100 (last post on this blog)

So it's finally here...100! I told everyone the J-RE blog stops at 100. I hope that when you look back on this blog at all of my 100 posts...that you will be able to learn something from what i wrote. I've been through a lot of ups and downs in this music industry(and acting as well)and learned many many lessons, still learning. But i hope that my lessons teach you what to do and what not to do. The bottom line is that this industry is not easy. If you think it is then you are kidding yourself. It's very difficult, one of the hardest things i've ever had to do in my life. To some it may have come easy but they are the lucky few, like strking the lotto...for me it hasn't, actually nothing in my life has been easy. Everything i have i had to work extremely hard for it.

I do know this though, if you have a dream in your heart...that dream will never ever die. No matter if you are 12 or 100. The dream stays. It's what you choose to do with that dream. Are you going to pursue it, or forget about it? One thing i don't want you to ever forget is to don't do something for the fame. Do it for the art and for the love. If you do it that way, then whatever you produce will always be from the heart, and someone somewhere will feel you. Even if it's just 1 person. At least you touched 1 person and left your mark on the world through that person.


J-RE will always be apart of me, im not ashamed of him, but as i mature its time to put J-RE to rest. My alliace now, is my real name Dave Cirino (Jr). IF you still want to call me J-RE...hey i aint mad at ya! As far as what im doing and what ive learned from it all is if no one is giving you a chance, then you have to create your own chance. No one has ever opened a door for me, i had to kick the doors down. I shopped my demo to no lie over 100 labels, ive had a lot of broken promises. So i left it all behind and decided to do everything my self. Always remember though, u still need people to help you, u still need a team behind you. You cant do everything alone. If it wasnt for my team i wouldnt be able to do anything. I learned production, engineering, web, everything, and applied it to my music. I started my own record label and putting my music out through Purple Fox Digital now. We just dropped an EP called "SpaceMan" and its on itunes, and all digital sites: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=332504436&s=143441

After all of these years of trying to get signed to a major and trying to get famous, ive learned that they arent going to open that door. Ive learned self independance, and to create your own opportunity. A few years ago that would not be possible, but now with all of this technology like youtube, tunecore, etc. there is no excuse for us artists to get heard. We just have to put the work in. Marketing is also the most important aspect of it all. Once your product is created how are you going to market it? how will it sell? Thats something im still learning. Learn Marketing.

This blog may be done...but i have a brand new blogsite @ davecirino.wordpress.com
follow me there. Everything about my music is there. you can purchase my music, listen to samples, view pics, videos, podcasts...check it out. I couldn't do this without God, my family, and true friends. I urge you to gain a closer relationship with GOD and to become saved if you are not already. Thanks everyone...see you at the top!

Dave Cirino

WHO???!!!??? (99th)

It took 99 posts here up on this blog to realize something about the music industry...THEY CAN'T HELP YOU!

Let that marinate for a minute my dudes and dudettes...marinate it somemore...Okay let me explain (cause thats a bold statement): And it's not just music, its life in general, and in every profession. Can i be blunt for a minute...The industry doesn't give a flying F*** about you! They only care about you when you are already famous, and when you do get famous, they talk about u like a dog. Thats the industry in a nutshell folks. Im writing this to all my fellow up and comings, cause can i be honest again...a lot of yall are like deers caught in some head lights. You all want to get record deals and blow up and get famous. You all want to get discovered...but to be honest with yall it doesnt happen like that.

1. Work harder- if you think you are working hard...you probable aren't and you need to work harder at your dreams.

2. The industry doesn't give a F about you and will not help you until you are already there...most of them are panzies and think they are cool, when they really aren't. Which leads to the question, how do you get there if no one wants to help you...AND I answer on number 3.

3. You DO EVERYTHING YOUR DAMN SELF. If you dont know how to do it learn. I didnt know photoshop...but i learned it, now i do my album covers...i didnt know how to create websites, but im learning...i was tired of paying mad money for an engineer to mix my records, so i taught my self how to engineer...i was tired of paying for studio time, so i built one my self. I was tired of (10 years ago) waiting on beats..so i bought a board and gear and produced them my self, dont need a songwriter cause i do it my damn self. Theres 2 things i must admit...that you probably do need in this industry and cannot get around this. AND i answer in # 4.

4. A Mastering engineer and Marketing. You def need experienced ears to polish your records so they are radio ready...and you need marketing if you want to make money...PERIOD.

Wait till 100...
SpaceMan

Don't rely on others to get it done

Dont' rely on other people to get things done for you. Can i just be frank here? I mean you have to understand something. You NEED people to get things done for you, but their goals and dreams are not YOUR goals and dreams...and they may not be as enthusiastic as you may be about a particular project. If you have a deadline or a project and you are working on, and you have people working on something for you, just make sure they are on page with what you are trying to do. If you can, do it your self...but if you need to hire some one to do something for you make sure they get it done.

Real talk

realizing...

that in order to be successful and heard in this business, you need incredible amounts of marketing, promotion, and advertising. Thats wat runs companies from the small mom and pops to the major corporations. Marketing, Promotion, and Advertising. Promotion is FREE...Marketing and Advertising is what costs. If you are going to make it in the music business as an independant you cannot negelect marketing and advertising. Especially online in the digital age. You cannot and i stress CANNOT just put ur album up online and expect it to sell. It simply won't. You may get a few sales from people who happened to stumble across your music but thats about it. Trust me i know, that was my first mistake when i dropped "love chronicles" on CD baby. But that was wat 4/5 years ago? i learned and grown from my mistakes and am taking the business side of music very seriously. Its one thing to create but marketing...thats a whole nother ball game. Lets see if my business degree from MSU comes in handy...

so much work

I didn't realize how much work goes into starting a record label if you want it to be succesful. Work and Money Work and Money. Its tough, but everything is coming along. The album is a little pushed back, cause im waiting on the art work to be completed and getting the business/paperwork together for the label. Still looking at a September/oct release for SpaceMan.

look 4 more posts...

95th post

well guys...5 more posts till i shut this thing dow with y'all. Just wanted to let you all know that things are going very well and looking very good. SpaceMan is completely done and mastered. We just finished the photo shoot for it. The album cover is being designed now and the website is being worked on. Everything is looking how is supposed to. The label also is legally a business! everything is in order...

Mike Jack Tribute

Although i didn't know him personally, we all grew up on his music. Micheal Jackson has affected lives around the world with his music, and has united races. True, mike was very flawed as a person, but what person isn't flawed. The media was just too hard on micheal, there is only so much a man can take. In my own personal opinion, the media killed him. The pressure of Joe Jackson, using mike as a cash cow, his unfair expectations of him led mike to make decisions that effected his longterm health, his insecurities. That is what really scarred micheal jackson. I don't think that he ever recovered from that abuse. That's what killed him, his internal demons that he had to face. Yet, this still doesn't take away from the fact that micheal was the greatest entertainer of ALL time, surpassing all genres of music. Not only was he a Black American Icon to the black communities, but he was an American Icon, to all communities. All that one can really do is pray for Micheal and hope that he has given his life over to God. Pray for his soul and pray that he was saved.

There are many lessons from this tragic death, that one can learn. That is to love your self for who and what you are regardless off skin color or race. Accept what you are as a human being, and embrace it. Learn to let go of the past. The past will kill you. You cannot dwell on issues that you no longer have control over. Deal with them and move on with your life. Eat healthy, work out, and take care of your body. Be careful of the kinds of medications that you are taking, and for God's sake stop taking medications like sleeping pills, pain killers, haven't we had enough deaths due to these kind of overdoses? We must educate ourselves properly if we are to take these kind of medicines. And finally, who cares what the media thinks! The media will kill you, and move on to the next story tomorrow. Why should you let that affect your life. They are paid to be vampires.

Micheal Jackson is gone too soon, but all we can do is mourn for him, pray, and learn lessons from this tragedy.

Dave Cirino Jr.

SpaceMan Continued

Didnt get the role that i wanted for the film "Cream" Man...sucks cause i had damn near 3 call backs. I really thought i was getting it. But thats how the business is. Gotta keep moving to whats next.

Good News: SPACEMAN EP is 75% mixed. ANd im very happy with the results thus far. I still have to polish it up a little and make is sound crispy so thats going to be about 2 or 3 more days of serious serious mixing on it. Im staring tomorrow and Monday. Im going to print my 2nd version of the mix see what else it needs and then im going to do the final mix to give it soul, and after that its getting shipped off to mastering, and then im going on vacation.

Still working on Spaceman...

Man things seem to be at a stand still with these release dates. The good news is that all of the songs for Spaceman and R&B Rockstar are done. Including all harmonies, and arrangements...the bad news is that they are not mixed. But im mixing spaceman first. Im hoping to have all the songs mixed for spaceman done in about 2 weeks. Will keep you all posted.

On another note. I had 3 call backs for this movie called "Cream" supposed be starring Tyrese. It was a good opportunity to get a leading role in a film, unfortunely, in the end, i didn't get the part. But i tell u wat it was a good opportunity, and i know there will be many more

Space Man EP

before we drop the album, we are launching the EP campaign. I call it Space Man...it consists of about 7 joints and we will be putting it up on Itunes and Amazon for purchase. This is going to get us in the right direction and setup R&B Rockstar to be very very successful. Following the success of "Backpacks and Yak" The Space man campaign should be very successful. Im excited!

Branding Meeting

So i had a branding meeting with a branding company. They were real cool and down to earth. Shouts outs to scott. So we are at a bar, casual enironment, a few beers, and we start talking music. Great meeting, great connect, and I hope to work with this company in the near future.

The one thing i got out of the meeting was this: "What are you doing next?" "Whats the next thing?" By that i mean, we have been having some succeess with the music: Myspace feature, musicremedy feature, weehawken reporter from cover, atlantic county press clip...the buzz has been great, BUT "What are you doing next" "Whats the next thing?" Basically we just gotta keep rolling and keep putting out new material, cause the buzz does not last forever.

Myspace Feature...

So i (Dave Cirino) was the featured artist on myspace for Thursday and Friday...WOW! That's huge! That's worldwide! I just want to thank everyone for the continued love and support..and also want to thank those who really still don't belive in me as artist, cause i thrive off of that and get better because of that. But i want to thank all of my family..and friends. And i know that it is all God and HIS doing. When you put him first all things are added unto you.

We still have a lot of work to do and and a long way to go...but this is a great 1st step. Now everything i do has to be on point. I tell you what, i told everybody im stopping at 100 posts...and my ulitmate goal was to have something huge happen when ended this blog series of my musical journey...this is pretty big...The only thing bigger right now is getting signed to a major and selling millions of records.

Party was a smash!

So the mixtape party went really well. It was a great turnout, great music, and i gave out my mixtape...mingled and met some people. Awesome night!

Thanks to everyone that came out and showed some support.

Come out to my Mixtape Party!

Dave Cirino- BackPacks & Yak (hosted by DJ Kool Kid!)
Mixtape Release Party!!!

When:
Friday February 20th from 8pm-Until

Where:
RSVP Lounge
4303 Broadway Between. 43rd & 44th Street
Astoria, Queens

Directions From Times Square:
R Train uptown to Steinway St
(only a few train stops from Time Square, NY!)

Entry:
Free Entry with RSVP to stephencirino@gmail.com
Please RSVP by noon Thursday 02-19-09
($5 entry free without RSVP)

Specials:
$5 flaming shots and Bottle specials all night
2 for 1 well drinks from 8-10pmDJ STATLE on the 1's & 2's from 8-12am!

Come out and support! Tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend!

Thank you God, thank you Kool Kid, Thank you Steve, thank you Cirino Fam, thank you Allison, fans and friends

WOWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!FLAMESSSS!!!!!!THats all i gotta say yo . DAG OCK, this Backpaks and Yak mixtape is off the chain man. Hold up, first off im just going to humble myself yo...I want to thank my God and Jesus for helping me with my talent. Annointing me, and anointing my hands, ears, vocals, to do this. I want to Thank DJ KOOL KID...the hottest FRIGGIN DJ on the planet...you made this sound so hot kid! I want to thank my brother Steve, my engineer/manager for helping with this project and getting this thing launched off right. I want to thank my family Cirino fam yo, My incredibe moms and pops, My hollywood actor Brother Matt, my Beautiful and talented sis TT, and all my family extended ( YOU all know who you are)My beautiful girl Allie for the love and support...Everyone is appreciated who is apart of my life and i love you all man...I think we might be going to the top with this one yo...I aint tryna hype my own stuff up too much man, but i think this is a R&B Illmatic OCK! YO stop wat you doing and go download this mixtape and make 100 copies and give this stuff out, GET THIS OUT THERE MAN!!!!!!!JERSEY STAND IT UP BABY NY stand up BABY PHILLY stand up baby

You can download it on my myspace page yo...www.myspace.com/jre3 (give me a few days to put it up tho aight) Im sure kool kid will have it up on one of his mixtape sites too...ill keep yall posted

ALSO CANT FORGET J-DILLA. This one is for you my friend!

1 ...

Bakpaks and Yak mixtape

So "R&B Rockstar" is still being worked on...it was supposed to be dropping in January but you know what, im not rushing the release. I want this album to be perfect. It has to be...SO in the meantime, im focusing all of my energy on my mixtape thats coming out called "Bakpaks and Yak" And this is no BS release. This is an official release and its hosted by DJ KOOL KID. IF you don't know who Kool Kid is you should google him, he's pretty famous in the hip hop world. So for him to be hosting the mixtape is a blessing. This is a huge opportunity to really get my name out and for people to hear some dope music by me Dave Cirino.

It's a lot of work mixing this stuff down tho. The recording process was nothing...a breeze...but mixing, HA thats a whole nother ballgame. You have to realize that im also an engineer so i mix my recordings. Its not easy trying to get everything to sound crisp and sonically pleasing to the ears...plus im on a deadline which is actually today, cause KOOL KID needs the mixtape by Tuesday...and i have to send this off for mastering, so basically i gotta get this mastered in 2 days. Talk about stress...and the ME is not picking up his phone, so im on one strand right now. THe mix is 95 percent done. Im not worried about that, im worried about getting this mix the ME so he can throw that last polish and sheen on my music. Hopefully it works out, but im so tired ive been mixing this tape for about 4 days now and im putting in 12,13 hour days. (after working a job full time)

Youtube

I gotta say for any artist trying to get your name out there, you definately have to start posting your stuff on youtube. Get your name out there. I mean, how else are you going to promote yourself if no one else is doing it for you?

If you go to youtube and type in "Dave Cirino" you'll see some of my videos up. A lot of them are tutorials on how to build a home studio. I think that you should always give something back to people, even if you are trying to make it and come up, you should still be giving something back throughout that process. The reason im doing these tutorials, is because i remember when i was starting out and needed help and advice...There was really no one to ask these questions to. I remember that feeling so why not help those who were just like me? And at the same time its a good way to get my music out there, so its a win win for everyone.

If your not on you tube you should seriously start thinking about getting you a camera and posting some vids.

Happy New Year...

Well my year for 2009 started off with a bang...We had water damage in our apartment and damaged a lot of things in the apartment like a lot of Vinyls, The rugs, clothes, bedding, dvd player...Thank God it didnt touch my music equipment...Man i was down a little bit, but i know that it is a sign and a confirmation for me that 2009 is going to be my year. So im not trippin off it. IM just going to be happy and thank God, because i believe that this is going to be a great year for me and my loved ones.

Internet Bloggers...

attention artists... A side note about internet bloggers. Don't listen to them! A lot of these internet thugs/bloggers (youtube, amazon, etc.) just write things to get you upset. There are a lot of haters in the internet world. A word of advice to all my fellow artists : Don't read reviews... Just do wat you do and put it out there. Some people will love what you do and some people will hate it. I am a strong believer in expressing your opinions about something, but i also believe in people's feelings. If you have nothing but hate in your heart for no apparent reason about someone's music, well just keep it to yourself. If you just dont like it you dont like it...no biggie, but the problem with the internet bloggers is that they intentionally say things to bring the artist down, and thats not cool. Artists are sensitive man, we can take constructive criticsm (to an extent) but not destructive Hate. That's y for me, i dont even read reviews on my music anymore. Trust me every artist from the small no name indie in his garage to Beyonce to Jay-Z reads reviews on Amazon, you tube, the papers, the mags...Like i said...ignore the internet gangtas!

Progress...

Wow, 80 posts already. 100 is approaching real quick...Man we are making so much progess. Me and Steve we are just cranking away. We have two more tracks to finish for the new album (not including mixing) but yea we started recording in what mid November, thats pretty darn good! IM excited yo, the tracks are coming out so so so good. I havent been this excited since...since...Dag i dont remember the last time i been this excited (maybe when i was a kid and it was Xmas eve or something). We are also working on a mixtape which is going to drop before the album to create a litte buzz in the streets letting everybody know: "HEY DAVE CIRINO HAS A NEW ALBUM COMING SOON AND ITS HOT!" God is good though. '09 i believe is my year, our year, this is the year. Im the One.

I was watching Joel Osteen a few nights ago and he said that sometimes the enemy will inject negative thoughts into your mind like "This is going to be hard" "I will never make it" Things like that to discourage you. But you just have to keep believing in yourself and just know that you are the one. That if you put in the work and just keep trying, something positive is bound to happen...in whatever your dream/craft/skill is.

Songwriting and the public...

I just wanted to blog about this to my fellow songwriters and singers about writing lyrics. There is a dilema i think with the artist and the people who are buying/listening to the music. Obviously you as the artist need to express yourself the way you want to. Thats the point of being called an "artist" However I think the audience also needs to feel you but not get lost in you to where they can't understand you. That is the approach that im taking on writing my album right now. Like I can write deep lyrics, so deep that you just won't know what the HE@@ im talking about, and that is satisfying to me, but you also have to keep the listener in mind. The key to everything is to keep it simple but subliminally hide your deep thought in your simplicity, so that the audience can relate to what your saying...although you may be singing about something totally different. That's when you know you have mastered your songwriting craft.

To be honest, and lets be honest here folks...Most people are not that deep...Not to take anything from anyone, but people like things done simple and fast. Thats the world we live in today. When constructing music, you have to keep that in mind, Its true that you must make music the way you want...but it is also true that you must not be selfish when making your music, because you are making music for the people. Keep it deep but simple at the same time. Keep it interesting, and people will appreciate you for it. And dont talk about the SAME DAMN THING ON EVERY DAMN TRACK...(hmmm...) think about that one for a minute... Thats what i had to learn on this album in comparison to my last one...Just some advice

Things is rolling

Im really excited about this new year coming up and the things that im doing. Like Im real positive about whats going to happen. I really believe that this is my year y'all. We making progess with the album. We have 8 joints done already out or 13 and let me tell you they sound hot! We working on a mix tape too before we drop the album so we can create some buzz get the name buzzing in everybody's ears...

HA we was tryna get Consequence on one of my tracks to do a collab wit me. We spoke wit em...tryna iron some things out, well see what happens...

Also i want to shout out my dude Calvin Richardson who gave me huge inspiration to just continue doing my music as an indie. Thanks for the support Calvin!!!

Dave Cirino

The Holiday Excuse

Im telling you, everyone uses this...right around the end of October- mid January..."WITH the holidays" it's tough right now, or "It's going to have to wait till after the holidays" LOL! I laugh at this exuse cause everyone uses it from Music to Working out. BUT I say to all you artists out there to not slack on the holidays but to work even harder, cause while every one else is chilling, eating garbage and getting fat...you can be grinding hard getting your work done so when the NEW YEAR rolls in, you go full force first from January 1st. Dont slack on the Holidays ladies and gents...WORK HARDER, WORK SMARTER!

Album Update

So far so good...the album is coming along just as planned and scheduled. Man the stuff that we are doing is so hot! I can't wait for it to come out, im very excited about this album. What makes it even more exciting for me is the fact that me and my brother are doing this by ourselves. We aren't going to any studio to record, mix, or engineer. Basically we have the equipment we need to get the work done. My brother engineers me and we both will be mixing the project. The only thing that is a must is that we send it off for mastering so they can do their magic on our mixes...but its a great feeling when you know that everything you're doing is coming from your own creativity and your own hands...WOW!!

So the name of the album has changed...It was called "Book of Secrets" but i changed the title into something even hotter...CANT Tell you the name yet but ill give you the initials "R.B.R" FLAMES. Originally i had 15 tracks but we decided to slim and trim down to 13 (maybe 14) depending. But basically just want to keep this short, sweet, and to the point. Providing 13 hits...I feel this one may be a classic...well see tho!

Barack Obama

History was made last night on November 4th, and im proud to be apart of it. You don't really here this that much from me, but I'm proud to be an American. This was ground breaking for America and for the entire world! Congratulations to Barak and everyone who voted for him. Very Very Very inspiring. Who knows maybe when im older and settled ill run for mayor.

ON AN ALBUM NOTE: Wow 24 more posts and you wont be hearing from me anymore. But yea the album is blaze, its going to be a lot of work to get this done but we are pushing for sometime in December. Its going to be 13 tracks on it. If you go to www.myspace.com/jre3 you can see a preview of the album on the page to get a feel for it. Check it out! My Production squad also has an opportunity (if they like the beat tape) with a new clothing line label coming out. So Im a little nervous about that. Hopefully everything works out. Seems like positive things are shifting my way. Ill keep you updated on the next post.

What Matters

I had a dream that the end of the world was occuring. In my dream I was told that tomorrow was the last day. I woke up freaked, but rememberred my conversation i had with my mother 2 days prior. In the end we all have to answer to GOD. Each and every one of else. It started off by me calling her to get some advice about these creditors that keep friggn harrassin me, as i try and get my financial life back together...I mean what she said is tru very true. Obviously while we are here on earth, we have an obligation to take care of our families and provide for them, and really try hard to financially provide,etc. That is very important of course. But you see people, celebs, flash things that so many middle, lower, and upper class make a priority to attain, like who has the best car, who has the best house, whose the best dressed, who has the most jewelry, how famous you are. I mean society places an emphasis on these things, but the reality of it all is that you cannot take any of these things with you when you pass on. When you stand in front of the father, HE is not going to ask you if you were debt free or if you purchased the latest Mercedes Model. HE is going to ask you what you have done for him. It's that simple. Many people dont believe that this will ever occur, but the harsh reality of it all is that one day, someday, each and every living being WILL have to answer to God. The question is, what are you going to say when he asks you that question? I mean life and the things you do in life are very important but always remember, it's what you do for Christ that will last. Suddenly, everything seems secondary...even Music.

Movie role

Shouts out to my boy Akeem for helping get a role in this flick. The movie is called "Pure Shooter" and will be coming out very soon. Also shout outs to my boy Tobi Gadison for landing a leading role in the film. Im excited to even be a part of this. It's a great cast, and will be a great movie. Google "Pure Shooter" for more info, but anyways, I look forward to it!

The time is right now people!

Seriously people, whatever you need to do, whatever you dream, whatever is in you heart...you have to let it out, you have to get it out, and you have to do it now. It's a real scary thought, but life is short. We only get one lifetime to do whatever it is we have to do, and then its over. I mean life is beautiful, and i pray that everyone has a long healthy life and in peace, but at the same time, life can be very miserable if you are not doing whats in your heart or if you keep things bottled up. Life also waits for no one, because when you are old your old. I dont want to be old and look back on my life and wish i had done things differently. Im 27 years old. Im young but im getting older, im soon to be pushing 30, and although that is still young, its like yo i need to be getting this stuff out now ya feel me, like i cant bottle this stuff up. I just have to try my best and see what happens.

Age is a funny thing, its like one day your a teenager, and then before you know it your pushing 50...like time really does fly. So my advice to everyone is while your still young, do what you have to do to get yourself in a better position and do not be afraid.

R&B music...

I love listening to R&B music...I was going through some records, both old and new for hours...listening to some of my favorite music, trying to compare the old school R&B with the new school R&B and some soul stuff. I was just basically trying to figure out the differences in music and lyrics and stuff like that. I realized that the beats are definatley different. I mean the old school stuff was smooth, laid back, chill...THe new stuff out now, def sounds hot too though. THe beats are blazing more of a hip hop / pop feel to R&B now.

As far as lyrics go, however, to be honest i really did not hear any differences. I mean to be fair, i think alot of this R&B stuff sounds redundant. I mean these are the topics: SEX, Taking your clothes off, more SEX, meeting a girl at the club, and breaking up...

I mean look this stuff is normal and is apart of life but it would be nice to hear something different once in a while, and maybe put a twist to these topics...thats all im saying

Avenues for selling my music

Being Indie has advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are that you have more freedom and creative control in your projects. Especially if you do it all yourself. You have no pressure, and can basically get up from bed and record and just feel relaxed. Basically all of your success is dependant upon YOU. The disadvantages are that you can record an album and only get 5 sales...and basically not make any money. Most Indie artists dont have that Major Label backing which includes the Marketing, promotion, airplay, and distribution of their record, so after your product is recorded, you must do all of this your self or build a team and create a small label and try to do this...This is the hard part about being indie. I mean, you want to sell some records and make some money, its all about marketing and creating that fan base...but thats another blog

Here are some of the sites that i found to be great for indie artists if they want to sell their music online and make some money:

1. CD BABY - Best online site in my opinion to sell your CD. Ive made money from them in the past on my last record. But like i said its all about marketing, you have to have people wanting to buy the record.

2. Tunecore - I just found out about these guys. This is for distrubition via digital to Itunes and other digital sites. I havent used them yet

3. Trackspin - also a digital means of selling your music. Not sure about them but give it a try i guess...

4. Emubands - just found out about these guys too. Similar to CDbaby

of course there are many many others, but these are the main sites that i will be using to sell my music

Vocal Booth

So I tweaked out my apartment/bsmt into a home studio. I always had it setup but i was missing a closed up, tight vocal booth to add that "Studio Feel." At first i was just going to go to a Pro Studio and just record there...BUT i looked at some of the pricing and said forget it. I invested alot of time and money into my equipment, so i might as well utilize it. I wanted to build a vocal booth from scratch but i definately did not have the space to do that...so i looked and looked and scratched my head and looked again....then i saw my coat closet...a light bulb went off in my head! Bingo, thats the booth! NOW i know to some this might seem ghetto or un PROFESSIONAL, but thats all i have to work with. I cleaned out the closet, got rid of everything until it was an empty space...washed the walls, swept. Then I went out and bought some foam...bed foam (egg crate foam) from Walmart...Some say this doesnt work...but it works for Me and it looks PRO. I then laid down carpet on the floor, bought some small touch lights and put a small fan in the booth. I put my mic/stand and reflection filter in the booth (which is a portable booth within itself)

I tested the new vocal booth and it sounds tight and there is definately a difference in acoustics compared to singing just in the room! For those who want more detail, check me out on youtube. Just type in Dave Cirino and find the "How to Setup a Home Studio" tutorial

By the way heres a list of the equipment im using for my home studio :
1. IMAC running Logic Pro 8 (also have a PC running Cubase 4) but i mainly use Logic
2. Apogee Duet (Soundcard/Converter/Preamp)
3. Presonus Firebox (for the PC)
4. KRK Rokit 5 powered Monitors
5. Behringer Mixer
6. Blue Bluebird Condenser Mic
7. AkG C3000B condenser Mic
8. MoPhatt sound module
9. Headphones (Technics, AKG, Sony MV, and Yamaha)
10. Yamaha Motif Classic
11. Nu Mark Turntables
12. Laptop (Dell) for junk work
13. Ozone 3 (for mastering)
14. Wavelab, Waveburner

Thats all i can think of right now but im sure i missed a few

My Political Views (short version)

First off let me say, I am not a Democrat or Republican. Im more of an Independant, or Whatever works best for the country and middle class AMERICA. I WILL be voting for Barack Obama and BIDEN because I strongly believe that they will and can change AMERICA from the DEVILS that GEORGE BUSH brought it. I like Obamas policies and I feel that what Barack lacks, Biden compliments and vice versa.

John McCain...Personally, I kind of like the guy, I think that his ideas are good and i also feel that even if he were president that we would have some hope, Although he favors more of the Rich Upper class America i beleive that he also can bring some change to the country, but i dont like that BITCH PALIN. And for that reason Alone I will not even look at their names on the Ballot. First off Palin looks like my old librarian teacher. Experienced or not, shes not the person I want leading this country. Think about it, Mccain is old and Palin is young, if something happens to Mccain, shes the president. And if she is leading AMERICA then AMERICA will be in the worst state imaginable, even worse than the Bush years people. Palin is Dangerous. Any one who wants to BANN certain books in a PUBLIC LIBRARY...IS not the person who needs to be running this country.

Pray for our communities

We need prayer, serious prayer. Like its not a joke. Im tired of hearing all of this bad news going on in our cities, in our country, in our towns. People out here acting crazy. It's like the devil is possessing people out here. People of God, we need to come together and put some pray back into our country. Pray for the safety of our families and loved ones. Security and public safety needs to be more strict, we need stronger policies on safety for all states...Like for real! America lets get together and start making some changes. Public Transportation needs to be more strict, Our Trains, Our busses, Our planes. Everything. People shouldnt have to fear for their lives when riding on public transportation. What am i referring to? The 36 year old man with a wife and children who got stabbed on the lightrail (NJ TRANSIT) train at 8:30 AM this morning riding to work. (and murdered) For NO reason, this is disgusting! and it saddens my heart and for the young man you got beheaded on a GreyHound...Like things like this SHOULD NOT HAPPEN. MR PRESIDENT, GOVERNMENT, MAYORS, and people that have the power to change things, we need more security and police officers and cameras and weapon sensors...This is riduculus.

Outside of music

Music is a big part of my life, but it is not the only part of my life...Outside of doing music, for those that are interested, I do a lot of things. First off im a real spiritual dude, so i gotta broadcast my faith on here. I go to church and try and stay involved in that realm, trying to learn as much about God and Jesus and heaven and angels as much as i can (although sometimes i really slip HARD...but thats ok, i pick myself back up ) but yea thats a big part of my life and i grew up like that. I like to spend time with my family, mom,dad, brothers, sister, cousins, etc. Next to God, family is the most important thing in the world. I like to spend time wit my girlfriend...she is just a really down to earth woman and real easy to get a long with. In life you need a companion like that to help you through. Lets see what else...I workout real hard, a lot of people call me a gym rat cause im always in the gym. Im not trying to be a body builder or nothing like that but i believe stongly in health and being the best you can be on all arenas. Im currently at about 210 pounds solid. 6'0... i think i got 13 percent body fat...which im trying to cut down to about 6 percent or so. Hmmmm...what else...I also do Muay Thai martial arts...trying to learn the way of the ancient fighters, i also used to do GoJu RYu, im a strong believer in protecting your family...especially from these crazy nuts out here, thats i why I train so hard. I guess im trying to be a spiritual and physical warrior. Sounds corny but sort of like a super hero...have to be now adays. I also LOVE to act. Acting is another passion that im exploring. I started young doing it but got caught up in the music, but as i get older, im getting more into the acting thing as well. I think that it is very theraputic for a person and helps out a lot with being outgoing, etc...other than that im just a normal guy, i like to go to the movies and rent movies from blockbuster and go the mall and chill. One thing i need to do though is step up my clothing game, get some sharp suits and button downs...

Freestyle Blog

So im at 65 posts right now...I said i would stop at 100 no matter what. In the beginning, my goal was to have some kind of deal pop off by the 100th post. Where do i stand now? Well basically I have decided to start my own, small, internet label to put out my independant releases. I mean I have nothing against the majors or nothing like that and if the right deal were offered to me i would definately consider it but Im just really sick of the way some of these business guys are running these labels. It should not have to be THIS hard to get a deal. There is too much talent out here and it seems that these A&R's are passing up on this talent. I sent out mad packages and doing shows, everything i can think of. INDIE artist listen to me for 1 second: The only way to really get a major break is if your making noise. How to make noise? Well basically you have to do what im doing. DO EVERYTHING YOURSELF. You have to sign yourself to your own label. Basically if you are producing and creating the product...YOU already have your own label. Create a demand for your product----->THIS is called marketing----> and probably the hardest part to do. Once you have a product and you have a demand for your product, you can sell it? Where to sell it? well since you dont have major funding like the majors, start on the internet. Use sources like CD baby, Itunes, tunecore, to sell your product. And once you are ready see if you can get a small distributor to pick up your product and sell in local stores...ITS a long process and im not even close to doing this yet but i have the knowledge on how to do this and will definately share it with anyone who is interesed, Hit me at ghostwriders@yahoo.com for info. But yea i feel like if you love to make music that it shouldnt stop just because you didnt get that major break. Create your own buzz...Create your own fans...create your own wealth...You may not be as RICH and AS famous as you wanted to be but you have a nice little business making music for your fans and your getting satisfaction from that.

Me, right now im just trying to finish my album and get it my label off the ground. My target in sales is about 3,000. So hopefully i can reach that goal. 3,000 X 10 bucks a pop...minus the cost per % of sale via CD baby...is not a bad chunk of change in my book...and its just gonna keep getting bigger and bigger.

One thing I will leave you guys/gals with. A business man was in my building and heard me making music. He saw me walk out with a cd that i just had burned. He said to me "Wow you just burn your music like that huh?" I said yea i make music, etc...and he was like yea man thats cool We all work hard everyday so what else can you do? Cant focus on work all the time, its good to concentrate on something else other than just working...
What i got out of that was that in this life...Time goes by fast. I mean life is so beautiful, but time really does fly. We all have jobs, we all work, but if there is something that you really enjoy doing, you should just go ahead and do it. AND if you don't become a super star at it...thats ok, you still do it and just get better and better and create you own options from there.

American IDOL

Didn't want to write about this...but it wouldn't be fair to the readers if I didn't. Ok, here it goes...I told my self i would never ever audition for AMERICAN IDOL...i dont even watch that show. I always thought it was poppy and cheesy and corny and i hated it. However my friend practically dragged me to audition for the show. I didn't want to, but i figured hey why not maybe if i make it far enough i can use the show for exposure to get my music out. Plus for me it would be the last chance i would have to audition before the age cutoff...

Registration...was easy piece of cake. Went in, showed my id, got my braclet and the forms and bounced (10 minutes)

The actually audition was...A NIGHTMARE! First off they told us that we had to be there at 5 am. SO the night before i tried to go to bed early but was tossin and turning. I didnt get good sleep. I had to wake up at 4 am, didnt cook breakfast because i was rushing. I got there at 5 am only to stand in line for 3 hours...OUTSIDE. NO FOOD NO NOTHING, they did have bagel stands so i got a bagel and a gatorade. After standing next to complete FREAKS AND WEIRDOS dressed as clowns and NINJAS...I finally got in, only to find out the actually audition doesnt start till 10 am. SO we are in the arena trying to learning the cheesiest wackest 80's songs "HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT" to sing on camera to boost the shows ratings...WACK!!! Dude teaching us the songs keep quenching is butt checks to hit high notes...WACK...and GAY

Anyways i didnt actually audition until 6:30 PM...note there was no food, i was on E and my head was killing me, i mean they had junk food like pizza and fries and hot dogs which they were selling for 20 bucks , but come on should a singer really eat that before they audition? I had no choice. I felt like Sh** How they did the actually audition was they had tables set out on the floor with 2 judges to each table, you sang for them in groups of 4 , each person going for 30 seconds...they liked you, you go to the semifinals...in which you sing for Paula, Simon , and Randy in NOVEMBER...NOTE PAULA,SIMON,and RANDY were not there...THIS was nothing like you see on tv. Long story short. The judges were complete assholes, and no one really made it to the semifinals man. THERE WERE 30,000 people there and only 150 got picked...AND the people got picked were like this. half of them were actually good. the rest were clowns, one dude stripped down to his speedo and didnt even sing...but he got picked...WHACK!

HIGH LIGHTS: RYAN seacrest was there and Jordin Sparks was there (looking soo good by the way)

Low light: Walking to the bathroom and hearing 1000 people sing the poppiest songs in the world giving me a headache...and then going to the bathroom and hearing opera singers warming up...giving me a migrane...and then walking back to my seat to hear a group of hippies singing some more pop....JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I officially hate POP!!!!!i almost gave up singing completely!

This was the worst experience i have ever had musically. AMERICAN IDOL IS so so so wack and the staff and the whole process is very unprofessional...but hey its entertainment right. ITs all about ratings and TV>>> no thanks

I GOT CUT and im GLAD!!!!!!!! THE Best thing that came out or AMERICAN IDOL is JORDIN SPARKS
*but at least i can put this on my resume*

Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes

Very sad season for the black community. Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes. Both were great entertainers and both will be missed. My condolences go out to both families. Man B mac was a funny dude man. One of my favorite movies is Guess Who. Im going to miss that guy. He was mad young at only 50. Heath Ledger also...only 28. Man, seems like we are losing alot of people this year. We have pray for this country and for the people in it y'all. Pray for its protection. The only lesson here is that you have to really live your life to the fullest and go after your dreams and really live your best life and be the best that you can be in all arenas. You have to leave a legacy...

Wack Labels

So i noticed that a lot of labels are wack, talent wack, contracts wack, a&r's wack . They dont know what the hell they are doing. LISTEN TO ME ARTISTS TRYING TO GET SIGNED. Dont get discouraged by the majors or even some indies. A lot of them pass up on good talent and most of these people are in positions of power when they really shouldn't be. Ive been dissed and rejected about 50 times i think. Best advice i can give y'all is to do your own thing and F these labels. Build your own fan base , create a good product, have an outlet to sell your music and take it from there. FYI: Im starting my own label soon and will sign artists once i get everything situated. To me thats the only way. like i said F THESE WACK ASS LABELS OCK. DO IT YOURSELF< THE ONLY WAY TO REALLY GET PAID. THEN if your making major noise with your product the majors will flock to u cause all they see is money and they will offer your something, but even then i say F em

1

July 19th

So im performing on July 19th @ 5PM
Garret Mountain Park
West Paterson, NJ
Performing for 1 hour

come check me out and experiece Dave Cirino

Digital Black and C.RICH

Just copped two dope albums. Digital Black from Playa and Calvin Richardson's new album. Talking about great R&B /soul music right here. I noticed that i found myself copping indie albums more than major label releases. C Rich is now indie and Digi Black is indie too. I guess since im also indie im just tryna support more of that kind of music. Good stuff.

All or Nothing

Book of Secrets is what it's about at this point. Im not saying that this is my last album, but i will be putting my all into this project as if it is my last album. Feel me on this blog for a second. (3rd person) The artist that used to be called J-RE has just been through too much crap, dealing with too much crap from people and critics. J-RE is no longer. I had to really evolve as a person and musician/artist. Me as Dave Cirino. David Cirino. ALL i can really say about what happened to J-RE in the past is that it made Dave Cirino stronger. Let me elaborate, as J-RE the artist i had to deal with so much heartbreak from different deals that went sour and things that were supposed to happen that never actually happened. I had to deal with that for 4 years. I had to sit through 150 reviews <---Yes 150 reviews of my music. 75-80 of them ALL NEGATIVE. RIPPED MY HEART OUT. I thought i was doing something good. And the critics just keep getting tougher and tougher, i heard it all yo...harmonies are wack! Tone is off! pitch is off! Lyrics are shallow! Trying to be too hard! Too mellow! Too laid back! not enough range!

For years...I took that and swallowed it and kept it moving. I listened to what they were sayin (and still saying) and really tried to work on my game. Learned to expand my range, learned to smooth out my rough edges, learned to write deeper lyrics, crafted my harmonies, bettered my riff game, learned to not be so cocky in my music but have humble swagger, i did all that. The mistakes that I made in Love Chronicles, I really feel that i learned from and became a better artist. With that being said...

Book of Secrets" will be the product of that hard work that I put in. It's all or nothing with this project. There are no other options. Like this will be everything, my heart and soul is going into this project. Enough with the critics, enough with the 'do this do that, enough with the talking. At this point I really do not care about what anyone has to say about this project or my music no more. This will be the best work i ever touched, from the beat making, to the lyric writing, to the singing, to the engineering. This will be a perfect project. And when the project is done i will feel that way and can care less about what critics say anymore. I hope there is a fan base for what im putting out, cause to put it simple, this cd is going to be awesome. I might just create the project and put it in a time capsule for people of the future to listen to it, seems like the people of the present is on some hating SH*T

BET AWARDS 2008

BET awards were great for those who missed it. I really like Alicia Keys performance when she brought out all of those acts like En Vogue, TLC, and SWV. It was tight. I was liked Al Green, man he was kicking it. And Maxwell performed too...he still got it. Cuba Gooding Jr. was so friggin funny man hilarious. Gotta luv that guy! DL hughley was funny too. Um thats about all the highlights that caught my attention. Oh yea Usher did his thing too.

Who knows maybe one day ill be up there either performing or presenting an award.

Acting gigs

I also am an actor for those who don't know. I actually started acting before music, and love both equally. Man lately, i've been getting jerked by some of these people. Im so upset right now. How you going to call me to do a role and then when I try and clear it with the job to get those days off...I call you back and now your not answering my calls. Come on Cassie, i called you like 6 times already. She had called me to be a boxer for this movie called "THE NAIL" i was excited but you know i do have a 9-5 and i do have to get approval to get days off people. When I call you, answer the phone, confirm with me that i still have this part. ANyways i aint even that mad at shawty, im just saying can you call a brother back?

Same goes for LAW and ORDER...this lady calls me from CENTRAL CASTING, NY. I mean you calling my numbers ma MY NUMBERS, i didnt call you, you called me. I mean how you gonna call me and ask me to come in monday for a small part on a show right. I say yes, then you tell me to call you in the morning for details, I call u in the morning, and you tell me you dont need me now!!! WHAT!! you called me shorty. YO this business is wack sometimes, these people on ego trips it aint that serious. This whole music and acting and modeling and the whole entertainment world will make you lose your hair dealing with these people. The funny thing is this, it's not that hard, but what makes it hard is these people who are COCK BLOCKERS who just dont want to see you advance...especially RECEPTIONist's with they little attitudes ...man sometimes i feel like marching into those building and strangling their necks till their heads fall off. (children dont pay attention to that ok) im just angry right now

HOME NIGHT CLUB

FORGET all you home night club bouncers fron New York!! Yea folks another one of these blogs. I told my myself i would never ever go to another industry event again, especially if it involved PATTY LAUREN. However she has nothing to do with this one. THIS TIME its D.A.S. MEDIA<--I told you time and time again about this stupud LIST. THE EVENT: KING MAGAZINE

I cant even get that mad, cause im used to not being on the list, just had to vent. I mean i got the confirmation sayin that I was on the List after I rsvp'd. People is just mad unprofessional with these events. Like if you have someone rsvp, get a confirmation email, take time to get dressed up and head into the city, you should be more considerate yo. And the bouncers don't let me even get on them cornballs. Look y'all aint even that big. Y'all overweight and sloppy. Let me tell y'all me and my brother got there at 9:45 PM and was the first ones there in the front of the line, they didnt start letting guys in until 11:30 PM. It was only ladies, and then when dude said i wasnt on the list he said..."GIVE me a DUECE (20 dallars) and Ill let you in or u pay 50 at the door) I said forget that fatboy you aint worth that. Let me see one of you bouncers in the streets (let me rephrase that, in the boxing ring)

Anyways the lesson i learned is to stay away from these events AGAIN. The only event im messing with is Amina's Events from Think TANK marketing. She is very professional and knows how to do Business.

Must Read for all artists trying to get signed

I took this Blog from Smoke E. Digglera's blog. Smoke was apart of R&B group Playa which had him, Static, and Digital Black. They were signed to a major label in the late 90's. He writes:

WHY WAS SMOKE & HIS MUSIC MISSING FOR DAYS??
Current mood: determined
Category: motivated Blogging
It seems as though, when u're doin tha damn thang wit plays, views, friends, and traffic, in general....and u don't have a "deal" with MySpace, u're at risk of getting "red flagged". Artists that have deals with MySpace or major labels are not the only ones that can bring hot shyt to the table. And, most are terrible as fk! Keep it real! Well, getting "red flagged" is what happened to me, for the 2 millionth time. They took off my music player, in order, to restart the count. They, also, restarted my profle views count. But, I ain't even trippin. I just apologize to all of my family, friends, and fans that were comin by to listen and/or had a song on their page, and the music was gone. But, I AM BACK! And, I ain't goin nowhere! Luv ya'll! We gon' keep it movin!
And, to all the haters: It's gon' do what it do, baby!

WISE INDUSTRY WORDS

There are approximately 27,000 music titles released every year. Of the 7,000 "new" titles released every year by major labels less than 10% are profitable. Major record labels sign only what they hope will sell, jumping on the latest trend and flooding the market with sound-alikes. Everything radio and video shows play sound and look like they came off an assembly line. Major record companies focus on radio-friendly and videogenic acts and unfortunately exclude new and experimental artists and genres of music. Consumers have become lazy and in turn are easily brainwashed by what they hear on the radio, see on tv and read in magazines. People need to be more educated and take a pro-active approach to music. Seek out new artists and new types of music, don't let big business influence and control what you think is good music or what you purchase. Take what you have just read and inform others of what you have learned - each one teach one. Much respect to all starving artists and independent companies, you are not forgotten and you are appreciated. Keep what you're doing and have fun making music.

Static

R.I.P. Static Major. Static was a low key behind the scenes dude with major bite. I didnt personally know him, but knew him through his music. For those who don't know who he is, he was apart of the R&B group Playa with the hit single "Cheers to you" He also was a genius songwriter writing Ginuwine's "Pony" "So Anxious" Aaliyah's "Rock the Boat" "Loose Rap" and so so many more songs with a wide array of artists. His recent work was with Lil Wayne "Lollipop"

Static and the group Playa just influenced me a whole lot growing up. A lot of yall dont know this about me but as a kid growing up I was part of a male R&B group called "Exquisite" I was about 18-19 and we had formed this group. It was me, my brother (who is now my DJ and a great producer and sidekick) and Clarence Gunter (who was the lead singer, in which i learned how to sing from him). But anyways man, we were pretty good but dismantled due to life circumstances. Anyways, we used to listen to Boyz 2 men, Dru Hill, Jagged Edge, and Playa for inspiration. And I always noticed how Playa had these beautiful harmonies that were just so inpiring. Them boyz could Sang man, and i also loved Statics style, so cool, man so damn cool, Smokey was cool too yo, but static Static was the man, and Im going to miss him dude. I never got to meet em, but im sure we would have clicked. Him and J-Dilla man, my heart goes out to both of them and their families. I pray for y'all often as well as my good friend Oleg who passed.

Man sometimes i just hurt a little thinking about these catz, my friends and my influences who are no longer here. I mean all i can really do is just try and learn from them. Learn from what they left. study Statics harmonies and lyrics, study J-Dilla's beats and flow, remember my friend Oleg and his friendship. Remember all of that and just incorporate that into my life and into my music. Love your loved ones and tell them you appreciate them.

Apple Bottoms

For once this blog isn't about me! YAH!!! It's about my girl Allie. Im excited for her cause she was choosing to be an Apple Bottoms and Baby Phat model. Probably because her booty is so big! (lol) She actually did the apple bottoms shoot last week and it was a success and she can be seen at applebottoms.com and she just gotta call from Baby Phat today about doing some stuff in the future for them, so im excited for her. She is also a reporter at a local newspaper. So yea congratulations Allie!

Name Change

So yea, Im using a different stage name from now on. Im just phasing out J-RE. From now on, I will be going by my government name David Cirino. Some people ask me why im not sticking with J-RE. Well, for starters i happen to like J-RE but im changing it, one from a marketing stand point. Although im all over Yahoo.com, if you type in J-RE in Google or any other search engine besides Yahoo you will get JRE which is a computer acronym/term and John Edwards nick name is JRE. If i tell a new fan to google me or something they wont be able to find me. ALso Cirino is my legacy. This is my last name in which I was giving and meant to carry on, and with my full name will rep the Cirino Legacy with what Im doing. The only hard thing about changing it so late is that everyone or at least those who care about my music know me as J-RE. Website, this blog, CD's, everything is J-RE. But like i said im phasing it out, it'll take a few months but well see what happens. I mean im still J-RE regardless but musically i will be going by my real name. You gotta problem with that ?????

Thats what I thought

and for the record...YES Cirino is italian and im black so what. Im not a black Italian. Im half Jamaican and half Puerto Rican. I have an italian last name and I look black. Interesting story here huh?

Revelation

I have to shout out Derek Sivers, the founder or CD baby and the reason why "Love Chronicles" (my first album) got a little bit of love over in Japan. Anyways he sent me a 71 page pdf about this music stuff and I had a HUGE REVELATION...

I do not need these record labels. I can really do this independantly. Here i was during 50 posts of this J-RE blog with a purpose of 1 thing: Getting signed by my 100th blog. And here I am a little over halfway through and had an epiphany. I really do not need these labels. Gordan Chambers said something to me very interesting when I met him at a music conference. He said that the Music Business or the "Record Labels" are like the Titantic. They are sinking very slowly, and everyone is trying to get their money before they go down under. With the internet, digital sales, and other avenues of purchasing music, Labels just can't compete. They are no longer the dominant force. Either they adjust with the change or they are going to sink...

That gives artists like me some hope. There once was a time when if you didnt get a record deal with a major label, then you pretty much were looked at as if you didn't make it, and to give up your dream. But thanks to sites like CD baby, and avenues on the net that allow you to sell online to the world, that is no longer the case. I think what happened with me on my first album was just a lack of marketing. I mean I had it on the net, I was selling, my buzz was going for a bit, and then it died out. With the internet and on the street I sold about 500 CD's, but for my sophmore effort, i need to really push this one this time and really try to get it out there. How nice would it be to sell like 20,000 cds or something at 10 dollars a CD? But im shooting to sell about 2,000 cds with my sophmore effort. Those are realistic figures for me at this moment. I mean 2,000 X 10.00 a CD is not bad. I mean it wont make me famous or rich but its a decent chunk of change, and each album i just keep shooting for 2,000 more. My advice to anyone is to not give up, even if you dont get signed, just sell on your own. 20,000 dollars for selling your product in my opinion is a success. Of course I have to work my butt off, but i think it's worth it.

IRON MAN

Was a great flick man! I was impressed. I was also impressed with the way Robert Downy Jr. Played Tony Stark/Iron Man. When I saw the previews i was like, na He can't play no super hero, he's not the type. But he pulled it off. Many people think that Movies are just fictional and what not, i mean they may be but you have to take into consideration a few things, like the amount of people that spent countless hours of making that movie successful. That's real. I was sitting through the credits and was amazed at how many people was involved in this film. What's my point?

My point is that movies can make you think about your own life sometimes and actually question some things that you are doing and help you to change your life around. In this movie in particular, Tony Stark said that the Iron man suit or the Heart that he designed for it was his legacy, and that was what he was leaving behind. And that made me question my own life and everyone else should question their existence, like what is your legacy? What are you leaving behind? Think about that for a minute. Maybe that statement will turn your life around...

Logic Studio

Just copped Logic and A Mac. Just when I thought I had everything, not quite. I needed some more tools to get my sound perfect. Cubase is awesome on a PC, but I needed something else to help me as producer...after months of research I decided on Logic. Bought the IMAC which cost me 1200 and Logic Studio ran 500. I still need to learn Pro tools cause the industry uses this as a standard but im sorry i dont have 10 GRAND to get a protools HD setup. And im not messn wit the Protools LE programs cause they are limited in their track counts. I also need to get the Apogee Duet which is going to run me another half grand but I hear that Logic Studio 8 and Apogee Duet is a comparable and competitive option to the famous Protools HD setup. Especially for musicians on a budget...which is ME! One day ill learn PT just to learn it but I think Logic and Mac might be the next big thing. I hear that overseas that Logic is the standard and not PT, but whatever that dont matter they both sound awesome. I just have to learn Logic so I can start making some more fire. This is officially HALFTIME (50 posts).

Some updates on some recent projects: (April 2008) Im currently finishing up a Mixtape album called : "Will sing for food" This is actually more like an unofficial 2nd release type album. It has around 15 tracks on it, a lot of unreleased material. Actually my new demo tape songs are on the album and some hot joints I did before that just never got released. I also did some songs over some J-Dilla and D'angelo instrumentals. I think it's going to to be a cool release. Im proly gonna press up like 200 copies and maybe sell it on SnoCap via Myspace for a dollar a track. This is mainly a promo CD for the next joint im working on B.O.S. So yea 2nd album coming real soon. Me and my brother (Ghostwriders) also working on some pop joints for this pop singer whose suppose to get a deal, so we are finishing up 4 joints we produced and wrote for her, so hopefully that goes well. And Also im working on a few collabos with some rap artists, so yea Im working...

Half Time

yea i gotta hit the locker room for a minute. Time to take a 5 minute breather. I been going non stop for a while now. What are the results? What Have I learned? Time to go back to the drawing board, tweak some things here and there, and go back hard till the 4th quarter. Let me just re state what my goal is here, and why im writing these blogs. Let's get one thing straight. The blogs stop at 100. I think im close to 50 blogs written right now. Thats a few months worth. After 100, I stop. My goal is by my 100th blog to have some kind of deal or offer. Something. Thats the goal and hopefully somebody learned something from my experiences.

What are the results coach? What am I doing wrong? How can I change it? Results are so so. I mean I feel like im there like almost to the top, but im not there yet. Im still trying to figure out what the problem is. I mean, Im putting in the work and time, the demo is as polished as it's going to be with what i have (equipment and resources) Im shopping the demos everywhere i can , and the results are me just waiting for something, a response. Lets see... FOCUS said NO, Wyclef didn't get back to me so thats a NO, Consequence didn't get back to me so thats a NOO and the few A&R's, execs, and people in position to help me that heard me said exactly the same thing...It's GOOD...BUT it sounds like everyone else. Nothing stands out. Or something else...Is it me or is a demo called a demo, something that your supposed to see the potential in. Let me ask y'all a question. What separates Chris Brown, Ne Yo, Usher, Bobby Valentino, Mario? hmmm they all sound the same to me and they all getting paid. What separates Akon from T-Pain? The both sound the same to me and they still getting paid. What separates Boyz 2 men, Jagged Edge, Jodeci, 112, No Question, AZ yet...they all sounded the same to me and they all got paid. What about N'Sync, Backstreet Boyz, 98 degrees, NKOTB...hmmm they all sounded the same to me and they all got paid. Eveyone sounds the same so what. What elements are they bringing that are differently? T-Pain aint different, he got his style from Roger Troutman!

What am I doing wrong? I don't know. How can I change it, how can I tweek it to get better. Well, thats a question that I can answer. I need to be performing more and getting out there word up, get more exposure. As good as I think I am I ain't Sh*T. I mean, theres a million dudes out there that look like me and can sing like me if not better. I gotta practice harder and get better at my craft until im literally a master at it. I have to be able to go against R.Kelly, Usher, like Right now. I gotta be that good. Am i that good? NO im not. Im getting there but i need to be better for real. What am i going to do differently that i haven't done before? Well im just going to work on some uptempo joints and keep everything fire. Slow jams is cool but i think i have too much, i need to just keep it hittin.

What have I learned? That people are full of shit. To keep going even when the odds are against you. Never give up and just have fun with your craft. To never judge anyone, cause no matter how good you think you are...someone somewhere is better. To respect everyone's craft and always be humble with yours and let the music speak for it self. No matter how old you get keep doin it, the ones telling you that you are too old to be doing this are proly jealous cause they never made it. Work hard, have a dream, and pray that one day it will come true.

yea...another party

See the post below this one...

Anyways yea another event. Good or Bad? Well this one I was excited about cause it was The Roots. I didnt care too much about the day 26 joint, i was just tryna network. But the Roots, I was excited. They were like having a listening joint in the studio.

Good News: I saw Ali Shaheed Mohommad from Tribe Called Quest. Matter fact he was in line behind us. I shook his hand and everything. He was mad cool and humble, I didnt give him my demo in the line, cause I thought that I would see him in the party and give it to him them ( thats where I messed up cause) THe Bad news is:

I didn't get into the damn party! YEs again. This time it was no one's fault except our own people. I mean do yall listen? She said make a line to left and to the right...but no, y'all mother Fers wanna make a line in the middle right? I mean she was saying make a line to the left and to the right for about 45 minutes...But no you wanna be thugged out and tough right and not listen? Thanks...now she closed the doors and shut down anyone from getting in. Thanks guys Thanks alot, now I dont get to see Ali Shaheed, The roots, or Quest Love right. These are the people that do the music that I do and are the people i need to be in touch wit. Thanks alot. Another lonely night of a dream shattered. Damn CAN I CATCH A BREAK!

...

So we got invited to this Day 26 album release party in the city...This ain't even worth writing a long blog about. To make a long story short, We didn't get into the party. I was pissed...I mean How you going to invite someone to go to a bad boy party and then when you try to get in, you're going to tell me that my name is not on the list? You're going to tell me that my brother's name is not on the list, after he confirmed with you twice?? That's Bullshit! You know what Patty, I ain't F'n wit you now more. If Patty Lauren is throwing a party...I won't be there period. This is the second time you did this to me, you and your manbitch name checker...if you read down to my other blogs, you'll see the same chick that aint let me in at the Talib event...Whatever all i can do is laugh this off, Or write about it. I actually wrote a short script about this same situation called "The List" and Patty and her Manbitch are up in the script. It's about catz not getting into these wack ass industry events.

And on that note, F these industry events. I've been going to these events for a year now, and all you meet are people who look important but can't really help you, or they feed you dreams. The only way to really get on in the industry is to do everything your damn self... I mean even if they like your music they say..."That's Hot Yo" Thats a Hit" ...That's it. They dont help you cause they dont give a F about you bottom line, thats real. All they care about is themselves and their stock holders. This game is wicked for real and sometimes i wish i never even got into this business. It's heartbreaking. Music is beautiful but the way that these industry fags be acting in the music business is ugly. It's worst than the drug game and my dumb ass is caught up in the middle of this Bull SHIT.

Pardon my anger, buy you gots to feel my frustration. I mean I'm a quality cat tryna make good music and it seems like the people with the power that can help you, don't really wanna help nobody.

W.O.W.

So last Friday I tried out for 106 and Park's Wild out Wednesday (W.O.W). Take a few seconds here... ... ... ... ... OK yea! Things are starting to pop...BUT just cause I got the audition doesn't mean i got the part. Anyways the audition process...

Straight Wack! Man i was in this room with some young kids. They was mad excited and all that, I mean I was too but I felt like i was in a junior high classroom or something. I was like dude, these kids are like 14 years old. I felt like an old ass man up in there.

2 hours later after waiting...

I walked in the room with my J-RE swag and smashed the audition dun. I performed Dream Girl

The results...

Shorty couldnt stop boppin her head

The feedback...
Basically she said that the song was hot and that it was a hit and that they would love for me to do the show...BUT that my music was more for mature audiences and they would have to find someone in my league to go against me. She said the demographic was 13 year old...She said if they found someone to go against me they would call me

What does that mean? Dunno hopefully they find someone if not...Good writtens, I dont make bubble gum pop music for the disney channel. I make mature, spiritual, adult music with lyrics that make you think and bopp your head till it falls off

NEXT! Im J-RE NUCCA and I make my own fame

Be yourself

I think I wrote about this in an earlier blog, but oh well it came to me again cause its important!

Sometimes in order to better your future, you have to re visit your past. What do I mean? LOL...Man i was listening to one of Jimi Hendrixs songs...it was one of those songs that make you just think you know, just stare into space and ask yourself, "What the hell am I doing with my life?" Anyways for some reason listening to this song took me back to a time when I performed the star spangeled banner in front of about 6,000 people at the Kick Boxing Championships in A.C. I was so well rehearsed and prepped. You see, I studied Marvin Gaye's Version when he performed it at the NBA Game. I liked his version cause it was cool you know, and I sounded like him a litte so I said im a sing it similar to him. I finally got it down to a perfection...I was so ready man, then I had the rehearsal...I killed it!!! I was nervous as SH&T but I was feeling it after the rehearsal. All of a sudden my rep or manager at that time told me that he didnt like that version and that I should do it the original way...MAN THAT F'D ME UP!!!From that point on I was so nervous, and then I started thinking alot like man, I gotta do it the origianl way...

How did the show turn out? Well I did a good job, People told me I sounded like Marvin, but I felt like it was Good but not Great. I didnt kill it like i did in my reahearsal...Whats my point?

My point is this...BLOCK OUT ALL DISTRACTIONS when it's game time! If you practice a certain way and you feel it's good, do it the way you feel you should do it. Afterall, you are the artist and it is your portrayal of the song. Im not saying if you are under contract witta label and your in the studio with a producer to go against what he's saying, but just do what you do especially while performing. When you go on to the stage, try not to talk to anyone, practice until you feel prepped and ready, get some food, listen to some music, relax, and thats it. Do not listen to anyones crtique about anything cause trust me it WILL mess you up, cause you will think about their negative comments and not about your performance. Hope my mistake in the past was helpful to your future...

Let's Go shopping

Finally we started the shopping. We started end of February. Right now all I can really do is keep performing and getting prepared for meetings cause I know somebody has to call me back. If we shop 200 demo pacakages...Im expecting at least 1-3 call backs. Somebody Somewhere has got to feel me, and that's how Im a look at it. So far we shopped to UD, Stones Throw, Black Smith, Tommy Boy. My brother had a meeting with Mickey Wright's assistant from Jive/Zomba and he gave her the demo package. She said she would listen to it and then get back to him. If she likes it she will pass it on to Mickey. Let's see what happens...

We also reached out to Bjoirn Teske from SONYBMG Germany, pending his response we will be sending a package over seas. Right now its like sending out a resume for a job. If you meet certain criteria, you apply for the job and then wait for a call back for an interview. In relation to the demo, the criteria to meet would be getting the permission to send to a contact at the label, send the demo and then pray for a call back. I mean I know its tough to get in, but it can't be that hard. Although it took me nearly 8 years to get to this point. A lot of it was, I think I wasn't ready at that time. My swagg didnt really come to me until about 2.5 years ago. All those other years was like college. Getting prepped for the job. You earn your degree and then you are ready to step out and start making some money. Same thing for me...took about 7 years to prep, now I got my degree and trying to get a DAMN job!!

Let's get it going

One thing I like about these blogs, is that I get to vent out. Even if no one reads them so what, im venting out to myself u feel me? It's theraputic. Anyways, it's February 29th...and now we are finally shopping the demo packages. My Uncle hooked up the packages and they look quite exquisite! We are 1 month behind schedule but I would rather have these looking professional, then just send out junk and be on time. So far I've sent out 2 packages, one to Underdogs and 1 to Blacksmith, the real mass mailings go out next week. We currently are trying to contact these A&R's from various labels getting the OK to send out the packages. All that I can do is just send out the packages to all the labels that allow us to send and pray!

On another note, I finally heard back from Focus and company about my music...Disappointing news. They said that it was not what they were looking for at the time. Just industry talk for F*** you and You suck! Hey whatever, Im used to it by now though. I've been rejected so many times that it doesn't even affect me. After I heard that, I thought to myself for 10 minutes...hit the gym and forget all about it. Gotta keep moving on to the next one you know. Just gotta keep getting better.

I picked up a Jimi Hendirx album and started vibing out to it. Listening to the record forced me to examine myself and my music, I mean here was a guy who cut the record before he was 27 years old and he was a genius already at his craft. So much of a genius that it took almonst 30 years to finally catch up with what he was doing. I examined my flaws and weaknesses as an artist and realized that I need to be more ambitious, I need to be more hungry. I need to start really really grinding if I want to make it. I mean Im not gonna lie, i think I lost a bit of my hunger, I mean I been down in the dirt for so long tryna get on that I think I got discouraged. I just gotta dig down deep and find that hunger again. For some success comes so easy, for me it doesn't. I have to work harder than anyone else to get this.
I moved from South Jersey to be in and around New York - a major hub for music. I been up here for almost 2 years now...and Im asking myself, what have I accomplished?

It's getting thick

The past couple of weeks have been nuts man...Tryna get my demo pacakages together so that I can send them out by the close of 1st quarter. Technically they should have been out by the close of the 4th quarter (which means the end of December) First quarter is from January to March. Man im behind. I mean, the music is done. Been done for months. It's just the paper work, the contacts, the procedure. Trying to package a demo is tough work, I mean I could just burn a cd, write with a black sharpie "J-RE DEMO" and send it out but that's not an acceptable package. Firstly I have to get the permission to send or they will send it right back. And I can't have that happen! Plus I need to be performing more. I need to get my face out there so people can know that J-RE exists you feel what Im saying. Anyways Im focusing on 4 labels right now. Underdog Entertainment/Universal, Blacksmith Records (Talib Kweli's label), Star Trak, and Hidden Beach...Im tryna get witta indie man. Well see what happens...

On another note, the past couple weeks i been going to a few networking parties in New York. 2 weeks ago I was at this Janet Jackson listening party. It was cool. I saw Janet and LA Reid...unfortately they were gone in the twink of an eye. I could' nt get my stuff to LA Reid. On Tuesday I was at this other event for GIANT magazine. I was surprised at how many celebs was up in that piece. P.Diddy was there, Cassie was there, Laura London was there, Cherry Dennis was there. It was a cool event. My brother was handing out mix tapes of me on it and we was passing it to everybody. Cassie walked by us and aint want to take the tape...its aight tho. I ain't mad at you. Anyways I have to say, Im blessed to be going to these events man. Just the opportunity to be around these people. I just have to step it up now and turn it up a notch. This business is tough, but I think the key is persistance. It took me 4 times of seeing Consequence before he finally was like, "Yo wat up Dave" I was like "YO QUENCE YOU REMEMBER ME MAN? Im Dave son, from your album release party!" LOL...It's all in fun.

Masters Gone but video is up!

They stole the masters...

Man...seems like there are some forces out there that don't want me to get this done. You all know that my friend was working on the editing for the so smoove video. Everything was gravy, and halfway done. Long story shory, some punks broke into my friend's apartment and stole some of his stuff. He had DJ equipment, flat screen plasma, jewelry, etc. Tell me why the only thing that they stole was my video camera, the master footage for the video, the laptop...on which the video was edited on, and his playstation 2? Mind boggling right? The first thing I would have went for would have been the plasma.

Talk about bad luck huh. The good news is that the footage was backed up and the video can still be done. What sucks is the delay time for the demo packages...i wanted to shop everything together by mid January...which got pushed back to early February. I just have to hang in there and keep pushing.

been a minute...

But im here. J-RE ain't going no where y'all. If you read the previous posts, u can see that i was really pissed off. But I learned a valuable lesson. That lesson is,that in this industry you have to toughen up. Be strong, have tough skin. It's hard when your sensitive about your music. I mean not everyone is going to like what you do. That is just a fact that you have to deal with. Some people will think your music stinks. They may think your not talented or that you don't have what it takes. Also learn, that everyone is a critic. Just make music...do what you do...make classics. Keep practicing till u know ur the SH** for real. That's what I learned.

What have I been doing? Well you know it's shopping season. It's Januaray 16th and my package should have been ready by now but it's not. It should be ready sometime next week...hopefully we start shopping end of Jan. We have Feb and March to get it popping. Im also tryna to perform every week at open mics to get a local buzz. My boy is working on this So Smoove video for me too...Thank God! But hopefully we get it together by next week y'all

Thanks for being patient with me. You know I also been thinking about this music industry and how it is not what it used to be as far as album sales...It's very discouraging. It seems like catz aint buying records no more. I mean Im looking at all these great artists that dropped great albums, and how they used to sell in the millions. Now there lucky if they go gold...its discouraging. Sometimes it makes you not even want to get into the game. But like my man said, just make the best music you can and make classic joints...

...

dot dot dot. That's exactly how I feel...man there's alot of things running through my head right now. I guess im just thinking about some things. Im a litte pissed off actually. I performed at my church on Sunday and I thought I killed it. However, to some people I guess I might have come off as "arrogant" First off I hate when people say that to me, secondly if you dont come across confident in your performances, the crowd will eat you alive and that's what they want to do. They want you to mess up so they can hate on you. Well I ripped the HELL out of that performance and I guess they couldn't handle it. These are church folks I'm talking about here. MY home town church... you would think it wouldn't go down like that, but it did. I mean maybe I shouldn't of been hoodied up, but so what! I wore a baggy hooded sweatshirt with baggy jeans and boots...that's my style. Aight maybe I could of toned it down but I was trying to send a message...God loves you how you are na mean. My girl says I need to be more tough and stop being so sensitive to everyone's remarks...shes right, but Im and artist and I'm sensitive about my SH*T!

Moving on...YO ima stop trying to please these MOTHERF*CKERS. Everyone always got something to say about something. Seems like since they can't make music or have any special talents, they in the game of hate. Who am I referring to? Everyone man. Like Eminem said, "I tried to show you art, but you just pick it apart" That leads me to one conclusion...F*CK everybody (referring to the critics)

Moving on...I got Mood Muzic 3 for XMAS and it's crazy...I was watching the DVD and it just made me start thinking alot about my music, Hip hop and R&B. I need to get back on my grizzle...stop playing around and take this shit to the next level. I need to be eating, sleeping, and shitting this music. I need to be so prepped and rehearsed that I blow everybody away. So what did I do...I went out and bought me the best pen and pads I could find at staples. I will be writing a song everyday until I can just write songs in my head and sing from the top of my head. Thats it...THE DVD started to make me think about hip hop and how much it is apart of me and the hip hop culture I grew up in. I hate it sometimes but I can't escape it. Although I sing R&B, this HIP HOP can't be escaped. It's like your born, and then Hip Hop is born with you. As an R&B cat you try to separate the two cause after all they are 2 separate forms of music, but growing up in the hip hop culture it's hard. I hate where hip hop is going right now...TO me HIP HOP is like McDonalds...The fries tasted better when it didn't change the oil. They change the oil and the fries taste like shit. How you gonna have healthy fries? Keep it Trans Fat...it's the peoples choice whether they want to eat there or not, feel me? R&B makes me sick too...The shit sounds wack to me. Watered down and following the same formula as HIP HOP. The only catz impressing me right now in R&B is JAHEIM thats it. D'angelo too but he aint coming back out. All these other fake R&B thugs need to stay true to themselves and stop trying to be what the label wants them to be. HIP HOP, the same thing..the only catz worth mentioning in my book are JOE BUDDEN (and im not just saying that cause I'm from Jersey)Nas, Jay, and TI

Moving on...I was browsing myspace and noticed that someone else has my name. J-RE" That's total bullshit, i mean come on. How you gonna name ur self J-RE the exact way that I got it spelled. Im so pissed, I had this name all my life. But whatever keep the name, i was thinking about changing it anyway to J.***** (try and figure that one out) or Ill just keep my government David

Let it go

Aight so I've been pissed off for the last couple of weeks, but can you blame me? Ni**as and B**ches been testing me man and I was about to snap. First shawty tried to play me about that whole club situation and then recently I was trying to get into this Talib Kweli event in which...hold up, let me explain this first! Aight so this chick named Patty Lauren...she's a promoter and does events, etc. Anyways im on her list meaning whenever there's an event in NY, im there. So she was having a birthday bash at Lotus in NY where Talib Kweli was hosting and Dana Dane was supposed to be bartending. Now Dana Dane was at that music conference that I went to a few months ago and I never got a chance to poli with him. I was going to use this day to talk to him and Talib and try to get some info on blacksmith records. Long story short, this chick by the name of SHAKARA wouldn't let me in the club. She said that my name was not on the list...that's funny cause I RSVP'd two times and got the RSVP email back stating that I was on the list plus 1 and then I forwarded the email to my brother who RSVP'd and he came with me and he was on the list...but I was not on the list? That's strange. Anyways the bouncers started giving my problems so I snapped at them faggots and was about to roll em out...I was so angry. Ask anyone when Im that angry I don't give a F***, Ill step to anyone. (note Im 6'0, 200 pounds solid) catz fear me...anyways i was mad

BUT...I let a few days pass and I started to laugh...sometimes you just gotta let it go. Whatever man, these are the trials that I have to go through. So I just have to deal with it you know. I have to learn to be a duck, and just let the water roll off my back.

Do I look like a kid to you?

Can I vent out for a minute...

Being that I live in the tri-state area, one would be insane to not try and get their name out in the region. As an artist you tend to try and perform any and everywhere that you get a chance to. So anyways, we was trying to get a gig at SOLO NIGHT CLUB in Philadelphia. My man Hakim spoke with a lady named ANNIE. At first everything seemed cool and it looked like I was going to be performing on the 23rd of February. For me that was a good look, cause I never performed in Philly before. I've just been performing in New York and New Jersey. So anyways Hakim tells her to check out my myspace page to get a feel of me, my stlye, etc. 24 hours pass...

Hakim followed up with Annie, and she said that she was going to have to pass on the performance because she thought that my music wouldn't appeal to the "21 and over crowd" That it would only appeal to the "Younger" crowd. (Let me think for a minute)...

First off, I'm a grown ass man! I don't make music for little children. Do little children like my music? Of course. Do older people like my music? Well, last I heard they did...Anyways, I'm not asking this chick to like my music. All i want to do is get my name out. When I do shows I shut them down hands down. Let the crowd decide if they like me or not. I am not some amateur no talent singer just getting into the game. Whatever I can't even be mad at her, I have to just accept REJECTION. I've been accepting it all my life, so what's one more to add. Let's look at the facts:

The fact is that J-RE has ordered 500 cd's of "Love Chronicles" and sold out. The fact is that J-RE is on cdbaby.com with most of his fans in Japan. The fact is that J-RE is on amazon.com, walmart.com, target.com, and itunes. The fact is that J-RE had the top 3 singles on mp3.com out of 500 artists. The fact is that J-RE was named yoraps "NEXT ARTIST TO BLOW" the same site that named Sean Kingston, Collie Buddz, and E.Ness as "NEXT TO BLOW." The fact is that J-RE has performed at the CHINA CLUB in NY and The SOUL CAFE in NY. The fact is that MEGAHURTZ(the same producer that did tracks for 50 cent on GET RICH OR DIE TRYING) and FOCUS (signed producer under AFTERMATH RECORDS) has produced tracks for J-RE. The list goes on and on, and I know I'm not signed yet, but I have accomplished quite a lot in my "AMATEUR" career so for you to tell me that my songs is kiddish is a direct insult, and I DO NOT take that lightly.

Anyways man I'm a just brush that off, go to the gym and bang out these weights like I always do. ANNIE and the OWNER of SOLO will see me when I blow the F*** up and wish that they had me perform at their Night club!

very pissed off J-RE signing off

It's getting close

So I performed again at the Vineland High Snow Ball while my brother DJ'd, and like always it was a huge success. We are definitely getting a lot of love from New Jersey. Although the speakers blew halfway into my performance, I still killed it. Many people came up to me and said that I was so hot that the speakers blew! I was laughing, but that also taught me a lesson. No matter what happens on stage...the show must go on. If the speaker blows, or the mic cuts short, you still must perform until that song is done. Even if you have to sing with no mic and no music, you still have to give the crowd a show. Anyways, that was an intersting lesson. I have some of the footage, that I will be posting shortly.

The product is almost done, and shopping season is approaching. This is a note to all those trying to get signed...During the holidays, execs is mad lazy and they aren't trying to hear no music. My advice is during the time of Thanksgiving and Christmas...get your music prepared and pressed up, and get ready to shop your music in the first week of January right after new years. Like I wrote before in a previous blog, Signing season is from January to March. We are trying to contact all the major college radio stations during the month of December to see if we can get some airplay. College radio is better at first then the more popular stations to get your music played. After you are circulating on the airwaves, then you can present your stuff to the major radio stations...If you are successful at this, and I hope that we are, then your buzz will be crazy! You can get a list of college radio stations anywhere, just do a little research and your good.

Signing off until next time
J-

J-RE NEXT TO BLOW!!!

My birthday was on November 20th and I received the perfect present for my B-DAY. On November 21st, I was crowned by YO RAPS the Next to BLOW! When I saw that article on me via my interview with them I was so happy man. Finally I am being recognized for my work. This is huge and a great accomplishment in my career. This is just a stepping stone. I'm going to keep moving forward and keep striving for things like this. Sean Kingston was also recognized by YO RAPS as next to blow before he actually blew up like that...So i know I'm headed in the right direction. Check out the aritcle @ http://www.yoraps.com/next2blow1.php?subaction=showfull&id=1195651876&ucat=4&archive=&start_from=&

Or go to www.yoraps.com and search for next to blow (Archive)

Don't Listen to them

How can i put this in simple terms? Hmmm...Ok...The World is full of Haters! Bottom Line is that a lot of People do NOT want to see you be successful. This is something that every artist should take note of. In this business, you have know that you cannot please man, Man being the human species (male and female). They are never satisfied... you can pour your heart into a song, but yet they are quick to point out every little thing and critisize. You have to learn to have tough skin or you'll get crushed. Don't make your music to please man. Make music from the heart and please your creator.

I remember a few months back this one cat used to hate on me hard...would tell me to my face that my music was hot, but behind my back would say that I was garbage and that I was wack...what did I do...I cut him off and stopped listening. You have to understand that not everyone is going to like what you do, but there are people out there that will love what you do. You cannot please everybody. Do Not listen to the haters, just ignore them and keep it moving.

I remember a few weeks ago I was watching a DVD on hip hop producers. ON the DVD they were talking about the art of producing and what equipment they use to make their beats. I was listening to what the Trakmasters were saying and I was disturbed with some of their comments. They pretty much were bashing and making fun of producers who make their music with keyboards...calling them " Keyboard Producers" and laughing like they were so much better than those producers who make tracks with keyboards. I took offence to that because the majority of my tracks that I produce are done on my Yamaha Motif board which I love so much. Not every producer uses the MPC or the SP's or whatever. Some use only Reason, some the Triton, some Fruity Loops, some The Fantom, some the Motif, some just a beat machine. I thought that that comment was very arrogant and ignorant. Different people have different preferences. Quality is Quality. You may like that Mercedes, but maybe I don't like it...maybe I like that BMW. But anyways...After hearing that comment...Yea I was offended but I DID NOT LISTEN TO THEM CLOWNS...Cause my tracks are just as good as theirs if not better with just my Yamaha Motif. It's not what you have but what you do with what you have.

What am I trying to say? Don't listen to them! Even if they are famous or big time producers or whatever. You have to do what makes you comfortable...Now I'm not saying to not learn the equipment. I mean If your going to be working with cats who only use protools and the MPC then you better learn how to use it, but that doesn't mean that you have to like it just cause they like it. DON"T LISTEN TO THEM

Familiar Faces

So I was in the mall shopping with my family on Black Friday, just chilling and I ran into a familar face. He kept looking at us but i recognized him. His name was George...we used to call him brother George. He used to be our old choir director and also our barber. George has a son named Steff of "Young Steff" who was signed by RocaFella Records but is now signed to Richard Harrison's label. George was talking to us about his music and stuff like that. He also was very impressed with us when we walked into the store and told me and my family that we were shining...by that he meant that we were different and was complimenting us quite a bit. He told me that I was cut from a different cloth and to keep doing my thing. That made me feel good you know when people give you those kind of compliments. It was nice to see him and to see another person from the neighborhood doing their thing. To know that Im not the only one reppin the area you know, and that is a lesson within itself. A lot of times people are so quick to make things a competition, sometimes it's nice to just give another person a compliment on what they are doing. You have to understand that it's not just about you, and you are not the only one with talent. You have to wish others the same amount of success that you are trying to achieve. When you do that, God will see your heart and bless you even more