Thirty Three Jones | Desktop Site
From the start, one of my goals with this site has been to spotlight as many New Jersey artists as possible. Though some of the "bigger" names from Jersey - DJ Juice, Redman and Lady Luck in particular - have been more than accommodating, most of the unsigned rappers from around here have been fairly hostile in response to my requests to put up promo tracks for them. That's their prerogative, of course, but I have to wonder if their unwillingness to take advantage of the internet isn't part of the reason why the Garden State has been unable to put out more than a handful of artists worth discussing since the Lords of the Underground, Naughty By Nature, Real Live and all of the other groups from Jersey had the game on lock back in the mid-90's.
Having said that, one MC from New Jersey who I think does have the talent and promotional skills to make some noise on a national level is Rahway's Nucci Reyo. About six years ago, Nucci was signed to MCA. After hearing a few of the singles that MCA put out in advance of his never-released album, it was clear to me that the label did not know how to market him. They had Nucci, a rapper who focuses almost exclusively on street talk, rapping over pop beats that sounded like a blatant attempt to copy the songs that Will Smith was getting jiggy on at the time.
Not surprisingly, the deal with MCA eventually fell through. He's currently working on his own label, G. State Entertainment, with DJ Absolut. A couple of tracks that he's put out recently on his G.State mixtapes:
Nucci Reyo - New Jersey Anthem
Nucci and AZ
To hear more of Nucci Reyo, hit up his MySpace page. If you've got iTunes, you can also check out the G. State Entertainment podcast.
Bonus video:
Welcome to Nucc Jersey
If any other Jersey artists out there are interested, get at me.
3/27/2007 5:21:47 PM posted by Fresh