The formula of Wayne: Guidelines to help you get noticed, accepted and relevant.

One time, I watched an exclusive MTV base interview of Lil’ Wayne. Though I am not a fan, I could not help but admire the attitude of this rapper towards his music career and the kind of energy he puts into his work.  I was amazed when his manager spoke about a time Lil’ Wayne ‘stopped writing songs and started recording them’.  I heard he went into the studio and for days, recorded all the songs he had written down and since then he stopped writing and just kept on recording.  I heard him say something like:

He recorded all his songs (written) and put them all out. He stopped writing.

He had ‘Too much of his material out there’.  No doubt he became number one. They now had too much of him. They had all they wanted so they kept demanding for more.

Too much of his songs were out there; out of the paper and his head, put on CD and poured out into the street.  It was inevitable that he would grab their attention and they would listen.  

In this interview, I caught a formula and I call it ‘The formula of Wayne’. It’s a formula of consistency and productivity. If you are about music and you don’t release music as often, you could become irrelevant. The more (on time and on target) you put out your music (especially as a growing artiste) the more the chance you have to be noticed, get attention  and patronized -especially if you are good at what you do.

I believe this kind of success is not by accident just like that of some other renowned celebrities that a lot of upcoming acts dream to be like.

I don’t understand why an upcoming act wants 2face type of money but can’t be half   as consistent and as hardworking as he is.  

There is no profit in waiting for eons of years with various excuses before you put out your music. What doesn’t even make sense at all is hoarding your music. The 300 songs that you’ve written on your notepad stacked in your wardrobe won’t become hit songs just like that, neither will the tons of recorded singles you piled up in the corner of your bedroom go viral on their own.

Here are a few guidelines to help you:

Stop Procrastinating- wait no more for a perfect time or the perfect condition to release your work.  There is never a perfect time or condition but a right time.

Don’t release your work too late.  Make sure your finished work does not remain in the studio or on the ‘desk’ for too long. Change is inevitable. New sound comes into the market too often these days. 

Make sure your material is good, challenging and unique. Like I always say, find your strength/uniqueness and build on it.

Be positive. Be hopeful.

Don’t be afraid to launch your music. If you are being skeptical about whether you would be accepted or not, you can’t really say, because you’ve not tried.

Start small.

Start with what you have: Start with your demo, one single, 2 singles…just start.

Let out- stop bottling it in. Let it all out, especially if you are new. You are free to experiment as this would help you find your sound and your fans. Bring it on.

Appreciate your music and stop unreasonably comparing it with what’s already in the market. You can start new things; you can raise the bar, even set a new direction.

Find a way or an avenue of letting out: Find opportunities to perform your music every now and then. You could attach yourself with a band so you can perform alongside when they have gigs or strike a deal with a club (or various clubs) where you can perform regularly.  

Grow/ progress: Make sure you don’t remain where you started.  Ensure that there is steady progress.