Award Tour

My Harvest Home, John Glover, 1835

Award Tour is the lead single from A Tribe Called Quest's third album, Midnight Marauders. The song features a timeless sample, and it's filled with quotables. One of my favorite lines from the song delivered by Phife Dawg is:

I never let a statue tell me how nice I am. 

For the uninitiated, Phife explains that he doesn't look to statues, trophies, awards, or accolades to validate his skill and craft. His self-confidence and the results he's brought to the table by revolutionizing Hip-Hop, commercial success, and a lasting legacy are all the accolades he needs.

Pathbreaking is not easy. There will be people who don't believe you can't do it because you don't look or behave like those who did it before. There will be skeptics, haters, and people who bet on your failure. None of them matter; your experimentation and iteration are the only things that matter. You keep trying, and something will catch on; your idea will gain life and then take on a life of its own. You go from wanting the statue to becoming the statue. The Award Tour is not the tour after you win the award; it's the entire journey that gets you there and everything that takes place after. 

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