# John Legend, The Biggest Song in the World & Staying Humble | #AskGaryVee 250 ## Метаданные - **Канал:** Gary Vaynerchuk - **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7Y3A7_1O0 - **Дата:** 25.04.2017 - **Длительность:** 44:35 - **Просмотры:** 126,205 ## Описание JOHN LEGEND STOPS BY AND WE TALK 'ALL OF ME', STAYING HUMBLE, AND LETTING FANS BE THE JUDGE OF YOUR MUSIC watch every episode of the #AskGaryVee show HERE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfA33-E9P7FC0AoARnMLvgFgESJe4_Ngs follow John Legend online HERE: https://twitter.com/johnlegend https://www.instagram.com/johnlegend/ http://johnlegend.com/tour/ -- Thank you for watching this video. I hope that you keep up with the daily videos I post on the channel, subscribe, and share your learnings with those that need to hear it. Your comments are my oxygen, so please take a second and say ‘Hey’ ;). -- ► Subscribe to My Channel Here http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=GaryVaynerchuk -- Gary Vaynerchuk is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO and founder of VaynerMedia, a full-service digital agency servicing Fortune 500 clients across the company’s 5 locations. Gary is also a prolific public speaker, venture capitalist, 4-time New York Times Bestselling Author, and has been named to both Crain’s and Fortune’s 40 Under 40 lists. Gary is the host of the #AskGaryVee Show, a business and marketing focused Q&A video show and podcast, as well as DailyVee, a docu-series highlighting what it’s like to be a CEO, investor, speaker, and public figure in today’s digital age. Make sure to stay tuned for Gary’s latest project Planet of the Apps, Apple’s very first video series, where Gary will be a judge alongside Will.I.Am, Jessica Alba, and Gwyneth Paltrow. ---- Follow Me Online Here: Instagram: http://instagram.com/garyvee Facebook: http://facebook.com/gary Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/garyvee Website: http://garyvaynerchuk.com Soundcloud | https://soundcloud.com/garyvee/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/garyvee Medium: http://medium.com/@garyvee Planet of the Apps | http://planetoftheapps.com Podcast : http://garyvaynerchuk.com/podcast Wine Library : http://winelibrary.com Subscribe to my VIP Newsletter for exclusive content and weekly giveaways here: http://garyvee.com/GARYVIP ## Содержание ### [0:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7Y3A7_1O0) Intro - On this episode, John Legend stops by. (hip hop music) - [Gary] You ask questions and I answer them. This is The #AskGaryVee Show. - Hey everybody, it's Gary Vay-ner-chuk ### [0:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7Y3A7_1O0&t=31s) GARYVEE NEW YORK, NEW YORK and this is episode 250 of The #AskGaryVee Show. Super excited, 250, nice round number. Makes sense to have superstar John Legend in the house. ### [0:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7Y3A7_1O0&t=43s) @JOHNLEGEND NEW YORK, NEW YORK DRock you're excited. - [DRock] I am. - Very excited. Susan, thanks for making this happen. John. - How are you, sir? - It's a pleasure, man. Why don't you say to the zero people who don't know who you are (laughs) right now a little bit of who you are and what you're up to. We'll get into some call-in and we'll jam a little bit. - I'm just a kid from Ohio. I like to make music. I have a wonderful wife named Chrissy Teigan. My daughter's name is Luna and I make music and other art for a living. That's pretty much what I do. - I love the humble answer. (laughs) I know how you roll. John, before we get into the calls, Facebook, where's Facebook? Right there? Facebook please put your phone number. Let's go with music or entrepreneur or art questions for John and I. Please put your phone number, we'll be calling you in a second and you'll have a chance to talk to the Legend. John, because I know a little bit of your backstory, I think a lot of people do, I think so many people have been watching us, been spending a lot of time with emerging artists, hip hop, all forms of music over the last year so on my platform. One of the biggest reasons that we talked about this we were just jamming a little bit with our friend Robert Souza, like Chance and others direct to consumer-- - Yeah. - you came up during a different era. - Yeah, I came up in the era when people needed a record deal-- - [Gary] How to get discovered. - To get discovered. They needed a lot of investment early on not just in recording costs, but in marketing costs and physical products had to be made to sell to people and obviously things have changed quite a bit now. Very few people will actually buy a CD anymore. buy vinyl anymore. And people are getting their music digitally and they're streaming. There's a lot less need for record labels now. So, you see with artists like Chance and Frank Ocean and other artists, people choosing to circumvent the label and go straight to the consumer. - How does a guy like you that sits at the tippy top of the game? I mean you really won. You're in a different, aspiring entrepreneurial musician says, "Okay, that's gonna be my path. " I've gotten to know you a little bit. Actually, I think this is a fun fact. We're in a building here, we just moved in. Boston Consulting Group is in this building. This is what you were doing. - My first job out of college was at Boston Consulting Group. - You know, a lot of people know who you are, but I'm not sure a lot of people understand like kind of the skills you have outside of your music career. You're a smart dude. A great academic career, which gives you the opportunity working at BCG. I know that you're smart and savvy and business like not just the artist. How do you think about the changing landscape where you have golden handcuffs, right? That's a way to look at it. You have real economics, whereas when you're starting from zero going direct to Instagram or Musical. ly or uploading on SoundCloud or Spotify is the only option, the natural option... You're in a very different small group of people looking at the landscape change. - Well, having success and having an audience is always gonna give you power. - [Gary] Yes. - Having an audience of, you know, almost 10 million followers on Twitter and, you know, six or seven million followers on Instagram. That gives you an opportunity to say no to whatever you want and say yes to what you want to and we all have choices. And many of us are still signed to record labels because record labels made us enough of an offer to buy out... - [Gary] The bank. - Yeah (laughs). So, they gave us enough money for us to say, well, it's worth staying in with the record labels and they do have some expertise and some scale when it comes to marketing and some of the other things that they do that it still makes it beneficial for us to work with them and then you combine that with the fact that they buy us out and give us a good advance and we say, well, here's the economics of doing this one way or doing it the other way and a lot of us have chosen to stay with the record labels because of. - And to give you guys context a lot of you talk about self-publishing. I was free agent, six, seven months ago. I know, DRock, you saw a lot of this negotiation that we never showed but Harper Collins was able to do the same with me in the book, right? - Yeah. - They made it economically interesting, that I decided not to self-publish just yet. And I think those big companies will continue to have that option. I think they're gonna have to make the deal sweeter and sweeter for the people that sit at the top of their craft. - Exactly. - We have a choice, and they have to offer us enough value in whatever deal we do with them for us to take our independence off the table, or for us at least to share - [Gary] Share. - some of the independence, and so they're making that offer, and then we decide whether it's worth it. - I know touring is a big part of the world. - Sure. - Talk to me about, and I want to link this. We've got to find where the links are. - Well it's very easy. - No, don't tell me about touring, I know you're gonna-- - Yeah, but johnlegend. com is the place where you find that. - Got it, great, so let's link that up, your tour's starting or started, just about to start, right? - It's just about to start-- - Where's opening? - First show's in Miami on May 12th, and right now we're just in rehearsals. We are setting up our production rehearsals, and we've already been in music rehearsals and, man, I'm excited. - I just got motivated, here's what we're gonna do. Somebody in the Facebook comments, one random person I'm going to randomly pick tomorrow, no, I'm gonna randomly pick Friday, give you guys time to watch this. I'm gonna pick somebody on Friday, and I'm gonna buy you two tickets to the show and fly you to Miami. - Oh. - [Man ]Nice. - To Miami. - That was a good one, right? I like that. - You gotta watch GaryVee. - Dunk, what do you think? That's good stuff. (John laughs) - I think I might comment. - By the way, also real quick, make sure you guys cut out that part where he said, "You gotta watch GaryVee," and let's use that in all promotion material. (group laughter) All right, let's get into the 1st question. John, we're gonna take some questions from the viewers, but how do you prepare, while he's make this call, how do you prepare for tours usually? Is it a lot of practice, in your head, is it physical? - Well I've been playing-- - [Gary] Doing it for a while? - songs for a long time, so the only things that are new are the songs from the new album. We had a new album, Darkness and Light, that came out in December, and we're gonna integrate that into the show-- - How much percentage from that album do you think? - We'll do probably seven songs from that album, in a 90-minute set, so probably it'll be like 30% of the show maybe. We definitely want to work in all the old hits, and I don't have to (phone rings) practice those as much (laughs) 'cause I've been playing them for a long time. (laughs) - [Michael] Hello? - Michael, it's Gary Vaynerchuk, and you're ### [6:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7Y3A7_1O0&t=419s) MJACOB21 HARRISONBURG, VIRGINIA on The #AskGaryVee Show with John Legend. - What's up, man? - [Michael] Oh my God. (laughing) - You did it. - [Michael] Gary. - Yes. - [Michael] I love you, dude. - I love you back. - [Michael] John Legend. This is crazy. (John laughs) - What's your question? - [Michael] I am a rapper, I go by MJx Music, and I've been watching all your podcasts, just trying to understand how to brand myself, how to market myself, but it's so hard to be rapper today because everyone wants to talk about sex, drugs, girls, whatever it may be. I'm freaking out this is insane. (Gary laughs) but I'm trying to build a following right now. I've been following and unfollowing people on Instagram. It hasn't work out to the best, so I really think-- - Michael, 'cause that's a tactic, right? Following people and hoping they follow you back, and then unfollowing you is just very low common denominator, not bringing any value to anybody, and I'm glad to hear that it's not working, 'cause it shouldn't work, 'cause it's a shit tactic. - Well, there you go, so-- - [Gary] Yeah. to me the main question is the music, what are you bringing to the table as an artist that makes you special, and that's gonna make people want to listen? Because I think that content really matters as much as any other tactic you're gonna use. I think the content matters more. - Michael, I think this is crazy that you called when we had John on because this is now-- - [Michael] I think it's crazy too, dude. (group laughter) - Let me tell you why, though. how old are you? - [Michael] I'm 23. - This is perfect 'cause I'm 41. John, how old are you? - I'm 38. - Great, so when John 1st hit my radar a decade ago it feels like, and maybe even a little bit longer, actually. It was interesting to me because John came up during a time in music where hip hop and soul and R& amp; B actually, I thought he was an anomaly, he came from a different angle, talked about different things in a different way of singing. It wasn't kind of the sound that I was hearing. It was throwback for me, and he popped because he stayed true to himself. It was really interesting about hip hop when I was a kid, my man, was that in the early '90s into '90 to'96 there was so much about being hard. Literally rappers made up that they came from tough places (John laughs) 'cause it was the only way to do it. I would tell you that I think you're getting tricked by what's working on Instagram, or you're looking at one or two artists. Your truth, back to John's point, the music. Your honesty and your truth is what's gonna work. When Eminem came out, he spoke about, forget about being white and being from the hood, he spoke about depression, issues with his mom-- - Family issues, yeah, it was super authentic, and honesty is what sells rap to me. I'm always connecting more with artists who speak their truth and do it in a way that musically dope and feels like you feel the urgency in a sense of power and truth coming from them, and if you give us that, then we're gonna like what you do. - Michael I... - [Michael] Yeah, and I-- - Go ahead. - [Michael] I really appreciate that, but for me, like, when I was in eighth grade my dad... I'm being so vulnerable with you guys right now, eighth grade, my dad was arrested, I had to sell my house, sell all the cars, I was 15 years old, and I had to get a job, help pay the rent back at home. And I've been trying to use that in my music, and it's so cool, 'cause I only have like, I don't know, 2,000 followers on Instagram or whatever but I get, direct message like once or twice a week, just say I'm like, hey man, your music's really inspiring to me, that's crazy because I live in D. C., and there's so many kids out there that look up to these rappers that are talkin' about guns, drugs, or whatever, but it's just like, I think you can change the world if you can make music that is inspiring kids to be educated. And stop the violence, or whatever it may be. That's my goal with all of it, and John your music has inspired me so much. "All of me", I might have that play at my wedding. (Gary and John laugh) - Michael, listen, I think you're barkin' up the right tree. Here's what I would say. Don't get impatient, and don't get frustrated. If you speak your truth, when at 29, you may break through right? Like, John, talk about your, you know, coming... - My journey was-- - Yeah. - First of all, I started playing the piano when I was four years old. I started singing publicly when I was like, six or seven. So if you think about it, my career has been 30, over 30 years of performing in front of people. I was doing it at a church, school, and by the time I got to college, I went there at sixteen, and I was singing in an acapella group, and I was also directing a church choir, and then, I wanted to get a record deal at some point. And I wanted that since I was a kid, but I started to see the path when I got to college, and I started making my first demos when I was like, 18. I started writing a lot more songs, collaborating with more people, and I thought I was ready to get a record deal then. You know, I had that same exuberance that you have that, that you know, I'm great, why isn't someone signing me yet? And it took me a while to realize that I had to keep working at it, keep getting better, keep writing, and eventually it worked out, but it didn't work out until 2004 when I was 25 going on 26 years old, So, it's a process, and you have to be persistent, take constructive criticism, and you have to realize that even when people say no, that shouldn't discourage you from keeping going and working hard. - Did your noes, did they excite you? I mean, everybody's different. The reason I'm asking you that, I love no. - They were frustrating, but... - Wasn't it like, fuck you, I'm going to win anyway? - It wasn't an active fuck you, it was more like, I believed I could prove them wrong. But it also made me think, what would I need to do to improve myself? Because I think you can't just think you know everything already, and you're already great at everything already. Especially at your age, like, there's a lot of things you gotta get better at. And if you're getting criticism, maybe some of the people are right. Maybe they're not all right, but maybe some of them are right. And that doesn't mean stop, that means work even harder, and get even better. - Michael, for you, and everybody who is watching, the key is self-awareness, and doing it your way. For me, it was really "fuck you. " It was. It was my way. I was talking about selling stuff on the internet in the mid 90's, and it was hard for people to buy in. Other people, it's, okay, I'm going to prove you wrong. But what did I just hear from you that could build on... I would say that one of my weaknesses is, I don't take the constructive criticism, and factor it in enough. I'd rather run through the wall and figure it out for myself but that's because I know me, and you know you, and so I would say, Michael, you gotta take different pieces, but patience, and knowing yourself are two absolute fundamental formulas for this tough game. Thanks for your call, man. - [Michael] (mumbling) - Thank you, brother. - [Michael] Yeah, real quick, Gary, can I ask you one last question? - Go ahead. - [Michael] So, one thing for John. John, I've never talked to someone like this before in my life, so I'm just going to throw it out there. If I make a dope track, would you consider singing on it? - Who me or John? - It's gotta be really dope! (laughs) - Like, the dopest of dope. We're hanging it up after that. - Thanks Michael. (John laughs) While Andy's getting the next call, how do you think, I mean, that was very nice of Michael, and obviously that's a Hail Mary, and good for him. - Hey, why not? It doesn't hurt to ask. - How often are you being asked to sing the hook, or like, collab... I mean, people that are big deals, and are real celebrities I assume, are in that world... How often is that happening? How do you even go about thinking about that? - Well, the... It doesn't get to me very often because I have enough people to kind of filter through things. So the chances that I'll get to meet are only when it's really serious artists that are, you know, major level. - [Gary] It's big. - Major people. - Have you ever reached out to anybody? Or like, oh my God, I love this up and coming kid, I wanna put them on? (phone ringing) - Absolutely. Usually it's not I wanna put them on, it's usually I've already worked with them in some way. Maybe I've written with them or they've shown me in some way they they're talented. - [Gary] Sharon, hold on. - And then I'll say, why don't you work with me on this track? And a lot of times it's more behind the scenes, they're writing or they're playing guitar, they're doing this or that. - [Gary] Got it. - And for me to use, to reach out to someone and try to get them as a featured artist on my project, usually they're a pretty established artist already. 'Cause ya know, why? - [Gary] You're just, you're at that place. - Yeah, I'm at that place where you might as well have somebody that not only adds something musically, but also their marketing value. - [Gary] Of course, Sharon? ### [15:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7Y3A7_1O0&t=954s) SHARON.RAMAT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - [Sharon] Yes, this is Sharon. - I don't know if you've noticed, but this is GaryVee and you're on The #AskGaryVee Show with John Legend. - Hi Sharon. - [Sharon] I know, hi there, I'm so excited! - Where you callin' from? - [Sharon] Everyone's numbers scrolling past, I'm like, there's no freaking way, no way. - Your number was picked, where you from? - [Sharon] I'm from Safford, Arizona. - Very nice. - Arizona, I'll be in Phoenix soon. - On tour? - [Sharon] Oh, yeah, awesome! - You better go to the show. - [Sharon] I know, I'm like, where and when? Will I have my kids that weekend? (laughing) - Take them! - JohnLegend. com, you can bring your kids. (John laughs) - Sharon, so what's your question? - [Sharon] Well I mean you're both such big. - Good looking guys! - [Sharon] Oh definitely. - Obviously that's what Sharon's saying. (Gary laughs) - [Sharon] You're both strong forces in your industry, how do you stay humble, yet strong, you stay humble? I know you stay humble, but you're such strong forces. How do you balance that, those two aspects? 'Cause they're very opposite because some people come off cocky, you know what I'm saying? - Yeah. - [Sharon] How do you do that? How do you balance that? - Well I think you have to know what you know, and also be aware of what you don't know, and I think part of being smart, part of being savvy is knowing where you might need someones help, knowing where you're not the greatest at everything and if you're confident enough in yourself to ask for help at the right time, it's like the right balance of humility and confidence. Other people have expertise in areas that you don't have them in, like Gary, has expertise in areas that I don't have them in. - [Gary] And I can't play the piano for shit. (Sharon laughs) - And if I'm confident and also humble, humble enough to say here's where I could use some help, advice. I think it's the right combination. - Sharon, I think, to John's point, I think when you're ultimately confident the humility actually comes with it. You know to me, you know listen, I think there's also some benefits and I don't want to speak for John's background, but for me, you know. When you're born with so little, in a communist country, when you come here, I get to watch, just watching how my parents navigated the first decade of America, no complaining, working 24/7, not having a lot of stuff. You know it's very just, it's impossible for me to forget where I came from. - The same with me. - And then I would-- - [Sharon] Yeah, Sharon, I'll tell you the other thing that's really caught my attention, presidents, people like Prince and David Bowie, using music references. Other athletes, celebrities, business tycoons, you know, you watch them pass away as you get older and you realize you know, America mourns for a day or two, and then the world moves on, right? - [Sharon] Right. - And so for some reason I got all-time legacy wants and ambitions, but I also recognize what I actually mean in the grand scheme of things. And that's very humbling as well. - Yeah that's humbling and I think, like he said, when you know you've come from, I think we're in touch with our background still and we appreciate the struggle that our parents went through to get us the opportunities that we were able to get. And we don't take those things for granted. And I don't forget about people that grew up in my neighborhood, and the type of people that I grew up around. When I'm thinking about where I am now. Even though I'm in rarefied air in a lot of ways. When I think about my politics, philanthropy, I'm always thinking about people that grew up in the neighborhoods where I grew up. And trying to make life better for them. - Sharon, I'll tell you one other thing, to keep an eye out for, and this is for everybody. I genuinely see, when I see the cockiest or worst versions, I genuinely feel bad for those people. - It means they're insecure. - It's insecurity. - Yeah. - It's a seed of insecurity, that's what it is. Like they're putting up a front, because they don't want you to get through. I think of them as cactuses. They put up that facade, because if you actually get in there, they're quite weak. And I feel like that has just been very obvious to me, and so, I don't know that's something else to keep in mind. - Yeah, it's the same with celebrities. It's really the ones that you feel like are having the most trouble with their celebrity are also the ones that kind of put up that arrogant facade. - It makes sense. - It's hard, it's tough. - [Sharon] Yeah, have a good day guys! - Take care. - So sweet. It is hard, right? And so talk to me about that transition of rarefied air. As people are going through different versions of that right now. What was the most intriguing, difficult, easiest, what were some of the adjustments of going from a place where, nobody knew who you were, or was, to now, you walk down the streets and people are turning, and selfie? You obviously have a very famous spouse as well. So that compounds the entire situation. - It's interesting because when you're trying to make music and then make that music known to people, fame comes with it and you welcome it, especially at first. - [Gary] Of course. - Because you're like, "Oh, they know who I am now. "That's great. I want them to know who I am. " - [Gary] This is an opportunity, yes. - I make music because I want people to hear it and know who I am, but obviously there's always some cost that comes with that. - That's right. - So you give up some of your privacy, anonymity. I can't just walk around and enjoy the city like a normal person can. - Do you guys try to do it once in a while and see what happens? - We walked around SoHo yesterday. - How'd it go? - There were paparazzi, we got, you know, stopped for photos. But it wasn't an unpleasant experience. It was an enjoyable afternoon. - Is New York good for fame? Like, do you feel like. How does New York handle you two walking around? - Well, New York is different because you walk. There's not a lot of cities - Right. - There People can grab you. in America where you walk. - Right. - Most people drive in, you know, L. A. or Denver, or-- - Yep. - you know, Houston. Most people drive. So New York is very different in the sense that you're physically accessible to more people. So you're able to get stopped more, but that's what we love about New York, too. There's that energy. - [Gary] Yep. - There's that kinetic vibe, that connection that you have with the city. And as people used to say, well, "New Yorkers, they don't give a fuck about celebrities. "They'll just let you go. " - [Gary] Right, right. - No. - [Gary] Not true. (John laughs) - If they know who you are they want to talk to you. - [Gary] But the paparazzi's different than it is in L. A., right? - It used to be. - It's starting to change? - It's about the same now. - Got it. - Like, we're,-- - Andy? - We're renting a house right now and they're camped outside of our house knowing where we're going to be. - That's tough. - Yep. - Andy? - [Andy] Yeah. - It's Gary Vaynerchuk and you're on ### [22:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7Y3A7_1O0&t=1337s) @ANDREW.EVERSOLE 56 GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA The #AskGaryVee Show with John Legend. - [Andy] Holy shit! - How you doing buddy? - [Andy] What's up fucking GaryVee? - What up man? How are you? - [Andy] I'm doing awesome. How are you guys? - Really good, Andy. - Great. - What's your question? - [Andy] I got a question. So my dream project is called Banjo Earth and I travel around the world to different countries with a banjo. - Okay. - [Andy] And collaborate with the local folk musicians of each country. So I make a documentary and a CD. And my question is, how do I tap in? I've got a YouTube channel I'm working on. How do I tap into these people who are making TV shows? I want to be like the Anthony Bourdain of the banjo and just make music around the world. - That's kinda fun. I like that concept. - That's cool man. Where are you from Andy? - [Andy] I live in North Carolina. - I love it. So how long- - [Andy] I just want to China and did one last year. I funded it through Kickstarter. And I want to go to Brazil this fall and do another one. - Couple things, I'll jump in first and then John, you jump in. One thing I want to make sure you realize is you want the leverage and you want it to come to you. So instead of reaching out to CAA or William Morris, or production companies, because of the beauty of YouTube and Instagram and Snapchat and things of that nature, the number one thing you should be doing, it's far more important for you to be DM'ing people with a million followers, 500,000 followers, in different cities around the country and going and collaborating with them than it is for you to be hitting up a talent agent or production company to put you on. So what I would do is create the reality and let it come to you instead of you begging to be that one lucky person that broke through 'cause that's a much more difficult game. That's a game that John did win but I just genuinely believe the level of talent and serendipity for that is so extreme in a world where there's other options. So I would tell you, I would spend all my time trying to reach out with people that have audiences either on Instagram or YouTube. Reach out to them and say, "Hey, do you want to collaborate? " And you're gonna get one yes for every 900, 90, 87 requests but that yes matters and you just build on that. And if you have talent, and you have a unique story, right? The banjo thing. Right away we both reacted to. - Yeah. - I would tell you strategically, don't think about becoming Anthony Bourdain. Think about, the next Anthony Bourdain is gonna be a food person from Instagram not somebody that looked like Anthony Bourdain. - Yeah, I think you have the power because what isn't you're doing isn't expensive to do if you do it domestically first. You don't have to fly to Brazil first. You can do a lot of it just around this country. This country is really diverse. You can just hop in a car and do of lot of this and kind of establish your persona online and establish the way you collaborate with people. And then you'll start to get more and more people that are viewing it and then you can afford to fly to all these other places too. - Andy, I got one other one for you. - [Andy] Yeah? - I would DM Delta, Amtrak, JetBlue, everybody, Uber, Lyft. I would reach out to transportation companies and say, "Hey, I'll make you "the official sponsor of my world. " So you did Kickstarter. I'm gonna presume you don't have enough money to travel everyday, every way you want to. - Amtrak would be fun. - I would reach out to the Starwood group. All these different people who can sub. Brands are always looking for unique content so they can subsidize your overhead and so now all you're doing, is just it's your time, right? Because you've got your transportation paid for. That would be a very compelling DM, reaching out. - Or an actual car company. - Avis, too. Or a car that you can drive. - Yeah. - To John's point, there's probably 40 to 100 companies that you should be reaching out to. Or you can start a hitchhiking concept. You need to figure out how to take care of your overhead and then you can really just rely on the collaborations and then you you're one minute from the right person, whether real A-list celebrity or social celebrity with big audience, seeing your stuff, being like, "Holy crap, that's dope. " Hitting you up, collaboration. Kodak Black does it 'cause he just loved your stuff and your whole world changes. - [Andy] Awesome, man. I thank you guys so much. Gary, I love everything you do. It's been a real inspiration. - Thank you my man. - John Legend, you're the man, dude. - Take care man! Play that banjo. - John Legend, you are the man! (John laughs) So, John, have you, while Andy's pulling up another one, talk to me about your real life, not John Legend, John Legend's social media behavior. Do you, as a human, not as the celebrity, do you wake up like everybody else and go to the bathroom and look through your Instagram? - I do. - Are you hot on Facebook? How do you roll on? - I'm mostly Instagram and Twitter. I do Snap some, but I'm not huge on Snap for some reason. It's just not. - [Gary] It doesn't come natural to you. - It doesn't come naturally to me. - [Gary] Do you engage with fans? - Yes, I do. - [Gary] You do? - I write back fans, especially on Twitter, and sometimes I'll comment back and forth with them on Instagram, as well, but most likely, interaction I'll have with someone is on Twitter. And I'm very into politics, as anybody that follows me knows, so a lot of what I tweet about, or talk about on Twitter, is related to what's going on in the country or around the world when it comes to politics. - Have you replied to people in the Instagram comments? I've noticed celebrities, - Occasionally, yes. - I think that's a real fun one. - Yeah. - You know, cool, awesome. Got one? - [Andy] Yeah. - I love that. Look, I got it, sorry, now, Are you ready? (phone ringing) I thought you were ready. (phone ringing) Who is it? (John laughing) - [Andy] Jamai. - Who? [Andy] He's got a good question. - Okay. (phone dialing) - I wanna get a tweet back from John Legend. I'm serious. - Hit me up, GaryVee. - I will, I will. (Gary and John laughing) - Uh oh, Jamai. - [Jamai] Hello? - Jamai? [Jamai] Yes. - This is Gary Vaynerchuk and you're on ### [27:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7Y3A7_1O0&t=1676s) JAMAIMUSIC PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA The#AskGaryVee Show with John Legend. - What's up Jamai? - [Jamai] Aw, man. That's what's up, man. My name is Jamai, I'm an R& amp; B singer. I grew up on John Legend in high school... - It always freaks me out when people say they grew up on me. - You're old now. (John laughing) - Jamai, where you from? - [Jamai] I'm from Philly. - Alright, so you grew up on John Legend, so this is surreal and exciting for you, right? - I went to college there. - [Jamai] Yeah, it's real and exciting. I'm a singer, I'm an R& amp; B singer from Philly. My Instagram is Jamaimusic. My question is, I've been working on, my issue has been creating and not documenting. So I recently, as of like, the last couple days, just worked on doing Instagram and YouTube covers, like posting them on the regular, just so that people can have new content that comes through my page. But, my question is I'm trying to get into the college market as an artist and I'm a black guy, an R& amp; B artist, but I also do pop, so it's a little struggle for me. Thing is, I've traveled overseas and performed. It's a struggle for me to be identified as, some people wanna put me in a category of just an R& amp; B, like a John Legend, but I'm really more so of like a Jason Derulo, Chris Brown. I can do both equally. So what I recently started doing was, I watched, I think, episode 139 when you talk about DM'ing people, and I basically have been going to every student government college, you know, every student government president, and basically DM'ing them about events that they have coming and things like that. - And how's that going? - [Jamai] Not really well, I know you said maybe one out of 900, so I'm trying to be consistent with it. But my question is, I have two questions. My first question is because I am naturally a versatile artist, I'm naturally R& amp; B, I'm naturally pop, do I need to just be an R& amp; B artist for now so that people can kind of categorize me and be more familiar with me, or should I be who I am and be the international pop, R& amp; B, EDM artist that I am? And my other question is... - Hold on, let's get John to answer that one, and then we'll go to the second one. - Well I think, because I think there's already a model out there for the type of artist that you want to be, so I don't feel like there's a limit on you going out there and saying "This is who I am. " Like, some of our biggest pop stars are people who are black, and also make R& amp; B. Like Chris Brown,-- - [Jamai] Yeah but... - Beyonce, Rihanna, these people are like, hugely successful doing exactly what you say you want to do. And so, I don't feel like there 's any limit on you doing those things, because there's a model out there of successful artists that have done that. So I don't think it's a hard thing for you to convince someone "Hey, I can make R& amp; B "and pop and dance music. " Like you said. - [Jamai] But the thing... - There's Jason, there's Chris, there's Beyonce, there's Rihanna, all these people make kind of those hybrids of music. And so I don't think there's anything holding you back in people's perception of what black artists can do. - [Jamai] But the thing about, the thing about that, and I could go on, 'cause I feel like on an independent artist level, like it's easier to look at Beyonce, Chris, a lot of more versatile artists. But on the independent level, most R& amp; B, or most black artists are just like soul. - Sure but you also have to understand that what those artists have access to, when it comes to production and songwriters is a little bit different. So these people are working with the biggest pop producers on Earth. They're songwriters on Earth, and so it's a whole enterprise that goes into making the music they make, and so you may not be able to make all that music on your own, so you might want to find an alliance with a producer that can help you do that. My alliance was with Kanye West, when we were both not famous. - [Gary] That was a good idea. - That was a pretty good idea. (group laughter) But a lot of those types of artists that you're talking about are very producer driven, and so if you are also a producer, that's amazing. But if you're not, you might want to collaborate with someone that can help you do that. - And Jamai, just listen, and this is coming from the deep, part of my heart, you're in excuse mode right now, my man. Like you're looking for the angle to why not. Like, nothing you said is infeasible and isn't happening, you're just coming up with the reason it's not happening. Instead of just focusing on the things you need to do to make it happen. You excited the crap out of me, when you said you've been DM'ing you know schools, and college, people that are producing the events. (crosstalk) Yeah of course you can say anything. - [Jamai] I think you misunderstood my, basically what I'm saying is I have like music, I have the production. But as far as the market is concerned for independent artists, like the venues, and things like that, like when I bring my dancers with me. I already have that, I have dancers, I have all those different things. I have the music, the product, but when I go, it's like the audiences are not accepting, and I am really good. But the audiences are like, because of my look, it's like too far to the left. Or you know, I might wear a fucking latex costume and I-- - My man. - I think you have to get the audience before they see you at the show. Because if you're creating, these recordings and you're publishing them somehow online, you're gonna develop a fan base if people like you. And then that way when people come see your show, they've already listened to the songs a few times. They've already bought into who you are as a persona. And the way you dress and all those things, 'cause they've seen it on your Instagram. Instagram page so you can't just cold call all of these producers, and say, come let me perform at your show, when no one at the school knows my music yet. You wanna get your music out there, so that when you show up, you've already got a base, you've already got people that've like, oh I follow this person for a year and I really like them. And I know some of the words to some of his songs and I connect with them. - [Jamai] So Gary, what is this pick up number, 'cause that's what I'm trying to get into, I'm tryna get into the market by I don't have the following necessarily. - Well that's 'cause you're, Jamai, my man, you're blaming the market. Right, you're like, they're not seeing it, they're not feeling it. I'm too far to the left, any artist that blames the audience already lost. - Yeah it's not the audiences fault. - I'll tell you this, you need to put out more music on SoundCloud, you should put out a, how much music do you have? Like how many songs do you got? - [Jemiah] That goes into my second question, I have music on iTunes. I got a few mixtapes, and I've been doing often I do, covers. Like official covers. - Yep, yep. - [Jamai] But my question, was about the songs, was like, I have one song that I truly believe in, like wholeheartedly. And I just feel like because I'm so versatile should I put the one song or should I have multiple songs? - Jamai, you saw the piece of content where I was hanging out with Kyle? Did you see that? - [Jamai] Nah, I didn't see that. - Alright, I'm gonna link it (bright bell rings) in this episode. You need to watch it and you need to put out music man. The big advantage now of distribution online is you need at-bats. Don't fall in love with that song. You may love it, the world may hate it. You need to put out music. - [Jamai] Okay. - Put it out man. And if people love it, it'll start to generate some buzz. Like people will listen to it, they'll share it with their friends and you'll start to get. - [Jamai] What if I don't have the money to put out music as often as I would like to. Like quality sounded music. - Then you're stuck and you lost like everybody else. You need to figure it out. Like Prince was a janitor in his studio and the quality now, yeah! - It's so cheap to make music now. Like the money should not be a problem. - Jamai, listen man. - It's really cheap to make music. - I love you and I'm trying to be kind 'cause John's here. Everything you're saying is backwards. You need to do and work. You're coming up with all the wrong angles in my opinion and I'm so pumped you called because I'm hoping that this is the breakthrough moment. Like you need to, so far I heard, it's the audience's fault. It's too far to the left, the music's too expensive. You are fully, fully in excuse mode. You can put out plenty of quality music. To John's point, it's inexpensive and if you want it so bad, go fucking work at the studio in exchange for studio time. Like you need to go out and put out music, put in the work, put your head down, and then figure it out after the fact. You need to put out 150 fucking songs and see how people react to it before we hear another phone call from you. - [Jamai] Bet, got you. - Let's do it! - Thank you. - I believe in you! - You're welcome. Do it! - Right I mean, that was a, I love how he ended it, I'm glad he took that punch to the face and said bet. That's what I was hoping he would say, but like right? That's what a lot of people do. - Yeah. They're like looking for like why not. Like the audience does it? It's the audience's fault? You mean the market? - Yeah. - The market decides. - Yeah. The market decides and you have to create something that you believe in. But ultimately people are going to decide whether or not they like it. And you can't blame them for not liking it. If they don't like it they don't like it. (phone ringing) - [Andy] Zach. - Zach? - [Andy] Yep. - That's right, that's just the way it is. (phone rings) Last one and I got one more question. - There are ways to market things to make people like it more. - Of course! - But the content matters. - [Zach] Hello this is Zach. - Zach, it's GaryVee, you're on The #AskGaryVee Show with John Legend. ### [37:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7Y3A7_1O0&t=2279s) @ZACHARY.TROYER NEW YORK, NEW YORK - [Zach] Oh my goodness! GaryVee, how are you doing, sir? - Tremendous my friend. Where are you from? - I am from, actually I live in New York City but I'm in Denver right now. - I love it! Say hello to John Legend. - [Zach] Mr. Legend, how you doin', sir? - I'm doing great, how are you? - Mr. Legend? - Mr. Legend! - [Zach] I'm doing it at home. Hey Gary, by the way I've emailed you this morning. Since you, I sent you my media analytics platform but nevertheless. - I love it man, well I haven't gotten to my email. I'll check it out later. Go ahead. - [Zach] Awesome! Okay, so my question is about expectations. You said you had zero expectations which allows you to essentially you know, live life a little bit more freely. How do you do that? - I have, let's clarify it, I have zero expectations of others because I deploy empathy that they have their own shit going on and their own thing and so I don't put myself in a position where people let me down because I deploy enormous amounts of empathy to understand they have other variables going on for them. - [Zach] Got ya, got ya. Okay, so my question is? - So I have huge expectations of myself, right? I have enormous expectations of myself. - What about your employees? - I'm empathetic. Like of course I pay them and I expect them but like if they don't work as hard, like my friends or like my employees don't work as hard as me. I'm like give them a piece of the business. Like, I'm empathetic to what the trade is, - Yeah. and some of them grossly underperform what they get paid, Others grossly over-perform. I'm trying to make sure I'm closing the gap on who's over-performing. I'm trying to move up people that are underperforming. But I'm realistic about it. I don't get emotional. Everybody's putting so much on the other person, I worry about what I can do. - Yeah. - Go ahead, my man. - [Zach] Absolutely. My next question would be, is I know it with, would you have very high standards? Like I had extremely high standards for myself and so sometimes when I'm underperforming it stifled my creativity. How do you go about essentially combining the two, or not letting it stifle your creativity? - So for me, I don't judge myself. I'm worried about the pre-effort, not necessarily the result. I feel unbelievably satisfied with myself because I know I'm giving it my all. And just that is what I'm judging myself on my effort and my tenacity and where my intent is coming from, not necessarily the results that manifested in the short term from those actions. - Yeah. - [Zach] Beautiful, beautiful! - John? - And I think the standard. - [Zach] What about you John? - I think the standard should be, did you put everything into it to make sure it was successful? And if you can feel confident that you did that then you should feel good about yourself. - [Gary] John, in a world where the world gets to judge your stuff. Like, I'm kind of like doin' my thing. But in a world where maybe you fell in love with a song, like, or an album, that maybe underperformed. Is that difficult or are you able to say, wow, I really gave it my all. It sucks that this under-performed or this song's not doing well or even this album's not doing well. How does that play out for you? - Yeah, you have feelings of doubt. Especially at this point in my career. Because, you know, I'm almost 40. And most hugely successful pop stars kind of peak in their, you know, late 20's through mid-30's. And so you're always wondering like, are people just going to get tired of you after awhile? - But you had your biggest song ever, what three, four years ago? - Couple years ago. - Like three, what is it? - "All Of Me", 2013, '14. - Do you feel a lot of pressure, did you feel pressure when the album came out in December to have a song of that nature or did you realize that was a unicorn? - That was a unicorn, I didn't expect any song to be as big as "All Of Me. " I didn't expect "All Of Me" to be as big as "All Of Me" and I don't expect a song after that. - Do you expect to never have a song, like, how do you, I'm actually curious right now. - I literally had one of the biggest songs in the world that year and it's nearly impossible to do that multiple times. There's only a few artists that do that, so I-- - But what's your gut tell you, do you think you got another one in you? - I believe I'm gonna keep writing songs for at least 20 more years and I'll have some more really great songs but again, who knows if they'll ever be as big as "All Of Me," like, it's hard to be the biggest song in the world. - You know what's crazy about, and about "All Of Me" is like, I don't know, every goddamn wedding for the rest of time is gonna have a good chance of having that song somewhere in that playlist. - And like "Love Me Now. " - Like, Dunk's gonna dance to that at his wedding. - "Love Me Now" from this album did very well. - It did. - Like pre-"All Of Me" standards it was like one of my biggest songs. - Biggest hit. - Yeah, but compared to "All Of Me" it's like, it didn't do as well. - My man, let me give you a good piece of advice for the people that work for you, for the people you work for, for yourself, judgment is dangerous. You need to be reactionary, too many people paint pictures to themselves that they can't live up to and I think accepting yourself is extremely important while pushing yourself and they're positively, they're obviously opposite energies but it's important to find that balance because if you go one way or the other you're gonna fall off kilter. - [Zach] Beautiful. - Alright my man, thank you. - [Zach] Thank you, take care guys. - Take care. - John, thanks for bein' on the show man. - Of course, it was my pleasure. - This was fun, right? - I had a great time. - John, you get to ask the question of the day. Any question you want, thousands of comments on Facebook and YouTube to give insight, anything you're curious about on a macro, at a micro, any question of the day, but the guest gets to ask it. Fire away. - I'm asking you? - Nope, the universe. - Oh, asking the universe. - You get to ask them any question you want, I'm glad to see that you've been watching 250 episodes of The #AskGaryVee Show. (group laughter) Alright, you get to ask them any question you want, macro question, it's a good consumer insight thing, if you wanna know where trends are going or things of that nature, what are people into, like, artists, technology or trends or-- - How many concerts do you go to in a year? - Dunk? - Probably two, - [Gary] Sus? - No, three, four, four. - Two. - [Woman] Four. - Tyler? - [Tyler] I don't know, like 10? - [DRock] I mean this is the most I've ever gone like. - DRock. - [DRock] Three or four? - Thank you. Jake? - [Jake] 40 or 50. - [Gary] You go to 40 or 50 concerts a year? - Yeah. - [John] You're our favorite consumer here. - [Gary] That's hardcore. Who do you see the most? - [Jake] Phish. - [John] Oh so you're a-- - [Gary] One of those. - [John] Like a Deadhead, Phish person. - [Gary] Of course, I knew that it had to be something like that. - [John] You like the jam vibe. - Yeah. - [Gary] That's fine. I may go to zero, I'm very weird with concerts, I'll go to one. - I used to go to like two or three honestly. - Yeah. - That aren't my own. - We went to yours in and that was so much fun. That was a great night. John, thank you man. - Thank you. - Yeah, you keep asking questions, we'll keep answering them. (hip hop music) --- *Источник: https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/18861*