#TBT alright so here’s another long one....This is the #flyer for the first #FaceMeltFriday ever. @swerve360digital originally put this up and it really brought so much to mind. Who knew we would go on to create a sustainable business plan and a process, that we would carry this thing forward for over 7 years and 43 shows. For those who think it takes money to start something or that Face Melt Friday has ever been about #money, when i printed this flyer out I was on #foodstamps and i barely made anything on this first show. I was broke but I believed in what I was doing, as I still do today, and i made a choice time and time again to sacrifice my time, effort, and whatever else it called for regardless of what was going in my life to put people that i believe in on @strangematterrva stage in hopes I could inspire them to believe in themselves as much I do myself. To put the dream first because no one else was willing to truly give me or us a chance. I like to think we succeeded...as over the journey we sold the venue out, brought @bigbabydram to Richmond for the first time back when he was just Drama J, gave artists the opportunity to perform for the first time in front of their families, showed people that this thing is real but that it’s always going to be up to you to create, and so much more. I learned about this #game too...it would be hard not to when you book 20+ artists on one show, have to communicate clearly, learn how to make a schedule, learn how to promote, and anticipate everything going wrong (as it usually does) while running the risk of people being angry with you over things you can’t control. Most of all though I’m just thankful. Nanci Raygun was the first stage i ever stepped on and I went from being at those shows to throwing so many shows for generations of artists, and I’ve made genuine friends. None of it would have been possible with Swerve being an incredible mentor, #StrangeMatter and their awesome staff believing in me, my team always pushing me and being so patient, without every single #artist whoever rocked a face Melt Friday crowd, and every person who came to support this #HipHop All i can say is THANK YOU! WE #RVA #WOFTD (at Strange Matter) https://www.instagram.com/p/BqN3GBsHvAs/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=19cd60sr8lxu
