Wordsmith breaks down his daily grind and shares a truly holistic view of artist self-marketing in these excerpts from an already widely distributed text:

I really look at myself as more of a business man then an artist nowadays. It’s crazy to say that, but on the independent circuit there are no A&R;’s, publicists, promoters, bookies, etc.; guerrilla marketing is the constant. Un less you stumbled upon a large sum of money or an investor believes in you, any and all resources will have to be bought out of your own pocket. With that said, I want to take a second and describe an average day of guerilla marketing and recording for me.

I start my day at 4:00 AM 5 days a week and travel over an hour from Baltimore to Washington DC for work. During the drive, I am usually practicing my lyrics for different songs I want to perform at upcoming shows.  When I get to my job, I carry in a book bag that has my rhymebook(s), beat CD’s, and 100 blank CD’s into work...I do an important job, but that doesn’t stop me from spending all 8 of my hours at work burning copies…

When I am really free at work, I am making html codes for internet promo and building databases for every college, commercial, and internet radio station in the US.  Its terrible work, but you don’t need a label or a radio promoter to work your tracks, all the info is on the net if you’re willing to be patient and research things. Just to give you an example, while everyone else is shelling out $2000 to $4000 for a college radio promoter to get their record charted, I took the time and looked up just about every college DJ that submitted a top 30 chart to Rapnetwork & Rapattacklives. Long story short, a track of mine called “Ode to the Pioneers” peaked at number 4 in a month without burning up a credit card or going in debt. It was a grind to make it happen, but I knew the track was strong and on the college circuit, they are all about underground Hip-Hop.

Anyways, back to the grind, when I leave work, I usually take the opportunity to get a lot of my writing done while I am driving home. I wrote most of my last mixtape and my first album in my truck because it saves me time to work on business projects when I get home. When I get back to Baltimore, I go to staples and spend $47 on 150 mixtape covers and proceed to go through sheet after sheet of cutting each cover out. Next, I usually go to Best Buy and buy two packs of jewel cases for all the CD’s I burnt at work. Then, I have to put actual covers on my product, so I have to go CD by CD and send it through my printer, which takes 3 to 4 min to print. The final step is checking out my schedule and database to see what shows I can attend for the week to hand out CD’s. I am working on servicing regular Gas Stations, Malls, and stores with my product as well, so I have my Kontact making me spreadsheets that will allow me to document where, when and how many CD’s I leave at each location…

The next phase of guerilla marketing is something that most artists don’t think about at the independent level and that’s your image. You have to market yourself like you’re already signed, so I push my self to be in great shape for three reasons. One, I travel a lot on the show tip, so it’s important to stay healthy while your on the move. Two, I have a very energetic show that involves consistent quick movements and the use of props you would only see in a theater setting. Three, I want to look like a superstar and present myself as very professional when I am out and about. To make this happen, I run 3 to 4 times a week varying from a mile to 2 miles each time. That is followed by 100 sit ups/ push ups and then an hour to two hour rehearsal with my Deejay DJ Dublee and Kontact. Depending on what time it is, I usually cap my night off doing some more writing and recording.

It’s funny because I feel like I am a machine at times or an annoying admin assistant with my schedules. Hey, what can I say, I am trying to make it in this music industry and I am willing to do as much work as possible to make it happen.

What obstacles have you faced and how have you overcome them?

The biggest obstacles I have faced are dealing with fake people and empty promises. There are so many snakes in this business its ridiculous. My problem is, I give everyone a fair opportunity to show me what there made of and most people are spineless. It’s said to say, but there are not too many good people left in the music business or life for that matter. I’m the type of artist that never lets anyone do all the work because I am use to doing everything on my own, so I can’t understand why some people have helped me for a little bit and then disappear into thin air. It happened so much that I started chalking it up as God is trying to teach me every facet of this business before I reach my goal. It gets tiring and it has made me very paranoid of help, but I still hold out that hope of someone being legit.

Are you still running your club night, CoCo’s? What have been the intentions of the night?

Nah that ended April of last year. I was given a great opportunity to promote my own night there every Wednesday, so I gained some valuable knowledge about booking/promoting while doing that. I was also able to give other artist in Baltimore the chance to step on a stage and show an audience what there made of. I was very strict about who I booked as I wanted to create any atmosphere where there were quality acts from the top to the bottom of the card. Unfortunately, when my part of the night would end, the club would turn the night into a dance party. Well, that wasn’t working out to good as too many shootings kept taking place, so between the cops and the community, they shut down Wednesday night activities. Still, I learned a lot and that experience helped me book the “Bridging the Gap” Concert Series I spoke of.

The Hip-Hop scene is forever expanding with aspiring musical professionals, how does your brand stand out above the rest? How will you be creating a positive impact to the scene?

I would say my brand stands above the rest because I do not pigeon whole myself into making one form of music. I don’t only do snap music, or dance music, or conscious music, I do Universal music as I said earlier. My music is also for all ages as I chose to stop cursing back in 2004 when I got saved and baptized again. My music got more creative, I was able to let my kids & family listen to my music and it allowed me to do shows with P.A.L Centres, schools, and churches. On the business tip, it just made more sense to make my music accessible to all ages as I want a huge global fan base.

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Dub MD: For those who don’t know, could you just give a short review of what you’ve experienced in your rap career up until now?
Wordsmith: To be honest my career so far has felt like I’ve been signed. I say that because I have went through a lot of the situations signed artists experience everyday. My first and only solo Mixtape, “Statements & Stipulations,” was featured on MTV’s Mixtape Monday’s and that bought me press with all the major Hip-Hop sites and gained me feature spreads in my local publications like The Baltimore City Paper. I was signed to one of the top Publicists, Tamika Riley/TRI Inc., and had a manager, both of whom I had to let go because I was doing more work then they were unfortunately. I’ve done a Live show on TV by appearing on Comcast/Adelphia Cables “Backstage Pass Show” and I’ve done intro slash outro jingles for ABC’s Official Heat & Damblock Entertainments commercial radio show in Canada. My first professional music video was shot earlier this year and in ‘07 alone I have booked, promoted, and performed in events with legends like Chubb Rock & Jaz-O. I really feel like a signed artist in regards to my shows because I have moved past just being an MC. I am being hired to be the entertainment at Birthday Parties & Graduations because of the “Hip-Hop Plays” I perform on stage.

In regards to radio, I was able to strike deals with DJ Pauly D of XM Radio “The City” to do weekly freestyles on his show. I secured US debuts for my lead single, Mami Chula on 92.7 Kiss FM in Charlottesville, VA, 93.9 WKYS and XM Radio “The City” in DC, and Latina 100.3 FM in Providence, RI. Overseas I secured debuts on Germany’s number one Urban Station 107.1, Japan’s urban station 76.1 FM, & 103.7 FM, The Monster, in Canada. I just added two new wrinkles to my belt by writing a single for an upcoming movie produced by Magic Johnson called “Seventy Five;” Wyclef Jean did the score for the flick, so it should be dropping soon and signing a deal with Vintage Clothing (vintagelimited.com) to dress me for the 2 to 4 shows I do a week.

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Dub MD: You’ve been real consistent on the mixtape scene for years now, how important do you feel mixtapes are to an upcoming artist?

Wordsmith: I am fifty, fifity on the mixtape scene because I see a lot of artist do tons of mixtapes with a hope they will blow like 50 Cent did. Usually, that’s not the case because of the MC’s that are mainstays on mixtapes seem to lack actual songwriting skills because on mixtapes most of the time your doing quick freestyles over industry beats, or your doing mad collabo tracks, or your just throwing something together to get it out. Now, I do think mixtapes are good to release quality material that isn’t fit for radio or won’t have any marketing behind it. Your track ends up getting marketed through the mixtape, which is good. Other then that, I think mixtapes are best used as a pre-curser to an artists studio album because it wets the listeners tongues and creates a little more buzz for the project. Personally, I only do mixtapes now with people I really fool with on a personal level or if I am offered a hosting dutie on a mixtape. I say that because by hosting a project you can inject more of your influence over the mixtape, where as if you just get a track placed, its in the mix with everything else and may not stand out….Dub, you know I got you on anything because we have built in the past…

really inspiring work ethic.

learning for free by actually putting yourself into situations like booking and promoting and working with event organizers is a good way to grow.  experience is something that cannot be taught.  this cat totally reminds me of how icp used to grind back in the days before personal computers became second nature.  violent j’s book behind the paint, which you can easily find on pirate bay, is one of the best books i’ve ever read about diy promotion, highly recommended.  i should have posted that somewhere else but the thought just occured to me.

Man, I never would have guessed in 1000 years that I should be looking to ICP for tactics, but now that I think about it...yeah.  They built something ridiculous, and the more I think about it, the more I wonder how.  I will definitely check that book out, thanks for the heads-up.

the icp story gets interesting.  they spent their first major advance check doing something completely unthinkable at the time:  PROMOTING THEMSELVES.  their label at the time (jive) had high hopes to cash in on icp’s regional following in michigan without realizing that icp was already two steps ahead of them.  in the early days icp practically invented diy guerilla street promotion.  they were hungry and determined.  even without the benefits and shortcuts much taken for granted these days, i guarantee icp worked at least 5 times as hard as kids today do.  study the foundations of psychopathic records because everything that’s good about diy can be found there. 

and the saying goes… “if icp was fucking able to do it...”

multi-platinum, multi-gold, album debut at #4 billboard, all with little to no press, mtv, music video exposure, magazines, etc.