I Ascend: Please share with us and tell us a bit about Emcee Nice?

Emcee N.I.C.E: I am Aulsondro “Novelist Hamilton,” let me break down the name for you. So Emcee is because I am a lyricist and then N.I.C.E. well, my peers back in the day called me Novelist. That is why when I introduced myself, it was Aulsondro Novelist Hamilton. N.I.C.E. stands for “Novelist Is Constantly Evolving.” I started in Christian Rap early, like 25-plus years ago. When I started back then, the church was not checking for Christian Rap. They called it the devil’s music, even though I never understood why they would call somebody talking about God and how God rescued them, the devil’s music. Rappers, are giving you a full story of how they went through it. As I mentioned, I had started in rap early on with the first Latin rap group in the history of rap music, and they hit the Billboard charts. They were called “A Lighter Shade Of Brown.” from there we put out a Greatest Hits album. I then reinvented myself in early 2000 when Tupac had died. I ended up producing and co-producing on Tupac’s album. The single was Thug’s Mansion. I am just walking through that whole evolution of how I came back to Christ. So I walked, I did the Tupac, then we did the N.I.C.E. and ultimately appeared on eight Motion Picture Soundtracks. One of them won an Oscar, for the movie “Crash.” Around the same time, I had a cartoon in development called “The Jammies.” While we were developing “The Jammies”, the soundtracks were blowing up. I was with a group at the time called “KansasCali” while the soundtrack and the cartoon were in motion. We landed a deal with Netflix and became the first African-American animated music series on Netflix. Not to mention my uncle, was the first black animator ever at Disney, Ronald Husband. When you think of Little Mermaid, Lion King, and Pocahontas, you have my uncle who was there with a hand in that. I did the theme song for the NBA in 2010 with Mark Cuban, who owned the Dallas Mavericks. I would go on to work with Dr. Fink from Prince of the Revolution and we re-did “Pop Life.” Prince approved it and loved it. Then my group “KansasCali” broke up and I went on a solo run. I came back with a record called “Tonight” featuring Suhana Machete that went on the billboard charts and held its own there for thirteen weeks. Then God saw fit that after all that I had learned, all I had seen, having learned how to market, how to distribute it was time for another level. I had the experience of being a Vice President at Warner Brothers and God was showing me He wanted me to bring all my talents to Christian Hip Hop. I was like, what there’s actually a genre? I told God, they don’t know me. He responded, “They won’t, but they need to know what you have and what you know.” That’s when I came over to Christian Rap in 2017 and charted five number-one records on the Billboard charts, including the number-one gospel album, as an unknown that came into this industry. It shook the whole situation, and I learned that the gospel community really was not very friendly. They wanted to know what church I come from and I started getting attacked. God called me, I answered and I am of the mind that Jesus took. I can take somebody talking about me and I will still stay on purpose. I still keep the pursuit of what God wants me to do like he told Jeremiah, I have a plan for you. You just have to believe and have unwavering faith.

I Ascend: I am truly glad you kept on pressing in spite of opposition.

Emcee N.I.C.E: I kept on pressing and the enemy kept trying to put up roadblocks. From audits to even knowing where I got permission from. The biggest thing I saw was a void to connect with many record labels. They were saying, we cannot give you a record deal because where does Christian rap fit? Christian rap does not have venues outside of churches that support it. They could not even pinpoint who was really coming to see a performance. Christian rap did not have a radio station that supported it. I mean a real station that they believe counts they did not have that. Christian rap did not have media that supported it, so how do they make their money back if they invest their money? They offered me a really poor offer and I said thank you, but no, thank you. I then went out and started a radio station for Christian Rap. Now, we matter. Our Radio Station, partnered with Dash Radio, which has 17 million listeners a month. My station now has 1 million listeners with eighteen shows across the United States. BDS is gone, but we are still a media-based radio station, which means we matter and we pay royalties to the artists. One of the beauties about what we were able to establish here at “God’s House Of Hip Hop Radio” was we pay our artists. I tell them if I cannot pay you, I cannot play you. 

I Ascend:  Share what you’re currently working on and how our readers can follow you and stay abreast of all that you’re doing.

Emcee N.I.C.E: I am an Author of several books. My latest album is out, which is “Iron Dove The Blessed Coast, Act Two. I also have my seasonings and I am the first Hip Hop Guy in the history of Rap to be endorsed to a seasoning deal. This year, I have received a Doctorate In Music from Harvest Christian University, The 2023 Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, and Grammy U Mentor for The Recording Academy/Grammy to name a few of the prestigious awards that have been bestowed upon me. Be sure to visit my website: www.EmceeNice.com. On social media: @ EmceeNicela on Twitter, Instagram, and EmceeNice on Facebook. Check out the station GH3radio.com. If you want to get some of those spices visit Validofoods.com, and most importantly, go get the books.