On my way home from a pretty solid travel week. Shot a music video for Roscoe Dash and T-Pain last Thursday, called “My Own Step”. The song is pretty damn dope. If you have not heard it, download it, YouTube it, Pandora it…however you must, just DO it! The track is Roscoe’s latest single, as well as, it’s the second music video to be done in collaboration with Step-Up 3-D (in theaters August 6th). The first music video produced in collab with the film is a track from Trey Songs. We are also in talks to do another hit track off our movie by Flo-Rida. Roscoe Dash’s “My Own Step” music video should be out by the end of this month…Be on the look out.
On another tip, as I’m sitting on another plane heading back to LA, I had one day at home this weekend and the had to travel across, and out of, the country to Montreal for a Campaign shoot for a clothing company called Point Zero. Was feeling a little spread thin with all the flying and such, but before I get to my main topic… Montreal reminds me of a cross between New York and Milan, Italy, just a lot cleaner and less crowded. It also has a vibe of a totally different cultural feel unlike those two cities. It’s actually quite a unique experience. But something that did hit me a lot more for some reason, that I know an issue globally, was the recognizable amount of homeless people. I don’t know if it had to do with the area we were shooting in or what, but there were about 15-20 people sleeping on the ground in this really small park area. Throughout the day, some would pack up the little bit of what they had with them (maybe a backpack, a shopping cart, or nothing but a twin size mattress that they would carry on their back) and wonder off, while other unfamiliar faces would just be making their appearance. It also seemed as if a lot of them knew each other. It was Ike their own little community. Their was never less than a dozen there all day, and we started work at 6am-7pm. Our basecamp was a camper parked right next this park, so I can’t even count how many times I would be within 10ft from them, nor can I even recall how many of them came up to me asking for some sort of change or help. I was really beginning to feel depressed and helpless. Like I could feel their pain. Whether their pain and mistakes were from honest issues or wrong turns in life, I just felt extremely sorry for them. At around 2hrs after lunch was finished, we had about 20 chicken wraps left, as well as a huge platter of salad, (no one was obviously going to eat them) that the company was literally tossing in the trash. It was at that point that I realized how easy most of us have it, and how oblivious we become to our own surroundings. So I ended up pulling all the food that we were, in all honesty, mindlessly wasting, and taking it over to all of them. The way their spirits sparked, it was like they just won the lottery or something. They went from hopeless to hopeful in a matter of a split second. Even if it was a genuine feeling or not, there was a huge lift off my heart knowing that that made their day, hell, possibly their week or even month for that matter.
Anyway, the reason I decide to write about this is because it really made me broaden my thoughts on how fortunate we/I are/am and how we take a lot of things in life for granted. Even at this time in my life, I still run into days that I find to be personally draining and tough, but in those times I never take that moment to think to myself, “Damn man, listen to yourself, take a minute just to think about how lucky you really are. Think about those people living day to day, no money, no shelter, no food, no water, no family, no job. That’s the epitome of having it hard, whether it is by choice or not.
I don’t know, I’m just jottin thoughts. I guess just, next time you are having a crappy day, week, whatever…try to think about the good things, what you have been given in this life and praise God everyday for it, love every minute of it, because in a split second it could all be taken away.
Outtie 5thou,
Malambroski
