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Real Hip-Hop Hustlers Pt. 3

July 23, 2007 | Tags: Creature, H The Great, Marvo, Howie McDuffie

Howie McDuffie, a music industry insider greets Marvo and Creature. McDuffie owns a record label, Howie McDuffie Music
Group ─ and has done artist development for Mos Def, WU-Tang, Big Pun, etc. He admires the gumption Marvo and Creature show as independent artists.

“These guys are the truth. These guys are moving more units than probably a commercial artist like Chamillionaire,” McDuffie said. “Chamillionaire is platinum, but if him, Jay-Z, Jada Kiss, went on the corner and did this s- -t, I think fans would look at them a little different.”

McDuffie puts what artistpreneurs do in prospective by explaining that what he does for other artists for a living is something Creature, H the Great and Marvo do for themselves. He is in the process of setting up a tour with commercial artists and organizing ways for his artists to promote their merchandise that record labels agree with.

“Universal and all those guys think that what these guys do is a waste of time. I look at it like you touching the artist, touching the consumer. They get to see that you go out of your way. These guys make a lot of money out here doing what they do.”
Creature and Marvo are mum about how much they actually make, but they offer assurance that while they won’t be Hustling CDs on the streets forever, the time currently spent is well worth it.

H The Great also stays tight-lipped on revenue specifics, but with no mouths to feed but his own, he says he manages to pay all of his expenses, including his New York City rent — something that doesn’t come cheap. Originally selling his CDs part time, he got sick of his nine-to-five and got to know the ledge, jumping successfully.
These artistpreneurs pride themselves in capturing their dreams, with no one to answer to but themselves.

“There are a lot of people who admire what we do,” Marvo said. They secretly say, ‘Wow these guys got guts. They’re going out on a limb and thinking outside the box.’ And those are the people who really appreciate us because they like living vicariously though us. They’re artists or they wanted to do something with their lives, but they never really took the chance. They took the safe way instead. But if you don’t take a chance on your self who gonna take a chance on you? When you believe in yourself and you take a chance on yourself, you will repay yourself, and that’s just the bottom line ─”

He spies a prospective buyer mid-sentence.

“Councilor, check out my record,” he says, pushing his CD to a well dressed, middle-aged white man.
The man continues walking.

“Come on, you can write it off on your taxes,” Marvo teased.

The monetary benefits for Creature and Marvo are a plus for the artists, evident by their sheer existence. So far, their progress goes beyond who’s buying their music and extends to those they have who can take them to the next professional level. As a result of their hustle, McDuffie, the industry exec, is interested in working with the lyricists on unspecified terms, but the result will be lucrative.
H the Great, Marvo and Creature are talented emcees with courage, strength and the audacity to dream. They’re simply young artistpreneurs trying to make an honest living, get exposure and promote their music in a way that record labels may not appreciate or understand; building their reputations, making money and power moves in the process. Connect. Politick. Ditto.

THE END.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

Real Hip-Hop Hustlers Pt. 2

July 20, 2007 | Tags: Creature, H The Great, Marvo, C-Rayz-Walz

Here's part two!

Creature and Marvo migrate during the day, like H The Great. However, they mainly stay in the West Village.
As if instantly on cue, Aerz Nights, an A&R rep for up-and-comer, Skyzoo, appeared in front of the group. He heard what Creature said and was ironically coming from 14th Street, where he almost had an altercation with one of the “Neanderthals.”

“It’s funny because I see them messing with people all the time, but they don’t usually be messing with me like that,” said Aerz. “But today I was really about to hurt dude.”

Aerz says the “Neanderthal” who got out of line with him tried to force him to buy a CD by demanding so in a hostile tone of voice. He also flexed as if he were going to push or throw a punch. An altercation did not ensue, but for the most part, what Creature describes as being an artistpreneur is more refined and respectable. Marvo, who has been a full-time artistpreneur for a little over a year, says that he originally did not respect people who are doing what he’s doing today.
“Before I started doing this, I used to come to Fat Beats and walk past the Virgin Mega Store, and I used to be embarrassed for the dudes that was doing this,” Marvo says. “I would look down on the dudes that were doing this but now, I can say that this is the best job I ever had.”

An Irish man, intrigued by the young artists, interrupts the conversation.
He is tall and pink, with wild, ear-length brunette hair. He wore khaki corduroy’s and a navy blue blazer. His smile was coupled with a boozy jovial demeanor, making him seem like quite the character.

“Check it out,” Creature says as he displays his album, “Never Say Die.”

The Irish man playfully reads the title aloud as if it were a Hooked on Phonics commercial, his accent making the situation more comical.

“You Irish?” Creature asks.

“Yes, from Dublin.”

“I was in Dublin last year,” Creature replies. “I performed at The Crawdaddy.”

The Irish man perked up more ─ “The Crawdaddy,” he wailed with a hint of familiarity. “How about those Irish girls, ay?”

The group of men let out a pregnant laugh.

“How much do I owe you?”

“10.”

“And don’t forget about mine,” chimed in Marvo.

“So that’s $20. That’s a lot of money,” the Irish man joked as he reached into his pocket and obligingly pulled out a $20 bill.

Marvo and Creature have simultaneously made a sale. The Irish man tells everyone goodbye and continues about his New York business.

“You can do this anywhere, but the good thing about doing it in New York is that your music gets all over the world, like Luxembourg,” Marvo said. “Basically, it’s like one of those skills you can take anywhere you want to go, but people e-mailed me from Luxenbourg and I’m not even sure where Luxenbourg is. I’ve gotten the West Congo in Africa, a place you would not normally be able to get your music to, or even signed, established artists maybe don’t have their records selling there. But you reach people all over the globe because they got your music, because you’re in New York pushing it all over.”

“Out-of-towners want to take home something authentic,” Creature added. “We represent a soil and a certain aesthetic that New York is now becoming accustomed to, and they want to bring some of that authenticity home. And why not bring one of us? Take our product home.”

C-Rayz Walz, a popular fixture on the New York Hip-Hop scene for years (originally of the Stronghold crew), renowned for his freestyle and battle rap abilities (he’s battled and beat the top battle rap emcees in the world), stops by and greets Creature and Marvo. He lingers for a little while, chatting with the artistpreneurs, and then he enters Fat Beats.

“You see how you just meet people out here?” Creature asked rhetorically. “Not only do you make your own hours, you meet people constantly, and you’re in control of your destiny. You don’t have to sit home broke. We meet people that people say they wish they could meet.”

And they’ve met quite a few people. Marvo was a performer in a summer River to River festival in New York City while Creature has been featured in The Village Voice, on Starz Network, MTV2, and he has gotten gigs.

“The best part about it is that we’re living off of our music,” said Marvo as Creature cosigned. “You think that you’re gonna make it as a superstar being on MTV or you’re gonna to be a starving artist, but there’s a lot of room between the two ends of the spectrum. There are people who are living comfortably off of their music and you might not know who they are but they have great followings. They stay on the road, their merchandise sells out. It’s real important. If you can keep ownership of your publishing and your merchandising and all that as an artist, you don’t have to have super platinum numbers to be successful.”

H The Great, Creature and Marvo all say they reap the benefits of being self-made and self-employed. Something else they have in common is the freedom in their schedules, which can vary depending upon how good their sales were from the previous day. They make their own hours and they say it’s not hard dealing with the 14th Street “Neanderthals.”

And police aren’t an issue either. They initially approach the artists, thinking bootleg CDs are being sold, but once they discover it’s the artists’ personal music, and witness the professional manner in which the young men handle themselves, the issue is resolved.
Their biggest nuisance can come in the form of a New York City snow storm or winter chill, and while H The Great travels to southern states including Virginia and North Carolina, Creature and Marvo remain in New York during cold spells.

“When the weather is bad, we do the same thing you do when you go to work ─ dress warm,” Marvo laughed.

As the politicking continues, another visitor appears in front of the group.

TO BE CONTINUED...

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

Real Hip-Hop Hustlers, Can You Do This, Son? Pt. 1

July 18, 2007 | Tags: Hip-Hop, rap, Creature, H The Great, Marvo

Whether you see it on TV, hear it on the radio or not, Hip-Hop is everywhere, even hiding in plain site. I got an opportunity to hang out in NYC (last fall) with some talented young rappers who do this successfully as a living, yet you may not even know who they are. The piece is long because it's really more for a magazine (but I had trouble getting it published in print) so I had to divide it into parts. Check out part 1 and enjoy...

Hustling is not a foreign concept to the Hip-Hop culture. Numerous references to “the hustle” and “the struggle” by various rappers can be found on vinyl, disc, and MP3s or anywhere Hip-Hop is sold. Some hustles are illegal, others are legal, but the concept surmounts simply being recorded and transcends into reality. H the Great, Marvo (formerly known as Marvalous) and Creature are living proof.
It’s a warm early-autumn day, and the temperature is a comfortable 68 degrees; a motley crew of New Yorkers and tourists mill about SoHo, traveling from one end to another, window-shopping and making purchases. Amidst the shopping and browsing is a secret world hiding in plain site, the “Hip-Hop Guys” ─ rappers, stationed throughout New York City trying to get people to stop, listen and buy their CDs.

“I see them standing outside every time I’m in the village,” says Stoney, a New York University student. “The Hip-Hop dudes are always trying to get people to buy their CDs but I usually just keep walking. I don’t see how they can do that all day.”
Some people oblige, some don’t, and others suggest they get a real job, not realizing that CD hustlers are the new entrepreneur, or as Creature says, “artistpreneur.”

“Check out my music?” H the Great offers his CD, Great Music, to a young stylish woman who continues looking straight ahead, pretending she doesn’t hear him. “Take some Brooklyn home with you,” he persists unsuccessfully. “Yo, I’m talking to you,” he calls after her firmly only half-joking, bits of his Bed-Stuy swagger surfacing.

Working what he refers to as “the day shift,” he stands in front of The Pottery Barn on the corner of Houston and Lafayette streets. Dressed in a plain white t-shirt and blue jeans, he’s been selling his CDs at this location for about an hour.

“I like to work the strip (up and down Broadway, between SoHo and NoHo). I was just at Canal Street, in front of YRB [Yellow Rat Bastard] for a little while. I was in their magazine last year.”

At this point, three passersby have ignored H the Great.

“They not being nice to me today,” he says. But he persists. For him, this is an everyday job that pays off. “The money I make from this allows me to travel, and I meet people like this. I make so many contacts doing this as opposed to just meeting people at open mics and clubs or whatever ─ They see I’m about my business.”

In addition to being featured in YRB, he appeared in a European Volkswagen commercial last year, went on a 25-city U.S. tour with other underground rappers and appeared in Lil’ Kim’s “Lighters Up” video.

“Now I can add that I’m an actor to my resume,” he says.

After more coaxing, his alluring Bed-Stuy demeanor exudes confidence, and finally, he begins to reel people in.
His first customer in that location was a twenty-something-year-old man. He was stylish in a hipster sort of way and appeared to be Middle Eastern. H the Great, who happens to be Muslim, muttered something in Arabic and the young man became increasingly more interested. Always prepared, H the Great keeps his CD player handy for situations where people want to listen to his music before making a purchase ─ this being one such case. The young man listened attentively and asked for a price. H The Great usually requests a “donation” of $10, sometimes more or less depending on the person’s generosity and aura. In this case, the man donated $5.

“Some is better than none,” H The Great says humbly, “You see how I got him though?” He laughs.
Although H the Great sells his CDs seven days a week, he is his own publicist, booker, manager, accountant and A&R rep.

“I like this because I’m my own boss. I don’t have to switch up my voice on some ‘hey how you doing’ (speaks in an extremely proper tone), I can wear what I want, I can be myself and I get to travel. You know, I can go anywhere. I just came back from Virginia yesterday. I just take CDs and pay for my way while I’m down there.”

His favorite place is New York City, however sometimes territory is an issue. The Virgin Mega Store at Union Square (on 14th Street) is a popular area where the rules of competition can include more than verbal sales pitches and persuasive bravado. The area sometimes gets cluttered, which sometimes breeds persuasion tactics for top sales shine.

“Me, personally, I don’t be on 14th Street like that ’cause them other cats don’t know how to act,” he said.
H the Great didn’t go into full detail about why he sometimes avoids 14th Street, but Marvo and Creature elaborate. They are selling their CDs on the other side of town, in the West Village. They’re working “the night shift” in front of Fat Beats (a premiere Hip-Hop music store in New York) at around 8:00. They each have their own individual projects but they sell their CDs together.
“Fourteenth Street is somebody else’s thing during the day and they have a different sales approach than we do. It’s a little bit more aggressive.”

Creature, deciding that Marvo is being too diplomatic, says, “Let’s be honest, they’re very barbaric and Neanderthal…I don’t know, people have said that they’ve been extremely aggressive and barbaric in their tactics.

He likens the unspecific measures to those sometimes used in the pursuit of the American dream.

“Who am I to say? They said America was built on barbaric tactics. So, I’m not going to say anything, but I don’t want to be associated with that kind of behavior.”

TO BE CONTINUED...

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

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Real Hip-Hop Hustlers Pt. 3

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Real Hip-Hop Hustlers, Can You Do This, Son? Pt. 1

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