I've seen many blogs on Myspace but never ever felt compelled to write one myself until now. So I decided to let you all know the true story behind my hustle and give some hints and tips to what in my opinion is making "PROGRESS".

Many people say or in fact believe that they are owed a spot in the music business and have an entitlement to success through it and from it but do not understand some key factors in what it really means to work. Most artists I meet would consider that just because they have a talent, they can ego their way through the game, but I have seen ego ruin more careers than build them.

What is the true definition of the word work?

WORK =
1. exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something; labour; toil.
2. productive or operative activity.

There are more but you get my meaning... What I'm trying to say is recording artists tend not to think of applying their creative abilities with these descriptives to further advance and build careers and futures, as right now we have an influx of young dudes and dudettes who think that a pitbull, a car and crowd of homies in front of a block of flats filming a video is their way to the top.

My oh my, how wrong could anyone be?

It's about understanding what hunger really is? What application really is? What discipline is about? And about sacrifice?

I remember when I was recording my fisrt album, I was at the studio before the engineer got there for EVERY session and always had him checking his watch at the end as he wanted to go home bang on the time our session was booked up to, but instead I would always run over. I would be recording on Christmas Eve when all my other labels mates turned that day down to go and gift hunt. I was getting myself press and write ups in magazines for myself that the label I was signed to couldn't get and they were a multi million pound company! I really knew and still know what work ethic is really about.

I been in that place where you write 4 songs on a short plane ride, get to your destination, spend 4 days there, pen some bars in your hotel room and come back home in less than a week with 13 / 14 tracks written then jump straight in the studio and put em' down like it was nothing.

My teenage years were very different from the average teen because I didn't do the raving thing, or the running around town looking for chicks thing, or the chillin with my boys smoking weed thing.. I was writing and making beats all day every day. Looking for breaks, calling record companies, going for auditions and meetings, trying to get work experience and constantly looking for that way in.

If someone told me to call them on Friday at 2pm to see if they could schedule a meeting for me the following week about prospectively doing some music then "Friday at 2pm" was the biggest thing in my life, the only thing on my mind, the one thing that was a bright light if nothing else. And that was just to make the call, not to sign a contract or collect an award or star in a video... just to make the call.

The call that may have told you "I don't have the time for you really" or the call that could have said  "We've listened to you demo and it's not for us", all the same I understood that the call I needed to make could be the small seed that blossomed into the fruit that I desired, so nothing and nobody could or would deter me from having my finger on the dial at 13:59!

Would you believe that I once offered a rapper a deal to release his record so we scheduled a meeting for 4pm on a Monday to discuss business. He then I asked me to make sure I called him on Sunday (the day before the meeting) to remind him about the meeting!! This was a deal where I was the one paying for the studio facility, producing the music, paying to press the vinyl & CD's, providing a distribution outlet and giving him a 50% split and I have to be the one to call him and REMIND him that he has a meeting about his OWN career... That's crazy...

That's like getting told that you got an interview for your dream job and you tell the employer who called you to come in, to call you and remind you about the meeting the day before it was due.. And you think you'd be the one they pick for the job, the opportunity, the chance.. you got jokes playa!!!

Enough of that, I think most with sense will get the picture about what not having real hunger is about.

Now don't get me wrong, talent matters... after all talent is what produces the product and the product is what we want to reach the consumer at the end!! Everything else is a medium. Being successful in the music industry is about aligning yourself and your abilities with all the right elements to create the right opening for yourself and your career. Many talented artists miss the break and many not so talented ones get in the grind and make it work.

You are only as good as your efforts and your desire for achieving can only be a reflection of your input. So if you say you want it but don't do it then you really don't want it or want it enough, or maybe even you've tricked yourself into thinking you want it... And if that's the case you're a great magician.. well done. you have deceived yourself to the point you don't even know your own reality!

Discipline, is paramount. I am my own boss so I have no one to dictate to me what time I need to start work or at what rate I should create. I can have a sleep in everyday of the week, but instead (and those who know me well will know this) I wake up at around 6am everyday regardless if I'm busy or not. Discipline is not sometimish, it means having a permanent practice even when not required. It trains you to becoming that person who can act even when you do not want to. It sets aside the do'ers and the say'ers.. It is a reflection of our seriousness in what we practice and it is an example that we set for those behind us.

Tenacity and courage are also traits that are valuable. I have been through some real hard times in my career where money wasn't the greatest but I was always prepared to put my last farthing behind me knowing that if I was to crash and burn then at least I would crash and burn doing what I loved and thought was right.

I once had a company who owed me close to £5,000 go into liquidation and I never ever received what was due. I wasn't in a good place financially but I wrote that loss off on that day.. No lie.. I understood that it wasn't me going out of business.. I AM STILL HERE... is what I told myself and so many years later those same word can be uttered by me because of my self belief, determination and courage in decision making.

Don't get me wrong, I have blundered, dropped the ball and made many a mistake but in having the will to get it right, guess what? you eventually get it right!

I once said in a track "Don't try to be the best but be the best at trying" and that's what so many artists get mixed up on.

They are afraid to try harder, they feel that what they have is enough to get by or indeed think they are at such a peak that effort no longer is a requirement. Again, that's ego creeping in...

I want to talk about how important catalogue is. I was once told by a good friend in the business that catalogue would be my biggest asset. My goldmine if you like. And guess what? He was right! I once sold so many back catalogue 12 inches and albums in one month I made over 25K in that one month alone. All from music that had already seen its light of day.

When I started to license my music overseas, because I already had an extensive album catalogue, I did multiple licenses and made much more paper than I would have from just having the one product. The consistency in you producing the product cannot and must not retire. You can never stay hot with the same product for any abundant amount of time so you have to recognize that you must keep it coming.

I can get tired of hearing someone's song in a matter of days so just imagine if they only had a few tracks and were trying to get a few years out of them. They'll always serve a purpose as back catalogue but you got be ready to step today with what is of today and not step today only with what was from yesterday...

Everything that I'm saying here is not from the perspective of "I made it and I know it all" in fact far from it, but it is from the perspective that I feel a great sense of real achievement in my career and that's just from my perspective as a young kid who dared to want more than the average. I still have hard times and doubts, I still get concerned if every decision I make is the right one for the right reasons, I still realise in hindsight that things could have worked out better in some situations but through all of that I believe in me like Morpheus did Neo.

For over 10 years I've taken my own money and put it behind me. I haven't waited for someone to believe in my ability before I believed in it. I am not only the author of my lyrics but I am the author of my life and this novel can either be a best seller or a dismal flop.  The latter is non-applicable and I denounce it. Standard!

I try to surround myself with those like minded and accept that at times people may not understand why I do what I do and how I do it. But one thing I never do is fear my own capability. I embrace it and know that as long as I do my best then I am the best ... the best version of me I can be that is.

We live in a world of convenience, a world where we now expect things to be made easy. where it's all put before us to select and reject. That's why we have phones that are calculators and radio's and camera's in one. We want DVD players in the headrests of our cars and make phone calls from our laptops.

But it is those of us who understand that life isn't constantly convenient and that this business can put you out of sync with its comforts in an instant, which will mature into artists of discernability, maturity and longevity.

Hustling and grinding isn't writing two 16 bar verses when you get to the studio and choosing the one that fits best. It isn't trying to shot your CD on road for £5 for a week or 2 and thinking that you killed it. It isn't even doing many shows where you and your crew parade on stage, get drunk and try and get numbers for a link even if you're doing it all year round.

This is what hustling is...

Writing rhymes, re-writing rhymes, making beats, searching for breaks in the most remote places, learning how to engineer yourself, learning how to mix and master, designing artwork, setting up photo shoots, dealing with the pressing plants, shipping your goods, invoicing, accounting, paying taxes, negotiating contracts, setting up your own tours and bookings, doing your own mail outs, re-stocking stores, doing interviews, appearing in DVD's, writing video treatments, conducting musicians for your productions, seeking new talent, signing new talent, developing and writing for that new talent, being a friend and a mentor for that new talent, setting up your website, selling your music online, re-stocking re-orders and repressing titles, typing the lyrics to all your albums just so that others can see them in the inlay, registering all your titles yourself with MCPS-PRS Alliance, get your beats placed on TV shows, producing other acts, doing youth workshops, going home on night bus after winning a MOBO, Carrying your own bags while commuting on tour, performing in videos, returning emails immediately, being on time, believing in yourself and your product, getting your record play listed on radio by yourself, giving to charity from your profits, juggling your bank accounts, paying for everything yourself, having humility even when you are right, setting up meetings with majors on behalf of you, putting your money behind someone else's talent. Getting on a plane to follow a possible pipe dream, worrying about where your next cheque is coming from, listening to others tell you that you aint doing it right, confronting those who deeply offend your creativity, spending your last money on fixing a problem with your equipment that didn't exist yesterday, rehearsing like crazy for a one off show, signing every autograph and taking every requested photo even if it means you don't sleep tonight, apologising, trusting your judgement, delegating responsibility, accepting that the return may not come for 12 months or more, taking what you can get and getting what you can take, challenging authority and still having the time to stay close to family, friends and loved one's, to still give advice and accept it graciously, understanding that high return does not exist without high risk.. The list goes on...

Bottom line is I did all that and still I'm reaching for higher than this level...

In school they called me a joker, In Japan they called me a legend, In business they say I'm smart, but I am really just a person with a dream and that dream is not to be dreamed but to be lived and your youth is no better time for it.

I once read somewhere that "You have to work extremely hard in order to get to the position where you don't have to work extremely hard"

I have a saying of my own, in fact a quote from my 2nd album form a song entitled "The Positive", I wrote this at 20 years old and it is still as relevant today as it was back then.

"Don't wait for nobody for me to make moves"

"I can't walk straight whilst wearing your shoes"

"We all get down and like jazz we feel blues"

"Walk your own path, at least if you lose"

"The choice was yours and that you did choose"

"In this game of life there's no rules"

"Just do of your best make use of your tools"

"and try to stay clear of ignorant fools"

"It's your life which only you live"

"So try to survive and stay positive"

So I'll end on saying to all that want to get in this, understand that giving your all is the very best you can do, that way you can look back and whatever the outcome, you will know that you got your entitlement because universal law will not have it any other way.

Remember God always... and be grateful for each day that you wake up because every single night someone goes to sleep for the last time unknowingly.

God Bless

D