Chino Dollar

BMI AWARDS RED CARPET

Add to My Profile | More VideosIt is a well-known fact that most artists are just not good business people. More creative than concrete, they are more concerned with their art than paperwork and numbers. This is especially true in the world of music- particularly rap. Not many record label CEOs have been able to balance company operations, create good music and simultaneously do them both well.Exceptions to this rule like superstars Cash Money CEO Brian “Birdman” Williams and DefJam president Shawn Carter AKA Jay-Z are few and far between. Another exception is Georgia-bred bulldog Chino Dollar. Since starting his label Mastermind Music a few short years ago, he molded Yung Joc into a platinum-selling artist, catapulted the career of Atlanta producer Nitty and helped boost the career of gold-selling artist Bubba Sparxxx.Now, he is set to bring in the New Year with an even bigger bang than years gone by with two as-yet-untitled albums from label duo Certified Gees and soloist J-One. And after the dust settles from that double dose, he will hit us with his solo debut album The Almighty Dollar. He already lit the fuse with the sizzling single “You Ain’t A Hood N*gga,” a diss song aimed at friend-turned-foe Gorilla Zoe.“Zoe was our people. One of the producers on my label Chris Flame developed him with the intention for me to distribute him, but I wasn’t ready,” says Chino. “Chris and Zoe already had the song ‘Hood Nigga’ when we introduced Zoe to (Block Ent. CEO) Block.“Now, people are coming back to me talking about he’s saying things about me. I made the song because sometimes you let your emotions get in the way.”Born Chauncey Stevens and raised between Athens, Ga. and Atlanta’s section of Decatur, Chino didn’t choose the music industry. The industry actually chose him. His first business venture wasn’t even in music. He opened a chicken shack with his cousin Marquet called Wings On Wheels in the heart of Atlanta’s East Side on Candler Road. Even though business was booming, they shut down after a year. Chino was caught on the other side of the law and had to serve six months in a boot camp.While he was on lock, his God-brother Yat had started a record label back in Athens. Yat bought studio equipment and signed local rap duo Lowdown and Dirty, who asked Chino to manage them. “When I got out, I was going back and fourth between Athens and Atlanta trying to figure out what to do,” Chino remembers. “They figured since I lived in Atlanta, I must know somebody in the music industry.”It was during this same time that Chino came across another aspiring artist Bubba Sparxxx. Although Bubba was already signed to another label, Chino’s artist Dirty (of duo Lowdown and Dirty) began producing beats for Bubba. In the process of putting together Bubba’s debut album Dark Days, Bright Nights, a friendship was formed.“Me and Bubba got close,” says Chino. “We got Bubba’s album together, and when he did his deal with Timberland and Interscope, we formed our own label New South. I was vice president.”Major distribution of their label depended on sales of Bubba’s 2003 follow-up album Deliverance. After the album failed to sell expected numbers, major labels backed away from a deal. “The label situation didn’t do too well but I learned a lot about the business,” says Chino.On the rebound from the situation with Bubba, Chino hooked up with another independent label as an executive officer. During his short stint at the label, he pushed female rapper Miss B underground success with regional club banger “Hit That B*$h With A Bottle.” But in 2004, Chino turned in his walking papers to the label. He took with him Miss B’s hypeman, an up-and-coming rapper named Yung Joc and started his own label Mastermind Music.“The first night I bought the studio equipment, I called Joc. He shot over to the house,” he expresses. Within months, Joc recorded over 40 songs.“I used to dibble and dabble with Joc in the studio. I would always write songs and come up with concepts,” Chino says. “When I came up with the concept for Joc’s ‘Dope Boy Magic,’ Joc was like ‘you need to rap on this one.’ When the people heard it, they was like ‘you need to rap a little more.’”Another one of those songs recorded by Chino was Joc’s 2006 smash single “It’s Going Down,” a song that sent Nitty’s production nationwide. So when Block Ent. CEO Russell “Block” Spencer got an earful of Joc, he signed Joc to a joint venture with Bad Boy South/ Block Ent./ Mastermind Music. As a part of the deal, Chino was to receive a 50/50 split in profits with Block.Chino’s next move is putting his experience, ability and know-how into a full roster of artists, which includes himself. Yung Joc is still on the label and Chino is still working with producers Chris Flame, Shannon Lee, Memphis native Black Elvis, rapper duo Certified Gees and solo artist J-One. After dropping all of this heat, he will be dropping his own certified heat The Almighty Dollar.“I’ve been around music my whole life. I know music, and I know business,” Chino insists. “I mold artists into stars with the talent God gave me, and I’ve got some of the hottest upcoming talents on my label. I can’t lose.”