if I go to a white school them kids
quiet if I go to a Latino school a quiet
the only kids that disrespect me is
black kids it’s not somebody’s fault if
their father was an abusive alcoholic
but it’s for damn sure their
responsibility to figure out how they’re
gonna do with those traumas and try to
make a life out of it I’m very proud of
Who I am today and people could look at
me and say if he can make it I could
what’s that belief nation at seven my
one word is believe and I believe in you
I believe you have Michael Jordan level
talent at something and I want you to
find it embrace it and use it to make a
difference in this world now I started
the black excellence series because I
don’t pretend to be a black man or know
what it’s like growing up as a black
person in America but I do believe that
you can support one community without
putting the other one down so the aim of
this series is to shine a light of
excellence on the black community enjoy
alright let’s kick it off with rule
number one do your best with Eric Thomas
and you go ahead and learn to laugh and
joke when teachers trying to teach you
you got the nerve to act a fool when
somebody cares about you you talking
while I’m talking do you know if I’m
going to a Jewish school them kids quiet
if I go to a white school them kids
quiet if I go to a Latino school a quiet
the only kids that disrespect me is
black kids that’s it my own are the only
ones to disrespect me I walk in any
other school day like that go et we take
your notes I come home you talking you
cap and jokes you think something funny
look how we live and ain’t nothing funny
ain’t nothing funny y’all look when I
got my PhD what embarrassed me I’m in
there they asking me like what’s wrong
with our urban schools like why you
asking me I’m in class is like you in
class every ought to print the teachers
want to know professors want to know why
are your kids what’s the problem in the
school system I’m embarrassed y’all I’m
a grown man I’m
bears if they talk about jaw and you
know while I’m in bears because what
they don’t know is you ain’t even trying
when you take the test you didn’t give
your best they think you dumb you ain’t
dumb you can’t take our people from
Africa and put us in a diaspora and
spread us all over the world and we
survived slavery and we can’t pass the
test come on
I stupid you take everything from us and
we still survive and you gonna tell me
we can’t learn how to write have you
lost your mind we are survivors that’s
all we do is survive and you gonna come
and tell me you can’t take a test no you
can take the test the problem is when
you take the test you barely take the
test I challenge you to go in there and
get that doggone piece of paper and that
pencil and do your best I challenge you
rule number two take responsibility with
Will Smith I was just having a debate
with a friend of mine and we got stuck
when the difference between fault and
responsibility she kept talking about
how something was somebody’s fault
somebody’s fault and I was like it
really don’t matter whose fault it is
that something is broken if it’s your
responsibility to fix it for example is
it’s not somebody’s fault if their
father was an abusive alcoholic but it’s
for damn sure their responsibility to
figure out how they’re gonna do with
those traumas and try to make a life out
of it it’s not your fault if your
partner cheated and ruined your marriage
but it is for damn sure your
responsibility to figure out how to take
that pain and how to overcome that and
build a happy life for yourself fault
and responsibility do not go together it
sucks but they don’t when something is
somebody’s fault
we want them to suffer we want them
punished we want them to pay and we want
it to be their responsibility to fix it
but that’s that’s not how it works
especially when it’s your heart your
heart your life your happiness is your
responsibility and your responsibility
alone as long as we’re pointing to fame
and and stuck in whose fault
something is we’re jammed and trapped
into victim mode when you’re in victim
mode you’re stuck in suffering the road
to power is in taking responsibility
your heart your life your happiness is
your responsibility and your
responsibility alone rule number three
defy the odds with Damon Johnny I’m most
proud of being able to escape the
clutches of everybody else’s goals that
they set for me when I was 16 and 20
years old like most of the people that
grew up in neighborhoods that uh that
people told me are going to be dead or
in jail or they weren’t good because of
their color of their skin or education
because they didn’t have any money and I
escaped those I escaped those goals that
was set for me by society by people in
the neighborhood who may not have had
the right support system around them and
I defied those those odds and I became a
person that I’m very proud of Who I am
today and people could look at me and
say if he can make it I could make it
rule number four do things your way
with drink what was the response you get
as a Canadian black Jewish rapper trying
to get attention in the US I think that
details of my my like background kind of
came afterwards I think what caught
first was the music and I think what
became almost more appealing was like
this is the guy that I remember those
moments from people like wait wait this
guy is this guy like people really you
know drawing the the connection and I
always say I wouldn’t have it any other
way men I wouldn’t have it any other way
because I truly don’t know if I’d be
here if I didn’t have so much to
potentially overcome as some people may
look at it I mean you don’t look at it
that way not really because you know I’m
from Toronto I’m from a place where it’s
a true mosai
you know there’s weird to me the most
open-minded place you can possibly find
yourself so I don’t ever look at it as
that you know but there are other places
that you go where it’s just not so it’s
it’s not that simple you know and yeah I
never looked at it as overcoming
anything I was just like man I just got
to be a good rapper but you know to a
lot of other people they’re like wait
wait wait let your Canadian your Jewish
and your half but you know it’s just
like mind-blowing things to them but
like I said yeah I don’t think that you
know it wasn’t like all my mixtape cover
just said like the new Canadian half
black Jewish I got I do it was like
advertised people had to go kind of find
out about me and I think when they did
it made the story even more interesting
I like I said I wouldn’t want that to
change rule number five ignore the
naysayers with Lupita Nyong’o when I
watched the color purple and saw Oprah
and Whoopi Goldberg a seed was planted
in my heart to be an actor but I dared
not water it in public you see being an
actor wasn’t an honorable thing to do
especially not for a politician’s
daughter
it was thing it’s something that a child
did and grown-up children did but not
anyone else I pursued acting
opportunities on the side and as long as
it was extracurricular and not my focus
it felt safe and acceptable mind you my
parents never put any pressure on me to
be one thing or another but it was the
expectations from the larger society
that kept me ashamed of the real desire
of my heart and so I got down to the
most important work figuring out what
steps would get me to being an actor the
actor I wanted so badly to be I had an
action plan something to work towards
getting into the Yale School of Drama
for acting training to go after my goal
to attend the Yale School of Drama meant
that I would have to confront my fear of
failure of not being good enough as I
boarded the plane to the US there were
naysayers
in my head telling me I was crazy that I
shouldn’t even bother over 900 people
audition for 15 spots each year and yet
there was a part of me that knew I could
do it even when the part of me that said
it was impossible was louder our dreams
arise from our imaginations they belong
to us we owe it to ourselves to try and
realize them to encourage myself I wrote
in my diary on the 23rd 3rd of August
2008 I have this dream too and desire to
be an actor and it Dwarfs me but it is
my dream goddammit I made it up how can
what I dream up defeat me rule number 6
prove yourself with Virgil applo
when I used to by Jordan or like look at
on Air Max 90 that tinker did I was like
I want to be the intern that sits in the
room want to be a designer I just wanted
to be in the same room that because
somebody does that like where does that
happen I was such a fan like it you know
there’s real people in that room how do
I get and so that’s what I did
and there’s like you know getting a
project with Nikes and they almost
impossible
but I did it in my own way I did another
price the same way I advocate other
people do it too don’t just go to where
you think you want to work and to say
hey I want to work there you have to do
something that they see value in so that
the conversation is shorter rule number
seven turned difficulties into
opportunities with Whoopi Goldberg do
you think your dyslexia got you to where
you are today I’m sure it had a large a
large hand in it yeah and the fact that
since I was born I’ve always known I
wanted to pretend to put myself in other
time periods to be able to pretend to be
another species I mean that stuff to me
is interesting and it helps my mind
x-ray yeah it’s our way of escaping the
real life and I think normal people
can’t really do that they have a harder
time I think they have a very hard time
and for that what would you say is the
most challenging part of having dyslexia
and what advantages do you think that
has given you I think the advantage is
my brain sees and puts information in my
head differently mm-hmm
sometimes more interestingly I think
then then if I saw like everyone else I
think it’s less challenging now because
we have some idea about it but I think
the challenge will always be how we see
ourselves not as folks with a handicap
but folks with an interesting
perspective on everything sure and rule
number eight the last one before a very
special bonus clip is learn to handle
rejection with Michael B Jordan I’m
interested in the audition process is so
tricky and it’s you know rejection is
hard at any age but as a kid how did you
you know tolerate it I think it was a
few times that I thought I I booked it
like for sure and you didn’t and then
like just being heartbroken and you know
having my mom and my dad kind of pick up
the pieces and I think that that was the
you know the few times that they
actually you know started the question
themselves are we doing the right thing
by letting them do it and do this and
try to act and take on this this
profession that you know is such a
gamble as a lottery you know such a
lottery and you just train yourself to
like manage your expectations for the
most part when it comes to auditions I
used I know a system that I started
doing was like after the audition after
I left out I would just throw my sides
away you know they really want me I’ll
just print them out again you know I’ll
go out and I’ll go through the house
it’ll go to Kinko’s and I’d have a print
of the timing and print him on again
and that was just my way of training
myself to just forget about it when you
leave you know it’s not that side of
your hands you’d up you’ve done all you
can do worrying about it it’s not gonna
excuse me help you get the job so um I
mean it’s tough you know when it has
nothing to do with you you know you
something you got the most talent in the
world and feel as though you’re perfect
for it and still not get it because you
know maybe the other lead is a little
too tall and you you know and you guys
don’t complement each other well
on-screen that’s nothing to do –
whatsoever and I’m just kind of wrapping
your head around the process and knowing
that it’s completely out of your hands
well it’s just easier for you to kind of
now I’ve got a really special bonus clip
with Tony Robbins that I think you’re
gonna enjoy but before that I want to
know what did you think of this video
how did it impact you what lesson did
you learn that you’re going to apply
somehow to your life for your business
this is a series that I really want to
continue but it’s not getting the
results as the other one so I’d love to
hear your feedback your suggestions how
we can make it better leave your
thoughts in the comments below thank you
guys so much for watching I believe in
you I hope you continue to believe in
yourself and whatever your one word is
much loved see you soon and enjoy the
most of us are not psychologically
strong because we live in a world where
we expect I can just click on and get
what I want instantaneously you know she
you know I can steal whatever I want
it’s not stealing I’m liberating music
I’m liberating movies yeah right you
know we live in a society that’s
different so we’re going through a phase
right now just like black lives matter
in the situation see there but what’s
really going on
if ninety eight planes land perfectly
and to don’t no one’s gonna talk about
the 98 great policemen they’re gonna
walk about everyone’s gonna be obsessed
about the two everybody died and in the
african-american community you know
there have been police officers that
have been wrongly accused but there have
been police officers that unfortunately
are rightly accused then we’re wrong and
that’s happens for so many decades that
there’s a there’s an anger there because
under the anger is hurt and fear I mean
the call for black lives matter is not
white people’s lives don’t matter it’s
to say that these people are desperate
for respect and to know that their
family be protected who here regardless
of color doesn’t want their kid to be
safe from everyone especially the police
right so we’re at a tipping point in our
society and here’s another things great
about that when you hit a threshold then
change becomes a must until it’s a must
most people won’t do it because we stay
with our status quo but when it’s bad
enough people finally say we got to do
something and I think we’re entering
that place right now in our society it
just drives me nuts when all the
policemen are painted as bad I think
that’s insane
drives me insane I understand there’s an
issue and then there’s certainly some
bad cops out there and they gotta figure
this out but when they start painting
every cop is bad like I know man it was
an excuse for crazies like the guy in
Dallas to do what he does right you are
excused now I’m completely against I
think our police officers are put in a
totally untenable position in our
society today and it have to be
understood but both sides have to hear
we got to bring the moms and the
children and the police officers and
white and black and bring them together
and have those real conversations that
can lead to a different level of
understanding is it crazy to think that
you could support both black lives
matter and Cano I do okay I do I think
it’s absurd and I think that and I don’t
like everything black lives matter does
because this it’s a movement made of all
kinds of people right it’s not one
person so you’re gonna people abusing of
people that are gonna but I understand
what somebody stand in the street when
they feel like their own children are
not safe I can see why they want to
disrupt things they want to disrupt
society because I want to say pay
attention to me cuz it’s easy for a
white person dating white people are I
don’t think
uncaring they just don’t have the
experience any one of us being pulled
over we’re pretty confident we’ve done
nothing wrong nothing’s gonna happen
if you’re african-american that just
isn’t true unfortunately the most
important work ever if you had to think
of one word that’s most important to you
that sums you Apple that would be
collect a little beacon pay believe
nation if you want to know what the most
important one word is for Tony Robbins
Gary Vaynerchuk Oprah Winfrey will.i.am
and Howard Schultz I have a very special
secret video for you check the
description for details [Music]
quiet if I go to a Latino school a quiet
the only kids that disrespect me is
black kids it’s not somebody’s fault if
their father was an abusive alcoholic
but it’s for damn sure their
responsibility to figure out how they’re
gonna do with those traumas and try to
make a life out of it I’m very proud of
Who I am today and people could look at
me and say if he can make it I could
what’s that belief nation at seven my
one word is believe and I believe in you
I believe you have Michael Jordan level
talent at something and I want you to
find it embrace it and use it to make a
difference in this world now I started
the black excellence series because I
don’t pretend to be a black man or know
what it’s like growing up as a black
person in America but I do believe that
you can support one community without
putting the other one down so the aim of
this series is to shine a light of
excellence on the black community enjoy
alright let’s kick it off with rule
number one do your best with Eric Thomas
and you go ahead and learn to laugh and
joke when teachers trying to teach you
you got the nerve to act a fool when
somebody cares about you you talking
while I’m talking do you know if I’m
going to a Jewish school them kids quiet
if I go to a white school them kids
quiet if I go to a Latino school a quiet
the only kids that disrespect me is
black kids that’s it my own are the only
ones to disrespect me I walk in any
other school day like that go et we take
your notes I come home you talking you
cap and jokes you think something funny
look how we live and ain’t nothing funny
ain’t nothing funny y’all look when I
got my PhD what embarrassed me I’m in
there they asking me like what’s wrong
with our urban schools like why you
asking me I’m in class is like you in
class every ought to print the teachers
want to know professors want to know why
are your kids what’s the problem in the
school system I’m embarrassed y’all I’m
a grown man I’m
bears if they talk about jaw and you
know while I’m in bears because what
they don’t know is you ain’t even trying
when you take the test you didn’t give
your best they think you dumb you ain’t
dumb you can’t take our people from
Africa and put us in a diaspora and
spread us all over the world and we
survived slavery and we can’t pass the
test come on
I stupid you take everything from us and
we still survive and you gonna tell me
we can’t learn how to write have you
lost your mind we are survivors that’s
all we do is survive and you gonna come
and tell me you can’t take a test no you
can take the test the problem is when
you take the test you barely take the
test I challenge you to go in there and
get that doggone piece of paper and that
pencil and do your best I challenge you
rule number two take responsibility with
Will Smith I was just having a debate
with a friend of mine and we got stuck
when the difference between fault and
responsibility she kept talking about
how something was somebody’s fault
somebody’s fault and I was like it
really don’t matter whose fault it is
that something is broken if it’s your
responsibility to fix it for example is
it’s not somebody’s fault if their
father was an abusive alcoholic but it’s
for damn sure their responsibility to
figure out how they’re gonna do with
those traumas and try to make a life out
of it it’s not your fault if your
partner cheated and ruined your marriage
but it is for damn sure your
responsibility to figure out how to take
that pain and how to overcome that and
build a happy life for yourself fault
and responsibility do not go together it
sucks but they don’t when something is
somebody’s fault
we want them to suffer we want them
punished we want them to pay and we want
it to be their responsibility to fix it
but that’s that’s not how it works
especially when it’s your heart your
heart your life your happiness is your
responsibility and your responsibility
alone as long as we’re pointing to fame
and and stuck in whose fault
something is we’re jammed and trapped
into victim mode when you’re in victim
mode you’re stuck in suffering the road
to power is in taking responsibility
your heart your life your happiness is
your responsibility and your
responsibility alone rule number three
defy the odds with Damon Johnny I’m most
proud of being able to escape the
clutches of everybody else’s goals that
they set for me when I was 16 and 20
years old like most of the people that
grew up in neighborhoods that uh that
people told me are going to be dead or
in jail or they weren’t good because of
their color of their skin or education
because they didn’t have any money and I
escaped those I escaped those goals that
was set for me by society by people in
the neighborhood who may not have had
the right support system around them and
I defied those those odds and I became a
person that I’m very proud of Who I am
today and people could look at me and
say if he can make it I could make it
rule number four do things your way
with drink what was the response you get
as a Canadian black Jewish rapper trying
to get attention in the US I think that
details of my my like background kind of
came afterwards I think what caught
first was the music and I think what
became almost more appealing was like
this is the guy that I remember those
moments from people like wait wait this
guy is this guy like people really you
know drawing the the connection and I
always say I wouldn’t have it any other
way men I wouldn’t have it any other way
because I truly don’t know if I’d be
here if I didn’t have so much to
potentially overcome as some people may
look at it I mean you don’t look at it
that way not really because you know I’m
from Toronto I’m from a place where it’s
a true mosai
you know there’s weird to me the most
open-minded place you can possibly find
yourself so I don’t ever look at it as
that you know but there are other places
that you go where it’s just not so it’s
it’s not that simple you know and yeah I
never looked at it as overcoming
anything I was just like man I just got
to be a good rapper but you know to a
lot of other people they’re like wait
wait wait let your Canadian your Jewish
and your half but you know it’s just
like mind-blowing things to them but
like I said yeah I don’t think that you
know it wasn’t like all my mixtape cover
just said like the new Canadian half
black Jewish I got I do it was like
advertised people had to go kind of find
out about me and I think when they did
it made the story even more interesting
I like I said I wouldn’t want that to
change rule number five ignore the
naysayers with Lupita Nyong’o when I
watched the color purple and saw Oprah
and Whoopi Goldberg a seed was planted
in my heart to be an actor but I dared
not water it in public you see being an
actor wasn’t an honorable thing to do
especially not for a politician’s
daughter
it was thing it’s something that a child
did and grown-up children did but not
anyone else I pursued acting
opportunities on the side and as long as
it was extracurricular and not my focus
it felt safe and acceptable mind you my
parents never put any pressure on me to
be one thing or another but it was the
expectations from the larger society
that kept me ashamed of the real desire
of my heart and so I got down to the
most important work figuring out what
steps would get me to being an actor the
actor I wanted so badly to be I had an
action plan something to work towards
getting into the Yale School of Drama
for acting training to go after my goal
to attend the Yale School of Drama meant
that I would have to confront my fear of
failure of not being good enough as I
boarded the plane to the US there were
naysayers
in my head telling me I was crazy that I
shouldn’t even bother over 900 people
audition for 15 spots each year and yet
there was a part of me that knew I could
do it even when the part of me that said
it was impossible was louder our dreams
arise from our imaginations they belong
to us we owe it to ourselves to try and
realize them to encourage myself I wrote
in my diary on the 23rd 3rd of August
2008 I have this dream too and desire to
be an actor and it Dwarfs me but it is
my dream goddammit I made it up how can
what I dream up defeat me rule number 6
prove yourself with Virgil applo
when I used to by Jordan or like look at
on Air Max 90 that tinker did I was like
I want to be the intern that sits in the
room want to be a designer I just wanted
to be in the same room that because
somebody does that like where does that
happen I was such a fan like it you know
there’s real people in that room how do
I get and so that’s what I did
and there’s like you know getting a
project with Nikes and they almost
impossible
but I did it in my own way I did another
price the same way I advocate other
people do it too don’t just go to where
you think you want to work and to say
hey I want to work there you have to do
something that they see value in so that
the conversation is shorter rule number
seven turned difficulties into
opportunities with Whoopi Goldberg do
you think your dyslexia got you to where
you are today I’m sure it had a large a
large hand in it yeah and the fact that
since I was born I’ve always known I
wanted to pretend to put myself in other
time periods to be able to pretend to be
another species I mean that stuff to me
is interesting and it helps my mind
x-ray yeah it’s our way of escaping the
real life and I think normal people
can’t really do that they have a harder
time I think they have a very hard time
and for that what would you say is the
most challenging part of having dyslexia
and what advantages do you think that
has given you I think the advantage is
my brain sees and puts information in my
head differently mm-hmm
sometimes more interestingly I think
then then if I saw like everyone else I
think it’s less challenging now because
we have some idea about it but I think
the challenge will always be how we see
ourselves not as folks with a handicap
but folks with an interesting
perspective on everything sure and rule
number eight the last one before a very
special bonus clip is learn to handle
rejection with Michael B Jordan I’m
interested in the audition process is so
tricky and it’s you know rejection is
hard at any age but as a kid how did you
you know tolerate it I think it was a
few times that I thought I I booked it
like for sure and you didn’t and then
like just being heartbroken and you know
having my mom and my dad kind of pick up
the pieces and I think that that was the
you know the few times that they
actually you know started the question
themselves are we doing the right thing
by letting them do it and do this and
try to act and take on this this
profession that you know is such a
gamble as a lottery you know such a
lottery and you just train yourself to
like manage your expectations for the
most part when it comes to auditions I
used I know a system that I started
doing was like after the audition after
I left out I would just throw my sides
away you know they really want me I’ll
just print them out again you know I’ll
go out and I’ll go through the house
it’ll go to Kinko’s and I’d have a print
of the timing and print him on again
and that was just my way of training
myself to just forget about it when you
leave you know it’s not that side of
your hands you’d up you’ve done all you
can do worrying about it it’s not gonna
excuse me help you get the job so um I
mean it’s tough you know when it has
nothing to do with you you know you
something you got the most talent in the
world and feel as though you’re perfect
for it and still not get it because you
know maybe the other lead is a little
too tall and you you know and you guys
don’t complement each other well
on-screen that’s nothing to do –
whatsoever and I’m just kind of wrapping
your head around the process and knowing
that it’s completely out of your hands
well it’s just easier for you to kind of
now I’ve got a really special bonus clip
with Tony Robbins that I think you’re
gonna enjoy but before that I want to
know what did you think of this video
how did it impact you what lesson did
you learn that you’re going to apply
somehow to your life for your business
this is a series that I really want to
continue but it’s not getting the
results as the other one so I’d love to
hear your feedback your suggestions how
we can make it better leave your
thoughts in the comments below thank you
guys so much for watching I believe in
you I hope you continue to believe in
yourself and whatever your one word is
much loved see you soon and enjoy the
most of us are not psychologically
strong because we live in a world where
we expect I can just click on and get
what I want instantaneously you know she
you know I can steal whatever I want
it’s not stealing I’m liberating music
I’m liberating movies yeah right you
know we live in a society that’s
different so we’re going through a phase
right now just like black lives matter
in the situation see there but what’s
really going on
if ninety eight planes land perfectly
and to don’t no one’s gonna talk about
the 98 great policemen they’re gonna
walk about everyone’s gonna be obsessed
about the two everybody died and in the
african-american community you know
there have been police officers that
have been wrongly accused but there have
been police officers that unfortunately
are rightly accused then we’re wrong and
that’s happens for so many decades that
there’s a there’s an anger there because
under the anger is hurt and fear I mean
the call for black lives matter is not
white people’s lives don’t matter it’s
to say that these people are desperate
for respect and to know that their
family be protected who here regardless
of color doesn’t want their kid to be
safe from everyone especially the police
right so we’re at a tipping point in our
society and here’s another things great
about that when you hit a threshold then
change becomes a must until it’s a must
most people won’t do it because we stay
with our status quo but when it’s bad
enough people finally say we got to do
something and I think we’re entering
that place right now in our society it
just drives me nuts when all the
policemen are painted as bad I think
that’s insane
drives me insane I understand there’s an
issue and then there’s certainly some
bad cops out there and they gotta figure
this out but when they start painting
every cop is bad like I know man it was
an excuse for crazies like the guy in
Dallas to do what he does right you are
excused now I’m completely against I
think our police officers are put in a
totally untenable position in our
society today and it have to be
understood but both sides have to hear
we got to bring the moms and the
children and the police officers and
white and black and bring them together
and have those real conversations that
can lead to a different level of
understanding is it crazy to think that
you could support both black lives
matter and Cano I do okay I do I think
it’s absurd and I think that and I don’t
like everything black lives matter does
because this it’s a movement made of all
kinds of people right it’s not one
person so you’re gonna people abusing of
people that are gonna but I understand
what somebody stand in the street when
they feel like their own children are
not safe I can see why they want to
disrupt things they want to disrupt
society because I want to say pay
attention to me cuz it’s easy for a
white person dating white people are I
don’t think
uncaring they just don’t have the
experience any one of us being pulled
over we’re pretty confident we’ve done
nothing wrong nothing’s gonna happen
if you’re african-american that just
isn’t true unfortunately the most
important work ever if you had to think
of one word that’s most important to you
that sums you Apple that would be
collect a little beacon pay believe
nation if you want to know what the most
important one word is for Tony Robbins
Gary Vaynerchuk Oprah Winfrey will.i.am
and Howard Schultz I have a very special
secret video for you check the
description for details [Music]
Please follow and like us: