Being Inspired with Stic.man from Dead Prez | The Kitchen Mix

Being Inspired with Stic.man from Dead Prez | The Kitchen Mix (repost)

“RGB fit club prescription;
Knowledge, exercise and nutrition
Get exercise and stay consistent
New tradition ancient wisdom” -Stic.man

TKM: How did you get started with RBG Fit Club? What jump started that movement?

S: RBG Fit club was a way for me to extend the inspiration from the communication (The Workout album), spread the message that wellness is wealth. It’s like an online platform similar to Livestrong – but with Hip Hop culture, Hip Hop language, Hip Hop perspective at the core of it. It’s just an extension of my lifestyle for the last fifteen plus years.

They say that leadership is about initiative. The movement is making those moves. As we think about a lot of the political issues within our communities and the things people are active about – being active is activism and there is no movement without the people moving. Health is kind of a big deal.

TKM: Where are you with food right now and how have people responded to the movement?

S: Currently, I’m all plant-based – not all raw but probably about 50%. What I’ve learned is that enzymes are key to energy and health and healing. So, I try to make sure that at each meal something I’m eating is raw. But otherwise, we just try to do organic whole plant-based fruits and vegetables. I’m doing a 14 week program proving that a skinny guy can gain muscle on a plant-based diet and also still be a long distance runner. So, I’m the guinea pig. I’m running ten miles, training 3 days a week in the gym. No supplements. No powders. No vitamins or anything like that. Just whole foods. My goal is to get to 20 pounds of muscle. I’ve gained 7 in 3 weeks.

I’ve been world-touring, seeing people have good feedback in terms of their own personal lives – people who stopped smoking cigarettes, started running, people meditating more often. It seems like people of all backgrounds – whatever race, different classes, in the hood, business folks, whatever. People are relating to the message of health that you can custom fit to you. I believe fitness should fit, or else why call it “fit?”

TKM: Do you have a spiritual component to your regimen?

S: Well yeah. The way I address spirituality is – your spirituality is your experiences, it is taking care of your health on all the different levels, it’s your relationship with other people, it’s your ability to relax, it’s what services we offer in the community, it’s your gratitude, it’s your attitude – it’s not one thing like push-ups. It’s a combination of living your life. For me, meditation helps me remember that and helps me stay balanced.
Someone said that beings – what we do is not always what we are but what we are can empower what we do, who we are. That’s the distinction. Because people will say I’m a librarian, or I’m a rapper, or I’m an engineer or I’m a hustler, baby – but is that what you are or is that what you do? Because when you tap into what you are, I think that’s your spirit. It’s behind everything you do.

TKM: What else drives you and can you share a recipe with us?

S: I’m a student of interesting things – things that catch my interest. I’m always studying music, arranging and [learning] how to be effective in communicating. I don’t want to limit what I do to language but I believe that people have their own power and it’s about tapping in to make those synapses connect. And once they do – I don’t believe people need you to tell them what to do or people need some kind of an intermediary between them and the spirit. I feel like people can be empowered from within with the right motivation and inspiration. I think that’s really important work and that’s a large part of what I do. I produce music, I have a publishing company…always trying to communicate.

**Peep the audio for the ill guacamole recipe (Guacavelli)**

TKM: What projects are you currently working on and where are you finding your inspiration these days?

S: I’m currently producing The Workout Volume 2. I’m about 9 songs in right now and going for 14. I’ve been working with some other artists, a guy named Martin Luther. We just worked on some stuff for a Jimi Hendrix documentary. There’s a film that I did the score for not too long ago directed byByron Hurt. It’s called Soul Food Junkies. I did an original 8 song score for that. I did the title track with my boy, Martin Luther, among others.

That’s my daily thing – to find inspiration. It’s part of my daily ritual when washing dishes, to listen to motivational speakers. I’ve found that that takes the sting out of washing dishes. I listen to a lot of audio books when I’m on my long distance runs – Power of Habit is amazing, Power of Self-Discipline is amazing. Music-wise I listen to everything from John Coltrane, Jay-Z, Little Dragon, Rollins Band, everything.

TKM: Can you talk about discipline?

S: I look at it like – you can make a recipe for your success. You can say, I want to exercise my body in fun ways, challenging ways, ways that I can see progress. I want to be stronger, I want to be more flexible, I want to have more endurance, more energy. I can make a plan for that. I want to meditate more often so I can manage stress and free my creativity. Instead of waking up the first hour and worrying about this, stressing about that – when I first wake up I drink water and listen to a speech that’s motivating. You can do those kind of things and what happens is you start to control your experience and program yourself as if you were your own trainer. You’re taking that role and you realize that when you don’t take that proactive role, you take what the day brings you.

But then there’s that other satisfaction. I can satisfy my worries, I can satisfy my anxieties and my nerves and my stress about my health through doing these positive things – exercise, etc. So there’s two satisfactions – the instant gratification and the peace of mind that I’ll be okay. It’s all one energy!

**Listen for more insights and bits of wisdom**

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