Today on The Hardcore Humanism Podcast we talk with Hip Hop artist Hopsin. As an artist he has written, performed, and produced many singles, mixtapes and albums, including the “Ill Mind of Hopsin” song and video series. Hopsin is also the founder of the record label and merch line Undercover Prodigy. During this conversation, we talk with Hopsin about how he charted his own path to becoming an independent artist and entrepreneur.
And specifically, we talk with Hopsin about how he needed to be an independent thinker in order to find his unique path to pursuing his professional goals. Unfortunately, sometimes having an independent mind isn’t necessarily easy or comfortable. Often, people who are independent and divergent thinkers – whether they are innovative in art, science or business – are discouraged from their path because it clashes with familial expectation or norms in a society. Unfortunately many of us succumb to this pressure and do in fact become discouraged from pursuing our purpose in life.
But one of the core principles of humanistic psychology is to try to remove the barriers that people face in their life so that they can find their most independent, authentic and purpose-driven self. Often what this means is encouraging innate independent and divergent thinking in terms of how people view their life and their personal and professional goals. In fact, independent thinking in the form of creativity and innovation has been thought to be crucial in developing successful businesses. In essence most businesses strive not only to foster creativity to produce unique and interesting products, but also to come up with innovative strategies to connect with customers and optimize their success.
And during our conversation, Hopsin focuses on how he was able to chart his own path by being artistically creative and innovative in his business model. In order to do so, Hopsin had to do something which is often very difficult – keep focused on his sense of purpose – which was to make great music and reach his fans, rather than on only achieving an intermediate step such as being signed to a major label. And as Hopsin was developing his music and stage performance, he was also examining which business models worked best to connect with his fans. Ultimately, Hopsin decided to create his own independent label – Undercover Prodigy – to serve as the vehicle for sharing his music and developing his other entrepreneurial ventures. Further, Hopsin explained how he was able to build a business culture around him that supported rather than hindered his professional goals. Whatever our career and personal paths may be, musician or not, we can learn lessons from Hopsin’s experiences that we can apply to charting our own unique life course.
