Thoughts while at Home 🏡

How do you feel creatively when you're in your hometown or childhood home?

Just landed in Chicago yesterday, to my childhood home in Park Ridge Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago. It’s the first time back to the states since January. I felt a great sense of appreciation when we landed and were in line for customs.

Living room in my parents house: Park Ridge , IL

I think every person should travel outside of their country and live for at least 6 months to one year. It puts an entire different perspective on life. You get to actually live an experience and culture instead of being programmed by what people on electronic screens tell you.

It’s beyond words to explain but living in Mexico has been great. When we come back to our permanent house in Harlem New York in March, we will come back fully refreshed and rejuvenated.

My family & I on the Island of Cozumel in Mexico

Today I wanted to touch on and remember what I feel when I come back to my childhood home.

I personally connect back with my first creative drives. Working with my hands, making claymation videos, drawing, and making beats.

A clay volcano I made in high school used for claymation projects. On top of that one of my first animation props, an airplane with a pully.

I feel this is the place where I can tap back into my primal desires, the roots of why I started doing what I’m doing.

For those that don’t know, my first medium was drawing, then claymation, film then music.

Being in the background, being behind the scenes was always where I felt most comfortable. I guess that’s why I was drawn to being a music producer.

But what took me to pursing the path of a solo artist was that I invested much energy into other people’s projects, works, and stories.

They would get insecure and not release, or wait until it was too late to release. This is also the reason I started my How to Make a Banger Course, eBook, and all my current videos talking about getting out of your head and into the zone.

Back to the house. My parents also keep the house very clean and tidy, which is a way also to keep the energy very pure and cleansed, so my mind is very clear when I’m here. As my Dad says, “cleanliness is next to godliness.” I do know this as true.

Front room of my parents house

Keeping a clean workstation before creating allows the purest flow to come through. Having a clean house allows the least stress. It is a Finnish thing, in Finland it is known that most keep everything very tidy and clean, similar to Japanese. This is how Finland won the war against Russia back in the day, even though they have a tiny population compared to Russia.

They had cleanliness as one of their top priorities, and as a result implemented portable saunas being put on the battlefield to stay clean. As a result their shooters were sharp, fast, efficient and clear. They were able to win a war with a country 10x their size due in large part to adopting “cleanliness in next to godliness.”

Art is also a war. It is a war against resistance. I’m reading a great book now called “The War of Art” and it talks about this main point. One of the great quote from just the first few pages is this: “It was easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to look at a blank canvas.” War is a battle, and the path of the artist is just like engaging in a war. Its an internal and an external war.

We must battle the resistance and urge to avoid the task at hand.

Many people avoid it through over strategizing, many people avoid it through perfectionism, many people also avoid it through an infinite number of revisions.

If asked, most people will say they just want it to be done in the best way possible, but truly its resistance holding their project back the from the infinite flow of life.

ACTION FLOW TO TAKE

Inspiration hits - you need to act right away!! write it down, record it, film it - complete it (even in a raw form) - listen, watch, re read - do edits but do them with a time limit, obviously we want it done good - but you need to put yourself in a pressure cooker to make it a banger - pressure makes diamonds - if you take too long you will loose it - yes some things take time - but I’ve never heard of a banger that someone sat on for 1,2 even 5-10 years that was a classic. classics happen in the moment - why??? because you’re still with the energy in the moment - you’re still excited, electrified - even like this post. If I don’t post this today, even within the next hour or so, it won’t be the same - if I don’t post it here’s what will happen - I will start to think, and in stagnant water filth starts to form, flow stops and inspiration dies. I have the pressure of 1 hour while writing this. When you release something and you’re still electrified with the initial inspiration - that is transmitted when you drop it, when you share it, and that moment is purely crystallized. - yes a song or project can still be promoted and shared years after or weeks after. But never with the same energy: To quote the great Miles Davis “You can have an idea, but if you don’t act on it, by next week it’ll be stale.”

My whole purpose is devoted to helping you find that authentic place as a artist and riding on that energy.

It’s not easy but it is a war. Understanding that now, I’m releasing songs, I just dropped a song called “Anxiety.gang 2” and “whOiAM.” I intended on releasing them the way I showed above, but that was not possible due to the enemy: resistance.

It takes constant confronting this enemy to finally vanquish him. So you must keep that flow process and practice. How to Make a Banger is about getting and STAYING in the flow state. So the point is not if its a good song. Not strategizing too much on making the song, but instead kNOWING that EVERY time you can make a banger, you can make the best work you’ve ever made. To not be attached to the outcome, do the process of create, release, feedback repeat. In order to save TIME, your most valuable asset. One you cannot get back.

Again, the point is so that you can enter the flow state AT WILL and develop the confidence to know that you ALWAYS make a banger. That’s why we are artists. We are here to MASTER our CRAFT. Mastering takes repetition, and experimentation like a scientist. The enemy of resistance: excuses must be faced every day every moment. Face it and kill it. Kill it through courageous action.

I release songs then I regret it, I want to fix stuff in it. But the good news is we’re in an age where people need to see your work many many times again and again so you can always go back. Release version 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 100, 1,000, 1,000,000 etc.

Also when I look back years later and I released something in the moment I’ve always felt proud and happy about it. Even if I was insecure in the moment, later I look back and am grateful. Because it is an accurate time portal to that point of my life. Art is time portals so you need to harness and capture them in the correct moment. On the other hand, when I drop something, feel insecure then delete it, I always feel regrets later, because I can’t get the time back. So I’ve learned the lesson to lean into what is uncomfortable, even if you feel insecure and bad, lean into that and face that fear. That will make you stronger in fighting your enemy.

In Buddhism we call the enemy devilish functions or the devil king of the 6th heaven. The force in life that tries to destroy everything great. Both good and evil exist within us and we decided which “wolf” to feed and which will win. Sometimes it also manifests in people close to us or around us trying to take us down.

Point is face your fear and insecurity toward releasing and exposing yourself as an artist. I go through it each time I drop something or do a post, but as I keep doing it I get better and better.

In Buddhism we also believe that it is the ignorance in believing the infinite potential of human life that is the source of all human suffering. The battle of the artist is no different. I believe that everyone who achieves mastery in any field is an artist in that.

Anyway back to my main point in writing this thing today. I’m remembering my roots as an artist and my original inspiration, and we should all go back to that at some point. It’s like resetting the compass. Im writing this and releasing it right now so I can remember and crystallize this moment for when I go back to Mexico then Harlem, and to practice what I’m preaching about being in the flow state.

Mexico is great for new inspiration. New York is great for excitement, and Chicago is great for my roots. I encourage you to find these places in your life that help inspire who you are.

Connect back to your roots and discover who you are. you always have what you need and you are always 100% fulfilled. Remember the truth.

As I see my Sun in the house I grew up in for the first time, I feel deep gratitude and a desire to pass on the same wisdom, strength and confidence to him.

Have a great day & make sure to pick up a bag of Mudflood Marc's Old World Coffee

For a holiday gift, either to yourself or a loved one, it’s “Simply Delicious” & the best coffee ever made…

Have a great day and remember, ONLY BANGERS LIFESTYLE, ONLY BANGERS MINDSET.

BE IT UNTIL YOU SEE IT.

ACT IT UNTIL YOU ATTRACT IT.

WORK WITH GRATITUDE AND PASSION ALWAYS REMEMBERING YOUR PURPOSE.

Taavi 🐬