The Year I Became Nobody

Begin forwarded message:

From: "James Andrews " <authenticated@substack.com>

Subject: The Year I Became Nobody

Date: May 12, 2026 at 6:46:11 PM PDT

To: ali@theflatlay.com

Reply-To: "James Andrews " <reply+39jo7h&18aiu&&b9b9b49be626431985d5d08b6870372bfdcaf81cfcbe5612facf88f50f8f4bcb@mg1.substack.com>

Thanks for reading Soul Purpose

What three continents, a DJ controller and an AI taught me about becoming myself

MAY 13

Today is my birthday. May 12th. Somewhere between Southeast Asia and everywhere else I’ve been this year. Nobody knows exactly where. Honestly, that’s the whole point.

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In 1996, I was at Columbia Records working with a young rapper named Nas and the lead singer from the Fugees named Lauryn Hill putting together marketing plans for a song called “If I Ruled the World.” I had no idea that nearly thirty years later, I’d be living the sequel.

“ …some place to be nobody. Some place you wouldn’t know probably.”

I didn’t plan to make that my life this year. No itinerary. No conference badge. No lanyard. No room to walk into where people already knew my name.

Africa. Middle East. Asia.

Just me, God, and the frequency of places I’d never lived before.

This is my attempt at words.

A few things kept me this year. I call them my album singles.

“Day One.”

Every morning is a first day of school. You don’t carry yesterday’s failures or yesterday’s wins into it. You just show up. Curious. Open. Ready. I woke up in cities where nobody knew my name and that made it easier, actually. No reputation to manage. Just presence.

“God’s got you.”

I know what it is to have war show up in the city you’re calling home. The kind where you check the news before you check your calendar. The kind where the next 48 hours don’t have a plan. He had me anyway. That’s not a bumper sticker. I lived it this year.

“Every city has a frequency.”

I travel with my controller. Always. Because every place has a sonic resonance, something it’s saying underneath the noise. I DJed in Dubai. In Johannesburg. Spent late nights getting schooled by DJs who know their city’s musical DNA in ways I never could from the outside. Learning to plug in, to listen, to blend, that’s been one of the great creative gifts of this year. When you can’t speak the language, music is the one door that’s always open.

“Your energy is your language.”

In places where you don’t speak the tongue, your presence speaks for you. Your kindness. Your curiosity. Your willingness to honor people in their own homeland. Tourism brings revenue. Respect brings connection. Know the difference.

“If you don’t have an Africa strategy, I don’t take your business seriously.”