On the first day, walking into lecture for Organizational Behavior in Sport Management, I had the mindset I had for most of my classes. Another day where I learn information that most likely will not impact my life after the class is over.

However, I was wrong.

Out of all the lectures I have taken at Rutgers University as well as the University of Tampa, this class impacted me on a personal level. The youngest professor I have ever had the privilege to learn from happens to be the most inspirational professor I have had. Every week we watch videos and read from various assigned books and learn about ways in which we can improve our life. The greatest quote that has impacted my life so far was a quote from Simon Sinek; “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

Junior year of high school I began writing lyrics, predominantly rap lyrics, and realized I had a talent for this. After I finished writing my first full song I decided to invest in a microphone and software. I recorded my first song and put it out for everyone to hear.

The following day this song became the talk of my high school, even teachers were playing it in class.

Of course some people did not like the song, but a far greater amount of people did like it. I realized that a hobby of mine suddenly became the one thing I was most passionate about.

Each day in school I had people approach me. A few negative people asked me, “Why are you rapping? You know that you will never make it as a rapper.” This would faze most people, however this did not faze me. I answered them and said I do this for myself, I believe in myself and that belief will attract people that believe in me. Let me tell you, my response really put a halt to the negativity I was receiving. A burning desire deep inside me told me that no matter what happens with this passion of mine I will never give it up.

Fast-forward five years later I finally have a fan base I worked so hard to achieve. I have people that believe in me, these people want to help me achieve the goal I set out to achieve, to make it. However, music is not the only thing I do this for.

I want to be able to use my influence to help people in the world.

I would like to enlighten people to the everyday problems the world faces. I would like to make change, and I believe in changing people’s lives in a positive way. I want people to buy my music and support me because they believe in the same beliefs I believe in; a better world where the media doesn’t shape everyone to turn a blind eye on the problems with useless propaganda.

I would like to make a movement that reaches far past album sales and merchandise sales, material items. It’s not about what I do with the music, it’s about the impact my music has on the lives I touch, this is why I do it.

The first night of auditions, the first person to arrive stepped into the TV studio, soaking wet.

I thought, it is raining out why would you walk to the studio, why not drive? It turns out, the man had just gotten out of prison ten days ago. He had no money, no car, 5 children, and was $50K behind on child support. He had been looking for employment for 10 days and could not find anyone willing to give an ex-drug dealer a second chance. I’m wondered how he even heard about the auditions.

We were in the TV studio auditioning potential contestants for a new reality show; the Business Starter. This was in 2010 while the country was still in economic turmoil because of the real estate collapse. The show would consist of 10 contestants that found themselves out of work because of the downturn. The contestants were mainly college graduates or MBA types wanting to open new companies in the financial sector. Each week we would send the weakest business idea home selecting a winner at the end.

As we are interviewing the second contestant, we asked, “what is the single thing that everyone kept telling you couldn’t do, but you got it done anyway?”

The man responds, “live to the age of 25.”

“What?”, we ask. He responds again, “live to age 25.” He had just gotten out of prison and was now looking for employment or to open a business. He needed something, anything to pay the bills, or buy some food. Sixty percent of ex-felons return to prison within the first 3 years after release during periods of unemployment.

The first night of the show and I was surrounded by seven men, all ex-drug dealers and ex-felons, and three females who were ex-felons or girls having gotten pregnant in high school. I was reviewing the basic rules of the show and the first man who auditioned stopped me dead in my tracks. He tells me we need to change the rule of sending someone home each week. Instead, we need to see if we can figure out some way of getting everyone’s business started.

All ten contestants banded together and looked at me with these big wide eyes. They kept saying this was their only hope. It was a live broadcast, and we changed the rules on the spot. We ended up getting seven of the businesses open with only $50 each. Five are still running today.

Then, the pastor of an inner-city church and shelter heard about our show and got the word out to the ex-felon community in Tampa.

Six months later, I received a call from one of the contestants on Business Starter. He says he is trying to open a little league football and cheer teams in an economically depressed area of Tampa. I had attended a seminar at UACDC (a non-profit which helped juvenile delinquents) and was told a story by a police officer of kids 12 and 13 who sold weapons and drugs on street corners.

I suggested that he contact the City of Tampa Parks and Recreation and get them to help. He said he already tried that route and for years people have been trying to get teams open but it is very difficult to raise funding and the suburb teams are highly reluctant to bring their kids to the area to play games.

Then he said, “these are the kids that really need our help, we have to try.”

The next 10 months, with the help of a very kind gentleman at Tampa Parks and Rec., along with the regional manager of USA Football, we got two teems up and running.

I grew up with four younger sisters and in high school; I kept busy watching over them battling the boys off at every turn it seemed. After high school, my daughter was offered a full presidential scholarship in math to Prairie View, a satellite campus of Texas A&M.

She graduated in 2015, got married, I have a granddaughter called Captain, and they just purchased their first home in Dallas, but as a father, I always worried about the route that could have happened. After seeing the at risk kids in Tampa, I decided to have a “Break the Teen Pregnancy Cycle” summer camp called “Cinderella Slipper: Live Your Dreams”.

The first day of the camp, it was pouring rain. We are standing under an oak tree and I tell my story of my little dream growing up as a kid. I pass out index cards and ask each girl to write their name and their dream. When I got the cards back, the cards ranged from pediatrician, firefighter, the Navy, and high school teacher. However, twelve of the cards come back completely blank and I wondered why.

I thought maybe it was the 4 year old girls that cannot really write too well yet or maybe it is the cheap pens I bought at Dollar General for a buck and they just don’t work. When I asked the girls why twelve of the cards were left blank, the captain of the varsity cheer squad got up and said her team did not respond. I asked her why and she walked in front of all the girls and put her face uncomfortably close to mine, with her hands on her hips.

She said, “because we are old enough to know that dreams never come true for us down here. We didn’t want to set ourselves up for another failure. People keep coming down here and telling us they will help, but they never do. We are never going to get out of here. So, no. We didn’t fill out your stupid little 3×5 cards, Rob.”

Those words launched the next endeavor, Hit Records Worldwide, a record label built on compassion. We work with teen girls growing up in the foster care system, homeless shelters, government projects, daughters of ex-felons, single parent kids, and teen girls in trouble with the police. Hit Records is a story of one Saturday telling five girls in the practice studio, “everyone thinks we are just trying to get a hit song, but really I’m just trying to fix each of you.” Then Shayla says, “No Rob, we’re supposed to fix you.” I wondered, how do you open a record label with absolutely no knowledge, experience, or expertise in the music industry to help all these inner-city, highly at-risk teen girls that have been beaten down time and time again by life, family and everything else?

That was when I made a promise to never give up on the girl’s hope.

GettinOut™ will continue the work started in 2011 by HRW Music Group, LLC to help inner-city, troubled teen girls in the areas of; Artist Development, Personal Development, Community Support / Building Engaged Fan Bases. Girls demonstrating significant desire, drive, talent, coach-ability that have worked hard building a significant engaged fan base will be moved from GettinOut™ Records to HRW Music Group, LLC once reaching the age of 18 (if they so desire) and be provided promotion and marketing support to further their singing careers.

I decided we could not just “almost” do something leaving their dreams to “almost” come true. Four of the contestants on the reality TV show now help with Hit Records Worldwide under HRW Music Group. One member is a VP, one handles makeup, one works on image, and the other is the mom to one of the girls.