Dwight Nash

About me:

Double M Bytch!!! - - -

Dinero

With hunger, rawness and artistic diversity, Dinero is raising the bar for all up-and-coming artists while swiftly challenging established veterans. He hails straight from the city of Chicago which has given hip-hop some of the greatest and most talented lyricists of our time – and Dinero is no exception. Through the debut of his album, The Lifestyle of a Hustler (Military Minded Ent.), Dinero confidently rocks over the 24-track compilation filled with mid-west swagger, east coast lyricism, and telltales of a skillful and talented man who combines his experience in the military and the streets to paint a picture of reality and struggle over potent - and even commercially-ready beats. Not only a showcase for the media, the labels and A&Rs, the album is also set out to illustrate to hip-hop fans, how capable and how necessary Dinero is to the game.

As a way to vent, he first began to rap while serving in Afghanistan. A defining point in this young man's life, Dinero's choice to join the military at 17 years of age was an escape he was looking for from the destructive surroundings of Chicago's most notorious projects, the Stateway Gardens. The similarity between the military and the streets of Chicago was one of many life's lessons Dinero learned early on, and felt the urge to pass on. "The military taught me that no matter where you go and who you are, everything's a hustle. The corruption and overall lack of integrity in the military opens your eyes to a world that most don't want to believe; that most disguise as normal."

And although he grew up around dealers, boosters, hustlers and gangsters, Dinero kept up his grades and was able to steer away from the negativity of the streets all the while keeping his ears and eyes open. Without anything resembling a hand-out – or even a male role model – Dinero decided from an early age to pave his own way and take charge of his life. Forming the label Military Minded Entertainment, he set out to apply the lessons of the streets and the military, to rap. "It reflects a state of mind; you have to have loyalty, you have to have honor, you have to be able to stand tall, be on your Ps and Qs and just overall ready for anything. It reflects every hood, every hustler, every real soldier; everybody that can get up in the morning when all odds are against them and survive."

Dinero's strut is a reflection of where he is from and it's something that Chicagoans will pick up on almost immediately. "When you envision Chicago projects, streets, alleys, ball courts, etc., you see that most cats look like me. I am the image, the face of most hood cats." Dinero utilizes that image, and transfers it onto his music, creating addictive joints that reflect his swagger, his mindset and everyday lifestyle. "I make music for people like myself. Something I can throw in my ride and bump, something I can listen to when I'm grinding, working out, in the barbershop, etc." Perhaps most important of it all, he caters to the diversity; a balance in hip-hop which has been lost between the gauge of the mainstream and 'conscious'. "There's a lot of cats that rap for female audiences, club atmospheres, conscious rap, real rap, stunners, up-lifters, etc. There's metaphoric lyricists, straight to the point lyricists 'ya hook got you there' lyricists, one hit wonders, longevity rappers, etc. I think I fit in great with all of them – I can give you a catchy hook with hot lyrics, great swagger, crazy beat and a universal feel. And I do that while delivering soulful, straight from the heart words that people can relate to." The Lifestyle of a Hustler, is genuine proof to Dinero's ambitious claims. .. ..