*A field report from the front line of creative entrepreneurship.* --- Tonight's class was a working week translated into curriculum. We opened with **the Akai homecoming**. The drum machine that built a career in 2001, a used MPC 2000 bought on Yamaha Motif money, is back in the picture in 2026 at a different altitude. From an Arizona State University stage with the new MPC Live 3 to live conversations with the Akai team about what comes next, the lesson was simple: your tools are not just tools. They become characters in your story. Pay attention to which ones keep showing up. We sat with the **vintage gear dream**. The next chapter is hardware. Real circuits. Real instruments. A vault built around a producer's true sonic fingerprint. The discipline that gets you there is the same discipline that bought the first machine. Save. Study. Show up. Then we walked into **Day 1 of arguably the biggest male R&B stadium tour of all time**. The R&B Tour Usher and Chris Brown, 33 stadium dates this summer through winter. The lesson from inside that room was not glamour. It was craft on top of craft on top of craft. When you finally get into the room you've been praying for, your job is not to perform. It's to listen. We honored **the architects**. Iz Avila and the Avila Brothers — the production duo behind Usher's "Burn" off Confessions, behind work with Stevie Wonder, Boyz II Men, KEM, Brian McKnight. Two Latin American brothers from the Bay Area whose fingerprints are all over an era of Black American music. The takeaway: the architects rarely live in the spotlight. Find them. Sit near them. Carry their bags if they let you. We named **the Latin secret sauce**, the centuries-long conversation between Latin musicianship and Black American music, baked into the DNA of how a record like "Burn" actually feels. Where culture shows up in your music whether you meant to put it there or not is the part of your sound that nobody else can copy. We taught **studio etiquette in four corners**: walking in, working, speaking, leaving. Be early. Be quiet. Listen twice as much as you talk. Speak in service of the song. Thank the engineer by name. Be invitable again.

Hearing @Kosine Palacios play his new project on our last call & challenging us to pick up an instrument or practice our instrument(s) was necessary for all of us. Since then I have been randomly listening to older music(all genres) As a result, I am discovering sooooo many remakes(artist utilizing another skill for creative maximization). I am “today years old” of finding out Michael McDonald did a remake of Marvin Gaye’s song. The language & interpretation of music has and will always be “fascinating”. Brand new week. Brand new ideas. Consistent focus. Consistent drive. Consistent discipline. Consistent diligence, perseverance. https://youtu.be/_0cjdfWWlxk?si=TW9A5WpCFKDjduQv

We went deep on what I learned sitting front row at Jon Batiste's keynote at USC. We talked about John Mayer's masterclass. I broke down the Bangladesh situation and what "stealing a style" really means in music production. I showed you how I discovered six figures in uncollected royalties from my own catalog. And I played unreleased saxophone covers from Kover Girl before anyone else on the planet hears them. If you were there: drop your biggest takeaway in the comments. I want to hear what hit hardest. If you missed it: this is what happens every Tuesday at 4 PM. The next one will be even bigger. This week's assignment: Go to your PRO (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC). Look up your songs. Make sure the splits and publishers are correct. If you find something wrong, post it here. We'll work through it together. Your money might be sitting in a database right now waiting for you to claim it. Mine was.

I am still processing how amazing the energy was in the room and ALL of the gems that were dropped. I especially enjoyed seeing how a single question can develop into a wonderful idea or creative direction. I needed to be reminded that creativity comes in many forms. This journey is such a wonderful adventure and experience! Thank each and every one of you! Now continue to be great!!! 💚