Stay Ready | Jhené Aiko (feat. Kendrick Lamar)

I don’t know if anyone has watched Rhythm + Flow but I can’t get enough.

I play scenes over and over in my head and on my laptop

Chance’s reaction to Flawless’ best line in his battle with Beanz: Everything

Lodynn B’s final performance: EVERYTHING

D Smoke’s final performance: E-VER-RY-THING

But one of my favorite (and unexpected) parts was hearing Jhené Aiko again.

Hearing her sing Stay Ready took me back.

Way back.

2013 feels like en eternity ago.

My stomach turns a bit thinking about it.

So much pushing through.

Trying to balance a full time job and full time school. Trying to graduate. Trying to manage a 2+ hour commute. Trying to find my place in a stoic corporate environment. Trying to balance working in SF and working in Portland. Trying to balance dating in Portland while living in SF.

So much of that year was spent on autopilot. When I think about it, it’s probably the only way I got through.

I remember hearing this song and loving it. I used to play it on repeat to go to bed. I think it gave me a release I wasn’t even aware I needed at the time.

Looking back, I was in the thick of it…and couldn’t even see it

I was in the thick of something that actually started two years before I heard that song. To be honest, I was in the thick of something that probably started decades before I heard that song. And I stayed in the thick of it until….well…a few months ago actually.

It’s weird when you can see what you couldn’t see for the longest time.

It’s weird when hearing a song can show you how much you’ve changed.

Yeah. Hearing this song took me way back.

2013 feels like en eternity ago.