The BEGINNING of the END...

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 1^st 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 1^st 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!!!

The END in to the BEGINNING...

December 31, 2010

Life

If there is one thing that I truly learned this year is the saying that “all good things must come to an end”. This time last year I was a senior in college, a college basketball player preparing for a basketball tournament in LA and a radio personality on WERS 88.9 FM going on air for New Years and now I sit here a year later with none of those titles. Even though I do not officially hold those titles it doesn’t mean that I am not still those things. Anyone who knows Jeremy knows that I ALWAYS have been and will ALWAYS be a basketball player. It is a lifestyle and mentality that I’ve adopted that will never go away. To be able to hit the court and compete against your opponent both as a team and individually is a feeling that I’ve lived for and continue to carry over in my everyday life and also on my pursuit of a career in entertainment. I am also still a student, I love to study, comprehend and apply theories, information and knowledge that I gain in any field that I focus in. The personality part of me is something that is really natural for me to embrace because even when I was on the radio or in front of the cameras I NEVER put up a façade or created a name that didn’t truly resonate with who I am as a person in REAL life.

What I’ve also come to realize is I’m just another person in this world who is trying to maintain, move forward and make it big. So I won’t be surprised if only 5 people read this blog post when I do post it but my ultimate goal is not for 1 million people to read it right away but eventually, over time. But as long as it motivates at least one person when they read this, it serves its purpose. Everything that I have the power of creating in life and entertainment is done with a purpose to build up to where I really want my life to be and the same goes for my brand. I want those who read this now to grow with me on my journey in life to become the best person I can be and on my journey in entertainment to influence a generation of people and show them my development from someone young who had a dream to becoming someone with major success. This part of this blog post is called “Life”. “Life” right now is literally unbelievable! We lived in 2010 where the 1st BLACK PRESIDENT held office! I’ll say it again BLACK PRESIDENT, when less than 50 years ago the Civil Rights Movement was a massive struggle for African-Americans in this country. I don’t mean to involve race but I reference that story to say this, anything in this world is possible, PERSEVERANCE and DIRECTION is EVERYTHING!™ That goes for people of all races, from all parts of the world.

Basketball

2010 was the last year that I ever played organized basketball for accomplishment and advancement to a next level. If you have read my previous blog posts’ you would know that I was prepared for this time to come 4 years prior to my last game as a college basketball player as I had considered not playing in college. So, now that the time had finally come I felt like I was more at peace with letting go. I knew this time was coming soon and that my dreams to me an NBA player were not attainable a while ago, which is why I chose to attend Emerson College and play for one of the smartest coaches in the country, Hank Smith. My last semester this year was one that I will never forget because I played EVERY game like it was my last, through injury and all. But the experiences I had at practice laughing with my coaches and teammates are what really matter at the end of the day. I’m just glad that I got to set some records in my league as the 1^st player to EVER win both Defensive Player and Player of the Year and also the first player ever to have 1500 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists. I’m not writing these accomplishments to brag but basketball has been my life since I was in the cradle. I could have gone to higher level schools and done well but Emerson College is where I chose to go and those are the accomplishments that I attained that no one before had been able to do and I am proud of that. I believe that those accomplishments mirror my work ethic more than just the talent that was given to me because I busted my ass on both ends of the floor every possession of every game!

This year I got 2 opportunities to play basketball over seas in Romania and on top of the offers not being great, my heart was just not into basketball anymore. I say that to bring light to the fact that I am one of the lucky young men who has an opportunity to do be successful in something other than playing basketball and that’s due to the support system my parents and family have given me which I thank God for every day. But so many of my friends and other young men that are my age didn’t have that support system. So what do they do when basketball doesn’t work out? Its not just basketball players but those kids who don’t have support systems or opportunities is the reason why I chose not to pursue a professional basketball career but begin my journey to provide a positive role model to kids in my community and eventually provide positive opportunities for people all over the world.

Jeremy

As I said before, I’m just another person in this world who is trying to maintain, move forward and make it big. To all the young and independent ladies, keep your head up because y'all are the future. To every woman that I've ever loved or shared feelings with, it was for a reason, know that I'll always be here for you if you ever need my help. To all my nillz that are gone, RIP. To all my nillz still here, real recognize real. Everything that I’m doing on my journey to be successful in life and in entertainment are things that other people are doing and that YOU CAN DO, #MYOL. But behind the scenes of all the entertainers, celebrities and sports figures we all love is a person and sometimes fans forget about that. Sometimes we get to see that person and sometimes that is kept personal. 2010 is the year that I made that transition into establishing my brand and what parts of my life I will allow the world to see.

So this is Jeremy Shannon, I’m a person just like you. This year I had my heartbroken by my 1^st love, basketball. I went through a couple of months of depression because of that and life experiences from love, family problems, bills, deaths, etc. I had great times and bad times in 2010. On my birthday this year I had to attend a funeral for my dear friend and basketball fanatic, Dwayne Broadus. Like his name, my love for basketball will always live on, RIP Butta! I say all these things because I’ve studied and seen how the world reacts when someone decides to chase their dream in entertainment. The hate, love, fair-weather fans but at the end of the day I want everyone to know that I let you know who Jeremy was before anyone knew who J.Shannon is.

"Make Your Own Lane"™

2010 and Beyond!