Ruger’s Reality Check … Vol 22

Ruger's Reality Check | 27. Apr, 2011 by Ed E Ruger | 4 Comments

Lose The Local Mentality, 2 SOHH.com Tru Grit Winners from NC! FREE MUSIC & my 5 favorite BBQ Joints

Sorry for the delay folks. I know the last couple of blogs have been 2 to 3 weeks aprart. I hope y’all didn’t forget about me haha I promise im back to posting every 7-10 days….here we go!

SOHH.com TRUE GRIT WINNERS!

SOHH.com, 1 of the largest & most respected websites on the planet, took the time to honor 20 of the top indie artists coming up in the game. Out of thousands of artists considered, they had a panel choose the top 20 artist who had the total package and the most “True Grit”. The winners included MC’s like 106 & Park vet and Jermaine Dupri’s former So So Def artist SunNY, Digable Planets member Doodlebug w/ his new band & repping NC, Ty Bru and Yours Truly aka Me aka Ed E. Ruger for those that still dont get it haha
This was a huge honor to be 1 of the 20 winners and placed on the front page of a huge site ON MY BIRTHDAY!

Heres my write up and the link to the page w everyones music…I highly suggest u check these cats out and shout out again and huge thank you to SOHH.com for the write up

“It doesn’t take a wild stallion to spot talent as definitive as North Carolina’s own Ed E. Ruger when it comes down to dope rhymes and doper beats. With an ability to mesh himself to any sound he lays vocals over, Ed E. Ruger stole our attention at gunpoint with his style and content that immediately draws comparisons to other Greensboro city slickers likeLittle Brother. His social appeal? Ridiculous. Throw MySpace’s “Tom” in the bunch and you’re staring at over 30,000 loyal fans with supporters bopping their heads to Ruger in the form of 500-plus FanReach and 200-plus FaceBook boys and gals. With an appeal that focuses primarily on 25-34 year olds, it’s Ed E Ruger’s non-stop grind that caught us. Doing multiple shows each month around his town, it’s a old-fashioned mystery as to when this cowboy can slow down. If our breakdown of why he’s earned a spot on our gritty list ain’t enough, then take a glance at the “other” co-signs he’s received. Having his tracks featured on “The Boondocks” and “Breaking Bad” is a pretty good look, but it’s hitting the same stage alongside rap stars including Public Enemy, Wiz Khalifa, Method Man, Redman, Young Buck, The Clipseand Cassidy that has us wondering if we should start up our own SOHH Records and lasso him in to a deal. Western words and witty descriptions can sell him alone but if you take a listen to his music, you’ll quickly see why Ed deserves multiple listens. On songs like “Ziplocked & Loaded,” Ed doesn’t lie about contemplating a street life but allows his conscience to save him (“And I don’t feel right everyday punching a clock/Day dreaming about keys you can’t fit in a lock/That’s until I had a flashback about being pop/And realized where I’d be if it wasn’t for hip-hop”). While Ruger’s able to spit about different sides of reality, you can hear how deep his grit can grind on tracks like “Dummy Disease” (“This sh*t ain’t even fun no more, this ain’t rapping/Half of these tracks should come with closed captions/Nowadays, deejays scream instead of scratching/I just give them dap and try to keep from laughing…”). If you are one of the many people who are looking for new flavor in your ears, then take off those Beats By Dre and listen to what Ed E. Ruger has to say. He’s not your average rhyme slinger.”
-SOHH.com Staff

That’s one hell of a co-sign…thanks SOHH.com

Here’s where u can check out the rest of the winners list…including my crew member,biz partner & homie Ty Bru!

SOHH.com/contest/true-grit

Expect monster collabs from me and a few of the other winners real soon!

FREE MUSIC!

“IN THE CLOUDS” feat Stitchy C
Prod by DSB 7 Champ CarsonPalmer
http://soundcloud.com/ederuger/in-the-clouds-ed-e-ruger-ft

“JUST CUZ IM BUZZIN”
http://soundcloud.com/ederuger/15-just-cuz-im-buzzin-by-ederuger

“THANK THE STREETS” feat Drawzilla & Seven
Produced by JJ the Jenius
http://soundcloud.com/ederuger/thank-the-streets-ft-drawzilla

Snippets of my new cd “ZIPLOCKED & LOADED”
http://soundcloud.com/ederuger/01-ziplocked-loaded-sampler

Albums Available online everywhere!
ITunes,Amazon,Rhapsody,etc

THINK GLOBAL, NOT LOCAL!

The crabs in a bucket mentality is the downfall of many artists and scenes of all genres. Alot of people have been touching on this subject lately,including 9th Wonder & Joe Budden just to name a few. Hopefully this will resonate with a few of you and you can use it to elevate yourselves to another level while these other losers sit back and whine about everything under the sun.
The point is that the world is bigger than your block! its not a difficult concept its actually pretty simple. I’ve never really “fit in” anywhere bc I say what’s on my mind and don’t really respond well to authority and that’s portrayed all throughout my music (look up Iconoclast). When I came up as a white battle rapper before the 8 mile phenomenon I had to be ruthless and a little more raw than most just to prove I was worthy to even be in the scene. This was before myspace made it easy for every rap fan to be a wrapper (wrapper = wanna be rapper…shout to Gweedo Girl for that, lol) I had to scratch and claw my way to the top. When I stopped battling I started booking my own shows outside of my own hometown because I couldn’t get shows there. Once I got online I reached out to cats w/ the same style of music bc I was “too street” , “too controversial” or in some cases just “too white” to work w the cats in the area. So I stayed persistent and kept expanding my fanbase in other areas, such as, Texas, Tenessee, Kentucky, Cali, even Germany and ended up on songs w/ cats like Bun B, KS aka Krumb Snatcha, Wax & more…all from networking not money. Basically, I made my own lane and kept it movin. I didn’t wait on anyone to make it happen for me HERE. Now I book the biggest show in my hometown and have gained respect from the scene as a whole. Every city,state,etc the music scene is run by “cliques”. which is something I’ve never been able to get down with. This is where alot of rappers start turning into angry fans instead of mc’s and start pointing fingers…F*CK THAT! I ignore all that BS, remove myself from the situation and network w/ sites, Djs, artists, promoters, etc that think on a bigger scale…a global scale! Let these crabs in the bucket argue with each other and step all over them as you climb to the top. If you have a true grind and work ethic nothing can stop you from making money. Im not sayin me or you is gonna be the next Jay Z, but there’s enough money in this biz to go around. You just have to remove your blinders and open your mind to the world outside your so called hoods! Just let the the haters hate. That’s just free promo. Plus, the more time they waste complaing the longer they will be stuck in that barrel of crabs while you create your own path to success.