We were lucky to catch up with MR B ROCKSTAR recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, MR B ROCKSTAR thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
Spoken Word was a newly discovered gift. It was raw af but unrefined. Thankfully my environment was abundant with opportunity and I perfected the gift in a number of ways. Start with the early mentorship from my big bro who was my first example of a leader in poetry, add my poetry slam mentor, my poetry nonprofit mentor, my poetry events mentor and a slew of fire breathing dragons in/around my circle who y’all call “us poets.” Add my corporate job as a professional tour guide at a civil rights museum for over 4 years. This is where my adaptability as a chameleon for any audience was strengthen. Add 7 years of straight losses in one of the toughest poetry slam scenes at the time, Durham (Bull City), NC. Got my head cracked in the first or second round of their competitions against world-class poets until finally winning the trophy in 2016.
Yea, everyday I look back on my training grounds and get so grateful because that pressure cooker made me the monster on stage with undeniable stage presence and appeal. There is no competition now because I was born in the belly of the beast, clashed with word titans and came out with Wakanda armor on.
For the next 7 years, I would perform as much as an addict who hit the lottery. No, seriously…. In May 2019 I had to fast for what I called “Mute May.” I challenged myself to not perform for a month because it had hit me one day that I had performed 1,2,3,4 times every single week for the last seven years straight! No breaks, holidays, vacations….just straight shooting in the live gym.
Finally, in 2020 I struck gold when I sat down and uncovered the performance science that made me and others so great on stage. This formula centers around waking the spirit, saying it wit ya chest, body language, and engaging the audience. I created exercises that I conducted on myself and shortly after I booked the most paid gigs I had in a single month (12). Couple months after that, it became clear these tools could benefit other performing artists as well so I created a performing workshop series called POTS and released a beginners guidebook. The program turned into a mission that assisted over 100 poets in one year. Now its official rollout is called POTS A.L.P.H.A. and is aiming to serve 150 poets/writers in 2023. The main obstacles we help people with is getting out of their own way and negative self-talk.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I am Brandon, famously known as MR B ROCKSTAR residing in WEST ATL, GA. A cool 33 year old miillenial from Baltimore, MD with a Bachelors in English from the prestigious NC A&T SU. In 2015, I left my corporate job and became a Spoken Word professional, expert and CEO.
To be honest, I was a natural on stage out the gate. Had never performed nor had interest in Spoken Word Poetry until my sophomore year of college in 2009 at an open audition. It was for the biggest organization on campus so about 200 people were in the room. Only 30 seconds to spit; my very first piece set the room on fire. The rockstar was born.
“The Rockstar Poet” was the first brand created under my company B ROCK&CO which underwent several significant pivots before finding its stride in Atlanta in recent years. Per our website:
THE MISSION OF B ROCK&CO IS TO PROVIDE ARTISTS AND ART LOVERS WITH STIMULATING AND EMPOWERING SPOKEN WORD EXPERIENCES THRU SERVICES, PROGRAMS, RESOURCES, LIVE EVENTS, AND DIGITAL CONTENT IN ORDER TO BOOST THE OVERALL QUALITY OF THE SPOKEN WORD COMMUNITY BY DISTINGUISHING IT AS AN INDUSTRY.
In a nutshell, you can catch me providing education, events or entertainment to my clientele and fanbase. As an important gatekeeper in my industry, it is my duty to protect the development of artists and set the creative standard for art lovers.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
This question stuck out to me because I just mentioned pivoting. Yes there was a few times where I had to make major systematic decisions in order to keep the machine running. My first pivot was more mental than structural meaning I had to pivot my mindset (which is what pivoting is essentially, right?). In the first two years of my entrepreneur journey, I was met with a serious observation of my self. You can say I was a “conspiracy theorist” so I “anti America” “anti government” “anti World Bank “anti money” blah blah blah my life was simple and nomadic. I thoroughly enjoyed being a nature boy and performing state to state freely with minimal obligations. However, I had a wild epiphany one night where I realized “ok I’m happy and enjoying life but my family isn’t. My people are sick and hurting. I was blessed with the ability to become wealthy and have a gift and roadmap to manifest it. Yea I can take care of myself…but I can’t take care of a family.” How could I want to build a new nation with no money or power? It was hypocritical and backwards. Becoming a millionaire never crossed my mind til I got to ATL almost 4 years ago. Since then I started to focus more on the revenue generating activities.
In 2020, I had to pivot again because most of my income was from live in person interactions. COVID killed all of that so digital spaces became more imperative. Luckily, I was able to get a head start on other artists because I had an Instagram album (a spoken word album produced solely on IG and the first of its kind.). This was the momentum I needed to continue dominating the game. From there I started crash lives on IG and Clubhouse. I made at least $3,000 performing, competing and featuring online between Dec 2020-March 2021. I also had multiple gigs waiting for me when everyone went back outside because of the relationships I built while in the house.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
At the top of my motivation list is financial freedom. Period. Enough bags to do what I want WHEN I WANT. I do what I want about 85% of my time so far but my goal is 100% autonomy.
Strictly from a creative standpoint, my position is this: I’m determined to heal, keep it real, and appeal because I love making people feel good and optimistic about life, to remind people to not take themselves too seriously, to help people feel confident in themselves and where they came from, and to inspire the world to know their value, their power, and how real God is in the human experience
Contact Info:
- Website: www.MrBRockstar.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/mr_brockstar?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BT.Bmore.Brockington?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-brockington-9134099b
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@brockhouse2007
- Other: https://solo.to/mrbrockstar Full audio compilations catalogue on all streaming platforms
Image Credits
B ROCK&CO