of the so many immoral actions and ill-gotten gains of countless people and nations in the name of money. Consequently, I rebeled against the idea of such behavior, surrounding myself with like-minded thinkers and building up a united mental front towards the philosophy of capitalism. To add fuel to the fire, I traveled around the “Third World” for my last semester in college (Semester at Sea, Spring '02) and concluded that with a two month stay in Nigeria, my bloodline roots, of which I had taken a decade and a half long hiatus from (not of my own doing). In Nigeria, I re-experienced what it was like to not have the resources you needed when you wanted them. It took a little getting used to again, but some things I never got used to and just wanted them changed for the better...forever. Yet, not even then was I fully convinced that making money needs to be a high priority. What really got my going about this whole idea of making money was coming to terms with my creative self and the desire to make art, and starting to calculate what it would cost to actually actualize some of these ideas.
“So now my eyes are open to the words that were spoken/
Money makes a man go to having it from hoping…”
Actualize. That’s what did it for me. From thinking up an idea to funding it to distributing it, actualizing your intentions takes money. I’ve witnessed this truth on all fronts, whether personal or not, ranging from independent music projects or budgeting for a movie, throwing a party or holding a fundraiser, money is needed in some form or another to see your dream turn to reality. And so, I’ve changed my mind about having it, using it, acquiring it. My philosophy now is that money is not the root all evil. People are the root of all evil. Our lack of self-control, self-awareness, self-respect and self-love make us act evil to each other because we don’t see ourselves in each other. We fight over crumbs and stiff our neighbor to get a bigger piece of the “pie”, yet it is that same neighbor that we will need in a different situation that will remember the wrong doing we’ve done to them and not trust us enough to help us out. It’s an age old scenario. The East calls it karma. I guess this would be bad karma. I believe in it. I also believe that using money unselfishly, yet still investing into Self, brings about good karma.
“I need this money for the movement/
Paper for the purpose/
Equity for evolution to watch my dreams surface/
I got fam overseas yall that need to eat/
And still got fam in America need relief/
I got a heart from the poor but don’t come from the streets/
Just know that: too many starve, while too few feast”
I am still a student of political science. I still want to, and will, live in the “Third World” (starting with Nigeria again) and seek to influence their policies and culture. Yet, settling in on a career in the arts has challenged me to be more about what I am saying, express this intent through action. In doing so, I have had to reexamine my relationship with money and figure out how I will fund my ambitions of being a bi-continental cultural worker and agent of change. What I have concluded is that money is going to play a big role in succeeding with this ambition. Does this make me evil? No, I don’t think so. It can’t. Because the intentions in my heart are not evil, they are pure. The intentions in my heart are good and just, thus the way I handle my money will be the same. Thus, I am rededicating my mind to thinking about getting this money. I used to think that I would feel guilty for having a lot of money, but I would willingly accept millions today if it were offered to me. Money will help my mother retire from her three jobs she works at 58 years old. Money could pay for the college education of my younger sister. Money could build in schools and feed my cousins, aunts, and uncles in Asaba, Nigeria, the place I call home in Africa. Money can create more jobs by investing into industries, small businesses, and new ideas. Money could decrease crime because basic needs and wants are met, lessening the temptation to stoop to one's lower self to get them met. Money can do a lot of good in the world if our minds and hearts are in the right places.
“Let’s be real/
Love makes the world go ‘round/
Money only makes it easier for us to exist in it/
If we know we are the children of God and can hold it down/
Why accept being broke and all its inner limits”
How you get money is just as important as getting it. I don’t condone stealing, robbing, killing, lying, or cheating to get money. At the end of the day, being a good human being and treating others the way you would like to be treated takes all precedence over getting money. However, once those things are in place, I say that you go full force about getting, receiving, acquiring, obtaining, attaining, and holding onto money in the moral manner that you see fit. It can, and probably will, make a world of difference. I write all of this today as a reminder to myself, and anyone else who reads it, to give ourselves permission to be financially well-off. If you work hard you should be rewarded. It just so happens that many of those rewards come in the form of money these days. So why not accept it? You are not a bad person for doing so. A lot of good can come out of it if you will it to. And so, if you already have the will to make the world a better place, go ahead and make a little money to help you in your mission. I guarantee that it will help.
Well, there's really not much more to say. I’ll simply leave you with the last line of the poem:
“Get that money yall”
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