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I am proud of myself. The way that I have learned how to adjust and pivot, when it comes to my career is truly my greatest advantage. I welcome all shifts that are present, as well as the ones that are sure to come. Technology is the new business card. If a company is not technology based, can it survive another era of expansion?
I don't believe so. I see everything freeing up. All of these constraints have brought out the very best in me. The entire approach with my music career is completely different from just 21 months ago. I commemorate myself, for having the vision of these coming changes. I foresaw what the entire industry would do overseas. I was right on the money. In fact, I overshot it by 4 years.
In 2021 I prepared myself. Technology took giant leaps with NFT's. Most pretenders have been flushed out; thankfully. In 2022, all of the ingredients came together for my predictions. The pressure built up separated; caving in. The implosion went exactly as I predicted. No longer are there any worries. In a sense, the Bermuda triangle of music; fell apart. I win.
Several companies were in the process of building a monopoly. It nearly worked. I saw no other alternative but to basically, plan outside of the markets that they were interested in. I danced with the ideas of building around their perimeters. I knew that at any interval, where things changed, I would pick up a game or two.
They planned their take over, around major live events. No one thought that ticket sales would be hurt. They can buy bots for streams. They can inflate YouTube numbers all day long; for market positioning. One thing you can not fake, is attendance. People have to physically go to your shows.
How can an artist have millions of followers, and sell triple plastic? Not even 10% conversion? It makes no sense. If an artist has 1 million followers, and 10 million monthly active listeners online... How can they struggle to sell 100,000 albums? Makes, absolutely no sense to me. I may be sick or something?
If I sell 100k NFT's, I'll be the President of the entire music industry, and the CEO of all music. Facts. Those numbers do not impress me at all. At the same time. The point of having huge inflated numbers is to gain the attention of major labels. But what happens once the artist is signed? Nothing. It's all bullshit.
Why get caught up in that game? The major labels use that, to promote their dominance; above all other companies. This is their way to say to the consumer "we are good". Makes no sense at all to me. It does not make any extra money for the artists. So what's the point? Fans of those failing artists say things like "look at the amount of streams" etc. It if does not convert toward the back account of the actual artist, it is propaganda. To me.
Miami?(/ma???mi/?my-AM-ee), officially the?City of Miami, is a?coastal?metropolis and the?seat?of?Miami-Dade County?in?South Florida. With a population of 442,241 as of the?2020 census,[6]?it is the?second-most populous city?in the?state?of?Florida?after?Jacksonville. It is the core of the much larger?Miami metropolitan area, which, with a population of 6.14?million, is the third-largest metro in the?Southeast?and?ninth-largest in the United States.[9]?The city has the?third-largest skyline?in the U.S. with over?300 high-rises,[13]?58 of which exceed 491?ft (150?m).[14]
Miami is a major center and leader in finance, commerce, culture, arts, and international trade.[15][16]?Miami's metropolitan area is by far the largest urban economy in Florida, with a?gross domestic product?of $344.9?billion as of 2017.[17]?According to a 2018?UBS?study of 77 world cities, Miami is the third-richest city in the U.S. and the third richest globally in?purchasing power.[18]?Miami is a?majority-minority?city with a?Hispanic and Latino?population of 310,472, or 70.2 percent of the city's population, as of 2020.[19]
Downtown Miami?has one of the largest concentrations of international banks in the U.S. and is home to several large national and international companies.[20]?The?Health District?is home to several major?University of Miami-affiliated hospital and health facilities, including?Jackson Memorial Hospital, the nation's largest hospital with 1,547 beds,[21]?and the?Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, the University of Miami's academic medical center and teaching hospital, and others engaged in health-related care and research.?PortMiami, the city's seaport, is the busiest?cruise?port in the world in both passenger traffic and cruise lines.[22]?Miami is the second-largest tourism hub for international visitors after?New York City.[23]?Miami has sometimes been called the "Gateway to?Latin America" because of the magnitude of its commercial and cultural ties to the region.[24]
In 2022, Miami ranked seventh in the U.S. in business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement.[25]?It is the second-most visited city in the U.S. after?New York City?with over five million visitors as of 2019.
Thousands of years before Europeans arrived, a large portion of south east Florida, including the area where?Miami,?Florida?exists today, was inhabited by?Tequestas. The Tequesta (also Tekesta, Tegesta, Chequesta, Vizcaynos) Native American tribe, at the time of first European contact, occupied an area along the southeastern Atlantic coast of Florida. They had infrequent contact with Europeans and had largely migrated by the middle of the 18th century. Miami is named after the?Mayaimi, a Native American tribe that lived around?Lake Okeechobee?until the 17th or 18th century.
The Spanish established a mission and small garrison among the Tequesta on Biscayne Bay in 1567. The mission and garrison were withdrawn a couple of years later.[2]?In 1743 the governor of Cuba established another mission and garrison on Biscayne Bay. As the mission had not been approved by the?Council of the Indies, the mission and garrison were withdrawn the following year. The Spanish recorded that the inhabitants at the site of the 1743 mission were survivors of the Cayos, Carlos (presumed to be?Caloosa) and Boca Raton people, who were subject to periodic raids by the Uchises (native allies of the English in?South Carolina).[3]?Fort Dallas?was built in 1836 and functioned as a military base during the?Second Seminole War.[4]
The Miami area was better known as "Biscayne Bay Country" in the early years of its growth. The few published accounts from that period describe the area as a wilderness that held much promise.[5]?The area was also characterized as "one of the finest building sites in Florida".[5]?After the?Great Freeze?of 1894, the crops of the Miami area were the only ones in Florida that survived.?Julia Tuttle, a local landowner, convinced?Henry Flagler, a railroad tycoon, to expand his?Florida East Coast Railway?to Miami. On July 28, 1896, Miami was officially incorporated as a city with a population of just over 300.[6]
Miami prospered during the 1920s, but weakened when the?real-estate bubble burst?in 1925, which was shortly followed by the?1926 Miami Hurricane?and the?Great Depression?in the 1930s. When World War II began, Miami played an important role in the battle against?German submarines?due to its location on the southern coast of Florida. The war helped to increase Miami's population to almost half a million. After?Fidel Castro?rose to power in 1959, many?Cubans?emigrated to Miami, further increasing the population. In the 1980s and 1990s, various crises struck South Florida, among them the?Arthur McDuffie?beating and the subsequent riot, drug wars,?Hurricane Andrew, and the?Elián González affair. Despite these, Miami remains a major international, financial, and cultural center.
The city's name is derived from the?Miami River, which is ultimately derived from the?Mayaimi?people who lived in the area at the time of European colonization.
Though spelled the same in English, the Florida city's name has nothing to do with the?Miami people?who lived in a completely different part of North America.
The?Valencia orange?is a?sweet orange?cultivar?named after the famed oranges in?València,?Spain. It was first?hybridized?by pioneer American?agronomist?and land developer?William Wolfskill?in the mid-19th century on his farm in?Santa Ana,?southern California, United States, North America.
Primarily grown for processing and?orange juice?production, Valencia oranges have seeds, varying in number from zero to nine per fruit. Its excellent taste and internal color make it desirable for the fresh fruit markets, too. The fruit has an average diameter of 2.7 to 3 inches (69 to 76?mm; 6.9 to 7.6?cm), and a piece of this fruit which weighs 96 grams (3.4?oz) has 45 calories and 9 grams of sugar.[4]?After?bloom, it usually carries two crops on the tree, the old and the new. The commercial harvest season in Florida runs from March to June. Worldwide, Valencia oranges are prized as the only variety of orange in season during summer. Furthermore, Valencia oranges bring benefits because of the vitamin C and flavonoids contained.[5]
In 2012, the?genome?of the orange was sequenced, and was found to have 29,445 protein-coding genes. It was also found that the sweet orange originated from a backcross hybrid between?pummelo?and?mandarin orange.[6]
The Valencia orange undergoes?nucellar embryony?in both fertilized and unfertilized conditions of the ovule.
William Wolfskill?(1798–1866) was an American born in Kentucky and reared in Missouri. He became a Mexican citizen in the 1820s, when he was in his 20s, while working in?Santa Fe,?New Mexico, as a?fur trapper?and then migrating to California, which was still part of?Mexico?at that time. He was given a land grant as a naturalized Mexican citizen under Mexican government rules. He cultivated numerous vineyards and grape varietals and was the largest wine producer in the region. He continued to buy land and later had sheep ranches as well as developing extensive citrus orchards. He?hybridized?the Valencia orange, a sweet orange, naming it after?València, Spain, which has a reputation for its sweet orange trees.
Before his death in 1866, Wolfskill sold his patented Valencia hybrid to the?Irvine Ranch?owners, who planted nearly half their lands in its cultivation. The success of this crop in Southern California led to the naming of?Valencia, California. It became[when?]?the most popular juice orange in the United States.[citation needed]
In the mid-20th century, Florida botanist?Lena B. Smithers Hughes?introduced major improvements to the Valencia orange, developing virus-free strains for budwood production. These were so successful that, by 1983, the Hughes Valencia bud line made up some 60 percent of all Valencia oranges propagated for cultivation in Florida.[2]
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In 1988, Merleen Smith, a woman in?Ventura County, California, contacted her local farm advisor on the suspicion that her neighbor was poisoning her tree. Investigators found that it was a pigmented?bud sport?of a conventional Valencia orange tree. The orange cultivar 'Smith Red Valencia' (with red insides) now bears her name.
Nextel Communications, Inc.?was an American wireless service operator that merged with and ceased to exist as a subsidiary of?Sprint Corporation, which would later be bought by?T-Mobile US?and folded into that company. Nextel in Brazil, and formerly in Argentina, Chile, Peru, the Philippines, and Mexico,[3]?is part of?NII Holdings, a stand-alone, publicly traded company not owned by Sprint Corporation.
Nextel Communications traces its roots to the 1987 foundation of FleetCall by?Morgan O'Brien,?Brian McAuley, Chris Rogers, and Peter Reinheimer. FleetCall changed its name to Nextel Communications, Inc. in 1993. Nextel provided digital, wireless communications services, originally focusing on the fleet and dispatch customers, but later marketed to all potential wireless customers. Nextel's network operated in the 800-MHz?Specialized Mobile Radio?band and used?iDEN?technology developed by Motorola. Nextel's iDEN network offered a then unique push-to-talk "walkie-talkie" feature in addition to direct-dialed voice calls. Nextel was one of the first providers in the United States to offer a national digital cellular coverage footprint.
Prior to merging with Sprint Corporation in 2005, Nextel Communications, Inc. was a publicly traded company. Shares traded on the?NASDAQ?under the ticker symbol?NXTL. Nextel was headquartered in?Reston, Virginia, United States.[2]
At the time of its 2005 merger with Sprint Corp., Nextel had over twenty million subscribers in the United States and served 198 of the top 200 markets. Nextel Communications, Inc. offered postpaid services under the Nextel brand and prepaid services under the?Boost Mobile?brand.
In late 2010, Sprint Nextel announced plans to decommission the Nextel iDEN network; on May 30, 2012, Sprint Nextel announced that it would shut down the Nextel network as early as June 2013.[4]?The Nextel network was officially shut down at 12:01am on June 30, 2013, and Sprint began the process of deploying LTE equipment on the 800MHz spectrum formerly used by the iDEN network.
Before the acquisition by?T-Mobile US, Sprint Corporation continued to offer pre-paid services under the Boost Mobile brand and also offered push-to-talk services as?Sprint Direct Connect?using CDMA equipment.
Nextel gained a significant marketing and technological advantage through its push-to-talk technology. In 2003,?Verizon Wireless?and?Sprint PCS?each launched push-to-talk features, with?Cingular?following in 2005. None have gained significant traction. Nextel and Verizon had entered a legal battle in June 2003 over Verizon's advertising for their push-to-talk feature. The companies reached a settlement in early 2004. Initial advertising for Verizon's service was heavy, but it became almost nonexistent fairly quickly, possibly due to poor reviews of the service.
The push-to-talk feature, with which Nextel has gained popularity, was made interoperable with the?QChat?technology on the Sprint network in 2008. Sprint had originally launched its own push-to-talk service, known as?ReadyLink, which is based on?SIP. Due to the difference in technology, users of the ReadyLink service were never able to make or receive push-to-talk calls with users of the iDEN technology. By 2009, Sprint began phasing out?QChat?to again focus on marketing?iDEN?devices.
Nextel also offers a feature on some of their phones, marketed as?DirectTalk. The technology uses the 900?MHz?ISM band?and provides ten?FHSS?channels for an off-network push to talk communications between individual phones that are not necessarily in range of wireless towers.
These are on my most wanted list. I want both the hard body and the roadster. The roadster would be my day to day, executive car. The hardtop is for my weekend mornings, to cruise around town; zipping along. I am not sure about the flappy paddle shifters. My hardtop has to be a manual transmission model.
The first trip is to the gas station to fill up the tank. Premium.
From there its on to the auto detail shop, in my garage. Pick up nice refreshments. Maybe some orange juice. No coffee today. This of course would be my day off. I would turn on my GPS. Destination? Anywhere the road takes me. Who cares anyway?
The first pit stop would be at a breakfast bar. Something light. Maybe English muffins. Scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese. I would like avocado's sliced on the side. Maybe a hot sauce, like Chalula. Apple juice box. I gotta go.
Bye Felicia.
My kids are older. When they were growing up, I would escape into my car collection on the weekends. Now, I just think about them when I drive. A song can just bring me to any moment of my life. I can transport there with a single thought. I remember all of the hard work; to create music, for their future. Now that they are older, they have their own lives to lead. And live.
My kids are not into urban music like that. They are more into sports and traveling. My daughters and my sisters use shopping as their sport. It's competitive from what I see. My mom, is also a shopping mall warrior. I have to admit. I used to love going to the junkyards to get affordable parts, for my cars. I am 40 years old. So working hard on a cars engine and transmission; cutting my bare hands... is no longer for me. Lol. But, at the time. It was very cool, therapeutic and calming.
I was the praying mechanic. I talk to my cars. They each have their own personality. Certain cars, command certain albums. I am inspired by the sound of the engine and the road. I appreciate every turn, bump on the road of reflection; on a city bus, truck etc. I see for a second, how the shape of the car appears in motion.
By the time I get to downtown, I see quick stills, against corporate building windows. It is very humbling. This is me after all? I am a poor kid from New York. Harlem and the Bronx taught me how to give thanks; daily, for everything. This life is truly a gift.
Today I am more open minded to performing live in smaller venues. I select more artistic places. These spots are not as well known, but have superior vibes. I reach out more towards the executive community, that is more artistic. I have carved my own way, in this music business. As an artist, I am extremely disciplined and professional. I do not see another way.
I have 500 shows overseas. This is my last opportunity to touch those markets. In a year or two. I will be limited to stadium tours. This is my last underground series. I never thought about this current market, as any essential element. Today, I do not want to leave any money on the table. In a sense, I feel that I will be neglecting this market; knowing that I cannot return until this tour is over.
This is a sign of maturity for me. I have to say. I am proud of myself. Do not be afraid to grow. Our expansion starts by going outside of our comfort zone; inside of ourselves. I will begin my logistics, in order to incorporate additional shows. It may seem like an additional work load but, I now see it as new opportunities for new growth.
It's a new way to increase sales by at least 30%, in one business move. We are in the fourth quarter, depending on how you look at it. I have to take personal inventory and value income that I would otherwise leave behind. It will take me a few days to prepare. But, I have confidence in myself that I can do it.
In fact. We can all do it together.