I hear you, I see you, I stand by you.
Listen:
Educate yourself:
Do something:
https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
https://www.pb-resources.com/
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I never know how to start these so let’s try with the day this song was born…
It was a weeknight about a year ago. My cuz Christian and I were hooping on the court across the street from my place. Light from the adjacent Coca-Cola factory barely illuminated the closest basket, but that didn’t stop us from playing 1-on-1. After being handed a fresh pair of broken ankles I tossed up a free throw. *brick*
Before we played we’d decided we wanted to make a song together but were having trouble coming up with a concept. The best idea we had was to shoot around basketballs instead of ideas. Thinking aloud I attempted another free throw. *brick jr.*
Nothing we shared seemed to land with each other and on top of that I was getting pissed that I couldn’t make a dang shot. I lined up for a final free throw attempt and as I released a subconscious thought slipped out of my head “why wasn’t Shaq good at free throws?” *swish*
I’ve always been a fan of the big man, both in the NBA and out. He played bully ball, he broke backboards and he had his own TV Game Show. He could do everything… except shoot, especially free throws. So back to the thought, “why wasn’t Shaq good at free throws?” I didn’t know at the moment, but I did know Christian and I HAD to build a song around “Shaq’s Free Throws” because why not?
So how? How could we turn this concept into something more meaningful? And meaningful in what way? These questions remained unanswered even after we had laid down some initial lyrics and melodies, so we let the song go for a bit. Maybe the idea would come to us…
So I spent some time looking into content covering Shaq and his free throw shooting ability… I even found an article where he comments on it himself. He credits the man upstairs for keeping him in check despite a good amount of work spent trying to improve himself. Although, I like that message, it wasn’t one that resonated too much with me, nor was it a message that was intended to have some existential meaning. So, like my brain does, it found not one, but two. Just two though, sorry LeBron.
- Your weaknesses define you just as much as your strengths do.
- Once you learn to embrace your weaknesses, you can teach yourself to wield them the same way you wield your strengths.
Simply put, you are good at some things and not so good at others. A weakness doesn’t make you less you nor does it make you more you. The same goes for strengths, and only you can decide whether or not to accept that.
If you choose to ignore your weaknesses, you don’t get to factor them into decision making. If you choose to accept and embrace them, you do get to factor them into the equation making those decisions objectively more informed.
Soooo yeah. Mix those themes with some reals and feels and you get a little ditty called “Shaq’s Free Throws.”
Special thanks to Christian Unlayao (thebandminsan) for helping me write and produce one of my favorite songs to date! Much love, cuz!
As always, thanks for reading my words.
✌️‘n Carrots,