Entries categorized as ‘jay electronica’
memo to fern.
February 28, 2008 · 6 Comments
you’re guess is as good as mine.
Jay Electronica – Colors (snippet)
Jay Electronica & Zed Bias – The Cauldron
Zed Bias out of the UK. his blog about the WorldWide Awards and linking up with Jay.
Categories: Singles · jay electronica
when my nerve’s bad i empty out a herb sack
February 6, 2008 · 1 Comment
opposite of where the earth’s at, off the at-a-las.
Black Milk & Fat Ray – Bad Man ft. Guilty Simpson
i don’t recommend it, but if you’re going to commit illicit and/or illegal activities, this is your soundtrack. The Set Up is going to be banana-nutty.
they already got this blasted out through Nah Right, a very good look for them dudes. Piece Talks is coming soon, stay tuned for more shit on the CRAC collective.
oh yeah,
Blu wants you to have this…
CashUsKing aka Co$$ – Long Live
LA has some shit. trust. meet your next favorite rapper.
don’t get too excited, this is actually an OG version of Departure/Are You Watching Closely that’s been around the internets. Act II coming….soon.
Categories: Dill Withers · Flicks · Singles · detroit · el ay · jay electronica
here’s to many years of success, in succession
January 22, 2008 · 3 Comments
watch out for this dude, Quelle. yes, from Detroit, no he doesn’t sound like whatever you’re thinking.
“if you livin like a slob at your mom’s and you like, 25, no job and you tryna get a deal, most likely when you get one, all you bout to do is kick dumb shit to young kids about how ‘rims make the world go round!’
but if you ask me that shit’s done.”
this is probably the more “traditional” Detroit banger. Black Milk is pretty much set himself to be “underground super producer” if there would be such a term. T3 has always been dope to me, his cadences and shit are always original so his shit’s pretty certified. They both do their respective thing excellently, off the Olio mixtape T3 dropped a while back.
told you.
this one’s pretty different from the first one, the whole song itself is much more lighthearted and fun, so he isn’t always mean muggin and shit. seriously though, Quelle seems to be versatile as fuck, with his rhymes, with his beats as well as his song concepts.
Dwele – untitled (marvin gaye shit)
this sounds like some kind of demo but its still the shit.
Bilal – Everything in it’s Right Place/Sometimes (live)
so i got this a while back and then figured out that i was actually there.
yeah.
so,
you already have this right?
Jay Electronica – Departure & Are You Watching Closely?
but fuck me, you should just get it here
Categories: Dill Withers · Flicks · detroit · el ay · jay electronica
i ain’t gon lie bruh, niggas took that petty cash from FEMA
January 14, 2008 · 7 Comments
and copped a couple choppers, why?, cuz coppers on the cleanup…
rob someone
that beat is bananas
the way this track is crafted is uniquely creative. out there.
De La Soul – Stakes Is High (dela remix)
one of the best remixes EVER.
if you’ve been reading since day one, this is probably the third time you’ve seen this track on here, it’s that bonkers.
Phife Dawg – U Thought U Wuz Nice (instrumental)
Dilla, dawg.
Jay Electronica – When The Levees Broke
i’m not even going to say anything.
dark days for a few,
this is just something to hold yall over till i re-up
Categories: Dill Withers · Flicks · Singles · detroit · jay electronica
happy new year and all that…
January 3, 2008 · 7 Comments
these are the opinions of each featured individual, not mine (and for the last damn time, i’m NOT jay electronica). not too many links right now, maybe later. if you disagree/agree, or have a list of your own, drop it in the comments.
shoes top 5′z.
Black Milk – Popular Demand lp/instrumental lp
Freeway – Free at Last
Devin – Waiting to Inhale
Strong Arm Steady – Deep Hearted
Planet Asia – Jewelry Box Sessions
Talib Kweli/Madlib – Liberation
and Gonj@sufi
Mark Pritchard – Call to Arms
Geology feat. Mos Def – Superstar
Paul White – Let Your Imagination Go
Mr. Dibia$e – Axel Foley
Bullion – I Wasn’t Made For These Days
Jack Sample Pros. – Perskryptshyn
Samiyam – Donuts With Sprinkles
Consequence – Uncle Rahiem (prod. by Karriem Riggins)
Bishop Lamont feat. Phat Kat & Elzhi (prod. by Black Milk) – Go At It
J Dilla – Oh Oh
Bishop Lamont feat. Frank Nitty, Illa J & Busta Rhymes – Spectacular
Buff 1 – Pretty Baby (prod. by 14KT)
Jay-Z feat. Nas – Success
Invincible – Sledgehammer (prod. by The Lab Techs)
Shawn Jackson & Beloved – Street Corner Blues
Ta’Raach & Blu aka C.R.A.C. Knuckles – Love Dont
photo: this person
Kenny Fresh’s Fresh Selections
1. Waajeed – The War LP
2. Ta’Raach & The Lovelution – The Fevers
3. Buff1 – Pure
4. Blu & Exile – Below The Heavens
5. 4Hero – Play With The Changes
6. Deerhoof – Friend Opportunity
7. LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver
8. Mark Ronson – Version
9. Shape Of Broad Minds – Craft Of The Lost Art
10.Finale & Spier1200 – Develop
honorable mentions:
DJ Roddy Rod – Blunt Park Sessions/Cuba After Market
Ohmega Watts – Watts Happening
Lifesavas – Gutterfly
Pharoahe Monch – Desire
SA-RA – Hollywood Recordings
Categories: Dill Withers · Madlib tha Badkid · detroit · friday night up in drews with dj house shoes · ghostdieni · guilty simpson · jay electronica · kweli · opinions are assholes
salute
December 12, 2007 · 62 Comments
all interviews by moi
“Too many people are touted as ‘a problem,’ or ‘coming to change the game’ in hip-hop, only to wind up as a footnote in the musical landscape. Jay Electronica is different. Maybe that’s the best way to describe him, different. A year ago there weren’t many people who would recognize the name Jay Electronica, but in the last 12 months, the mysterious New Orleans native has created a surprising, internet-based buzz, while still remaining mostly an enigma. From the 20 + tracks of his that infiltrated the net there are collaborations with Guilty Simpson and Mr. Porter, beats by the underrated Nottz as well as the legendary J Dilla (RIP). Yet even with such an impressive roster of collaborators, Jay shines undauntedly…”
an excerpt from an upcoming article in SHOOK, a hip hop magazine from the UK.
photo: jay
the year is almost over, and without a doubt i will remember the music of Jay Electronica as an unexpected highlight. the rest of the blogsphere seem to agree. so congratulations to Mr. Electrolysis, the movement is moving with over 30, 000 direct downloads from his myspace page, and who knows how many others from all over the internet. Still, that is the past and we’re looking towards the future.
Act II will arrive on Christmas day, with over 10 songs and 200mb in size. the music will be produced by Jay himself, Madlib Mr. Porter, Hi-Tek, Beat Autopsy and many more.
guest appearances by Nas and Guilty Simpson
videos and other assorted goodies.
2008 looks promising.
photo: jay
photo: jay
photo: Erykah Badu
photo: jay
photo: jay
photo: jay
Still, it must be noted that no one gets to where they are alone. Jay insisted that everybody following be mentioned and given the proper respects for their own individual contributions that have helped make Jay Electronica a reality.
“These people are me, not my team, not my crew or my posse.
They are Jay Electronica”
- Jay Electronica
photo: jay
Erykah Badu
“What Erykah is working on right now is so important not only to music, but to us as the human family of the planet Earth and the change that we’re moving towards as a people and as a civilization. She doesn’t know this is inside of her, but it will come out.
God has deposited something very special in her that will aid in establishing freedom justice and equality in the world for all of the human family. “
- Jay Electronica
Erykah: can you hear me?
Yes, yes. Can you hear me?
Erykah: Yes I can.
Most everyone has heard Act I and heard what you had to say about Jay, but can you talk a little bit about the impact that just musically, you had when you first heard jay.
Erykah: I wanted to start a record label, Control Freaq.
How quickly did the idea come to you?
Erykah: I think a week, about a week after I heard his music.
You’ve championed Jay as an MC, as the future of MCing, what is it that you feel Jay has
Erykah: He’s awake and he stays awake. What makes him the next thing is that he is progressive; he studies like he is in medical school. He studies music, period. He studies sonics and styles. The sound of music is pretty much the same all across the board when it comes to rap or hip-hop. Whatever it is that is in him that gives him the energy to move like he moves, it’s not the music that impresses me, it’s his mind really. There are millions of his atoms in my music; sometimes I think they are strategically placed there. He reflects himself in everyone and everything around him; he’s like a virus. His minds and his words and his thoughts, sometimes I feel like he’s straight from God.
Can you tell us anything about your upcoming projects?
Erykah: I’m working on Nu AmErykah. I’m watching everything, Nu Amerykah part one is basically a documentation of what’s happening right now, a clear documentation. Nu Amerykah part two is the solution.
What does that entail?
Erykah: It’s in frequencies; it all has to do with frequencies. It has a lot to do with life without powerlines.
Life without power lines? Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
Erykah: no. laughs, not really, not without the music. It’s a healing tool, the music that I use. You’ll have to forgive me; I’m a little tired right now.
photo: jay
photo: jay
Mike Chavarria
Chav: My name is Michael Chavarria, known as Mike Chav, Chav Guevera, Chav G. Right now I’ve been working on Erykah Badu’s new projects, which I’m really excited about. In the past I’ve worked on Dre’s Detox with Denaun Porter, playing guitar, playing bass, just doing whatever. Also, I’ve worked with people like J Dilla, Snoop, The Game, did production and some engineering on Game’s last album. Method Man records, Busta Rhymes record, the last Pharaoe Monch record, production, programming, mixing. D12, Eminem, 50 Cent, G-Unit, that’s where I started off, the Shady Records camp, Eminem, Obie Trice and all that.
How is it that you met Jay?
Chav: Well we have a mutual friend that spent a lot of time in Atlanta and met Jay there. I was working at Guitar Center at the time, around ’99 because studio work wasn’t steady yet and I needed to pay the bills. I always had aspirations, I was looking for a rapper, because my musical tastes are pretty broad and I wanted to find a dope ass rapper and make something new. So Johnnie and I built this studio together in Detroit and he would always tell me, since I met him, I know this cat from Atlanta and I don’t know where he is, but he is the dopest MC on the planet, and he’s going to be the one. So one day I was in the studio in Detroit and Johnnie’s like, Je’ri’s coming, and I ask who’s that and he tells me that’s the guy he was telling me about. Instantly, within the first few minutes of knowing him we knew this was going to be it, I think some of Jay’s first words were like, ah, this is going to be one of my best friends. He played me some music he was working on on a Triton, and it was incredible. When he first got to Detroit he stayed up for three days straight, and since that time on, we’ve been working. We’ve had our ups and downs but that’s initially how we met. It’s crazy too because the way he got to Detroit was so random, there happened to be this girl we knew from Detroit going to school out in where he was in Philadelphia and they met and somehow figured out they both knew Johnnie, he figured out how to get a hold of him and called him a day or two after, left his job and apartment in Philly and came to Detroit.
How did you meet Dilla?
Chav: Well, Johnnie had introduced me to Dilla. We call Johnnie the A&R of the city, he has the gift of people, he knows everyone and everywhere he goes people seem to love him. Him and Dilla had been cool for a minute and Dilla told him, I’m building this studio. At the time he had this label and recording deal with MCA and part of the deal was that they were gonna build him a studio, he had a major budget and he was going to get all his stuff from one place, but Johnnie was like nah, me and Chav can do that. So at that point, it took a long time to build, we contracted the designers, the acousticians, we picked some equipment, and we tried to make sure it was some next level stuff. At the time 2-inch reels was still the most popular choice, because people thought Pro Tools had a cold sound. So instead of using the regular Pro Tools stuff that people were using, I got him these special interfaces that cost about 10 G’s each as opposed to the Digi ones that cost about 2 G’s each, and they sounded that much better. He was able to still have that analogue quality within Pro Tools, which was a huge thing for him because his ear was so in-tune to frequency and warmth. This is around 2000, and we chose equipment that would make Pro Tools sound like it was analogue. I remember the first time I met Dilla, he was working on Like Water For Chocolate, he was in the studio on a real kick drum with a giant mallet. So when he got into this digital world, I taught him the basic things he needed to know to get around, but after that within a couple of months he had it mastered to the point where he could do what was in his head. When I saw what he was doing it was really some mind-blowing stuff and it’s definitely shaped the way I do things today as an engineer and he was a producer. Just the things he was doing with plug-in’s and the fact that he wasn’t locked into a tempo, he would do a lot of things live. He figured how to take what was in his head and manipulated Pro Tools to make things seem like they were alive and not a loop.
Wow. We could probably go on with these Dilla stories for a minute, but you met Jay through Johnnie after you build Dilla’s studio?
Yeah, this was around 2002, about a year after we built the studio. The year that George Bush was ready to go to war. We really connected on that too, that was one of the things between Jay and me. We had the same kind of ideas about that kind of thing when everyone kinda thought it was a good idea. We’ve been family ever since we’ve met.
How would you describe these past couple of years in which Jay has gotten more exposure and attention?
I would say it really feels like we’re doing what we always said we were going to do from the beginning. We always had a goal, and I feel like we took that goal and manifested it into reality, and it is really gratifying to see that people are really feeling the music in the way that we intended it to. We really couldn’t have imagined the response to the Eternal Sunshine thing, we hoped for something like that but we couldn’t quite gauge it. Jay’s always had that magic to him, I can’t say that everything from years ago are of quality to be released, but it’s great to see it turning into what we had envisioned on the terms we wanted it to be on. I don’t know what he hears or sees when he listens to music but I think that he listens for the magic, that’s what we always look for. It’s the feeling that you get, he has a way of tapping into emotions and feelings that I have not heard form anyone before. He knows when something’s right and when something isn’t right, and if it’s not right, he moves on to the next thing.
photo: jay
Brandon Beat Autopsy
“there is something in the water in Detroit. He is a young producer that comes from the same universal frequency that produced Dilla, Denaun, Black Milk Karriem Riggins Wajeed, etc.”
- Jay
9th Wonder
9th wonder: I’m coming out with my album The Wonder Years, and there’s a joint on there with Erykah and Jay.
What did you first think of Jay when you heard him?
9th wonder: I thought it was phenomenal. Erykah played it for me and I thought it was great.
What is it about him? It seems that everyone that hears about him refers to the music as refreshing…
9th wonder: It’s real honest. The music is real honest. From the songs I heard, that’s what made me want to do something, yeah. He’s one of the most slept on MC’s out right now. Like I said it’s honesty, no frills, just straightforward rhymes and that’s what I love about him.
photo: jay
Shafiq Husayn & Taz Arnold of SA-RA
Shafiq Husayn: this is Shafiq Husayn.
Taz: I’m Taz Arnold and Sa-Ra’s a performing group, a production collective and basically a life design entity. Along with cats like Jay and a small list of other cats, we’re putting our new images and new thought formats up for people.
How was it that your paths crossed with Jay?
Taz: We met Jay working with Badu at our studio in Silverlake about 2 years ago.
Can you try and describe you relationship with Jay?
Shafiq Husayn: put it like this, as far as his rhyming ability, the skill level is high but then actually getting to know him, he became part of the ox, one of the brothers.
Taz: we base our brotherhood not on emotion or a nationalistic pride, but on a different format, certain types of individuals who master their inner world, so they can master the outerworld. He’s one of the brothers, like Shyfeek said, one of the OX.
Work done with Jay?
Taz: I put it like this; there have been many lifetimes full of work that we’ve been building with this cat. Right now we’ve been feeding each other music, I catch him online, we’ll play him beats, he’ll come to the studio and we bout to go in and neutralize. We’re about to go in and start doing some songs together. Outside of doing tracks, we’re about to start going in with Jay and create a new thing for people, like a new language, people have never heard this type of language, not in this generation.
Is this music you’re referring to?
Taz: It’s outside of music, just waking up of minds, and cats trying to be progressive as intelligent individuals in the human experience. We are going to crack some codes and heal some people, as well as ourselves.
Just to catch people up who may have been sleeping, can you please let us know who you’ve worked with and what upcoming music you have set for release?
Shafiq Husayn: right off the bat, the Nuclear Evolution in the Age of Love, coming out on February or March on Ubiquity Records, 2008. That’s mainly a production album with our friends. We’ve worked with cats like Herbie Hancock, Bilal, Badu, Monch, Common, Dr. Dre, Kanye West, the late great John Coltrane, the late great Thelonius Monk, Medeski, Martin and Wood. It’s been a long list of people we’ve been working with in the past couple of years.
What is it about Jay that sets him apart from the rest of the world of rappers?
Taz Arnold: The man’s speaking that language that most people have never heard. We all speak that language. Jay is many different things, he is a scientist, a person that can transform thought, transform energy with words. a very important ability in this time, dealing with a lot of ancient histories and ancient mysteries and mix these things up to create a new world. That’s really at the core of that brotherhood that we’re talking about. It’s expressing, like Shyfeek says, the power of the one but the one is just the beginning. He’s a poet at that. It’s like a rainbow, a multitude of thoughts, emotions and it’s a mixture, and so he’s like a chemist, an alchemist.
Shafiq Husayn: He’s the prism; he’s the new prism.
Your influence has been spread without too much credit, how do you feel about that?
Shafiq Husayn: The EL is coming. They don’t know it’s going to be coming.
Shafiq Husayn: the best part of your imagination is coming.
Taz: there is a new era that is here amongst us all and we are a part of that. That within itself is a very exciting announcement and I don’t think people have connected the dots yet. It is very exciting; it’s a force, not to be reckoned with, but to behold.
Jay Electronica: we give all praises due to God, and I personally thank Erykah supremely for even allowing my path to cross with my brothers that I haven’t seen for the past 76 trillion years.
photo: jay
Eevin P. Wright “The Guv’nor” & Michael ‘Big Mike’ Knight
“The Guv’nor has an album coming which will surpass and shatter any pre-disposed expectations anyone might have of a Texas artist”
- Jay Electronica
what did you think of the music when you first heard it?
‘Big’ Mike: The music is great. That’s why I had to search him out, because of the music.
How soon did you guys decide to work together?
‘Big’ Mike: Well, immediately.
What are you trying to do with Jay?
‘Big’ Mike: Get records done and cut the deals .The deals are there, we’re just waiting on Jay to say what he really wants.
D Prosper
Can you introduce yourself real quick?
D Prosper: Yeah, I’m D Prosper. A&R for G Unit formerly, I was there for like five years. I’m managing Hi Tek right now, Jake One, Frequency, Black Jerus, a bunch of people.
You’ve mentioned quite a list of cats, how does Jay fit in with all that?
D Prosper: Jay is the next chapter, the new beginning. As you progress and knowing music, there’s only two types of music, good and bad. With that said, good music needs to get out to the people and it’s just sad that the industry has allowed itself to fall on its face and not allowed certain artists like Jay Electronica or deadprez and a bunch of people that have a message, not allowed those artists to get to the people. It feels like its warfare out here, us against the beast.
What struck you most about Jay when you first discovered him?
D Prosper: The kid had lyrics, he inspired me. He sounded like something fresh and new, I felt like when I first heard my favorite rapper.
What is your role in the Jay Electronica movement?
D Prosper: I’m part of a consciouness that wants to get good music out, I’m just a spoke in the wheel. I’m a collective part of the management side of bringing things to the table and making sure Jay gets his right due. That incorporates a lot of things, so I’m just a spoke in the wheel, making it turn.
Do you think people are ready for it?
D Prosper: Of course, it’s fresh. The kid got thirty thousand downloads with no promotional team, or marketing strategy or business anything, just the people. The people are fiending right now for some good shit, and it’s the best time because technology has allowed artists like Jay to get directly to the people. They’re smart consumers now, they get so much music for free so if they’re going to pay it has to be an artists of substance, and that’s what Jay is.
Ringo “Tumbling Dice” Smith
Can you talk a little bit about your track record in the game?
Tumbling Dice: yeah, sure. I’m a young cat out of Brooklyn, New York and how I got into music is when I was in junior high school and high school, I would ditch school and go into the music stores around the Times Square area. I couldn’t afford any of the drum machines at that time so I would spend hours in there learning how to use the machines. I used to see a lot of cats that at the time were doing real well around there, like Al B. Sure or Kurtis Blow and I would be in the store like, yeah I make beats. Eventually I met a girl that was part of a group that was signed to Uptown at that time and came up to me like, I like what you doing, I like your style, if I buy you this drum machine, will you make some beats for me? Basically I did it and got to keep the machine, so the SP 1200 was the first drum machine I had. Then some time passed, and a friend of mine invited me to go to a Def Jam party and that’s where I met Rakim. They were working on their last album as Eric B and Rakim so here I am as a young kid and I said to this man, look, I make beats, I got some good beats. So he was like, allright cool, here’s my number, let me hear what you got. So I called him the following day and I played some beats over the phone and he got hype, had me come to the studio. This is when he used to live in Manhattan on 23rd street, and I stayed at his house everyday and told my mother I ain’t going back to school because I’m rolling with Rakim. Of course she got mad at me, but I ended up doing half of the album. Large Professor did the other half. Remember, at this point, I’m 19, 20 years old and I’m hanging with Rakim and the next thing I know, I meet puffy. Rakim introduces me to Puffy like this is my little producer, I know you’ve been looking for people to work with you while you’re at Uptown Records, you might want to work with him.
So this is before Bad Boy?
Tumbling Dice: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was rolling with Puffy when Puffy was still an A&R. I’m the first guy he ever had working with him, I was basically his hands. So I basically started rolling with Puffy, I wanted to take my production to the next level I didn’t really know how to play keys that well. Still don’t know too much but I know how to cheat a little using Logic or Pro Tools or whatever I gotta do. So I said I needed a liaison, a keyboard guy because I wanted to expand my work. I hooked up with this cat that was working with Puff already, he’s a keyboard player by the name of Aron Marshall. We did a lot of R&B records, a lot of work on Mary J. Blige’s albums, Jodeci, B.I.G., and a lot of other cats. After doing the Biggie record One More Chance, I hooked up with LL from there, then Bustah came along. Bustah used to come to my house everyday and be like, I’m about to break out from this group but I need you to help me do this album. We came up with Whoo Haa. The Doin’ It beat was supposed to be Biggie’s first record coming back after the first album. That was supposed to be his first single. What Puff did was, he took too long to pay me, I was having some financial difficulties. So I was sitting on these beat ideas that Big and me had come up with, and LL was like, let me hear them beats. At first I was like, I’m not even supposed to play that, then after a minute I was like, whatever, let me do what I need to do. As soon as he heard the beats, he bought them right away and he paid me top dollar too. That’s why on the Doin It song with LL, on the background you hear, Go Brooklyn! Go Brooklyn!, that was a Biggie beat. They called me right after I sold the beats, it must have been someone at the studio called Puffy or called Big and said, yo that beat you was writing to the other day, LL in here about to record it. So BIG called me right away, mad as hell like, what’s the deal. He was just pissed, talking all kinds of shit, like, how you gonna give my beats away. I said, look, I’ve been waiting for y’all to send this little measly 10 thousand dollar check, and it hasn’t come. LL’s offering me 25 g’s a beat, I was like, yo, I gotta eat! Then Puff called and they were on three-way with me, screaming at the top of their lungs like, you need to tell LL we need them beats back. I couldn’t do that, so it got really crazy. BIG didn’t talk to me for awhile and was mad at me to the point where he wanted to knock my head off every time he saw me in Brooklyn.
Damn.
Tumbling Dice: Yeah it got to that point because these records were supposed to be his first new singles off the Life After Death album. I can understand why he was mad.
Who else have you worked with?
Tumbling Dice: Queen Latifah, Organized Konfusion, Mary J. Blige, Bustah, Erykah Badu, 50 Cent, Lil’ Kim, Foxy Brown, Salt-n-Pepa, Seal, The Spin Doctors, shit man, the list goes on.
Getting to Jay, everyone that I’ve spoken to pretty much says that they’ve met Jay through you. How is that you met Jay?
Tumbling Dice: through Sol Messiah, a DJ/Producer from Atlanta that worked with Dallas Austin and his claim to fame was working with TLC, doing scratches and some additional production. He was telling me about this brother, he had worked with him in the past and he just said how if we got together it’d be magic. Soon as I met Jay, I loved the brother right on the spot, like this is just a cool dude. I want to maintain a relationship with him and that’s exactly what we did, we’ve been friends ever since.
How long ago was this?
Tumbling Dice: This was about four years ago. The first months seemed like a lifetime to me though, we blood brothers. If I don’t speak to that man for 2 years, it’s all good, when we see each other we’re still gonna be laughing and talking about old times and it’s gonna be great. That’s what I love about that brother. If you could get that same kinda feeling from somebody everytime you with them, wether you made at them or not, but you get that cool feeling everytime you see each other then it’s gonna be like fuck it, that’s my man, that’s my dude and I know he’s always gonna have my back. I’m speaking genuinely right now.
Being that you’ve been a part of Jay for a while, how have you seen these last three or four years as far as Jay’s evolution?
Tumbling Dice: He’s made a giant progression in his music, in his own swagger, I think it’s great and I think he’s growing more and more every day and it can only get better. One thing I see about him is that he can experiment with different things, like most of these artists that walk back and forth across this stage, it’s not impressive but Jay wants to do theatrical stuff. Stuff that’s not really done in hip-hop, and I think it’s a great idea. He’s the new Ali, he reminds me of Muhammad Ali.
Do you think people are ready for what Jay’s bringing?
Tumbling Dice: Did people think they were ready for someone like Outkast? Did people think they were gonna be ready for NWA? People are always ready for something new.
You’ve been privy to a lot of music being in the inner circle, how would you describe Jay’s upcoming music for those of us that haven’t heard it?
Tumbling Dice: Innovative. I look at the music, and that might sound weird, like the Maxell picture of the man blown away from the music because it’s so powerful. Do you know the picture I’m talking about? The famous Maxell picture? The Maxell logo…
Oh, the one with the dude sitting on the couch, his tie’s blowing back, I see what you mean.
Tumbling Dice: That is a visual image of what I’m talking about.
Guilty Simpson
“Guilty and I are like partners in rhyme, that man is my brother and he is Detroit to the fullest.”
- Jay Electronica
photo: jay
FWMJ
How did you first meet Jay?
FWMJ: I ran into Jay doing some nerdy web design crap on a message board for a graphic design community I’ve been a part of since the late 90s. If the name didn’t give it away, Jay is a geek.
What struck you most about Jay at first?
FWMJ: what struck me most about Jay, besides being a rapper that actually has great taste in beats, and also has access to these great beats, and beside the fact that he can actually rap goodder than a mug, and the fact that hearing a good rapper over good beats is nearly an impossibility anymore as more and more rappers decide to rely on the annoying concept that is ’swagger’ and their wardrobe person and the beats smash, or the rapper is ridiculous and the beats are ass–Jay isn’t afraid to be good at the sport that is making rap music, but also address what I guess would be considered typically nerdy subject matter, and he still makes it come off cool. It’s kind of a freedom thing for a black man to be serious and possess that innate cool factor that ‘the other’ will automatically attribute to us, for example the token black guy in the room is automatically cooler than anyone else there, and at the same time reference obscure knowledge and be into web design and not come across as pretentious. Another great thing about Jay is he’s from New Orleans, the south, and is spittin’ better than just about everyone out or coming out, and also saying something. So often you’ve got heads complaining about content in songs and how the south isn’t giving you any. Basically, if i was a rapper, Jay Electronica is one of the rappers I’d probably sound like. Except my voice don’t sound as cool.
How does it feel to be the person who unleashed Jay to the world via your site, rappersiknow.com? i mean you posted songs by Jay way back in 2005, before anyone else.
FWMJ: well, I don’t know how it feels really. I mean, my whole mission with rappers I know has been to give a platform to music i personally feel needs to be paid attention to. It was complete chance that I ran into Jay where I did, and I guess he was surprised that I actually knew who he was.
it’s not really so much about taking credit for getting him out there, I’m just glad for once people agree with what I know is dope. It sometimes feels like people don’t remember what good rap music sounds like.
Mr. Porter
“he is one of the best producers in the world, quote me and Dr. Dre on that”
– Jay Electronica
photo: jay
Ethiopian Mick (of Greedy Genius…in the red glasses)
How did you come in contact with Jay?
Ethiopian Mick: Through my cousin, we ended up being good friends and he ended up shooting our last lookbook, after becoming family and seeing that Jay was ill with the photography.
What is that you love about what Jay’s doing?
Ethiopian Mick: Just the fact that he’s bringing a consciousness back to the music. He’s bringing a cultural relevance back to the music and still keeping it fun and futuristic and original.
What is that you see Jay doing?
Ethiopian Mick: I see him changing the face of what hip-hop is. A lot of people are saying hip hop is dead, hip hop is this or that, and Jay having the love for the music and the culture, he was one of those people that said ‘hip-hop’s not dead, its right here.’ He’s taking it and shape-shifting it into what he wants.
What does Greedy Genius stands for and how does it goes hand in hand with what Jay’s doing?
Ethiopian Mick: For sure. For us, Greedy Genius stands for independence and creativity. We all come from larger corporations in terms of design, and Greedy Genius is a chance for all of us to go independent. We’ve taken long terms relationships and knowledge of our craft and all the elements that go into the style and everything, and ran with it independently with no compromise. I feel like what we do on the creative design signs mirrors what Jay’s doing, a platform of expression with no compromise.
Andy Dufraine aka Clutch Johnson
What was your introduction to Jay?
Clutch Johnson: my introduction was through Just. I was just there, one day at work in the studio, and this dude comes through, kind of unassuming guy. The more and more I hear his work the more intrigued I become by the thoughts and ideas in his work. He has a vision and I dig it, I dig everything from the man.
Jay Electronica: Just for the record, I want it to be known that Andy Dufraine, aka Clutch Johnson is one of the best producers you’ve never heard but you will hear much from him in the year 2008.
Clutch Johnson: I appreciate that; I look forward to that as well.
You mention Jay’s vision, what is it that is so much different in Jay’s music as opposed to other rappers?
Clutch Johnson: Maybe it’s that he’s more open-minded, he has a wider vision than most people. I think it’s through his own life experiences, which definitely helps in giving you a wider spectrum of ideas and what you can talk about. You hear a lot of other people and it’s very young sounding, they don’t have those life experiences. Jay’s music has more substance underneath it.
photo: jay
Young Guru
How you did you meet Jay?
Young Guru: it wasn’t necessarily through Just. He was coming up here to see Just but I heard of him before I met him.
How did you first hear of him?
Young Guru: through hearing his underground stuff and then realistically, the first time I really realized who he was when he was in The Source.
Jay Electronica: Why Guru is so important to my formation is because I used to go to Baseline all of the time, and Guru would be talking about, “you need to just stop rhyming, there’s no point, hip-hop is dead.’ But he’s like one of those wise master teachers that are teaching you and you don’t even know it. He put the fire under me to prove to him personally, that hip-hop is not dead.
What made you feel that way Guru?
Young Guru: It was me being facetious to a certain degree, because saying that, knowing who I am and that I love real hip hop, its out of frustration with the current climate. It’s the feeling of fuck it, I might as well not even try to make real joints. But Jay, he’s so good people ain’t even gonna get it, his attitude as I’m gonna be the one to prove to you that, people still buy into good hip hop. What drew me towards him in terms of liking him was the creativity, everybody does the same format over and over again so the creativity is the first thing that stands out and that’s also a reason why people might not know how dope it is or give it 2 seconds of a listen because its so dope. I think his attitude is I’m going to make them understand that people still enjoy good, creative hip hop that’s not formulated.
Have you been surprised at all by the positive reactions to Jay’s stuff in the past year or so?
Young Guru: One level yeah, but another level no because I know how dope he is. It’s more of a realization like, oh the people got that one, I’m glad they got it because you know what’s there but it’s always are the people gonna get it? The response is like ok, now you’re starting to see it, now is the fertile time when people are starting to recognize. I called Jay a couple of times about a deal, I won’t say with who and the response he gave me was kinda dope because he was like, I don’t necessarily want a deal right now, let me get so outrageous that there’s no way you won’t have a bidding war or fight over this material. And that is the kind of insight and understanding he has on where to take it, on the underground level, because most people presented with any deal would just sign a deal, that’s what most MC’s want, to be signed and put out an album. He’s more like, ok, I’m going to take this to the point where the public is going to tell people they need to sign me. That’s what you’re seeing now, the recognition of people outside your circle. Because if I say something, but people know I know him personally, they might just see it as me championing my man and blahzay blahzay, but when you get the random kid from Ohio on the blog saying the shit is dope, it makes a bigger impact.
David Brown aka DB Cooper
photo: jay
Sean D
photo: jay
Dan Solomito (of Kidz In The Hall)
What was your introduction to Jay and what is it that grabbed your attention most?
Dan Solomito: Just Blaze was actually the first one to play me Jay Electronica and I was immediately struck by the vocal tone, then by the content. I was blown away, and at the time I didn’t know much about him. Long story short I moved to Atlanta for a year, while I was there I met this cat named Sol Messiah, and I started talking to him about different cats that we liked. Then I start talking about this cat that I can’t get out of my head named Jay Electronica, and Sol Messiah starts laughing, saying how he knew Jay and had worked with him from the jump. So Sol dug into his stash and got me a CD with about 15 songs on it, and I must have played that everyday for about 5 or 6 months. I ended up back in New York in a studio, and this cat is in the studio with us, he walks up and leaves and Just says to me, ‘you’re not gonna say whatsup to your boy?’ I ask him what he’s talking about and he tells me that that is Jay Electronica and that was it.
What are your predictions for Jay?
Dan Solomito: He’ll start by taking over the world. Once he’s running the world, I’ll ask for a favor, you know? Maybe a decent looking girl, a little island, something like that. When the time is right, Jay’s gonna take over the world.
photo: jay
Just Blaze
how’s it going?
Just: everything is all right, we just trying to get this album off to mastering tomorrow.
Jay Electronica: all the people that have been waiting on the Saigon album, all they’re expectations will be met.
Just: it’s coming out better than I thought it was going to, I can’t front. I knew it’d be decent, but …
Jay Electronica: Also, me and Saigon got a project coming out, produced exclusively by Just Blaze, called Hiroshima.
Can you mention the extent of your involvement with Jay’s stuff. I know it’s more than someone you just do beats for.
Just Blaze: When me and Jay talk, it’s not even about anything music related for the most part. It’s like family. I’ve probably only known him like 2 years but sometimes with certain people, you don’t need to know them for a long time to click with them like that. Really most of all, when he had mentioned something about Quetzalcoatl, something that most people don’t even understand or know the meaning of or know who that is, just the fact that he would mention that in his rhymes shows that he’s onto something else. For us the relationship is a musical one, and its also a friendship and sometimes it turns into a sensei student type thing where I’m teaching him. With certain things, I try to pass on as much knowledge to him on the music business sense, but then he turns around and ends up passing so much knowledge to me on the everyday life and spirituality sense. It’s like a continuous cycle of learning. I have a few friends, but I don’t have a lot of friends that I’ve learned from though. I’ve done so much in my life because I started so young, but a lot of times when you start that young, you miss out on a lot of life experiences because you hole yourself up to this existence as artists and producers and things like that. A lot of times certain little things he’ll say will open up my eyes to things I didn’t realize about myself.
Personally, I can definitely say that lines like the Quetzalcoatl one you mentioned earlier are the kinds of things that drew me to his music. There’s not a lot of people that understand a reference like that, but when you do get it it’s that much more rewarding.
Just Blaze: exactly, even up till now, I think he’s just really starting to discover who he is and what his purpose in this music is about. You gotta think, the music you were listening to six months ago, we’ve been listening to for four years. It’s been almost like a search to try to find himself, to a degree, I don’t know if he would agree with that or if he would see it like that. I mean you look at certain records like ‘This Is For My Country’…
Jay Electronica: They never even heard that before.
Just Blaze: It’s like, you spoke the truth in a lot of those records. You take a record like I Feel Good, it’s a good record and it’s a little bit more in tune with what radio’s doing aesthetically and sound wise, but he’s rapping about the fact that he feels good that his grandma’s turned 73. It’s a different twist. I think he was still trying to find the right mix of still being himself while appealing to people. I think when he really just said forget all that, and stopped making attempts to fit in, and the true self came out, as we’ve witnessed over the past year, year and a half, that’s when we’ve seen everything started to come full circle. I’m going to do me, and that’s something that a lot of rappers don’t understand. I was in an argument with someone today over a recording session, where it’s like, instead of being yourself, you’re rapping about the same five subjects you’ve rapped about over the past four albums. After a while no one’s going to buy into that because they’re not witnessing any growth. With Jay, in the past three years or so, it’s been nothing but that and it’s to the point where it’s getting kinda scary because now it’s starting to happen faster. You grow from ages 0 to 11 and it’s a steady rate, then when you hit 14 or 16, you’ve grown three times in body size and body weight, I feel like what we’re about to witness is that, for him. I think a lot of rappers are going to have to step their game up, not even just your rhymes, but who you are as a person.
Jay Electronica: Let me interject real quick while he’s talking about MC’s, because Just is a humble dude and he’s never going to mention this himself, we’ve done records together, I’m talking about with him rhyming. You can quote me on this; Just Blaze is one of the best MC’s living right now. He will eat an MC.
Just Blaze: I can’t believe you put that out there…
Jay Electronica: Don’t make me say your rhymes!
Can you describe the upcoming music from Jay?
Just Blaze: earth-shattering.
Johnnie Audible, respect.
Born Righteous aka Sdq™, respect.
a very special thank you to Michael Chavarria Michael Knight, Dan Solomito (of Kidz In The Hall) and Johnny Audible,
Chav has recorded with the best and he is THE BEST engineer in the western hemisphere in my opinion.
and I would never record with anyone outside of him,
aside from Young Guru, Alex Merzin, David Brown, and Andy Dufraine aka Clutch Johnson
Control FreaQ forever
freeing the slaves and the slavemasters
peace
- Jay
also coming in 2008…
Act III
the debut album from New Orleans’ own, Jay Electronica.
with 100% of Jay’s profits going towards helping displaced residents of the Magnolia housing projects.
Jay Electronica/9th Wonder project
“Big Brother (as in George Orwell, not LB)”
production by Jay Electronica and 9th Wonder, coming in January
Jay Electronica/Guilty Simpson
“Guilty As Charged”
production by 9th Wonder, Madlib, Black Milk, Dilla, Just Blaze and Mr. Porter, coming in March
Jay Electronica/DOC project
details unknown. lyrics to be written by DOC and MC’d by Jay Electronica.
also,
Jay Electronica is currently pursuing Lil Wayne in order to collaborate on a Crescent City Connection project.
“salute to Lil Wayne, I’m proud of that soldier”
Categories: Dill Withers · Flicks · jay electronica · opinions are assholes
relaxed all night and chilled in the AM
November 30, 2007 · 1 Comment
Felix Gonzalez-Torres: “I’m not a good token. I don’t wear the right colors. I have my own agenda. Some people want to promote multiculturalism as long as they are the promoters, the circus directors. We have an assigned role that’s very specific, very limited. As in a glass vitrine, ‘we’—the ‘other’ —have to accomplish ritual, exotic performances to satisfy the needs of the majority. This parody is becoming boring very quickly. Who is going to define my culture?”
Categories: Dill Withers · Singles · jay electronica
i never got shook up by talks of illuminati
November 27, 2007 · 6 Comments
shit won’t stop.
a piece of the puzzle that will be Act II.
Jay Electronica – a prayer for Michael Vick and T.I. (we love you family)
Act II soon.
Act III, upcoming.
Categories: Flicks · Singles · jay electronica
Jay Electronica
September 25, 2007 · 25 Comments
as always, the homie Ahmed.
thanks to the man, the Black Atom, for making this happen.
Jay Electronica: peace, you ready to do this interview?
Definitely
Jay Electronica: lets go
Okay
Jay Electronica: I got a few moments to spare my good man
Thanks; just give me one second to pull up the notes I’ve compiled.
Jay Electronica: ok. Lets just go raw, no notes
Sounds good
Jay Electronica: itll be better
What was the inception of Jay Electronica?
Jay Electronica: do you mean the name itself or the beginning of me rhyming?
Let’s go with the name right now.
Jay Electronica: well, the name came to me circa ‘2000. I was living in Baltimore at the time on Pratt Street. Me and a brother of mine (million-dollar-man) were working on a very heavy synth-sound and the name came to me during that period.
were you going by anything before that?
Jay Electronica: just Je’Ri, my name, pronounced Juh-Rhee.
Now you mentioned you lived in Baltimore, and from what I’ve heard from your music and the pieces of information I’ve been able to gather, you’ve had something of a nomadic period. Can you talk about that for a little bit?
Jay Electronica: well, the whole of my adult life has been what some may call “nomadic”.
Okay
Jay Electronica: when I left new Orleans I was 19 years old, and i have been striving to follow my path since that time which has taken me to many different cities. Although my stay in Baltimore would probably be the shortest time
Are there any cities in particular that ended up being very influential or important to you?
Jay Electronica: yes of course. New Orleans will always be my greatest influence because that’s where I’m rooted, but Philly, New York, and Detroit are like homes to me. Atlanta was a home to me for a good portion of time, and ultimately my family after Katrina, and I learned a great deal in Atlanta.
Now I read somewhere that you were actually creatively involved with TLC in your time in Atlanta. Is that true or just internet-babble?
Jay Electronica: that’s not true.
Ah, okay. Thanks for clearing that up. That’s the dangerous thing about the Internet.
Jay Electronica: in my time in Atlanta, I was at Darp (Studios) alot with my brother Kool Ace and I was around during the time they recorded their fanmail project, but I had no involvement in it. Although Sol Messiah, who was heavily involved in their projects, is a dear friend of mine. Maybe the rumors were born from those truths.
So this is around ‘95?
Jay Electronica: no. This is around 98/99.
now all this time you’re still working on your own music correct?
Jay Electronica: in Atlanta specifically? Or in general throughout my travels?
In general throughout
Jay Electronica: for the most part. There have been periods of time where I have ventured off into other things outside of music due to circumstances and events, but even then, I still had a determined idea to be successful musically.
Thanks for bringing that up, because I definitely want to talk about your non-musical ventures in a minute. One place that I’m specifically curious about that you’ve been to is Detroit, obviously because of your collaborations with Mr. Porter and work on Dilla’s stuff. How did the move to the D come about?
Jay Electronica: well, before I left Atlanta for the second time in 98, i was in the studio alot with my brothers Kool Ace and Johnnie Last. Last was from Detroit and he had always said that his experience in Darp (Studios), we practically lived there, had left an impression on him enough to build a studio back home. I left Atlanta and went to NYC at that time and we had lost contact and a few years had lapsed before I got in contact with him.
I was living in Philadelphia, this was like 2001 and I was teaching. I met a stranger in a barbershop on Temple University’s campus where my brother cut hair and she was from Detroit and knew Johnnie.
So I got the number and called him and he told me that he had built a studio in the meantime and that I should come there because I had full access to it. So I went and that’s how I met my Detroit family, through him I met Mike Chav and Denaun Porter, and Johnnie was like a brother to Dilla. He and Chav built the studio that Dilla had in Detroit.
Ohh, I see. So your songs on Dilla beats were something you guys actually worked on together before he passed?
Jay Electronica: well they were songs that I recorded before he passed, but we didn’t work on them together. The songs of mine over Dilla beats are from an album I did back then called war with the dragon and we hadn’t had the opportunity to work then. When we finally were about to work on my album after I linked with Erykah, he went into the hospital shortly after.
My current album was supposed to be produced by Just, Dilla, Rashad Smith and Denaun Porter. The material you have from StyleWars Dilla never heard.
Ah, this is ‘So What You Sayin’, ‘Renaissance Man’, ‘Jay Electronica’, ‘Bitches and Drugs’, etc?
Jay Electronica: those songs are from StyleWars, minus ‘Bitches and Drugs.’
How did the StyleWars EP come about?
Jay Electronica: well I was in Brooklyn and I had just hooked up with Rashad and Just and I had to make a quick run to Detroit for a few days, while I was there I recorded StyleWars with Chav and Tone, which is the female voice on ‘Renaissance Man’ and ‘Victory Is In My Clutches.’
Is this the same Rashad Just mentions in Act I?
Jay Electronica: yes, Rashad Smith. Tumbling Dice.
Ah, thought so.
Jay Electronica: He produced records for Biggie, LL, Rakim, 50 and a whole slew of others, also Erykah.
Whaaat? That’s crazy. I wonder how I had never heard of him then.
Anyhow, so after the StyleWars time period, is that when you linked with Erykah?
Jay Electronica: Yeah. Shortly after.
Is that still the scenario, you on her label?
Jay Electronica: Yes and there are a few great and exciting things in the works currently.
Now speaking of labels, you, or someone with your permission, used to post on the SOHH forums, and there was some talk about Bad Boy having interest in you. Did this actually happen?
Jay Electronica: yes, it was a pretty brief ordeal. After Chav and I recorded War With the Dragon, we did the artwork and packaged maybe a hundred of them in DVD casing. We went to Dilla’s at like 2 in the morning, asked his permission to use a few of the records that were his on there to go to NYC and secure a deal. so like zealots, we went to Kinko’s and printed these fake front page newspaper articles about Jay Electronica etc… I’ll try and dig one up. Then we drove from Detroit to NYC, when we got there, we went on impulse and plastered them all over the front of the building bad boy was in. At the time Diddy was supposed to be coming down or something, there was a caravan parked and waiting, so of course they called security on us and we ended up having a little scene on the sidewalk.
Oh snap.
Jay Electronica: this sister Nicollet, after everything had calmed down, came over and asked for a few of the DVD’s we had and saw the flyer, she asked if we made films, so we gave them to her and bounced. Maybe an hour later we got a call saying that they wanted us to meet them at the studio and that Harve Pierre and some other guy, I cant remember his name, wanted to meet with us. So we went and they were filming Making The Band at the time and we ended up waiting a long time and were told that they would reschedule. So we ended up bouncing from NYC. Chav went to Detroit and I went to Mexico City with my man Born Righteous and Bad Boy contacted me down there to setup a meeting when I got back, but nothing ever materialized. As for the stuff on the SOHH forums, that’s a whole other story.
It seems like it. Just out of sheer curiosity, how was your time in Mexico?
Jay Electronica: It was very enlightening. I traveled to the pyramids in Teotihuacán and had a chance to experience the people on a very intimate, family level. It was amazing. A blessing.
Ha, I used to go to the pyramids often with my dad, a history teacher, who would take his students on field trips. Off topic. Anyways, when you returned from the México trip, what followed in the Jay Electronica story?
Jay Electronica: well…if I can remember properly I went to Atlanta for a hot second and then to ultimately back to NYC.
You’re currently in Texas right?
Jay Electronica: Nah, I’m in Brooklyn right now, although I am in Texas often.
I see, that’s enough of history for now I’d say. I want to talk some about you as an MC. you have a presence that comes off real strong on the mic, you also have lyrics to match it. How would you say you’ve developed from when you started rhyming? I know that’s a real vague and open question.
Jay Electronica: Yeah. That’s a real broad question. laugh but, thank you for the positive words and to try to answer your question, when I started rhyming, it was basically imitating the styles of the emcees I admired at the time, Cool J was my favorite when I first started rhyming. Then Rakim and a guy from New Orleans named Tim Smoove. I used to emulate their styles with my words, and after time, once you begin growing into yourself, your expression of the craft takes on more of your form.
all right, now another annoying question. If you had to describe yourself as an MC…
Jay Electronica: straightforward. That’s how I would like to see it. laughs. But when I go back and listen, I don’t know if it is or not. It is in my mind.
I think I know what you mean. You also have re-occurring themes; I guess that’s the word, in your music. Faith seems to be a big part of it, the Christ references etc., is that something more than just aesthetic? How deep of an importance does that hold to you?
Jay Electronica: well that is all completely relevant. None of that portion of me rhyming is aesthetic.
I guessed so; it’s just we’re in a climate of rappers that rap 90% aesthetic. How do you structure a song? Do you have specific ideas you’re trying to get across or does it vary song to song?
Jay Electronica: well… I just put them together as they come. No specific structure. I used to deal with structure in my earlier days, but it’s limiting in my opinion. So I just say ‘em how I feel ‘em. If its 32 bars with no hook, or 8 hooks and 3 bars of rhyming and sound bites from CNN next, so be it.
How do you find your sound bites? The thing I’ve liked about your joints with sound bites is that they always seem really relevant and not just thrown there because they sound good.
Jay Electronica: they are usually things that I have come across at some point in my life that made an impression on me in some way. Or things that I come across that are passed over in the media that I feel needs further investigation.
It seems you’ve had quite a journey in your music so far, and in one of your songs you mention how ‘fakers were invited to taste’, how much of this kind of ‘wouldn’t lift a finger’ attitude have you encountered along the way?
Jay Electronica: I’ve experienced a decent amount of it, although I must admit that those rhymes were an emotional response to these events. I recognize that any opportunity or perceived opportunity that I had and didn’t follow through to success on was due to my own merit.
I ask that because it surprises me that someone with your talents hasn’t had more exposure.
Jay Electronica: everything happens in its due time.
As an MC, what are your goals when you rap?
Jay Electronica: I mean I have many.
Yea, I know it’s another one of those questions.
Jay Electronica: I’m an emcee at heart, so I’m always gonna write in a way that I feel is superior to any emcee. That’s just the nature of a true rapper. However as I have grown, I understand that it is also a medium of communication to people on a large scale and that comes with responsibility. So I keep that in mind when i create as well.
Do you ever get bored with the braggadocio nature of MCing?
Jay Electronica: Never. It’s the core of b boy/girl.
I see. Now going on to your current work, ‘Act I’ was repeatedly referred to as a breath of fresh air from many people that I spoke to personally, how has the response you’ve experienced been?
Jay Electronica: I mean it’s a great response and it’s humbling and satisfying. When you are blessed to created something that people relate to in the highest way and get some type of fulfillment from it…there is nothing more satisfying. It makes me feel like I’m doing my job properly.
The first thing I noticed with ‘Act I’ is there’s really no drums, yet your flow kind of makes the listener forget that. Were you trying to purposely go for a different sound than normal?
Jay Electronica: Not really. I was watching Eternal Sunshine one night and I was really moved by the music so I did ‘ESOTSM’ on Garage Band and put it up on MySpace. Initially I thought people would dismiss it, but it got such a great response I recorded songs to all of the pieces of music that moved me form that score. I went to Detroit, recorded it and put it up.
Why did you feel people would dismiss it?
Jay Electronica: Because the feel of it was so foreign. I really enjoyed listening to it when I made it…but I felt maybe it was a bit out of place.
Is there any meaning to the packaging of those songs as ‘Act I’ rather than individual tracks?
Jay Electronica: Well, they were each very short and I enjoyed listening to them straight through, plus, they were created in that order and the mood changes along with how I felt and the things that I was dealing with mentally at the time. So I decided to have it as one piece so that whoever heard it could experience it the way it was intended.
So are Act’s II and III upcoming?
Jay Electronica: Most definitely.
You mentioned something earlier about your album, what can you say about that?
Jay Electronica: What would you like to know?
Well you’ve already mentioned others involved in it. Is this all new material? How far into the recording process are you? and of course, any tentative release date?
Jay Electronica: well I can tell you it will be all new material.
What kind of things or people do you use as a muse? That’s something that I’ve wondered since I first heard you because you seem to come kind of from left field, but not in a bad way.
Jay Electronica: I draw from just life in general. It could be from something I am feeling at the time, or maybe I’m overwhelmed with an idea, and at times I feel obligated to touch certain subjects. Dreams, all types of things. Dimethyltryptamine is from a dream I had, literally. That’s why I named it DMT because that is a substance released from the brain during sleep that aids in inducing dreams
Can you expand on that? That song is one of your more cryptic ones but also a really interesting and dope one to listen to I feel.
Jay Electronica: Well it was a dream I had and I tossed it around for a few days in my head trying to gage its relevance and one day I was listening to that Dilla beat and I wrote Dimethyltryptamine, then I edited together the little movie to accompany it so that there would be imagery with the lyrics in hopes that it wouldn’t be confusing. After all, it is from a dream.
Laughs But that song is actually about 6 minutes long with vocals all the way through. The version that’s out now is just an edited version.
Oh shit. Do you leak these songs of yours that are out there?
Jay Electronica: The ones that were on my MySpace. Others are just songs that people have had that are friends of mine and have put up. I gave a lot of material to FWMJ over at rappersiknow early on, that’s my man.
I really like what he’s been doing over there. Much respect. Now before I forget, you also produce. Have you always been doing this? how much would you like to produce for yourself versus how much you’d like others to produce for you? I hope that makes sense
Jay Electronica: well I started producing out of necessity really.
When I first started pursuing music as a career it was hard to get quality beats or beats that I felt comfortable on, so I got pieces of equipment here and there and would make my own tracks. I actually enjoy producing. However, right now it isn’t my main focus.
Did producing come easy to you?
Jay Electronica: Yes. I love music period. So any form of creating it is fulfilling to me.
How early did you make the decision that music is what you would dedicate yourself to?
Jay Electronica: When I was 10.
Wow, was there a catalyst to that?
Jay Electronica: Yeah. LL Cool J.
Laughs
And this guy I saw in a talent show in New Orleans. I said I was gonna be a rapper at that point in my life, and I have never really pursued anything else as diligently as I have that.
Have you ever gotten to a point where you reconsidered? Or even considered reconsidering?
Jay Electronica: Not necessarily. There have been periods where I had become a little discouraged, but afterwards it would make me go even harder.
You mentioned earlier that you’ve pursued a few things outside the realm of music; I know you do some photography, and you hacked your own MySpace so you have some programming experience. Anything else you do? I really like your photos by the way.
Jay Electronica: Thanks. Those actually haven’t been pursuits of mine per se, I just enjoy those outlets. I have been taking photos for a minute now and I’m pretty decent with design. According to amateur standards of course, I actually did the photo shoot for greedy genius’ new line and look book etc. that’s just sidebar chatter. Anyhow…my good man, i have to get back on my mission. is there anything else?
Um, definitely, laughs. I feel I could conversate with you for a cool minute, but this will definitely do for now. Perhaps in time this could happen again?
Jay Electronica: most certainly, thanks for it all. Peace.
Nah thank you, peace
Categories: interviews · jay electronica
