The 29-year-old millionaire rapper, rather than grasping for exponential wealth, follows the advice of the great philosophers: work less, sit around more
While skimming through the headlines one curious story jumped out from the tedious tales of remarkable physical achievement at the Olympics. The announcement from a young rapper named Bow Wow that he was retiring, aged just 29.
Now Bow Wow, it is true, has been round the block a few times despite his tender years. He was discovered by another canine hip-hop artist, Snoop Dogg, who he calls his uncle, when he was only 13 then just Lil Bow Wow and had been rapping for some years before that. A prodigious talent, then, and a successful one: he claimed in a tweet to have sold 10 million records over the years.
You might say: Its all right for him, hes made loads of money already, why wouldnt he retire? But when you think about it, it is rare even for the rich to call it a day. Everyone just keeps plugging on, working hard, never knowing when they have enough, and complaining about a lack of leisure.
But Bow Wow will now enjoy ample free time to pursue his own hobbies and interests. In this he is following the advice of the ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato. For them leisure their word was skole, which turned into our word for school was the most important part of life. It was in your leisure time, they said, that you should study the art of living, as well as important subjects such as grammar and astronomy, and find out who you are. Work was a means to an end, and that end was to make the time during which to pursue happiness or what they called eudaimonia, sometimes translated as fulfilment.
The philosophers also counselled against the excessive love of money. Before greed became good, avarice was traditionally seen as a vice. Bow Wow again shows himself to be a wise young person when he says in a tweet: Made over 20 million off rap. Why be greedy? Hedge fund managers and Philip Green types could take note, as it is generally the case with the rich that they never feel they have enough, because one of their acquaintances always has more.
Bow Wow might like to use his newfound leisure time to study grammar, a favourite subject in the ancient world. When announcing the release of his new album, he wrote on Instagram: ITS OFFICIAL!!!! THIS SHIT BOUT TO BANG ON MOMMAS! And we aiming and im talking RECKLESS on this album. NOBODY SAFE #DPG #ATK.
He also might like to embrace the joys of doing very little indeed. Now he will have the time to contemplate the universe, to gaze at the stars, to go for long walks and ponder the imponderables, to sit on top of a mountain or under a tree and meditate.
Read more: www.theguardian.com