"Some of the haters will go online and write, 'What's Russell still doing hanging out at parties and premieres all the time? He needs to take his old ass home for once.' Well, they can kiss this old ass because I'm never going to shut myself off from the world. I can only pray that when I'm eighty years old, I'll still be listening to new kinds of music, trying new kinds of foods, reading new kinds of books, and checking out new clubs. I don't ever want to adopt a mentality in which I think there's nothing left for me to learn or enjoy out of life.
...
Whether you're a veteran like [Diddy] or a newcomer looking to make your mark, never front like you can afford to shut yourself off from new experiences or different ways of seeing the world. You can never tell from what direction your gift will be coming, so you must stay open to all possibilities. For instance, just because you live in the hood and are comfortable there doesn't mean that you can ignore how other people live. Life might be 'good in the hood,' but your inspiration might be arriving from a source of thousands of miles away. If you write everything off that seems foreign to you as 'wack' or 'weird,' you may never see the inspiration that's intended for you. You might not be familiar or comfortable with the world outside of your experience, but there's a very good chance that's where your gift is going to come from. Don't make the mistake of attracting gifts, but then unwittingly turning them away because you're too closed-minded in your outlook toward life.
The spiritual awakening that's good to lead to your change and eventual enlightenment can come at any second. You could be listening to a certain song, or reading a certain book or watching a certain play, then Bam! it hits you."
