March 16, 2023 • 10 mins
Today Dramos takes on the stoic principal of authenticity and uses lyrics from Nas' "No Idea's Original" to demonstrate that we should be inspired to put our ideas into action regardless of whether they exist or not.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Yes, Yes, I am Dramas And this is the Street
Stoic Podcast, bringing you your daily dose of timeless stoic
philosophy remix for the hip hop generation. We are combining
(00:26):
ancient philosophy with lyrics and quotes from somebod the greatest
who ever grace a microphone. Now, with that in mind,
let's get things started with your daily shot of inspiration.
Now today, we're gonna be talking about a topic that's
very near and dear to my heart. It's something I
(00:47):
try and preach all the time to anybody that will listen.
It's not exactly a stoic ideal or principle, but they
definitely definitely I think share in the importance that I
place on this topic, and it is step being into
your authenticity and having self awareness. And a song that
came to mind as I was kind of researching for
(01:08):
the show. It's from NAS and it's called no Ideas Original, right,
And NAA says, no ideas original, there's nothing new under
the sun. It's never what you do, but how it's done.
And I love this concept from NAS about no idea
is original. If you've ever read the book Steal Like
(01:29):
an Artist, if you haven't. I highly recommend it. But
they talk about this concept as well, that we're all
just kind of borrowing from all of our different influences,
and just by the way our mind uniquely works, the
things that we create are uniquely ours, right, just by
simply being authentic to ourselves and listening to that inner voice.
Whatever we create, even if we are trying to in
(01:50):
some way kind of bite off something else, some other
piece of art that somebody created, inevitably, it becomes uniquely
us if we are listening to that voice inside of us, right.
And I wanted to kind of bring this up because
I think so many of us we get in our
own way, because you know, we see somebody do something
and then we're like, oh, I can't do it anymore.
That person did it right. And and also, you know,
(02:11):
we live in a culture even in music, where it's
like everybody sounds the same, because you know, people are
trying to copy, you know, to try to recreate success
rather than doing what comes naturally to them, right. And
those that are bold enough to do that, those that
are bold enough to be vulnerable and to step into
their authenticity, you know, those are the ones who who
(02:31):
end up having an actual career have have long term
success at what they do. I mean, somebody like Jake
Cole is a great example of that. You know, Jacole
makes conscious rap in an era that that really you know,
didn't call for that, right, He's an anomaly. You know.
He wasn't making club records, you know, like a lot
of his peers during that time, the Drakes of the world.
You know, he wanted to make music that actually meant something,
(02:52):
that that spoke about real life. And he found success
because he was just doing what came naturally to him, right.
He wasn't chasing the trends, He wasn't trying to you know,
sit there and make a club record for the most part,
like he was genuinely just doing what he felt in
his heart. And that is him walking in his authenticity
and that led to him finding the ultimate success that
(03:13):
he has thus far. Right. And this reminds me of
an Epictetius quote where he says, find significance within yourself,
within your own sphere of power, that is where you
have the greatest consequence. Right. And when he says consequence,
he's talking about having the greatest impact, right, And he's
also talking about learning to appreciate your uniqueness. Right, that's
(03:33):
where the power lies. And so many of us get
caught up in different things. You know, we'll keep it
to music, where if you're a musician, you listen to
your favorite musician, you're like, man, I can't sound like that.
I don't know how to write songs like that. That's
a good thing, right, you should be writing songs and
sounding how you sound. That is what makes you unique. Now,
I'm not saying that it's going to make you a
(03:54):
famous musician or whatever it might be, but it is
going to allow you to create something that is actually
really different. And more often than not, if you're walking
in your purpose, if you are being authentic, if you're
being self aware and truly just gravitating towards whatever comes
naturally to you, you're going to find some sort of success. Right.
That's kind of the key and all this, you know,
(04:16):
And for me, I say that as someone who relates
with this very podcast that you're listening to. You know,
there are so many people who talk about stoicism and
are far more well read on it than I am. Right,
Ryan Holliday is one of those people. He's an author,
he's just like you, know, world recognized expert on stoicism.
He's I don't know, fucking ten books on it or
whatever it is, New York Times best selling author, right, Like,
(04:36):
he's way more credible on the topic of stoicism than
I am. Right, But I am now with this podcast,
and why we've had any sort of success is because
I'm looking at stoicism through a different lens. Right, I'm
making it my own. I'm uniquely discussing it in a
way that comes naturally to me. You know, I'm blending
(04:56):
the world of music and stoicism together because that's what
comes nat to me. I love music, I'm a music head,
I'm a DJ, and I also love philosophy. Right, and
if I tried to be too much of an expert
on stoicism and recreate, you know, something that Ryan Holliday did,
people should just go listen to Ryan Holliday at that point, right,
because he's going to be that expert. But for me,
I can uniquely have a new point of view and
(05:19):
one that provides me with, you know, the opportunity to
host a show because I'm being authentic. I'm giving you
this information through my own unique lens, and that is
why people have gravitated towards it, and that is why
I've been given the opportunity to do this for a
living right. But again, it is not trying to to
doubt myself because I'm not as credible as this person
(05:40):
on a certain topic. No, I'm going to discuss it
through through the lens that that I know how in
the way that comes naturally to me, right, And I
think that I could still have the same sort of
positive effect by doing it my own way, and I
think being given the opportunity to do this podcast is
proof of that. So now we've heard from nas we
have heard from Epictetus. I've given you a bit of
insight into how I view man this idea of stepping
(06:03):
into your authenticity and having self awareness. Now let's talk
about how you can make it your monstra for today.
But first let's take a quick break and then we'll
be right back. All right, So we've heard the words
of nas et Pictidas. I've given you a little you know,
(06:26):
inside baseball on this podcast, all discussing this idea of
stepping into your authenticity and having self awareness. Now let's
talk about how you can make it your manstra for
today and I think if first and foremost starts by
recognizing what you are naturally drawn to, right, and not judging,
not judging that you are not as good as somebody
(06:46):
that you are a fan of in that space, but
just simply observing what am I naturally drawn to? What thing,
what idea, what project, what type of work just comes
naturally to me? Right, I don't have to try that
hard to exist in this space. Right and right, there
is your authenticity speaking right, that is your unique self
(07:07):
telling you this special thing that is yours. Right, and
then you have to have the self awareness to figure out,
how can I do this thing in a way that
speaks to my best assets, right, that speaks to my strengths. Again,
for me, I speak about stoicism by implementing you know,
(07:29):
music into it, right, because that is how I can
be a voice in this space. Right, I can correlate
it to real and current life, and that's how it
makes sense to me, and that is something that makes
me uniquely me. So you have to find that right Again,
it's not about trying to do it as well as
the people that inspire you. And it's damn well not
(07:49):
the idea that just because somebody else did it means
you can't do it right. It's just trying to find
a way to do it as your authentic self, doing
it in the way that authentically and unique and naturally
comes to you. Like, again, it doesn't matter what's been done,
what's been said, you interpreting it and then regurgitating it
in whatever way it might be, whatever form of expression
(08:12):
it is, it will inevitably come out differently just because
of who you are, your experiences, and how you express yourself. Right.
And the last thing I'll kind of leave it that
is like it's the same idea with like a joke,
ten people can tell the same joke, but one person
is going to stand out from all of them as
the person that really drove it home, that really made
(08:32):
you laugh, that really connected the dots for you, right,
And that's because they have a unique talent of expression
and storytelling. Right. Not everybody has that. So that same
joke could be told by again, ten different people, but
that one person is going to kill it every single
time because that is there god giving gift and they
are stepping into it and honing that gift. And that's
what you have to recognize for yourself, just because there's
(08:55):
been one successful comedian doesn't mean there can't be another.
You just have to figure out how to do it
is your unique self. So to recap, we've heard the
words of nas talking about that no idea is original
and that it's not actually about what you do, but
it's how it's done right, because how it's done is
what makes it unique. How you do it will be
(09:15):
different from how anyone else does it right. And then
talking about Epictetus, find significance within your own self, like
that's where your power comes from. That is where you
make the most impact, is in recognizing the uniqueness and
how special certain parts of yourself are and how much
power you have when you're walking authentically. Again, nobody can
(09:35):
recreate what you do when you are doing it authentically,
And for me, the biggest takeaway is have no fear
in lunging towards the things that interest you. Again, I'm
not an expert on stoicism. There's so many people who
can do it better. But I found a way to
make it uniquely mine, to get my point across, to
hopefully inspire people, and to do it as my authentic
(09:59):
self in a way that may sense for me and
as a result a way that makes sense for the
people that listen. So take all that into consideration and
step into your power and step into whatever comes to
you naturally, your authenticity, that is where the magic lies. Now,
with that said, thank you so much for checking me
out the Street Stoke Podcast. Do your best to apply
these concepts that we discuss into your everyday life and
(10:20):
I'll catch you next time. The Street Stoke Podcast is
a production of Ihearts Michael Tura Podcast Network.
Yes, Yes, I am Dramas And this is the Street
Stoic Podcast, bringing you your daily dose of timeless stoic
philosophy remix for the hip hop generation. We are combining
(00:26):
ancient philosophy with lyrics and quotes from somebod the greatest
who ever grace a microphone. Now, with that in mind,
let's get things started with your daily shot of inspiration.
Now today, we're gonna be talking about a topic that's
very near and dear to my heart. It's something I
(00:47):
try and preach all the time to anybody that will listen.
It's not exactly a stoic ideal or principle, but they
definitely definitely I think share in the importance that I
place on this topic, and it is step being into
your authenticity and having self awareness. And a song that
came to mind as I was kind of researching for
(01:08):
the show. It's from NAS and it's called no Ideas Original, right,
And NAA says, no ideas original, there's nothing new under
the sun. It's never what you do, but how it's done.
And I love this concept from NAS about no idea
is original. If you've ever read the book Steal Like
(01:29):
an Artist, if you haven't. I highly recommend it. But
they talk about this concept as well, that we're all
just kind of borrowing from all of our different influences,
and just by the way our mind uniquely works, the
things that we create are uniquely ours, right, just by
simply being authentic to ourselves and listening to that inner voice.
Whatever we create, even if we are trying to in
(01:50):
some way kind of bite off something else, some other
piece of art that somebody created, inevitably, it becomes uniquely
us if we are listening to that voice inside of us, right.
And I wanted to kind of bring this up because
I think so many of us we get in our
own way, because you know, we see somebody do something
and then we're like, oh, I can't do it anymore.
That person did it right. And and also, you know,
(02:11):
we live in a culture even in music, where it's
like everybody sounds the same, because you know, people are
trying to copy, you know, to try to recreate success
rather than doing what comes naturally to them, right. And
those that are bold enough to do that, those that
are bold enough to be vulnerable and to step into
their authenticity, you know, those are the ones who who
(02:31):
end up having an actual career have have long term
success at what they do. I mean, somebody like Jake
Cole is a great example of that. You know, Jacole
makes conscious rap in an era that that really you know,
didn't call for that, right, He's an anomaly. You know.
He wasn't making club records, you know, like a lot
of his peers during that time, the Drakes of the world.
You know, he wanted to make music that actually meant something,
(02:52):
that that spoke about real life. And he found success
because he was just doing what came naturally to him, right.
He wasn't chasing the trends, He wasn't trying to you know,
sit there and make a club record for the most part,
like he was genuinely just doing what he felt in
his heart. And that is him walking in his authenticity
and that led to him finding the ultimate success that
(03:13):
he has thus far. Right. And this reminds me of
an Epictetius quote where he says, find significance within yourself,
within your own sphere of power, that is where you
have the greatest consequence. Right. And when he says consequence,
he's talking about having the greatest impact, right, And he's
also talking about learning to appreciate your uniqueness. Right, that's
(03:33):
where the power lies. And so many of us get
caught up in different things. You know, we'll keep it
to music, where if you're a musician, you listen to
your favorite musician, you're like, man, I can't sound like that.
I don't know how to write songs like that. That's
a good thing, right, you should be writing songs and
sounding how you sound. That is what makes you unique. Now,
I'm not saying that it's going to make you a
(03:54):
famous musician or whatever it might be, but it is
going to allow you to create something that is actually
really different. And more often than not, if you're walking
in your purpose, if you are being authentic, if you're
being self aware and truly just gravitating towards whatever comes
naturally to you, you're going to find some sort of success. Right.
That's kind of the key and all this, you know,
(04:16):
And for me, I say that as someone who relates
with this very podcast that you're listening to. You know,
there are so many people who talk about stoicism and
are far more well read on it than I am. Right,
Ryan Holliday is one of those people. He's an author,
he's just like you, know, world recognized expert on stoicism.
He's I don't know, fucking ten books on it or
whatever it is, New York Times best selling author, right, Like,
(04:36):
he's way more credible on the topic of stoicism than
I am. Right, But I am now with this podcast,
and why we've had any sort of success is because
I'm looking at stoicism through a different lens. Right, I'm
making it my own. I'm uniquely discussing it in a
way that comes naturally to me. You know, I'm blending
(04:56):
the world of music and stoicism together because that's what
comes nat to me. I love music, I'm a music head,
I'm a DJ, and I also love philosophy. Right, and
if I tried to be too much of an expert
on stoicism and recreate, you know, something that Ryan Holliday did,
people should just go listen to Ryan Holliday at that point, right,
because he's going to be that expert. But for me,
I can uniquely have a new point of view and
(05:19):
one that provides me with, you know, the opportunity to
host a show because I'm being authentic. I'm giving you
this information through my own unique lens, and that is
why people have gravitated towards it, and that is why
I've been given the opportunity to do this for a
living right. But again, it is not trying to to
doubt myself because I'm not as credible as this person
(05:40):
on a certain topic. No, I'm going to discuss it
through through the lens that that I know how in
the way that comes naturally to me, right, And I
think that I could still have the same sort of
positive effect by doing it my own way, and I
think being given the opportunity to do this podcast is
proof of that. So now we've heard from nas we
have heard from Epictetus. I've given you a bit of
insight into how I view man this idea of stepping
(06:03):
into your authenticity and having self awareness. Now let's talk
about how you can make it your monstra for today.
But first let's take a quick break and then we'll
be right back. All right, So we've heard the words
of nas et Pictidas. I've given you a little you know,
(06:26):
inside baseball on this podcast, all discussing this idea of
stepping into your authenticity and having self awareness. Now let's
talk about how you can make it your manstra for
today and I think if first and foremost starts by
recognizing what you are naturally drawn to, right, and not judging,
not judging that you are not as good as somebody
(06:46):
that you are a fan of in that space, but
just simply observing what am I naturally drawn to? What thing,
what idea, what project, what type of work just comes
naturally to me? Right, I don't have to try that
hard to exist in this space. Right and right, there
is your authenticity speaking right, that is your unique self
(07:07):
telling you this special thing that is yours. Right, and
then you have to have the self awareness to figure out,
how can I do this thing in a way that
speaks to my best assets, right, that speaks to my strengths. Again,
for me, I speak about stoicism by implementing you know,
(07:29):
music into it, right, because that is how I can
be a voice in this space. Right, I can correlate
it to real and current life, and that's how it
makes sense to me, and that is something that makes
me uniquely me. So you have to find that right Again,
it's not about trying to do it as well as
the people that inspire you. And it's damn well not
(07:49):
the idea that just because somebody else did it means
you can't do it right. It's just trying to find
a way to do it as your authentic self, doing
it in the way that authentically and unique and naturally
comes to you. Like, again, it doesn't matter what's been done,
what's been said, you interpreting it and then regurgitating it
in whatever way it might be, whatever form of expression
(08:12):
it is, it will inevitably come out differently just because
of who you are, your experiences, and how you express yourself. Right.
And the last thing I'll kind of leave it that
is like it's the same idea with like a joke,
ten people can tell the same joke, but one person
is going to stand out from all of them as
the person that really drove it home, that really made
(08:32):
you laugh, that really connected the dots for you, right,
And that's because they have a unique talent of expression
and storytelling. Right. Not everybody has that. So that same
joke could be told by again, ten different people, but
that one person is going to kill it every single
time because that is there god giving gift and they
are stepping into it and honing that gift. And that's
what you have to recognize for yourself, just because there's
(08:55):
been one successful comedian doesn't mean there can't be another.
You just have to figure out how to do it
is your unique self. So to recap, we've heard the
words of nas talking about that no idea is original
and that it's not actually about what you do, but
it's how it's done right, because how it's done is
what makes it unique. How you do it will be
(09:15):
different from how anyone else does it right. And then
talking about Epictetus, find significance within your own self, like
that's where your power comes from. That is where you
make the most impact, is in recognizing the uniqueness and
how special certain parts of yourself are and how much
power you have when you're walking authentically. Again, nobody can
(09:35):
recreate what you do when you are doing it authentically,
And for me, the biggest takeaway is have no fear
in lunging towards the things that interest you. Again, I'm
not an expert on stoicism. There's so many people who
can do it better. But I found a way to
make it uniquely mine, to get my point across, to
hopefully inspire people, and to do it as my authentic
(09:59):
self in a way that may sense for me and
as a result a way that makes sense for the
people that listen. So take all that into consideration and
step into your power and step into whatever comes to
you naturally, your authenticity, that is where the magic lies. Now,
with that said, thank you so much for checking me
out the Street Stoke Podcast. Do your best to apply
these concepts that we discuss into your everyday life and
(10:20):
I'll catch you next time. The Street Stoke Podcast is
a production of Ihearts Michael Tura Podcast Network.
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