Kill The NoiseRZA

Episode 1: Kill The Noise

Welcome to the exploration. Today we will set our sights on a familiar adversary: distraction. Together we will begin our quest to kill the noise. Before we take off, we need to ground ourselves.

I want you to find a chill environment. Sit down in a very comfortable position. Plant both feet squarely on the ground. Place your hands together or rest them gently on your knees. Now close your eyes. Now we breathe. Inhale through your nose and slowly out through your mouth. Continue with patience. Match my flow. Feel every inhale. Every exhale. Flow in. Flow out.

Distraction. For some it’s a rare burden. For many, it’s constant. Think about the distractions that surround you and stifle your creativity. Sometimes it’s the people or things around us—you know, family issues, or crazy coworker, or phone that’s blowing up in your pocket. Sometimes the distractions pop up inside your own head from your own poison thoughts. Or ill-time ideas that steal your focus. Shit, I have them myself. I may think I want this track to be doper than the other track, or my lyric could be better than the next emcee. That competitive pressure can stagnate you. Each new distraction makes us feel less in control. We create chaos, and at times, it feels like we’re completely surrounded. I’m not gonna tell you that you can escape or ignore the chaos. That’s fiction. I’m gonna show you how to embrace it.

My approach to life has been to find order in chaos. I think of myself as the sun at the center of the universe. And in my solar system, I’m surrounded by distractions. All that shit is just planets, asteroids, and comets—spinning around me or flying past me. Think of the things in you life that stifles progress or heightens your anxiety. Observe what crashes into your orbit: noise, work drama, negativity. See them all as little planets, asteroids spiraling towards you. They feel like they have an impact, but remember, you are the sun. You have the power to put all that peripheral shit on notice.

In this moment and in the moments ahead, when your mind wanders, I want you to pause and identify the nature of the distraction. Irritation? Anger? Humor? Curiosity? Recognize each time something enters your orbit. Acknowledge it. Note it. Categorize it. And let it return to its own orbit. You have the power to act on it later, but for now just take notice. Again, acknowledge the distraction. Not the emotion that it causes. Then watch it drift away. Let it be that asteroid that fizzles out, or the planet the planet that floats in the distance. This is how you exert your gravitational force on the chaos around you, take note of it, and then just let that shit just keep on spinning alongside of you.

Alright. Now as we slowly return from our exploration. I want you to think about remaining in the center of your solar system. Stay as the sun. Maintain the planets around you. Now open your eyes.