1 YEAR LATER: POLITE AS FLANNELS

I posted a status on Facebook a year ago. It was my opinion of why producers should bring back New Jack Swing R&B. The homie Allen Gates commented and said "You should start a blog I be hella interested in what you have to say." 

I thought immediately "Nah." The reason was because I was gauging my interests off twitter, Facebook, Instagram and thought well if they don't pay attention to the shit I say on these social media platforms then why would they give a fuck about a blog full of extended uncut versions of my thoughts? 

A couple weeks went by and I gave it more thought. I didn't want to rap anymore cause I felt I wasn't passionate about it. I wanted to pursue other interests.

I didn't want a blog on tumblr. I wanted to make this a platform to help the artists and creators in St.Louis, then the rest of the midwest, then the country, then the world. I actually had a vision so I took it as a sign from the universe to start. 

I searched around for people who could build my website for a fee. I asked my friend Erica who had a blog that I read daily could she do it. She agreed but something told me to just do it myself. I went on youtube and found a tutorial to learn how to build a website. 

I needed a name. Polite came to me first because I was calling everything polite when I was drunk. For example "Damn shawty ass polite" versus me saying it's phat. I looked around my room and my closet was open and my closet is full of flannels. I love flannels. Instantly Polite as flannels came to me. 

I ran the google test and searched the name and not a soul in the world was on my wave. I wanted my lane. I want no mistake of who came up with that name. It gave me such a confidence boost to see that I had something that I could call MINE. 

I'm slow in the head so it took me a couple weeks to build the site and then when it was up I took my camera and started taking pictures of my flannels and shit in my room and put them up as home page pictures. 

My site was done and it looked so basic to me so I was worried it would turn visitors off. I put that thought in the back of my mind and days later I began to write "5 Movies From My Childhood That Was Weak As Fuck But I Watch Anyway" and "5 Things We Can Learn From Monkey D. Luffy." December 13, 2015 they were posted for the world to read. 

Didn't think much of the write up's I just knew I wasn't going to quit. I was going to be consistent. Good or bad I was going to put up content. 

Next was my review of my bro Smino's "Blk Juptr" and that's when rappers started swarming my email for me to review their projects also. 

Day by day people were reaching out to me but the bombs that helped me take off and made people take my craft seriously were the  7 Reasons Hey Arnold > You, 13 Things Needed In A Relationship, and St.Louis Is Lit articles. Everything changed and it set the tone for the upcoming year. 

2016 sucked for me. I had friends and family killed. Family passing from health problems. No amount of money or notoriety can replace them. I'd trade this shit to have them back in a heartbeat but Polite As Flannels has opened so many doors for me and opened more avenues of writing for me. As of now comedic TV scriptwriting is something I'm studying more and Polite As Flannels opened up that vision for me. The lone bright spot of my 2016. We'll get into my favorite moments of the blog in 2016 in a separate article.

Starting out I had this fear of failing because I never speak proper grammar, I never use big words, I'm not technically sound with writing, I don't know how to type. My writing style is like Mugen's sword skills on Samurai Champloo. I'm Unorthodox and non traditional. The ball got rolling and I realized that people don't give a flying fuck about none of that shit. They just want something they can relate to and laughter.

Not trying to be cocky when I say this but I'm more interesting than those writers who do everything by the book. I was a D & F student in high school. Yeah you made honor roll and achieved 3.4 GPA's but when it comes to creativity those types aren't in my league. I'll win 9/10 times if they put their ideas next to mine. I only said 9/10 to be generous. I'm not book smart I move by experience and move through the streets and that's the strength of my writing. 

I seriously use to read the dictionary app everyday. Fuck that shit. I just type what I feel. I read books in my collection everyday and I'm sure my vocab may get better from that. Big words and shit make me sound like a fucking robot and a boring ass nigga. It's not ME! I have so many things to get better at but I'm always gonna be myself. 

I was worried about how my site looked. NOBODY CARED BUT ME! People only care about the content. That's it. So whoever reading this and worried about shit like that just get started. Stop looking. Stop watching shit. Start! Now! You can always come back and fix that shit and make it icy.

The winners are the people who just start. That's what I did. I went against my observant nature and just got started. Knowledge isn't shit without action. I'm a trial and error kind of nigga. I'll put out something technically terrible or wack and I'll keep molding it until it's beautiful. It's how I improve my craft. I don't even know how many write up's I've done. It don't really matter. I just keep trappin and juggin. I'm actually going to count for the first time after I finish this and I'll let you know in the other article. 

To hear things like I'm saving the art scene in St.Louis or I'm the last REAL blog in the world gives me a feeling I can't even describe. I never once said I had the best blog, the streets said that not me. I made it a point to not talk shit or brag about what I do. I just let my writing speak.

I made this blog to prove that St.Louis isn't just about violence. It isn't just the murder capital or a baseball town. We have the most unique minds in the world here and I want to use this platform to show the outsiders that fact. 

One mothafuckin year in the books. Happy Birthday PoliteAsFlannels.com. Thank You for helping me find my purpose. We gone keep growing and glowing, on momma's.