Some time ago, I was browsing through the list of Recommended Creators on Kit, basically other newsletter owners I could do a list swap or cross-promotion with. Among the million and one marketing ones, there was a standout:
Lil Jon’s Wellness Newsletter
It turns out that rap star Lil Jon is now “on a journey of wellness and enlightened.” And if you like, he will send you “simple wellness tips each Wednesday.”
I gotta say this made me chuckle.
All I really knew of Lil Jon is his 2002 megahit, Get Low.
The video for that song showed Lil Jon as a kind of king of the ghetto club, holding a chalice and a glass cane that looked like a scepter, and with his mouth full of gold teeth. The video also featured the usual women grinding and twerking on stripper poles, while the refrain of the song ran:
“To the window/to the floor/till the sweat drop down my balls/till all these bitches crawl”
After I saw that Lil Jon is now enlightened and willing to send me wellness tips each Wednesday, I got curious.
What happened? I had to read about the man.
“Well I’ll be damned,” I said after Wikipedia hit me. It turns out that the “king of the ghetto club” thing was just an act.
I don’t know how much you care to know about Lil Jon, but here are a few facts that can be enlightening:
1. Lil Jon’s dad was an aerospace engineer and his mom an army nurse.
2. He grew up in a middle class neighborhood and attended a magnet school.
3. As a teenager he was heavily into skating culture and his favorite bands included the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
4. He’s been described as a “high achiever” and a “passionate reader.”
You might think this email is just about how your public persona can be vastly different from who you really are. But it’s more than that.
I’ve been going on lots of first dates lately. Inevitably the girls ask me what I do. To which I say, “Not much. Mostly I sit around. I watch TV. I play a LOT of video games.” Then I look the girl straight in the eye and smile to make it clear I am rather proud of what I just said.
One girl so far has been confused and shocked. The rest were first amused and then pleased.
Because what’s the alternative? A boring conversation about work, or worse yet, digging myself deeper and deeper into the quicksand of trying to impress the girl. That’s not good for me or her.
I think this whole topic is worth developing more, and maybe I will do that in a future book on personal positioning. I could call the chapter about this “Idiot Positioning,” or with a hat tip to Lil Jon, maybe “Crunk Positioning.”
But maybe I’m running ahead of myself. Maybe I haven’t sold you on this whole idea yet. Maybe you are skeptical that making yourself out to look dirty or stupid or like a loser is actually a good strategy.
What can I tell you? Effective communication is not always what it seems. Insults can work as glue between friends. Assurances can be veiled warnings. And making yourself out to be an idiot, and smiling about it, can work in your favor.
And if you want to understand why, and how to make this work for you, I suggest consulting Commandment VI of my new 10 Commandments book. In case you haven’t gotten your copy yet: