Jayy Black: Producer. Lyricist. Vocalist. Songwriter.
Exposed Vocals: How did you hear about Exposed Vocals? What made you decide to sign up?
Jayy Black: I believe Exposed Vocals reached out to me on Twitter.
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Jayy Black: I go by the name Jayy Black. My close friends and family call me Blizzy. I produce, rap, sing & song-write. I grew up in the Perry Projects of Buffalo, New York. My Dad kept a studio in the house and was an aspiring musician himself. As a kid we had to perform at numerous churches. I did not used to like music & performing at that time because I didn’t volunteer if you know what I mean, so me and my siblings were kind of like the gospel Jackson 5. But that’s how I got the music instilled in me. That experience gave me a head start. I was raised in a studio. Literally. I was always in to what the drummer was doing and my dad is a pretty sick guitarist. So I was attracted to the sound and creating music first. I never used to pay attention to lyrics. I just wanted to hear some dope beats. I heard B.I.G & Nas and was impressed with how they put sentences together that made since and told a story. And from there I was hooked and it was a wrap…
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Jayy Black: Well in my family, we have jokes. No one does stand up but everyone is a comedian. So when you’re playing the dozens and you’re dark skinned as I am, you’re going to be called Black a lot. So my cousins I grew up with just started calling me Black for a nickname. Our childhood friend “App Calion” made it cool and coined my current alias as “Jayy Black”. And since then, I been Jayy Black or Blizzy every day 24/7. So music is me being my real self.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Jayy Black: I think online music sharing is incredible. I understand how in some cases it can be bad for business but it can also be beneficial to an artist by being utilized as a networking and exposure engine. I mean what are the odds that we would be doing this interview without such a tool. I share free music all the time. Most artists who put out mixtapes are putting out free music. And every once in a while they give away dope bodies of work as free albums. My fans need to be refreshed and rewarded for giving a kid some of their precious time by listening, following and supporting. Free music to your fan base is like saying thank you for staying plugged in to ya boy and keeping the kid kind of relevant, ya dig…
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?
Jayy Black: Just keep grinding and believing in yourself and doing the work. You have to keep putting yourself out there and growing within your brand while being and building a better you. In most cases, you have to fail before you succeed…
Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?
Jayy Black: If you plan on being a pro, you HAVE to get past that. Things happen so you have to be ready for anything life and the devil will try to throw at you. If it happens, just keep going and catch ya self. A lot of times the audience cannot even tell you’ve made an error, if you keep going forward and finish your performance.
Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
Jayy Black: I do shows. I do want to tour though. I’m waiting on the right situation with the right people that makes the most sense to come along and it’s a go…
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Jayy Black: If I’m in the presence of dopeness, rather it be a beat or a cool artist, I’m inspired right then and there. My music usually originates from me cracking jokes and being silly and if I like the melody of whatever nonsense I was saying or singing, I keep it and change the words into something more serious and realistic that my listeners can relate to and identify with. Coming up on B.I.G., Jay & Nas, I found out that Big & Jay wrote without using pen and paper and taught myself to do the same. So I can be anywhere doing whatever and be thinking up lines and songs. That’s how you multitask…
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Jayy Black: I’m a Reverb Nation artist (currently #1 in my city) but I recently started utilizing my Sound Cloud account (that I set up a while ago) at www.soundcloud.com/jayy-black. When I drop a mixtape, I release my full mixtape on those sites first and then also on datpiff. When I release an album, I release singles on those sites and make the album available on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, etc…
Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?
Jayy Black: If I share my music with the public, it’s not embarrassing. However, if you guys were to get your hands on some ancient Jayy Black music before I was as polished as I am now, it would probably be a different story ya know lol…
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Jayy Black: I would invest half into my craft and save the other half. This a full time grind so taking a year off is not realistic. I would be making music the whole time and when I’m not, spending quality time with my family…
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
Jayy Black: I record at Garden Recording in Lockport, New York. My engineer uses Cubase.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Jayy Black: I use social media. My music is overly shared and promoted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Snap Chat. And then there’s the old fashioned method of “word of mouth”.
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
Jayy Black: I wanna perform at Madison Square Garden. My favorite vocalists are Beyonce, Jasmine Sullivan, John Legend & Chris Brown. I would like to work with them all. My favorite band is Coldplay. Blizzy needs to do a song with his UK boys ya dig. As for rappers, J. Cole, Asap Rocky and Childish Gambino are some dope dudes I would love to collaborate with. I also wanna do one with Future since we are so different just to see what we come up with. I really wanna work with everyone that takes their craft seriously and just create some dope music ya dig. I learned so many producing tips and techniques from Timbaland, Pharrell, and Dr. Dre, so it would be an honor and dream come true to work with those kings.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Jayy Black: Currently waiting on features so I can complete my upcoming mixtape which happens to be entitled “Dope Features”. I’m excited about the project. It totally came from out of no where. I did a lot of collabs in 2015 and one thing lead to another. I got something special coming up for my fans, so stay plugged in and keep listening out for what’s on the way ya dig…
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Jayy Black: I come from a family of hustlers. Music is my hustle. I’m serving beats and hits to my customers. If I wasn’t doing music, I would be hustling something else. I’ll let you use your imagination with that one. But as for other skills, I would be some big time restaurant’s five star chef or somewhere making major moves in the business industry.
Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?
Jayy Black: My big bro had a huge music collection. So I used to listen to his cds and tapes. But the first cd I actually bought was “Life After Death” by The Notorious B.I.G. B.I.G is my favorite rapper! I heard it and instantly wanted to make music. I was siked and super inspired.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Jayy Black: I stay busy and active with my grind while practicing time management and appropriate prioritizing without losing sight of what truly matters. F.O.E. Family over everything…
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Jayy Black: Consistency, growth and prosperity…
