Dream outside the irregular, you can get what you want !
You need to have a crazy mindset, to believe that anything is achievable. If success is what you want, then you can have it, says Trey Songz, American RnB sensation.
Nubia was amongst the invited guests including London's Mayor, Boris Johnson, to meet US hottest young RnB artist, Trey Songz, at City Hall, London, on 28th February.
The Grammy nominee and BET Award winner, appearing with broadcaster BET International and UK Charity, Domilola Taylor Trust, had taken time out of his hectic touring schedule to remind everyone that he is more than just a music star, that he is empowering urban youth to achieve beyond their wildest dreams.
“Young men from broken homes have no guidance, my mother was a very strong woman, the light of my life , she has made me the person I am today”, says the RnB singer.
Coming from small town Petersburg ,Virginia, singing wasn’t something he thought he would do early in life, it was a hobby ,a farfetched dream, something he never considered pursuing. Yet it seemed his crazy mindset, instilled by his mother, in time led him to believe that anything was achievable - if success was what he wished to attain, it could be his!
The journey was not easy. He had been brought up by his single-parent mother as his father had fallen victim to America's drug culture and was nowhere to be found.
“Petersburg is poverty stricken, despair in the air, number one employer is WalMart, everyone working there is on the minimum wage. “To dream outside of that was irregular, it wasn’t attainable or so the world would have you believe. Yet nobody can stop you from getting what you wish to have”.
At the tender age of eleven, he sang to Lauryn Hill at his first talent show ‘Killing Me Softly’. He lived in Baltimore, moved around a lot with his mother, attended different schools until high school. His mother married a military man, although the relationship broke down and Trey did not believe he was a real father to him.
Constantly moving from school to school, city to city, always the new kid, Trey's mind was troubled. Consequently, he got into a lot of trouble and soon rebelled.
The US sensation says that youth from broken homes have no guidance. They need someone to mentor them, someone to care.
“ I attribute my success to my mother, who really cared for me and sacrificed her own goals to make sure my dreams were realised”.
”She’s the light of my life, the reason behind what I am today”. His mother is with him wherever he goes.
Questions from the audience:
The UK media tend to focus on the negative aspects of youth achievement.Is that the same of the US?
“The media itself preys on negativity, in the UK and the world, the best thing to do is to do good, just to do good, not play to the media. I am here today because I want to speak out, I want to touch people. It’s like you give a homeless person five dollars, some people think ‘he’s gonna go get crack with that’ but it’s out of your hand, once you’ve done the good deed you’ve done it”.
What positive youth projects have you seen in the USA that you feel we in the UK can learn from?
Mentorships are great, company directors in New York City sit with children. After school programmes are also effective.
Do you think when artists use negativity in their music and use bad language it has an effect on kids?
Any negativity can reach a child if it’s accessible. Children are fragile, they pick up whatever is around them. I think it’s important that we as a community use our voices to support children that don’t have the same family support as others. I didn’t look up to musicians or rappers, I looked up to my mother.
As a young child, what did you do to get away from the hard times?
I used to play basketball every day. I drew, I was smart in school, I would finish my work before everyone and sometimes I would get my grade deducted because I would draw all over the bottom of my work.
With what’s happening in the Middle East ,do you think that the world’s governments take the youth agenda seriously enough?
I think we’re moving towards a way where they don’t have a choice. When you see things like Egypt happening, it’s just a step in the evolution of the world. The youth have the control, we just need to know how to use that control. We have to know how to use our minds for power and I think that’s a beautiful thing. It's the beginning of more of that happening everywhere.
