 My name is Terminology. I'm from Lawrence, Massachusetts. If you don't know, that's about 30 minutes from Boston. I'm a rapper and also own my own record label. It's called ST Records. I'm currently independent right now. I'm putting out records by my group, ST The Squad, and also I put out my own music, Terminology. I got a website, TerminologyMusic.com, and pretty much that's the movement, man. That's what we're doing right now. I've been rapping just for the love of hip-hop, because I love hip-hop music. I was standing out since a young kid, around nine years old. There was a lot of people in my area that rapped. You know, my mom's boyfriend was a street hustler. You know, he just kicked rounds for the fun of it in front of the crib while he was doing his thing, hustling and whatnot. And they all just freestyleed off the top of the brain. And just, you know, I just kind of kick it around. And they be like, go ahead, bust the flow, bust the flow. So, you know, I started rhyming around nine and just never stopped. You know what I mean? It turned into a career. I think I was, like, 14, 15 when I started actually recording records, you know, going to my man's basement and recording records and just actually making demos. We had a demo, you know what I'm saying? But we were, like, maybe 14, 15. And our main objective in life was to get it to Crumb Snatcher, because he's the hero, you know, of Lawtown, you know what I'm saying? And I'm talking about, like, way back, maybe, like, 96, you know what I mean? 97. And that was just our thing. We wanted to get it to Crumb and hopefully getting the source, get unsigned hype. That was all we wanted to do is just get props and be professional musicians, rappers, you know what I'm saying? So, we went from that to actually living and doing it. Because I always had a lot of family and strong teams behind me. It started out with me and my cousin, Gutter, really. Just me and Gutter and my man Jonah. That was our first original crew, you know what I mean? Then we, then everybody kind of went separate ways. And I'm talking about 12, 11, 12 years old, you know what I mean? Then 13, 14, got to just click 3Ds, like all fan. And then, you know, eventually we turned into ST, ST the squad. We was like, I don't know, 15, you know, I'll say like 16, 17. And we've been that ever since the family, you know what I mean? For the last 10 years. So, you know, they behind me and whatnot. But I'm definitely the man in the front, you know, making it happen. And anytime I get a chance to give them an opportunity and put them on, I will. They're part of the movement. We're all being together. Every year, you know, something would happen. That would make me be like, wow, making it, you know, like in high school, like G-SPAN played my record on Gemini 4-5. And I'm in high school, you know, walking around in school and everybody, you all heard you on the radio last night. You know what I mean? And it's like, it was such a major thing to me. Like, I had left school and went on tour with detonator records for a couple weeks to turn them out of high school to go do that. And like, you know, that type of, when I started doing that, I was like, yeah, this is going to be my career, no matter what. You know what I mean? I drove all the way to Atlanta for a three-minute set, you know, back in those days. Now I'm in Europe doing an hour set by myself with a packed club to come and see me. So you see how the tables return. But there was a lot of things in between that was like step-to-step. I had a record deal with detonator records when I was young. You know, me and Ed Rock had a record deal with Centipede records before that. After that, we signed with Crumb Snatcher, you know, after that, I ended up making ST records, which is, you know, my own label, because things were never going right with any label. I was never a priority. And once I made that, I started making things really happen and met up with Static. And Static introduced me to the industry and really took me to the next level, like, you know, more, because I was local, I was Boston, I was in Lawrence, only here. And then, you know, Static helped me really broaden out New York and get me on the radio, and Dan Green, my manager. And then it was, like, really, you know, like, wildfire. This year has been, you know, probably my busiest year. I've been to Europe six times this year. I've toured Europe six separate times this year in 2009. I'm about to leave one day again for another 20-day tour. I was out there with Static. I was out there with Premier. I was out there with MOP. I just keep going back, you know what I mean? Back and every time I go there, you know, I tear it down. I make a better reputation for myself. I further prove myself to a real hip-hop audience and then keep going and be back, which is a blessing. And then, 2008, I did 100 shows. I did a 46 show tour with Red Man and Method Man. I opened up for Red and Math every day, 30-minute set. Got to hype the crowd for Red and Math. I learned a lot from them. You know, I also learned a lot from MOP. And then the years before that, I did 700 free shows in the Boston area, you know, me and Dan Green, Hand Shutter, Math Stoops, all that. And those are the shows that really prepped me to be the man who I am today because, you know what I'm saying? I was faced with a lot of problems and just, like, a lot of headaches and all that. But, you know, it's kind of like, it was practice makes perfect and now I'm good. You know what I mean? I just, I work, work, work. That's all I do. I say the person who's helped me the most in my career started selecting, you know, mainly being that we're from the same area and we knew each other before we both weren't nothing. You know what I mean? When I met him and he met me, we weren't nothing. You know what I'm saying? We were nothing. We were doing little shows around the way. And we just rinded and took it from out of Lawrence and brought it to Boston, which was a big deal for us to get props in Boston, you know? Ed O'Gees from Boston, you know what I'm saying? Almighty R.R.S.O. Man to me, man. Dazzino was popping at the time. Agribatic, Mr. Leff. There was a lot of things going on out there for us. We just wanted to be heard. So, for taking it from Lawrence to Boston and from Boston to New York and New York to the world, it was a big process. And I'll say, static select to help me out a lot with that. Industry wise, my manager, Dan Green, helped me out with that a lot. Chrome Snatch to help me out a lot with that. You know what I'm saying? When I first started, he brought me around and introduced me to a few people. And really, like, I think the reason why I get paid as much money as I do to do all these shows, I have to do with DJ Premier. You know what I mean? I owe that all to Primo. He helped me watch how I go down, you know, which is mainly the reason why I get paid, you know what I mean, to this day, because that was the explosion. You know, that was the big record that I did. So, you know, I mean, without those key people in my life, who knows where I'd be? You know what I mean? And I always give them props. And there's so many other people that helped me, too. You know what I mean? I can't name everybody, but MOP, you know, Little Things, like a brother to me, I did, like, 40 records with him. He got an album coming out together. Physiology, that's physical, like, and terminology. You know, he helped so much. Detention helped me so much when I was a kid, just trying to come in. You know, he used to sneak me in to battle people when I was 17 years old. Sneak me in to Bill's bar on Lansdowne Street. Sneak me in to the Milky Way. You know, sneak me into the Middle East and all these places where I got my start and it being. So, it's crazy, man. It's, it's, it's ill. So, a lot of people helped, you know what I'm saying? And now I do the same thing. I give it back to my people, you know. I try to help the next man and try to help him shine. Now, the work that I put in is what I pride myself on because that's all I have. I don't, I don't own a big house, you know. I don't own a lot of fancy cars or, you know what I'm saying? A lot of things I really don't own much. But what I do have is what a lot of people wish they had. I have respect from the industry and not only the fake industry, but I mean people like Method Man and Bun B and Cassidy and MOP and I don't know. All this, there's a million people, you know, that me and Static have toured with that like really genuinely respect us and look up to us and the fans on the street that just stop me and just be like, yo, you're my favorite rapper, you know. There's so many people that say that to me and I just seen your video on MTV today or I watched your video on Comcast 10 times today. I kept watching it. I heard you on the radio. I bought your album. I can't stop listening to it. I was in London, you know, this dude came up to me, thugged out, Kat, came up to me and he was like, yo, you saw me and he cried, you know, you saw him about your daughter, because I got a daughter and I went through the same thing. You know, and these are people that our music actually really touches. The work ethic that we put in, the hard work and all the records we put in, this is like what we get back from it is that sometimes it's not all the money and what, you know, the things that we deserve, but we get something else. We get something that people wish they had, real props. You know what I mean? The things that you do in hip hop to make money, a lot of times it aren't necessarily the things that you do because you love it, you know? Like to go do a show somewhere really far on your daughter's birthday, you don't want to do that. So it's not funny, but to make money, you will do it, you know what I mean? And then sometimes I'm about to go to Stagg's house and we'll make a record playing around and then we'll get mad paper off it. So sometimes, you know, it's you got to take the good in the bag, just like any job, you know what I'm saying? It's a nine to five, it's like anything else, but for the love of it and expressing myself, like you said, is what really makes us do it. It's something that I wouldn't really like advise doing, but if you're going to do it and you want to be a rapper or a producer or, you know, on your own label, just know that, you know, the work you put in is what you're going to get back. You can just make two or three songs and think like, puff that, he's going to show up at your house, you know? It's not like that, you know? You have to make some really good music. For one, good music is the key, you know what I mean? And all making yourself look right, presenting yourself the right way. You can't be walking up in a record label, smelling like, smelling crazy, looking crazy, no shape up, looking wild, you know what I'm saying? You got to present yourself right. And, you know, you usually got to be dope, you got to have the right sound. Try not to sound like nobody else as much as you can. And, you know, get on the net, and that is major right now, go hard. You know, there's so many more things I can tell you, but those are some really key things.