Kevin Liles, the executive vice president of Warner Music Group and former president of Def Jam, offers his tips on becoming successful in Make It Happen: The Hip-Hop Generation Guide To Success. Using a combination of quotes, memoirs, inspirational stories, and traditional self-help teachings, Liles puts his spin on the motivational book and makes it relevant to readers who would normally think that books like these are corny.
Make It Happen, written by Liles and Samantha Marshall of Crain's New York Business, is organized into ten rules. These rules are primarily variations on traditional principles. For example, the second rule, "Do You," is a combination of the principles of standing out and being yourself. Liles tells the reader to "Find a style that expresses your personality" but also to make sure that the style you do put out is "not just some cheap counterfeit of someone else's brand." Rule seven, "Get Connected," simply means that you should network and be nice without becoming a pushover. Rule five is to "Play Your Position," which in other words means to always work hard no matter what you're doing.
What makes these rules stand out from other books is the fresh way that Liles explains them. His writing is conversational and he does not come off as being preachy. He uses lots of anecdotes from his life and the lives of others to make these rules relevant to the hip-hop audience. In the "Do You" chapter, Liles tells of how he ended up working for Def Jam. In the "Create A Blueprint" chapter, he mentions his days as part of the rap group Numarx. In one instance, his preparation and attention to detail helped catch the group's manager in the act of withholding money from the group. He also mentions how Ludacris started off, how Shyne took responsibility for his actions, and how Jay-Z calculates every move he makes in order to explain his rules.
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