North Ave Jax Interview: From Small City To Major Record Deal

It was a process, bro. Like we would work on one song for like two weeks. I felt good because it wasn't like the thought process I had of making music in the studio, like I gotta finish this song in like three hours, you know? I feel like that takes away from the creativity. Like there's a bunch of painters, for example, who paint things for like months. One more time. Then we do it one more time. One more time. Spin a rock spin one more time. Hit me, baby, one more time. I'm extremely honored to welcome in today's guest on the One More Time podcast. You know him as Will Byers from Stranger Things. It's Noah Schnapp. On the pod, Live. Right now. Yo, I do see the resemblance a little bit. You ever got that before? No. No? Wow. Well, I just did have long hair for a long time. True. It's shorter now, yeah. Nah, in all seriousness, we have, I think it might be the only artist to come out the 802, but we definitely have the hottest artist to come out the 802. We got North Ave Jax in the motherfucking building. Jax. Jackson.

Yes, sir. Welcome, welcome, my friend. The 802. Man, so Vermont, bro. What when I think of Vermont, I'm clearly going Ben and Jerry's. Which, like, my name's Ben, my dad's name's Jerry, so like shout out to us. Selfish take there. Yeah, selfish take. It's weird. And my in my childhood friend's name was Ben and his dad's name was Jerry. Like it was kind of annoyingly. Ice cream parties. We didn't we didn't even lean into it. No, we didn't even lean into it, bro, to be honest, which is like a shame. That's a Halloween costume right there. Yeah, yeah. Definitely like, yeah. Anyways, father son, you know, Halloween costumes. But I think Ben and Jerry's, and then I think maple syrup. Absolutely. I don't think North Ave Jax before I met you and saw you. Yeah. And I definitely didn't think like music scene. 100%. At all. 100%. How did you find yourself, you know, getting into music and knowing, you know, because artists here in Atlanta see other artists. It's very easy to reach out almost and see the rappers and the artists that are making it in music, right?

So coming from a place where that arguably isn't happening, how did you even think to yourself of like that's possible? Well, for me at least, um, in the beginning it was more of a ventilation process. So I I couldn't really talk to people in the time period that I was living in when I was in Vermont making music because um, you know, it's I mean, it's like everywhere else, but back home I was uh notorious, I guess you would say, infamous. In what way? Um, I played ball growing up and I was pretty good. Oh, yeah, no, I saw I saw some highlights, bro. Yeah, especially in Vermont, you know, because the skill gap from here to to Atlanta or New York City is it's wide, it's very wide. You know, we do got some hoopers, but like the thing is like I got kicked off the basketball team for what? Long story short.

Yeah, sad times. Long story short. Uh um it was a New Year's uh after New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, okay, whatever you want to call it. Yeah, that's the day after New Year's Eve, yeah. Yeah, um I'm tracking. I'm tracking. Uh I had basketball practice at six in the morning. That's just criminal. Yeah, criminal. Yeah, yeah, that's tough. That's rough. And I didn't show up. Oh yeah. And apparently uh my old basketball coach thought he was Coach Carter. I love that movie. So I get to I get to practice the next day after because we had practice right after we had a game two days after the New Year's Day practice. Yeah. And I get to practice the day before the game, and he pulls me into his office, and he's like, Yo, why don't you show up to practice? And I was like, I have no excuse. I was out, you know, I'm senior in high school. It's my last year. I was with people, blah blah blah. He's like, your teammates showed up.

I was like, good for them. He's like, all right. Shout out to them. You gotta run 800 laps. I'm like, what? 800? Yes. Okay. Not a lie. Coach Carter for real. Coach Carter. And I was like, I literally said it in there. I was like, okay, Coach Carter. He didn't like that at all. And then I walked out. That was risky, Jax. I was still like willing to be a part of the team, you know. I walked back into a locker room. And uh you guys have heard on the skit fuck Jensen Daly. Yes. on the project. Uh this is honestly like the start of that. Uh I walk into he was the the captain on our basketball team. Very uh He sounds like a captain. Yeah. That name just You know, yeah. He's Captain Vibes. Captain Vibes for sure. And uh I'm in the locker room and I'm mad. I throw my jersey at the my practice jersey at the locker, room. and you know, he likes to run his mouth. So I was like, yo, I'm I'm I'm pissed off about what's going on right now. And he's like, you know, you should just quit.

Oh if that's the way you want to be, just quit. And I'm like, all right. Yes, sir. So it wasn't me getting necessarily kicked off the basketball team, but so you took the captain's advice, you're just like, well, that's not a bad idea. You're the captain. You know what's best for us, right? Yeah, you don't want to, you know, you get to pick the five you want on the court with you, right? Wow. That's true. Might as well um just cut ties. Yeah, I just walked out and didn't show up for the rest. I didn't even go back to school, to be completely honest. Oh, so that's when you did drop out. Yeah, yeah. It was a big moment. This guy. a huge moment. Honestly, like a blessing and a curse at the same time, or curse and a blessing. Yeah. Because in the moment it felt so like heavy, you know. And it was like basketball is what I grew up on. Like I was l in love with music and stuff, but it wasn't like something I was taking serious and something that like was helping me the way it is today, you know. You didn't think you were going to the league. Honestly, I did until like sophomore year, because I realized that a five seven kid from Vermont is statistically improbable to go to the league. Honestly, 100% impossible.

You know, but um at least you're self-aware, I guess. Yeah, I mean, it kind of gave me like a uh a reality check, you know. And it it it gave me like uh an idea in the back of my mind, like subconsciously, just like what am I doing? Like what am I gonna do next? Like I I loved basketball, and like that was my my like go-to thing was therapy. But it's like what's next? Because you know, you gotta be prepared and stuff. So I it it was heavy on me leaving the team and like it affected me a lot mentally because it was kind of my only like way of like therapy, you know what I'm saying? Like I'd if I was feeling like upset, I'd go play basketball. But after that sophomore year, the realization came, I finally like came to terms with just like I need something else, you know. Yeah, and like I've always had a feeling to myself, ever since I was a kid, even though I was in Vermont, like that I'm I'm going I have to be something. Not like I want to be something, I'm going to be something, and I have to be something, you know.

Like that was the the feeling I always had. I didn't truthfully know what it was. I thought it was basketball at the time because I loved it so much. And in the neighborhood I grew up in, um basketball court right outside my house. All the older kids would go play. That's kind of how I got into basketball. Cause I was very introverted as a young, young kid, you know. I was shy, very shy. And I'd I'd be in the basement playing the drums, listening to Jimi Hendrix trying to be Mitch Mitchell, you know. Yes. Hell Yeah, yeah. I used to play fire uh with a band that I I drummed for back in the day. Yep. That's a tough one on drums. It's fast. Dude, honestly, I couldn't play any of them. I just thought I thought I was doing it, you know. I was in first, second grade. But um, yeah, there was like Mitch Mitchell, John Bonham, you know, yes, Bonham, baby. Yeah, the goat. Yes, damn. But that's what I was doing, and then like me being in the dark basement as a little kid and seeing everyone play basketball outside, it kind of like drew my attention, you know. Yeah. Damn.

That's that that's crazy, man. Like, do you feel uh like a ton of pressure to put on for Vermont now that you have reached this certain degree of success already? Do you feel that? Um sometimes because I feel like it's 50-50 with me in Vermont. Like I love Vermont because it's my home, you know, and there's people back home who support me more than a lot of like a lot of people that I've met even in the industry necessarily or just in general. And like it gives I just like I love being a sense of hope, you know. Like I love being able to Your beacon, yeah. Make a kid back home who's six, seven, eight, nine, ten years old, be like, oh my god, he can do this. I can do what I want to do, you know. Like that's like really important to me. And like I feel like necessarily like I'm one of those type of people who looks out for other people before themselves. And I feel like music, like it's like evident that it's like it's like therapy for other people, you know, not only myself but like music's helped us all you know what I'm saying yeah oh for sure so it's like I I get the opportunity to help kids like that then and the thing is too it's like the the comparison I have is like if I can do that to people in Vermont I can do that anywhere you know yeah yeah and like that's just like the big the biggest reason for me it's like that's why I keep going but like like I said the infamous part back going back yeah yeah I wasn't the most liked person before this music stuff oh no oh no you know I had the image of uh you're a bully no not a bully never never a bully never a bully but uh I guess you could say arrogant and overly confident you know what I'm saying? I feel like artists have you have to have something have that like a bit of it you it's you can't have like he's talking about that crazy belief that he's I know I'm going to be something yeah it's literally it's almost insanity it's delirium. it is You know what it's crazy, bro? but like you kind of have to have that I was literally watching with uh shout out Teddy B.

Okay Teddy B yeah my my engineer big shout out big shout out gotta shout out the engineers bro preach preacher he's more than an engineer honestly he's everything honestly he's a musical entrepreneur he's the X Factor kid is he's helped me in ways in the past month and a half that honestly other than Kelly nobody has helped me with you know damn protect Teddy B at all costs Protect Teddy B at all costs protect Teddy B. This kid is fucking genius, bro. I'm excuse my language, but this kid is no fucking cussing on this. podcast. Don't fucking cuss, Jax. Chill out. Didn't we tell you? It's a family friendly podcast. Yeah. Um, this kid is just beyond his his time, bro. Like, he's just he knows what's going on, he knows what's gonna happen before it happens. He knows what to do to make things happen. Like, he's just aware. And the thing that I love about it, it's just like timing again, like perfect timing. Like, I just uh flew two of my friends out from Vermont. One of them to record, and the other one's my best friend.

Shout out Swerve. Swerve. Shout out Swerve. Oh, yeah. And real Ricky too. That's that's honestly, I think real Ricky's the goat of Vermont musically. Wow. Yeah, this kid is talented. That's not even the word for it. But uh had them come out to Atlanta and got him to record, and Teddy came over because we're all from Vermont, so you know it's just like bringing a family home vibe back to Atlanta where everyone's new, and like you know what I'm saying? It's just kind of like it was good feeling, you know. And Teddy came to help Ricky out to record while we were at the crib because we would hit the studio, but at the crib recording, you know, it just feels better, it just feels more natural and comfortable. And um and you don't need a big studio these days at all to make a hit, like a Billie Eilish and Phineas, exactly. Like bedroom shit, bedroom shit, you know. But um, he came over and honestly I wasn't speaking to Teddy that much because he he's busy man himself. He works for, like, Lil Nas, Rob Banks, you know, etcetera.

Chief Keef, you know, bunch of artists. And he came to the house and stayed for a little bit, and like ever since he's been there, he hasn't left, and we've been working on ideas for our rollout, you know, for my rollout, um branding, etcetera. Because I feel like that's a big thing that I'm missing right now in the in the music part of things, or like the songs, especially this new project. We can talk about that, obviously. But of course the the image, it's gotta click, you know. What do you think your image is? I'd like to hear that. Um, to be honest, if you would have asked me that a month ago, I would say I don't know. Right. Just trying to find like what I would have said I'm trying to figure it out, like I'm trying to find the look. I'm trying to find the idea of what I want to be, not only musically, but like a big part of this project that's coming out. Uh I got a a project coming out with uh Jetson made another one. Shout out Jetson made. Yeah, we had Jetson's manager TP on here.

Oh, yep. And that was one of my favorite episodes. I love TP. TP's he's the man. Fucking hilarious. Shout out TP. Such a goat in this music shit. He's been in he's been in this game for a while, and he's got some gems. Yeah, he's great, bro. He's great. And he's very he's very uh smart and supportive too. He just it's free game when he talks, you know. Yes, yeah. So um, yeah, I got a project with Jet. what's it called? What am I doing in a place like this? Ooh. Like in the one more time podcast studio? No. Oh, okay. That's the title of the project? That's the title of the project. Oh wow. He really got me there. No, he didn't. He just made a shitty joke. Honestly, he got me there. I'm not gonna lie. He got you. My dad jokes are are strong since I had my kids. Right. Um, but yeah, literally, like it it it describes everything in one sentence, you know. Me coming from Vermont and then feeling out of place, out of place, like everything was like a lot of things were unknown, you know. Spe and they honestly still are, because everything is just a process.

But this progress of this project is is development. That's that's necessarily musically it's development, image-wise, brand-wise, it's development. The songs are light years, light years ahead. I'm gonna I'm gonna show them to you after this. Yes. That's my favorite part, not for you guys. That's that's my favorite part of having it. That's my favorite part of having a podcast. I'm not gonna lie, bro. We hear so much dope unreleased fire. Yeah, it's amazing. So I'm so happy you're gonna show us, bro. Yeah, that's amazing. So what was it like working with Jet? Honestly, I used to like before, like I really COVID is, like when I first started making music. Like oh, that's crazy. man. Yeah, you're still brand new, bro. God, you're a you know what I'm saying? And you're young, if you don't mind. How how old are you? I just turned 21. Yeah, so I I thought that man. Yeah. we were questioning, like guesstimating. Yeah, this kid's anywhere between 17 and like 23. That's the bro. That's why I keep my face shaved, bro. So I can look as young as possible. Okay, no, can you grow a no piece... Yeah, but I mean, you can't see it now because I was viciously shaving my face before I came here, bro.

Bro, I'm 32 and still can't grow a beard. So honestly, the beard face, bro. It works fine. It works, you know. Yeah, but mute for my image, I feel like it's just it's kind of perfect, yeah. It's like try to keep it the young image as long as possible, but um especially for like the type of music that I'm starting to make, like you know, because like honestly, the whole genre has switched. So wow, yeah. I shied away from the rap music. Oh wow, yeah. Which arguably has helped, you know, the come up. Honestly, yes, bro. And like, especially after this project, knock on wood, I see my life changing drastically. It's like, I mean, words of Jet, are you ready? You know, are you ready? Like, literally. What do you tell Jet when he asks you that? Absolutely, I'm ready. Okay, when? I'm looking at the cards. Let's go. You know what I'm saying? Like, let's go. Exactly. He's like... he's like, like, yeah, like I said, bro, I was in uh during COVID. I'd watch his Instagram lives just so I can hear his beats with nobody on them.

Because you can't type Jetson, they know that someone will remake the beat, but it doesn't sound like it, you know. Yeah. So I'd watch his Instagram lives and like screen record it and rap over the Instagram lives on YouTube, you know what I'm saying? Just to hear the beats. Wow. And like he was my favorite because I was like a huge, huge, I mean I still am, but I was a huge fan of Jack Harlow before his like he blew up, and I saw him and Jet working, and that's what like introduced me to Jet. Like he made Suge by DaBaby. A lot of DaBaby shit. Yeah, a lot more like his his hits, all his hits. Yeah, yes. And like I loved it, but like that wasn't my like style of rap at the time. Jack was honestly like the guy like to like look up to. Um have you gotten the Jack Harlow comparisons? A couple times, it's more of the Kid LAROI. Kid LAROI is what I was gonna say. But another reason for that development musically is to show that I don't like there's no more comparisons. Yeah, okay.

You know what I'm saying? And like that is, and it's not a bad thing, those are pretty solid comparisons. I would rather be compared to them than a lot of people. But all artists, you know, we've talked to so many artists, they hate being compared to people. They hate that shit. I don't hate it, it's just like I want to be me, you know? Yeah, and like I want people to compare the next artist to me instead of you know what I'm saying? They will, and there's no hate towards those people. Like, I I I listen to their music, like I study, you know what I'm saying? So, and the thing is too, it's like the most of the time people say that it's because inclined, like they're not inclined as much as other people are musically, so they're just like, oh, you sound like this guy, you know. So it's like you can't really be mad, you know. It's human nature for us, bro. We need something to something familiar to reference. 100%. You know, the Kid LAROI is one of the biggest artists in the world right now. Yeah, it's not a bad one. So is Jack, literally. So it's like Oh my, these are not like discount artists, bro. The one that I've been getting a lot recently, not from not even from like fans or anything, but from people I've been working with, is like Mac.

Okay. But like the Mac before he he passed. Okay. Because you know his music changed. It changed, yeah. Like it was just more, I wouldn't say mature, but like developed, you know, like it was different lane, different thought process, different road that he took. So is that your favorite comparison out of the three? Um, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. And Mac's the goat. Oh, yeah. One of the goats. For sure. You know, like he's just it's just Mac, bro. You know, so it's just like being able to be compared to him is it's like, okay, thank you. You know, it's an honor. The warm and fuzzies inside. So if it's not what we're used to, North Ave Jax wise, how would you describe how the music has evolved with this new project coming out? Less 808s? Um, yeah, no more of those. No more 808s. Yeah. Uh I don't know if They're 808-less. Wow. I don't know if you've heard this. Kanye West said it, but the 808 is um like a demon frequency. What did he say?

Yes, bro. Some crazy shit. Yes, bro. And I take that type of stuff seriously, bro. Like, oh god. What? What is that? Who did we get on the podcast? No, no, no, bro. Holy shit, bro. I didn't think Jax was like what did he say though? What did he say? It was along those lines. I don't fully remember word for word, but like I have noticed myself, like, not even like listener-wise, but like vibration-wise, like the music nowadays, like all the 808s, all the looped beats, all the stuff like that, is it's just like it's so saturated, you know what I'm saying? That is true. What I was saying earlier to you is like I listen to like the older music, and like it's so structured and like it's real instruments, and it just makes you feel so much more, you know what I'm saying? And like that was like a click in my brain of like what do I want to how do I want to be portrayed 10 years from now, you know? And I feel like this first project was perfect for a first project because it gives so much room to develop.

Yeah, and like that was like honestly, like a perfect setup, because like necessarily now. I know a lot of artists probably say, Oh, I don't like my older music, blah blah blah. You know, some people still hold on to it, but like I'm like very happy with how it played out because it just it gives me so much room to develop, exactly. You know what I'm saying? So it's just like this next project is gonna be like who is this really is this the same guy? You know what I'm saying? You're taking a step now. But and and so Jet produced this whole thing without 808 without 808s. yeah. Crazy, bro. Shout out to Jet also, apparently like versatile. I feel like I broke Jet out of his box. Ooh, he's probably loving that. Honestly, bro... being challenged with something like that. I've never gotten along with a producer as well as I have with Jet. Yeah, Wow, that's a beautiful thing, man. He's so cool, bro. Like, like he's like a that's like my inspiration, bro. Like Jet, like no one else in the game right now. It's it's just Jet, bro. Cause like, not only did he believe in me from the jump, like he broke me out of my box too.

You know what I'm saying? How so? He's not afraid to tell me, like, yo, that's not it, or it's important, or we're we're working on something new, or you're not feeling it right now. I'm not feeling it right now. Let's just chill, blah blah blah. Like, just so many things, like not a lot of people would say. Because they're trying to get that placement, or they're trying to work, or they're trying to get a song done. It's like he's all about feeling and realness. And like a big thing with Jet too, is like he he brought context and substance into my into my like workflow. Like he like really sat down, like with me and like we first... like when we first linked up, we were making rap music. Yeah, you know, because I I was low-key like scared, and like I didn't want to like not impress him and stuff. Cause like, bro, this is like really like my role model. This is Jetson Maid. Exactly. He did exactly it's Jetson's amazing. I don't need to name, I don't even name the songs he's done, but exactly. You know the songs he's done. Exactly. So the thing is like I didn't want to like let him down in a sense, but like he knew that already. Cause Summer probably told him, like, yo, this kid's like he loves you, you know what I'm saying?

So it's like shout out to Summer Walker putting the plug. Is she the one that connected you with Jet? Honestly, bro, I think it was it was Toon Day. Okay, well, shout out to Toon Day. Uh and Toon Day and T P are real close. Yeah, TP. He's with Jet. Yes, yes. I think they made the made the play, but like I feel like like I'm I'm like Jet's little bro now, you know what I'm saying? Like, like a little spoiler, but me and the next project's me and Jet again. Oh wow, back to back on their ass. It's me, me, Jet, and Pooh. Uh uh, sorry, Pooh, you a fool. Yes, yeah, oh my god, man. Pooh, you a fool for this one? holy shit. We're already working on it. So, did you come to Jet with the hey man, I've got this idea on where I want to take the music, or did it happen the opposite? So basically, we were sitting there and like I played the music for the AR team at LVRN and it was like, yeah, these are cool. You know what I'm saying? Like we've liked these ones, liked these ones, but I did not get the reaction I wanted out of it.

And and this was the traditional rap shit you'd been making. But with Jet, obviously. Yeah. Okay. And it wasn't even like the fact that it was like one of the other ones, like me or Jet. It was the fact that it was just like it was like, I need I I wanted to make timeless music. So does Jet. Like Jet was like telling me that he's like, bro, this is like the first time in a long time I felt like really like connected into the work. You know, like I'm I'm excited to because it's like it was a process, bro. Like we would work on one song for like two weeks. You know what I'm saying? Not two weeks, but like a long time, bro. Like, yeah. And it's like that felt good because it wasn't like the the thought process I had of making music in the studio, like I gotta finish this song in like three hours, you know. I feel like that takes away from the creativity. Like there's a bunch of painters, for example, who paint things for like months on end. You know what I'm saying?

It's like I love the thought of a producer telling an artist, like, hey, maybe let's go outside and not work on music right now. That's that's powerful. Let's kick it and watch TV or something. Play some 2K or whatever. Literally, bro, like that like that exactly. And like, I'm grateful for it because it's like we were sitting down one day, and I was like, yo, we need to make like some 80s shit. Like some old school, like you really feel it, like full on like real instruments, like structured production, like let's just do it. Like, let's just change the whole idea of the project right now. And since that it was probably like two months into working with each other, he's like, all right. Scrapped everything that he had worked on. We scrapped everything. Yeah, literally, we brought one song back, but we changed all the production on it. Yeah. So it was like That's brave. Yeah, bro. was that exciting as hell? It was so exciting because like a day after that, we made a song that I think is gonna probably hit top 10 billboard.

I'm not even bullshitting. Let's bro, let's fucking go. I'm Not even bullshitting, guys. Like, damn. I'm so like he said that on wax right now, bro. That's right. You heard it here first. Holy shit. More than exciting, bro. Cause it's like it gave me like hope again. You know, you gotta keep yourself poised and stuff, but like it like brought that like like spark back, you know what I'm saying? It's important, and I was just so like grateful to like feel that feeling, bro. Cause like it felt like I was kind of not letting anyone down. I was letting myself down, you know. I wasn't, I felt like I wasn't working hard enough. And to have someone like Jet in your corner, like, you got this, I believe in you, like you're next, like you are the next one. Yeah, after people he's worked with, you could you know, like his catalog is his catalog, and like he's looking at me like you are next. Are you ready?

Like asking me those questions, just like what the fuck? Yeah, for me, I talk about this all the time. You know, when I was managing a couple artists, and then now having sat with you know, TP, for example, so I I've sat with managers that are doing it at the highest level, and I really think, man, that if you as the artist are doing what does excite the hell out of you, right? That you are gonna put in that work because everyone looks at the life of an artist and sees the glitz and the glam, bro. They don't see the bullshit that it takes to actually operate an artist business. Right. So you do need to be doing whatever it is that is gonna get you like that fucking jazzed to wake up every day and get after it, man. Because if you felt stale and not excited about what you were doing, your time was already ticking. 100%. I think any medium of creativity, there's a sense of, you know, when you catch yourself like doing something just because that's how you've always done it, and that's what you feel like you're supposed to do, that can be tiring, and that can be just like I'm catching myself in a rhythm and find finding that new road to take, you know, take a left turn here instead. Yeah, because even. It's what keeps you going.

Yeah, because even us with this, yeah. We we really hit a crossroads with what it is that we were doing and how we were working together and how the like flow was going, and it felt just mundane, and it just felt like I think the thing that separates you guys from a bunch of other podcasts is that you have more than just artists, more than just you know what I'm saying? Like you can really view the whole like idea of what's going on, and like I don't think I've seen any other podcast or talk talk show that really has done this before, you know. Yeah, the end of the whole industry. We really recently had that uh awakening, honestly, right? Very recently. We yeah, we were like, we were like, huh, some of our favorite episodes are the business people, the ARs, the managers, the lawyers, the fucking um, you know, videographers, directors, whatever. We love our artists too. We love our producers, we love our engineers. And I think that giving that full perspective, like I think he just actually said something that was like super powerful that we need to make sure we'll talk about that later. I was like, Yeah, you know, we're obviously recording, so this is good.

Um, so we'll have this for later. It is that, right? Is that people who want to learn what it is to be in this music industry, they need more than you, yeah, no offense, right? As the artist, and yeah, and they need more than also the manager, yes, because this is a it's a multifaceted shit show that we operate in or that y'all operate in in the music industry. And I think that hearing everyone's story and perspective on what it is that like their experience has been and their specific role, because a lot of people are maybe producers turned artists or artists turned producers, or you know, lawyers that used to manage, or whatever, right? Like there's there's tons of different people's uh journeys that we that we've heard about, and I think yeah, that that's like super powerful that you acknowledge that and that now I'm gonna make sure that we like lean into that, which we already started, but it's neat. it's neat to hear it, you know. Because like bro. It could really help artists, producers, lawyers, managers, it could help them hearing different points of views, you know. Like not only from let's say I'm a I'm a aspiring manager, right?

And I have an artist, and I I listen to a manager speak, but I also listen to the artist speak about the manager side, and then I listen to the producers speak about you know what I'm saying, perspective. It's like a cheat code, bro. It's like yeah, it's like it's his game, bro. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, yeah. All right, we'll get off the couch. We're gonna bring Derek over here. Shout out to Derek in the building. AR extraordinaire, we're switching this whole shit. Shout out to A lot and and yeah, manager. Um, but no, so you know, speaking of kind of like the whole, you know, the whole spectrum and the perspective, you signed to LVRN, the infamous Love Renaissance. Yes, sir. Valued at 100 million dollars recently. Insane. And I think they publicly announced that their new headquarters with multiple studios in it was like a several million dollar Uh huh. expense. I was touring it recently. I'll post a I'll finally get around to posting a short form TikTok clip of it because I told you I was gonna do that, and I've totally shit the bed on that. Slacked. Anyways, it's fire, it's amazing.

Those, you know, those folks get how this shit works, but I know that every artist has their own experience. So I I did want to talk about and get this on wax. Like there was a lot of you know, drama around how your like biggest song, arguably, right? Eastside. Yeah, yeah, it's the biggest one right now. Okay, the biggest song right now. Right now. There was some, you know, there was some uh I I would say, you know, drama around maybe how the label handled that release, and you were publicly saying, like, you know, the label, like, you know, I'm trying to get it out, and the fans wanted it, and you were kind of in a little, you know, yeah, Well. like I just you know, from the outside looking in, I I I did want to give you the opportunity to kind of speak on what happened and why you think it happened, and you know. Um, well, so unlike anybody else at LVRN, I'm probably the most like off like the chart compared to every other artist at LVRN, you know. So out of place once again.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. On brand. On brand. It's perfect. Yep. This tune does not fit in with LVRN's artists. Um, you know, like the image wise being signed to an RB label and making rap music, just transitioned into a whole new genre. Not that's not RB. Um, you know, it's it's different for not only the team at LVRN, but the whole like marketing ideas and you know, just branding and how they're gonna execute things. So it's like it's understandable, you know. It's like it you gotta take shots, you know. So but thing is with Eastside though, is like which was kind of unfortunate is that it blew up and um it was just it just restalled a little bit, you know. It wasn't why what was their reason they clearly are telling you what their opinion is on the other side of the video. I think The plan. we were looking for more uh than a couple videos to to do well, and it was we were trying to get like one thing I think we just messed up on. We you know it's like we it's a learning curve, like we gotta learn from like what happens because like one thing we messed up on was trying to make it the biggest song instead of taking what we had and going with that, so we just waited too long necessarily with like putting the song out.

It probably came out like nine months later, which but we did have um little TJ hop on the song, which is fire, which is fire, but it didn't really change anything to be completely. honest. Yeah. I think that's too long. Too long. That's Over sandbagging a little bit, you know. I mean, people were and it's not like it was Kendrick or Cole or Drake who hopped on the song, you know. Shout out Lil' TJ, but I drafted him in our New York uh rapper draft, actually. Yeah, so shout out TJ. Did you did you come up with the No no no? That was that was a label play. Label play, yeah. Yeah, okay, I'm not afraid to say it was a label play 100%. But yeah. just like you know, it's gotta be authentic. And I think one thing I learned the most from LVRN, is like authenticity is like the best part of music, you know. Like, shout out Justice, because he that dude, like Oh man, he helped me so much, bro. Like Justice is the genius behind a lot of things, and like he's so like stubborn in a good way that it's like everything he says to me, it's like I learned I listen to probably him the most, you know. Like there'd be times where I'd be recording, he'd come down the session and be like, This is awful.

Wow, yeah. Straight up, straight up. Like, this is awful. And I'll be like, Damn, he's not sugarcoating that opinion. No, no. The thing is, like I loved about it, he's just so like he's like, where's the context? What are you talking about? Sounds good, but like what are you saying? Yeah, bro. Like, it's good. Where's the substance? You know what I'm saying? Like, I want to know what you're speaking, I want to feel what you're speaking about. Give me details, give me like give me a fucking place. So you know what I'm saying? Like, you're talking about such bland vague things, but it sounds cool. It's like, how far does that really gonna go? Oh, and then God, I love that, man. Two days later, I wrote awful. Wow, yeah. And that was our boy that was our boy Hollywood Cole, right? Yes, sir. Cole, you stupid, bro. Cole is one of our favorites. He's yeah, he's been on the pod too. Cole, yeah, he's he's a dog, bro. Yes, oh my god. Very fast, too. I like he works very fast. Oh, really? Yeah, I've cooked up with him, actually. Yeah, he's dope, man. Yeah, bro. He's and and he's versatile as hell, I would say. Hell yeah.

Oh, yeah. That awful beat is even just so different. Yeah, and it he's one of those rap Nirvana beat, you know. Yeah, and and he's just one of those producers where I think he's done a beautiful job of having a Hollywood Cole sound. Yet it's so diverse having worked with so many different types of artists where it's the diversity is the sound, I think. Yeah, but it's it's weird, it just sounds counterintuitive, right? To to like what a sound means. It's kind of like what we said with David the Tragic. It's like if you give them diversity from the jump, then they're kind of expecting diversity. So you can be diverse. Whereas if you give them an influx of this sound, maybe then they're expecting that. And they might be let down if you don't give them that. For sure. So LVRN obviously, once again, you know, you don't get valued at 100 million dollars because you're you know, not good at what you do. So these these folks get it. They've had successful acts, black crushes, summer crushes, you know, they've had drum, uh Westside Boogie, obviously, DeVito, they're they're you know, going global with this shit, right? Um, what do you think they saw in you like at the time?

Um I think they see the same thing. I see it myself in not even full potential, but let's say half. Like I I truthfully believe I can be the biggest artist on this label, no question. And the thing is, it's not even just because like the music or like let's say the brand is does what it's supposed to, it's just like I feel like I'd be the most influential, and they can they can see that, and they can if it comes to life, the sky's the limit, you know, not even the sky, man, like universe, the universe, bro. Like we're going galactic with this. shit. Galactic, bro. Like, and I think the thing is it's just like about making it happen at this point. Cause like after all the dumb shit I have done behind the closed doors, LVRN is still stuck with me, you know. Like, I've been uh let's get a let's get a story time maybe about that. In trouble. a couple times. Okay. Um or just like not even in trouble, but like just like what's the arrest record look like? How many counts do you have since you signed?

Derek's like, don't answer that, don't answer that. Derek pops up real quick. What the fuck are you talking about in there? They're just so supportive, you know, and like they have my back and it's evident, you know, so it's like I'm super appreciative of that. And they just believe in me. Like they took a kid from Vermont who had no like no fan base, had three songs out on SoundCloud, right? Like I had nothing. They're like, yo, we believe in you. Like they haven't done that with anybody else. You know what I'm saying? Like yeah, they obviously saw something, man. That was crazy. That just gave me chills a little bit. I'm not even gonna lie. You know what I'm saying? Like, and it's just like now I got fucking Lil dirt. Um who else? Kanye fucking uh Ghana, uh Rick Ross's entertainment lawyer now. Like, you know what I'm saying? It's just like I came from literally Burlington, Vermont to the Mecca of music, like Atlanta, and like my life has changed drastically, and it's not even like a quarter of what I want or what I what I see happening, you know?

So You're definitely just getting started, man. Yeah. And like the thing is too, it's like I feel like a big like not problem, but honestly, it's like it's great for learning because it's like let's say I blew up Eastside, I blew up with Eastside. I feel like I'd still be so unknowing of what's going on that like it could have put me in a way worse position than I am in now. You see what I'm saying? And like, yeah, like I'd rather have J. Cole says it's a marathon, not a race. Nipsey Hussle says it's a marathon, not a race, right? I'd rather have the marathon happen than have 15 seconds of fame. You see what I'm saying? And I'm glad that like Eastside had potential to be a hit, you know what I'm saying? A hit hit. I saw that shit everywhere on social media before I knew who you were, man. Seriously. You see what I'm saying? Like it had it had potential to be a hit, and it didn't like formulate into that, obviously. Um yet, still, still, bro. I'm just saying, we live in a time where I don't know if you saw I don't know if you saw Baby Tate with Hey Mickey.

Yeah, that was a six or seven-year-old song, bro. Yeah, it was doing a million streams. Shout out Baby Tate. She'll be around too. Yeah, oh yeah, she is now. Yeah, with Amber. Yeah, yes. Um, it it literally at its peak was doing like over a million streams a day. Yes, a six or seven-year-old song. I mean, we just had Money Moo on the podcast who put out hitting in 2000, what do you say, 16 or 17? And yeah, three years later, three years later, it's everywhere on the radio, it's got massive artists on the remix. I mean, yeah, it can happen like that. Yes, bro. All that being said, that on to potentially you know, new music, of course, but there's nothing to say that like that song that you knew was working It could definitely go again and did go. I feel like it could go again. I feel like my catalog right now is like fire. It's fire, but like it's pretty fire, bro. It's like fire to the point where it's like once I really get known that those songs are gonna come back. Oh, yeah. You know what I'm saying? People are gonna love finding that you have those.

Exactly, bro. It's such a small but mighty catalog right now. Literally, bro. Yeah. And it's like it's like it's that has the like the feeling of the rawness because it's like kind of it's like a kind of unorganized project, if that makes sense. Not unorganized in a sense where it's like this didn't happen or this didn't happen, but unorganized in a sense where it's like, okay, this is his first project. He doesn't fully know what's going on yet. You see what I'm saying? It's like, and I feel like that's like the beauty of it, because five years from now when everything's you know, and I come back to one more time, like yo, remember this? Yeah, yes, Remember we said that would happen. Exactly. We've loved we've loved seeing people just reach new heights even since we talked to them, you know, even less than a year ago, type shit. Oh, yeah, bro. People going on tours. So speaking of the Lil TJ situation, right? We actually talked about him opening up for Lil TJ on an internal podcast, or like we did a little bit about it. Because I loved I loved how you were leaning into the fact of like some of those fans could give a flying fuck that you were up there.

You were like leaning into like, I don't think Chicago was fucking with me. Yeah, bro. The thing is, that was like really the biggest motivation on changing the music. What that they didn't rock with it as hard? Well, it's not that they rocked it, but like the thing. And you didn't you didn't feel like you fit there. It's not even that, bro. It's just like because like for like example is like I I was in Toronto and like the whole right side of the crowd was going crazy. But I looked over at the left side and some dude's holding his phone up, like zoomed in, like he would just take a picture on his phone, like on Snapchat, and like you know how you could text, like letters, yeah, holding up a message to you. Fuck you. Like, what? Yeah, weird shit, bro. Like a whole like a group of dudes is sitting there, like, get off the stage, like, fuck you, blah blah blah. And then like I look at the right side, and all these kids are going stupid. I'm like, Wow, okay, well, a bipolar crowd right here. Yeah, Jesus Christ. Yeah, but I feel like that's also a product of TJ's fans are fucking insane. Bro, yes, bro. They're obsessed with him to the point of like Oh my god. it could have been Drake opening up for TJ and they would have zoomed in on him and been like, fuck you, get off my stage. Yeah, I'm like, yeah, well, it it's I'm just saying I know what you're saying.

You know, like he has a cool fan base, bro. 100%. They're there to see TJ. He's got a freakishly. That's low-key how it is, unless you're already popping. Like being an opener, like what I heard, bro, is like when I was in New Jersey, I was expecting the crowd to just not fuck with me, bro. Like at all. Because it's so close to his. And the thing is, too, it's not even that, bro. It's just like, you know, like that little attitude, New York, New Jersey guy, like oh, it's it's cold up there. It's cold, bro. It's cold. But they were surprisingly like, like, they weren't like getting like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? But they were like, okay, you know what I'm saying? Like, I saw a bunch of people like vibing out, but like uh Boston, for example. Like, they were they actually Boston was kind of the same as Toronto. LA, holy shit. That was the worst experience of my life. What? Yes, bro. Really? Cause LA got everybody, they've seen everything. They've lived in LA, everyone lives in LA. Like, like they've experienced all of that.

So, like LA was such, bro. Like, that was oh shit. Just unimpressed. All of LVRN was there, all of Interscope was there. Like, it was not even Is that hard? Is that hard on you? What interscope? No, to have a show like that. Like, are you are you beating yourself up a bit? No, no, I wasn't even beating my. I was like thankful for it, bro. Cause it's like it gives you like like like transparency. Like, I can see now what that's what really affected my music change too. It's like I can't keep making like it's not not that it's the music necessarily, like there's definitely songs that like I played Eastside and people were getting to it, even though the crowd was hating. Like as soon as I played that, they're like, oh phone for cameras started coming up, you know. Okay, or like awful, like all like the dudes who were just saying fuck you were like, oh shit, you know what I'm saying? Like because I started talking my shit, you know what I'm saying? So the thing is like it all depends on the like the song itself, but like that's why I like I've been starting listening to the police and the queen. Like they make songs that like even if you aren't a fan of those people, if you're in the crowd and you're listening to that live, like you're having a good time, you know.

And music's definitely changed over the days, and like time like that we've been going through, like rage music is huge now. Blah blah. Yep, which I'm not a big fan of, to be completely honest, right? It's not for me, it's not for me. Yeah, it's not for me. I I I respect all the I like a lot of it. Yeah, you do. I do like a lot of it. We're not aligned there, but that's completely fine. No, no, yeah, 100%. Like, it's no hate on the rage music or whatever's going on now. It's just like I just don't see it having longevity. You know what I'm saying? That's for me too, man. Cause I think it goes back to even what I'd be interested to hear Justice's take on rage music. Justice does not listen to any of that, yeah. Mm-hmm. Nothing, no, yeah, not a single song. I I would I would probably have imagined that to be honest. Cause yeah, I just it's tough for them. It's better than drill. I said it. Oh, 100%. He hates drill, bro. Bro, I hate drill too, bro. not for me. I'm from the east coast and I hate drill music. It is what it is.

It's I don't like the drum patterns, I don't like the material. That's I feel you. Shout out to the, you know, if it's for you. Yeah, yeah. So hate, no hate. So other than East Side, you've most recently had another song that has been making its viral waves across the internet, running wild. Yep. And from From what Yeah. Rest in peace. Hold on though. Hold on. I'm hoping we can revive this stage. I'm hoping we can revive this shit. So from the outside looking in, the way I saw it play out is that, you know, once again, you posted about it. It did pretty well. There was a bunch of videos that were six-figure views, like a bunch of them, right? So probably totally you were getting, you know, million plus views on just the snippets of you playing and previewing the song. It gets uploaded, like you released it and then taken down due to copyright sample clearance issues. Is that a fair?

Like, is that what happened? Pretty on the dot, pretty much. Yeah, like to they were doing super well on TikTok. Like I like honestly had more love on that song than I do with Iside. Oh wow. Yeah. Okay, yeah. I think I hit a target audience with like like Tar uh Twilight and like vampire people like who love like those type of shows, like not even like Twilight, but like vampire diaries and like interesting, like Russia. I saw that Russia loves it. Was like going crazy. I'm like, bro, I don't know what you're saying, but I I can I can almost just like be sure that it's positive. So I thank you. You know, what I'm saying. like it was the coolest thing in the world to just see like damn people from across the world were like, Yo, I love this song. How important is knowing your target audience? Or or letting TikTok figure it out for you? Well, that's that's the beauty of TikTok, or just catching in the the right algorithm that then it's because like that you can then run ads against. I've even started to see that like I think we're getting in, it's figuring out what it is that we're saying that people like who was gonna give a fine fuck, right?

It's the same thing with like who's gonna like this music, right? And so you you release it, but once again, you know, I'm not too well versed, but knowing that it had a sample, or did you not? Did LVRN know it had a sample? Yeah, we all knew. Um, okay. I was watching risk it for the biscuit. I respect it. Risk it. Well, the thing is like as soon as I heard that, like, uh like as soon as I heard that, bro. I was like, this is fucking crazy. It is that sounds beautiful. Yeah, and like I was watching my girl, and like she was like, yo, use that sample this right now. So it's so we can blame her. And the thing is, or thank or thank her, thank you. Thank her, honestly. You know, like the thing is, she's like, because the funny thing about it too is like she was like, Girls are gonna love this, yeah. It does have they're gonna love this. It does have that eat you up, and I was like, Oh, okay, I need a girl fan base. Like, that's kind of what the target is, you know.

Drake's like a perfect example, like he just gets the girls to fall in love with him and the boys follow. Yes, girls are the best fans to have. Cheat code, 100%. bro. It's just true. So I put that out, and like I think it was like the second or third video I did it, it blew up, and I was like, Oh shit, okay, here we go. And then one of the dudes that uh at uh LVR was like, yo, we're gonna just put it out. We don't got it cleared, but we're gonna put it out. Like, if we get in trouble, we get in trouble. Yeah, and then what we were initially trying to do while that was going on was we're gonna send it to um Blue Eye Foundation, the band that made the song. I think it's called Eyes on Fire. Yeah. Um I was digging through all the comments, and you and you basically commented, please tell me what because you didn't even know, I guess, originally. Yeah. You're like, please tell me what this sample is. I need to know. And then like a bunch of people chimed in, like Eyes on Fire. It was just like a little marketing of the thing. Oh yeah.

See, he fucking gotcha. Hook line and sinker. on that one. Gotcha, bitch. You know what I'm saying, Damn bro? Um genius. But the thing is, it's like I thought we were gonna keep it up no matter what. So, but the label was just like, yeah, we gotta take it down because we're about to see if we can get it cleared for DSPs. What's the price tag? Bro, I I pulled the Jay-Z, and you know how you wrote a letter for to the ant the people that made Annie for Hard Knock Life? Yeah. I wrote a fake letter too. And they did not budge at all. They were not, nope. But thing is, bro, I think I just learned recently. Like they didn't even throw a price? No, nothing. They just were like royalties, nothing, not a price on whatever you're just you're not using. Yeah, just no. What is the motivation for the original artist to not just get some extra money out of it? I don't understand. Like, do they hate music? You know what I think they hate the future of music?

The thing I think Fuck that you know what I really think it is? What? They're angry, just They are. curmudgeons. There's a whole new Twilight series coming out soon. With like the They've got TV show or saga or Sega. I don't know if I'm saying you think they're they're pitching it. I think they're gonna put that back in there. Yeah. Because it like that's how the song blew up was Twilight. It wasn't because they put the song out. Oh, I was wondering why the Twilight thing was working. Because you were like, does it just have like a vampire-y like vibe. Yeah. it was from Twilight? Okay. The song was playing. But still she fell in love with the Edward, I think his name is. And like she was like in her like little bag, and the song started playing, and it just gave such a like a feeling to it that like the song would. like hit, you know. Yeah, but I just only feel like that could help them, even bro. That's what I'm saying. I don't understand it. I don't get it. They gave they gave a clearance to MGK, and the song is what is it? I mid?

What is it? Trash? It is not good. Yeah. Did you know? Did you know that there is a Taurus movie? Did you know there is a version of the song on YouTube by some random uploader with like 26,000 plays? Of mine? Running wild. Oh, yeah. I just played it before you got here. Oh, yes, bro. I I saw that. It's a kid from Vermont who posted it because his uh username had 802 in it. Oh shout out to 802. I forgot his name. Yeah, it's just some letters and numbers, yeah. Yeah, shout out to you. Yeah, they're coming for that guy next, though. He's definitely getting demonetized. The thing I think about YouTube though is that if you're not making money off of it, you could post whatever you want. It is still the Wild Wild West. I mean, to some degree. Yeah, to some extent. No, pretty much, yeah. Pretty much they can still be like fuck you, they can definitely still copyright strike you for sure. Well, there was another dude that I saw that was yeah, no, they definitely can. Yeah, but there was another dude that I saw that posted like a remix, it was like some really low, low budget video. It had like 20 million views for uh the running wild the run not running wild beat, the uh um eyes on fire, eyes on fire.

Oh, okay, like a remix to that. Yeah, and he like just took off the the lyrics and like it was a rap song. Yeah, song honestly was not good either, but it had like 20 million views. Shit, and I was like, it was definitely not cleared. Like, if if I could not get that cleared with a whole team behind me, there's no way in God's green earth that this dude got that song cleared, you know what I'm saying? But it had 20 million views, and it's been up for like probably nine, Ten years, so it's like Wow. yeah. man. Yeah. Yeah. So. So how would you say that being signed, you know, going on a national tour? I guess international if you're up in Canada, we can call it international, right? Uh, you know, going on an international tour with an artist like Lil TJ, you know, regardless of how the shows went, you know, some of them, right? How how has it impacted your yourself, like your mental, your physical, even right? Like yeah, you know, How has it impacted Jackson? Like the person. Um, honestly, bro, it just made me feel like more motivated to like be more healthy necessarily.

Like Tour is notorious for being unhealthy at times. Just tour, people touring, they're usually not living well. Like you'd expect like a lifestyle. Where it's like. Oh. There's fucking. 300 girls. And after the show. Or. Like we're getting faded. Before the show. Blah blah blah. It's like. I was necessarily I was drinking chamomile tea before the show, eating fruit, like making sure I was just like feeling good, you know, yeah, before I went on stage at least, and then after I'd probably drink or something, and then like TJ wouldn't he wouldn't be like he'd bring his little blunt on the stage, and that's it. You know what I'm saying? Like, it wasn't like the movies necessarily. Like, like there's no more rock stars, you know? I mean, there is, obviously. I can't say there's no more, but like that idea of like trash and hotel rooms and shit. In New Jersey, like Ice Spice was there. Um, uh just talked about her. Yo, Ice Spice is everywhere. Everywhere, bro.

Oh shout out to her, man. She may pop out later in this episode. Just to oh, wow. Let that sit there. I love the foreshadowing. Yeah. Um, yeah, Ice Spice was there. What's his name was there? Um with another New York artist. He's pretty big. Uh I forgot his name, damn. A Boogie. No, TJ and A Boogie hate each other. Oh, really? They're ops. Big beef. Big beef. Oh wow, shit. Here I am. Yeah. Uninformed, clearly. Honestly, I just heard that too. So I don't even know if I'm allowed to speak. Honestly, I don't care. I spoke I spoke on it. But it's on wax now. Um, yeah, they're not too big of fans of each other. So but What the fuck? what's his name? Faiyaz. Oh, okay. Yes. Faiyaz yeah. Yeah, he's uh hit him with the Jeopardy. Damn. Oh yeah, Faiyaz is definitely uh that guy. Yeah, that was him.

But so it's surprisingly made you really check your your health and try and be a little more conscious about that. 100%. Wow. Yeah, bro. That's interesting. Cause it's like it's kind of like a sport in a sense, like you're gonna be. Oh, absolutely. You don't want to go out there fucked up, you know, what I'm saying, like, not knowing because you have to like perform. You have to perform. That's literally what it's called. Perform, you know. So it's like you have to like you rehearse a lot. Um, honestly, bro, I rehearsed like for like a week before tour, and then that was it. Like, I've never really I've done seven shows of my life. That's not a lot, no, at all, bro. You know what I'm saying? It's not a lot. Well, no, the tour was way more though, right? Five shows. Oh, I thought it was more for some reason. It was LA, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, New Jersey. Okay. All right, yeah. For some reason, I thought it was more. Okay, wow. So still only all right. So where do you think you can improve on your live show? Because you gotta have learned something from that. 100%.

So yeah, so where are we where are we improving going into the next one? Uh visually, me, myself, interacting with the crowd. Yeah. Uh facing the crowd for sure. Okay. I want a live band. Okay, that's fine. Yeah, always works. Those just bring more energy to it. Yeah. And uh imagery. Yeah. You know, like a thing about like I watched from Playboi Carti, who's one of like the best performers. Is that in the back, what's going on in the back is almost more entertaining than what's going on on stage. Yeah. Because like Cardi's just gonna scream the whole time. Like he's not even gonna perform his song. Yeah, it's just like the energy, like his songs do a lot for it too, obviously, but like the coloring, the visual of what's going on behind, like the it doesn't, I don't even know what the the image would be necessarily, but it's something that like revolves around the song that's being played and the energy that's being presented, you know. And the last thing too is probably just like um being able to sing over my one tracks, like like no vocals, no vocals, you know what I'm saying?

It's major. Yeah, so it's important, bro. Like post Malone. Oh my god, he's so good. Yeah, I saw him here in Atlanta. Yes, bro. Were you at that show? Yeah, yeah. It was so good. He fucking twisted it. He just got healed. Twist his ankle in the first 10 minutes. Dude, I'm like, not again. He's a trooper, though. He kept going. Kept going. That shit broke the internet too. Yeah, no, but so speaking of Hollywood Cole, so he works with an artist named Will Hill. And if you're not familiar, like ask Cole about him and check him out because he's super dope. You just went to his show recently, and one of the things that you literally I I go, yo, how was the show? And you were the first thing you commented on was like they performed both him and the opener with just you know just the beats. Just the beats. Bro, that's how you gotta do it. Performing, yeah. Because it gives it more of like a not even a rawness feel, but like it's like you really get to like hear that artist, you know. They're performing it. It's like we're not here for karaoke. Literally, literally, bro. We could all go listen to the album.

Yeah, bro. And like, I'm not saying I want it to be, you know, well, we're not gonna unpack this back, but I'm not saying I want it to be a completely different rendition, like Frank Ocean apparently did with his Coachella set, where it's like people couldn't even barely recognize the songs he was performing. I'm not saying do that, but like give it that authentic live feel. The only time I didn't do that was was in Vermont because I already knew that everyone knew the lyrics, so I didn't really have to sing it that much and get to make it easier for them. Damn, that's like a lazy person's dream, huh? Oh lazy but I have goals. He has goals, exactly. I uh the goals of having this is another thing I learned I from before the tour with TJ was uh I drank too much before the show. My voice I lost my voice, bro. Oh wow, like like completely lost it. Like type, you know what I'm saying? Like you scream you scream too much, like your vocal cords are like literally gone. I think that's good that that happened to you. Like that you learned that. early. I'm so grateful for my mistakes or just the problems I have because just it teaches me so much.

It's not even like I'm like, fuck, bro. Like, like fuck, I'm gonna get him next time. It's like, what can I do to like make that better? Dude, I feel like America or just the world, just our whatever new generations are so afraid of losing. Bro, yes. What is wrong with losing? Losing is the greatest thing that can you can do, man? It's like necessary. Michael Jordan said it the best, bro. I would not be here if I didn't fail all those times. Yes. Like, the thing is, it's Like, if the goat is saying that, bro. Right. It really means something. And now we're giving out participation trophies and shit. And I feel like another thing is too. what comes around back to that failure part is, like people are scared to even try. Because they're afraid to lose. Exactly. Which is bullshit. Like, which is like, yeah, it's bullshit, bro. It's like how like you can't win if you don't take risks, you know. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, Jax, we'll see if you're gonna win or lose this final segment of the podcast. Henry, where the fuck are we at? Oh shit.

Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. It's going down. Exactly, Jax. He gets it. This is the rapid fire rampage. And there's definitely winners, and there's definitely losers. rapid fire questions. So it's a three-part rampage. The first part will be some short answer. Okay. And then I'll explain the rest uh as we go from there. If you want to light one of those up for this, this might be a good time. Okay, let's do it. Yeah. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Oh, where's my lighter? And with the Jeopardy music looking for the lighter. Wish Derek could hear this. Derek, where is my lighter? Or Henry. Uh there's a red one right there. Derek, you can pass that lighter real quick, bro? Yeah. Derek's about to make an appearance. See that big Red one sticking out of the right front of it? Right here in front of it? Yeah, yep. Nah, you can if you will, bro. Oh, his hand will be in it. Derek's hand. Shout out, Derek. We're gonna have to pay. We're gonna have to pay him for that. Royalties.

Yeah, seriously. We'll let you know when we make money from this. Alright, the cigarette is lit. Oh my god, the lighter was right here. Oh wow. Anyway. All right, starting with the short answer. This is the Rapid Fire Rampage. with North F Jax. Rampage! North F Jax turns out to be copyright. You have to choose a new rap name. Wander. W-N-D-R. That was so fast. You've thought about that before. Absolutely. Did you send him the questions before? Okay. Three tips that you would give artists looking to lock down a record deal. If you don't have a studio in your hometown, either build it yourself. That's this is the part number one. Build it yourself or travel to the closest city to get into a professional studio to record your vocals if you don't know how to record yourself. Number two, believe in yourself. I know it's corny and cliche. Really, in reality, it's not. But believe in yourself.

Let yourself know that you can do it, right? Practice all the time. And number three, tell your tell the people around you to support you. It's free. It is. It's free. It is. It doesn't cost money to say or share a song or like you know what I'm saying? It does not. It's free. Or or share a podcast episode. Share a podcast episode, I mean, damn. That's what I'm saying. That was a bar though. What is your brief opinion on Ice Spice? Mine? Yeah. I don't like her. Oh, wow. Her music or I don't like her. I love her. I don't know. I like her music or her branding. Like I mean, her branding is very good. Yeah. Munch, munchkins, whatever. Like she's got a great team. Is that what her people are called? Munchkins? Yeah. That's amazing. Amazing, right? Like, where is the Dunkin' Donuts advertisement, right? Dude, she's working on it. She's genius, bro. Yeah. She she knows exactly what she's doing. I'm not a fan personally myself.

Like, I'm not even attracted to her. So I don't know. I can't even give it away. No, I'm one of the only nine people in the world who can have Jax doesn't like giant asses, apparently. Jax, three tips for a producer looking to catch a record with you. Um, break out of the trap box. Break, break out of the trap box for sure. And um don't get too comfortable. Like I I want new sounds, new new things, like new ideas, new like even if it doesn't sound the best, like everything can be built around an idea, you know, which I think is super important about music. It's like one little thing can turn into something like a whole new thing. But That's a good one, yeah. Um, and the third thing would probably be just like try to find necessarily a sound that you feel like would be in the box that you think would revolve around Jax, you know, if they were trying to get a song with me, like what can this benefit Jax? How can this benefit Jax?

How can this how can I help Jax with this? You know, intentional. Intentional, you know what I'm saying? Like, I want you to I don't want you to make this beat and be like, oh, he would sound good on it. I want you to make this beat because you want me on it. You know what I'm saying? Like I'm making this for you. Love that. Fire. Yeah. Jax, who has the best fast food chicken sandwich? Oh my god. This is a great question. Let's settle this for now. This is a great question, bro. Once and for all. And I is it tie, if that's fair. That's how it works. Fair enough. I'm going Chick-fil-A. I know. Yeah, yeah. Basically. And people are gonna hate me for this, bro. I'm going Wendy's. Holy shit. Wendy's spicy chicken is fire. No, I don't mind that. No one has said that. No, that is a first. That's a rare answer. I'll defend it though. Wait, wait, wait. What's the usual answer? Popeyes? Popeyes. Popeyes is the best, though. That's your pick? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I'm basic. I would go Chick-fil-A for sure. Chick-fil-A and Wendy's.

I eat Chick-fil-A probably like twice a day. I mean, hey, bro, like I get it. I totally get it. I live right next to one. Like, it's hard not to. It's hard to avoid. And they have something in their food, bro. I swear. Like it's like Peanut oil. I think it's the peanut oil. I think it's the my pleasure that I love. You know what I'm saying? My pleasure. Yeah, sure. Part two is the this or that. I'm gonna give you two choices and you pick one. Okay. Starting with North Ave or the East Side? North Ave. Great producer or great engineer? Great engineer. Two for two on the I like it. Hook or verse? Hook. Drums or melodies. Drums. Cow or chicken? Chicken. Red or blue? Blue. Chrome or safari? Like the search engines? The web browsers. Uh I'm going Chrome. Zombies or dragons? Are we killing these?

There's no additional information. No further information. No. A dragon. Imagine driving like a riding dragon, bro. That'd be so crazy. Win the lottery or find your soulmate? I found mine, so I'm winning the lottery. Boom. Part two. Wow. I think the lottery's undefeated on that question. Yo, his girl has taken two W's in this episode. Shout out to her. That comment, and then her basically. What did she do again earlier? She discovered running wild. Yes. There we go. Wow. The last part is the word association. I'm gonna say one word. Just give me the first thought right off the top of your head, right back at me. Here we go. Yes, sir. Starting with hip hop. Jay-Z. Cucumber. Sex. I guess his girl has that one. His girl's taking a third W right now. Nice Jesus. Brick. Jump shot.

Diamond. Wrist. Content. TikTok. Kangaroo. Jump. Lil. Baby. Eggs. And bacon. Politics. Trump. Whiskey. Ice. Only fans. What was that? Oh. Insecure females. No, I'm just playing. Um freedom, I guess. Two opposite answers there. He was like, shit. I just upset all my uh OnlyFans fans. My OnlyFans fans. Yes. Family. Um Christmas? Right? I don't know. No, yeah. Yeah. Alien. Predator.

Lazy. But I have goals. Let's go. This has been North Ave Jax. As always, please like, comment, and subscribe. If you fuck with this interview, we are coming at you every Thursday. Every Thursday. Appreciate you going on, Jax. Yes, sir. Absolutely. Thanks, man. Until next week, what are we doing? Getting out of here. Getting the fuck out of here. Peace. Peace, y'all.