• » Name: Nino Bless
• » Location: Brooklyn, NY
• » Member Since: 11/09/07
• » Syndicate: RSS

• » Blog 1: The Beast Mode Edition
• » Who is the Best Rapper Alive?
• » Nino is Name Dropping, Oh no!
• » Why does Hip Hop suck? Politics as Usual
• » Let's Ride

	November 2007
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30
					Dec »

beef • bet • chamillionaire • crooked i • emcee • four in a clip • ghostwriter • hate vs opinion • hip hop • industry • jay-z • joe budden • joell ortiz • kool g rap • lane • leak • lyrics • mixtape • mtv • name dropping • new york • nino bless • producers • projects • rap game • record labels • records • retire • rip pimp c • saigon • shady • slaughterhouse • smart hater • styles p • swag • termanology • untold scriptures • urban legends • violence in music

• » MySpace

• » Opinion
• » Politics

Blessed to Be Where I'm Headed

Finding My Own Lane

What’s good ya'll. I must say the first week of my blog went pretty good. Those that read it gave solid feedback and I'm glad ya'll feeling what I'm doing and the message I was delivering in week 1. I got some personal messages directly that made me feel like this blog serves its purpose. Anyways moving on, I'm getting ready right now and I'm wrapping up my Mixtape with Big Mike & J-Love. I wanna get into the transition I had to make from just writing some shit for other people to doing my own thing. When you write for somebody else as I have in the past, in a way it’s fairly easy. You are just telling it with their vision and their outlook in mind and what you think they should be presenting. I don't own 4 cars, a clothing label, Gucci, none of that; so when I'm writing for somebody; if this fits their image I can just throw them shits in there. Me as an artist however, that’s not my steelo. I was born and raised in Brooklyn (Flatbush), I’ not making it rain money wise, I don't own 6 whips or a jet, I grew up and got into shit I should've never got into, but at the same time I try to let these kids know what the deal is. I put my experiences and what I've seen into my own shit. The toughest part for me though was finding my own lane. I tested the waters with various different things.

One thing I learned is that EVERYBODY has different ears. With music it’s all about OPINIONS. There are no stats to back up how you feel like with b-ball or something. I can get numbers to back up my argument as to why I think Lebron is better than Carmelo and T Mac. "He averages more assists and more rebounds”; “he’s 70% of their offense" and etc. With music there are no stats except for record sales unfortunately which doesn't showcase how good the music is; rather how many people were exposed to it and bought it. Somebody might hear a record, get something from it and consider it a classic and the next person might be like "what the fuck are you talking about this is cold trash." I've had people tell me "you should have done or said this different." Sometimes you have to realize who's telling you this. If it’s Jay-Z, you sit back and say "word, let me see how I could do that better." If it’s ya man Tony from around the corner you gotta be careful with whose advice you take. I had people tell me "try this and that." Some of the shit ain't work for me. You know some people are very particular and limited with how they want certain shit to sound so they might say you should have said it like this, that or done this different. 3 thousand other people might disagree. Sometimes an opinion can help you but sometimes it can hurt you. Finding what works for you personally is essential. Some people's advice is based on what they personally prefer to listen to rather than generalizing. You can't please everybody. Some people wanna hear some hardcore street shit; others like that laid back and calm vibe. Some focus on lyrics; others focus on how the song is structured... you get the idea. It’s all different.

A lot of niggaz complain about a million things in the game. For the most part I can't front, there's some shit to complain about. But too many cats "bitch" too much cause the game don't work in their favor. Man up homey and just create your own lane. You ain't gotta do a bunch of commercial records and fit the radio formula if you don't want to. There's an indie scene that supports brothers like MF Doom, Brother Ali, Jedi Mind Tricks, Immortal Technique, Atmosphere and so on. Those cats all make a living off this rap shit without an Interscope budget. They get paid off record sales and shows and are doing pretty good. These cats all make a few G's a show when there's an artist signed with millions behind him that can't sell out a show in his own city. Believe it, this is the game. I'm going into my own lane. I'm going to do what I want to do and come as raw as I can with the lyrics, word play, and good shit for you to listen to. I don't do that shit where you make "nigga" & "trigga" rhyme unless it fits in my multi-syllable rhyme scheme. I try and make a bunch of words rhyme at the end and in between. That’s my shit and that’s what I do. Sometimes you gotta just keep it simple for a few bars for it to have the content you need ‘cause I often see too many niggaz trying to get wordy and don't say shit in the process.

Too many dudes jeopardize their lyrical content thinking that’s what they have to do to reach a much wider audience. Which I understand to an extent but I don't understand why they separate themselves so much from who they truly are. Nas did "One Mic," bodied it all round and that was successful. Eminem did "Way I Am" and he came off with intricate rhyme schemes on a commercial record. Now, not everybody has the presence and appeal of Nas and Em but I don't see why you should quit being who you are as an artist on any level to reach more people. I think that means you just don't have "it" and that "it" is what it takes to reach the masses. Maybe that’s not you and you need to do something else, go another route and figure out what works for you. I'm sitting back and just doing me. I check for feedback from my peers and all that but most of the time it doesn't have any influence on me anymore like it once did. Occasionally I'll take what they said and be like "oh ok I see what they saying." Either way I just trust my own ears at the end of the day.

Back to my mixtape. The shit is dropping real soon and last week I leaked a freestyle with Grafh (check the Audio section!). The shit was just us getting wordy, showing off and talking shit. This weekend I'm leaking a joint (on HipHopDX of course!) with the god himself Kool G Rap. G Rap asked me to be on this record and how can I say no? He was like "add a verse to this joint." Say no more G Rap, I got you. This joint actually didn't make my mixtape. It’s a bit older; it’s a joint in the stash. I might throw it on though, we'll see. It’s some hard shit for the streets…what else you expect from G Rap but gutter shit?

Next week I'll be back doing what I do and fill you in more in depth with what I'm doing with Big Mike & J-Love. Some good things in the works, real talk.

MySpace plug right here: myspace.com/ninobless

Reach out to the kid, ‘til next week. Yurp!

0 Comments             

50 cent • bet • common • crooked i • dope • ghostface • hip hop • jay z • jay-z • kanye west • lil wayne • little brother • mixtape • music • nas • nino bless • phonte • racism • rap • rock the bells • sha stimuli • stimuli • termanology • ugk • west coast