By Patricia Rogers | Posted Monday, July 18, 2022
INTRO
July was a big travel month. And I must say that it feels so good to get the fuck out of New York City. As much as I love my hometown, traveling to other places is good for the soul.
The summer is rolling on and the blessings are coming through. My love/hate relationship with change is being tested. I am constantly fighting against my impulsive free spirit side with the side that is a creature of habit.
I am following my heart and trusting where God’s plan leads me because without him nothing is possible.
There are so many exciting things in the works that I can not wait to share with you all. Please follow Jersey Indie, and Words with P.R. Twitter & Instagram accounts.
Also, I want to remember my Grandmother, whose birthday is usually really hard but this year it brought many good things.
SHOUT OUT TO
This may surprise you, but this week my shout out is to Diddy.
I grew up in the 1990s and 2000s when hip hop was becoming pop culture. And who was the mastermind behind a lot of this? Sean Puffy Combs, P. Diddy, Brother Love or whatever you want to call him. His story is well known at this point: a driven, ambitious and sometimes obnoxious intern changes the game at Uptown Records and goes on to create the Bad Boy empire.
Being able to watch the evolution of so many black artists over the last 20 years, watching the likes of Diddy and Jay Z go from hype men and even drug dealers on the streets of New York City to go on being self-made billionaires. Hip Hop lyrics leave a lot to be desired sometimes when it comes to the tales of hustlin’, and relations with women. However, the fact black people were able to create art inspired by the success of getting out of the hood and go on to make millions.
I like to watch documentaries when I need inspiration, and a couple weeks ago I came across the 2017 doc on Diddy and his empire: Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A Bad Boy Story on Netflix. Now, I felt like I have heard Diddy’s rise to the top after all of these years. But I saw a different glimpse in this story because it was framed around the Bad Boy Family reunion tour. And what inspired me most about this particular installment of the Bad Boy story was the concept of a family.
Diddy grew up with his mother, and in this doc shared how lonely he felt as a kid at times. So it was no surprise that when he was scouting, nurturing these artists, and creating a label, he was also creating a family. Now, the fate of some of Bad Boy’s artist’s careers can be considered controversial, and he may not have the best reputation when it comes to his artists, but when you watch the documentary you can tell that the ones that are still around consider Diddy to be family.
He provided a big platform for up and comers like Mary J. Blidge, Lil Kim, 112, and of course Notorius B.I.G. to change their lives forever. When you watch these artists come together, some of them getting on stage for the reunion tour for the first time in over a decade, were so grateful for how far they all have come. And they do have to thank the corageousness and boldness of Sean “Diddy” Combs, who always found a way to be on the front center of pop culture.
The doc went back to his days on MTV’s TRL, iconic VMA performances, the “shiny suit” era of hip hop and how things changed for him and hip hop when Tupac and his best friend Biggie were killed in the late ‘90s. Instead of giving up though, he ushered in a new era.
The grind. Diddy is and has always been about the grind. He got so good that you couldn’t ignore him. And there are so many people’s lives that benefitted from that. And I want to thank him for inspiring me my whole life to work to make my own name. Start my own. Watching the Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop documentary reminded me that, no one can’t stop me. And that I am happy to be working with people that are and will always be considered family.
SOCIAL MEDIA/MARKETING TIPS
This week’s social media markting tips are all about visibility.
Going back to Diddy, there is one thing about him and that is you are going to fucking see him, hear him, etc.
So, most talent scouting, etc. is happening on social media. Nowadays, if you want to have business on social media you have to be as visible as posisble. And a little trick to help with that is trying to have all of your social media handles match. When I was changing my Twitter and Instagram handles from Valley Girl NJ, I went over to Queen P.R. with three underscores and the reason for that was because I had to find a handle that was still available on both platforms. I’d love to have one underscore but hey, it is easy for people find me across the vast social media landscape.