Sunday, October 26, 2008

A Man Apart

Aight, change of plans folks. The mixtape was originally going to be called I Got The O.J. Gloves but not anymore. Its not going to be called A Man Apart like the movie with Vin Diesel. That's how I feel now with so many people from Best Coast gone now. 2 artist, 2 A&R's and my business partner are gone. Time for me to throw the company on my back. Luckily I don't fold under pressure. Its refreshing and makes me nervous at the same time. I'm good tho, I started this by myself and I've only gotten better since then. I've come along way professionally

Anyway, back to the mixtape. I'mma have pieces of the movie between songs that relate to how I'm feeling. There will be no features except my artist but that's limited to 2 songs. I'mma get real personal on this. It won't be as lyrical as "I Got The O.J. Gloves" but will still be better than most mixtapes. The purpose of it is to get shit off my chest. I'm going to also do a dvd to go with it just so people can really get to know me. I know how it is to be a fan of some1's music but you hear them talk and be like "this nigga ignortant". I can speak and I'm funny so you'll enjoy it.

The title is relevant also because I'm always alone. I don't kick it with people mainly because people are stupid. A person is smart but people are stupid. And my son is only 2 so we can't have grown people convo but we talk like he's grown. I tell him everything. I work with like 100 people but I don't talk to em. I don't know anyone's name. I eat lunch alone. I don't say hi or bye or none of that shit. I'm only a people person when I'm in rapper mode. I'm weird like that. I'm real private but I'll get into why on the dvd

In other news, the website will be up in a couple weeks. I'm going back to recording and engineering next weekend. Back to working out. Oh, and I'm growing my hair back. I'm giving the Balmd Menace a rest. New tatts coming soon. I'm out. Peace.

He's baacck!
323 622 8559

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Old School Me



The video above is of me at 17 dj'ing at my high school pep rally. Man, I was MAD skinny back then. I was funny looking and shit. I don't even know why I had my fucking shirt up. I think I was working out back then and felt way bigger than I was lol. My dilusional mind lol. Notice my hat say "YOLEGE". That was my dj/rap name back then. It stood for Young Knawlege. It was the YO from young and the Lege from knawlege. There a million "young knawlege's" back then and just "young" something in general. It was my way of saying I was the beginning and end of young knawlege out there in the world. My way of being unique.

Also look at my crappy ass gear. This was a "dj in a box" set that my mom got me for xmas the year before. It was some bullshit gemini joints, the cheapest we could find. Belt drive turntables, ever dj knows you don't dj live with those lol. Its almost impossible to scratch vinyl's with those but I figure out a way. No slip mats or nothing. I still had the heavy rubber joints like slip mats and would use a crappy vinyl as a slip mat. Lol, look at the bullshit as mixer...Nuff said. See all those vinyl? This was before serato and shit. I had to bring what I could on the bus. That's right. I packed all that equipment in a big ass duffle bag and the vinyl in my backpack or a spare backpack and got on the bus with it every friday during football season for pep rallies. That's dedication for that ass. My whole life was hip hop back then. I stopped listening to music and only listened to instrumentals and I wrote rhymes like crazy. I didn't write verses back then, I wrote whole pages of raps

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I used to tape verses to my wall after I finished a 16 or a whole page. I recorded on my computer in my room all the time. The sound was crappy but I felt like king of the world. I used to dj in yahoo chat rooms lol. Instead of plugging my mic in and talking, I hard wired my turntables and played whatever I had on my turntables. Most people liked it. Only one that didn't was the asshole who just wanted to talk shit on the mic...get it....assholes...talk shit lol.

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I sat on this couch next to my bed and write poems and rhymes out the ass. I should've been doing my homework. I used to record freestyles on cassettes in the morning, then pass the tape to my best friend Stevie Franklin and he would do his freestyle after school or that night.

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This was/is my best friend in the whole world next to Denise. This man got me serious about rapping. He moved to pasadena from the east coast but was born in Madagascar in Africa. He was so much better than I was but it never felt like a competition. He taught me shit and with his help, I got better. You'll hear more about him in another blog. There will be more old school pics too when my old computer is up and running. Until then, PEACE and go to bestcoastent.ning.com

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

"Underground" rapper

For those that don't know, there are typically 2 kind of rappers. Mainstream and underground. I'm classified as an underground rapper. It used to be that you were underground until you got signed or "discovered". Then you were considered mainstream. That's not so much as true anymore

Now if your underground, that means you make underground music or "real hip hop". These are the artist who throw a milion words in a sentence because they think they are suppose to. All of their beats have heavy samples and sound like BOOM BOOM BAP because that's what they think is real. They either dress real regular or in shit most people have never heard of. But it has a lot of colors in or on it..

The mainstream rapper is the artist on a big major label or major indie label. He raps usually about whatevers hot at the time (the newest car, hottest model, new big face on money, swag, etc.). They wear what they think we think is hot. Gucci, sean john, prada, etc. They spend a lot on diamonds, girls, cars, and liquor.

Jay-Z was underground at one point, so was biggie, G. Malone, and any other rapper who hit the small clubs, bars, and open mics to perform. That used to mean you were on your way. Now it means you only do one kind of music. Underground artist now all rap about how the industry is wack, how they better than the top selling rapper, sometimes about how hard life is and weed. They all sound the same cuz they all pick dilla-ish/kanye-sh beats. They can't make a radio hit to save their lives but they got MAD vocab. They rap about peace, politics, and punchlines

I'm not the typical underground artist. Which is why I can't stand most of them. I perform every where because I have no real platform. I run into all the performing undrground artist and I never stay and listen to their set. Because I already know what your gonna rap about. So I don't walk in the spot til 5 mins before I go on stage. That leaves enoug time for a piss and to grab a drink. Then I leave right when I'm done because the guy/girl after me is gonna rap like the guy/girl before me.

I rap about whatever. In my set these days, its a song about my moms on crack, me as a person, a song about me stepping to a girl, rappers trynna be like Pac and Biggie, and some genuine west coast shit called "lo lo drop". Half of those are underground shit, half is possible radio shit. I pick different sound beats. I have a set list of songs for underground spots and I have songs for when I perform at a club. I'm not MC freestyle his ass off but I am MC get busy lol. I'm versatile. I can perform at any venue. These "underground" cats will get booed at some clubs I've torn down. Same thing for some mainstream artist at underground spots.

I say all that to say this: I'M A RAPPERS WORST NIGHTMARE. Because I can do any kind of song. I'm not underground, I'm THE GROUND. When you walk down the street, you see every kind of person. I rap about every kind of thing without contradicting myself like Pac did. I might wear the undeground gear but I do it because its fresh, not cuz I'm suppose to. Therefor I can be marketed in more areas than a Jeezy can or a Talib can. Because I'm all over spectrum instead of being in an industry made box

C. - hype without the hypeman

Thursday, October 2, 2008

NO MORE FREE SHIT!

I've reached the point where its time to put worth on what I'm doing. So from now on, I won't be doing any free collabos and I won't do a feature if the sound quality isn't right. I won't be charging a arm and leg, I'll work with any budget but I can no longer do it for free. Reason being, this is my hustle and if it don't make dollars it don't make sense. I've done got to keep business booming so the ringtones and wallpapers that were free are now 99 cents. I take my craft very seriously, as should every artist. I guarantee that if you pay for a feature, it'll be worth every cent but you know that already otherwise you wouldn't have asked me.

I won't charge artist that I feel I can benefit from collabing with or dj's who has a mixtape coming out.

So if you feel you have something to offer that would warrant a free verse, hook or whatever than let me know.

I will not die off in this recession lol....WORD!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Why I'm probably better than your favorite rapper...

The thing about rappers is they have very big egos. Most songs are about what they got, how tough they are, etc, etc. I do that half of the time too but the other half I give you songs that have a story line, songs that show my vulnerability. Shit with concepts to em. I can do a song and let you know my faults as a man. I can do a song about that runaway kid, that bum and how he got there, that cop whose looked at as a hero but is a wifebeater. If you get a song from me that has 3 verses, guarantee it has a beginning, middle and end. Yes, I have a blinged out watch but I don't rap about the shit all the time. I'm livng check to check and you get that in a lot of my songs. You get struggle, you get good times, you get stories

Another thing is my live show is the shit. I'm not just a nigga on stage rapping. I put a lot into my live shit. I loose my voice sometimes. I participate with the crowd, I make eye contact. I'm a completely different person on stage. I'm loud, I spit my words clear. In person I'm quiet, I mumble and stutter lol. You feel like I'm performing just for you. I do extra shit, like pull a extra mic out my back pocket in the middle of my set for the hook on a song. That shit gets em everytime. Don't let me catch niggas doing my shit lol. I got a dj now so that makes the live shit more special. He can scratch on my hooks, in between songs, sound effects and shit. And I make sure to give him some shine.

Another thing is I'm a one man machine. I send out mass amounts of online shit to let you know what I got going. I make my own ringtones. I walk through the crowd after I'm done and give out my contact info, shake hands, etc. I'm a people person.

Another thing is I'm a fresh dude. I've never dressed "ok" for a show. I'm fresh everytime. I'mma start going harder on the freshness. I was laying off cuz of bills and shit but I'm back on it. The whole fit matches. I put extra shit on that I can take off. Like a jacket or a shirt if I've been working out lol. The hat gets flipped around so many times during my sets. It might get thrown if I'm hype. I work out just to look good on stage lol. That's mainly because most people don't know who I am but they will when I'm done. Gotta compete with these buff ass rappers like LL and 50 and shit lol

I'm also better than most rappers because I know my faults. I'm not a rapper who records a lot. Majority of my shit is just memorized while I'm at my security job. I don't have my recording technique down yet. My delivery is getting better with time. If you think I'm ill now, its nothing compared to where I'm headed. I have dreams of how I'll sound in the future and the shit is tight lol. But what I lack in recording technique, I make up for being a recording engineer. I know how to make a song sound good. Adlibs, doubles, compression, etc. I got that shit locked. A lot of rappers sound like they reading and that's because they are. They reading the lyrics off paper or they phone in the booth and you can tell. Some write the lyrics without a beat and just try to throw it on any beat and you can tell. That's how you get songs about killing on a r&b beat lol. I'm at the point where I cater lyrics to a beat if I didn't write for that beat. I ride a beat well and let the beat let me know what the songs gonna be about

I study these other rappers because at the end of the day, they all competition. I want there fans. I don't copy any1 but I see what there faults are and make sure not to do the same. Like I know not to make a song about how much money I got when the economy sucks. Plus I'm just honest. You can't never pull up one of my songs and say "he ain't do that shit in real life". But in that same sentence, certain things I can't say in songs because my family don't know I did that shit yet lol. If you think you know me from my music, you really don't yet

All in all, I'm a very well rounded emcee. You can't just peg me as a backpack rapper, a mixtape rapper, a commercial rapper because I can do it all. I'm Mos Def with Bow Wow's market appeal but not bow's "skill' or swag at all. I'm me all day. If you come to one of my shows, u see its empty when I start and its packed when I'm finished. I love that shit. The only thing stopping me is myself because I don't have material just out there. That's over. I'm raping every mixtape, every beat, every blank piece of paper. I'm on my shit ladies and gentlemen!

Oh yea, FUCK DAT RAPPER!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

My Watch

I'm not some one who walks around with alot of jewelry for a couple reasons
1. I can't afford a bunch of real jewelry
2. I refuse to walk around with fake shit
3. That's just not what I'm about

I could've invested into more jewelry instead of buying $500 turntables or a $800 mpc or $200 on a guitar and amp but I didn't...so sue me

Anyway, I did eventually get myself a watch. It took me months of lay a way to pay for it but I got it. Its rose gold and the face is covered in diamonds. Its sick lol. I could easily pay your rent for the whole summer or a year or 2 if you on section 8 lmao. I can't eat with it on, thats how heavy it is. I can't sleep with it on either. I don't even think I can run right if I have it on. But for some reason I feel more like a rapper when I have it on. Sometimes it feels like it completes an outfit or that people pay more attention when I have it on. Its like "hey, whose that guy....I don't know but he must be getting money, look at his watch". Its weird. I guess because you see every rapper on tv with loads of jewelry (some in their first video ever)that you feel like you doing something wrong unless you ICEY too. So when I put it on, I feel a step close to "those guys"....not sure if that's a good or bad thing

BUT we live in a recession and I do live in the hood so I never wear my watch in public without my knife on my belt. I reach for it if I even feel like its being looked at too hard. I know you're probably thinking "then why even wear it at all?". Its because it was a gift to myself. At the time, I needed something for myself. I was working 2 or 3 jobs and trynna do music and start a business. I needed to reward myself. And it adds to my stage visual. I try to look my best on stage because those people may never see you again. You only get one 1st impression.

Since buying the watch, I'm addicted to rose gold. I've found myself writing about jewelry in my rhymes a couple times and I've been pricing a couple pieces. I don't know why because I don't have the funds to buy anything lol. The cool thing tho is when times gets hard and I need gas money or my son needs pull ups or my girl needs something, I can take my watch to the pawn shop and get a loan lol. A loan, never pawn. That also lets you know the shit is real, cuz they won't take it if its fake.

Rose Gold sits on my wrist//Nigga Ill shit on you and your bitch!//

Sunday, September 14, 2008

MY BIRTHDAY!

Aight, so its sept 14th. My birthday was on the 4th. I'm 23 bitches! Lol. Shout out to FACE, she made me a homemade birthday card. I keep it in my back pocket at all times.

The actual day was kinda wack. It was a thursday, I got off at 8am that morning, came home and applied for jobs all day til I went to work at 11:30 that night. I had a slice of cake I bought myself tho. It was chocolate. Very delicious lol.

BUT the next night was friday and I had a show at The Airliner. Me, FACE, her sister Tracey and friend Danielle all went down ready to turn it out. I did my thing on stage. It was the first time FACE had see me perform in a year or two so I did the extras. After I was down, we stepped outside to finish our drinks, I bought my first licorice root, and I bought a ring that has the african american flag on it. Then we stepped to the downstairs stage where I beasted the open mic for as long as I felt like and I had some good eats from the kitchen and drank some more. We left and 2 and went home and I passed out. Good night.

Now its time for my resolutions. I do that because your real new year is on your birthday. That's every1's personal new year. So here are my resolutions in no particular order

1.Get Best Coast Ent making more money
2.Get my body more toned and add more muscle
3.Get my mixtape done and out in the streets before winter
4.Get my car fixed...finally
5.Get an apartment
6.Just overall step it up as an artist
7.Get back on my knowledge of self road

That's it for now. I'm working out right now and Best Coast has a rock showcase tonight so I'm already working on my list

PEACE from the quiet guy ya momma told you to look out for

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

first name CONTRO, last name VERSY

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Peace. Lets get it in

I'm C. Versy...make sure you say the "dot" part. Its a period, not a hypen. That's important also, punctuation niggas lol.

The name came from me being a big shit talking in high school. Nobody liked me, not cuz I was lying but because I made all the foul truths funny. No one could every say what I was saying isn't true, they just didn't want to hear it. I was the unCOOL KID. That's gonna be a mixtape title or song lol

Anyway, I tagged the C "do" name because I never hold my tongue. The truth hurts sometimes....take it or squeeze it. I write about everything so its hard to box me in. I can talk about selling drugs and having parents who were addicts. I can talk about having money and having less than a dollar in my bank account. I can talk about being lonely and trynna juggle so many girls I don't know what to do. I can do it all without sounding like a hypocrite.

A lil background on me: I grew up fast. Was given up as a baby, found out when I was 12. I spent those 12 years thinking I had parents and brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, cousins that aren't mine. I spent those 12 years with parents who were crack addicts. I've been abused in every way and have had less than nothing. I moved every 2 years, lived in hotels, houses, apartments, a one room shack with 7 kids and 3 adults. I've been to 11 schools before I graduated high school. I was always the new kid lol. I didn't play with other kids outside of school, I was always with adults. Not on purpose but mom#3 (explained later) took me everywhere. Every1 believed I had could tell when something was gonna happen, sixth sense or some shit. So when it came time to steal from a store, do some check scams, etc I was always asked how I felt about the store, bank, etc

So I can't relate to my peers. They don't know what its like to steal so your moms ain't gotta ho for drugs. Or having to give up your room every time ur "parents" got some staying for months at a time. Or having guns in your closet where your school clothes should be. Or having to take care of 6 kids before you can sleep or do homework. Or....This can go on all day lol

I say all that to say this, I'm different. I don't think like most people. I'm always alone because I don't like niggas and they mentality. I plan years ahead. I talk different. I dress different. I'm just different. I'm half serious, half delirious. People will tell you I'm both the nicest person they know but a asshole if you on my bad side.

I have attachment issues but who wouldn't if they moved every 2 years. I cut people off with a quickness. But I cut people off for holding me back. I got goals. I own Best Coast Ent, I'm a recording engineer, rapper, dj, all around go getter. And I'm a father. So I have a reason to do everything I do. I'm 22 but move around like russell simmons or some shit

I know music and business like the back of my hand but I don't know regular shit because I didn't grow up regular. Like I don't know shit about cars, I don't know a lot about the smaller gang sets, I didn't know fashion until after I graduated high school, I didn't know how to tie a tie til I was 20

But you can bet your bottom dollar I know guns, crack, week, alcohol, check/credit card scams, how to steal, sex, how to be a father and how to be a man.....bet I know that shit. Some1 once told me "you act like the world owes you something"....my response to that is NIGGUH, you think it don't?

The world owes me rent, back taxes, unpaid loans and grants. It owes me all them birthday and x-mas gifts that got returned, parties and sleepovers I never attended

Life's a bitch and I'm raping it

I'm Contro fucking Versy and I'm gonna show rappers how to be an artist. Every song I do is real and I leave a apart of me with you when I step off stage. You take a part of me with you when my song is done and you take your headphones off. I may not be the best looking but I sho got swag and that bleeds into everything I do. I resonate with people. Average people can't relate to me as a person but they can relate to my music because they know some1 like me or some1 I talked about in a song. They feel like they know me and hopefully after reading this. You all know me better too. Its first name Contro, last name Versy and I'm a problem because I said so. I got 2 more months of struggling before I kick a whole in this rap.

GIMME MY DUCKETS NIGGA!

Google me bitches!

The quiet guy your momma told you to look out for....