.:Professionalism - Your Rap Biography:.

Besides your music your Biography will have a major impact on how your are perceived by the public. You want to have a well written and informative Biography that sells you and your talents but does not come off as an advertisement. Your accomplishments as a musician and an individual are both very important to highlight in your Bio. Have you won any rap music contests? Have you played at the CMJ Music Marathon? Have you had your music chart on any major rap music charts? What is the press saying about your music? In life what have you accomplished outside of music? Have you attained a basketball scholarship? etc.

I mentioned these specific points because they are all things I have personal accomplished and they all feature in my biography which was written by a professional publicist that works with eMultimedia Group, Inc. Please note: You don’t need a professional publicist in order to have an effective Biography and wrote a very effective biography for myself well before I had any label situation. The reality is most you will be an unsigned rapper for a while before you have a record label behind your career. Therefore you have got to develop a lot of the key elements of being a professional rapper on your own and it is my aim to see that you do!

Another other important element your rapper biography will need is the human element. What have you been through in your life? Was life amazing for you or was it a struggle? A lot of people would think that having had struggle in your life would be the best thing to mention in your biography. However, it is not necessary to have struggle to bring the human element into you bio. A well written biography could very well mention that you have been rich all your life but because if this you have been privileged to experience a lot of things others haven’t and this makes your music more well rounded. If you weren’t born rich but had some setbacks in life mention that. I was diagnosed with a heart alignment that forced me to give up my basketball scholarship after reading about that in my biography a lot of journalist who interviewed me asked about it and wanted me to expand on the whole thing. Yes, it was a devastating time in my life which contained a lot of pain for me but it made me who I am today and people want to know.

Hip Hop has always been about taking a negative situation and putting a positive spin on it so stay true to that when writing your biography. It is not good enough to just tell people how long you have been rapping, you are in a local crew and work with this producer and that producer. Tell your potential fans who you are, what you have been through and what you are about. These same elements should also be applied when you write your songs. Trust me, they will connect.

I know I have touched on this before in previous posts but I think it is worth expanding on a little bit more. Presenting a professional package is very important in order for the industry to take your music seriously. When I speak of the industry I am not only concerned with record labels because record labels are the last step in this new information age. Before record labels even consider your music these days you have got to build. You have got to build with DJs, Journalists, Bloggers and last but not least Rap music fans.

In my next few posts I will go into more detail about some of the most important elements required to present a professional package. Stay tuned.

Being a rapper on his grind, over the years I have come to realize the value of relationships and the value of networking. When I started rapping I was hungry to get on and I would hit all the local shows and events just networking and meeting people in “the industry”. Through all of this I met a lot of people who were in charge of putting on these events and I was able to pass on my demo CD and eventually get involved in a lot of shows and events going forward once they heard my music. When I started out I wasn’t the most out going cat so meeting people and networking was often a very tiring task for me. But with the help of other more out going members of my crew I quickly overcame all of that and was so focused on hustling my talents we ended up as far as Atlanta handing out Vinyl and selling CDs.

My networking also brought me to meet a lot of other rappers and producers. Through those relationships I formed common alliances and furthered my knowledge of my local industry and the politics that govern it. Unfortunately, politics never seems to go in my favor so I had to hustle to earn every opportunity that came my way. Lucky for me my talent helped me get over the lack of political favor. I’m talking having to audition for show slots where I shouldn’t have had to etc.

Moving forward many of my lasting relationships have pointed me in the right direction when it came to getting a team behind me, a label behind my team, and fans behind my music. So network your ass of and build lasting relationships. These relationships will be key to your long lasting career in the Rap/Hip Hop industry.

I have been really busy over the last year so I really don’t have a lot of time to make blog entries and share my experience with y’all through my Rap Blog. But throughout my career I run into a lot of artists and the majority of them always want to know how I got to this point in my career where I am getting paid to do something I love. Well if I was one of them man that has a huge ego I would simply say it was my talent that did it but my talent is only part of the equation.

.:HUSTLE:.

Yes, that famous word made famous by your favorite “gangster rapper” as the main stream media likes to call them. Hustle is how you get your career poppin’ in this thing called Rap music. I ain’t talkin’ bout hitting your block and moving as much weight as possible cuz that ain’t the definition of hustle in my eyes anyway. I’m talkin’ about being hungry and “wanting it”. Yes, I have dropped a critically acclaimed album and was able to attain a nod as having one of the Top Ten Rap Albums of the Year from RapReviews.com so of course my talent does do well for me. But my hustle to get to a point where respected DJs and Journalists were given my album and singles to check out and thousands of Rap music lovers are hittin’ up my website is what really paved the way for my success.

I find that too many unsigned artists want to be handed a deal. They do not want it enough. They don’t hustle to get their music heard. They don’t hustle to showcase their talents. Sure, everyone has run out and signed up for Myspace, Sound Click, Facebook and places like these. Then you run around and look for people who might be interested in your music and tell them to check you out. Most of you will do that for a bit and get tired of it. And honestly, I don’t blame you, I have been there and I know first hand it is not very effective. You are doing more for those sites than they are doing for you.

Here are a few tips that will help you make your hustle more effective. First, I think it is important to have a unique sound. You will standout more to fans and music industry heads if you don’t sound like the most popular artists of the day. Yes, the music industry does like to follow trends and sign the next Kanye West but the next Kanye West usually doesn’t get very far. The next dude you never heard of does. As much as people want to hear the same shit they are hungry for something new! By the time you start following the style of someone who is on top of the game now often those songs were recorded two years ago. Most major artists use the same producers and songwriting teams so you will notice that all the most popular artists will drop songs that sound similar around the same time period. This means you are following a trend that is two years old so why bother, right?

Another way to make your hustle more effective is to be unique in your approach when it comes to promoting your rap music. A lot of Rap Artists that hit me up are very lazy. They do the same things the next man did to get my attention and it usually leaves me deleting their message or comment without checking out anything they have done. Plus, I don’t have time so if it is not unique I lose interest.

My third tip is to take pride in your music and your image. If you are given an opportunity to showcase yourself make sure you use that opportunity effectively. A lot of artists are happy to just sign up for sites and leave their Biography blank, say something like “I will fill this out later” or drop one line like “I’m from the south. My raps are ill, hola”. What does that tell people about you? From my perspective, I see you as not being ready. Why should I waste my time on someone who is not ready? Why should music fans buy your music when you aren’t even ready for it to be sold? Don’t put yourself out there to the public looking like an amateur. Write a good Bio for yourself. If you don’t know how, do some research and find out how or get someone who knows what they are doing to help you. Put up a good photo of yourself. Show that you have pride in your image and your music. Why would any label or fan invest money in your career if you look like you don’t really care about your career? Follow through and record good music and take pride in presenting a professional sounding recording. I know everybody can get pro-tools now but not everyone really knows how to use it. Find out how or get someone who knows how to help you out until you can help yourself. Some of these things will cost you some money but if you are not willing to invest in yourself why should anyone else invest in you?

In addition to having passion for this Hip Hop shit you have to have a hunger to be heard. As I developed my skills as an Rap/Hip Hop artist and producer I made a point to have my music showcased via live shows, online contests, Rap/Hip Hop websites, DJs, radio shows, podcasts and open mics. As websites like myspace and youtube came alive it became more and more important to showcase your skills on the internet to the droves of music fans that converge on those sites everyday. However, many artists will find that it is very easy to get lost in the shuffle especially when every artist has a page. So how do you compete? How do you separate yourself for all the other “Hey Check out my shit at myspace.com/yo-i-rap-too”? How do you get people to check your beats when every man is sending out messages and comments like “Yo son, I got dope beats hit me up at myspace.com/my-beats-are-hot-just-like-his”?

One phrase, “Participate in and Win online Rap/Hip Hop Contests” - There are various online music contests you can get your music into. Winning or doing well in these contests help get your name out to fans and record labels. But be careful though, one thing I find is most of the contests out there want artists to come out of pocket just for a chance to enter the contest and it ain’t like they want a $1 which is easy to part with. Nah, usually these cats wanted a fair amount of money just to enter. It seems like everyone has found a way to profit off of the backs of unsigned starving artists and you usually don’t get very much out of it in the end. I ain’t feeling that shit at all. So you do have to be choosy when it comes to entering online contests or you can end up spending a grip in no time.

Given this fact, eMultimedia Group, Inc. has officially launched The Jair Dynast Rap Hip Hop R&B and Reggae Remix Contest. The contest is FREE to enter and offers unsigned and independent Rap, Hip Hop, R&B and Reggae Artists the chance to get exposure for their talents, win cash prizes and be featured on my next internationally released and promoted album. How’s that for giving back?

To enter the contest visit http://rap.jairdynast.com/ sign-up, download the instrumental of your choice, hit your local studio, record your remix to one of my joints and upload it to your profile. Can’t wait to hear how y’all use your talents to remix my tracks!

Peace,
Jair Dynast