Dez Nado

Rapper, Poet, C.E.O., Television & Music Producer, Musician, Artist, Curator, Entrepreneur: all titles that collectively describe rapper “Dez Nado”, which is an acronym for The D.efinition of E.ffort and Z.eal iN A.mbition and D.edication to O.pportunity. Florida's own Dez Nado is truly raising the bar(s) in hip hop!

Born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Dez Nado was introduced to rap at very young age. It’s 1998, Hip Hop had just lost its two biggest icons to ever bless a mic, and a young, 6th grade 11-year-old Dez Nado drops his first rhyme on wax with his older brother, his brother’s stereo tape recorder, and his two cousins from the birthplace of hip hop; New York, New York. Dez instantly fell in love with the art of rhyming, and even set out to record his own mixtape (actual “tapes” back then) and distribute it independently at his junior high school. Since then, Dez has honed his skills and become one of the most legit up-and-coming Florida artists in the game by studying his craft and mastering his art with the same independent passion and grind that he’s had since day 1!

He saw his first successes after high school as an independent artist; generating a fan base by plugging his own projects at local shops and hot spots, working part-time and attending school full-time splitting funds between books for class and studio time, as well as booking, promoting, and organizing his own shows by the age of 19 as a college freshman. Word of his ridiculous work ethic rapidly spread as one of Jacksonville’s premier rap websites (Duvalcountyluv.com) recognized him with the title of Jacksonville’s Grinder of the Week for several weeks between 2006-2009. Dez was at the peak of a three-year run of good fortune in 2009 when, after being recognized by Source Magazine executives at a local showcase as one of the city’s top 7 performers (out of over 50 competing), and winning the Duval Oscar Awards in 2008 for Performer of the Year and Rookie of the Year, he was shot after leaving a club in the chest, just inches from his heart. Dez used the opportunity to re-focus and change his message from self-destructive to self-productive, and made a promise to himself that he would never take another minute for granted. After he took a brief hiatus Dez quickly returned to the studio and dropped “No Hands”, which gained enough attention to land him a distribution deal for a follow-up album “No Hands 2” with KKR/Island/Def Jam in 2011. Dez began to break out of the local scene with the No Hands series and shine in bigger markets like Atlanta, Orlando, and Las Vegas (as evidenced by the feature interviews and fans calling in on his 2011 & 2012 projects “Freestyle Filez: Volume 1” and “Freestyle Filez: Volume 2“).

To this day, Dezhas made good on his promise to not take one minute for granted, going from inches away from dying to becoming one of Florida’s most promising rappers, a producer/studio engineer, self-started CEO, college graduate recently receiving his Master’s in Science degree, DJ of his own college radio show and radio programming specialist at the largest university in Florida. His name is much more than just a name; it has become something that he lives by.

Most Recently, Dez has added “promoter” to his long résumé; promoting, coordinating, and booking his own bi-monthly regional showcases and putting other independent artists on, creating his own avenues to build his brand (photos of past events up at www.whoisdeznado.com). Dez’s work ethic and growing popularity was recognized in summer 2014 outside of the Jacksonville market as he was nominated for a 2014 Georgia Music Award in the Hip Hop (Male) category for the second consecutive year. The awards ceremony is held annually at The Buckhead Theatre in Atlanta, GA. Dez’s 2013 track “#DoSumn” , which features Kanye West and JANA MiziK, has also been featured in several online media outlets (links included in press clippings) since 2013, as well as his appearances on the All Star remix of YMCMB/Cash Money records artist T. Rone’s smash hit “Hello Love”, whom Dez also opened up for in April of 2013 at the YMCMB signing party at Roc Bar in Jacksonville, FL, which were some of Dez‘s first dealings with major artists. Following the momentum of these accomplishments, Dez was named “Next to Blow” by Music Connectz Mag, and one of 2013’s “Artists to Watch” by New York’s Underground Music Awards committee with his follow-up singles “STFU” and “Ride Tonight” getting radio play from California to the UK, Germany, and France. It’s no surprise that Dez’s 2013 compilation project, “#FLAsFinest”, has received over 100,000 plays and 3,500 downloads, let alone 900+ downloads during its first week on thatcrack.com. His buzz has lifted him to become one of the most talked about artists in the north Florida/south Georgia area, as evidenced by his winning of the title of 2014 Jacksonville Artist of the Year at the Duval Music Festival last month (DuvalHipHop.com – Void Live Magazine Write Up – http://voidlive.com/music/dez-nado-wins-artist-year-duval-music-festival ). This is a significant achievement that Dez has added to an already solid resume, which includes 2007’s Rookie & Performer of the Year (Jacksonville Underground Oscars), 2011 Album of the Summer (No Hands 2; Hip Hop Stardom Mag), 2013 & 2014 Male Hip Hop Artist of the Year (Georgia Music Awards), 2015 Mega Sum Fest (Hip Hop Stardom Mag) performer invitee, Official 2015 BET Hip Hop Awards weekend performer & official affiliate, and 2015 BMI Hip Hop/R&B Awards special invitee (invite-only; Saban Theatre – Los Angeles). He recently appeared on the local news in promotion of his latest project [full interview on main page of www.whoisdeznado.com], “VIPSquad All-Starz Volume 3” featuring Lola Monroe, Bruno Mars, and YMCMB’s Caskey, among others.

Currently, Dez is promoting his newest releases: a full-length album entitled “LaDolceVita”, which includes production by Dez and was distributed by Universal Music Group, in addition to a rap compilation album, entitled “VIPSquad All-Starz Volume 3”, featuring collaborations and production/engineering from/with UK artist Master Shortie, YMCMB’s 212 Recording (Orlando) and Caskey, YMCMB artist T-Rone’s producer MgeeZy, and several up-and-coming Florida artists. The lead single “Swang My Way”, along with the follow-up singles “Futuristic” and “Got Mo” are available online via iTunes, Amazon.com, Spotify, and all other major online retailers. He’s coming off the biggest buzz he’s had in his career, thanks to the signing of a 52-week deal with regional Cable television network Bounce TV to air a one-of-a-kind documentary/reality-style TV show called “Life & Grind” that has aired every Sunday since August 1st at 8pm and will continue to air through 2017 to an audience of over 3,500 households in the North Florida/South Georgia market (approximately 7,000 viewers per week; www.facebook.com/LifeGrindDuval).

The show, negotiated, edited/produced, and partly filmed by Dez himself, is a smash hit after its first season and was the most watched TV Show on the regional network in Fall 2014 (add another title, “executive producer”, to Dez’s résumé). Building on the buzz and success from the TV Show, he’s airing season 4 in the Jacksonville market from December 2016 to July 2017 and branching out to regional markets like Dothan, Chattanooga, and Atlanta among others who have shown interest in airing their own local Life & Grind spin-offs while touring surrounding markets in promotion of a new Universal Music Group-distributed album entitled “LaDolceVita“, which he plans to promote throughout 2017 specifically in those markets who have shown interest. Most recently, Life & Grind: Atlanta was confirmed to begin filming in Fall 2016 and will air on DeKalb25 (Comcast channel 25) in the greater Atlanta market in Spring 2017.

His music videos (KindaDed Music Video on Youtube), online TV shows (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/vipsquadtv), along with his cable TV CW17/BounceTV Docu-reality series “Life & Grind” (self-produced) and thousands of plays/views/downloads recorded on his various sites have all become indicators of Dez Nado’s versatility, one-of-a-kind work ethic, and growing popularity. With a steady, unshakeable “grind state of mind”, Dez delivers from the smallest 16 bar verse to the full length LP. It’s becoming more and more clear, to more and more people, that he’s not just a threat, he’s a promise!