Ugly Money Niche Is Boldly Making History And Changing Lives In Music

Ugly Money Niche’s musical journey started in Virginia, where he began playing the drums at the age of 12. After attending Virginia Commonwealth University for three years Niche joined the Army and was deployed to Iraq. During his time, Niche sought refuge in his music and began honing in on his skills. When he returned to the stateside Niche began his quest to tackle the entertainment industry under the name of P-Nyce. After doing countless tours, shows, and events, Niche decided to step into media and became a Radio Jock at Augusta’s Power 107 (WPRW) where he held down “Nyceman Radio,” which was the #1 show for two years. In 2014, he inked a Deal with 8ball & MJG’s Push Management and his career has been nonstop ever since! As an artist Niche released music with Young Dolph “Roll On”, 8Ball “F** Better” Skooly, Bigga Rankin, Blac Youngsta, and more! In 2018, he decided to retire from rapping. With talent and a tremendous work ethic, Ugly Money Niche then turned his focus to the business side of the industry.

LS: How would you describe your musical ear?

UM-NICHE: I like it. At the end of the day, I’m a businessman, and the object of the music industry is to sell records. Hit records are the records that sell, change people’s lives, feed kids, and things of that nature.

LS: Of all the projects you’ve worked on, what was the most memorable?

UM-NICHE: That’s is a great question. My new artist China Monai’s project. I’ve had the opportunity to see her blossom as an artist. Just eight months ago, she was working at Olive Garden, and now she’s a full-time Hip-Hop artist. It’s amazing to see the growth, from her first show to now, where she’s tearing down stages. Just to see the evolution of her becoming a star.

LS: What does the power of the pen mean to you?

UM-NICHE: Power the pen! If you’re pen, gaming is mean that leads to hits. Writing records that can stand the test of time. Some records were written 20 years ago that are still played today because they were written very well. It’s very important in the music industry to make sure you’re a great writer, or you have great writers around you. This will ensure that the artists have the best opportunity to have a long-lasting record and career.

LS: Where does your creativity flow?

UM-NICHE: This is something that God gave me. Even as a kid I always had a big imagination. When it comes to having a creative mindset and planning, whether it’s marketing, music, or promotion, it’s easy for me to come up with different types of rollouts for projects. My job is to take the things that I imagined and turn them into real life. It’s extremely exciting.

How do you avoid burning out?

UM-NICHE: When you do what you love, it’s hard to burn out, but everybody needs a break sometimes. But I’m doing what I love. I wake up every day, and I get paid to be myself, and there’s no better job than that. So if you know it’s something that you love, it doesn’t feel like work at all. I always tell people, if there’s something that you’re passionate about, that is what you’re supposed to be doing with your life, and that’s what you should invest your time and energy into becoming because that’s what you’re supposed to do. It’s a beautiful thing.

LS: You are a very accomplished talent scout, artist developer, and A&R rep. And have been part of the team behind many well know artists. What is your vision behind your brand?

UM-NICHE: Worldwide domination and saturating the market. The Ugly Money Brand is a brand built off of trust. You know, you’re going to get quality every single time. We’re going to follow through with all of our promises on all of our projects. Our clientele knows they’re getting a guaranteed product or service. I’m proud of our high rate of success. If I say that I want to take somebody to Boosie in person, they’re going to meet Boosie in person. No, if’s, and’s, or but’s about it. Whatever it takes to make it happen, it’s will happen.

LS: Now you have collaborated with DJ Such-n-Such to create Ugly Money Podcast, what made you take this leap into media?

UM-NICHE: Well, I used to do FM radio, in Augusta, Georgia, before I moved to Atlanta. I had the number one rated show in the city during that time. When I got signed as an artist I had moved to Atlanta, and I had to resign from the radio position. It’s funny when I finally decided to retire in late 2018 from pursuing a career as an artist, I reached out to that radio station. And they told me “No.” And there was no explanation, no clarification, and not that they owed me one. I was like, wow. It took me like two or three days to get my energy right about it. I just felt like how in the world are they going to tell me, No. Then I realized that was God telling me not to go backward. I’ve already taken from that situation what I can learn. And it’s time to move forward. So, I decided to have my radio show. So that’s what inspired me to create the Ugly Money podcast. It’s funny, because we started in my living room, just me and Such-N-Such. With a pair of iPhones and the GoPro camera, and we just crack the mics open and started talking. It’s a beautiful situation, because today, less than a year and a half later, we just got picked up by the biggest YouTube platform in the south, All Urban Central with 1.9 million subscribers. People have the opportunity to listen to us every day. And I would have never got that local radio.

LS: You are becoming a pioneer in the music industry; how does that make you feel?

UM-NICHE: You know when you’re in it, it’s kind of hard to see. I just believe I’m operating in my purpose. I just wake up and try to win, and I try to make sure that everybody with Ugly Money Entertainment or a client wins. It’s a real natural thing. So I’m very thankful and humbled by it because I remember when my phone didn’t ring, I remember when nobody wanted me to work with them. I remember being, you know, irrelevant, quite frankly. And so now, when I do get 300 DMs a day, or 100 emails or text messages, I tell myself not to complain. Because this is the life that I wanted, I wanted my phone to ring. That was all in designing the plan.

LS: Many times we’re mindful about how we pour into other people, how we treat other people. So, when it comes to ourselves, we give ourselves reasons why we can’t do something. What was that moment like when you decided to step into the music industry as an artist?

UM-NICHE: Wow, and remember. I had a cameraman that I was working with his name is Yannick the Filmmaker. This was the guy, and I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a cinematographer, a filmmaker, and always a big supporter of mine. So he sends me a YouTube link and says, “You know, P Nice you need to listen to this.” It took about three days for me to listen. It was the audiobook of Earl Nightingale Strangest Secret and had the phrases accident shall be given, seek and ye shall find, marketing will be opened. It gave me the blueprint on how to become whatever it is that I wanted to become in life. I listened to it two times through shortly thereafter, I started pushing my music harder than ever before I started investing in myself. When I heard Earl Nightingale Strangest Secret. It changed my life, he changed my mentality of what I was doing. Shouts out to Yannick!

LS: What advice would you give up and coming artists and producers?

UM-NICHE: Well, one, you got to know the rules of the game that you’re playing. LeBron James can run like a deer and jump like a kangaroo. But if he doesn’t know the rules of basketball, he won’t get past that court ref is going to blow the whistle. So you have a lot of very talented people, but at the same time, you also got to understand the rules of the game. And I would tell anybody, first of all, just try to learn what game you’re playing. And you’ll be amazed at how different the actual game is from common perception. Because all in all, I don’t make the rules of the game, I just try to see the rules, and I try to win. Most people think this is a talent show, it’s not, it’s a business. Like Wal-Mart it is a supply and demand business. Once people learn that then they can tap in. Because it’s 10% talent and 90% business, in my opinion, they’ll see their talent; go to new levels and new heights.

LS: If you could change anything in the music industry, what would it be?

UM-NICHE: I would love for talent, to be the driving force of an artist getting a deal or an artists being successful. I would love that. I wish it wasn’t so much just, you know, numbers and figures and views and followers and things of that nature. So that’s one thing I would change is the fact of just making it more talent-based. Because in all actuality that’s the beautiful part about it. That is why we fall in love with music.

LS: Tell me how you became A&R for Free Bandz Entertainment?

UM-NICHE: Freebandz Entertainment is the record label of Multi Platinum Artist Future. I became an A&R with Freebandz a little over a year ago, and that was solely off providing value, I wasn’t looking for that position. I had done a talent search tour with one of their artists, and they saw how I operated. It was remarkable to them, to see me go to Tampa, Florida, and have a packed house. Then turn around the next week and go to Cleveland, Ohio, and have the same reaction. And I salute them for seeing my talent. They call me in for a meeting and, made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. And from then on it was Freebandz baby, ain’t nothing bigger than a bird.

LS: What would you say the secret to success in the music industry?

UM-NICHE: In a simple form, never quit because if you never quit, you’ll figure it out. You’ll figure out all the ways to move, you’ll figure out all the ways to win…if you never quit. I’m a 20-year veteran in the music industry now. And that’s the smartest thing I did. I wasn’t the smartest, I wasn’t the richest, and I wasn’t the most talented. But I was the most resilient person. I just wouldn’t quit. At the end of the day anytime, I thought about quitting, I turn around and looked behind me. And I was like I might as well keep going because I’ve come too far to turn around and go back. And that’s what I could tell somebody. If this is what you want to do, and this is what you love. Then just keep doing it. Even when it seems like it’s not working. Even when it seems like it’s wrong, even seems like it’s putting a tax on you…keep going. The nights that you don’t want to go to the studio are the nights that you’re going to make the biggest hit of your life. The meeting that you don’t want to get up and drive to, will be the meeting that will change your life. The money that you don’t want to spend on promotion and marketing is what will take your career up. So just never, quit and keep going.

LS: What is next for Ugly Money Niche?

UM-NICHE: I’m sitting in my much my studio now. It’s a 4000 square ft Media Complex, and Ugly Money Studios will be opening in the next month. It’s my duty to help as many people change their lives within the music industry, that’s my goal and that’s my purpose. In the meantime, I want the Ugly Money brand to become a worldwide brand. Like Cash Money, Rockefeller, Young Money, Def Jam, and Ugly Money. I want it to be mentioned in the same breath. And yes, we’ve got a long way to go. But I don’t scare easily, and I don’t get tired. We’re heading in the right direction and with the right drive and teamwork, we’ll get there.

LS: Tell me about the Ugly Money Music Summit, and your next event?

UM-NICHE: Ugly Money Music Summit is the Southeast Premier Music Summit. Currently, right now we are the largest. COVID has shut down a lot of things, but Atlanta was able to no stand tall and stay open. I saw that as an opportunity to create something defining and created something historic. I realized there was a gap between artists and the labels, a big gap. Meaning, your labels weren’t tapped into the talented artists. And the artists had no resources to get tapped into these particular labels. And so I wanted to make a talent-based platform where artists can display their talent on these labels. It’s almost like a job fair for a musician. Where they are auditioning and showing what they can do, passing their resume around to different labels looking for artists. We started in September of last year, and I was expecting like 1000 people and 4000 to come out over three days. And we did the last one was in March. And we cleared over 6000 artists for that summit with 30 different labels represented. And four artists have gotten signed directly from that summit in March, and I’m extremely excited about it. We had two artists that got signed the Boosie, another artist was signed YSL which is Young Thugs label. And one artist was signed to Ugly Money Entertainment. That’s is exactly why I created it, so I can help the artists and the Labels come together.

So we’re looking forward to the next Ugly Money Music Summitt which will be September 17th-19th. Matter of fact Ugly Money Entertainment is looking to sign another artist at this Summitt, and I’m going to give them $25,000 upfront when signed. We looking to make history.

LS: Any Shout Outs?

UM-Niche: I want to shout out my artist China Monai who just reached a million views on YouTube. I’m extremely proud of her. The new artists that we just signed Official.Linko from Gaston, Alabama, and our artist Street Baby from Atlanta, Georgia. These are the new artists that we just added to Ugly Money Entertainment.