Journal Entry 003: Vinyl Verse Tour

September 17th, 2022

11:53 PM

Los Angeles, CA

It’s been two weeks since The Vinyl Verse Tour with Logic and Wiz Khalifa concluded and I still have yet to find a way to process the absolute storm that traveling, working, and growing across the country for 6 weeks was.

In a way, touring is somewhat of a time capsule in which you disappear and immerse yourself in a world of adrenaline, fatigue, inspiration, and camaraderie alongside some of the greatest seasoned minds in the field. It’s not real life. I tell most people it’s a lot like summer camp at an absurd scale. At the start, backstage and catering tables tend to convene in their own respective artists and teams. By the end, it’s all a massive conglomerate of people who have experienced the trials of travel together - we’re one in the same. After six weeks of entertaining hundreds of thousands of people across the country together, you all part ways and emerge back into the real world where all of your responsibilities pick up without any regard to where you’ve just come from.

As fun as it was, it was equally grueling and exhausting. Five shows in a row, one day off. Then another four shows. Then one day off. Rinse and repeat. Sleeping on my tour bus bunk overnight and waking up in the next city; then finding solace in the limbo of hotel rooms on our off days.

Misc. moments from showtime and backstage. Shooting, editing, sleeping, drinking, working out. Photos by Clare Thurkett, Justin Fleischer, Anthony Campusano, and Johnny Martinez.

From a creative and work perspective, the necessary constant output of tour is exactly the opposite of my typical artistic process - which proved difficult during the first few weeks. I’d wake up, deliver the previous day’s work, shoot and edit all day until showtime, shoot the show, then edit on the bus for a few hours until I passed out.

I generally like to capture things and retreat. I like to sit with a moment and allow myself to understand it.

On the road; it’s capture, compile, release.

Go. Go. Go.

Eventually, I adjusted and found a good balance and way to implement this insane productivity to my creative process. We hit an incredible stride. Across TikTok and Instagram, our tour videos have amassed just short of 50 million views at the time of writing this.

The biggest takeaway from the journey had to be experiencing the real-world implications of what our art really does once it’s released. My music videos played on the screens in front of 10,000+ people every night in packed amphitheaters and beautiful music halls. Fans sang, cried, laughed, and danced to Logic’s music in the live realm. People of every walk of life congregated with the mutual interest of sharing a moment with their favorite artists in a physical space.

It’s easy to become desensitized to numbers and words of affirmation coming at you on a screen. We forget about the humans behind that. It wasn’t until the first show when I had dozens of people calling my name as I walked through the crowd with my camera that I realized the scope of what I do. My initial thoughts were, “I don’t recognize this person… do I know them? How do they know my name?”, until I realized these were complete strangers who enjoyed my work.

A kid, probably around ten years old, ran up to me with the biggest smile on his face. “JT!!! I loved the documentary you made with Logic!” I shake his hand, introduce myself and ask what his name is. The most humbling moment of my life. Giovanni, you’re the reason I’m so grateful to make things and share them with the world.

There was too much to process, and not a lot of time to think and breathe - which isn’t exactly the best combo for an ambivert like myself. It very frequently led to waves of intense highs and, subsequently, feelings of burnout and failure. It’s creative, professional, and social stimulation like I’ve never experienced. In turn, the most intense imposter syndrome one could fathom.

There are moments when surrounded by these absolute monoliths of talent and cultural prominence, with thousands of eyes on what you do, that the realization kicks in that this isn’t just for fun. There’s a lot of impact to be made and it should be treated seriously and delicately.

Bob gave me some simple but absolutely crucial advice one night after I expressed concern about my performance and general health trying to keep up:

“Don’t overthink it. Don’t be hard on yourself.”

We really are all here for a reason - we work hard, have talent, and are good people. At a certain point: you have to trust your intuition, trust your team, and trust the process. It all felt just a bit more natural from that point on.

I’ve got a gold mine of life stories to tell from this short period. I grew a lot and connected on an even deeper level with what were already close friends. Late nights on our tour bus were spent playing Mario Kart, battling chess, exploring every genre of music, and sharing sleep-deprived bouts of laughter. My favorite 4AM revelations came from Castro who enlightened us with gems such as “A tour bus is like a sideways elevator.” and “Skittles are like temporary gum.”

From smoking joints with Wiz, riding jet skis with DJ Drama, shooting a music video onstage with Logic (tapping into our telekinetic director/performer connection), golf with Rhetorik and 6ix, late-night life talks with Greg and Mike, and classic Waffle House runs… I couldn’t have asked for a more rewarding collection of moments to share with my friends and collaborators.

As is tradition with these entries, here’s the music that stayed by my side during this period. Quite honestly, Maggie Rogers’ new record “Surrender” was on REPEAT while on the road - the rest of this playlist are the sounds that encapsulate everything else outside of that.

Thank you, Bob. #RattPack