Plies was (kind of) right once

It pains me to say this, but Plies may have made a valid point in one specific instance during the height of his popularity. Everybody remembers Plies, right? If you don’t, don’t worry about it...you probably don’t want to dig any of his stuff up. But Plies had a line in one song saying that he didn’t have enough haters. At the time, I thought it was dumb, mainly because I felt you shouldn’t go out looking for haters. That doesn’t make sense.

Now, however, I examine that line through a different lens. “Haters” are a natural part of life. You’re always going to have detractors. Especially with the social media outlets that exist now, people have countless ways to talk about whatever the hell they want. But let’s think bigger picture here. The folks who have the most haters are the ones who operate on a larger scale. Beyonce lip syncing the National Anthem at the inauguration? That got so much attention. I’m talking about everyone I’ve ever met somehow became a music critic. But the fact remains that she had the credentials to even get the opportunity to perform on that large of a scale. Basically, the more successful you are, the more people are going to disagree with things that you do or don’t do. And that’s fine. We’re not here to please everybody, we’re here to be successful, whatever that means to us as individuals and collectively.

So, Plies was kind of right. Maybe not in the context he mentioned it, but you do need haters in life. That means you’ve done something worthy of people hating. You’ve showed up. Sometimes that’s all it takes. You keep showing up, and who knows what will happen? They might be hating on you for trying to go all Marvin Gaye on the national anthem. I mean, you probably shouldn’t do that, but what do I know? I’m a hater.