Glace Bay, N.S., hip-hop artist Mitchell Bailey is excited about the album he is releasing this summer after signing a deal with U.S. distributor Forbes Music Entertainment.

"I am really optimistic. I have a lot of things come up … an album this summer. I'm putting the main single out in the next month. I think it's my favourite song I've ever made," the 19 year old told CBC's Mainstreet Cape Breton.

Bailey said he'd like to be as successful as Nova Scotia rapper Classified, for whom he's opened several times.

"The fact that he is able to go and tour across Canada and have a sustainable living from music and have multiple hit songs and he still lives in Nova Scotia. I think that is, like, the coolest thing ever."

'I took it very seriously right off the bat'

About 90 per cent of his waking hours are devoted to music, Bailey said.

"I was in Grade 10 when I put out my first song. I feel like I took it very seriously right off the bat."

Bailey has signed a distribution deal with Forbes Music Entertainment. (Photo by Mickey Freeman )

That led to a 15-song CD that he sold for $5 each.

"People were kind of skeptical about it, but I just continued doing my thing. I loved it."

Bailey said his music reflects what is going on his life — issues, what people are talking about, relationships, "girls."

"I can't really describe what my lyrics are about, because I kind of jump all over the place."

'It's a partnership'

He believes the hip-hop scene in the province is bigger than it appears.

"It is definitely the most popular genre of music within junior high and high school students and university students. There are a lot of artists. I think it is probably growing now more than it's ever been."

The contract with Forbes Music was forged through internet and social media connections, he said.

He remembers being called by a Forbes representative from New York.

"I picked it up, we talked for two hours and I just kind of built the relationship from there," he said.

"It's a partnership. I am still fully independent and doing my thing. Now we have somebody else working with us to help distribute and push my music into markets that maybe I wouldn't be able to hit because I am still currently in Nova Scotia."