How's everybody doing today? (Applause) So for those of you
who may not know who I am, which is probably
the vast majority of you all. (Laughter) My name is Cordae. I'm 24 years old. I was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. but was raised majority
in Suitland, Maryland, which made me who I am today. I'm a hip-hop artist. More specifically,
a Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist. (Applause) A quote unquote critically acclaimed,
world-renowned B-list celebrity. (Laughter) But to be honest, more like B minus. But again, you all can just call me Cordae and assume that I'm
almost kind of a big deal because I am here doing a TED Talk. (Laughter) Now I know what you're thinking. What does a 24-year-old rapper
possibly have to say during a TED Talk? Like, who cares
what Ja Rule thinks, you know? But I'm here to talk about my mantra and my way of life
that has gotten me this far and can hopefully take me
a lot further on my journey, as I'm just getting started. And that’s the “Hi Level mindset.” Now before I get into the details
about the Hi Level mindset, I want to tell you about the original
creator of the Hi Level mindset. And that's my mom.
She doesn't even know it. My mom had me when she was 16 years old. She was a single mom
with all the odds stacked against her. And yet, from an unbiased perspective, I like to say she did a pretty decent job. We lived in some pretty terrible
neighborhoods, man. I switched elementary schools
about five different times. I remember one time her car
had got stolen twice in one week. She overcame circumstance, obstacles,
her environment and negativity. As I watched, our living situations
would continue to get better and better as the years went by. Now that's Hi Level. Now the Hi Level mindset wasn’t
something that she directly taught me or purposefully instilled in me, but something I learned
simply by observation. The Hi Level mindset is a philosophy. It’s a wavelength to apply
to your everyday thoughts and regiment. The Hi Level mindset
will be of great service to you, especially when things
aren't going as planned. These trying times that I speak of,
or life testers, if you may, are what truly make us man and woman. Actually scratch that. How we handle these lifetimes, these trying times, or life testers, is what decides a person's destiny. Which brings me to step one
of the Hi Level mindset. And that's always remain positive, no matter what people or life
may throw at you. Now I'm going to give you
a little bit of background about myself. Funny enough, I was actually voted
most likely to be famous in both middle school and high school. Now I know what you're thinking.
I'm sorry. I haven't always been this good looking,
it takes a little bit of time. (Laughter) My goal was to graduate high school
and to immediately blow up. But that didn't happen. So I went to college and as soon as I went to college,
boy, did life hit me hard. Within the first couple
of weeks of school, one of my best friends
that I called my brother had gotten sentenced
to 24 years in prison. I had gotten detained
for driving with a suspended license, amongst other things, like having a pound of weed
in the car before it was legal. And my grandmother had passed. Not to mention I was already
a terrible student with horrific grades and a broke teenager. And I wonder why my grades were so bad. Now that's just disrespectful.
I wasn't even trying to hide it. But on top of all of these things, what was really the breaking point for me was that I had released a mixtape
that I worked on the entire summer and it had only gotten 200 downloads. Now my previous two mixtapes
got 2,000 downloads, so I was not happy with the regression,
to say the least. Again, this almost pushed me
to the brink of quitting and insanity. But the Hi Level mindset
made me think, "Man. These misfortunes are just going
to make my triumph story a lot cooler." (Laughter) I used this as fuel to the fire, motivation, if you will. It made me think, you know,
life is just a book. Not every chapter is going to be perfect. But it's about how it ends. Which brings me to the second step
of the Hi Level mindset. Always be intentional with your desires. Know exactly what you want. In 2018, I created a vision board -- at the beginning of 2018, excuse me -- I created a vision board. And I'm proud to say
that with the Hi Level mindset, within one year I almost accomplished
everything on here. Ya’ll can clap for that. (Applause) So I encourage you
to just write down your goals. Starting off your day with reading
your goals and dreams aloud gives you a boost of positive energy. This energy can be transmuted
into something we call faith. Faith in your ability, faith in yourself, faith in a higher power will take you to places
you can't even imagine. Know exactly what you want. How can you be Hi Level if you
don't know what Hi Level is to you? And in order to do all these things, it brings me to the third step
of the Hi Level mindset. Discipline. Growing up, discipline was always taught
in such a lame way that I always tried my best to avoid it. (Laughter) But where motivation is low,
that's where discipline kicks in. Anybody who's done
something noteworthy with their lives all have one thing in common, and that's discipline. Mastering the art of discipline
will literally change your life. I witnessed this close hand
by studying a friend up close. This friend of mine noticed that every time he stopped
doing drugs and alcohol, something good would happen. (Laughter) He felt as though
this was a divine calling from heaven above to halt all his vices. Now can anyone tell me
the three main vices of a 19-year-old college student? It's sex, alcohol and drugs. If you all didn't know that already. And after the first six months
of him stopping his vices, I seen his whole life change completely. Again he thought this is a sign that maybe God
doesn't want me to do drugs, drink alcohol or have sex. But no, that's not the case. Thank you. He was just simply learning discipline
without knowing. Alright. I have a confession to make. Because I don't want to make
this entire TED Talk about myself, I lied and said that this is a friend. (Laughter) It was actually me. (Laughter) (Applause) Now a cheat code to ensure
that you're staying disciplined to whatever you're striving for
is to prime your environment for success. Your habits are based on your habitat. And the main product of your habitat
are the people in your life. Which brings me to a very important step
of the Hi Level mindset. The fourth step, to be exact. Remove all negative people
out of your life immediately. Anybody that's semidoubtful
or naysaying, get them out. If you're talking
about your dreams and goals and they give small, sarcastic remarks ... boot them. (Laughter) Just an all-around negative Nancy? Kick them out of there, man. Does anybody in the audience
know somebody that's like that? Please raise your hand. I need you all to do me a favor. Pull your phones out
and block them immediately. (Laughter) No, no, no. I'm dead serious. Don’t let someone else’s negativity
cancel out your light, for it can temporarily get in the way
of you achieving what's owed to you. You are a product
of those who you hang around. Let's make sure we're hanging around
other positive, Hi Level individuals. Now --
(Applause) Thank you. Now I like to consider myself
a master at this Hi Level stuff. I mean, I am here for a reason, right? (Laughter) But that doesn't mean
things always go my way. Even now, I just recently released
my sophomore album "From a Birds Eye View"
that I spent two full years creating. My debut album, "The Lost Boy," was met with massive
critical acclaim and success, and I had a lot of pressure
on myself, to outdo myself. And in my eyes
and in the eyes of many, I did. I had huge expectations for this album, but when it finally released and it wasn't received
as well as I'd hoped, I completely broke down. I did my fasting. I stayed positive. I wrote down my dreams and goals.
I was disciplined. I was doing this every day to make sure that this big moment
that it was leading up to, that would change the entire world,
would go perfectly. But that didn't happen. I did not meet the expectations
that I had set for myself, that the world had set for me. And this is the first time
as a major artist that I had received
mixed reviews of my art. And again, it broke me down, man. I became unmotivated, I started overindulging in things
that I'm not proud of. I was almost thinking
about canceling my upcoming tour. I was in a very dark place. But then I heard this Yiddish proverb that A$AP Rocky actually told me about
at a most important time, and I’m sure he didn’t even know it. It’s “We plan, and God laughs.” And that made me think. The Hi Level mindset
is not a recipe for perfection but a commitment
to honoring your potential and what you have to offer the world. Don't let your small failures make you
lose sight of your bigger picture. I'll leave you all with this. We only have one life to live. 110 years maximum if you are a health guru
and you have great health insurance. (Laughter) How are you going to maximize
your time on this Earth? Do you want your name
to be remembered long after you're gone? The Hi Level mindset is about doing
everything that you put your hands on at the highest level
that you're capable of doing. Think of your life as a book. Again, each chapter
isn't going to be perfect. But how do you want your story to end? In anguish? A bunch of what-ifs? Or leaving a legacy? I choose legacy. The Hi Level way. Thank you. (Applause)
