Exposed Vocals interviews Jay-O
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an Artist?
Jay-O: I grew up on 241st in the Bronx, New York City. Being able to talk about what goes on in the African American culture, the experiences my family and I had to go through, and trying to help my family out by making money through expressing my ideas through music is why I decided to become an artist.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Jay-O: In 2009 my brother passed away, his name was Jordan Jones and we called him J.O. After a few years I took over my brother’s name because being that my name is Jahnathan people used to call me Jay-O making fun of it and I guess the name stuck.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Jay-O: I think online music sharing is a great source for upcoming artist to get their music out for people to hear. Yes I do give my music away sometimes for free, because I think it generates one’s core fans.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or Artist looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Jay-O: If you are looking to take this serious and get different kinds of gigs and airplay you should start by trying to get your music out to as much as possible to radio stations, websites, and getting your blogs reposted by fans generated from your community.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Jay-O: My song writing inspirations come spontaneously because of the things I seen growing up I just write it down and try to find a way of turning my upbringing into something good.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Jay-O: I share most of my music that I have for free through my sound cloud. The link is below.
https://soundcloud.com/user-377765654
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Jay-O: Given a half a million dollars the first thing I would do is take care of my mom’s mortgage, and then I would give family a fair share and go on vacation with my friends saving some of course.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Jay-O: I try to get the music I choose to give away for free on every social media site possible and on many blogs so that I can build core fans.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Jay-O: Right now I’m finalizing my mixtape “Ballin Like Jordan” after that I plan to start working on my album that I will release with whoever chooses to sign me.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Jay-O: I would focus more on obtaining my psychology degree and playing college basketball.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Jay-O: I make sure I handle my responsibilities first which is my family my school and my sports. When I’m not busy handling my responsibilities I make my music by sitting down listening to different beats and write down what comes to my head.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Jay-O: Hopefully I could start doing concerts near my school in Oklahoma city, or start traveling on breaks and when I am back in New York City I can start doing music concerts with some artist I know down there.