A few months before my music started being played on MTV, I made a fan on Twitter named Connie. Connie is an aspiring singer and full time college student who lives in Scotland. She started following me on Twitter and began listening to my music. Then she started talking with other people about my music and those people started spreading the word, too. I had no way of knowing at the time how influential these new friends would be on my life. Another fan of my music, an awesome graphic designer named Travis who did my first Roses N’ Guns mixtape cover, became friends with Connie. A few days later, they informed me that the official team of Nikki Lynette would heretofore be known as “Team Bad Ass,” named after the phrase I say the most. All I could say was “Wow. Thanx, you guys. That’s bad ass.”
Team Bad Ass has a lot of members. Yeah, it is my fan club, but it has also created a way for people like me to show solidarity among one another. It’s slowly becoming a movement that is bigger than me. But don’t take my word for it. This is what some of the Bad Asses have to say:
To me, Team Bad Ass represents a unification of the most unique, creative people this world has to offer. We are the trendsetters…we take action on the ideas others are afraid to act on. We support each other in ways that bring out our best potential. We see the big picture when others do not and will always move forward no matter what others say or think of us. Go Team Bad Ass!
Christian aka Thaahum (Keneteph Entertainment)
Arizona by way of California
I am in France, and Team Bad Ass is my American family. We do not follow trends and though we are individuals, we love Nikki as she unites us as a team of people who respect individuality. I never had American friends I talk to all the time until Team Bad Ass. We don’t do what everyone else is into, we are unique and celebrate being different. I have always been different from my peers. Now I feel as if I am the same as so many people in the world because Team Bad Ass has shown me I am not alone. I will be a Teamster for life.
Mariam Bruneau
Paris, France
Team Badass is the perfect example of family. We are kind, nonjudgemental and accepting. Team Badass welcomes and embraces differences. It is a place where I feel comfortable being my crazy, neurotic, sometimes boring self. When we formed, it was about unity and I feel that today that feeling is even stronger. Some of us are singers, songwriters, models, designers, and parents. We are all supporters of one another regardless of what we bring to the team and that is one reason I am truly proud to be a member of Team Badass.
Theresa Vester aka Tmama
Virginia Beach, VA
When I go to school and see all the people who are emulating people they see on tv, all the way down to their haircuts, and I hear people listening to crap music that nobody could possibly think was good but they do it because everybody else is, and I watch them go crazy re-tweeeting everything their favorite celebrity says, the only thing that keeps me from hating the world is the fact that Team Bad Ass is in existence which proves that everybody in the world is not an idiot. Sometimes just knowing that is enough to make u feel better about things. Teamster for life.
Juan Marshall Perez
Chicago, Illinois, soon to be Miami, Florida
As Nikki Lynette’s #1 Aussie fan, I have to say that I represent for Team Bad Ass because I love what it stands for. I am a strong, different, confident person and I want to be with like minded people, and that is what Teamsters are all about. Nikki Lynette is such an individual and I think it is especially good for people to know that being original is ok in this crazy world. I have made friends who have similar thoughts and feelings as I do, and race and ethnic background don’t matter. I am a silly person who listens to every music under the sun and dresses differently and I often meet people who do not understand me. Team Bad Ass is for people like me who do not care what people think. We’re The Best In The World! (Pun intended)
Violet Adeyemi aka ViVi
Brisband, Australia
So many people are followers. If you are different, people can make you feel bad as if you don’t fit in. That is why Team Bad Ass is so important to us. Nikki Lynette represents people who do their own thing and push it to the limit with no fear of how others will judge their decisions. Some people don’t want to b like everybody else, does that mean we are not cool? No. On the contrary, we are among the coolest, the ones who know that cool is not being like everybody else but are proud to be themselves. Team Bad Ass inspired me to become open about being gay, because I was afraid my family would not accept me. But Nikki makes you feel like being brave enough to be who you are is a challenge worth taking on. And now my family accepts me and loves my girlfriend very much and is happy I am happy. I would not have this confidence without Team Bad Ass and I am grateful to my friends on the Team as well.
Janet Hsiao
San Diego, California
Society puts a lot of pressure on people to be “normal.” But what the hell does that really mean? Who decides what normal is, and why should that apply to me? When I was growing up and hanging out with the counter-culture kids, people called me weird. When I cut off my permed hair, people called me gay. When I listened to Tori Amos and Lenny Kravitz, people called me an “oreo.” Needless to say, I stopped giving a shit about what people think a long time ago. Why should I change who I am just to gain acceptance from people who don’t get me in the first place? Is fitting in REALLY that important? And the bigger question in all of this is… WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE CARE ABOUT WHAT EVERYBODY ELSE THINKS? There is freedom in being strange, because nobody knows what the hell to expect from you so they can’t hold you to any unreasonable expectations. You aren’t expected to follow any weak ass trends or listen to shitty music or date a particular type of person just so that you can attain somebody else’s acceptance and be seen as cool. Different people are the ones who do what feels normal to them. They’re the people who listen to any type of music they like, from Bob Marley to Bruno Mars. They’re the people who pave their own way in life instead of following somebody else’s plan. They wear what the hell they want. They make friends with people who are like them. They look criticism in the face and laugh at it like the joke that it is. That type of person in any age group or nationality can be summarized in one term:
bad-ass 1. adjective. having extremely favorable qualities 2. adjective. pertaining to a person or thing that is rugged, strong, and/or ready to show these qualities 3. noun. person who is perceived to have the qualities of definition 2 1. I have a bad-ass car with a kickin sound system and bitchin rims. 2. The armored tank is a bad-ass military vehicle that can roll over just about anything. 3. Mohammed Ali was a bad-ass in the boxing ring. (Taken from www.urbandictionary.com)
So my official “team” just so happens to consist of some really cool people. I can’t believe that these are the folks who are hardcore supporters of my music. (I’m a lucky mofo, right?) The whole “Team Bad Ass” thing unites people from all over the world who think individuality is the true “cool.” We know who we are, and more importantly, we know who we ain’t. And that’s what makes us so bad ass. If you are one of us, CLICK HERE TO JOIN US.
