Last year, I entered a contest that pitted me against the very best in the entertainment industry, all vying for the opportunity to perform at a massive concert known as ISA.

Sadly, I didn’t make the cut.

Since then, I hope I’ve improved enough to be rewarded by my fans.  I’d like to perform at ISA this year.  Won’t you help me out?

Check out my entry above, or read more about it on my site.

Well, the results are in– I’ve got a spot, thanks to you guys!

Message from Jin.

Out of 100+ entries, you managed to put me in the top 5 entries.  My track, “Someday,” featuring LocV (another great artist if you’ve never heard of him) will be on his mixtape with a verse by none other than Jin himself.

This is one of the most exciting things to happen to me in quite a while.  I’m super happy and I can’t wait to see what doors unlock from this.

Once again, thank you everyone.  I couldn’t have made it this far without you.

For those that are familiar with my work, it should come as no surprise that I’m pretty picky when it comes to playing with others.

So without further ado, here are my…

Collab Guidelines:

Contacting me:

Use your common sense.  I tend to write back more to people that display writing proficiency in their messages.  I mean, come on, if you can’t string a decent sentence together in your emails, how do you expect me to believe you can write lyrics?

Further reading: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling

Examples:
Good – “Hi there Andy, I love your work and I’d love to feature you on a track I’m making right now!”

Bad – “aye sup collab wit me kk holla bak payce”

Lyrics:

Do your raps reflect your life as it truly is or is it all a masturbatory fantasy?  I tend not to work with those whose work is excessively misogynistic, vulgar, and/or violent.  However, I have made exceptions in the past based on sheer talent.

Examples:
Good – “It’s hard to make it when they’re pushing me down/ But one day I’m gonna be the king of this town”

Bad – “Money money bitches cars clothes jewelry fuckin’ hoes sluts bang bang Glock slangin drinkin 40′s bangin bitches”

Beats:

Again, use your common sense.  Only 3 requirements here: original, royalty-free, and I-won’t-get-sued-if-I-decide-to-release-it-on-iTunes-with-you.

While I do produce, just because I agree to work with you does NOT mean I’m producing you for free.  Either be prepared to provide your own beat or pay for one of mine.  It’s that simple.

Examples:
Good – “Here’s the beat! I produced it myself using FL Studio!”

Bad – “aigh here da beat i got it of limewire mang”

Sound Quality:

I’m not asking you to go all out and use a billion-dollar studio when you record a track with me, but please, no cheap sounding mixes, bad microphone quality.

And if you must use auto-tune, please, for the love of all that is sacred, please, use it in the right key and don’t overdo it.  If you can’t tell me what key your instrumental is in, that’s probably a cue for you to not use auto-tune.

No examples for this one.  If you need one, I probably wouldn’t work with you.

Everything else:

I’m a one man operation as of now.  I manage my own promo materials, I’m self-produced, I buy all my own equipment, book all my own gigs, etc.

It’s HARD to do everything on your own.  I’ve worked with artists that made a great track with me, only to want to sit back and let me push the single on my own.

If you’ve got an existing fan base, no matter how small, and you’re willing to help promote a finished song when it’s released, that greatly increases my likelihood of working with you.

Also, make sure you’ve got a presentable image.  Your urls should be consistent, you should have at least a few decent promo images, an online presence of some sort, etc.  youtube.com/GiveMeAndy works a LOT better than youtube.com/gangstarapper91123.

And if you’re a Bay Area local and you perform live as well, I may very well ask you to perform our song at my next gig.  Of course, I’d expect the same from you.

In closing…

I think I’ve pretty much covered all the bases.  So if you’ve made it this far, and read everything, there’s a good chance I’d work with you.

So get in touch with me.  It can’t hurt your chances.

The suspense is killing me!

About a week or two ago, I entered a mixtape contest to win a collaborative track with Jin on his mixtape.  Jin happens to be the first Asian American MC to sign a major record label deal.

I asked for your help, and you came through in spades.

First off, another very big thank you to everyone that voted to help me get a spot on Jin’s mixtape. Your support goes a long way.

Second, in an announcement on AyoJin.com, Jin himself has announced that the results will not be announced until June 4th!!

So here’s the deal…

As of this moment, I’m sitting at my netbook, eyelid twitching from the suspense. I absolutely cannot wait to find out.

On the other hand, an unofficial tally was done by a member of aznraps.com, which, thanks to you guys, got me the third most votes out of all the entries!

But we won’t know that for sure till June 4th.

Till then, I’ll be eyelid-a-twitchin’.
Cheers,
-ND

Here goes another quick, rambling update on the more interesting things currently in play.

Me… on Jin’s mixtape?

For those of you who don’t know, Jin was the first Asian American rapper to be signed to a major record label (with the exception of Southstar, who is only half-Asian).

Right now, he’s holding a contest, giving all the small-time artists (like me) a chance to be on his mixtape.

Naturally, I’ve entered, and I hope this contest will push me up and on to the next level.  It’s already gotten me a few more fans, and of course, the more support, the better.

I hope you’ll help me win a spot on the mixtape too!  Details here.

Shows, Pros and Collabs?

Last month, courtesy of Jimmy C and the ASVN crew, we went backstage VIP to hang out at Kollaboration and interview some of the performers.

I met a lot of great people, including Michelle Martinez, Joey Guila, and Shin-B.  A couple artists there expressed interest in working with me, so be on the lookout for some hot tracks soon!

As always, I’m still producing beats constantly and perfecting my flow.  I’ve got some upcoming shows as well, my next being at Suite 181, the official afterparty for the Hip Hop for Hope (HH4H) dance competition.

For all you Loc V fans, be sure to attend HH4H!  I happen to know he’ll be a surprise guest performer.  You heard it here first!

There’s tons more stuff I wanna lay on you guys, but I’m in dire need of sleep.  Also, as I’m writing this, I’m reminded that later on today, I have an appointment to donate blood.

Apparently they’re running low on O-positive.  Cheers.

www.GiveMeAndy.com

Hello friends!

Here I go with yet another once-in-a-blue-moon update.

I’m excited to announce that my official website, http://GiveMeAndy.com has just launched as of today!

Building it from scratch was  a labor of love, a culmination of several years of failed attempts to create a site I was happy with.

I hope you’ll check it out and tell me what you think of it.

Other exciting news– shooting for my first HD music video has been completed!

We’re currently waiting on post production.  Release date is slated for May 1st.

The song we made the music video for is called Dip It.  Starting TOMORROW, it will be available for sale on Amazon MP3!  Check it out:

Get it on Amazon on April 23rd!

You can go here to purchase it or click the image above to go to the Amazon page.

In the meantime, I’d like to thank the following people for their help in pulling this off:

• Greg Hawkins of the Mandala Lounge
• Kevin Lu and Kevin Siu of the Drunken Saint Lounge
• Jimmy Cheung of ASVN
• Ivan Cheung
• Lydia Kim, my DP
• Stan Kim, my director
• Jose Zelaya, my AD
• Valentino Green, my sound tech
• Coriander Stasi
• Yinique Myo-Flores
• Sal Hasanzada
• Marek Haiba
• Rosalinda Garcia
• MarQuis Harrell
• Patricia Leyva
• Victoria Montano
• Patsy Price-Leyva
• Daniel O’Sullivan
• Mary Ngo
• Linh Ngo
• Anthony Ngo
• Regina Ngo

That’s everyone off the top of my head, sorry if I forgot a few!  You guys know who you are.

More news coming soon!  Stay tuned.

Love,
-ND

As you all probably aware of by now (to anyone that’s on my MySpace, Facebook, or follows me @GiveMeAndy at the very least), 3 days ago voting began on my entry for the Ryan Leslie contest sponsored by the Talenthouse.

Check out the entry here and vote for me by texting GBAPQD to 53037!

Since then, everyone’s been super supportive.  About an hour ago, I wrote a letter to everyone that texted in and sent it to my friends on facebook.  But I thought I should leave a copy here for the few fans that don’t use facebook, or only have me on their myspace, youtube, etc.  Here it is:

Hey y’all,

This is a letter to all of you, my supporters, my fans, and the people I’ve met over the years that have stuck by me from day one for not only this contest, but the ones I’ve entered in the past.

For the people who not only texted in to help me win Ryan Leslie’s contest, but took that extra step and told their friends to text too.

This is for all of you that Tweeted, reTweeted, made bulletins, and physically took your friends’ phones and texted in for them.

Thank you.

Regardless of whether or not I win, I want to make it abundantly clear (and you know who you are) that it is because of YOU that I stay doing what I do.

There’s 2 days left to vote, and at times like these, I truly see who has my back and who’s just talking.  It shows me the people that deserve to be given back to, and I make a point of doing so as I learn and grow in my career.

No plugs here, just a sincere note of thanks from my rockstar networkers.  You are what fuels me.

-ND

So with only 2 days left until voting closes, I thought I’d let you all know that I appreciate you from the bottom of my heart.

I hope you guys continue to support me as you have from the start, and I’ll keep doing what I do best– entertaining you all.

The R. Les Producer contest, sponsored by The Talenthouse.

I’m excited to announce that I will be taking part in the official Ryan Leslie producer contest starting March 12-16!

Mr. Leslie is giving artists worldwide a chance to be flown to NYC and work on a track with him!  Here’s my entry:

Voting begins on March 12th!  I’m excited!  Stay tuned!

Unfortunately, my director encountered issues that prevented him from being completely on-board, so we scrapped that idea.

However, if at first you don’t succeed…

We are now officially casting the music video for my song “Dip It!”  Check it out:

Here’s a list of roles we’re looking to fill:

• Bartenders
• Bouncers
• Models
• Dancers
• Club goers
• VIP guests

If you’re interested, get in touch via MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter, or email submissions NDMVcasting[at]gmail[dot]com. No experience necessary, so give it a shot!

Over the last week, my director, Lydia Kim, and I have been busy assembling a crew and equipment.  We’ll be shooting on 3 Canon 5D cameras, with Steadicam and dolly, so I’m excited for this.
Many more updates on the way!  Stay tuned.

You Go, Grammar Girl!

Every now and again, I like to catch up with people who appreciate my work via Gchat and AIM.

I like to think that my fans are an elite group, a collective of intelligent individuals with extraordinary taste.

Most of the time, I’m right.

However, once in a rare instance, something like this occurs:

NOTE: What you’re about to read actually happened.  Nothing has been altered, save for the names to protect privacy.  My thoughts will be italicized and bolded throughout.

8:52 PM FanGirl415: lmaoo [; wssup ?

8:53 PM me: Not much.
Just relaxing.

FanGirl415: i seee. sounds calming

8:57 PM me: Not really. It's... unnerving.  --At the time I was sorting through a mountain of emails and talking on the phone, so I was a tad unnerved.

FanGirl415: ahhaha ! sounds like your taking a bubble bath ? --I did a double take.  I dislike it when people misuse the word 'your'.

8:59 PM me: Bubble baths are unnerving?

FanGirl415: yeaah --It slowly dawns on me.  So I say:

9:01 PM me: ...you have no idea what unnerving means do you. --I hope that didn't upset her.

FanGirl415: LMAO not a clue ! --Honesty is the best policy.
like UNneervracking ? --I choke and blink rapidly at the screen.

me: ...what?

9:02 PM FanGirl415: is it like UN- nervracjing  --Huh?
nervracking*

me: What... language is that? --I'm starting to question my sanity.

9:03 PM FanGirl415: okaay nevermind, what is it ?

9:04 PM me: Wait, you mean to tell me you had no idea what I was talking about and you agreed with me?

FanGirl415: no i thought i knew what you were talking about

me: Bubble baths?

9:05 PM FanGirl415: LMAO noo the word unnveving --Okay, this is... getting interesting.

me: Unnveving?

9:06 PM FanGirl415: yeah

me: Unnveving basically means like, to not vev something.
When you vev something, you're basically telling it something that's made up, or not true.  --The public education system's failed her already.  Why the hell not.

9:07 PM To unvev it is to tell the truth.  --I'm going to pay dearly for my sins.

FanGirl415: you know what, typo >,
><
Unnerving

9:08 PM me: Ohhhh.
That.
Nerving is when you're nervous.
Y'know, when your heart's all tingly?

FanGirl415: mhmm
yeah
and you
UN it --That's right!  You UN it.

me: It's cuz of the nerves in your heart.  --Yep, I'm going to hell.
Yeah.

9:09 PM FanGirl415: un is to oppisite
:]

me: So you unnerve it.
Right, un is to oppisite.
There you go.  –Thank god I’m agnostic.

FanGirl415: exactly ! i dont see why its not like a bubble back !
bath*

me: Does that clear it up a bit?
Well bubble baths can be unnerving can’t they?  –Oh yes, they certainly can!

FanGirl415: yeah  9:10 PM givemeandy: Bubble baths are unnerving?  FanGirl415: yeaah   givemeandy: …you have no idea what unnerving means do you.
i dont get that  –I panicked for a second when she copied and pasted this; I thought she was on to me.

me: Oh, that, I thought for a while you were messing with me.  –Complete lie.
That’s all.  –Hold my breath.

FanGirl415: ohh ><
ive come to a conclusion, andy
and i enjoy talking to you
hahaha

FanGirl415 is offline –…I enjoy talking to you too.

They’re my fans– for better or for worse, I gotta love em all.

Now back to that… unnerving… pile of emails.