Written by Eldorado Red
April 2008
Nino Bless is “an American success story, an entrepreneur who has found the ultimate cash crop- music.” When speaking to Nino you quickly detect his confidence, a silent confidence. He doesn’t come across as arrogant or cocky but rather quite poised, perhaps there is some truth to his claims of being “the one-man band the juice crew in one…” Not many rappers can say they have been cosigned by G Rap, let alone rubbed shoulders on a track with the former, Styles P, Joell Ortiz and still managed to hold their own. Despite being on the come up he maintains the status of a veteran; having comfortably cementing himself behind hip hop’s curtains while being involved with ghost writing, marketing and promotions. I recently chopped it up with this candid brooklynite covering his mixtape, his name and his thought process for the banger 4 In the Clip. ER: For those who may not be aware of your craft, can you let them know where you hail from?
Nino Bless: Oh I am from Brooklyn, New York City, home of this hip hop shit.
ER: Why do you go by the moniker Nino Bless?
Nino Bless: God brother, my god brother, basically got locked up in prison and all that. I had a different rap name at the time and he was like (sighs) he kind of went to prison for some shit that was unfortunate, some, some, he basically went to jail for not snitching. He didn’t have the heart to snitch and that’s pretty much what the fuck he got locked up for; just because he didn’t want to snitch. So I mean I look up to that, nahmsayin. So when he was boxed in, he still is, I was talking about changing my rap name and he was giving me all these suggestions and shit and I was like you know what, I am going to go by your name, your street name. And he was like “Word! That’s what it is; just don’t make me look bad” (Laughs). It’s basically a tribute to him, nahmean.
ER: How did your relationships between Immortal Technique and Kool G Rap come about?
Nino Bless: Tech is my boy. We are friends first off and I mean you know we met through the underground hip hop scene. I was just with him on the phone the other day , I didn’t know we knew each other for 8 years, I am like, “are you serious?” ,like I am thinking we have been cool for about 4 or 5 years. But Tech is more than an industry dude to me, he is actually my friend, he is one of the few people to meet my family. I have met his moms, I met his family. That’s my nigga, nahmean and we just built a connection, we respect each other for what we do and just push each other as artists and try to motivate each other as much as possible. G Rap I met him, he was actually one of my clients, I used to run a marketing company and we were building on that level. And then somebody told him I rap, I don’t know who the fuck it was, but I was like, “Nah I don’t rap” ; and he was like, “Don’t lie to me nigga” And when Kool G Rap tells you something you kind of have to listen, he’s the master, like Miyagi and shit. He told me to spit and I spit for him, and he was like “You’re mad nice” But again our relationship is past industry, at this point G Rap is like a brother to me, he is a friend of mine. We could be on the phone for like 3, 4 hours talking about life, not the industry, that’s a brother to me, nahmean.
ER: You mentioned a marketing company, are you still running it?
Nino Bless: I don’t run it, I got people who run it for me, and they pretty much handle the business. But you know it’s kind of like you know, my main focus is music now, that’s secondary to me.
ER: When can listeners expect your mixtape, Untold Scriptures, it’s supposed to have been out, but I haven’t seen it?
Nino Bless: (Laughs) I like how you mentioned that. Yeah, yeah it was supposed to be out on February 5th man. I mean but right now I am pushing for early April. What I am doing now is I am doing two versions of it. I am doing the freestyle version for everybody who just wants to get it, and then I am doing a limited edition version, which is for people who want to cop. There’s an extended version of me and Joe Budden called Times are Hard, I got a something with me and Crooked-I, and a few other dudes. I want to start establishing a retail following of people who buy shit, if I had just kept it free, you know, what would that get me? I want to bring something of value to see how much units I can sell.
ER: Do you feel that you playing in the background, ghostwriting, establishing your marketing and promotions company allowed you to gain a better understanding of the industry, and in so many words ease your entrance into the rap realm?
Nino Bless: You know that’s a two part question. The first part I mean it definitely helps me because you know there’s a lot of things that I am going through now that I have seen second hand, and I know what to expect when it comes. And you know to make adjustments and so on and so forth. As for the last part, I wouldn’t say it eased my entrance because I mean what gave me my entrance was the motivation to do what I do as far as making music and writing and so on and so forth. It’s really hard to be inspired and motivated but you know I had that itch to really finally focus on music full time. But you know music is so hard, because I have come a long way to do this shit, is not like I just picked up a pen and pad and said okay I want to be a rapper.
ER: Did you intentionally round up the emcees on 4 in a clip, because it appears as though you purposely included two established artists and two up and comers?
Nino Bless: Yeah, yeah initially I didn’t. Initially I wanted to do a song with three dudes who I respected and were nice, and had a buzz at the time to see if I could you know, shine with those dudes and hang with them. Initially it was supposed to be me, G Rap, Styles P and Joe Budden. But Joe Budden got caught up, he was doing a lot shit with Mood Muzik, and he was dealing with personal stuff, so you know he couldn’t really get to it. And then I said you know what let me just get this 4 in A clip record done. I ended up thinking of who else made sense on the record, who had exposure, who was nice, who was along the realms as far where I want to attack, and I thought of Joell. And I said you know what that actually makes more sense, being that me and Joell are young gunnaz, we both from BK and then you got Styles and G, established veterans, in a sense both legends. I am doing another one right now coming up with me, Crooked I, Saigon and Scram Jones.
ER: How do you feel about Saigon?
Nino Bless: I like Saigon, I feel like you know, I was having a conversation with Grafh the other day. And Grafh was talking about the rappers that the game needs and rappers the game doesn’t need (Laughs) nahmean. I think the game needs Saigon.
ER: I read somewhere that you took up playing the piano at the early age, have you ever dabbled behind the boards?
Nino Bless: (Laughs) I used to make beats, I used to fuck with it, used to have my samplers, my drum machines, had my keyboards…I am just too lazy to make beats, I don’t have the patience for that shit, that’s like playing a video game and trying to figure out what the fuck you got to do to end the game without having the map
ER: Are there any label talks on deck?
Nino Bless: Labels, a couple of labels have hollered, but not a lot of labels. But the funny thing though is that they want creative control, and I am not willing to give that. If I give up my creative control then I am giving up on myself. So we to early in the game to be really dealing with labels, I am going to keep building this shit so hopefully by the end of next year, I mean at the end of the year or the middle next year maybe we will get a situation if not we will just do it indie, feel me?
ER: Give me some names of artists who have been influential towards your craft?
Nino Bless: I think Melly Mel has been influential to any rapper, Slick Rick, G Rap of course, Juice Crew, Kane, Rakim, Moe Dee, LL, Nas, Biggie, Wu-Tang, Saigon, Graph, Eminem, Big Pun; anybody who I can say I admire what they do, I am really influenced by.
ER: Which producers would you like to round up for your debut?
Nino Bless: I have always liked Buckwild; I have always felt he was one of the most underrated producers. The obvious niggas like Dr. Dre, the Premos. Like if I was going to drop an album and have Premo on it. Just Premo do some shit, like some classic old Reasonable Doubt Illmatic, just give me a throwback, I would like to have some shit like that. I would love to work with Just Blaze, dudes like that.
ER: What are your studio essentials?
Nino Bless: I don’t smoke and I don’t drink. The funny thing with me is I take silence; I like silence, as crazy it sounds, silence. So you know a bottle of water, maybe some food and I am good. Me and the music that’s all I want everything else is unimportant.
ER: Thank you, is there anything else you want the rest of the hip hop world to know?
Nino Bless: Yeah Untold Scriptures I know it’s supposed to be out, my man right here just put me in on blast saying it is supposed to be out and he ain’t seen it, but it’s going to be out real soon; probably early mid April so check it.
