By Spiridoula “Speed” Zis
Remember Me, It's Nina BOur prestigious, AllHipHop.com’s Breeding Ground stamp of approval is given to those select few underground artists with unrelenting grind, skill, determination and a heavy fanbase propelling them forward into the mainstream spotlight. Brooklyn native and New York City’s hometown favorite, Nina B is the definition of just that example.
With a multitude of successful mixtapes under her belt, Ravenel Records’ First Lady continues to gain industry buzz and street credibility with her most recent mixtape releases,
Nina B.: The Real Miss Rap Supreme with Sirius Radio’s Hip Hop Nation and
The Icon, an unauthorized Madonna mash-up available now for free download to the masses. Nina B shows her versatility from hard-hitting wordplay found in
"Boxin," to a story-telling themed song like
"Shattered Dreams," Nina B has skills.
While many underground artists strive to gain exposure and a fanbase all their own, Nina B’s radio and online popularity can easily be described as paralleling many emcees with large financial backing today.
Nothing short of a hustler’s role model and our Breeding Ground artist to watch, Nina B. reveals to us who’s the girl behind the bubble.
AllHipHop.com: In the history of Hip-Hop, few female emcees have penned their own lyrics. What made you begin writing at an early age?
Nina B: When I started writing, I had so much stuff going on in my life, I needed a release. So, for me, that was it. I got my pen and pad and started out with poetry when I was 9 years old. A teacher came to my school, a substitute teacher, and taught us how to write poems. I remember it like yesterday and I was 9. She taught us how to write all kinds of [poems] and I got open off of being lyrical. I started writing and she was like, ‘You doing good today, you should get you a book and keep on doing it’. I took that advice and went and got me a book and started writing, everyday. I had a lot on my mind. I was the oldest child, so I watched everybody and nobody watched me. I did whatever I wanted to, most of the time – and lucky for me, writing is one of the things I wanted to do and it kept me out of trouble.
AllHipHop.com: How’d you link up with Amber Ravenel, the CEO of your current independent label, Ravenel Records?
Nina B: Amber Ravenel is the CEO of that label and she’s being doin' it herself, since she was 16 years old. I first met Amber at the Hip-Hop Projects, which was kind of like an after-school, nonprofit type thing. She was telling me that she does her thing at this place called The Spotlight, which was a place where everybody could stand up and get feedback from their peers - people that rap, sing, act, whatever.
At first, Amber was there [at Hip-Hop Projects] and she peeped my little swagger or whatever. We joke about it now how she was feelin’ my vibe and I was feelin’ her vibe, but I wasn’t gonna approach her, at first. So, eventually she was like, ‘'Yo, I teach a class every Wednesday on how to own your own record label. Hit me up and come through!" I’m looking at her, she like 18 and I’m like 18 years old and she straight up my age. But I was like, "You know what? Whatever. Ok." I liked how she approached me. I wasn’t used to girls hitting me up like that. At that time, I didn’t have a good relationship with too many females that I knew from my hood. So, I told her, "Bet" and that I was gonna come through.
When I went and was sitting in class, I was thinking she was mad cool. I really respected how she commanded that attention. She was our age, but everyone still respected her as the leader. Feel me? I was really feelin’ her vibe and she was feelin’ mine, but at that point it wasn’t nothin’ serious. We didn’t really start anything until I got back from LA.
AllHipHop.com: Tell me about that trip to LA for the final casting round of
America’s Next Top Model?
Nina B: On some bullsh*t, my girl was like, “You should try out for America’s Next Top Model!” I’m like, “Aight, I’ll try out. Whatever.“ So, we go over to try out and I make it to like Top 30! After that, the show flew me out to Cali and that was really my first time really traveling a distance on my own. I was like 19 and that was fresh out The Blackout [in NYC]. The lights had just come back on, the phones just came back on and I got a call like, “We booked you a flight to get to Cali!” I just jumped on the flight and went out there for a minute.
When I was out there, they really had you on lock. You couldn’t call nobody, can’t really go out. But I was cheatin’ like a motherf*cker. I was outside everyday. They were like, “You can’t go nowhere” and I’m like, “Ok.” [Laughs] I’m on the strip. Everywhere, just enjoying myself. I didn’t end up making it to the real final cut, but that was an experience. Just going and learning and when I came back I was on my sh*it. I knew I had potential, I just had to put the effort into it. I was like, “I need to back on my music.” My rhyme books were getting thicker and thicker and I was doing nothing with 'em. It was just a matter of focus and that’s what I did.
Right before I left for LA, [Amber] had hit me with all these numbers of people that were out there. I just noticed that she was very involved. Like, I was going to a whole other side of the United States and she showing me who I should link up with. And at that time she was the only person I felt was moving me forward.
When I came back, that’s really when I approached her like, “Yo, lets making it happen. I’m not playing anymore,” and that’s really when I got on my grind. Two weeks later, we put out a mixtape.
AllHipHop.com: What’s the story behind you waiting outside of Hot 97 for Kay Slay?
Nina B: Well, they now banned us from standing outside of Hot 97. We can’t stand outside there no more. [Laughs] One day, Kay Slay was on the air and was like, “Yo, I’m making a call for female rappers to come through. I don’t see or hear y’all, anywhere! Where the f*ck y’all at?” My cousin calls me and tells me what Slay talkin’ about, wanted to go get it poppin’. I’m like, “Man, I’m not even wasting my time.“ I wasn’t on it like that, at that time. I didn’t know if I was ready to do all that. I had approached DJs before and felt like I was getting the run-around. So, I didn’t really wanna make that move. But then I was like, “F*ck it,” cause Amber had put me on to it too. Somebody had hit her up and she hit me up.
At that time, when [Amber and I] first linked up, she would have to put the battery in my back, cause I wasn’t really into it. I got dressed, went out there before his show came on, but Slay had gone upstairs already. We like, “F*ck that, we waiting for this nigga to come back outside.” We waited until like 2 or 3 AM and in fact, it was better, because there was nobody really out there by that time. There had been like 1 or 2 heads before. He come outside and I’m like, “What up, Slay, Man.. Nina B.“ This and that. He like, “I see you.. you got music?” I don’t know if he was feelin’ my approach, but he took the CD and he just kept it movin’ from that.
But from there, I built a relationship with him. I kept coming back. I didn’t just say, “Here’s music, check me out.” I kept coming back every week. Every week I started coming back even thicker. I started go out there with all my peoples wearing Nina B shirts. I wanted to show them that I am the streets and why they should f*ck with me.
Then my boy Kulture from The Morning Show, had started to hit me up about some battles, like the Summer Jam battle. I actually ended up doing a couple battles for him. He was telling me about this battle where Kay Slay was gonna be judge. I had heard that Slay was shouting me out too. So, my boy was telling me to get in the battle and let everybody see what I do, so people will wanna mess with me. He also told me it was $5000 prize, so I said, “Can’t beat that. Aight, bet, I’m there.”
So, I get up there [to the battle] and Slay like, “Yo, Nina do your thing.“ This, that and third, you know? So, I’m up there and went through a couple nig**as, just battling. But then I started cursing. You know, sometimes you just get so passionate about what you saying. Some people started saying like, “She cursed, she out,” because them other ni**as that had been cursing, they got disqualified. But with the girls, it was like it just turned sh*t up. Me and these other girls just turned it up and a lot of other people didn’t want it to stop. We wasn’t stoppin’ and they just told me to spit again, like the judges didn’t care. So, I was like, ‘Word? They not gonna bother me about it? That’s what's up’. That sh*t just ended pumping me up even more. But then I ended up cursing again, cause at the end of the day, I was just doing my thing. But that wasn’t right and shorty I was battling was like, "Yo, you just cursed at me. You should be disqualified cause you broke the rules." So, yea, I didn’t win the battle, but I won the war, cause niggas was f*ckin’ wit me.
It was a Thursday night edition of [Hot 97’s]
Drama Hour, so people were calling me saying they didn’t even know I had skills like that. People knew if I hadn’t cursed, I would have won that battle.
The point is, that I knew who I wanted to f*ck with and found a way to make them f*ck with me. That’s how it works. That’s just how I do things. I try to stay smarter than everybody else. I knew [Slay] was gonna be there, so I made myself available to him. I showed him what I do, instead of just trying to tell him. Everybody trying to tell him what they do. I wanted him to see what I do for himself.
I kept going back to Hot 97 every week for about 4 months and just made him and everyone see me everywhere. Even if I wasn’t personally there, my flyers were there or my street team was there.
To back it up, I had good music, so when Slay finally did start playing my music, he was getting good feedback. After that more chicks started waiting outside of the station. Next time, you know, we doing an “All Chicks Week” up there [on
The Drama Hour]. I don’t know if it was cause of me that he decided to do it. But I’m feeling like I made this sh*t pop. [Laughs] None of these chicks were really out there like I was out there. After that, you know, I went up there and did my thing and just been maneuvering since then. I’m so happy that now we have such a great relationship that I don’t even have to worry about standing outside of the station anymore.
AllHipHop.com: You’ve seem to offer your mixtapes online with a different approach than many artists…
Nina B.: Yea, with Nina B:
The Real Miss Rap Supreme with Sirius Radio’s Hip Hop Nation, you know, they just wanted to get to the bottom of why I wasn’t on the show [Miss Rap Supreme]. That’s still available for free download at www.illroots.com. We sold them for a minute and that was a real good look. And I also put out the Madonna project, The Icon, that’s available at www.ninabmusic.com. That was definitely a real success and I’m happy about all the people that reached out to it.
The first video with it got pulled from Youtube cause it got 600,000 views in like 30 days. Warner Bros. pulled it off cause of [the Madonna music] and they tried to shut my page down, but all that did was generate more and more income. Now people were asking questions about why all that got taken down, so it was good for us. So, I’m really doin' it right now.
AllHipHop.com: Were you originally approached about auditioning for the show,
Miss Rap Supreme?
Nina B.: Oh yea, they approached me about it. They hit me up through my homeboy – actually they hit a couple people up that know me from doing showcases and stuff like that. Originally, my manager and I considered it, but we declined. For whatever reason, we were like, ‘Nah, lets just fallback’. But then the show came to me and said, ‘Yo, if you mess with us and come deal with the show, we’ll cast you. Don’t worry, you wont have to worry about nothing.’ Like they were trying to coerce me. But I felt like as easily as they were telling me that, they could be telling the next chick that. You know what I’m saying? As easily as they were telling me that, they could be telling the next chick that and I didn’t want to go up there a fool. So, I didn’t think it would be the best move for me.
Its on AllHipHop's rumors that I had gotten into a incident at a club at one time [with one of the cast members] and then I’m on the phone with one of the show’s coordinators and she came out her face and said somebody’s name. So, that that really turned me off to the whole situation. They tried to get me in some meetings about coming on the show, so Amber came to the meetings and they were asking me mad questions about the fight. Just with the initial first questions, I noticed they were spending a lot of time focusing on all that. I’m really sensitive and everything just kept adding up. I realized it just wasn’t worth it. At the end of the day, I look at it like this - We still poppin.
Congratulations to the winner and all of that. But at the end of the day, that show doesn’t really define the real Miss Rap Supreme. None of those tasks were really anything that a real rapper goes through day-to-day. So, I don’t know if that really defines the real Miss Rap Supreme. I really do feel like am the real Miss Rap Supreme.
AllHipHop.com: Is signing with a major record label a goal for you as an independent artist?
Nina B: I think when I first started rapping that was my goal. But after I linked up with Ravenel Records, within that first two years, that goal started to feel like less of something I wanted to attain. I started to feel comfortable and really learn the ins and outs of the game. I started to realize the politics of all that and how I could make more money for myself independently. If it’s a situation that can compliment what I got going on now, that’s what I want. Otherwise, I’m not pressed. I’m happy with my situation right now and the distribution deal that I do have.
AllHipHop.com: Your music videos have been popular on YouTube.com and other media outlets. What’s been your method for creating those visuals?
Nina B: I’m so happy with the relationship I got with Scenario [the director]. I met him years ago, because he had a friendship with Amber. So, Amber introduced me to him and we started to build. He shot like two or three videos of mine in ’04 or 05’. Those were my first joints. We just have a crazy chemistry between us. He’s a rockstar and innovative and creative. Just being around him, I learn so much. It’s made me a better artist to see visually exactly what I’m doin'. I think I got an advantage, because I have a Visual Artist in my team. He does what he does like nobody else and been doing it for a long time. We grind 24 hours a day, no problem, all day. He’s a Taurus, like me, so you already know.
AllHipHop.com: The video of you and Lil Mama on RockMeTV’s "The Round Table" received thousands of his online. Some people were dubbing the clip a battle, when it was clearly a cipher. How did you feel about the attention that freestyle gained?
Nina B: I think that particular episode had the viral effect. Everybody really responded to it. I think a lot of it came from the fact that there is a lack of presence in female Hip-Hop in New York, right now. Two females together, spittin' and going at it – just turned the heat up a little bit. I think we not really seeing enough of that. I hope to see more of it and I hope that it doesn’t always have to be built on a competition. At the end of the day, I’m an emcee and I do this everyday with different people. Might be at a radio station or with different artists, but I go back and forth with everybody and its not necessarily a competition. If anything, its friendly and its all about being lyrical and getting it in. My approach to the video was like, this is what I do everyday. But I’m really happy that everybody got to see it and that people were so interested. I think apart of that was that people amped it up to be more than what it really was. Really it was just us getting off our little verses. I wasn’t going at nobody.