MOVIES4CREATIVES: "GOODFELLAS"

People always think I’m joking when I say my kids will have to watch Goodfellas and The Godfather and tell what they’ve learned after the movie is over. I’m not fucking around. I’m serious. My kids need to learn about loyalty . 

Today we’re going to look at the greatest guy movie of all time Goodfellas from a creative point of view. 

Let’s start it up. 

FIND THE SCENE…… AND JOIN 

Henry stared at the mobsters businesses in his neighborhood. He wanted to be down. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be down. Everybody wanna be apart of something. Just don’t be a thirst mcgirst ass weirdo. Henry showed his face around the businesses and they let Henry work and doing odd jobs for them at their cab stand. He started from the bottom and worked his way up the organization. He didn’t hate on nobody and envy the way the gangsters lived and how he didn’t have shit. He joined the scene instead.

The scene is everywhere these days. You can’t get in a creative scene in your city well search on the internet. Type in painter in the search on Instagram and find other painters to link with. Type in actors and filmmakers in the search box on twitter and link with other actors and filmmakers. The internet is the biggest scene of them all. 

GO ALL IN 

Henry completely quit school and started to work at the cab stand full time. Splitting up time between school and doing work for the mobsters became pointless to Henry not because he was missing out on money but more because of his beliefs about school. He felt he was wasting his time and not maxing out his potential. School didn’t contribute to what he aspired to be. It’s the same for a creative. Don’t do shit that doesn’t add anything to your creativity. Checks at a job can at least give you money to make more art. Anything outside of that get rid of that shit and do you.

TAKE THE BEATINGS 

Quitting school came with a consequence. Henry dad beat his ass every time he found out Henry didn’t go to school. As Henry so eloquently stated 

“Every once in a while I’d have to take a beating and by that time I didn’t care. The way I saw it, everybody takes a beating sometime.” 

Everybody gets beat up. Everyone takes an L. But you shouldn’t give a fuck especially if you know your heart is pure and intentions are positive. People are afraid to take L’s usually because they’ll be exposed for some slime ball shit underneath that loss they took or afraid of what people will think. Take the L and keep it pushing. 

FIND A MENTOR 

Henry looked up to Jimmy Conway. Jimmy taught him the game and the do’s and dont’s. He kept feeding Henry. Any advice he needed Henry would confide in Jimmy. 

Everyone has some type of mentor. They don’t even have to be in your creative field to be your mentor. Just needs to be a person that wants to keep you on the right track in whatever you’re doing. 

FORM THE RIGHT TEAM 

Jimmy robs. Tommy kills. Henry put together the heists and jobs. Each one of them had a role and they focused on their strengths. It’s how they were able to do what they do the most efficiently. Know your role and execute. 

If you can’t record shit or know how to work equipment then find someone who can and hire them or if you broke and can’t afford to then have something of value to provide to their cause. Focus on your strengths and recruit others to cover your weaknesses. Form the right team. 

NEVER OWE 

Sonny the restaurant owner was an idiot. He refused to take the L with Tommy owing him $7000. Tommy’s a mobster. Sonny is a civilian. I’m sure you can guess if Tommy is gonna pay a guy he doesn’t fear nor respect back. So instead of eating the $7000 loss he goes to Paulie to let him take a piece of the restaurant just to protect him from Tommy. You know the motto of the film 

“Business bad? Fuck you pay me. Oh you had a fire? Fuck you pay me. Place got struck by lightning? Fuck you pay me.” 

Sonny owed Paulie no matter what and Paulie’s crew ended up finessing the fuck out of the business and bled all the money out of it. 

Moral of the story? NEVER OWE! Don’t take no loan to start some shit you working on. Fuck all that. Just trust your squad and figure it out. You’ll get there. Nothing good comes from owing mothafuckas. 

LET YOUR WORK AND REP SPEAK 

What 50 Cent say? 

"I'm like Paulie on Goodfellas, you can call me the don."

You gotta get your reputation on Paulie Cicero status. Paulie don’t say shit unless it’s about business. The fact he never spoke much and was all about action was the reason people knew to take him seriously. He wasn’t on no clown shit. Now how did his reputation get to that point? He put in the work in his past and kept his mouth shut. 

You don’t have to remind me of what you do. People don’t invest money or time into what you do because you speak on how great you are constantly. If anything it’ll turn people off of it. Solidify yourself through your work, don’t do no bitch shit, and your reputation will be set. 

DON’T GET LOST IN THE SAUCE

Henry got lost in the sauce. The life was too much for him. ‘He started slipping with the side hoes. His wife was sick of his shit. Karen was a muhfuckin rider too so he was dumb as fuck. Karen would kill for him honestly. He was on drugs. He forgot how sacred the life was. He took it for granted. He destroyed his friends that put him on. Thus making him go out like the biggest bitch ass mothafucka in movie history. 

Don’t get lost in the sauce. Don’t take your talent for granted. You can be in one great situation and acting like a dickhead can make you lose everything you worked hard for. It’s not worth it. Stay focused on the goal. Never turn your back on the people who helped you get where you are. Remain grateful and grow. 

YOUR WORD IS EVERYTHING 

Keep your fucking word. Paulie made that very clear to Henry. Henry didn’t learn and paid the consequence. The same can happen to you. If your word ain’t shit as a creative who the fuck is gonna do anything with you? Who’s gonna vouch for you? Nobody. You’ll be alone and labeled as a rat like Henry. 

Good fucking day.