In the Field Radio
In The Field with Queens Artist and Videographer OfficialJL
Air Date: Aug 14, 2023 91.3FM WVKR-
This week Lady D & Erin Boogie link up with OfficialJL as he reflects on the reciprocal connection he shares with his fans, and the balance between his solo music career and his videographer work as JLShotThat. He also reveals his exciting plans for the future, demonstrating that an artist's journey is always evolving.
Throughout the conversation, it becomes evident that music is not just a career for OfficialJL, but a passion that has guided his life's trajectory. From his personal struggles and triumphs to the complex process of music creation, his story serves as an inspiration for aspiring artists and music lovers alike.
Start for FREE
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Air Date: Aug 14, 2023 91.3FM WVKR-
This week Lady D & Erin Boogie link up with OfficialJL as he reflects on the reciprocal connection he shares with his fans, and the balance between his solo music career and his videographer work as JLShotThat. He also reveals his exciting plans for the future, demonstrating that an artist's journey is always evolving.
Throughout the conversation, it becomes evident that music is not just a career for OfficialJL, but a passion that has guided his life's trajectory. From his personal struggles and triumphs to the complex process of music creation, his story serves as an inspiration for aspiring artists and music lovers alike.
Start for FREE
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
This segment of In the Field Radio is brought to you by Tattoo Shop Radio, culture Shock, wapter Music FM, powered by ZenoFM, with additional monitoring through online radio box.
Lady D:It's In the Field Radio y'all. Everything's real in the field On 91.3 FM WVKR.
Erin Boogie:Welcome back to In the Field Radio. I'm Erin Boogie. I'm here with Miss Lady D.
Lady D:What's going on?
Erin Boogie:And we have special guest official JL in the building. All right, so for our guests who might not be familiar with you, can you just give them a little bit of a background about who you are and what you do?
Official JL:It's long story. You kind of got to leave me there. I don't it's too much to talk about.
Erin Boogie:Well, you have quite the resume. You're an artist, a producer, an engineer, a songwriter or any videographer. Is there anything you can't do?
Official JL:I'm still trying to figure that out.
Erin Boogie:So what came first? What did you get into first?
Official JL:Music. I guess I know you're probably like what, what about music? Probably, yeah, it was just me getting in the booth, I think my uncle from here from town and I just loved it. I knew, I knew what. That's what I wanted to do.
Erin Boogie:And so how did you segue from that into engineering, songwriting, all those things surrounding it?
Official JL:Right, so the engineering came next and that came about because, you know, as a struggling artist you can't afford studio times Sometimes, you know. So I just it was me and my cousin, my cousin Fools. Rest in peace. He, you know, he just invested in buying a computer. And I'm lying, it was King Face first. I'm sorry, king Face rest in peace. Same thing, but King Face was actually he's the one who bought a computer and it's like studio equipment and we just like it's like we just don't figure it out on our own type kind of figured it out.
Official JL:Actually, I'll shout out my voice stacks for A-stacks for, you know, making me a engineer, start engineering my own stuff. Because he told me a couple of things about an EQ and I was just intrigued and I was like, all right, if he can do it, I can do it type, you know time. So that's how it started.
Official JL:Pretty much Producing it goes hand in hand. So, like I guess you know, the way producers are perceived nowadays are kind of mist and screwed, because a lot of people think it's a producer's a beat maker, but it's not the case. Producer is somebody who stands on with the whole entire project, it's well, which is like a song or this song at hand, and you know, either the person does make a beat, they don't have to make a beat, they still be a producer. But yeah, pretty much it all goes hand in hand. Producer could be vocal producing. You know what I mean. It can be a lot of different producing, you know what I mean. Like just say, for instance, I had an artist here the other day at my house and I'm vocal producing her. You know, I didn't make the beat, but I'm vocal producing, you know what I mean so yes, that's all those hand in hand.
Erin Boogie:Is there anything else you feel you're missing from your repertoire that you want to get into?
Official JL:Um, yeah, being on a Forbes list.
Erin Boogie:I hear that, I super hear that. What made you start taking music seriously?
Official JL:Again.
Erin Boogie:Well, we're going to get into that.
Lady D:So yeah, I was like well, but then you went and you're doing videographer stuff and you're just now circling back to and it was your gap in between.
Official JL:And it's crazy. It's crazy. Um, life, man, life, life. That's the only way I can kind of put it right now Life life's. You know, at point in time you got to figure out what am I going to do. You know what I mean, like, what am I going to do? Am I about to keep going to the same thing, be down and, you know, expect things to come to me? Or am I going to go out there and get it? But at the same time, do I have the resources to do this? Or, do you know, do I have the power and energy to do that? You know, and just the way the universe led me was to two videos.
Official JL:I've always I guess I've recently started to notice in hindsight that it was always like cameras is always in my life, because my mother's always taking pictures of us as kids and she will always keep shoeboxes and pictures and I always looked at them. But I'd never knew that like that was something I would do in the future. You know what I mean, or something I would even take a like into. But I guess you know, like I said in hindsight, I can remember always seeing my mother snap in pictures and being intrigued that a picture came out of it. You know what I mean. Like an actual picture, like still.
Official JL:So like as an artist us as artists we don't know when to stop. You know what I mean. We don't know when to stop and realize that it's enough. Meaning doing music, like recording music. You know what I mean.
Official JL:Like we don't know when it's enough, we don't know what's the right hit, we don't know if this is the song everybody's gonna like. You know what I mean, but we always have, we always have doubts, of course, because we don't know. It's like everything, everything that we do is old to us and new to you, but we don't know that. You know what I mean. We think it's old because it's us hearing ourselves over and over, and then we like that I did that last week, I'm gonna just go do something now, do something new.
Official JL:You know what I mean. And that's the cycle that's gonna keep repeating until you figure out that you got to stop. You got to stop. Like you have to stop and focus on everything else, especially as an independent artist. You know what I mean. I'm talking as an independent artist, not an artist that has a team behind him or her. They have a team so they don't have to do as much. But if you're gonna come out as an independent artist, you're gonna have to know that you're gonna have to Go through all of this.
Lady D:Already too Well. So in a drop, what June 19th I saw?
Official JL:June 19th is my brother, my brother's birthday. He passed. Everything about this project is very sentimental and everything about this project means something to me. You know what I mean? Like it's just really deeper than what it looks like. Everything is way deeper than what it looks like. All in a surface it's like an iceberg.
Lady D:Like an iceberg. Well, I read the press release, like the bio, like before I heard the project. And then I hear the project, I'm like, oh, this doesn't sound like typical rapping on here. And I was like, oh, I like this.
Erin Boogie:And then so I Can I just cut it in and say the same thing happened to me?
Lady D:The same thing happened to you.
Erin Boogie:Yes, like when I read the press release, I was expecting one thing and when I turned it on I got something totally opposite and was pleasantly surprised.
Lady D:Yes, I heard, nobody sent me.
Official JL:Is that a PR problem? You got to tell me.
Erin Boogie:No, no, I think it was. I think that's cool, yeah, yeah, and it especially if both of us felt that way, I'm sure that's exactly what's going to happen to other people that open it and listen to it. But especially, you know you're working with and I guess you're working with drill rappers and that sort of thing. So it was like that's the kind of vibe I was expecting, because that's what everybody's doing in the city. And then I read your inspirations of Michael Jackson and Jagged Edge and Bracentiller and I was like, oh OK, that's really dope. And then I put the music on and it was not drill, which was a breath of fresh air, because that's what everyone was doing and I was like, oh OK, those inspirations make much more sense to me now.
Lady D:That was really cool.
Official JL:I'm about to see Michael Jackson Jagged Edge.
Lady D:My favorite track is Let it Be. Wow. See, if you listen to the words, I was like this is not supposed to sound like this. I loved it.
Official JL:Thank you so much.
Lady D:Thank you so much.
Official JL:Yeah, all you.
Erin Boogie:The video too. The video is like that typical New York City summer vibe, like the whole thing was just working for me.
Official JL:Thank you so much. That's it. It's just something I've seen. It's part of the life. These guys are amazing man. They've been helping me throughout my whole career, even as a director. It came full circle. Everything is just coming full circle. That's awesome.
Lady D:Let's talk about some of those things about the project that you said were very intentional and beneath the surface.
Official JL:Yeah, start at the fact that it's already two. I mean already one already. The next thing was released 10 years ago, so this is a decade anniversary type thing. If you see the cover I don't know if you guys see my You've never seen already one coming? Yeah, because that pitch is no longer alive. So that's the only place.
Lady D:Yeah, that's amazing. It's insane when people go for mix tapes now.
Official JL:Yeah, I don't know. I don't think people don't know.
Lady D:Yeah.
Official JL:I'm looking at the problem. Let me see if I can find it and just put it in this boot chat, because this will make all the sense in the world.
Lady D:Oh yeah.
Official JL:Oh, I see yeah.
Lady D:That doesn't make sense.
Official JL:OK, so now that's the first cover.
Lady D:Oh, I see the L.
Official JL:All right, you can see the L, so you get, so you're starting a company. I don't know if you have to say much Like I don't know, but I do at the same time, because even even those, there are more intricate pieces. You know what I mean. So, as you can see, already it's passed it around the back and it's cartoonized, so that to me, showed a little immaturity. You know what I mean Like so I'm going to.
Lady D:That's what you're going to love it Right.
Official JL:So I wanted to show growth, I wanted to show evolution, just by showing my actual self and showing that I'm being vulnerable, I'm being who I say I am at the same time as owning up to it.
Official JL:You know what I mean, because a person could say there's somebody, but but I'm there I was, that I was me stepping out of my shell, because anybody who knows me knows I'm introverted as hell. So I'm really just stepping out of my shell and doing what I'm doing, what I love. And if you see, obviously already two Roman numerals takes up the L's that was something cool at those school and as well as the new already cover, the background already is where, spray painted by my like my right hand man, who's like my creative director, and it's like you know it just means so much to me.
Official JL:He's like one of the most creative people I know and I I love the fact that he was the one who actually broke those words and actually look, as you can see, it's merch.
Lady D:I was about to say I was like that would be cool on merch yeah.
Official JL:So, so, yeah, we know that. And then I don't know if you've seen the video she going on. Ok, god, is that all took place at the photo shoot for the cover, and you? Know, like I think I'm going to start, but yeah, pretty much, yeah, that's pretty much a lot, that it's just a bit. But, like, once again, june 19th is my brother's birthday, my late, my late brother's birthday, so I wanted to, you know, put it out on his birthday as well. To, you know, pay homage.
Lady D:That's a beautiful thing About who is that? Let's talk about production.
Official JL:Oh yeah, please Definitely want to give my guys some praise. First of all, lucid Lucid on the beats. He's the one who produced the shit going on and I guess we can say that that's the record that kind of resparks my fire, my flame, you know I mean. So Lucid Lucid dreams. He's a. He's a friend of mine I've met through a mutual friend Rich Stars he was I'm not sure I was working with I love Rich Stars.
Lady D:The world. How do rich stars get here? The world what's? That crap, I shot his video.
Official JL:So I mean I did. I did way more than that with Rich Star. Me and Rich Stars have a long history. So I got serious. Yeah, we have projects together, like it's, yeah. But um, yeah, I met Lucid to Rich and, um, he just kept in contact with me. It was one time when I started coming back I was just like yo, bro, just send me beats, please, please, send me a pack of like 90 beats. Ok, let's go. So I just, I heard I heard that one beat and I'm like I did that. That's something to tell me he loved it.
Official JL:I actually originally had an artist on it but I named Arson White. He's my really good friend and we kind of wrote the song together. Not really, you know, it was just bouncing ideas and you know, I just wrote the song and all for melodies, kind of sort of you know, and I don't write it. I just recorded this song off of melodies. And he wrote a verse. You know the verse is dope. He's a fine artist but for some reason I felt like it needed more. So I hit up a couple of people. I hit my boy, tgf Liar. I actually put a verse on it. He put a dope verse on it and I was still, you know, I was still in partial. I was just like I don't know how I feel about this. You know what I mean. I'm just like, so I just kept it where. It was just an open verse and I cut it short. So it was just me, my hook, my first verse in the hook, and I cut it short and I just previewed it on on Instagram and it was well received. So I'm like I might have something. You know what I mean and I didn't think too much about it. You know, I just let life happen.
Official JL:And then, you know, I've met my day-to-day manager right now. He wasn't my day-to-day manager then, but he was a person who interviewed me as JL Shot, that you know. But he found out that I did music. So when he heard the record, he was like yo, bro, playing like. He was like you're playing, like if I was, if I was you, if I had your talent, like I would not be wasting it. You know what I mean. He would always tell me every day like you, bugger, he'll send me like the song. Like bro, listen to this, like what's wrong with you. So he always encouraged me. So he was like yo, just do me a favor, just just finish this off. And just finish this off. I was like you know what, let me just try to finish the song. Like, because I remember I had an open verse. I'm like I'm just doing it, it's just me, just take everybody on. So I'm like all right. So I said all right and I did it. And I did it and I sent it back to him within an hour or less and he was just in love, mom blowing, and I ain't gonna lie, I was out from that. That was a big step for me, because that was one of my biggest things as an artist. Even back then.
Official JL:I would always do incomplete records, always do incomplete records.
Official JL:You know what I mean. Like, when I did the record and I heard how full it sounded, how complete it sounded, I was just like yo, I can do it. You know what I mean. Like I can do this, like I can really do this, like, and I don't have to be worried that I have to get a beat your own to complete the record, I can literally just do this myself and I can take no time and actually not wait for anybody and actually get something done. You know what I mean, like it's just sparked like a whole like, do this. You know what I mean. Like it sparked that up, you know what I mean. And then, randomly, I'm playing Call of Duty. One day, as they say, I shouldn't have been doing girls or whatever, you should be doing more productive things, but this time it's going to be productive. I'm playing Call of Duty and I meet a guy on it and he's like yo bro, can I send you a beat for five Like? Yeah, of course. Follow me on Instagram, whatever, whatever.
Lady D:Through Xbox.
Official JL:Well, PlayStation.
Erin Boogie:He hit you up through PlayStation. Don't insult me.
Official JL:I ain't given Xbox that shot. It's 20 PS or nothing.
Lady D:So you have a new PlayStation name in the chat. I'm hilarious. I may or may not play PlayStation.
Official JL:But yeah, so he posting like snippets of me doing music and he, you know, he called me with it and he's like yo, bro, you do music. I'm like, yeah, he's like I do beats that sound like the beats that you're doing, because he knew I was getting them on YouTube so I can send you some beats. I can send you a pack. I'm like I can send them. I'm not thinking nothing of it, because I literally get beats from producers all day, but not from me. It's usually for like five-year artists that I work with. You know what I mean.
Lady D:Right.
Official JL:Where you got the first beat I heard. I didn't even listen for like three seconds. I loaded it straight up into Pro Tools and I just put my headphones on it, just spewed out. You know, it was just spewing, just going, just going Finished the record, sent it off to them and it was mind-blowing Not that excited, he was mind-blowing. So this guy named Seymour Beats. So now he's like yo, bro, I'm going to send you a whole new pack, bro, I'm going to send you 10 more beats, right?
Official JL:So it was something I noticed about. I'm Asian, my mother's been to me, so this is like a stereotype, but I'm just joking. At the same time, but I noticed patterns. You know I'm a pattern guy, you know what I mean. So we gambled and shit, yeah, you know what I mean. But I noticed patterns. You know what I mean. And it was. It was a thing.
Official JL:He collabed with every beat. It was a collab, it wasn't just him. So it said Seymour X, somebody. You know what I mean. But it was a pattern that every beat that I was choosing said two of the same names Seymour X, jim, and this is throughout like 13, 14 beats. So I'm like all right, so something has to be up with Seymour and Jim and me. You know what I mean. I'm like yo, so I hit Seymour, I'm like yo. Bro, can you just send me a whole batch of beats with just you and Jim? You know what I mean. Just like. Whatever you have to do together, he's like all right, cool. But Jim quit three years ago and he's an architect now, so does that make a big difference.
Lady D:Jim, what Jim? No, Jim An architect?
Erin Boogie:you know no.
Official JL:He's like, so he's like we wasn't placing beats, bro. I'm like, just ask him, you know, and just just seriously, he's like you know what? It is a good chance that he might come back Because you know it's a dope record and you are JL Shatay, no, no, and where they're from, jl Shatay is way bigger than I am out here, Like they're from the UK. You know what I mean, you know how, how. You know instrumental pop and Favio out there, you know. So they actually know who I am, you know what I mean. They actually respect my work. And he asked me up to next day, just ecstatic, yo bro, jim is back, jim is back. He said, you know, make a whole new. He said we gonna make a whole new Peck to you tonight. I'm like. I'm like, I'm like I sent it over, did you?
Lady D:keep his job.
Official JL:Yeah, he kept his job. He just he kept his job.
Erin Boogie:Jim was ready to risk it all.
Official JL:Yeah, he wasn't, but um he, um. So they made me a new Peck. But like, from there on, obviously I just kept going, just kept going, just kept going. I recorded probably like a good 16, 17 records, I think it was like seven of them. That was just like really standing out to me. It was just like so solid, like fully completed. I mixed them to a part of me, to a point that I really liked the way it sounded and initially I was going to put out, I was going to put one more record on it as a bonus or as an interview or an outro of my cousin. My cousin is an artist named Castle. He's OD, like OD, like OD, od. I can't even say how OD is and I'll show you how OD is. Is the reason why he's not on my album?
Lady D:Because no no, I'm going to explain it.
Official JL:I'm going to explain it. I'm going to. I know it sounds weird, but I'm going to explain it. So the record he had, he sent it to me. It was from the same producers, seymour and Jim. I sent it to him to be because I knew he was going to buy it.
Official JL:So he did it and he sent it back and I'm just like what the? It's like, just crazy, like like fire, and I literally didn't know what to do. I couldn't follow him, I could not follow him and I told him I'm like, because I can't follow what you did, but like you go to eat, like I can't do nothing to even compare. You know what I mean. So he's like nah, you know, we joking, it's really my cousin, so we talk all the time. So it's just like. He's like yo, bro, just do it, bro, just do it. So I'm like in my head, I'm like I am, I'm gonna do it. But every time I try, nothing comes out. Nothing comes out. Like I swear to God and I don't. I didn't understand. But I do believe in one thing in my life and if it's anything, it's this is just like just energy and universal law. You know what I mean. I studied these types of things, because that's the only thing that really actually that I have proof of working in my life you know what I mean and proof of you know just of it being real, because my energy and my intuition never lies to me. So what I did, I called him and I was like yo, bro, I'm like cause they send me, just send me the record, or just you on it and cut it short. I'm like, don't worry about me, like I don't have to be on it. He was like yo, bro, cause I really want you on the record. So I'm saying like all right man, in my head I'm still like all right man, I'm gonna just hop on the record. Deadline's coming, deadline's a week away. You know what I mean, but I'm still in my head like I'm gonna get it done. You know what I mean. If I didn't do it, it's not supposed to happen. So I just kept it off. So that's really what happened with that record. You know what I mean.
Official JL:And it was another record on there. It was a record with me and my two boys, drew Beano and Wooty. Their group called Mess Boys and they had this slogan called perform and I did a song, I did a record and the hook was like I had the word perform and I was like, oh, it'll be smart to put them in. You know what I mean, cause that's their thing. So I put them in it and I actually loved the record a lot. My manager loved the record. So we you know we were initially gonna put it on the album. So this was like literally like the final track was was everything that's on it right now, plus this one record called perform.
Official JL:I did a rollout to where I would just roll up on people, put up on people and I'm gonna play my music and my. These are all people who that only know me and shoot that. You know what I mean. So they don't even know it. So I'm literally just about to get a raw reaction on camera. Whatever happens, happens and I'm gonna post it. You know what I mean. Like that was my rollout in my head. You know what I mean Like, cause I don't lose Either way. If they don't like it. I'll probably still get views and people. Somebody might like it. You know what I mean. Like it was very successful, but it was a recurrent thing that that one record was the only record that some people didn't like. You know what I mean. So I'm like, all right. So I was a very skeptical.
Official JL:But then I had a meeting with Al von Miller, which is a very good friend of mine. I used to, I used to perform for him back in the day when he used to work shady records. He said these words I'll never forget. He said, bro, if you take that one record off, perform, if you take that record off your album, this album will be a classic. And I said, all right, I got to take this off. I got to take it off and this is from a person I respect. You know what I mean. Like he's been in the industry forever. You know what I mean and I respect him. I say I got to take it as much as I want it on there, I got to take it off. You know what I mean. The world is telling me to take it off. The universe is telling me to take it off. And I took it off.
Erin Boogie:And then even.
Official JL:Don't rule out the world yeah, the universe. But even in the future you guys will see like it was really a reason that I took it off, because I tried to shoot this video three times in a row. This is after I released, because I was gonna put it out as a single, just like to show love. I tried to shoot this video three times and all three times it didn't happen because of some really weird. So I'm like, oh right, this song is not even supposed to come out. You know what I mean, and what it is is because that's the only song that was on my EP with negative energy. You know what I mean. Everything else is good vibes, you know what I mean. So it's just higher vibrates and so much, so much. It's like everything to do with this project is so deep that I get emotional every time I talk about it. But I'm not gonna get emotional right now, but it's just because throughout that's great.
Erin Boogie:Everyone cries with us, yeah.
Official JL:So throughout, like my rebirth I guess I do wanna call it a rebirth because I think everybody lives the story of Jesus but I think you know, during my rebirth so many miracles happen Like every day. I can't even tell you how many miracles happen, you know. Damn, I am like emotional, but yeah.
Erin Boogie:Yeah, take a minute.
Lady D:It tells you, like that's the way that you're supposed to go.
Erin Boogie:Yeah, but shout out to you for being in tune with the energy and for listening. Not everyone listens.
Official JL:But yeah, just like so much good stuff happening.
Lady D:That's incredible. That's awesome yeah.
Official JL:Sorry, you don't need to get a second.
Lady D:You don't have to be sorry, you don't wanna. Like you wouldn't have it any other way, Like would you change anything about how you got here, Nah nah, I wouldn't. What would you say to the official JL that like dropped already the first one 10 years ago? If you could go visit him and say something to him, what would you say?
Official JL:Sure, I don't know. I would say thank you for making me me, thank you for making me who I am now. I had to learn, you know.
Lady D:Usually people are like I would tell them don't do this, don't do that. You're like totally fine with it. You're like thanks.
Official JL:Gotta learn. You can't regret, gotta learn.
Erin Boogie:Yeah, cause that person not already made you who you are on already too?
Lady D:I mean, you don't know like which song people are gonna like and which song did you think was gonna be the favorite?
Official JL:Let it be, it just had a real happy vibe. That's why, like bouncy, my personal favorite was Tell Me what you Want, cause that was the first record that I did from the big, from the V-Tex, and it means a lot because I literally during the whole time, you know I just got a relationship and I just let it go.
Official JL:I just let it all. Just let it all out on wax. Tell me what you want is literally all everything I felt at that moment, like everything I felt at the moment. You know, Everything on this album is everything I felt at that moment, Like I was a million percent vulnerable, which I've never been really in my music. So well in my life, not even my music. In my life period I've never been vulnerable. So just me, you know, taking that leap of faith as well.
Erin Boogie:What do you think it was about being vulnerable? That connected with your fans or connected with the audience?
Official JL:The realness, I mean the relatability. You know what I mean. The resonance is just like everybody goes, everybody has gone on. You know pun intended, it's because it's so relatable. You know, every word I'm saying is something that I'm sure everybody's been through or going through or know somebody who's going through. If a person could connect to your words, then that's, you know, that's the power, and I just connect. I think I just connected with my inner emotions and, like I said, vulnerability and just let it go, just let it come out.
Erin Boogie:You think relatability is missing from music nowadays?
Official JL:No, I think vulnerability is, I think it's just. I think, yeah, well, I don't know, honestly, because everybody just wants to be somebody you know, the last person that's going viral and nobody's you know truly genuine, showing who they truly are, because they think that those people are people that people want to see, because they're the ones who get the numbers. So they're gonna try that, instead of just thinking like maybe being me might be better than being him.
Lady D:What do you got coming up next? Do you have? Are you gonna be doing like performances and stuff Like the album's out? What are we going to do now?
Official JL:Of course, like honestly performing is. You guys will learn my listening session I literally put on a theatrical performance. It's like that's literally my thing, that if it's not just recording performing. Like I said, michael Jackson, my favorite artist in the world you know what I mean. Like every inspiration I have is from that guy. You know what I mean. Like, in performing, I can put on a show. Like I know how to capture emotions you know what I mean, as you can see in my videos. Like I know how to make a person feel it so I can make you hold your breath. You know what I mean and I could do that just because I know how to, and that's just. I think that's a gift to mine.
Official JL:Like, even when I perform on black out, sometimes I don't even remember it. Like sometimes, like what happened, especially because I catch a lot of anxiety Like I'll just like feel like I'm black enough, but I'll actually black out for a moment, but then come back and it's just like it's going well. You know what I mean. It's going really well. You know what I mean. This girl, I get right back into it. You know what I mean. But I really love performing. I really love performing, and every time I perform, I perform in a live band as well, so I'm always going to give me experience, or I'm going to give you experience.
Erin Boogie:Anything coming up with the live band.
Official JL:We have another one coming up in the Sultan Room, which is a venue that I really love, that I'm going to put on a hell of a show in August and will more than likely be continuous, like every month thing, a series, like it's something that goes on every month type thing. You know what I mean. I'm always going to try to please. I'm a people, please, but I'm a people please. Are the please myself so selfish? So don't, don't think I'm giving you much.
Lady D:I totally get that.
Erin Boogie:So you're going to balance JL, shot that with official JL this whole summer.
Official JL:I've been trying, yeah, I mean I've been doing it. I've been successful. Honestly, it's been only helping me, it's only been a benefit. Honestly, a lot of people that I work with understand that I understand music now you know what I mean. So they understand that I can put out a visual and I can look good. So if I can make myself look good, you got to know I can make yourself look good. Yeah, but yeah, it's only, it's only been a hope. It's definitely helping because you know I'm going broke. You know what I mean. Like being an artist costs a lot of money and nobody understands, but it's just you know. So you know the videos help. You know what I mean. If I need that money that's coming in to support my dream, which I try to teach. You know the youth around me as well.
Erin Boogie:So, being that it's the 50th anniversary of hip hop, we're reflecting back, but we're making the people that we interview really reflect back on themselves, not just the top moments in hip hop. So what are the top five videos that you've shot in your career?
Official JL:I think it's like your big trip War Weddy, just because of, I think, what he was like a really good experience with me like being a director. I was like my first step into like just directing, because I didn't VP that, I just directed that one. So I think, ready to get to number four and number five, I'll probably say, yeah, my video for sure, word One of my videos, let it be probably. I guess, even though I created the record, I'd spark like the record, but it's all the same, you know.
Erin Boogie:I was wondering about that Like did you have your team shoot your video?
Official JL:Yes for sure, definitely Full circle. You know, I knew, I know, they know how to. You know, we have chemistry, there's no reason to change it, you know.
Erin Boogie:Yeah, definitely. You guys have done some big videos. If you could collab with anybody, who would it be?
Official JL:Like in what sense?
Erin Boogie:Video, music production. Just who are some goals that you have that you would like to collab with.
Official JL:Some goals Okay, some is better than one. That's just rough. But obviously Drake, everybody is gonna say Drake, yeah, I'm not for sure. Drake was a huge inspiration to me as well. So Drake, like her, I absolutely love her.
Erin Boogie:Everything about her. I love her.
Official JL:Lauren Hill, for sure. Chris Brown huge, huge inspiration. Quentin Tarantino if I could ever step foot next to that man like that would be amazing.
Official JL:He's definitely a goat. Will Smith, he's a really really. He's actually one of my mentors. Obviously I don't know him, but he's definitely one of my mentors. Like I take so much from him. His words are so powerful. When he said, like your greatest gifts or achievement is on the other side of fear, that changed like my whole mind frame. Like just those words, as simple as it can sound, it's so complex and it literally changed my whole mind frame. I just stopped being scared. You know what I mean. Like once you understand that fear is what's holding you back. You know you just got to overcome that and literally those words was that's all I needed, you know. So things like that you know, people that you know inspired me.
Erin Boogie:Are there any producers that you'd like to work with For Beats?
Official JL:Yeah, troy Taylor, troy Taylor, the goat, I definitely want to work with him. I actually hit him up. I DMed him right before I dropped my P and I said, well, we'd follow each other, just because I only know him through his daughter. His daughter's a videographer as well. Shout out to Kyla and the pre. But we follow each other. And I just hit him up. I'm like yo, you know, I really look up to you, I really admire your work. It would be a dream, you know, for me to work with you. I know you only know me as, like a director, but I'm putting out my EP and, you know, hopefully you listen to it and you know we work in the future. And I just left it at that. I didn't look at the message, I didn't see if you've seen it or not. I just left it at that. I mean, if the station of this pharmacy, you know. So Hopefully I've been working for each other.
Erin Boogie:And then one last question. As a female fronted radio show, we like to highlight extraordinary women. So who's a woman that made a huge impact on your life?
Official JL:My mother. I don't wanna say anything more about that. Nobody else knew the impact of my mother's Shout out to mom, Always shout out to mom.
Erin Boogie:All right, and then just let everybody, let all our listeners know where they can follow you.
Official JL:I'm Fishy Jail, instagram official Jail or Jail shout out to that.
Erin Boogie:Well, I saw in your bio you had I'm not an official Jail. It was like I'm not Jail, shout that.
Official JL:I'm gonna get to that soon too. That's a whole new market in Schenel's Goldberg, but I'm gonna get to that soon. Everything's just Fishy Jail Jail shout that. Honestly, it's confusing and I have to figure out what I'm really gonna do, because it is hurting me. I can't lie, because a lot of people hit me up like I can't find your music because they're all certain from Jail's Shout that I'm more known as Jail's Shout that than as a Jail, so it is hurting, but at the same time, that's what I've decided to do and I think the plan is still gonna work. I'm just gonna go through it until it boosts itself.
Erin Boogie:Otherwise, Well, thank you for taking the time out of your day to sit with us. This was a really dope interview.
Official JL:Thank you so much for having me. I actually really I'll keep it a million percent with you. I really was not about to do this and, as you can see, I'm sitting in my bed right now and I really was not feeling good at all. I was, I think I had this stomach problem called pancreas titus and like sometimes I have a problem with eating. You know, I don't eat too much because I'm always doing things and sometimes it's strange as it sounds I think it's eat. So I was feeling I wasn't feeling good and I told my managers I'm like I don't wanna do this interview. But I said, all right, this is the life I chose, so I gotta do anything and actually I'm very happy that I did it.
Erin Boogie:Oh, that makes us really happy. Yeah, that's really. It means a lot to us when we hear that from artists. Thank you so much for pushing through this. Like I said, this was a super dope interview. I think we learned a lot about you. I can't wait to come see you with a live band.
Official JL:Oh, yes, you're gonna love it.
Erin Boogie:And I don't know if there anything else you wanna tell our listeners before we get out of here.
Official JL:Oh, yeah, be able to look out for Ambrack. Ambrack is a TV series that me and three other very creative entrepreneurs from Queens of African descent I guess you would say of color we came together and joined. Forrest is. We're all dope. I mean Kayla Bill she's a dope producer from ABC, nbc, box Box. She's known for a lot.
Official JL:Corey King-Foy he's known for her producing power. He's known for being on power as an actor as well and during his own movie, the Greener the movie then we had. And for the author he was known for being an outstanding author. It's selling over 250,000 books out of his own trunk. Yeah, we just like put together this project called Ambrack, which is called my Smell Backwards. A lot of people, though they were like, what's this I need? Well, it's called my Smell Backwards. It's some really interesting thing because it's so community driven and community based and family Oriented. Everybody's volunteering, everybody, and we have a cast of over 50 something people and a crew of over 40. So everybody's volunteering. I mean we believe in something, something that's great, something that's bigger than all of us. So, with my creativeness when shooting music videos, corey's professionalism when he's on set shooting SNL and Power, and Kayla's spunk and everything that she brings. She brings everything, she's the glue and with his amazing writing and his amazing imagination, you know what I mean. So put all this together.
Erin Boogie:so, ambrack, Don't, can't wait. Yeah, that sounds really it sounds like it's something that is drastically needed. All right well, thank you again.
Official JL:Thank you guys again so much. I appreciate you guys for even paying attention. Yes, a lot of people don't even pay attention. Thank you guys for paying attention to me. Man, I'm not gonna let you guys down as long as you guys keep watching.
Lady D:Welcome back to In the Field Radio. You know what I'm about to do. Make sure you follow In the Field Radio. Write to me, tell me what you think. Do song requests. You know what I'm saying? Talk to me, do shout outs. If you write to me in the DMs, I'm gonna read it and I'm gonna do what you tell me to do. Boss me around. I like that stuff. Add In the Field Radio on everything. All right, I'm about to get out of here. Big thank you and I love you. To anybody that's rocking with us. All our loyal listeners Love you guys. Thanks for chilling with those chicks on Mondays In the Field Radio 91.3 FM. Wvkr Poughkeepsie. Have a good night.
