Last night, Kyle and I were honored by the @venturacountymusicawards Kyle was inducted in the Hall of Fame and I received the Manager of the Year award. As two kids who always dreamed of putting our hometown on the map it was quite an honor for us. Still somehow leading up to the event I had a feeling of guilt about me receiving an award. As a manager I have gotten comfortable with my role behind the scenes, letting the artist and their success speak for itself. As the event approached I created all kinds of diversions and scripts in my mind to downplay me being worthy of this award - I didnt tell my family I was getting an award until the morning of (when I had known for months), I didn’t prepare a speech (so I could act like I didn’t care if I bombed), I felt guilty when my team congratulated me prior to the event because I was being honored and not them. “It’s not like this is a Grammy or anything.” It honestly didn’t even start to set in until the day of the event when my girlfriend wouldn’t stop energetically gassing me up about how DOPE it was that I was getting this award. Truth be told this was something that I’ve been working towards since 2009 back in the “VenturasFinest” blog days, and then when I started working with Kyle in 2011 and I convinced every music venue owner in the entire County that “Kidd Kash” (Kyle) wasn’t your “typical rapper”. After taking a day to reflect my takeaway from this is - SHOW UP FOR YOUR LIFE - this is the ONLY one you’ve got. Be present in the moment. Show up to work everyday AND to the award show, wear your best shit even if you feel overdressed, and if they decide to honor you - FUCKING RECEIVE IT. Let the critics debate if you deserved it or not.