It
was a rainy Saturday afternoon in Toledo, OH. I was about to do
a show with my man MC Habitat at Headliners, a concert venue.
We were extra amped cause we were opening for Talib Kweli, one
of my (and Jay-Z’s) personal all time favorite mc’s.
I’m even more amped cause I know that there’s no way
in hell I’m leaving without an interview!
Habitat, Element, and I come off the stage with many accolades
and congratulations. I’m relaxing with a ThuG ViaGra by the
backstage entrance His dj asked me to use my turntables before
their show. “Sure!” I say, just knowing that my interview
will automatically be locked down. Kweli thanked me gave me a
pound, and then this little writer chick (from some underground
internet magazine that I couldn’t even pronounce) moved in
as I helped his man set up...leaving me pissed. Not at him, just
at the world.
You know how it is…
As I sat backstage pouting, this light-skinned, light-eyed kid
comes up to me and says”Yo, excuse me dawg, you know where
Kweli is? I gotta talk to him”. I’m thinking, yeeeeeaaah,
“dawg” me too. But as I attempt to give my best kiss
my ass, with sarcasm as a b-side, look to him, years of memories
of videos start to breakdance through my head! “Self Destruction”
blended with “Crumbs on the Table” becomes the theme
music of the moment.
I don’t usually get star struck, but when a piece of hip
hop history walked up and asked me a question, like he’s
one of my boys, I got a little tongue tied! I immediately went
into my routine of how I’m on the radio, got a website etc...Put
simply, I really need to talk to my dawg. Within minutes we’re
taking flicks in the hallway with his camera (how real is that?
He’s a photographer). With a small crowd steadily forming
around us we pulled off this conversation by the bar…
One 1X TyMe: Could you give a brief discography of your
career?
D-Nice:
The whole BDP catalog, Crumbs On The Table, Call Me D-Nice,
Self-Destruction, TR-808 Is Coming, Flavor Unit with Queen Latifah,
I did a lot of joints in hip hop that cats don’t even know
man…
One
1X TyMe:
Now the Latifah thing…That was when she first started Flavor
Unit?
D-Nice:
It was a little bit after they started Flavor Unit, I kind of
like came on as an executive…
One
1X TyMe: How did the first Flavor Unit project go?
D-Nice:
It was great man! Working with Naughty [By Nature] when they was
hot. It was nothing but love man, I mean what flavor unit was
doing back then pretty much what Roc-A-Fella and these cats is
doing. It’s always more power in numbers, when cats come
together and form one unit and pretty much support each other
and piggyback off of each other.
One
1X TyMe: Word! Now let me bring it up to date. What have you
been doing now?
D-Nice:
Well right now I own a web development company, actually it’s
more of a digital service company where we develop web sites,
and online marketing. I actually work with most of the artists
that are out right now, from Monica, to Luther Vandross, Tyrese;
I work with a lot of the cats that are out now.
One
1X TyMe: Handling the web design?
D-Nice:
Handling online marketing, my company’s pretty big man…
One
1X TyMe: What’s the name of the company?
D-Nice:
It’s called United Camps, you can find us at www.UnitedCamps.com
it's goin welll man. My site is really corporate; I’m
about the business right now. I work with like foot action, doing
some online marketing for them, Seagram’s Gin, ya’know,
pretty big man.
One
1X TyMe: What prompted you to move from the hip-hop scene
to online marketing?
D-Nice:
It
was really about not wanting to be like a lot of other artists
ya’know. I didn’t want to; after my rapping career was
over, have to find a job. I wanted to be able to build my own
situation. Although I do miss hip-hop, I’m still a young
cat, I love it, it’s in my blood forever. I came here cause
my man Talib was performing; I haven’t seen him in a minute.
So I know he’s gonna trip out to see me in OHIO.
I
love hip-hop till I die man and I represent hip-hop right now
on so many other levels. On the business side, I want young cats
coming into the game to say “Damn yo remember dawg used to
rap? He had the hit records and now look what he’s doing!”
A lot of cats are rhyming about Benzes and houses and all of that
stuff man…Dude man, I’m 33 and I just bought my first
joint like that, ya’know’em sayin? I’ve always
been about saving money and trying to set up for my future, ya’know?
Most cats don’t know what to do after the applause is over.
Me? I’m set up right; I’m into the photography thing
as well. You’ll be seeing that in a minute. Bought to shoot
Alicia Keys! I got a lotta joints goin! I’m an artist man
fa’real! I’m hip-hop! The D is on and everything!
One
1X TyMe:
Okay let me go back, when you did start in this and got your deal.
In retrospect, is there something that you would have done different?
D-Nice:
Well
for one…I’m not gonna say I wasn’t about getting
money. I’ve always been about getting money. Anything I’ve
worked for, I want to be paid for. But I got in the game at such
a young age. Ya’know, back then my first album sold like
a half a million records and my first budget was $25,000, ya’know
what I’m sayin? So I’m like, I mean right now hell yeah
I wish I was out doing my thing ya’know, but, look dude I
made my last record ten years ago. I walked down the street people
still stop me,”Yo wassup, wassup dawg!” So that means
I had an impact at the time when I did it.
I can’t really be mad, I’m happy about it. I mean the
money could have been a little better, but ya’know, I learned
a valuable lesson, and that’s why I’m doing what I’m
doing now. If I didn’t go through that experience where the
money was coming in kind of slow from the records. I wouldn’t
be here; I might now even be healthy or happy. I’m still
around my peers. Cats see me, they don’t know what the hell
I do, but they know that D-Nice is always around doing something.
I don’t really promote it to tuff.
Like
I said I’m corporate right now dawg. I’m really about
trying to do something that’s going to make a difference
where a lot of young cats that are coming in the game, they should
see that you don’t always have to shake your ass to do something
special and important with your life. I don’t hate on nobody,
I love all these cats that are out, I love Jay. Cats like Jay-Z
keep me motivated, when I see what Jay is doing outside of hip-hop,
it’s like yo, that’s what we all should be doing. We
all should open up a restaurant, we all should have a new sneaker
out, we all should have labels, and own our dream ya’know?
That’s pretty much what I’m doing right now.
