“On the Mic with Emcee N.I.C.E.”
Whether on the radio as a host or an artist, the legendary Emcee N.I.C.E.has proven he is here to stay in the world of Christian Hip Hop. Making moves is his game while praising God all in the same. Check out my one on one with him at Dash Radio station recently.
Shawnee: First of all, I want to know where the name Emcee N.I.C.E. came from…
E.N.: “Emcee N.I.C.E.? Where the name Emcee N.I.C.E. came from? Well, Emcee because I’m a lyricist. You know when you’re an emcee, you’re considered to be a person that can rhyme. And N.I.C.E., well most of my peers call me a novelist. And so because I’m a writer, naturally. I got a book out right now called “Fifty Shades of L.O.V.E.: Learning Our Various Emotions.” So my peers call me novelist and N.I.C.E. is a novelist is constantly evolving so every day I’m evolving. Every day is an evolution, so if you take Emcee and N.I.C.E., it’s a lyricist that’s constantly evolving.
Shawnee: Nice!!! I like that! I like that! Ok, speaking of your book, where can we find your book? Where can it be purchased at?E.N.: It’s at any Barnes & Nobles, uh, wherever they sell books you can get it. Books-A-Million. It’s called “Fifty Shades of…” It’s by my government name though.
Aulsandro.
Shawnee: Aulsandro?
E.N.: Aulsandro ‘Novelist’ Hamilton. And it’s called “Fifty Shades of L.O.V.E.: Learning Our Various Emotions”.
Shawnee: Ok. Another question for you. Why did you get into gospel hip hop?
E.N.: Well, I’ve always been into gospel hip hop. It’s just that gospel hip-hop wasn’t into me. And I say that in the sense that when I started out in gospel hip-hop, the church wasn’t checking for gospel hip hop. It was always like this negative thing for some reason. I don’t know. We are glorifying God and that must’ve been bad for the church to glorify God. And either way, it goes, I went and took my talents to the secular world where I was able to co-produce Tupac, co-produce Nas, K-Ci from K-Ci and Jo, um, Aaron Hall. Was on six motion picture soundtracks. One of them won an Oscar, a movie called Crash, and um, did a couple of other things. Did a record for, uh, called Pop Life, which is a Prince record, with Dr. Phinx from Prince and the Revolution. He was the co-founder. It was the first song that Prince approved to go on his Tribute to Prince album. Then when Kirk Franklin, Mary Mary, and uh, LeCrae kicked the doors open, that allowed me to come back to gospel hip hop, and do my music ministry.
E.N.: Well, you know, I’m still trying to get accepted into the Christian community (laughs). You know what I’m saying because I was a secular dude that came back into gospel. They kind of looked down upon that, thinking that it was just gonna be a one-day thing, like meaning one record. Like I’m just here today and gone tomorrow when in actuality, I came to not only just share music ministry but to advance the culture itself. Make Christian hip hop more respectable and reputable in the world. So, you know slowly but surely people are starting to convert, and they seeing that ok, this dude is really here and this dude is really going down for the kingdom. And this dude is really pouring back. See I’m giving back. The true definition of giving back to the culture. I’m doing that. And I ain’t walking around charging people, oh yeah, if you want to get that info that’s gonna be $49.95, you know what I’m saying. $49.95 for you too. I don’t do all that. At the end of the day, I believe if you sow a seed, you’ll see it grow anyway
Shawnee: Exactly, so not only are you a novelist and you write, but you also operate, or curate, not an Atlanta-based, but an L.A.-based radio show…
E.N.: Station. I own the station.
Shawnee: Can you give us a little bit of background about that?
E.N.: Well the radio station is called GH3 radio, it’s God’s House of Hip Hop. We’re the only station in the world that’s 24/7 as a reporting station, which means we pay artists we play. You know what I mean? And what we’re doing it…I think we have like five shows and we try to unite the culture. That’s my whole thing, to unite the culture. And uniting the culture, we brought together the aficionados of the culture. So, you got Rapzilla, you got Trackstarz…you to have DJ I Rock Jesus and we’re getting ready to add Jesus Piece, City Takers and Rep the King magazine. They’re all gonna have shown so that’s uniting the culture. Everybody’s gonna have a platform to really do some things.
Shawnee: Alright, just a couple more. You got a new project?
E.N.: Yep! I got a couple of new projects. Well, my new single coming. Well, let me get into this. So, I’m Grammy-nominated.
Shawnee: Right! Right! Let’s put that out there! (laughs)
E.N.: Let’s start there. I got a single that went number 1 on the Billboard charts called “Glory to God” featuring Fred Hammond. So, that record is nominated. Now, I got a new record coming in probably about three weeks called “Lift Me Up” featuring Bishop Cortez Vaughn, who won a Stellar award. He had a song of the year. Him and J.J. Hairston had a song called “You Deserve It”. Now Bishop is on my record, “Lift Me Up”, and that record is coming in a few weeks.
Shawnee: And how did it feel working with him?
E.N.: Aww man, it felt, it felt really awesome because we laid that record in four hours. Yeah, we went in the studio and dropped the record in four hours. It was the fastest record he ever has done. And when you listen to it, you gonna think it’s really complicated when in all actuality, when God’s working, miracles happen. And that’s just one of those things when he was in L.A., and four hours later, we came out with a hit song. This was an amazing interview with Emcee N.I.C.E., and God is truly using him to advance the culture of Christian/gospel music. The question is, however, how open are you to CHH music? Personally, I love it and so do my kids. Who says hip-hop can’t be fused with Christianity? God sure didn’t! So, have an open mind and go check out what EmceeN.I.C.E. is doing along with others members of the CHH community. Believe it or not, Christian Hip Hop is on the rise so get ready! For more info on Emcee N.I.C.E., check out his social media platforms below or click on his name in the title that takes you to his website. Until next time family!
Praising God through ALL songs,
Shawnee B.
