Nice Minds

Vanlice Washington (better known as Vii) is a long time friend that I've known for over a decade. We've been been collaborating on music and doing shows together since 2009. In 2017 Vii created his own lemonade brand called Vanlice Lemonade. If you've been listening to previous episodes then you may have heard me talk about it. We have formed a brand partnership where I am helping him sell lemonade and we are using a portion of the profits to build a studio.  

In this episode we talk about his background in music, coming to the United States from Liberia, his other talents besides music, starting his lemonade company, and the future.  

Some of my favorite conversations are super long, tangent filled, and raw. The conversation in this podcast is no exception. This episode was recorded in early January and it's with my friend Kyle Rucker. Kyle is a twin cities musician who's originally from Chicago. Although we're the exact same age, Kyle is someone who I look up to in the music industry. Not only is he an incredibly gifted and talented musician but he's also brilliant. He started a non profit organization called Project Footsteps that he ran for a decade and some change and helped thousands of youth learn music and valuable life lessons. Now Kyle runs Ruck B Media and manages artists, writes songs/jingles, organizes events, and does just about everything you can think of in the industry.  

This episode was done with Morrison Machiavelli. He's a super driven and multi-talented dude originally from the twin cities but now based out in Los Angeles. He's an emcee and entrepreneur who has his hands in many different aspects of music, creativity, and business. In this episode we talk about a lot of the different things that he's involved with. From his work as an emcee/engineer/producer, his involvement with the Zulu Union, his work with the youth, his record label Prosaic Minds, and new business venture which is a virtual assistance for creative professionals company called Casablanca Connect. We also talk about the twin cities music scene, how 2020 was for us, our hopes/plans for the future, and a lot more.  

One of my mottos in life and things I like to live by is "support the people that support you" and to always show love and appreciation to the ones that care. Jorge Fuentes is a person who I went to IPR (college) with but never really got to know. I would always see his name pop up in my likes or the comments section of a lot of my creative posts though so I noticed how much he was supporting what I do. I saw some of his motivational videos that he creates and thought he would be an awesome person to get to know and invite on the podcast, especially since he's always shown me love.   

This episode is with my friend Ali Elabbady AKA Egypto Knuckles. This episode was recorded on December 23, 2020. I've known Ali for about 13 years from the twin cities hip-hop scene. I consider Ali a mentor who I've come to many times for advice, creatively as well as personally. Ali is an incredible individual with experience as a radio DJ, music journalist, music producer, and used to own his own record label called Background Noise Crew. In this episode we talk about our friendship, experience in the music scene, stuff that happened in 2020, and the future of the music scene/industry.  

This episode is with my friend Tony Hughes AKA MrHUES. MrHUES is an emcee, graphic artist, videographer, and a man of many other talents. He is someone I've known for many years in the hip-hop scene. We began our friendship when I assisted mixing on an album of his and from doing shows together. In this episode we talk about our history in the hip-hop scene, some personal struggles, our hopes for the future, and genuinely hype each other up.  

This episode is with my friend Dee Bomb. He is a twin cities based emcee/producer who runs his own company called Bangin Noize Entertainment. I met him during my IPR days and we've done shows together as well as collaborated on music. In this episode we talk about his background, the music he's been creating, the music scene/industry, and personal stories related to our careers.   

In this episode I have a conversation with my friend Miles Graves. Miles is a multi-talented dude with a lot of experience in the music industry. He has been a lyricist, recording engineer, music producer, artist manager, and more. He runs his own artist empowerment firm called the Miles Graves Company. This episode was recorded in December of 2020. In this episode we dive into his history and have an in depth conversation about different ways that artists can empower themselves and make a career without the use of social media.  

This episode is with Joe Fabiano. Joe is the other half of the twin cities based hip-hop podcast The Wisemen Show. I say the other half because I did episode 7 with his partner in crime Jake Faircloth. Joe was super helpful, supportive, and somewhat of a mentor to me when I decided to start Nice Minds. In this episode we discuss his influences with music, starting his podcast, the local scene/industry, the future, and also talk about things directly related to the episode I did with Jake.  

This episode is with my very good friend Nick Morris AKA Nimo The Hooligan. Nimo is a twin cities DJ that has been mentioned several times already in a few of my podcasts. He's someone who I came up with in the local music scene and someone who I greatly respect and admire. This episode was recorded in December of 2020. In this episode we talk about Nimo's start as a DJ in the local hip-hop scene, his work as a DJ for major Minnesota sports teams, setbacks of 2020,  the future, and some very personal things as well.