Meet OJ Neon | Creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with OJ Neon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi OJ, how do you think about risk?
My favorite wrestler growing up was Jeff Hardy. I remember renting his documentary from Blockbuster (when it was a thing) and I watched it nonstop. His motto was “big risk, big reward.” I have used that motto since I was nine or 10 and it still rings to me till this day. At times, you have to take the leap and have faith. Your faith can be as small as a mustard seed, but that faith can still pull you through and bring even greater than what you imagine.

So imagine having tremendous faith? At that point, being well calculated with wisdom, you can reap all the rewards despite risks. Even when I took the risks and failed, the wisdom I gained from it always took me further in other situations. Wisdom was help me create better and find better situations.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ll most proud of the newfound patience in my persistent dedication. I would push myself to exhaustion, each and every time creatively. I would grab as much energy from different places as I could. I would stop talking to friends, stop talking to family, stop taking care of myself, to fulfill my creative desire and finish projects. I would like on a mentality of an athlete working tirelessly at his crest to become the best he could. Then I encountered the issue in my thinking. I had an epiphany. I’m an artist, not an athlete. Sounds simple right? Like duh! It’s wasn’t for me though.

My whole life I had been trained and raised like an athlete to push your body to the limit and break through the limits to become stronger. I didn’t have a grasp for moderation. I realized, my creativity isn’t just my body. It’s my mind, my heart, my soul. I needed to stop reaching and pulling for inspiration. I had to stop seeking it and let it come to me. The difference between me and an athlete Is there in a clock. They have 3 to 10+ years to become the best (or even just play) their sport or perfect their craft on the highest level.

I’m an artist, my personal goal is to create timeless work. I need the experiences I go through and people in my life to give my work Life. I have to put the pen down and go out into the world, explore, adventure to bring back something to for the paper. Through all of this, I have three points that got me everything and everywhere I wanted to be, and who I want to become. ALWAYS:

– Challenge Yourself In ALL Aspects

– Be Yourself, No Matter What

– Build An Evenly Yolked Support System, NURTURE IT

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Hmmmm let’s see, a week with O gotta start off with food. For breakfast we gotta go to Dame’s Chicken and Waffles or Scrambled. Get you some good eatin’, they got shrimp and grits (one of my personal favorites), then we’ll go to a few stores (let me know what you wanna look for). After that we can go to the Lost Ark Arcade. Then it’s time to eat again, lunch is between a few different places. We got Freeman’s Grub and Pub or the Lindley Park Filling Station (gotta save those ones for the real visits you know). Finally, we go to the park and chill out. Bring some board and card games with some juices, some wine. That night, we got Boxcar, Fat Tuesdays, a few different bars all around. Could catch a Grasshoppers baseball game, shoot or play some video games at the crib, fellowship you know?

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have no exact order, but there’s a plethora of people to thank. Of course I have to thank my parents. It’s a great blessing to have both of them in my life and I’ve learned so much from them as they went through their own trials. I have to thank my all English teachers in school, especially Mr. Burgess who challenged my thinking the most while I was in high school. All my close friends. Dachi, Josh, Maya, Jordan, Eli, Kiji, Canaan, Tylik, KK, Jaevo, Fabrizio, Tyrone, Miles and a few more. I’m reading a lot of different books right now, Kobe’s “Mamba Mentality” has stuck with me while I’m still reading others. The Jeen-Yuhs and The Last Dance documentaries are always inspiring to me. I’d have to thank Tyler the Creator, A$AP Rocky and Frank Ocean. They all showed me through music I can be myself unapologetically. Bands and Groups I have to thank are Odd Future, Pro Era, The Internet, TrUniverse, and Wu-Tang.

Last but first, I gotta thank God has it’s all possible through him and I wouldn’t be here and be who I am without Him.

Website: www.ojnbacon.live

Instagram: @ojneon

Twitter: @ojneon

Facebook: Orange Juusu Neon

Youtube: OJ NEON 🍊

Other: https://unitedmasters.com/oj-neon

Image Credits
Cover Arts are by @sheesh.dikembe