My most recent trip to London resulted in a sixty-four hour period where I had two advice ridden, man to man conversations with two of hip hop's greatest emcees, NAS and Common. That's right formerly Nasty Nas and Common Sense- it really gets no better than that.

At this stage embarking on an eighteen year professional career and twenty-five years as a behind the scenes cat, I appreciate my old sage status and when I'm asked advice by cats like those, it really solidifies my responsibility to what this rap thing is all about.

In the ten plus years since these young men sprung amazing lyrics upon us from their humble beginning bases in Queens NY and Chicago respectively, we'd seen the 20-30 transition done as smooth as it gets.

These men understand communication to the streets is paramount but at the same time, as accountable adults trying to pull cats up from the trenches as opposed to jumping down in them with a shovel and digging a deeper social hole with the rhymes.

I was across the water hosting an event with a technology company that was unbowing a product that takes pictures and plays 20 GBS of music and video. It's funny, music heads have said the music business is dying so they've lost jobs, while at the same time technology hardware companies are booming.

With hip hop/ rap/ urban music exploded across the planet these same companies run by 25-45 year old heads haven't any reservation about collaborating with the artists to move their product.

Thus Common was a perfect cat to do his thing, a one hour blistering performance.

Before going on, backstage Common had asked some basic questions about how I was able to be calm in any storm. I told him what I usually tell cats and that is - time itself is God and the older we get we must make the effort in managing it since no one can master it. Time is a quality issue as much as a quantified one.

Once managed in a personal zone, it then must be carefully contemplated on who, what, when, and how you share that time, because time is different depending on the individual.

With that said, I gave him the fan-time advice example of how five seconds of quality time with a fan could be a lifetime for that person.The fact that I could see a room, arena, move in slow motion and handle as many as one hundred people's conversations and demands in five to seven minutes is management of the perception of time.

Enough of that, when asked what should he do, my answer was to keep doing what he was doing. His new record is an incredible testament to the quality of a great career.

In a conversation little more than ten hours later I had with Nas who I'd seen in the lobby of the hotel we were both at; I'd again reiterated my time philosophy. It can be percieved as some deep shit but it's the foundation of artist development and public relations.

Record company greed treating rap like a hustle instead of an artform has resulted in more money, but at the cost of the existence of its integrity and longevity. I told Nas that  it's disrespectful of any company, journalist, magazine, TV or radio station to judge him merely based on sales.

I told him that his company has predominantly older white cats guarding Miles Davis' some one hundred plus masters of albums and music as if their lives depended on it.

Miles would smack a cat across the face with his trumpet if they dared to disrespect his art form with some pop chart. I told Nas his work was the Miles of this time. And it is. Again, as with Common, besides my advice and analogy I told Nas to keep doing what he was doing. I told them both that there's one hundred years of black musicians, vocalists, men and women to learn from and draw parallels.

Hell, many are still living to ask questions of, so  as to apply answers to their already stellar careers.

I told Nas it was an honor having that conversation as well as witnessing firsthand the VH -1 Hip Hop honors performance with he and his dad OLU DARA.

In closing, I told each of them respectively and respectfully that cats that short-term this art form into a 'get it and get out' hustle have no sense of time and less sense to do with themselves or the money they may make.

It's a blessing to do this thing, to travel the world, touch people's minds and souls as well as move their bodies across the world and yet still build and rebuild your people around the way.

But only a man (or woman) can do that. And sometimes and most especially in the increasingly souless record biz, young brothers need the encouragement from older experienced heads to keep it movin'.

The sports world works hard at this principle, and society can stop this decay of young cats with the art of encouraging inspiration and communication from older heads.

After all it's as inspiring for myself to give some. 

As I said Nas and Common, in the same twenty-four hours- it gets no better than that.

A regular terrordome is coming next week....