Everything I Ever Needed To Know About Business & Life I Learned From Sublime’s Santeria

5 minute read 6 years ago

Santeria is Bradley Nowell’s rage against the dying of the light. He invites us in to share his anger over an unfaithful lover engaged in a heinous tryst with a “sancho.” Coupled with the upbeat ska rifts, the dark, revenge-laden lyrics seem out of place — but it’s in that contrast that I find the melody’s beauty and message. Rage against those injustices that life will throw your way, but accepting the inevitability of these profound disappointments and let-downs offers a quiet peace, even happiness, otherwise unattainable. Accept that this is part of life to protect your heart, but it’s always good to “have a new ‘45.”

Business is a lot like that. There’s always a new industry trend playing sancho around the next corner. Be ready to pop a cap in sancho, but know that there is another sancho behind him. The classier play here is not to go attack the competition, but to arm yourself, because they will come after you eventually.

We recommend listening as you read.

I don’t practice Santeria
I ain’t got no crystal ball

There isn’t any type of voodoo or magic that will make a crappy situation better. Magic isn’t real, and life is going to throw struggles your way. Accepting this and arming yourself to respond in a positive way is better than just hoping for things to magically happen for you.

Well I had a million dollars but I
I’d spend it all

Speaking of ballin’ (with your crystal ball), money is such a temporary thing. You will never have as much as you want and if you defy all odds and do actually get all the money you could possibly want, chances are you would have sacrificed so much to get it that you are depressed. Money is a tool. Nothing more, nothing less.

If I could find that heina

Heina is a Hispanic slang term for a lover or girlfriend…

And that sancho that she’d found
Well I’d pop a cap in Sancho
And I’d slap her down

…while a sancho is a slang term for anyone a lover has been cheating with. Think of sanchos as your businesses competitors that are always lurking in the background. There is always competition out there and they won’t hesitate to swoop in and cut you out, if you give them the opening.

What I really wanna know, my baby
Oh, what I really wanna say, I can’t define
Well it’s love that I need, oh
My soul will have to wait till I get back

Just like our protagonist accepts that his heina is gone, we must accept that life is inevitably unfair at times. Accepting this can help ease the instinctual knee-jerk reaction to the dissonance that makes its way into our everyday lives.

Find a heina of my own

There will always be a more idealistic heina on the horizon, but every heina has another sancho just waiting for their opportunity to step up and push you out of the picture; it’s a perpetual catch-22. The sooner you accept this, the sooner you realize that competition is healthy. It makes you put your best self forward.

Daddy’s gonna love one an’ all
I feel the break, feel the break, feel the break
And I gotta live it out, oh yeah

It’s not a matter of “if” another sancho will come around, but more a matter of “when”. Plan accordingly. Once shit hits the fan, you can run around and panic like a chicken with its head cut off or feel the break and ride it out according to plan like pro surfers have trained to do.

Well I swear that I
What I really wanna know, my baby
What I really wanna say, I can’t define
Got love, make it go, oh
My soul will have to

Life is going to hit you with situations that leave you speechless and full of questions. This line is intentionally left unfinished, as the listener waits on the word “wait”, which is a direct personal appeal to the listener to stop waiting for an opportunity to strike but instead to take action into their own hands.

Oh, what I really wanna say, my baby
What I really wanna say, is I’ve got mine
And I’ll make it
Yes, I’m goin’ up

Worry about getting yours. As Marshawn Lynch once said, “I know I’m going to get got, but I’m going to get mine more than I get got.”

Tell Sanchito that if he knows
What is good for him
He best go run an’ hide
Daddy’s got a new forty-five

Arm yourself. Know your competition and plan accordingly with the right tools for the job. You don’t have to go looking for trouble for your business; trouble and the competition will find you. Stay ready, and make sure you have a solid competitive differentiation and eye on industry trends (or, a new ‘45, if that’s your preference). Don’t let sanchos ruin a good thing solely because you didn’t do what is necessary to make a business/marketing/life relationship thrive.

And I won’t think twice to stick that barrel
Straight down Sancho’s throat

Don’t hesitate to act when you know that action is necessary. Esteemed writer and businessman Dale Carnegie summed this up perfectly in one simple sentence: “Our trouble is not ignorance, but inaction.”

Believe me when I say that
I got something for his punk ass

Intelligent people welcome dissent. If you are well-armed in your train of logic, then any dissent will only serve to strengthen your arsenal.

What I really wanna know, my baby
Oh, what I really wanna say
Is there’s just one way back?
And I’ll make it, yaa
My soul will have to wait.

The only way to really be completely prepared for the curveballs that life is going to throw at you is to stand confidently in the batter’s box knowing that with proper preparation, planning, and execution, you can knock whatever your adversaries throw at you out of the park.

Bradley may not have meant for it to be translated to business and marketing, but we are certain he was sending a message about life. But who knows, because he never revealed (that we could find) what he was referring to in Santeria. Maybe it was business and marketing…