Joseph Scott, also known as Dez Nado is an American hip hop and reggae singer, songwriter, and record producer from

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, Florida. He is also a television producer who produces and directs Jacksonville's first and only cable reality TV series, ''Life & Grind: Duval'' and LIVE from New Jax City, both of which air on north Florida/south Georgia's ''CW Network'' affiliate WCWJ/ CW.

Career

Nado saw his earliest successes in college, where he used his platform as college DJ at a small university in Jacksonville to distribute and promote his music and host his own showcases on campus. After nearly being killed by a gunshot to the chest in 2009, he shifted the tone of his music from "self-destructive to self-productive" and started using his music as a platform for pushing a progressive agenda and promoting non-violence in one of the most violent cities in Florida. This new sound led to his first major digital distribution deal after releasing his first mixtape series, ''No Hands'', which included ''No Hands, No Hands 1.5'' and ''No Hands 2'' distributed by KKR/Island/

Def Jam Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

and his most progressive work in response to his views on the

Trayvon Martin Trayvon Benjamin Martin (February 5, 1995 – February 26, 2012) was a 17-year-old African-American from Miami Gardens, Florida, who was fatally shot in Sanford, Florida, by George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Hispanic American. Martin had accompa ...

shooting and the

Stand Your Ground A stand-your-ground law (sometimes called "line in the sand" or "no duty to retreat" law) provides that people may use deadly force when they reasonably believe it to be necessary to defend against certain violent crimes (right of self-defense) ...

policy in his home state of Florida. ''No Hands 2'' is distributed by

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. Nado premiered a cable reality TV series called ''Life & Grind: Duval'' on

Bounce TV Bounce TV is an American digital multicast television network owned by Katz Broadcasting, a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. Promoted as "the first 24/7 digital multicast broadcast network created to target African Americans", the channel fe ...

that looks into not only his daily life as an independent artist, but also other indie artists and bands affiliated with his self-managed entertainment label. After winning the title of Jacksonville Artist of the Year and performing at the 2015 BET Hip Hop Awards, Nado released his second mixtape album ''LaDolceVita'' in 2016 with Caskey, Taylor Gang artist Lola Monroe, and

Fetty Wap Willie Junior Maxwell II (born June 7, 1991), better known by his stage names Fetty Wap or Harlem Fetty, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. He rose to prominence after his debut single "Trap Queen" reached number two on the U.S. ''B ...

. Nado made the local news before the mixtape album release and TV series premiere with his $1.4 Million dollar

One Spark One Spark was an annual crowdfunding festival held in Downtown Jacksonville, Florida, United States. In the event, "creators" displayed projects in various categories (including art, innovation, music, science, social good, and technology) and ...

crowdfunding pitch in Spring 2014 for his Life & Grind project and northeast Florida's largest annual indie concert series ''Duval Spring Fest'', which he started in college.

Life and Grind TV Series

The Life & Grind TV franchise has since the ''LaDolceVita'' album release expanded based on the show's popularity to include an Atlanta spin-off version of the Jacksonville show, the latter of which Dez signed on and agreed with the CW 17 Television Network to air 8 episodes on the larger CW affiliate

WCWJ WCWJ (channel 17) is a television station in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by Graham Media Group alongside independent station WJXT (channel 4). Both stations share studios at 4 Broadcast Place on the ...

for season 4, reaching nearly 7 times the number of viewers as the previous seasons in addition to the 7,500+ viewer base on DeKalb-Comcast 25 (Atlanta). Dez attributed the growth of his buzz as an artist, evident in his 12,000+ units moved of his ''"Futuristic"'' single and tens of thousands of downloads/streams following the release of his latest single ''"Duele"'', to his growing independent cable television platform in one of his latest interviews with hip hop blog HipHopApproved.com. His events and music were praised by

G-Unit Records G-Unit Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group. Founded in 2002 by rapper 50 Cent, for the first eleven years of operation, G-Unit ran in conjunction with, and was distributed by, Interscope Records. In February 2014, ...

and

. His third solo mixtape album LogophiliYaH is planned to be released in the fall of 2019 and accompanied by a spring and fall college tour supported by his TV platform.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

As lead artist

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nado, Dez African-American male rappers American male rappers Rappers from Florida Living people 21st-century American rappers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American male singers