Dame Dash Is Bankrupt

Its ironic (and sad) to hear that Dame Dash is Broke when he was bragging less than a decade ago about never having to wear the same thing twice and training man servants. However as I said before the reason why Dame failed is because he dilluted his brand (Roc-a-Fella) to the point that it had no meaning. Jay-Z then out smarted him and absorbed what brand strength that was left in that name into himself. Another more thorough explanation of the mentality that led him to dilute and wear himself down can be found in this article from the website The Rawness

The Hustle Mentality

Dame Dash is possibly the most pure example of The Hustle Mentality I can think of. The man has had multiple ventures in the Clothing, Lifestyle, Liqour, and Entertainment industry, yet he has never taken the time to focus on one business by itself. as he himself says

"[Dame Dash] tells Billboard.com, "My mistake was watching everyone else's careers and not watching mine."

Dame Dash Interview Part 1


Dame Dash Interview Part 2


Dame Dash Interview Part 3


Dame Dash's Financial Issues Link

That Hustle Mentality was a major aspect of the whole Roc-A-Fella brand and was promoted by all its artist in their music. Roc-A-Fellas biggest artist Jay-Z even had a hit single named "I'm A Hustler"(Give It To Me). But let me say this; even though I mentioned Jay-Z is a Hustler I do not believe Jay-Z can become broke like Dame Dash (Jay-Z has enough money that he could change his stratgey from acquisition to savings before he went broke). Jay-Z does suffer from the same "Hustler" disease that Damn does though. The proof can be seen in this graph of some of Jay-Z many business ventures that have never really added to his own longterm business viablilty.



At least Dame is not alone at having to file for Bankruptcy due to mismanaged funds.

Celebrity Bankruptcy Stories You Can Learn From Link

A Proper College Education

My whole college experience comes down to a few early mistakes I made as a freshmen haunting me until I graduated 4 years later. So I have made a collection of things everbody should know before they go to college. Dont make the same fatal mistakes I made as a Freshmen (like being a captain Save-A-Ho).



8 Things You Should Know About Credit Cards

&

The Vice Guide To College

&

The Original How To Throw a House Party Guide

I was going to put a guide up that describes what your major says about your chances at having an enjoyable life. However, I realizes that was about as pointless as asking somebody their Zodiac sign in order to figure out their chances at having an enjoyable life...... No matter what you do, you are probably screwed.

Cat Shit One Movie Trailer

If I had A million Dollars I would invest in this. In the end I would be a million dollars in the hole but I know this movie would make the world a better place. I mean realistically can you think of something more effective to scare kids away from senseless violence than seeing cute animals die from bullets & rocket blast.

Same Shit Different Pamper

No one is orignal/ There is nothing new under the sun/ Its not what you do/ But how it gets done - Nas



Same Shit Different Pamper

My Wow Moment

Hey faithful readers first let me announce that my chosen career field of Advertisement/Marketing is still Racist!!! Now not only does the recession keeps me away from sweet, sweet beer. Racism does as well. I wonder if Obama can fix this



Read the Link Below to see for yourself.

Top Advertising Agencies are warned by NAACP LINK

And I got the internship for the Lad Magazine Candy even though I had to sit there for over an hour just to get interviewed. It looks like it might be fun and educational so I am excited. I love Booty so this internship might last longer than the rest.



Lastly today I saw something that was so surreal it kind of blew my mind. To explain it properly I have to give you some background information. My block has become over the last year a warzone waiting to happen. The only thing stopping it from getting turning into that is the fact that both the parties involved are a bunch of perputrating pussies (THANK GOD). Anyhow The two fore-mentioned crews are a group of crips who sell drugs and a group of bloods who rob people who sell drugs. Also keep in mind this is New York city where Gang Culture is weird because joining one doesn't mean a damn thing to anyone outside of your particular clique.



So anyhow the two groups have yet to attack each other but they amuse themselves by doing things like standing around and doing nothing but play their music real loud as a way to signify to the other group that they are not scared of them. Well, today the blood crew decided to smoke a blunt outside in the middle of the block at 5 pm (something that they occasionally do to signify their not scared). No one says anything to them because the non-gang members who live here (myself included) feel and react like the Japanese villagers in the movie Yojimbo. That feeling for those of you who have never experienced it is is a mix of fear and apprehension that we all justify by saying to ourselves "as long as it doesn't affect me directly, Fuck it".



Apparently this thought of self perservation never crossed the mind of the Lone Settler. Who is the Lone Settler you ask? Well the Lone Settler is the nickname I gave the white guy who moved his family here a few month ago when it looked like my neighborhood was going to be gentrified (not anymore due to the recession). I call him the Lone Settler because he has a tendency to stand in the middle of the block with his pet beagle and smoke a cigarette.

Anyhow now that you know the facts let me paint the picture of what made me scratch my head in amazement. As I was walking home today I saw the Blood crew smoking a blunt in the middle of the block. I then also saw the Lone Settler smoking his cigarette with his pet beagle in the middle of the block as well right next to them (that was sort of strange). But what really threw me off was the fact that the Lone Settlers little Settlers (his two young daughters) were running around playing with a paper kite!

That shit was weird to me man. I don't know who was worse the father for letting his two kids play around those motherfuckers or those god damn bloods smoking weed in broad day light while a bunch of 3 year olds run around playing kid games...... I got to get out of this neighborhood, this Shit is becoming too weird out here!

Peace!

Life 3/26

Well Life has definitely been Shitty lately. Due to a mix of bad genes and house training I've picked up the bad habit of working twice as hard for half the money. Or you could just say that I'm interning for two different companies because the idea of working only 2-3 days a week for one company for free seems lazy to me.

Now I bet you are saying to yourself "well, if you don't like working two jobs just quit one". Well I would but then I get bored of life and start thinking how lazy I am and repeat the cycle all over again by finding another internship/part time job.

A perfect example would be Last week. After a lot of internal debate I decided to celebrate this years St Patrick's day by quiting one of my internships and getting drunk instead. So I handed in (more like emailed) my resignation to my nightclub marketing internship and tried to find someone to get drunk with. Fast forward to the next day and a hang over and I realize that dammit I only have gainful employment for 2 out of the 7 days in the week. Or to really put all those D's I earned in high school math to good use. I'm only going to leave my house to do something productive about 8 days out of every 30.

I then have the same conversation in my head "That kind of work habit is not going to earn me enough money to support my beer habit" this thought always leads to "I better get a new job/internship dammit". So I start the harmful cycle again and begin to look for another internships that could take up my time/pay my bills. If I ever get married I swear I am going to sub in "I should go get a blow job before I make any important decisions" before I even think about my beer habit.

Anyhow I have an interview tomorrow for a start up Lad mag whose name I don't want to mention because well the name is sort of embarrassing to type. For the purposes of this blog lets call the magazine Candy. The good news is Candy will give me easy access to porn stars and models. The bad news is I will probably not be payed (Aaaarghhh). However if you really think about it I should be the one paying to meet porn stars and models.

Wish Me Luck!!

Jay-Z Business Tips

Best Life Interview

Ok Ok I admit it I'm a Jay-Z fan..... Though I do believe he lost the battle to Nas. Nas diss song against Jay-z named "Ether" was so effective the word Ether gained the additional slang definition of being a way to describe destroying something. A perfect example of this would be someone saying something like "I Ethered that girls pussy last night" which means that you performed extremely well in bed with a female. Or that you shot a woman in her clitoris.......



However, I digress. Here is a collection of some real good media I found online the emphasizes Jay-Z business sense. Though I am going to go ahead and commit blasphemy and and be the first person to tell the truth about Jay-Z's Business skills . Jay-Z business ability is overrated. Its more his image than his reality. The man is a celebrity who made most of his money early on from entertainment (though allegedly the drug game did play a major role as well). And while he is rich and deserves every dollar he has its was not earned by running/creating any particular business. Dame Dash, Jay-Z's former partner arguably was the mind behind the company that brought Jay-Z his first millions (who was the president of RocaFella and who was the vice President).

All of the above media proves he can talk the talk (like all rappers) of a business man. However, he never learned from Dame Dash's mistakes. He continues to diversifies his business ventures to the point that he dilutes the overall brand of "Jay-Z". Mark my words if he were too ever lose his celebrity prowess (which is unlikely the man is arguably the Frank Sinatra of rap) his businesses would quickly fall off as well. Just like Dame Dash fell apart financially once he was separated from the power of Jay-Z's celebrity.

Dame Dash Financial Woes Link

What do you guys think?

Bring It

I just thought this was a kick ass GIF

David Stern And The 1985 Draft

This was the first NBA Draft that used the lottery as a tool for drafting rookies. The main purpose of its creation was to motivate bad teams into not losing game in an attempt to get an earlier draft pick. Before the use of the lottery the number 1 draft pick was automatically given to the team with the worse record in the league.

However that fact is not the main reason why this particular draft is important. The main reason this draft is considered historic is because of the fraud that was allegedly perpetrated by NBA Commissioner David Stern during it. at 5:30 in the video above, you will be able to see Stern picking the number one draft envelope.

Now Watch him pick it again slowly. The first thing you might notice is the fact that Stern does not automatically pick the draft envelope on the top of the pile but instead rummages through it as if looking for a specific envelope. Now look at the envelope he does pick. Do you see something wrong with it? What you might not notice if you are not looking for it is the fact that the number one draft envelope is bent on the corner. a bended corner is the normal technique used by amateur magicians in their identification of a predetermined card in their "Pick a card" trick. This highly dubious act would eventually send Patrick Ewing to the Knicks where he would have a long career of packing the Madison Square Garden (however he was never able to win a championship). Either way we here at The Rogue Life want to call David Stern out on his flagrant act of Fraud.

There Will Be Blood Review

I've had an on again off again discussion with a good friend of mine about the validity of The Film "There Will Be Blood" being classified as a gangster film. So here is my explanation why the main character Daniel Plainview is as much a Gangster Chracter as Tony Montana or Frank Lucas (Film Version). Keep in mind that I am of the belief that many Gangster films are just ultra violent versions of the movie Greed.

Intelligence: This whole movie is a constant reminder that Big Business is just Crime with a neck tie. Daniel Plainview spends the whole movie killing, lying, and cheating his way into wealth. His emphasis on getting what he wants is what I feels separates the gangster movie character from the thug movie characters. Many movie thug characters are violent or destructive for no clear purpose. This lack of motivation usually makes a thug chracter perfect for a side kick, but that can be better explained in another post.

Anyhow, In the film almost every move Plainview makes is calculated to get him what he wants. The only act that he commits that is out of character was when he made the subtle threat to Mary Sunday's father after he finds out the man beats her. However that too can be viewed as him simply trying to appease his son H.W. and get more time to focus on work. Since the girl kept H.W. busy playing and out of Plainsviews way.

Ambition: There is an old saying in comics books that works just as well for describing gangsters in most movies, "Super Villians have ambition, Super Heroes have morals". Basically Gangsters only have ambition thats usually their greatest strength and their greatest weakness. Daniel Plainview is no different in that regard. He himself gives a self aware explanation for his own ambition

Plainview: I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.

Plainview: I see the worst in people, Henry. I don't need to look past seeing them to get all I need. I've built up my hatreds over the years, little by little. Having you here gives me a second breath. I can't keep doing this on my own with these... people.

Keep in mind his misanthropy is what fuels his ambition as the film goes on you see his wealth increases as his attachment to humanity drifts further and further away. This is also a common theme in gangster films where success in crime elevates the protagonist to levels of power and prestige they never dreamed of while causing to lose there humanity. Plainview However is one of those rare movie gangster who never gave a fuck about reigning in his ambition with his humanity.

Execution: In the end he gets what he wants, is a free man and owes nobody nothing. You couldn't say that about famous movie gangsters such as Carlito, Tony Montana, Frank Lucas, or Black Ceasar.

Cold Heart: All Gangster Films have to have a protagonist who is cold hearted. Without a cold heart movie gangster would be no more dangerous than Danny Ocean from the Ocean 11 films. I mean, imagine the movie "Scarface" if Tony hadn't Shot his only friend Manolo because he married Tony's sister.

Now Lets Examine Daniel Plainview's Cold Heart. Twice in the movie he commits murder with his own hands. The first time is when he shoots an imposter of his brother in the head. The second time is when he kills his only real rival after having the man confess to him that he doesn't believe in God. However this is not even close to the most cold hearted thing Daniel Plainview does in the film. Near the end of the movie he disowns his adopted son H.W. and then tells him that he was nothing more than a prop to be used in business deals.

Conclusion: This is one cold movie that I think should be watched by all.

Obama and The Stimulus Package

The Picture says it all. Hopefully the stimulus will be able to help before the Republicans figure a way to steal all that money for themselves...... Again.

Lex Luthor Needs Money

"Lex Luthor Bailout" with Jon Hamm from Jon Hamm

Lex Luthor has been one of my favorite super villians since damn near forever. For those that don't know, Lex Luthor is a self made billionaire genius who shaves his head bald. His only major flaw is that he constantly sets himself up to be the Wile E Coyote to Superman's Roadrunner. Though comedic in nature the video above is mostly true. In the comics Lex Luthor spends the GDP of small nations yearly trying to kill Superman. Anyhow, here is a Link that gives a more thorough look into the bald head of Evil.

On Luthor

What Is The Rogue Life - RJ

Here a few questions that should be answered before I really begin posting?

Who are you?

Hi, I'm RJ a overeducated marketing intern who is just wants to get more beer money. However this damn recession is making earning beer money too damn hard.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

I see myself as being 30, bored, overweight, paying child support. or 30, bored, overweight, not paying child support. it all depends on if I meet miss right.

What is the Rogue Life to you?

Well in my head it means a way of life. The Rogue Life represents all the irreverent people who grew up to become a lovable asshole, simply because being an lovable asshole is really in right now. I mean have you seen how many metrosexuals are walking around right now?

Name some of your influences?

Muhammed Ali, Hunter S Thompson, P.T. Barnum, Patton, Cartman, Miles Davis, My Parents, All of the college professors I smoked weed with when I was in college.

Welcome

Hi All Welcome To "The Rogue Life". I Hope You Enjoy The Show