I spent the remainder of the (long) weekend lounging and watching new favorite shows—Forever and How To Get Away With Murder(!)—in lieu of catching up with blog posts, as you can probably tell. 🙂 I did go out of town and spend time with family, which was really nice, and along the way, got to work on a beauty story. All in all, I say it was a productive four days!
On Sunday night, I saw these two videos before going to bed. Wanted to share them here as they were pretty awesome and inspiring.
The first one is Lupito Nyong’o’s Oscar speech from earlier this year. I love what she said at the end:
“When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid. Thank you.”
The second one is Howard Stern’s almost hour-long interview of Jay Z from 2013 (or according to the comments, 2010, when he was promoting his book, Decoded).
Now, Stern isn’t the best interviewer on the block (keeps on interrupting and sounds patronizing at times) but I enjoyed watching this despite that. And, as a host, he does redeem himself by having read the book and being well-informed. Anyhow, Jay Z seemed so earnest and honest, which made this so good to watch.
In 33:16, female host Robin Quivers points out, “So when you walk into a boardroom with a bunch of guys in suits who all went to college, you’re fine.” Jay Z responds “Yeah, because they’ve read a bunch of words, I’ve lived a bunch of life,” and laughs. He adds, “It kind of evens us out, whether [they] know it or not.”
His lack of formal education and training in music, et. al. comes up again around 45:29. The rap mogul responds:
“I’ve had on-the-job training. I have a PhD in making incredible music.”
