31 | slow cook

The November meeting of the chordinnate album club will feature Kane Smego and his album POT LIQUOR. In a previous email exchange with Kane, he referenced the track SLOW COOK as a metaphor for playing the long game as a creative. I responded that I thought the concept would likely transfer to the sort of mindset that I hope to foster in the athletes I work with, so I would revisit it in a later issue. Then I completely forgot about the conversation! When I dipped into my email archive while prepping the listening guide for the album club, I was reminded of my promise, which led me to abandon the half-baked spotlight I was cooking up for in favor of Smego’s.

Check out the track below (and consider the athlete-related wordplay a nice bonus):

In Smego’s version, you cook until “it falls off the bone.” In sport, the parallel may be trusting the process until it pays off. When athletes are at their best, it seems to be happening without effort. In other words, they don’t have to cut the meat from the bone; it just falls off! So as much as we hear about athletes “pushing through” or “fighting harder” or “wanting it more,” the answer is usually oppositional to those ideas.

Relax through.

Go softer.

Care less.

Ignore the perceived costs or rewards of performance. Instead, decide what matters ahead of a contest. Control what you can in relation to those ideals. Observe the results. Learn from them. Adjust as needed. Repeat. And even if you never get to where you thought you would be, perhaps it won’t matter. You will have likely enjoyed the ride. And you will probably still end up somewhere tolerable - perhaps even preferable - to where your immature ideas of success would have placed you.

Full disclosure: Kane’s message felt like it landed on a personal level as well. I have previously addressed the ups and downs of a career in sport - with an assist from Mac Miller - but that effort was more about a diagnosis than a remedy. The back-to-back tracks PEDESTAL and SLOW COOK serve as a reminder to identify the ingredients in my personal definition of success and stay the course!

If you want to continue to engage with Kane’s music, check out the listening guide for the upcoming album club meeting and consider signing up to attend.

After the October Album Club, Cole Henderson shared a clip of Tyler, the Creator’s athleticism on display.

It got me thinking about the crossover between music and sport. On the one hand, it makes sense that athleticism and rhythm would be connected. But if you grew up watching Rock N’ Jock on MTV or have ever tuned in to Dancing with the Stars, you know that the relationship between musical rhythm and athleticism isn’t nearly that clean! For some, however, there does appear to be a substantial overlap. Pulling on the DWTS string took me to an article outlining all the athlete appearances on the show, which lead me to a name who certainly deserves a spotlight: Iman Shumpert. Shumpert was an NBA champion during his professional basketball playing days and finished 1st on Season 30 of DWTS. Additionally, Shumpert was actively making music throughout his career as an “escape from the floor” and continues to make music post-playing career. Take a listen below!

Kane Smego’s SLOW COOK, which inspired the issue spotlight, reminded me of two non-rap tracks that hit upon similar themes.

Might work my feet to the bone
But I don’t mind it
We all got our own way of growing
Ain’t gotta justify it

emily nenni LONG GAME

It doesn’t matter when you bloom
It matters that you do

secret sisters LATE BLOOMER

This playlist started with the tracks featured in the issue and built from there. Does it make sense? Who can say. Does it matter? Of course it doesn’t!