4 Business Lessons from Rapper Flo Rida

Yes, I think there are a few business lessons the rest of us can learn from the Miami-based hip-hop artist Flo Rida, AKA Tramar Dillard.

I first noticed Flo Rida’s new hit song, “Good Feeling,” because I heard it all the time at my kid’s youth hockey games. It’s a catchy, modern update to “We are the Champions” — a perfect song for sports.

The song took over the Top 40 airwaves, and I realized last week that it’s a great song to play right before a business pitch: “Woke up on the side of the bed like I won. Talk like a winner, my chest to that sun ….”

So I did a little research on 32-year-old Flo Rida, pictured at right, and discovered this: His hit song samples the late Etta James’ 1962 song “Something’s Got a Hold on Me.” The ear-catching “Good Feeling” chorus was taken from a phrase at the beginning of James’ song, so Flo Rida’s 2012 hit features Etta James’ voice from 50 years ago.

It turns out Flo Rida’s dad, also a musician, was fond of Etta James’ work, so Flo Rida grew up listening to — and appreciating — Etta James and other greats.  As Flo Rida recently told Rolling Stone magazine, he thought using James’ voice would perfectly combine a “very classic sound” with something “new-age.”

So here are the lessons I take from Flo Rida:

• Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
  Look to the greats (and even the not-so-greats) of the past. There’s a lot to learn — and glean — from them. Scientists, philosophers and open-source software developers have long understood the metaphor “standing on the shoulders of giants.” They know they advance their work — and humankind — by building upon the work of those who preceded them.
• Share the Credit
  When Etta James died last month, Flo Rida was effusive in his praise and dedicated his hit song to her.
• Collaboration
  Rappers are famously collaborative. For his part, Flo Rida has collaborated with many other artists, including Kesha, David Guetta, Lady Gaga, T-Pain and Cody Simpson. In the hip-hop community today, you see a lot of mashing up and a lot of fluidity. There’s a lot to learn from that phenomenon.
• The Power of Optimism
  Optimism sells. And makes for success. “Good Feeling” has been at the top of the charts in at least nine different countries. And there’s no question in my mind that “Good Feeling” is a perfect song to motivate athletes and  business people and everyone in between: “That flow, that spark, that crown. You lookin’ at the king of the jungle now. Stronger than ever, can’t hold me down … ”

Word.

— Sarah Boggess