J.A.E was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina (aka "Fayettenam"), but quickly moved to Brooklyn, NY at the tender age of three months. J.A.E was raised in Brooklyn until he was 11 years of age when his mother then gathered up their belongings and returned to her roots of North Carolina -- but this time in the city of Charlotte.

Attracted by the Southern comfort of the Carolinas, he quickly took to the rap game. Upon enterting high school, he began to enter rap battles going by the name J.A.E. Due to one parent living back up North in New York and the other in the South, he traveled back and forth every winter and summer, keeping his Brooklyn tone in perfect balance with his Carolina chill, all the while honing his craft.

Later, at the age of 18, he entered the studio for the first time learning how to record songs instead of focusing solely on the art of freestyling. Following influences such as The Notorious B.I.G, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z and Nas, J.A.E crafted the art of storytelling and still does so until this day. Hungry for success and for his voice to be heard, J.A.E shares his freestyles and recorded material via Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and various other social networking avenues,

building a fan base that gets stronger by the day. He now permanently resides in New York City in hopes that someone will take notice of his neverending work ethic and give him a shot to showcase his talent.

Exclusive Audio
(Download) Put In Work

Tell our readers, where your from. Brooklyn, New York by way of Charlotte, North Carolina. Up top, down south, what’s happenin’.

Where did your name originate from? A name is something that’s gonna be with you forever, therefore I felt like mine should be something heartfelt. People have been calling my Jae for as long as I can remember. But I wanted to have a meaning behind it, so I broke it up into J.A.E (Justin and Erin) Erin is my sister & Justin is my government. See we weren’t raised together but one of the main things we have in common is music. I remember thinking I wanted to have my name mean something about music, so basically I just put me, family, & music in a pot and cooked up J.A.E

What is a typical day like for you? Wake up say 8 or 9am if I wasn’t in the club or studio the night before which I usually am so lets say I wake up at 11am. Roll over, check the iPhone & Blackberry for emails, twitter, facebook, a little text maybe some bbm. Might take the dog for a walk after I freshen up, on a average day I don’t usually do the breakfast thing. After that I hit the mac book to respond to some emails, call up the team to see what we got going on today or what needs to be done.  By now its about 3pm and if I don’t have any meetings or press to get to, I might watch a movie, I feel like I get a lot of inspiration or ideas from movies, or ill just surf my top 5 blogs for new music. Now say its 6pm, I’m always either in the city or on my way to the city by 6pm cause of that good old free parking after 7pm. Then ill probably eat, head to the studio, go through some beats or finish up something from the night before. After that maybe go to the club, politic or head back to the studio and work some more just to get tired and do it all again tomorrow.

Other then music what do you do to make that paper? I used to have a 9 to 5 but music’s been treating me pretty good lately. So I decided to treat her back by putting my all in it, the hours are longer but the bonus is better and I love what I do.

When did you first become introduced to hip-hop? When I was young I used to listen to the radio a lot and my moms is a huge Biggie fan so I really remember listening to “Juicy” about a million times and then “One More Chance” about a billion times. Other than that I raised around a lot of reggae growing up in East Flatbush Brooklyn, so the hip hop came from the home.

Coming up who were your influences in music? I have to say the greats of the game Notorious B.I.G, Jay-Z, Slick Rick, Snoop Dogg & Tupac. Every single one of those artist paint pictures with words every time they were in front of a mic. You could just close your eyes and vision every single detail or feel every feeling that they wanted to get across in there music, and coming up they made it seem so easy so they really influenced me to be in this game.

What artists/people in your life intrigued you to get into the business? I always felt like I was on the outside looking in, I would study this business from the Internet just staying abreast on everything new. Id say my moms had a lot to do with me finally getting out there and trying to get my foot in the door when it came to the business side, I remember she always and still till this day says “you know you can do that too right”

How would you describe your style? I’m from Brooklyn so lyrics is something I am really into, I feel like when your rapping its all about what your saying and does it make sense. Does every line for line go with the next or are all the transitions in place. However sometimes I like to bring out my southern side with a chill flow or an up-tempo type beat. Mixing the two together gives every song a special type of feel, like a best of both worlds type thing.

What artists are you currently working with? Right now, I don’t want to give away too many features since the project hasn’t dropped yet but we have Skyzoo on deck, Ali Vegas, La The Darkman, Willie The Kid and I got a few more tricks up my sleeve but ya’ll have to wait until we drop that.

Who would you enjoy to work with? Man, that list grows everyday. I have a list from hip hop to soul to alternative, etc, it just goes. My number one artist that I would really “enjoy” to work with would have to be Jill Scott. Her music is timeless and I would just love to actually experience the way she creates and sings and just all out enjoy the experience that comes with being around one of my legends.

Tell us about your current projects? “Just My Thoughts” this project has been a long time coming, people have been waiting for this for a long time, I cant stress that enough. The funny thing is this will actually be my first project in my catalog so I’m real excited to see how it comes together and the feeling of holding your own full length project in your hands.

What one reason would your fans say separates you from the norm? I feel like what I represent is out of the norm in way, the way I put the north & south together gives the music im making a good feeling when you listen too it. I mean its lyrical yet chill at the same time, it gets no better than that when you think about it.

What shows do you currently have lined up for this summer? This summer I’ve been doing shows across New York City, from The Bronx to Times Square. I feel like if you can perform in Nyc with out getting booed off stage, you can perform anywhere. So this fall I’ll take the show on the road down the east coast. Hopefully west in the winter for some better weather. Who knows maybe a little over seas too, I love the islands they show the most love.

What would you say makes you different than the average recording artist... Im like the golden child of this game baby haha, nah seriously I’d just like to think of myself as a hard worker like I really do put my all into this, im talking day, night, yesterday, tomorrow, forever. I don’t know how the rest of them do but when I say I put in work, I mean I “Put In Work.”

What's currently in your CD/MP3 player? Shouts out to P.A’s own Bun B, I just started listening to the new lp Trill O.G. and I haven’t stopped yet, I think I’ve been through it about three times now. My favorite track so far is “Ridin’ Slow”.

What’s your formula, how do you come up with the concepts for your material? I like to think about situations in life and flip them into a story, its all about the story concept of music with me. Everything I say is telling you something whether you pick up on it or not, I like to throw hidden jewels in my rhymes like the element of surprise, say for instance you didn’t pick up on something the first time you heard it but the third time you say “oooohhhhhh yeah that’s what he talking about, nah son is nice.” I feel like people respect rhymes better when there more thought of and hidden.

Where do you see yourself in the industry in the next 5 years? The next five years I’d like to have at least two or three albums on the shelves, if not three I’d be definitely working on my third. Living comfortable, knowing all the ins & outs to the industry, have been on at least one world wide tour and really just have the fans at an all time anticipation for my third lp. If all fails I want to be happy, just have something to look back on like damn I did that.

Where do you see the industry in 5 to 10 years? The industry is a crazy crazy thing right now, its like the music is at an all time wanted level but the sales are at an all time low, really makes no sense. The internet is definitely the cause of it which will probably make everything go digital with all the technology that’s out & still have yet to come. I know there’s some people somewhere just waiting to release this new idea they have for the music cause I know the industry is waiting to hear it.

What final words do you have for our community and the prospects of hip hop? No matter what you go through in this lifetime, stay true to your dreams.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed