Song: The Curiously Bad Pitch
Artist:  SAMOH
Year: 2015
Viewed: 10 - Published at: 7 years ago

The Bad PitchThe bad pitch itself is me but there will also be bad pitches for ideas that accompany this one. I think a lot of things in my life have been beneficial to me in becoming a creative thinker; someone who can develop ideas and see them through. Through middle school and high school I played saxophone, I made my regional band all three years of high school and alternate twice for the state band. Playing saxophone was something I was truly passionate about and it allowed me to experience a lot of different thing. The first day I got my saxophone I tried to play it on the bus, I’d just learned how to make a sound with it! I studied the saxophone, I learned about alternative ways to play notes for smoother transitions when you had certain note combinations. I practiced constantly and was always one of the first to memorize the music for our shows in high school, I had solos or duets both my sophomore and senior year. My love for music stemmed from my love for saxophone but my love for people and information did too.

Playing saxophone and being in band gave me some of my first truly social experiences; traveling with friends, meeting new people at games and competitions, going to dances at band camp. These were some of my first encounters with people outside of my town and sometimes out of my age range and the best part about it was that in bands there are all types of people so there’s true diversity where people are connected by the one idea of music. It feels like diversity now is just being taken at face value in a lot of places. It seems like it’s not just the idea that people are centered around but they all seem to have the same mindset on the idea when what you should really have is a bunch of different people and mindsets based around the same idea. I hope you don’t mind that I’m kind of just writing this as it comes to me, I don’t really have a format but I know what I would like to say. So being introduced to a truly diverse group as early around 8th grade was a major advantage for me and I think it’ll play a role in some of the things that I mention later. These same people introduced me to different types of music…of course we exchanged music, we were in the band…and that built into a diverse range of tastes. But it also helped me stay open minded about music and taught me to listen to music and not just have it playing in my ears.

While I was in high school I worked at a local grocery store the one that was considered the ‘black’ one, yes that was the common terminology when I was growing up. There was another one at the other end of town, guess what it was called? I don’t know how I feel about it, maybe it wasn’t the worst thing, I know there’s a lot worse things going on now. Everyone that worked in there was black really except the store manager, the woman who did the books and a few cashiers. All of the supervisors were black, they hired black employees for the most part and they gave them raises so it wasn’t too bad. We called it the black one too though. But working there introduced me to more rap than I’d ever listened to. Rap was always there but these guys that I worked with knew rap when I didn’t know a thing about it in the grand scheme of things. Working there through high school is what put me on the rap game a bit and kept my interest.


While I was in college I worked in multiple positions that not only allowed me to be creative but also allowed me to work with even larger groups which only meant greater diversity. I work as and Orientation mentor my sophomore year as well as a mentor for Razorback Outreach for Community Knowledge. In the Orientation position I was a part of a team that created skits to teach the dos and don’ts of freshman year. We were able to create and act out skits that were educational but also filled with comedy and laughs to keep the audience engaged, it worked because we were so close to their ages and only a year removed from their current position. I also learned everything there is to know about the university, including upcoming projects they had coming up for buildings and programs on campus. As a ROCK Camp mentor I learned all about the traditions of the university and especially the traditions of the Razorback games. This mentor position was more laid-back and we spent a week with a group of students, two days we went to Oklahoma for a float trip! We talked to them about the realities of being a freshman and being on campus. We created an interactive simulation that sent them through their first year of college, complete with random events like flat tires, sickness and the dreaded parking ticket. I also learned a lot about my strengths and how to harness them. My Gallup StrengthQuest strengths are:

[This is the actual order presented to me by Gallup]

1. Strategic - This strength drives me to find alternative ways of looking at things. Innovation and expression are two of the main points that a Strategic mind hits on according to Gallup. I use this strength daily in every interaction I have and think that I consider. It’s helped me develop graphic designs as well as programs of Polyamory and a Hip-Hop form, with the assistance of others of course.

2. WOO - Winning Others Over - at first glance I thought this sounded kind of manipulative as a them to have but I learned that it’s not about persuasion but instead is about meeting new people and making new connections. This was a key skill when I was working as a mentor. I was always seen as someone to talk to and in the end of it all I made lasting relationships with some people. I think this is a valuable strength to have no matter who I work for but especially at a company like genius where the community is it’s most important aspect.

3. Ideation - This simply means that I have a fascination with ideas and making connections. But it also presents a quality use of language through the need to make ideas connect. Ideation is useful on a daily basis for me, especially when I’m taking photos or having conversations. This strength along with Strategic and WOO seem to work together and I have been able to use them all throughout my college experience, but I believe they were developed during my time in band. So far all my strengths have touched on language as being a big tool that I use. I believe that language is the key to it all, without it how would we be able to get any idea out there for people to discuss, let alone have a discussion. 4. Communication - This strength was pretty self explanatory to begin with but Gallup gave me an in depth analysis of what a Communication strength meant. It wasn’t just being about to say something well but it was also the art of listening. Gallup had this to say: During conversations, you might be the
person who simplifies complicated details. Maybe you help individuals better understand intricate
procedures, theories, regulations, or plans. It’s very likely that you might rely on the diverse viewpoints
of certain teammates to spark conversations that produce exciting ideas.I think that this strength fits well with the ones listed above and I believe it helps my mind as well as my ideas and my actions become a well oiled machine.

5. Self-Assurance - This strength is all about confidence and I think it caps my 5 off very nicely. I am confident in my ability to contribute in the things that I do and I can assure you that at Genius I would exhibit that same confidence. This is not to say I’m cocky but I’m confident enough with myself and with the way I understand Genius’ WIB culture I believe that I could contribute new ideas as well as help expand on what may be in the works.

I have used these strengths on numerous projects throughout my college career including videos, flyers, programs on everything from finance to interracial dating. I’ve helped put together art exhibits and balls, even parties. I’ve also done photos at all those types of events and many others.

I played a key role in the rewriting of the UARK NPHC Constitution and aggressively lobbied for my fellow board members to start looking at alternative programs and formulas because I noticed that each year a lot of ideas were being recycled and reused while the college environment was change. This caused me to go back to my own fraternity and propose we all take the same mindset. This allowed us to create new programs such as the interracial dating program and a program about social media usage. It also lead us to bigger ideas such as our now annual stroll competition. We were able to make a very decent amount of money for our chapter to not only get us out of the hole we were in with service charges but our chapter bank account was looking nice too, not bad for a chapter that had been back for only two years. The first year of the program we spent no money on any part of it other than the pre-sale tickets and the DJ. We promoted digitally and in person and we held the even in the UARK Verizon Ballroom which was completely free to use for any student organization. During this time I was the chapter Historian, the next year I was the Vice Polemarch.

My year as Vice, with my Polemarch, we pushed our members even harder and continued to create a social media presence for our fraternity. We started doing videos and we even did a mixtape for our week, the perfect songs to get you through the week; with DJ KL1MAX on 191.1 the Yo. Our videos were a new thing to the community and soon the other organizations we doing them too, I shot and edited all the videos myself and I taught myself how to use the software in one night because we really needed a video for the next day. I won't lie, it sucked but I’ve gotten a lot better since then! During that junior year as Vice we made some of our biggest strides, we moved with the trends and created new ones. We noticed that people weren’t wanting to have parties on campus anymore so we moved ours to a club on the square, even negotiated a contract with the owner that only we could use the spot to host parties for the first year. We were strategic in all our decisions and our goal was to ensure that the fraternity would be stable financially when we left. But we realized that the only way to reach a financial stability was to have the support and the backing of the community and that meant presenting things to them and somewhat catering to them. We help barbecues at a nearby park so the people living on campus without cars could walk to the park and eat with us. We provided food and drinks of course and even had a nice volleyball game going for a minute. We also hosted house parties or kickbacks, all drinks on us with spades, dominoes, videos and fun. My role was media content all the way and I created almost every visual for the fraternity from the time I joined until the time I left the campus.

I believe that my time as historian, Vice and just general member, I’m still a member…it’s for a life time, has helped me with my organization and with seeing ideas through to their fruition. It was something that I was extremely passionate about and I wanted to see it flourish and thrive so I worked my ass off at it to help those goals be reached, but I also had a lot of help and was constantly being pushed by our members. I believe that these are some of the reasons why I’d be a good addition to the Genius team. I know there is still much growing that I can do and I would love to experience that extra growth with the Genius team while also helping the Genius platform and team grow in all areas. Please consider me and help this bad pitch into a better one :D Some other IDEAS So I didn’t come empty handed. EDUCATION Genius.I think Genius has the potential to change what education is and how we use it on different levels. At High Tech High a teacher dissected lyrics from Kendrick Lamar’s TPAB to help teach his students about The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. In his post I didn’t see any mention of Genius but I know that genius could have easily played a role in that. Since then the students at the school have created a course called Hip-Hop Lit where they break down lyrics, cover art and other imagery. Not only is this aligned with the ideas of rap genius it also presents a further opportunity, namely for genius to stretch it’s legs into other areas. I know that education genius already exist but what I’m suggesting is that a team be assemble to push for it’s usage on different campuses in different departments.

Right now Genius seems to be an in the moment or at this instant kind of thing but Education doesn’t really work the same way, with education it is something that is constantly morphing or moving and evolving. Basically there is a constant conversation going on. If we presented genius as a tool for that constant conversation then we might be able reel some places in. and they could have their own sort of server of genius. for instance uark.genius.com or at least a student account where they can use the [web] annotator and explore their own content too. I see students or teachers, especially in grad and law schools being able to use the tool to have ongoing discussion either about the things that they are writing or the things that they are review or reading, this could be especially interesting in dissecting a court case. It could also be a great way for students and teachers to be engaged with one another.

What if papers were submitted on to a server and the teacher was able to go through and annotate different points or edits or suggestions. There could even be a grading system put into place at some point so they’d be able to give the student a grade.

At high schools I think genius could help diversify ideas and viewpoints and by being an instrumental part in the way kids learn. Maybe we could visit High Tech High or put someone in house that’s there to help the Hip Hop Lit class and eventually we could see if it could be implemented in other schools as well.

Of course the Education idea is an idea that I think could have a large impact on who uses genius and how they use it, and of course these students and educators aren't excluded from anything that genius it already doing. The Outreach I have been seeing genius pop up more and more lately but I’ve been trying to figure out why we aren’t seeing the type of widespread recognition that a tool this powerful should have and I think it’s because there isn’t enough involvement with the community.

I would suggest a revamp of the genius blog, away from the Tumblr and instead making it its own thing from there we can start adding that extra layer to even more things. Genius should start snagging interviews with artist, I think that behind the scenes videos with artist might be a good thing too. Genius could become the “The Making of” team and the “Behind the Scenes” team, bring insights into all sorts of groups and artist. I see interviews with directors about specific movies, with producers about their particular sound, with artist in general about their art. I think that this is something that genius could dominate because it’s already the place where people come to expand on things…Sorry complex but goodbye complex…IJS.

And this doesn’t have to just be artist this could be politicians, journalist, basketball players and more, although all those might be artist too if you believe, like I believe, that everyone is an artist that is skilled in their craft. We’d bring a true look to these peoples lives and ideas, Netflix has created its own lane with the content that it can show…Genius could develop their own content and the longer documentaries could be put on Netflix or another service.

I have this image of a Title showing up on a screen then it gets highlighted yellow and a simplified version of the annotation says “by Genius” Why I think this should happen soon.The way that people consume media these days is though imagery for the most part. A general user is more likely to watch a video or look at an image than they are to read something it would seem. But getting to the masses provides a level of visibility that will make others notice, those others being the people that we really want using genius. They’ll want to be a part of it because a lot of people are looking at it.

But this doesn’t have to be cliche and it won’t be. It’ll be an entirely new look into the artist life and the creative process. I think there might even be a place in there to partner up with the Visual Supply Company or VSCO and do a collaborative insight project on their Artist Initiative artists. I think connections like these will only get more people interested in what’s happening at Genius. In all of this annotation plays a role, it could just be a Visual Annotation or something like that.Off the RecordI think that everyone should be allowed to have an off the record archive, a switch on a page or a private browser sort of idea that basically cleans the page of any annotations and allows you to annotate on it but you don’t get any IQ for it. This could be another way to handle an education aspect on-site I think.So now that I’ve presented all of this, what type of role might I have with Genius if I was to be brought on the team.I would like to work with Education, maybe some sort of campus programs liaison. I believe the Web Annotation could be a very useful tool for professors from different fields to discuss what's happening within those fields. I would like to recruit a few campuses to be some of our flagships for a project of collaborative research. We could start in Journalism departments because Genius is already playing a role in Journalism but I believe we could stretch into other departments from there.

I think that this could be a great tool for artist as well, they could add their own content to the website and discuss the work they've done, the same could be don't in creative writing departments, etc.

Or I’d like to work with artist outreach and event planning/content development. Event’s could include getting Visual Annotations set up, hosting some sort of Genius Gala or Showcase event. Content development would include that interview and documentary type ideas mentioned above but I believe those could be taken even further.

Well I greatly appreciate you taking the time to read all of this, I feel like it’s pretty long honestly…I hope that these ideas presented here will help you see me as the passionate, hard-working person that I am and compels you to extend me any offer to join the genius team. I think you all can help my worse to become better and, likewise, I can help the platform’s do the same.

Thanks you so much for you time here today!

Kentrell Curry

( SAMOH )
www.ChordsAZ.com

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