“It’s like a dream. You’re in your dream. You’re playing it out.”
Payne took time to consider the question -- devoting more concentration and contemplation to this one than to any other -- what did it feel like to come out of that tunnel at Darrell K Royal Stadium for the first time?
A Texas kid through and through, Philip Payne was born 20 or 30 minutes east of Jerry’s World. He came of age in Garland, TX, just northeast of Dallas, and idolized Longhorn greats Ricky Williams, Cedric Benson and Roy Williams as he himself was dominating youth ball at running back and receiver. Payne loved playing both positions as a youngster, but a growth spurt between eighth grade and freshman year of high school led to him getting more involved as a presence on the perimeter. Between his junior and senior high school campaigns he nearly tripled both his reception total (17 to 47) and his receiving yardage output (306 to 907) – also rushing for 958 yards and 13 touchdowns during those final two varsity seasons.
Payne seemed content with becoming more of a pass catcher over the latter half of his career. “As a receiver, very rarely do you have to go in the trenches. I appreciated the swag of it -- you just look better when you’re catching the ball.”
Shifting positions also comes with a shift of mentality, especially going to wideout where you have to face off against the cockiest position in the game. “As a corner, when your confidence is gone, you’re shot. So they give off a ton of swagger and have to be able to shake mistakes off immediately. As a receiver, you’re going up against that confidence, you gotta come with it.”
When he got to UT, however, there was increased competition to carve out a starting role. “The coaches were really high on me coming in as a four-star recruit,” Payne remembered, “but my mentality freshman year was ‘I can wait my turn.’ I was behind guys like Quan Cosby, Jordan Shipley, Billy Pittman and Limas Sweed on the depth chart. In my mind I had always thought it would work out.”
“It was more of an ego check, if anything. I got to Texas with a lot of God-given talent, but everyone who steps on the field there can ball.” Hindsight is 20-20 no matter the scenario, but Payne clearly has learned some life lessons since coming out of South Garland High as a highly-touted D1 recruit. “I know what it’s like to be confident and manifest your dream. But just because you made it onto to the field as a Texas Longhorn, be thankful. Continue to live in gratitude,” Payne said. “It’s so important to be, just aware.”
Within moments of first meeting Payne, it’s clear that he is a man of faith. But he admits that receiving extravagant praise for your athletic talent as an 18-year-old has a tendency to stray a person from God. When asked if he lost touch with some of his values upon arriving on campus, he replies “For sure. A lot of ballplayers have an issue with a sense of entitlement. It comes effortlessly to you, but doors are opening up. Sometimes you’re getting things that you don’t actually earn. Everything on that field is earned, though. Sometimes it’s easy to forget.”
Payne redshirted his first year on campus, and in 2006 made his first appearance in a regular-season game. Momentum continued to build the following year, as Payne was growing into a more integral contributor to the roster. “I started playing more on special teams as a sophomore, and my upcoming junior year was becoming more pivotal with me not having a lot of tape at the time.”
That spring, Payne suffered setback after setback with a troublesome hamstring. He had dealt with minor issues throughout his career, but this was maybe the most serious and persistent injury he had dealt with as a football player -- and at the worst possible time. “That time is crucial to prove yourself,” Payne reflected. During the 2009-2010 season, Texas won its first 13 games and reached the BCS National Championship Game, ultimately falling 37-21 to Alabama, with Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram running for 116 yards and two touchdowns. Payne had been a widely-liked and respected teammate for that ’09 club, but NFL dreams were dwindling with his on-field impact for the Longhorns increasingly limited.
He recalls going up against a freshman defensive back Earl Thomas (two classes younger than Payne), and knowing immediately that Thomas had potential to make it at the highest level. “Earl was playing cornerback at the time and I did a double move on him and took off deep,” Payne says. He remembers making a contested catch on Thomas that play, but stressed “He was RIGHT THERE” as he chuckles, considering how great a player Thomas has become. “He was one of those guys putting in the extra work that it takes to excel.”
Payne was accustomed to greatness on the football field, but the outlook had gradually grown bleaker since he stepped on campus as a freshman. “Football for me had kind of gotten to a place where results weren’t translating. I would get discouraged. I didn’t realize until that point that I had to put in the work.” He was confronted with a decision. “I start asking myself, ‘do you have the love (for football) to really go in?' I knew I wanted to pursue something that I love but I wasn’t sure football was that anymore.”
It’s not all about becoming an NFL player. Though Payne didn’t reach his childhood goal of becoming a professional player, he says that if he had a kid, he would “100 percent” encourage them to take up the game. “The life lessons from the game are very, very instrumental in making a good human.”
He had the accolades. He had absorbed the crucial life lessons. But the ultimate ambition of playing at the highest level did not seem likely to come to fruition. At the turn of his junior and senior seasons, Payne started to ask himself, “What’s next?”
“You ask anyone on who played on the team when I was around,” Payne explains, “… they would tell you I was the music guy. You ask Earl Thomas or Colt McCoy, they would say they weren’t surprised I ended up in the music industry.”
Payne wasn’t so much of the team DJ for the Longhorns, but more of a guy who would alert teammates of upcoming artists by saying, “Yo, this is next.” Whenever the team had freestyle battles, Payne says that he was guy in the middle of the action there, too.
“I started realizing that this is what I was meant to go into. I wanted to go into the music industry and I just started praying for it.” Though both football and music serve as mediums of entertainment, there are surely a number of key differences in existing within one or the other professionally. “It all ties into my core purpose, though, because I’m here to make people better. Whatever I do, I know my purpose is to bring out the best in people. It doesn’t matter if I’m teaching, or working at Sprint, playing football or doing music.”
“It was hard enough to find another identity. My experience with the football program there was the first time in my life I faced failure. But I found a way to transfer that energy into working in the music industry. I never wanted to feel that way again… like I left something on the table. At that point, it was music or die trying.”
Payne briefly grieved the loss of football in his life, admitting that he cried when, about a week before the final game at Texas he uncovered his old nameplate and helmet in his closet and was overcome by emotion. “I just cried it out, man. That was really it for me though, that one time. Thank God he gave me something else, because a lot of people don’t have something else they love like this sport. A lot of athletes fear moving on. Some people try to chase the dream when it’s over.”
He cited Brett Favre as an example – a player who could have retired seven years earlier than he did and still have been a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Payne’s message to collegiate football players, headed for the NFL or not, is to have a plan for when the game ends. “Because it will end. Whatever it is you want to do after the game, you’ve got to make a decision on that. Nobody can play this game forever.”
After he had played his final football game at Texas, Payne talked to his position coach about plans for the future, and designated that entering the music industry was his intention post-college. The University kept him on scholarship as he pursued career opportunities, eventually landing an internship with a grassroots music promotion network called ScoreMore Shows. Founded in 2010 by Sascha Stone Guttfreund and Claire Bogle, the company was relevant on the music scene almost immediately, and booked then-ascending rapper J. Cole (during “The Warmup” days) for an event within its first year of existence. Payne started off as a member of the Street Team, promoting shows and selling tickets to passersby. Around that same time, Payne attended the very same J. Cole concert that company founder Sascha Guttfreund had booked at Aces Lounge (since-closed) in downtown Austin. The following morning Payne bumped into Guttfreund while walking out of a restaurant and the two struck up a conversation, having recognized one another from the show. Guttfreund invited Payne to accompany him for lunch with J. Cole and his friends – a meeting that Payne will never forget. This is not a man who’s easily overwhelmed, but when asked what it was like to meet the now-legendary J. Cole, Payne almost didn’t have the words to describe it.
These were the kinds of benefits that Payne loved about being in the music industry, and as he rose through the company -- from Street Team, to Promotion Representative, to Market Lead -- he was more and more frequently brushing shoulders with the biggest names in the industry. During his accent through the ranks at ScoreMore Shows, he stayed close with Guttfreund, and was introduced to an up-and-coming artist named Tory Lanez. Guttfruend told Payne that he had been studying Lanez, believed in his potential and wanted Payne to help manage him.
Upon meeting, Payne and Lanez had an instant connection, and soon after Philip began to take on tour management duties for Lanez -- serving as a security guard, setting up studio times, arranging tours around the world -- even becoming an integral part of the recording process. “When Tory gets stuck on a line, I’ll make suggestions and stuff like that. ‘That sounds good, keep that part in there,’ or ‘try this instead’. I provide an honest opinion on what I’m hearing,” Payne explains. “He doesn’t need help writing, Tory’s an amazing writer… He feeds off of my energy.”
Payne says that neither one has been on tour without the other since meeting. Beginning in Portland, OR on August 20 and ending in Anaheim’s Honda Center on October 19, the two are currently participating in Chris Brown’s ‘Indigoat’ Tour alongside Ty Dolla $ign, Joyner Lucas and Yella Beezy.
“You can’t ever compare your story to someone else’s,” Payne reflects. “In both sports and music – some people are super talented and don’t have to grind as hard… some of them will make it to the next level and some will not. There’s also less talented, but gritty guys… with them too, some will make it to the top and some will not.”
Payne took some time away from the football program to grind and make something of his life post-grad, but now says he’s slowly been spending more time around the program. “I wanted to come back accomplished, and show people that there’s a different path you can take, and still have the lifestyle that you want.”
For Division I athletes and general students alike, Payne’s advice is to capitalize on University resources while in college. “When you have the school’s attention and 100,000 people behind you, that’s when you want to make moves. No matter what, you should be asking yourself, ‘How can I build relationships that will last forever?’”