The Top 25 Rap Lyrics That Shaped My Leadership Style
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I was a white kid who grew up in the city. Rap music shaped how I thought. When I got into HR and Business I thought it was ironic how rap lyrics could parallel how I thought about leadership.
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The Top 25 Rap Lyrics That Shaped My Leadership Style
- 1. The 25 Rap Lyrics That Shaped My Leadership Style
- 2. “Change, shit I guess change is good for any of us Whatever it take for any of y’all niggaz to get up out the hood Shit, I’m wit cha, I ain’t mad at cha Got nuttin but love for ya, do your thing boy” #25
- 3. #24 “I THINK ABOUT MORE THAN I FORGET, BUT I DON’T GO AROUND FIRE EXPECTING NOT TO SWEAT”
- 4. ”ya know a lot of people believe that that word Love is real soft, but when you use it in your vocabulary like your addicted to it it sneaks right up and takes you right out. So, for future reference remember it’s alright to like or want a material item, but when you fall in love with it and you start scheming and carrying on for it, just remember, it’s gonna get’cha” #23
- 5. “WHEN THE GRASS IS CUT, THE SNACKS WILL SHOW.” #22
- 6. “ELVIS SHAVED HIS HEAD WHEN HE WENT INTO THE ARMY.” “ELVIS SHAVED HIS HEAD WHEN HE WENT INTO THE ARMY.” #21
- 7. “HE’S ONLY MEDIOCRE, JEALOUSY CAN’T GET WITH ME.” #20
- 8. “I HAD NOTHING AND I WANTED IT; YOU HAD EVERYTHING AND YOU FLAUNTED IT…” – ICE T #19
- 9. “Pay us like you owe us for all the years that you hold us. We can talk but money talks so talk mo’ bucks.” #18
- 11. “THEY SAY I NEED TO LEARN, BUT NOBODY’S HERE TO TEACH ME. IF THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND, HOW CAN THEY REACH ME?” #16
- 12. “NOW YOU CAN BE A VICTIM, OR YOU CAN LOCK AND LOAD.” #15
- 13. “LOOK, IF YOU HAD ONE SHOT, OR ONE OPPORTUNITY TO SEIZE EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED IN ONE MOMENT WOULD YOU CAPTURE IT OR JUST LET IT SLIP?” #14
- 14. “WE ALL SELF CONSCIOUS, I’M JUST THE FIRST TO ADMIT IT” #13
- 15. “I HEAR THE CRITICISM LOUD AND CLEAR THAT IS HOW I KNOW THAT THE TIME IS NEAR SO WE BECOME ALIVE IN A TIME OF FEAR” #12
- 16. “YOU’RE YOUNG AND DUMB AND QUICK WITH THE TONGUE.” #11
- 17. ”AT EXACTLY WHICH POINT DO YOU START TO REALIZE, THAT LIFE WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE IS DEATH IN DISGUISE” #10
- 18. “TRUE HAPPINESS IS NOT ACQUIRED AND YOU WON’T FIND IT ON SALE.” #9
- 19. “FORGIVE BUT DON’T FORGET” #8
- 21. “WHEN I WAKE UP PEOPLE TAKE UP MOSTLY ALL OF MY TIME I’M NOT SINGING, PHONE KEEP RINGING SO I MAKE UP A RHYME” #6
- 22. “IT’S FUNNY HOW SOMEONE ELSE’S SUCCESS BRINGS PAIN” #5
- 23. "Two is not a winner, and three nobody remembers. What does it take to be number 1?" #4
- 24. “I’M NOT A BUSINESSMAN I’M A BUSINESS, MAN.” #3
- 25. “TODAY I DIDN’T EVEN HAVE TO USE MY A.K. I GOT TO SAY IT WAS A GOOD DAY.” #2
- 26. “IT’S LIKE THE MORE MONEY WE COME ACROSS THE MORE PROBLEMS WE SEE “ #1
- 27. Let me break this down for you: • Money has to be non-issue, or it’s the only issue. • Success drives engagement better than anything. • Self Insight is critical for transformational leadership. • Don’t carry around the past. It’s heavy and drags you down. • It’s not your job to make folks happy. Plus, you couldn’t do it anyway. • If you’re not getting criticism, you’re not trying hard enough. • Never stop learning.
Editor's Notes
- Tupac – I Ain’t Made At Cha - When I first started my HR career I would get so upset over people who decided to leave the organization I was with – and I saw that most of the leadership responded the same way! If someone decided to leave “us” – we would virtually tear your shirt – that person was “dead” to the organization. Years later the person would want to come back, and they wouldn’t be able to because they were “black-balled” from the company. I’m sure many of your organizations are that way today.
- As a leader I forgive – heck as a person I’m just someone who forgives and moves on – but as a leader I won’t forget. There are times when a leader has to make tough calls – and it’s going to get a little hot. You can’t be surprised by this, you also have to have enough awareness of when these decisions have the potential to get hot, and making the proper call for the organization if the organization has the ability to handle it at that time or not.
- KRS-1 So, remember, only love something that is suppose to be loved – your family, your friends, your peace in the world. Loving material things like money, title, etc., never ends well. I feel in love with chasing a title and it almost destroyed me.
- Jay Z – The Blueprint 2 I like to surround myself with people who want to be on this boat with me, who will keep bailing water even when it looks like it’s no use. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t want them to do it in a naive way – like they can’t see what’s really going on. I just want people who believe in the same vision that I have. It’s the only way your organization will truly move forward – belief. Loyalty is a tricky thing to measure in an organization – until you don’t have it.
- Beastie Boys – Johnny Ryall - This quote towards the end of the song reminds me of how so many of our employees that we hire with such high hopes, fail, because we/they made decisions not to fit into the culture. Elvis was the King of Rock and Roll and he probably could have talked the Armed Forces into just about anything, because of the amount of positive press they would receive with someone like him demonstrating a positive experience of going into the service. Instead he sat down in the chair and had them shave off his famous hair.
- LL Cool J – Going Back to Cali - From a leadership standpoint, jealousy can kill teamwork, productivity and completely tear apart your culture. It’s essential for great leaders to not allow jealousy to undermine everything they are working towards, and it starts with yourself.
- Ice T – New Jack City - I think you can break down most people into two groups: the haves and the have nots. I tend to live my life like a “have not” – which means I push to become a “have”. How does this shape my leadership style? I’m rarely satisfied. I always think I can do better, or do more. The “haves” in the world tend to sit back and become soft – they don’t push as hard any more, they don’t work as hard anymore – they have it. The “have nots” are the exact opposite.
- Jay-Z – Izzo (HOVA) – Money is a big theme in rap and it’s something I found early on is a big theme in business. If you don’t think HR and leadership isn’t about money, you’re kidding yourself.
- Biggie – Life after Death - I don’t take this literally, although Biggie did, to me this was figuratively meant to say – you need to be prepared that you’re going to have haters and you don’t need to take this negatively – it means you’ve made it. Every organization – yes, every one – has politics. Usually the larger they are, the more politics are involved. But one thing you can count on – if you’re trying to make change in an organization, especially within HR, you’re going to have some folks wanting to “kill” you!
- This lyric reminds of how we onboard in our organizations. In HR, this is something I think we can always get better at, and we tend to just try and process this down so that onboarding takes as little time as possible. When in truth – onboarding should be an ongoing process that takes weeks or months, and HR ensures the great talent we bring into our organizations actually gets everything – I mean EVERYTHING – they need to be successful. We owe it to them – and to often we throw them a set of keys, a laptop and a phone and say “Go!” Somehow we feel like – “hey, we’re paying you a salary – you should know what to do”, but they don’t – we need to teach them.
- 50 cent – The Massacre So what does “being a victim” mean in business? Being stuck in the “victim cycle” or “being a victim” really means you’re stuck in the blame game. “I’m not successful because my boss doesn’t allow me to me.” “I can’t finish the project because I don’t have enough resources.” “I can’t do my work because other people don’t do their work.” Etc. To rise above this victim cycle means to take control of your destiny – you see it, you own it, you solve it, you do it. No excuses, no blame, no finger-pointing.
- I think we don’t do this enough – live on that edge of making it or not making it – too many of us play it safe. I can’t tell you how many people I know who stay in corporate jobs because they view them as “safe” – that have had opportunities to truly do something amazing, but they don’t. I lived this life – so I know what I’m talking about. We are HR Pros – safe is good – not knowing for sure is scary and bad. I get it!
- Kanye West - College Dropout - I believe to be a great leader, you have to have great self insight. To me the lyric represents this philosophy. In fact, I’ll go as far to say that is the single most important trait to the individual success of any employee – having strong self insight. This a primary factor I look at when hiring for my team.
- Nicki Minaj – Fly - My advice – work every day like you’re about to get canned – because even though you tell yourself that your not, you really are only one mistake away from getting your walking papers (especially if you’re working in a large corporation). That isn’t negativity or sour grapes – that’s a reality that we all try to suspend because the enormity of living in that situation would be miserable. So most of us just ignore it. And don’t be fooled – this isn’t just a large corporation problem – it can happen anywhere.
- Kool Moe Dee - One thing I’ve learned to appreciate over the past 20 years of my career – is patients. At one time I was very young, dumb and way to quick with my thoughts. I’ve had a handful of really great mentors over my career and they all had one very important trait that I’ve worked to learn from – the ability to listen, take in information, process it carefully and then, react appropriately. Even when what they were being told – wasn’t something they wanted to hear or even agree with. My dad used to day “Your mouth is writing checks your ass can’t cash!”
- Talib Kweli and Mos Def – Black Star - The one thing I’ve always done my entire career – is to keep learning. After graduating with my undergrad I went back and got my Master’s in HR on nights and weekends. After getting my master’s I went after my SPHR, which I’ve continued to hold and re-certify since 2001. 8 years ago I started blogging and found it actually forced me to research what I was writing about, and gain a better understanding of so many more things in HR that I never would have looked into personally. Gerry Crispin calls himself a Lifelong Student. I like that.
- Outkast – Andre’ 3000 and Big Boi – Speakerboxx - I’ve written recently about my thoughts on the idea of “doing what you’re passionate about” – which I think is mostly fools gold in terms of valuable advice. To me, this runs right into the concept of happiness. Happiness is a personal decision – there are great examples in our history of people making a conscience decision to be happy, under horrific circumstances (Just read Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning and his experiences in Holocaust for one example). It is possible to decide on being happy, but it just doesn’t magically happen, and it has nothing to do with what you have, or what position you have. It’s not our job to make employees happy. Just like it’s not the organizations job to make you happy.
- Tupac – Keep Ya Head Up - This is really one of the quintessential elements of leadership – being able to forgive and move on. To often I’ve been around managers who are unwilling to forgive, or unable to move on past an issue – and ultimately it hurts how they are viewed as a leader. Also, I see people who believe that when you forgive someone, that you should also forget what they did – that’s just naive. Like Chris Rock said – when McDonalds hires a former crackhead, they don’t allow them by the happy meals! (well he almost said that)
- 50 Cent – Outta Control - Success is my drug of choice, because I think it’s the single most factor in sustaining engagement. Most one wants to work or play for a loser – long term. As leaders it’s our job to help direct and create small successes for our teams. Those small successes will lead to sustained long term successes – which leads to a very engaged team. Easier said than done – but I do believe all leaders have the ability to create these small successes and highlight them to the organization.
- Run DMC – It’s Tricky - This line reminds me of what is important in HR – the People! It’s a reality of what we do in HR and Leadership that people are going to take up all of our time – it’s why we have positions in our organizations, and I’m find with that. I meet so many peers who truly get put off by having to “deal with people” and I find it to be the most enjoyable part of my day. I couldn’t be an accountant and deal with numbers all day, or an engineer building or designing things all day – I’m one of those crazy people-persons I like dealing with people.
- Drake – Timbaland song - If you’re competitive, I mean really competitive, you might have felt this. You’re working your tail off, only to see someone else have really good success, and it actually seems to hurt in your chest – like a burning feeling. It’s not that you wish ill towards the other person, or that you don’t even want them to have their own success – you probably do want them to be successful – but still there is that pain. As a leader we have to be able to recognize this within our teams – that each and every one of our team wants success and they want each other to have success – but when some get it over others, many times those who don’t get it are going to have some frustration and pain. It’s completely normal.
- I truly believe that losing doesn't teach you anything but how to lose. You can look at sports teams, businesses that are struggling - it doesn't matter - when you get used to losing, losing happens more often - you get comfortable with losing. I never want to be comfortable with losing.
- Jay-Z Diamonds From Sierra Leone - To often as leaders we talk about wanting to be more strategic for our organizations, or wanting to have more impact within our organizations, but I see people going about it all wrong. You can go into a corporate setting and “act” the part, but you’ll never reach your full potential as a leader until you make the conscience decision to fully commit to making yourself that person you desire. That is the essence of this lyric. I don’t want to be businessman, I want to be the Business, man. People don’t follow posers – they follow people who are completely committed and passionate about what they do.
- Ice Cube – It Was A Good Day - In HR we carry a gun with us all the time – don’t kid yourself – your gun is your ability to influence hiring managers and supervisors to terminate an individual in your organization based on the policies and practices that most HR Pros know inside and out. Leadership in your organization look to HR Pros to help them “do the right thing” for the organization when it comes to terminations and/or discipline. That is a big, giant gun you are carry around – and it’s heavy!
- Notorious B.I.G. - Here’s the deal – why is this one #1 – because in HR all of our problems can stem directly back to money. It’s really that simple. If you pay properly – if you make pay a non-factor to your employees – you will have very few “employee” problems. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the ability to do this – pay is an issue – markets are an issue. We go out and pay our developers $125/hr and now we have managers of these folks making $30-40K less. We dig into our compensation and we realize we actually do pay our female employees 15-20% less than males in the same position – but we don’t “have” the money to make it right. So we try to justify it. More money – more problems – that’s HR in a nutshell.