Day 9

Tabula Rasa by Earl Sweatshirt

My first job out of college was selling HR software to car dealerships.

In other words, I would call on Doug Dimmadomes and try to pitch them on this software that would give them quality hires. I couldn’t speak the car language, it wasn’t really a great fit.

But I learned a lot. I had to make a ton of cold calls a day and got pretty solid at it. The best part of that job was the people.

I had an awesome manager and great colleagues with me in the pit. I remember us cold callers had to work the Saturday of St. Patricks day. I convinced a few of them to go in the office since our office overlooked the river getting dyed. We had a few daddy sodas well before noon as we ripped some coldies watching the swarm of green underneath us. A great memory with some old colleagues I don’t talk to anymore, but happy I share the memory.

I eventually got promoted a few months later. However at that time I got moved into a role I really wasn’t prepared for. Not only that, but we weren’t doing so hot either.

I remember in my last final weeks with the company I was so flustered – I couldn’t make a sale. I couldn’t hit water even if I fell out of a boat.

The day was ending and I played this song accidentally out of my computer when I thought my headphones were connected. One of my coworkers jokingly asked “setting the mood?” with the jazzy beat slipping through the speakers.

This is one of those beats where it doesn’t really make sense why it works, but it does. It’s kind of like a scary movie – you know it’s scary but want to keep watching for whatever reason.

Earl has been a favorite of mine for a while. He’s so profound with his lyricism, to a point where I can’t even dissect it. All I know is he’s been through hell and back and has rapped through it all, and I’ll appreciate him for that always.