What You Don't Know

I did everything I could
Can you blame me for trying?
You said you never would
But I can't blame you for lying.

Cause you wanted to protect me
But you decided to inject me,

With a disease called Love.
Then you infected our Trust,
now we ended up with Lust.
And soul ties are real, so look how many people ended up with us.

You say you don't know him, but he said, "Hi".
You say you wasn't home, but I drove by.

My friends tell me that if it walks like a _______
and talks like a ______
Then it's gotta be a _______ Nooooo...

Cause I done tried this thing before,
with this one, thought it was more.

Ok...  I was all in MY feelings
cause this one was kinda exciting.
Love can and will hurt,
cause falling feels no better than fighting.

Now you inviting,
another maybe?
Man... this chick gotta be crazy.

What we had was real. 
Maybe too real.
Now I'm sick of your scent, your smell, your voice...
Maybe too ill.

So I ignored all the signs,
 even though they were quite alarming.
And the only words I can find,
were just two..."Good Morning".

~Jay Dukes qka Mr. Million Dollars qka Mr. "Hey... You Look Familiar"

THINK LIKE A MAN (My thoughts)

Disclaimer: These are just MY thoughts! Go see it for yourself. We all don’t “think” alike! *shrugs*

 

I THOUGHT it was a GREAT movie. It was real. #RealLife. I appreciate the fact that it appealed to all people. It wasn’t the stereotypical “black film”. It didn’t pigeon hole us as African-Americans. Or show what “Hollywood” thinks WE want to see. It didn’t have a Donte with four different baby mommas. I know several successful women who have a child or two who are not necessarily looking for a provider because they already have their ish together. It’s kind of like, “It would be nice, but just don’t waste my time”.

 

Kevin Hart was HILARIOUS, as always! I think he did a lot of adlibbing. I will take that back if everything he said was in the script. Then, my hat goes off to the writers. But for him to have 90% of the funny parts made HIM hilarious in this movie.

 

Long story, short.. GO SEE IT! Today!

 

Now I will proceed to get off topic and tell yall how this movie directly relates to me. I should have titled this blog “So Motha’ F*&^%n’ Motivated”!

 

This might be some selfish ASS ish! But I can’t give you want you want, until I have everything I need. How can I focus on an “us” when I don’t even know where “I” am, right now? You see it in the movie with The Chef! It’s not possible. Back when I started college, my uncle told me, “Don’t chase women, chase money. And when you get money, women will chase you”! #TRUTH! Not saying that I want to get on one knee for a gold digger in three years. I’m saying that as a young man with ambition, dreams and goals, “the one” will understand that. She will respect the hustle and the grind. She might even say, “You know what? I am willing to help you however I can”. #Priceless.

 

And continuing to explain why I am SO MOTHA’ F*&^%n’ MOTIVATED… I am always preaching to yall about networking, humility and being in the right place at the right time. I probably got more motivated at the story around this film rather than the motion picture itself. Let’s connect some dots. And… GO!

 

The Producer of a movie is the BIG GUY! He/she calls the shots because at the end of the day, they're putting up the money. Obviously, you have a casting director and a director to make suggestions; but if it’s my money, it’s MY RULES! *shrugs* (I think that’s how it works). If you want to get into entertainment, you should watch credits! At ALL movies and even TV shows! Stay to the end and WATCH THE CREDITS! You will learn A LOT! This is why networking, following up and maintaining relationships are so important.

 

Will Packer produced “Think Like A Man”. He also produced “Takers” and “Stomp The Yard”, to name a few. Do you see ANY similarities here, yet?

 

-CHRIS BROWN is in “Think Like A Man”. He was also in “Stomp The Yard” in 2007 (for all of three minutes) AND he STARRED in “Takers”.

-MICHAEL EALY… STARRED in “Takers”.

-TERRENCE J had a small speaking role in “Stomp The Yard 2” and he stars in “Think Like A Man”!

 

It’s not rocket science!

 

How long does it take to tweet someone, “Happy Birthday”?… NOT LONG!

How long does it take to mass text, “Merry Christmas. God Bless”?… NOT LONG!

HOW LONG does it take to FB somebody, “Sorry to hear about your loss, we are praying for you”, TEN SECONDS!!!!

 

It’s not sucking up or kissing nobody’s (edit), it’s MAINTAINING RELATIONSHIPS! Bet Money *K. Hart Voice* those relationships are why Chris Brown, Michael Ealy and Terrence J have worked, and will continue to work, with Will Packer. People say, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. WRONG! “It’s not WHAT you know or WHO you know. It’s who knows YOU”! Everybody knows Barack Obama! But if I call and ask, “Can I speak to Barack please…?” They are going to respond, “May I ask who’s calling”? “JAY DUKES”! And they are going to send me to voicemail or just hang up!

 

Do NOT burn bridges! Maintain relationships!  And I mean Genuine Relationships! (Not this running “game” stuff that us men do! I might be telling on myself and many others right now… but *shrugs*! Think about why a dude calls you, out of the blue, one week, exactly SEVEN days, before he comes into town. “Hey babe, didn’t want anything. Just checking on you”. Now you feel special because he thought about you enough to just call when "you crossed his mind”. Yall talk for thirty minutes and he doesn’t say (edit) about coming into town. Now, seven days later, he calls to ask you, “Baby, how do I get to The Pizza Hut from the ghetto Bi-Lo over here by Baskin Robbins that we went to that time?” “WAIT… WAIT… You in town?” It #works. It really #works!)

 

Seriously, send emails periodically just checking up on a person, shoot them a text, etc. Because I PROMISE YOU BOO BOO *K. Hart Voice* the day a person realizes that you only call them when you want something, is the day they will stop answering your calls. 

 

Summary:

1.) Maintain Relationships
2.) Don’t take my advice *shrugs*
3.) GO SEE THINK LIKE A MAN
4.) Follow me on Twitter @jaydukes1911

~Jay Dukes qka Mr. Million Dollars qka Mr. "Hey...  You Look Familiar"

Can I PLEASE Come to YOUR Church?!

Disclaimer: When clubs say they giving away 20 stacks to the sexiest lady, they be lying sometimes. I’m just being honest. But when Mr. Hungreeboy says he’s paying your car note on Saturday, April 14^th, he’s NOT! Foreplay is going down SO live at Cream on Saturday, April 14^th! $300 to the sexiest lady in the building. And yerp… You guessed it. That has NOTHING to do with this blog! Welp… Here it goes…

I attend Vanguard Community Church in Spartanburg, SC. That’s my church home. I like to visit other churches though. I went to church in Cross the other week and I LOVED it. And don’t get me wrong, I have NOTHING against my church. I love the Pastors, The Word, the fellowship… EVERYTHING. I just HATE when my dad shows up. It is sooooooo (church edit) embarrassing! (deep breath, long sigh) At least he’s in church! But this is exactly what happened on Sunday, April 1^st! And I PROMISE you this is NOT an April Fool’s joke.

One thing I like about my church is that we get The Word minus the theatrics. Minus the yelling and bank-head bouncing. But we had a guest speaker this past Sunday. He’s a prophet and he really hears from God. Really some powerful stuff. But anyway… he does all the yelling and stuff. Not saying anything wrong with it, but it just puts my dad in a comfortable position to show out. And that… HE DID!

My dad walks with a cane. So half way through the sermon, he decides to show up to church. He walks ALL the way to the front row, while this man is preaching! Then two minutes later his phone rings and he walks ALL THE WAY to the back of the church to the coffee room to answer it. I’m sitting at the back of the church with my brother Josh and sister Shannel. I make Josh slide over real quick so there would be an extra seat on the end. Two minutes later, my dad limps back out of the coffee room and let’s the door slam. I say, “Pops, sit right here. Sit right here”. And this guy looks at me and just keeps walking ALL THE WAY BACK to the front! He gets his Bible that he when he answered his phone and walks ALL THE WAY BACK to me and sits down. Then he says to me…

“What you want? I’m trying to get The Word”!

“Man… Dad, Shut up. I was trying to get you to sit here so you wouldn’t have to disturb service”.

“O! Well… I’m bout to leave anyway”.

WWWWHHHHAAATTTT?! You come thirty minutes late? Disturb service and ride? You a clown man! Smh…

But before he left, he definitely wanted to do more embarrassing (church edit). My dad just doesn’t understand church etiquette. Here are a couple church rules…

NUMBER ONE: If the pastor asks you to repeat something, do it in unison with the rest of the congregation.

(My dad waits till everybody is finished and then he says whatever he wants to)

Pastor: Say My time is NOW!

Church: My time is NOW!

Then… My dad: “That’s right! Now is the time”!

Pastor: Say my blessing is on the way.

Church: My blessing is on the way.

THEN…………………… My dad, “Let me get my blessing Father”!

NUMBER… TWO: If you try to start a clap and you fail… Three claps are okay and just rub your hands together.

(My dad randomly does six, loud, long claps just whenever he wants to)

AND NUMBER… THREE: Don’t disagree with The Pastor out loud. That’s just rude!

The Pastor said something about, “You want blessed people in the church. Prosperous people. You don’t want people coming to church and leave going to sleep under a bridge” . Out loud my dad says, “Nawww… Nawww… Let em live Pastor! Let em come”!

Me: “Dad… HUSH”!

“Nah… You don’t HUSH me. I’m a grown (church edit) man! I didn’t agree with that. That wasn’t right”!

“SHHH… DADDY… SHUT UP”!

“Alright… Alright… Ok. *clears throat* AMEN!”

(My dad really is a comedian. He had three whole rows TRIPPIN! Laughing out loud and everything!)

Then he grabs his cane, turns back to me, “Ok brother. I’m bout to go! Be easy…” He gets up and doesn’t go to the back. He walks BACK up to the middle of the church this time, sits down beside my big lil’ cuzzo, D. Houzz, and talks to him for three minutes. Then he gets up AGAIN, limps ALL the way to the back door, but gives me a pound on the way out! “Holla at me brother”!

I couldn’t help but laugh. I just slid down in my chair and Josh tells me, “It’s ok man…”

Follow me on Twitter @jaydukes1911