Exposed Vocals Interviews JPBrown

Welcome to the world of JPBrown. A half polish musician, born in Pontiac Michigan, a little after noon on September 8, 1989.

Good music is made for a reason, coming from a family of talented musicians, nothing else would make sense. JPBrown’s grandfather was signed to RPM records in the 1950’s, with his Du-woop group, Buddy Milton and the twilighters. Writing and creating music with Sam Cooke, B.B King, and Etta James, his grandfather had never ending stories about chasing the dream. Every single one of his seven children is either an above average singer or can play multiple instruments, period. Even to this day JPs aunt (his fathers twin sister) leads a 70 voice choir, his Uncle Craig made raggae music until the day he died, and his father has his degree in music!

        Having said the following, music has always come very natural to JPBrown .  Poetry had always taken a backseat to sports in his life, but in April 2011 the artist in him was born as he recorded 5 songs in 2 days, dropping his first project ‘1st Recordings EP’. The ‘1st Recordings EP’  featured JPBrown and Jet on every song and was produced and engineered by his Uncles Craig’s only child NeikoVelli. JP took the EP on CD to his fourth and final run at college (football). He would listen to the EP repeadily and dissect whether or not he really sounded as natural as he had believed. He then met on campus a young hungry producer named BLK Seraphim. BLK Seraphim would sing JPBrown’s music back to JPBrown when he saw him, giving JP more than enough confidence than he needed. JP soon began skipping class and writing songs to make for the rest of his family to hear. He would drive to campus with the intention of going to class and instead park at the frat house smoke black n milds and just write.

     After hearing the ‘1st Recordings EP’ Killa Dope (his dads youngest brother) wanted nothing more than to hear JP rap over KillaDope beats, so JP dropped ‘Janet’. The vocals JP laid over the Janet Jackson sample would not  only become a family favorite but also the first track off of his 2nd project entitled ‘We Gone Make It’.

      The mixtape featured JPBrown, Jet, Beezy5k (JP’s cousin) and Mad-ii (JP’s brother), with all tracks being produced and engineered by Killa Dope.

       In the summer of 2013 JP had about 7 unfinished tracks recorded. On 7-28-13 JPBrown and Beezy5k decided to finish the tracks and add a few more. The plan was to push the mixtape as hard as they could and see where they got in exactly a years time, thus they named the project ‘7-28’.  What made ‘7-28’ special was the fact that prior to beginning the project the two decided that teaching themselves to record would be more productive, so they recorded all of the songs themselves. Their music sat unmixed for a long period of time and they lost momentum.

      Still not convinced that he was a musician, JP didnt push ‘7-28’. However he knew he had juice of some sort, so JP kept moving, and in 2014 he began writing and recording his 4th and 5th projects. The ‘HurryUpOffense’ and ‘Dirty Water’ dropped consecutively, both consisting of 7 of tracks. What made this project different is that this time he recorded himself with no help on the entire tape, only using one feature throughout,  coming from his brother madd-ii ( Loose-E / TheHurryUpOffense ). Both projects featured production from BLK Seraphim, about 5 songs in total. Also the song “Just Letting You Know” featured the first song where JP wrote a verse for someone else, writing 14 bars for beezy5k, eventually laying vocals himself.

     In the spring of 2014, while still recording ‘TheHurryUpOffense’ and ‘Dirty Water’, JPBrown dropped a 6 track rock-n-roll venture called ‘Jaded Insomnia EP’. JP laid vocals over original rock-n-roll music, produced and recorded by NeikoVelli, of whom plays drums, guitar, and bass. The ‘Jaded Insomnia EP’ showed  versatility, as it was discovered that JP could jump genre’s rather easily.

     In 2015 JP began working with a Pioneer from the 90s. BeeKey was a producer signed to a major label, so he brought experience to the table, teaching JP organization. BeeKey showed him how to make songs more full and opened his eye to the importance of knowing your material. JP and BeeKey teamed up for 6 songs in 2015, and recently began talks about finishing the mixtape.

     In late February 2016, on a Wednesday around 9:40pm, JPBrown got a call from his younger cousin NeikoVelli. Neiko told him that his booth was up and running and that he wanted JP to stop wasting talent. Needless to say NeikoVelli motivated JP as they had the next project ( ‘One Shot Vol1 – Impractical Thinking’ ) recorded and mixed in less than 46 hours from the initial call to JP. Completed in 10 hours recording time, JP decided it might be time to take music serious. He made a twitter and soundcloud that day and he was off and rolling.

      ‘One Shot’ will be a series of mixtapes featuring tracks with two hooks and one verse. The style was created when JP originally began recording and didn’t understand how to make full songs. At this point the theory is short and sweet to display his various sounds. Its late March 2016, JP has ‘One Shot Vol2’ recorded and has begun writing ‘One Shot Vol3’ last week. JPBrown, the next Generation of musician help clear his path!

>> JPBrown – #MyOnlyAmbition (blk seraphim x killa dope)

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

I was born in Pontiac Michigan, where I resided off of Walton, until I was permanently expelled from Pontiac Northern High School at 15 years old (2005). I then moved to Sterling Heights, where I got a second chance at life and made a run for college.
I played organized sports since the age of 3, not stopping until age of 25, last playing professional football for a smaller market league in town. Sports was all I ever wanted for many years and I was always ok with that ceiling.  When I recorded my 1st song on wax, I got the same feeling I got from winning metals during wrestling season. I come from a talented family where everyone makes good music, it would be sinful to bury my talent.

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

My name is actually pretty symbolic of everything I stand for. JP is my real govey (government) name, and Brown is my fathers last name. I do not carry my fathers last name on paper but I am an original torch holder in the family. Everyone in my fathers family is musically inclined, so we are a team and I just have a jersey number.
My grandfather William Brown was a resident of Flint Michigan, and a business owner, for over 40 years. I spent a lot of time in Flint with my grandfather, who was signed to RPM Records in the 1950s (Buddy Milton and The Twilighters). February of last year when the water was switched in Flint, the lead sped up his heart problems and he passed almost immediately. The last conversation I had with my grandfather I told him the new James Brown movie (Get On Up) reminded me of him, and to watch it.
Ever since I have been studying how James Brown moved around. Minus the excessive drugs, he has become something like my favorite all around entertainer. James Brown showed me that “Aint no business like show business. You got your show, then you got your business.” So JPBrown it is.

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

This is a funny question because earlier today, mid swishers session, I found myself in deep thought, as I often do when opening my pineal gland. What if James Brown had internet?! How would he manipulate the net to mastermind his platform?!
Personally I love the idea of sharing music on the internet,  thats where people go for music. Hats off to all the artist that stood on corners pushing  music, but this is a new day and age and high speed internet allows me to put the music in your hand. I could be at work on the clock, and your dropping a deuce at home on the pot, yet im still putting the music directly in your hand.
Im currently working on my 9th and 10th project, and every tape prior has been free and will remain so. I owe music free work for a while in my eyes, I started making music so late, and im improving at such a rapid rate, its the least I could do. I dont know when exactly,  but a time will come when I get paid for my artwork.

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

“What up doe bro! Chase your dreams to the fullest and if you make any real progress……Bring the Blueprint to me, and if I have yet to figure out my own career,  ill bite your process.”

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

I look in my rearview mirror for inspiration,  I have been through so much pain and my memory is very vivid. All I want to do is balance the pain with joy, writing dope poetry with harmony brings me joy.
I dont always need a beat, sometimes I see something while living life that captures my attention, then i begin to think how whatever it was that I saw needs to be expressed, at which point lyrics just flow to my brain like tap water.
If I have a beat, I might only write lyrics and figure the hook out on spot at the studio.
I usually take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours to write a verse, it really depends on how creative im feeling. Anger, tends to make me write better because I can tap into the pain.

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

I do not have a band website at this time, however I do have an official website on the way;JPBrown.TheeFamilyMatters.com .
What I envision is a mutual place for fans of my music to connect with each other, as well as with me, and me with them. I want to share other indie artists music, possibly even have a section where I blog and interview artists.
I want a spot for crazy stories to be told anonymously. As of today all of my music can be found on soundcloud (follow JPBrown), twitter (follow @OG_JPBrown) and instagram (@theefamily).

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

With $500,000 and a year off I can only guarantee that I wouldn’t catch amnesia.  I would remember how I dont have right now, and I would live and spend modestly. I would take free time to spend valuable irreplaceable memories with my daughter, Kimura, who has absolutely stolen my heart.
With money and free time I could do so many things with her next year and a half of life. Eliminate immediate financial stresses and just parent. I would buy small stuff for people around me, just to show God that I believe the money will come back. Last but probably 1st I would buy myself a few herbal remedies to maximize the embrace.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

I have only been pushing music for a month and a half, but honestly I believe that social media is the most effective way to market, brand and promote your music. I can take my soundcloud link, go right to twitter, and plaster the link to the song everywhere I go all day. If you go to my instagram page, you instantly get a feel for the vibe, looking at all the pictures and captions and your able to capture my personality at will.
I just created a twitter in mid February and at the end of march I have about 1,200 followers. Not the greatest but not bad either. I have been on my phone just networking and showing people my music, getting all types of feedback. God may very well give me who I need through social media, I just need to keep pushing.

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

Up next for me would be the release of ‘One Shot Vol2’. The mixtape will consist of 8 tracks with 2 hooks and 1 verse. ‘One Shot Vol2 – Project 8’ has been recorded and is waiting on mixing and mastering for 2 songs.
Since I am done with ‘One Shot Vol2’, I have began writing ‘One Shot Vol3’, sometime last week. I also have a mixtape with producer BeeKey coming out, with only 2 songs left to record. A majority of the songs were recorded in 2015, so with most the work being done, the tape is literally in the wings. The following project is scheduled to be my 10th mixtape.

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

If I wasn’t making music I would be chasing sports still. Athletics was my safe place for 23 years. I talk about sports in my music early and often because “I know sports like a booky”. Sports kept me alive and free, while my friends are still locked up to this day, while others didn’t live long enough to legally buy a beer.

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

I am a fulltime father to a 6 month old, who would choose me over her mother any day of rhe week. I do ALL of the housemom duties at my nice rental home, plus some. I still have to be a man so I also work a “40 hours a week” job.
What I do is this; I simply add music into the madness. Im holding my daughter while writing lyrics, im making a bottle while doing laundry,  I just swept, and I have my phone in my hand posting music on twitter. I could be listening to beats people emailed me while giving my daughter a bath or dressing her.
The biggest life saver at this point is my job, which allows me to stay off my feet and write. Being able to have time for my music at work is the best thing to happen to me, its like working at work. It forces me to sit down and focus on the business side of show business.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?

In 2016 I want any fan of mine to know that this is the year that I hang up the cleats, shelf doubt, and chase music like it owes me money. Any support I receive along the way, I want it to be known that I am beyond gracious for. If you put my jersey on your back, im promising playoffs. Follow that twitter!! @OG_JPBROWN