December 2, 2009
Posted by nation
St. Andrews Place x One Way
Editor’s note: This is the second part in a two-part series. Read part one here.
As I explained in yesterday’s post, the end goal with getting Weapons of Mass Distraction off the ground was to be able to hold it down at Nah Right. I had learned just about enough and built enough relationships as “nation of moderation” from wmdeez to be “qualified” for the job, but not necessarily being good at it. I would do posts left and right in the Winter/Spring of 2008 whenever eskay needed some help, but most of the time it consisted of me sitting down and listening to an episode of Juan Epstein and then posting it on the site.
One summer morning, I was at my brother’s office helping him with some shit when I noticed it was 11/12 and Nah hadn’t been updated. Not to put his business out there, but I think eskay’s Twitter said he had to be in court that day. So, I decided to stop being such a fucking pussy and try my hand at daytime posting. The thing about posting at night is that there’s almost no one around and the comments are pretty dead, which makes it less stressful to post shit… you won’t get a hundred opinions on what you’re posting. Daytime, though, is a different beast. Between my aggie comment brethren trying to get through their day at work or my fellow students trying to pass time in class… I sometimes don’t make it out alive. It’s still the best job in the world though.
So that day, I buckled down and went in like a life sentence. I started panicking a bit because my RSS reader wasn’t really up to date with the 6000 new rap blogs that had popped up since the summer before that. I had go through it like Splash does it: go to NewMusicCartel.com and scroll down the pages of each blog to find new content, and post it, and link to the site I got it from. I was on my old laptop too, anyway, I’ll spare you the excruciating details but I think I got through that day without anyone suspecting anything was out of the ordinary and that night or the next day I spoke to eskay and told him I wanted to help out regularly and that was really how it all started.
Now, yesterday’s post explained how I got here, and after a year and a half of working at Nah Right “full time,” I’ll explain how my life has changed (this is where you can change the channel.)
Summer 2008 was pretty slow for me and the site. I could put as much work as I wanted to into the site, but living so far away from NY meant that I wouldn’t necessarily see the repercussions of everyone’s hard work coming to fruition. If we’d be getting songs or pushing someone’s work during a week leading up to a project’s release or an event that promotes their project, even if the music would be cool, it almost didn’t mean anything to me at that time because I wouldn’t see the final outcome of it. I had become numb to all the footage, mixtapes, songs, videos for quite some time.
The only thing I remember vividly from 2008 is writing this post, then heading out in the cold to check out my boy’s new condo and e-mailing my man chea like yo, this is the truth. That was really a defining moment for me, and somehow it stuck. Not only was the music that I was hearing more mature, but my boy finally getting his own place (downtown at that) was the beginning of something new… we were finally moving out of our mama’s basement. Although, that night I came home to a fuckton of hate in the comments. As a matter of fact, I still get hate for it but it’s okay, it all comes with the territory.
In 2009, I started kicking it with one of my oldest friends, Bear. Every time he would ask me what I did, I would just change the subject. I was like that with everyone since the summer but it got to the point where every time he saw me he would ask me what was wrong with me (LOL.) When I finally told him, he gave me the craziest look. It’s not that he didn’t understand what a blog was, because he still doesn’t, or that he didn’t listen to any rap, because he didn’t (at the time,) but he thought that this was something I should definitely be telling people.
He’d say shit like “what do you mean you don’t tell anyone about the site.” But I was so fucking hard-headed, it just didn’t make any sense to me. He’s like: (and I quote) “dog, girls like guys who do shit with their lives, not guys who don’t do shit with their lives…” Haha, I’ll never forget that. So now, whenever I meet someone new, he’ll fucking taunt me until I break down and tell them the truth. It’s been roughly 10 months but I’d say I’m rehabilitated. If someone asks now, I’ll tell them, reluctantly though.
Like everything in life, there are pros and cons to this blogging shit. The pro is I’m forced to know all the good shit that happens in rap music at all times, which is honestly the biggest perk for me. I fucking love talking shit to people about how much more I know about music than them. The problem with being the go to source for shit is that when I finally caught my first Jay concert this past October, I was unmoved. Something that’s supposed to be a stepping stone for every rap fan was exactly the same thing as every video I had seen online, to me at least (oh hai LiveNation.) It sounds kinda obvious, but it was a let down for me. One pro is that a lot of people are willing to hear out my opinion on certain matters, but then the con there is that any time you try to talk rap with someone “my man, my man… listen to my artist, he’s nicer than all the wack shit you post daily.”
It’s as if eskay’s idea of setting out to start a website that gathers all the relevant news was specifically formatted to break any and everyone’s artist and make sure they become famous. There’s a ton of stress that comes with the job, and I feel as though the people who devote their lives to it like the big homie eskay don’t get nearly enough credit. But it’s like I told my man Dallas, I started this site so I can talk about these things, things that might pertain to Nah Right, but that wouldn’t necessarily fit as Nah Right programming.
Things haven’t been so bad though. Ever since I started to accept who this site has made me or who I’ve had to become with this site, good things have come along. There’s seriously no better feeling than meeting J. Cole (in my hometown and by sheer luck and coincidence) and attempting to tell him how big of a fan of his work I am while he blatantly cuts me off to tell me how big of a fan of the site he is.
who woulda thought a little nigga from the Ville could get a deal?
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59 Comments
December 2, 2009
once again, great read!
All the best Nation =)
December 2, 2009
good shit nate.
December 2, 2009
i was waitin on the 2nd part since yesterday, def didnt disappoint man…good luck w/ the site!
December 2, 2009
GREAT READ! Looking forward to more things like this.. Thanks!
December 2, 2009
Congrats on the new blog homie. I’ve seen your progression as well and I got much respect for what your doing. Stay focused and stay positive.
Donny Goines
December 2, 2009
my man
I can say the same about your work
thank you
December 2, 2009
My dude, you looking for help on this site? Love this stuff too btw, I wish Nah Right WOULD post stuff like this.
December 2, 2009
there will be guest blogs, yes. what were you thinking of?
e-mail me. top right of the page
December 2, 2009
just move to New York guy.
December 2, 2009
Check your inbox, sir.
December 2, 2009
you don’t know any niggas with any cooler names than Bear?……oh wait, you know Jay Electra.
December 2, 2009
My man, my man… listen to my artist, he’s nicer than all the wack shit you post daily.
December 2, 2009
Another good read.
im definitely looking forward to reading about the first time you and eskay broke up through email lol
December 2, 2009
nice conclusion.
i swag
i surf.
December 2, 2009
stay blessed and best of luck with this right here.
December 2, 2009
This dude brought the Canucks to the hood, word to Bret Hart!
Congrats son!
December 2, 2009
man the internet moves SO fast… i remember wmdeez and for soem reason i never connected the two.
at anyrate… lemme add you to my google reader now
December 2, 2009
my man. it might be because I never made the connection for people, I really wanted wmdeez to be what it was and my work at Nah Right to be untainted
thank you for subscribing
December 2, 2009
Great read nation, as was Part 1. It’s interesting to hear fellow blogger’s stories like this, similar to the way I’ve found reading interviews with Splash interesting. If you ever want a guest blog from someone UK based, you know where to find me. Keep up the good work.
December 2, 2009
Wow, this was basically the most intimate account of a blogger’s life I’ve ever read. Not that I cared much for the lifes of bloggers in general, but nahright is the Website I visit about 40-100 times a day to check if anything new has happened and pretty much my best source for music and news concerning rap music. In addition to that, I always wondered who these other guys were that posted stuff on eskays website, so thanks for enlightening me (tbh, i am not really reading the comments on nah because they tend to confuse the shit out of me, with people talking about football or other blogposts in the comments of a totally unrelated one. But it is what it is).
Thanks nation for bringing the US rap culture over here. You might ask yourself what “over here” means now, and I will have to tell you that by “here” I mean the country I live in, which happens to be Germany. Before the internetz exploded with the blogs we would have to read print magazines on a monthly basis and hope we would find some decent news on an artist’s homepage. Thanks for that too.
keep it up man and drop the shy guy mask about your internet-alter ego, it’s nothing to be discrete about.
December 2, 2009
interesting.
December 2, 2009
you were unmoved by Hov because you were staring at the Drake screensaver on your phone the whole time *does the wacka flocka flame dance and goes to warm up leftover turkey*
December 2, 2009
General Public lookin’ boy lol..happy belated shun shun..nice read also
December 2, 2009
my man, im about to submit some stuff to the itsthecalm email. hottest shit on the streets b. we’re taking over.
i need that post love
December 2, 2009
really enjoyed that nate. keep up the good work on both sites! this one is like the NYT Sunday paper, slower reader, more in depth. NR is more like the TV News, hard hitting and fast
December 2, 2009
great post and secrets were revealed. i say do the opposite of Eskay’s advice and move to Cali so we can start a revolution. i’m hiring….
December 2, 2009
good read *tear*
December 2, 2009
dope story, Nation. congrats on the new blog too.
December 2, 2009
Great post. Congrats and salutes!
December 2, 2009
wow, a blogger? nation is a fucking clown and so is his bullshit bio! all the fuckin artists out there and we nedd another no talent blogger whos claim to fame is “the young god was on kanyes blogroll?” FUCKING KIDS ARE TOO FULL OF URSELF! FUCK NATION OF FAIL!!!!!!!!!!
December 2, 2009
Good to hear your thoughts homie, this was a great idea to start a blog where you can actually talk about things instead of Hip Hop. It let’s the people know who you are as a person. Oh and yeah… Move to NYC!
December 2, 2009
Awesome read. Congrats! And a belated born day to ya
December 2, 2009
great read my dude.
December 2, 2009
just don’t start blogging for XXL.
December 2, 2009
Yo Nation, I’ve been reading Nahright for about 2 years, never posted a comment for whatever reason, but definitely a fan of your posts and lovin the new blog as well. Lookin forward to reading on the regular.
December 2, 2009
every nah reg knew you were doing wmdeez, like ppl know that BH does this please dont stare thing.
Great read tho, keep it up with writing, something i miss a lil bit on NR. Eskay always says that he’ll give more opinion and shit, but when i look at the early posts and compare it to the few lines he might drop like he did in that 50/Jay post today, it’s not even comparable. Anyway, I’m gettin carried away.
congrats again for what you’ve accomplished so far. nh ndr
December 2, 2009
Da fuck (raekwon voice)
December 2, 2009
Super fresh – and hustlegrl killed it with the design for this joint too.
Biggups Nate and biggups T.O., the nation of a million rising stars.
December 2, 2009
just added this to the favorites on my g1.
December 2, 2009
showin son love again nate, keep doin it.
December 2, 2009
Good ish, nation. Congrats, and that was a great read. If people only knew how stressful this blog game was… I never get people trying to get me to promote their artist, but sneaker related clothing brands, that’s another story. All in all, I love what I do.
December 3, 2009
Best of luck with the new site man
December 3, 2009
Good read, cool to see how it all came about. Reminds me of hard it was to explain to Emile and Pat why I started DNC lol. good luck with the site.
December 3, 2009
Yo Nation, this is a good look man, the site is dope, looking forward to what you have in store. I love that you put on for Canada too, when I started seeing the Drake posts on nahright, and seen that you were from Mtl is when i started paying attention to your posts, and now you got hustlegrl designing your site and shit…imo canadian hip hop is reaching such an interesting point right now and i hope this blog is gonna highlight some of the good shit we have going up north. I used to live in MTL too but now im out in edmonton.
December 3, 2009
dope shit
December 3, 2009
good read dude. always dope to hear another person’s story. atleast those that i respect in this “industry” haha.
December 3, 2009
“There’s seriously no better feeling than meeting J. Cole (in my hometown and by sheer luck and coincidence) and attempting to tell him how big of a fan of his work I am while he blatantly cuts me off to tell me how big of a fan of the site he is.”
-
Dude, I write with Yung Nate’s (formerly of Demevolist) blog site, DealWithNoDeal. That sentence right there sums up my Monday at Donny Goines’ show in NYC when I met J. Cole. I can actually relate to the whole thing because I’m almost 20 and blogging isn’t something I’m “hyped” to tell people about. I can go on and on but great read and best of luck over here as well my dude.
December 3, 2009
Good read & good luck wit the site!
December 3, 2009
Congrats Nation- you’ve come a long way, and deserve everything you’ve attained.
Much success to you fam.
December 3, 2009
Chea!
December 3, 2009
Props you Canadian indian jew
December 3, 2009
Good read. Guess this is a bad time to ask you to check out some of my music?
December 3, 2009
Been a everyday lurker/rare poster @ Nah Right since ‘07 and plan on doing the same here. Congrats.
December 3, 2009
*bookmarks site*
Great story. It’s nice too see there’s a person behind all the witty one lined comments on Nahright lol
December 3, 2009
“girls like guys who do shit with their lives”
so true.
December 3, 2009
Great Read. Yo u from NC Nation?
December 4, 2009
“dog, girls like guys who do shit with their lives, not guys who don’t do shit with their lives…”
haha… the true motivation reveals itself j/k
December 5, 2009
I call that freestyle writing.. tis dope, good luck young man. Tell Cole don’t let the fans down, grind harder.
December 6, 2009
“The power of the p-u-s-s-y…That’s Why Every Motherfucka In The World Dress Fly” – That underperforming GOAT rapper.
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