Tag: 50 cent

Level Up With These 12 Motivational Audiobooks for a Productive Workday

September 29, 2023

There are times when the daily grind might not leave you feeling the most inspired. But it doesn’t always have to be like that. Words of wisdom may be just the thing you need to boost your confidence, shift your 9-to-5 mindset, and motivate you. Does your workload also have you feeling like you don’t have any time to read? Have you blown through your Daily Wellness playlist and all the motivational podcasts? Tune into an audiobook. 

Featuring titles from Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Jenn Lim, Ben McKenzie, and Gary Vaynerchuk, these 12 motivational audiobooks range from blueprints for success to tales about the inner workings of the business world. So find a selection that inspires you and start listening on Spotify.  

Beyond Happiness: How Authentic Leaders Prioritize Purpose and People for Growth and Impact

Written and narrated by Jenn Lim

The cofounder and CEO of Delivering Happiness updates its namesake model with the aim of showing organizations of every kind how to cultivate a culture that can adapt to change, be highly profitable, and support all its people.

Over the course of Beyond Happiness, author Jenn Lim sets out to show how bringing your whole self to work allows you to do your best work every day, no matter what role you play at your company, or what crisis might come at you next. Making the argument that true happiness comes from living your true purpose, Lim points to case studies that show how companies can help individuals align their purpose with the company mission.

Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud

Written by Ben McKenzie and Jacob Silverman

Narrated By Ben McKenzie

At the height of the pandemic, TV star Ben McKenzie says he was the perfect mark for cryptocurrency: a dad stuck at home with some cash in his pocket, worried about his family, armed with only the vague notion that people were making heaps of money on something he—despite having a degree in economics—didn’t entirely understand. Lured in by the promise of taking power from banks, possibly improving democracy, and a touch of FOMO, McKenzie dove deep into blockchain, Bitcoin, and the rest of the cryptocurrency world.

But after scratching the surface, he started to question if it was all a scam. In Easy Money, McKenzie enlists the help of journalist Jacob Silverman for a caper and exposé that points to what he says are the climactic final days of cryptocurrency now upon us. Weaving together stories of average traders and victims, colorful crypto “visionaries,” Hollywood’s biggest true believers, anti-crypto whistleblowers, and government agents searching for solutions at the precipice of a major crash, Easy Money delivers an on-the-ground look into cryptocurrencies’ inner workings. 

The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure

Written and narrated by Grant Cardone

In the eyes of author Grant Cardone, extreme success lies beyond the realm of normal action. He believes it requires breaking from the status quo and removing luck and chance from the business equation. And with The 10X Rule, he wants to show you how. 

With step-by-step guidance on how to achieve phenomenal success, this audiobook explains the amount of effort needed to achieve and sustain success. Cardone says that four degrees of action exist, and in order to achieve your dreams, you must learn to operate at the fourth degree of action: massive action. The 10X Rule aims to help you dissolve fear, increase your belief in yourself, eliminate procrastination, and provide you with an overwhelming sense of purpose. 

Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less

Written by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

Narrated by Alex Sims

Overwork is the new normal. Rest is something to do when the important things are done, but it seems like they are never done. Looking at different forms of rest, from sleep to vacation, Silicon Valley futurist and business consultant Alex Soojung-Kim Pang dispels the myth that the harder we work the better the outcome. 

Combining rigorous scientific research with a rich array of examples of writers, painters, and thinkers—from Darwin to Stephen King—Rest challenges our tendency to see work and relaxation as antithetical. “Deliberate rest,” as Pang calls it, is the true key to productivity and will give us more energy, sharper ideas, and a better life. This audiobook offers a roadmap to rediscovering the importance of rest in our lives, and a convincing argument that we need to relax more if we actually want to get more done.

Reset: Powerful Habits to Own Your Thoughts, Understand Your Feelings, and Change Your Life

Written by Debra Fileta and Christine Caine

Narrated by Debra Fileta

Want to break free from unhealthy habits and replace them with positive patterns? Finding yourself returning to old behaviors? With Reset, author and professional counselor Debra Fileta wants this time to be different for you. 

Guiding listeners through 31 powerful and sustainable practices, this audiobook aims to help you transform your thought patterns. Instead of focusing on external actions, you’ll work on reshaping the default settings of your heart and mind so that you’re able to accomplish the growth you want to see in yourself. You’ll get to the bottom of why you do what you do, and then you’ll learn how to do it better. Discover invaluable lessons you can return to again and again, and begin your journey of changing from the inside out. Get ready to reset.

100 Things Productive People Do: Little lessons in getting things done

Written by Nigel Cumberland

Narrated by Qarie Marshall

100 Things Productive People Do will help you boost your productivity and get things done. Packed with great ideas for achieving more and creating success, author Nigel Cumberland explores the habits, tools, techniques, and mentalities of highly productive people and reveals how to effortlessly take on your to-do list. Every chapter in this audiobook features a new idea that will help you work smarter rather than harder. Mixing simple explanations with activities and exercises, you’ll learn the optimal mindset and habits you need to succeed.

Can’t Stop Thinking: How to Let Go of Anxiety and Free Yourself from Obsessive Rumination

Written by Nancy Colier and Stephan Bodian

Narrated by Kitty Hendrix

Are you stuck in your head? In today’s world, it’s easy to get stuck in an endless loop of negative thoughts. And if you’re like many people, you’ve maybe tried to think your way out of one of these thought cycles, leading to anxiety, self-criticism, resentment, catastrophizing, and hopelessness. Now it’s time to learn how to stop obsessing and start living with the help of Can’t Stop Thinking.

Using a powerful blend of mindfulness and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), psychotherapist and spiritual counselor Nancy Colier offers a solution for breaking free from repetitive and obsessive thinking. In this audiobook, you’ll learn how to surrender your thinking mind, freeing you up to discover a life of self-compassion, presence, peace, and joy.

We Should All Be Millionaires: A Woman’s Guide to Earning More, Building Wealth, and Gaining Economic Power

Written and narrated by Rachel Rodgers

We Should All Be Millionaires offers a step-by-step path to help you create the support, confidence, and vision you need to own your success.

In this book, Rachel Rodgers—a Black woman, mother of four, attorney, business owner, and self-made millionaire—shares the lessons she’s learned both in her own journey to wealth and in coaching hundreds of women through their own journeys to seven figures. Whatever is stopping you from financial success, this book will help you clear every obstacle in your way, show up, and glow up.

Rodgers says it’s time to construct an entirely new attitude about money so you can stop just surviving, and start thriving.

Unlearn: 101 Simple Truths for a Better Life

Written and narrated by Humble the Poet

Rapper, spoken-word artist, poet, blogger, and influencer Humble the Poet has traditionally shared his message of self-discovery, creativity, and empowerment with his fans through music and written word. That message has now been extended to Unlearn, offering insights and wisdom that challenge conventional thinking and help you tap into your best, most authentic self.

In Unlearn, Humble wants to open listeners’ eyes to their own lives, helping them recognize the possibilities that await and the challenges that stand in the way of dreams. By shedding the problematic lessons we’ve learned throughout our lives that limit us—from sabotaging habits to fixed mindsets to past regrets—Humble believes we can relearn new, unconventional ways of moving through life.

Best Self: Be You, Only Better

Written by Mike Bayer

Narrated By Mike Bayer and Phil McGraw

If you dream of a better life, author Mike Bayer believes now is the time to turn your dream into reality. The tools you need are within your grasp to design a life that is fulfilling on the deepest levels. Best Self will show you how.

By working through each of the seven SPHERES of life—social, personal, health, education, relationships, employment, and spiritual development—Best Self offers listeners an accessible and interactive audiobook that distills all of Bayer’s wisdom into a compact, focused guide designed to ignite anyone’s desire for change. With a foreword from Dr. Phil McGraw, Best Self asks listeners to embrace their authenticity, acknowledge what is holding them back, and break through to live a passionate life to the fullest.

Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence—and How You Can, Too

Written by Gary Vaynerchuk

Narrated By Gary Vaynerchuk, Rich Roll, and Amy Schmittauer

Four-time New York Times bestselling author Gary Vaynerchuk offers new lessons and inspiration drawn from the experiences of dozens of influencers and entrepreneurs who rejected the predictable corporate path in favor of pursuing their dreams by building thriving businesses and extraordinary personal brands.

In Crushing It!, Vaynerchuk explains why that’s even more true today, offering his perspective on what has changed and what principles remain timeless. He also shares stories from other entrepreneurs who have grown wealthier—and not just financially—than they ever imagined possible by following Crush It principles. According to Vaynerchuk, the secret to their success has everything to do with their understanding of social media platforms, and their willingness to do whatever it took to make these tools work to their utmost potential. That’s what Crushing It! teaches listeners to do as it dissects every current major social media platform so that anyone can learn how to amplify their personal brand. 

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Written by Cal Newport

Narrated by Jeff Bottoms

According to Deep Work author Cal Newport, deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It’s a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Newport says deep work can make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship. 

Instead of arguing distraction is bad, he instead celebrates the power of its opposite. Dividing this book into two parts, he first makes the case that in almost any profession, cultivating a deep work ethic will produce massive benefits. He then presents a rigorous training regimen, presented as a series of four “rules,” for transforming your mind and habits to support this skill.

A mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice, Deep Work takes listeners on a journey through memorable stories, ranging from Carl Jung building a stone tower in the woods to focus his mind, to a social media pioneer buying a round-trip business-class ticket to Tokyo to work on a book from the air. For anyone seeking focused success in a distracted world, this is a must-listen audiobook for a motivated workday. 

Eligible Spotify Premium users in the U.K. and Australia can now look forward to 15 hours of audiobook listening per month on any audiobook marked “Included in Premium.” Learn all about it. 

Classic Hip-Hop, Rap, and R&B Hits Spiked After Yesterday’s Halftime Show

February 14, 2022

The halftime show of the Big Game garners as much excitement and anticipation as the gridiron rivalry itself, and last night was no exception. In Los Angeles, while the players hit the locker rooms, icons Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar, along with surprise guests 50 Cent and Anderson .Paak on drums, pumped up viewers in the stadium and at home with an electrifying set of hip-hop, rap, and R&B hits.

Halftime Hits

Following the 12-minute performance, fans were ready for more. Listeners turned to Spotify to continue streaming their favorites from the show. Last night, Mary J. Blige saw a lot of love with a more than 520% increase in streams of her song“No More Drama.” Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s “The Next Episode” saw more than a 270% increase in streams. The 1999 track “Still D.R.E.” saw an increase of more than 245%, and Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” saw more than a 250% increase. In the U.S., overall streams of Dr. Dre saw a nearly 185% increase on Spotify in the hour following the game.

’90s and ’00s Nostalgia

Last night’s performances brought back some of the most iconic hits of the 1990s and early 2000s, but the halftime show isn’t the only place listeners are getting a dose of nostalgia—listening to popular tracks from the past has become a big trend on Spotify.

Eminem is one of Spotify’s top-streamed hip-hop artists of all time, with “Lose Yourself” topping the list as the most-streamed track across classic hip-hop, rap and R&B.* Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg are two of Spotify’s top-streamed classic hip-hop artists, with “Still D.R.E.” being one of the most popular tracks.

Hometown Pride

Spotify also dug into the data for what listeners in Los Angeles and Cincinnati were playing on Sunday to prepare for the game. 

In Cincinnati, listeners showed spirit for their home team by streaming Bengals-themed tracks like “Welcome To The Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses, “The Bengals Growl (Fight Song)” by Cincinnati Pep Band and ML Music, “Joe Burrow” by Lil Gav, and “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor.

Farther west in LA, Spotify listeners prepped for the eventual Rams victory by cranking up tracks by the halftime performers, including “Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang” by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, “California Love – Original Version” by 2Pac, Dr. Dre, and Roger, “Forgot About Dre” by Dr. Dre and Eminem, and “Money Trees” by Jay Rock and Kendrick Lamar.

Check out the “I Love My Classics” playlists if you’re craving more of the hits you heard last night. From LA to ATL, Spotify’s regional playlists (West Coast, Down South, Midwest, and East Coast) give fans the best of the genre.

*“Classic hip-hop, rap, and R&B” refers to anything released pre-2005

How American Hip-Hop Culture Inspired Today’s Breakout Saudi Rappers

December 9, 2019

Hip-hop has proven to be one of music’s most customizable and popular genres around the world, with both beats and bars that reflect the unique characteristics of an artist’s background. In this series, we’ll follow the genre around the world, showcasing how hip-hop has been brought to life in different regions, countries, and cultures.

A major turning point in Saudi Arabia’s hip-hop culture came with 2007’s Hip Hop Na (“Our Hip-Hop”), a rap-centered talent search co-hosted by Saudi rapper Qusai Kheder, a.k.a. Qusai. The show lent an American Idol-esque accessibility to the region’s up-and-coming players, culminating in a grand finale in Dubai.

“Hip Hop Na boosted the art of hip-hop majorly,” says Kheder, who’s been dubbed “The Godfather of Saudi Hip-Hop.” “It exposed and connected the talent around the region. It was the first flagship hip-hop show in the Middle East.”

Kheder, who discovered hip-hop through American rappers 2Pac and LL Cool J, has released three albums, as well as a wealth of singles and EPs. His 2009 track “Any Given Day” is an anthem of self-empowerment, with verses in English and the chorus in Arabic, as well as samples of traditional Arabian instrumentation. It’s also indicative of a wider trend in hip-hop from the Middle East: rappers expressing themselves in both Arabic and English, often mingling the two in a single track. 

The genre’s international angle has brought lots of overseas attention to Saudi hip-hop in the past few years. On Spotify, some of the artists have been included on playlists Urban Gulf and Arab Hip-Hop. Media heavyweights, such as Vogue have profiled rising Saudi artists like Majeed and weighed in at length on the evolving scene there.

While Hip Hop Na provided a sizable boost in awareness for artists, Saudi Arabia’s first hip-hop show on FM radio—hosted by Hass Dennaoui, a.k.a. Big Hass—“Laish Hip-Hop?” (“Why Hip-Hop?”) helped develop a surrounding culture by combining new music with industry updates and personal discussions about the genre at large. The show exudes Dennaoui’s voracious appetite for different kinds of hip-hop, which makes it popular with people from all over the world. As for his own introduction to rap, Dennaoui says it came from the Notorious B.I.G. track “Juicy”— famous for its inspiring message about  hip-hop’s incredible power.

“Those lyrics impacted me in a great way,” Dennaoui recounts. “Back then my English wasn’t that good, but I remembered what I felt. His vibe, his flow got to me. [I started doing] my own research . . . and the rest was history.”

That’s a stark contrast from when Dennaoui started his radio show in 2011. “It took a lot of work from many people—rappers, producers, and rap lovers—to push forward,” he says. “When rappers started making music that was relevant to the people and also commercial, that broke lots of barriers. Rappers matured, producers started emerging on the scene, [and] people started to get the hang of what rap was.” Spotify has contributed to that push into the wider consciousness, he adds: “Spotify has offices in the region, [so they] can reach out to rappers on the ground.”

The same sentiment is echoed by young rapper Blvxb, who, like many Saudi rappers, blends Arabic and English lyrics; he calls on his first impression of hip-hop, 50 Cent’s American supergroup G-Unit, for inspiration. Aside from “Laish Hip Hop?” he says many commercial radio stations still won’t air shows featuring Saudi rap, which makes streaming all the more vital. 

“Spotify helps local artists to reach more [fans] by promoting more new artists,” he says. “Everyone loves and listens to Spotify’s playlists, even while gaming.”

Meanwhile, Bahrain’s Outlaw Productions has offered services ranging from music recording  to video production since its founding in 2003. One of the breakout artists in Outlaw’s stable is Lil Eazy, a rapper of Somalian heritage born and raised in the Saudi port city of Jeddah. He cites 2Pac’s “Ambitionz Az A Ridah” as one of the first tracks that drew him to the culture: “I gravitated towards hip-hop more than any other genre because of the music and the content.” While he agrees that hip-hop remains relatively new as a commercial format in the country, he and his team have done three major shows in Jeddah and Riyadh in the past year.

For Saudi business strategist Molham Krayem, who also performs and records as Molham, his introduction to hip-hop culture came with Eminem’s triumphant “ Lose Yourself.” Krayem, who is now based in both Saudi and UAE, launched a school-wide talent show during his senior year of high school that culminated in his first performance of an original song on stage. Krayem grew up in an Arabic-speaking household in Canada, which makes it natural for him to rap in a combination of English and Arabic.

“They are both my native languages,” he says. “That’s how I naturally speak, and I want my music to express my truest self. [It’s] similar to the appeal of combining Spanish and English nowadays: it blends cultures. It also allows me to connect more deeply with the millions of people—especially third-culture kids—around the world who speak both Arabic and English.”

Alongside the rapid changes to culture and infrastructure that Krayem has observed, Saudi Arabia is overflowing with a new generation of artists just starting to make a name for themselves. Hass Dennaoui cites Lil Eazy, MT9, and underground star Shiboba as ones to watch, as well as female rapper Moon, whose self-titled 2019 EP marries her slow, hypnotic trap bent with almost psychedelic production.

As for Qusai Kheder, whose role cohosting Hip Hop Na still stands as a pivotal moment for hip-hop culture in the region, he sees no slowing down for Saudi rappers. “If they take this art seriously and are smart about it,” he says, “the sky’s the limit.”

Fans around the world can check out hip-hop from Saudi Arabia and beyond on Spotify’s Arab Hip-Hop playlist.