Count Bass D is all over the place. Not only is the Boston-bred, Nashville-based MC on the second day of back-to-back performances in Athens, Ga., take a look at his discography. Since his early days of creating demo tapes in the MTSU Mass Communications building, Count has collaborated with such disparate acts as Me Phi Me, The Beastie Boys, Van Hunt and Wynton Marsalis.

While mainstream critics would have you believe the Nashville hip-hop scene begins and ends with a certain knife-wielding member of G-Unit, Bass D holds down a loyal constituency of fans because he comes from the same mold as Young Buck’s boss, 50 Cent.

“We’re the dudes the major labels came through and grabbed, shitted on and left for dead,” he says. “Somehow we’re able to come back and do it again because the label wasn’t making us, it was just in us. Look at 50 Cent. They left him for dead and he came back and did it.”

Count Bass D was born Dwight Ferrell; he gained his love for music by playing drums in church. He hasn’t survived nine gunshots at point-blank range, but the comparison is still valid. After releasing the critically acclaimed Pre-Life Crisis, Ferrell was seemingly left for dead by his label.

“I was in Paris, France, when I got the vibe that I wasn’t going to be contacted back by my record label,” says Ferrell. “At that point I decided that as soon as I got home I was going to get a job at a dry cleaners.”

In between pressing shirts, he was pressing records and moving units independently. Over the past 11 years, he has managed to reinvent himself, due in large part to his Murfreesboro beginnings.

“I was doing a session in Tampa with Kenny K from Digital Underground,” recounts Ferrell. “I didn’t know where I was going for college. Dude handed me a Mix Magazine and told me, ?Yo it’s a school in Tennessee. They’ve got a couple SSL boards, you should go up there and see what you can get crackin.’”

After one of Count’s demos landed in the hands of Pete Nice, of the rap group 3rd Bass, he decided to call it quits after two semesters. Despite Pre-Life Crisis’ paltry sales, Ferrell made a valuable connection with MF Doom, and eventually released Dwight Spitz, an album that was a complete turnaround from the days when Count crooned “T-Boz Tried to Talk to Me” on Pre-Life Crisis. While the other hustlers talk about hitting the block, Count Bass D’s re-up consists of non-stop touring and flooding the market with independent albums?he refers to his efforts on other record labels as “adopted children.”

Bass D continues in that same tradition with his latest offering, Act Your Waist Size. The album reflects the personality of a parent, musician and a blue-collar employee all in one.

For now, there are presumably more stops after Athens, and the inevitable return to his day job. After all, real hustlers never stop. Just ask 50.