J Reed

JReed

florida key piff interview - j reed

Interview by Xavier “CompleX” Prue

who is j reed

Interview by Xavier “CompleX” Prue

PIFF: Who is J Reed? JReed is an artist who expresses the inner battles and lets the listeners know that someone out there can relate to what they’re going through. I take what I went through, the struggles of life… and when I say struggles of life, a lot people think I mean I had to struggle in the hood, I had to come up from the block, and all of this. No, that’s a choice. You know what I’m saying? That’s not a struggle. When I say my struggles, I’m more or less talking about going through the heartbreaking pain. You know what I’m saying? You see someone and you put all of your trust in your heart and your love

and then they go behind your back. You’re dealing with untrustworthy ass friends. Some things along that level there. That’s why I take my time on what I’m putting together because I want it to be special. You know? I don’t want it to be me just going in a studio throwing something together. I don’t go out there to ‘let me go do a trap song real quick.’ I don’t care if the block loves me or not. I’m trying to get to the projects of the white folk. Feel me? That’s the mission. I want to be able to have the higher ups get to the point where it’s like look I can ride around with my kids, and I can listen to this right here. Things

of that nature. I like to party. I don’t mean going to the club every night. You know, I enjoy life. Depends on how you make life. You hear a lot of people say well life is hard, but hey we never said everything was going to be a good day. We said life was going to be a struggle. I take what I’ve been through and I put it into music. You know; going through divorce, a bad love life, and things of that nature. You want music to be an inspiration for somebody who’s going through something. Like when I write certain songs or certain beats that I’m going to write to, I think ‘What would a person in Missouri be thinking right

J Reed is an artist who expresses the inner battles and lets the listeners know that someone out there can relate to what they’re going through

now? What would a person over in Nevada be thinking about?’ So I’m thinking outside the box. It’s not just about trying to impress the people around you in your area. You want to be the motivation

PIFF: Which section of Florida are you in? How is the Hip Hop scene out there? North Florida, Live Oak. Everything is good, I’m not going to lie. Instead of rushing everything out there to try and get everything seen, I’m learning the business side of things. I’m trying to monetize all my videos. I want to learn how to make money off of everything that you do.

PIFF: Do they allow local artists to open up? It just depends on who you know. Really the closest spot for artists really to perform is like Jacksonville. PIFF: How did you get into the Underground Music Awards? My manager. We met and she was just shopping music around and different things and wound up getting heard by the man who hosts it. He was like, “i’m going to forward this man this opportunity.” So I was grateful for it. He was telling me, “Look I like your music and I like your sound, so I’m going to give you a chance to go ahead and get in on the show.” We went to

go put the song up for nominations and different things. So I told him I’m trying to go for hardest working artist because I don’t look at what I did. I look at what I’m doing now. I just met up with a young female and she wants me to work with her. I told her I don’t have a problem with bringing her on board, working with her, and getting her to sound right. But I told her you got to look at what the other females are bringing to the table. We already got a Megan The Stallion. We already have a Cardi B. We already have a Nicki. So you got to be something different. They all basically talk about the same shit. So you got to be something different.

PIFF: Do you see yourself being one of the next ones to put Florida back on the map? I mean, I’m going to shoot for it, but when I say shoot for it, I mean not just in the aspect of saying Florida artist are just touring Florida. I want to have Florida artists be able to get up there on the UMA’s. You know? Get up on the South Carolina Music Awards. You know? From there you keep building your brand up. I’m just trying to get all the opportunities and then give the same opportunities to the same type of artist who I see grinding and working. Like i tell a lot of them. Get your budget up. This shit ain’t free. I’m not going to sit here and tell you no lies and tell you that anything that I’ve accomplished up until this point was free because it ain’t.

PIFF: Why is it so important to have a budget? For one, everybody’s trying to get signed by a label. You don’t want a label to give you a budget. As a young artist, I ain’t gonna lie, the first thing you’re going to want to do is take that money and what? You want to go buy your mama a house. They give you that $300 million dollars and that $300 million dollars is going to be gone in 3-5 days. That 3 million is gone. So now your left with no money to promote yourself because that was what the money was for. You’re left with no money to get your radio play up. You left me no money to be able to tour, go to different cities, and pass out posters. You know, or give out hard copies of your cds and different things like that. You don’t have that money now.

So when I say budget yourself, you have to know exactly what you’re spending your money on. If they’re saying this distribution costs this amount of dollars to get this amount of dollars on your track, you got to know exactly what that costs. You see, what gets me is I have so many artists get up on the song talking about, “I’m big ballin’, I’m flashing, and I got a pocket full of cash.” But then you have to pay $50 to get up on stage, and then say you can’t because your broke. So how are you going to say you have a pocket full of money, when you can’t even put $50 up for your own career?

Just because you come up with a hot song, the question is, can you do it again? And then can you do it again after that? The thing in the industry that a lot of people fail realize is called a sophomore. I tell a lot of artists like this. When you come out with that first song, it’s your freshman song. People don’t know who you are. So when you come out with a hit song, people fell in love with you. So this is your freshman year. You’re blowing up. Now here comes that sophomore song. The song behind that one.

This is where a lot of artists fall off. Even some of the great ones that fell off. It’s something about that number 2 that knocks that artist’s career off because they’re unable to meet that same height from that first song.

PIFF: What’s the biggest problem with the industry today? Everybody so quick to want to chase a clout, so quick to want to be noticed, to the point that they forgetting what the music is about to the point where they feel they need a gimmick to go viral. What would these artists do if the government shut down the internet? How would you get your music out? My mindset is on the grind mode... how would you get your music if there was no internet? It’s easy to push music behind a computer screen, but can you get out there on these different blocks? Are you able to hit the WalMart for 3 hours straight and actually network with different people from different walks of life? A lot of artist today are just content with putting their music online, but you do better with that street grind behind it and that’s what’s missing today.

PIFF: What are you looking to accomplish? The Top 200 Billboard Charts. I had a recent phone call with them and they gave me some insight as to what it takes to get there. I started out back in the late ‘90s, early 2000s. Over the years, I’ve gotten better with time and I’m working on something special for the ladies. A woman loves a man who’s not afraid to express himself and I came up with a new album called ‘Infidelity’. My cousin was looking at me crazy like, “bro, you bout to tell on yourself” and I’m like at this point, my story is out. I’m also helping put together a compilation album with other artists from around the country.

PIFF: What’s been your biggest thing that’s set you back as an artist trying to make it? Being too trusting.

PIFF: What’s something you learned in 2019 you want to bring into 2020? A harder work ethic. This year was more of a learning experience in showing me how the business truly works. Now that I’ve had my trials and tribulations and figured some things out, I know what goals I need to handle in 2020 to make things pop.

PIFF: Any advice for upcoming talent? Work hard. Nobody gonna give you a hand out no matter how nice you are. You gotta learn how to grind. If you want something bad enough, you grind for what you want. Big things coming for 2020, so stay tuned!