South Carolina Rapper J.Say Talks Childhood, Music, & More

Anderson, SC rapper J.Say has been making major waves lately. In our recent interview, we chatted with the artist about his childhood, forthcoming music, and inspirations amongst other things. Peep our chat below.

What was your childhood like? How would you describe the South Carolina scene?

Growing up I lived a very diverse life. I was born in Austin, Texas but soon after moved to California. It was just me and my mom for a year struggling to make ends meet until we met my stepdad who eventually took us in and raised me as his own. I spent a couple of years in California moving around the central valley until we finally settled down in the city of Stockton. At that point, my mom and dad had two kids, one girl and one boy. Life there was very comfortable for us up until the age of fourteen. My mom got laid off from work forcing us to move in with my grandparents who lived in a small town known as Iva, South Carolina. The move to South Carolina showed me a whole different way of living and helped me mature into who I am today. I would learn how to drive, work my first job at Papa Johns, and teach myself discipline through diet, spending, and working out. After High School ended I had no plan set in mind. I decided to go to a community college where I would meet some of the most talented and driven people in my circle today. Knowing I wanted to make music a career one day I made the decision to quit schooling after a year and pursue music head-on while working a full-time job.

How did you get into music? Who were your inspirations at the time?

Growing up I always had an interest in music finding myself experimenting with different hobbies such as piano, dance, and songwriting. I never believed in my ability to vocalize the words I’d write though so I would put them to the side for a while. It wasn’t until I was sixteen that I decided to privately record my vocals on instrumentals and learn what it was like to create music. I would secretly create tracks in my room off of a program called audacity and eventually play them for close friends. As months went by I was encouraged to go to a studio to record my first project I titled “Roots”. After receiving a ton of support from my peers I wanted to continue expanding my sound and catalog striving to reach my full potential. At this point, all the music I was making was strictly rap songs. I always envied my friends who could sing and wished I could bring my melodies to life. I saved up money to buy studio equipment and learned how to engineer. It was when I was in the private of my room that I experimented with singing and finding ways to better my vocals. Every day I would create new music and hear myself grow as an artist. I decided the music I was creating at this point was miles ahead of the old music I had released so I took down all my music and started back from scratch. I am very picky with what I let out of my catalog from this point on. I would soon meet my close friend Chop Collins who is mostly known for his artist name Poli$y. As our friendship grew we would push each other to pass boundaries in our music we set subconsciously and found ourselves in the best creative state yet.

Musically, how would you describe yourself?

My music consists of a blend of different elements. I try to bring all my favorite genres into one piece of work. I mainly focus on blending pop with R&B while also adding elements of hip/hop and rap. It’s rare you’ll ever see me stick to one style just because I love to always experiment and push myself in different ways.

What sets you apart from most artists?

Nowadays I think a lot of artists sound the same and originality is hard to come by. I think I am one of the most diverse artists up and coming right now and I work hard to make that statement true. I always strive to write and create music that I haven’t heard before and if I don’t think it has a stand out element to it I don’t release it.

When fans take a dive into your catalog, what do you want them to take away from your music?

I want fans to hear the diversity I try to showcase through each track. No song in my catalog sounds the same and each has different elements that set it apart from anything out. I’m hoping to connect with people through my personal lyrics and deeper meanings while also bringing together people who listen to different genres of music. It took me a while to accept that I don’t make the certain kind of music people expect to hear so I’m hoping people can appreciate my originality and creativity.

Where do you see yourself in the next few years?

My biggest goal is to become the next big pop star in the music industry. I want to continually increase my vocal capabilities and create fresh new music that catches people by surprise. I also want to be able to carry over attention to the talent around me and have a platform to showcase them.