• » Name: Nino Bless
• » Location: Brooklyn, NY
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Blessed to Be Where I'm Headed

The Tale of a Ghostwriter

Peace y’all, I go by the name of Nino Bless. Most of you have never heard of me and are probably wondering, "Why the fuck does this kid have a blog here?" To answer that, point blank, I'm tired of taking the backseat. I was behind the scenes helping other rappers and producers pop off with my business partner with marketing and also ghostwriting for other artists. I never had the intentions of trying to be an artist full time until I met a particular client of mine who so happened to be the legendary Kool G Rap.

Out of the blue one day I kicked a rhyme to him and he just spazzed out and was like "Dog, your shit is fire. You're an emcee, not a marketing cat." That right there gave me some serious confidence. I mean that's G Rap, ‘nuff said. A little later Chamillionaire and I was building for a minute and it was interesting to find out that this multimillionaire dude also came up doing marketing for other artist. I'm sharing some thoughts with him and next thing you know we're rapping back n’ forth to each other and his reaction was similar to G Rap's. That's when my mentality changed.

I realized I wanted to pursue this music shit full time. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place though. My income and bills is being taken care of off marketing for other cats. The ghostwriting shit was a good outlet and I got some connects in the industry. My main thing was if I want to be an artist fulltime, I had to take losses. I lost a lot of money turning down clients left and right. You see if you really want to pursue something, nobody is going to give you anything, you have to make it happen yourself as cliché as it sounds. I basically invested in myself. Shit, who else was going to? I stayed ghostwriting though, ‘cause it was bringing in income and it was also a good way to stay sharp.

When you ghost write for somebody it works like this: your client gives you a beat, you write to it, lay down the reference, send it over, and then they record over your reference. Some get picked, and some don't. Some clients have different ideas about how they want their shit to sound others just don't have any direction, so you have to just go off what you think will sound right for them. The main rule as a ghostwriter is to copyright all your submissions and make sure the paperwork in lawyer lingo says, "This is how I get paid." Paperwork is the most important shit with everything. Get your paperwork taken care of every chance you get with anything. Make sure a lawyer goes over it and explains to you ever detail. Keep asking questions, I've been fucked and seen it too many times. You would think cats would learn.

If you have something you want to do, and you believe in yourself to the utmost, invest in yourself in any way possible. Don't take no for an answer and disregard all criticism and doubters. I stared at a man on his deathbed once and he told me "I don't regret anything; I lived it how I wanted to live it." So yeah I'm taking losses but I'm doing what I wanna do. If you want to rhyme, produce, be a ball player, write books or whatever, just work ya ass off and hit up any outlets and expose yourself. Yeah, I have connects but I made those by busting my ass and pulling off some 36 hour days, real talk - ghostwriting for other heads, taking in some marketing accounts for some income, all at the same time working on my own music. So if you really want it, don't half ass. Multitask. Work a day job; take care of your bills but come home and start working on your craft. These days, you gotta network too and I realized that. That plays such a big part in the game. Most of the cats I personally know that are on, had to network hardbody! Immortal Technique for example he's my dude, and that nigga at one point acted as his own booking agent, publicist, A&R, and distributor. He sells out 4,000 seat venues by himself now but I recall when he was running in The Source by himself harassing Gotti who did the “Unsigned Hype” column. Later on he got the “Hip Hop Quotable” as an indie act in an issue where 50 Cent was on the cover. This dude has turned down major label offers at times because he can. He put himself in that position.

So I know the hard work that this is gonna take. I'm wearing too many different hats but at the end of the day, this shit is worth it. I'm about to drop two mixtapes and then move to either a street album or an official indie release. The first mixtape is being released soon before the year ends. I have two good hosts (Big Mike and J-Love) and some features. G Rap came through for me, Ras Kass, Immortal Tech, Joell Ortiz and a few more I can't give away. The first joint I'm a leak on this blog is a freestyle with my dude Grafh. Grafh comes with it every time he spits if you recall he outshined Cassidy, Jae Hood and Shells on that Kay Slay record. I knew I had to come with it even if it was just for a freestyle. Peep the joint and shoot ya feedback. I appreciate the good and the bad. Some cats call negative comments "hate,” I call it a fuckin’ opinion. Everyone is entitled to one so whatever, you gotta take the good with the bad. It's just funny how everybody is an A&R these days and knows what "people like." I hear that shit oh so too often. "The people want,”...you’re speaking for yourself not for the people. Don't give me that shit. This industry can be corny at times so real niggas just gotta block it out.

Nino Bless & Grafh - Freestyle (Click to listen!)

Peep my myspace if ya'll wanna get at me with some beats, politic, or just wanna get at some chicks who are on my page. (Come on we all do that shit) myspace.com/ninobless

Till next Friday ... Yurp!

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