As of late, I have found myself waist deep in t-shirt production.  Believe it or not, my off the wall ideas for shirts have become relatively successful this summer.  Not only do I create t-shirts for Thirteen Percent Records and our artists, but I’ve also created a t-shirt for fans of NBA player Nenad Krstic and youtube sensation 50 Tyson.

Nick Collison Reps the Krstic Posse.

Over the Independence Day weekend, Oklahoma City Thunder Center, Nick Collison posted a picture to his twitter account wearing a “Nenad Krstic Has a Posse” t-shirt given to him around last season’s all-star break.  The fan response from the social networking site was immediate, “Where can I get this T-shirt?”  Nick’s response was simply, “If u want one of the shirts hollar at @McNastee.”

I found myself creating a webstore for the newly-in-demand t-shirts at about 1 o’clock in the morning to supply Thunder fans with Krstic Posse Tees.  The shirt managed to find it’s way to various t-shirt blogs, sports sites, and was even featured by DIME Magazine.  As unfortunate and unsportsmanlike as the incident was, Nenad’s recent brawl at the FIBA World Basketball Championships renewed interest in the shirts as well.

At a time when I’d sworn off garment sales, I found myself in the middle of not one, but two exciting ventures.

As I was prepping the initial run of Krstic Posse shirts, I shared a youtube video with my roommate and Underground Hustlin’, LLC owner, Intrinzik.  The video was of a 16-year-old rapping in his bathroom who repeated the phrase, “I ain’t gonna lie, but I’m 50 Tyson” more than a few times.  We watched more of 50 Tyson’s videos, and I decided to make myself a shirt that reads “I ain’t gonna lie, I’m 50 Tyson!” with a cartoon drawing of 50 I created in the center.  I made one t-shirt.

McNastee sporting a 50 Tyson T-shirt

After an impromptu photo-shoot with Underground Hustlin’, LLC photographer Jennifer Norftill, I posted the pictures to my facebook and shared them with “I’m 50 Tyson!” facebook fans, and Intrinzik shared them with Antonio “50 Tyson” Henderson-Davis himself.  After being contacted by 50 Tyson we broke down the cost of manufacturing the shirts and what could potentially be made, came to a happy settlement and 50 Tyson Tees was in business.

Since the creation of the initial 50 Tyson T-Shirt, and over a year since the “I ain’t gonna lie” video was posted on youtube, 50 Tyson has been featured on the Comedy Central show Tosh.0 hosted by comedian Daniel Tosh, ThisIs50.com (The Official Website of 50 Cent who has also talked about 50 Tyson on his twitter page), Worldstarhiphop.com, and more.  We now have 3 different designs created for 50 Tyson along with his very own football cards.  The buzz for the shirts grows as 50 Tyson now sports his own Tees in youtube videos and tells fans how to get the apparel.

Many artists including Lil B and Bow Wow have been spotted on twitter giving 50 tyson words of encouragement and much appreciated direction.  I was even approached by Bengals Wide Receiver Chad OchoCinco who wanted a few shirts sent to him right away.

Bengals WR thanks McNastee for the T-shirt Package

Thirteen Percent Records is currently promoting the new “Make Your Own Luck” t-shirt which is a saying I don’t take lightly.  I’ve been afforded many opportunities this year and have tried to make the best of those opportunities.  I’ve made a few gambles, suffered a couple losses, but also hit big on a few ideas.  I encourage all of you to do the same.  Follow your heart, believe in what you are doing, let the haters hate, and keep moving forward.  Success can be achieved on your terms.

Nenad Krstic has a posse shirts can be found at http://krsticposse.bigcartel.com.

50 Tyson Tees can be found at http://50tyson.bigcartel.com

Thirteen Percent “Make Your Own Luck” Tees can be found at http://thirteenpercent.com, these will be followed in the future by tees for the McNastee | S.I.D. – Polished Beat Rejects project, Menacide, and Crossworm tees.

Esham the Originator of Acid Rap, hosts UGH 25

Getchyohustleon!

Esham hosts the monumental UGH 25, get your hustle on @ myspace.com/undergroundhustlin