The Perils of Shooting Your Mouth Off

The other night I was at an excellent show in NYC (big ups to Conscious for his Bondfire events every last Tuesday of the month at the Bowery Poetry Club). The place was packed with people, many of whom were artists I'm friends with. I’d say, all in all, I knew about two dozen of the artists who were in attendance and/or performing. Of course, since I live in CT and have to get up in the morning, I left at my usual time of midnight to catch the train home. This caused one of the few people I didn’t know to shoot their mouth off and, whether they knew it or not, it cost them dearly.

As I was making my way to the door someone who knew me wanted to say what’s up. I had a little bit of time, but let him know I was on my way out. When I said this the guy next to him, who neither of us knew, started shouting “don’t you know they save the best for last!?!?” Figuring he meant the two main performers who had full sets after the night’s open mic I replied “yeah, but I gotta go.” This was apparently totally the wrong answer for this guy who went on a rant about himself for a good sixty seconds. It went kind of like this; “but they save the best for last! I signed up for this open mic first! My name is the first name on that list! I know Immortal Technique! I could call Immortal Technique right now and he’d come down here! People compare me to Immortal Technique and Nas…” and blah blah blah.

About midway through this rapper’s rant the friend who wanted to talk gave me a look like “what the F is this guy’s problem?” I replied with the same look and a slight head motion to go to the next room. Turning around to walk away we saw four more emcees we were friends with. Without even knowing it the guy who shot his mouth off had totally embarrassed himself in front of his peers. The entire time he was talking I was just smiling and nodding and saying agreeable things like “that’s cool.” I felt no need to discuss who’s phone numbers are, or aren’t, in my cell phone, nor did I feel the need to bring up the fact that the host of the show was wearing one of my “I’m a B-Lister” t-shirts, as was one of the artists in the crowd (thanks Conscious and Dyalekt!). I knew from his rantings that he was someone I didn’t need to deal with and, quite frankly, it was kinda fun watching him give himself an aneurism for a bit.

From a straight networking perspective, he probably should have been smart enough to see that almost all the artists there knew me and come to the realization that I might be someone he should introduce himself to, but just from the standpoint of not being an asshole, if he had just said “aw man, you’re gonna miss my performance. Hey, here’s a flyer, check out my music,” EVERYONE would have had more respect for him. Instead of being smart, though, he shot his mouth off and he not only burned a bridge with me before it had a chance to be built, but he also potentially burned bridges with any of the other artists I work with that heard his rant, as well.

The moral of the story – Don’t be an asshole. It’s never necessary or helpful.