My publicist, Makasha Dorsey (Dorsey Group, LLC) let me know that this was potentially a cover story, and that I needed to get a headshot done by Monday night (April 30th) to be considered for it. I had the pics with my mohawk and "Lyrics" cut in the side, but as I don't really rock it like that anymore and some people I plan to do business with in the future may not be too crazy about that look either, I needed something professional, classy, and that looked like my current, more clean-cut style. I prayed that God would let me find the right photographer and take the right picture to be considered for the cover in earnest, if it was His will, and then got to work.
I called a few of my photographer friends on Sunday, Brad Brock-Brown with WeRun Houston, one of the biggest nightlife photography companies in the city of Houston, my lil bro Dice with EmaQlate Forever, who has designed the logos for pretty much every company I own and is an amazing photographer, video director, and graphic designer, and my bro Tony Aguire, aka GhetoRancho, a gifted music producer in the Houston Latin community who also delved into photography. Tony was the first one to call me back, and when I let him know what I needed, he said, "Say no more...let me call my guy Joel, and I will hit you right back." True to his word, not 5 minutes later, he called back and said, "Joel can get you in tomorrow, and he is expecting your call." I reached out to Joel, locked in the shoot, and went back to the controlled chaos that is my day after the Dove Awards...
The day of the shoot, I intended to get out and hit every mall in the city to find something fly...a possible first magazine cover?!? Man, I wanted to make sure that I represented myself the right way, while being true to who I AM, rather than trying to look like who I would want people to see me as. I've always seen pics of celebrities where they "put on" their look, rather than it being an extension of them. I admire Puffy in this way...his sense of style is all him, even if he may have stylists and designers, etc, he ALWAYS looks sharp, and it always fits his swagger.
But....I couldn't find ANYTHING. Not one outfit, not one look, not one feel, that said what I knew I wanted the pictures to say....and time was running out for me to get to the shoot. I ran back home to shave/shower/edge hair etc, and glanced over where my clothes were from the Dove Awards which I'd not worn since. I shot Makasha a text asking if she felt that outfit might work, and she replied with, "That outfit would be perfect." Sometimes, God doesn't give us what we think we want, because we already have everything we need...this was yet another example of that.
Outfit ironed, running late...I rolled across town to the location for the shoot, and when I got there, Joel already had everything set up for us to get to work. I changed clothes and headed to the front of the camera for the first time by myself in almost a decade...all my other shoots were with my bro JayTel, or with he and our other bro Stro (the three of us together are LifeLine), and so I hadn't had a need to do any pics alone since I've been with them. This thought crossed my mind and gave me pause for just a moment...then it was time to get to work.
We started snapping pics, and the flash was so bright I kept squinting every time it would go off in my eyes. Joel, a true professional, kept changing angles, and lighting, and filters, and snapping away, and in a very short period of time, we had more than enough pictures to choose from. We sat down and looked at them all via his laptop, and found a few that we both agreed were solid pictures, including one that we felt was "the one". Joel did some editing to the pics to clean them up, emailed them to me, and I emailed them to Makasha.
Fast-forward to last night...after a wonderful day as a panelist at the Springboard South Music conference during which I was blessed to meet the guy behind the tv show Shark Tank, the Senior VP at MusicWorld who handles all the Sunday's Best contestants, and a television network developer, and a studio session with the CEO of a label I was hired to do some writing/production/arranging work for who'd flown in from ATL and ended up offering me a single deal as an artist (!), I got home to wind down after a crazy week, and see a message from Dee Stewart pop up on my screen saying simply, "You got the cover." My heart jumped...and thru my ear to ear smile, I began praising God for all the blessings He has been pouring out upon my life!! I know all of this is only so that I can lift up the name of Jesus for all men to see...God told me years ago when I was homeless that He would elevate me so that I can better lift Him up and draw others to Him, so there is nothing but gratitude, and a sense of awe that I'm watching God's plan for my life unfold before my very eyes, and He is doing it openly for all to see, which is pretty awesome.
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| My first ever magazine cover story...to God be the glory! |
The article is every bit as great as I thought it would be from the questions Dee posed to me, and I feel that it really captures my thought processes and my heart. I'm not close to perfect, and I've made some pretty big mistakes in my life, but if God can forgive me and use someone like me to speak for Him and testify with my words and my actions on His behalf, then He can use anyone. I hope that all who read the article walk away with a better understanding of how my creative mind works, and where I stand in the faith, and that more Christian writers, producers, and artists who deal in the secular music world would take more of a stand for Jesus as they do. God brought me here...and this magazine cover is yet another first along the journey to where He's ultimately taking me. I'm just enjoying the ride.
www.soulfusionmagazine.com
#IMPECCABLEGRINDUNSTOPPABLEDREAMS
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