I wanted to work at [ _____ magazine] since college and when I got that chance in 2007, I felt like I was finally on track to making my dreams come to fruition. Getting there was arduous. I didn’t have the easy path a lot of my peers had fresh out of college. Employment didn’t come easy (don’t you just hate people who get jobs right away), which forced me into a freelance life. Freelancing was a lot easier then because companies were willing to pay more for hard and quality work.

While piecing hustles together, I held on to hope that I’d get to [____ magazine] as a staffer. My moment came when I was originally going to be hired as their web editor but that fell through and I thought life and any chance at my dream career was over (I have a bad habit of thinking the worst of situations). Months after that, I began working on my dream deferred plan, which involved me teaching dance to 3rd graders and considering teaching academics full time. One day on my lunch break, I got a phone call that changed my life. Another position at the magazine opened and I was the first choice. At that point in my career, it was a step down to an entry level position (not a major step but I had two years experience in the freelance world in TV production and print, by then) but sometimes you have to make sacrifices when you’re working toward your dreams so I took the job.

A little over a year later–after I began carving my path at the company by obtaining more job responsibilities and a title change–I got laid off.

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Gritty Pretty Thangs
Words by Gangstarr Girl

Never trust a pretty face and smile. The rapper La Femme NIKITA is just as gully as Luc Besson’s spy/assassin from the 1990 French action flick turned U.S. crossover phenomenon.

Before giving in to her rapper persona, 21-year-old Natasha Walton was a songbird who became a finalist on season one of Making the Band 3. As fate would have it, she obviously didn’t become a member of Danity Kane (thank goodness) but that hasn’t stopped her from continuing to pursue her dreams.

Raised in Texarkana, TX, she was always singing but added rapping to her repertoire at age 13.

“I remember hanging around my older brother and cousin, and wanting to be just like them. I wanted to be like the guys,” says NIKITA. “I wrote my first rap trying to impress them [and] they wer like, “little girl get out of here!”

Raised by her “big momma” aka “Shotgun Anni,” who told her she could do anything she put her mind to, quitting wasn’t in her blood and that’s why she never put down her rhyme book. With a recent appearance on Bet’s Rap City, and her latest single “Patrón” currently receiving airplay on 92.3 FM KIIZ (Waco, TX), Power 102 (EL PASO, TX), Q93.3 (New Orleans), 92.1FM The Beat (Tulsa OK) and in the general Texarkana area, this lyrical Femme Fatale is spitting, grinding and being as gangstarr as her name–with a voice to match. NIKITA charges the mic with estrogen but with bass in her voice à la Rah Digga circa ’98. Gangstarr Girl caught up with the young diva who broke down various topics pertaining to her world.

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Marvo

*WARNING* Please read part 1 and part 2 before you continue.

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 shit, I think fans would look at them a little different.”

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Creature

*WARNING* Read part 1 before you continue.

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.”

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Have you ever been approached by an unknown rapper on the street, trying to sell you his music? This is the true story of their hustle. I spent some time with a couple of rappers that I met and gained new insight on what they do for a living. It was originally intended for a magazine, but it never got picked up. Instead, I posted it up on hiphopdx.com. But I love the story so much, I decided to give it new life and repost. 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, MP3s or anywhere Hip-Hop is sold. Some hustles are illegal, others are legit, but the concept surmounts simply being recorded and transcends into reality. H the Great, Marvo (formerly known as Marvalous) and Creature are living proof.

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