January 1, 2011
Marketing & Branding
And the show begins, 2011 is here! This will be the first year that I will fully dedicate my time and energy to giving the world a glimpse into my vision as a brand, entrepreneur and artist. I am an aspiring actor, screenwriter and model but current documentary filmmaker and entrepreneur. Since I was a kid my 1st love has always been basketball but music and entertainment was never far behind. I would study icons like Russell Simmons, Sean Combs and Sean Carter as they set trends and influenced music and entertainment culture. While most kids were simply following the trends they set I was one of the kids who would always look into why, when, where and how these influences occurred. Instead of just asking how can I become a part of the trend I always challenged them and asked myself what would I do differently and what would I keep the same. Although my dream was to be an NBA player I always knew that if I didn’t make it that one day I would want to be a motivator and innovator of my own. Well the pursuit of that dream starts today.
Music & Entertainment
I’ve always been a fan of music, it has been my 1st love alongside basketball. Due to me always playing ball my whole life I never got a chance to be involved in music or art & entertainment. I never got to play an instrument or learn how to produce music but it is a passion of mine and a dream to get involved with music one day down the road. I’ve written rap lyrics here and there and have always come up with them in my head because it was something that has come to me so easy but I am not a rapper. Or as I like to say I’m a rapper who doesn’t rap. As a kid the first genre of music I fell in love with was Hip Hop. I remember my older cousin’s taking me along with them to the store to buy Nas “Illmatic” album when I was 8 years old. From then on I was hooked and every word that I heard and didn’t know I would look up in the dictionary so I could understand everything that Nas said on that album. Literally, I let “my tape rock, until my tape popped” and then Notorious B.I.G. dropped “Juicy” off the “Ready To Die” album and I never looked back. I became HIP HOP! In that song Biggie talked about Kid Capri and other legends he had listened to growing up and that’s when I became a HIP HOP HISTORIAN! I listened to KRS-ONE, BIG DADDY KANE and many more as a 10 year old. I’ve always listened to old school Hip Hop from back then along with current Hip Hop in my tape deck, CD player and iPod up to today! Although, Hip Hop is the first genre I fell in love with, Rhythm & Blues is the genre I fell the most deeply in love with. Living in Ma$$achu$ett$, I grew up on was New Edition and Bel Biv Devoe as Michael Bivins was one of the main catalyst behind the New Jack Swing Era. Then as I did with Hip Hop I looked back into the genre and discovered legends like Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Jackson 5 all the way back to legends like Billie Holliday and Louie Armstrong! R&B and Hip Hop are my favorite genres but I love all types of music. For someone to be able to put words or feelings to different types of sounds and instruments and produce a product that makes you feel a certain way is amazing!
Although I love music and it’s my ultimate dream to get involved in it one day, I don’t feel it’s my best path to help make these lanes at this time. Even though I’m just starting to embrace it I’ve looked back into my childhood and realized that I’ve always been an entertainer. Whether it was making people laugh, impersonating actors in certain movies or putting on a show for the crowd watching me at basketball games. Over 2010, I finally came to the conclusion that acting, hosting and producing is the first move I have to make in my career in entertainment. The same way I watched legends like Diddy, Russell and Hov do their thing, I watched icons like Will Smith, Denzel Washington and Jaime Foxx. Those guys have inspired me and in studying their careers I learned something real valuable, it is a LONGGGG road to superstardom. There are a lot of hardships and struggles you have to get through in order to become a star. Its real motivating to see the actors from MA$$ that have been doing MAJOR things in 2010 and prior like Pooch Hall (Derwin Davis, BET’s “The Game”), Mark Wahlberg (The Other Guys, The Fighter, etc.), Ben Affleck and Slaine (The Town). This is the year that I will start my journey in music and entertainment, my first plan to get into music is to learn how to DJ. Not computer DJ-ing, real DJ-ing I mean Kool Herc/Kid Capri DJing! As far as acting/producing my goal is to learn to write scripts and get involved in acting classes and theatre. This is what I feel I need to do and what I am going to do! PERSEVERANCE and DIRECTION is EVERYTHING!
J.Shannon
The world is going to see a side of me that those who are close to me already know. The determined, funny and entrepreneurial visionary that few get to see will be broadcasted to the world. One thing I can never do is not be true to myself and the fans that I acquire along the way. I do want to apologize to some of the people who were close to me that I’ve hurt in the process of trying to find my path in this industry. There were a lot of things I did and changes I had to make that affected some of the most important people in my life. But when your young and trying to “chase fame” you don’t realize how you affect certain people. But I did those things so that during my pursuit I wouldn’t have to make more drastic changes along the way and I could stay true to myself as much as possible. If there is a clearer way I could explain it, it would be similar to the last verse in Maino’s song “Fame” he dropped in 2010. Back to the topic, you can find reviews on entertainment development from music, movies, entrepreneurial deals and more right here on my blog and twitter (@ makeyourowlane). Thanks for reading and I hope you take this ride to create this lane along with me because that is the purpose behind everything I do and please tell a friend! Look out for the MYOL Documentary: The Other Jay, coming June 1, 2011 to an internet site near you!
Happy New Year … Make Your Own Lane 2011!!!
