An artist, MC, producer, educator, and author packed into one substantial box. Also known as Stan Robinson, Substantial has been working on his skills for over 20 years. At Words Beats and Life Inc. (WBL), Substantial teaches the business of music and art, preparing students for the industry and teaching them how to market themselves.
From the start, Substantial was a natural entrepreneur, “I’ve always been a hustler… when I was in maybe third or fourth grade… I started charging people to draw their names in graffiti.” His actual first start was working at Sam Goody. There he would continue marketing himself, but this time his music. In the late ’90s, late producer Nujabes reached out to Substantial and offered to sign him to his independent label. With just a dream and a few bucks, Substantial headed to Japan, “I took a chance. I showed up to Tokyo. I had maybe $33. That’s all I had”.
Substantial found his love for education by volunteering for his high school, where he would give tours to younger students. In that, he was able to engage with others with similar interests as him. He continued his college volunteer work, which turned into developing hip-hop programs with WBL. Substantial used teaching music to reach kids and teach them other information such as drug abuse.
Many influenced Substantial; the biggest is his high school teacher, Doc Thompson, who helped him think more critically. Michael Lee was a friend and his biggest critic, who further pushed Substantial into being critical of his work. Thinking critically about yourself and your art is important for aspiring artists,“those are things I try to encourage or push in my students,” Substantial says.
Substantial has dabbled in many forms of media and work; whether it is graphic design, music, or education, Substantial does it all. He states his inspiration for creating is his life, “when you are a person inspired by life, you have so many different types of experiences,” These experiences include going out with family, going to different countries, or even anime conventions. The experiences would turn into business opportunities that “allowed me to be in those spaces more, which inspired me to work with people I might have never met or had a chance to work with.” To find inspiration is to live life fully and be present. If you are present in the moment, you “pull from it…as honestly as possible” and pour that into your work. Substantial describes it as “try to rap like nobody’s listening”
Substantial lives by Ayesha A. Siddiqi’s quote, “be the person you needed when you were younger.” Growing up, Substantial did not have an “infinite amount of resources that were black men doing positive things.” However, when he found men who believed in him and themselves, “just seeing another black man being a positive dude in the community and giving certain advice to me that I never heard from anywhere else” was very important to him as a child. Substantial expressed that “my goal is to be that for as many people out there as I can, for the people who need it and are willing to receive it because the amount that I had access to made a huge difference for me.”
Here is some advice for anyone starting their career from Substantial: “believe in yourself the way you believe in God… take a leap of faith. And if you feel like you have done that and could have done better, if the opportunity comes again, do better! You have everything you need to be great.”
