UNGENERIC Podcast
Get an insight look at the process, motivation, and journey of a creative mind. Brought to you by XZBT Media.
UNGENERIC Podcast
Episode 1: The Art and Evolution of Jamal Jack's Soundscape
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Discover the inspiring journey of musician Jamal Jack, who speaks candidly about his path from a child in Trinidad discovering music on a home keyboard, to navigating the vibrant music scenes of Chicago and California.
Jamal Jack
Speaker 2I'm sitting here with the lovely and talented Jamal Jack this evening .
Speaker 1How you doing . Thank you , I'm good , I'm good and yourself .
Speaker 2I'm excellent . Thank you for asking .
Speaker 1It's beautiful to be here with the lovely painted lady .
Speaker 2Oh , it is wonderful to see you again , I got to see you perform a couple of months ago and that was fantastic . Yes , yes , it was good , I was still reveling in it , still like waiting for those new music to drop . I'm all about it .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , are you working on stuff ? Currently ? I have stuff in the past that I've written that I haven't released yet , but right now I'm just kind of building inspiration , nice .
Speaker 2You know You're kind of getting stuff ready in the can . Yes , yes , yes one melody to pop off one , and then some yeah , yeah , we can't limit it to one that would work out so well , we're like I got one , I'm straight , I'm good , right , right , right now .
Speaker 1We're gonna keep them coming oh .
Speaker 2So let's , let's rewind a little bit . I want to , I want to get deep and peel back some layers tonight and learn a little bit more about you , because I know we we had a couple questions here and there , but our time was limited because we were busy that evening . Um , I want to know a little bit more about you of course where .
Speaker 2Tell me how you got to this point . I mean , we don't have to go like to baby jamal , we could . We could take it to like your when you had that first spark maybe when you were younger .
Speaker 1Yes , what drove you to music yes , um , I can't remember what exactly did , but I do recall the specific memory I was home and we had like a piano , like a keyboard , you know , at home . You know we'd like learn how to play songs on the keyboard and there was this one song I learned , like canon , you know , and I finally learned to play the one part that's supposed to play with one hand , but I learned it with two hands don't look at me , it's one hand .
Speaker 1I swear , I promise and my grandma came home , you know , and I was like , I was like so excited to tell her grandma , grandma , I know what I want to do when I grow up . I want to be a musician , right . And she was like jamal , j , she gets coming . J there's something j um , music is very hard to get into .
Speaker 2So why is it always the grandma ? It's always the grandparents she kept it real , though she got to know , I know they're like how about you get us , how about you think of something else , which is what I would probably tell my younger self , you know , yeah .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah . So ever since then , you know , um , um , I've felt a call into it . You know I melodic and have beats and just little things just come to mind when I'm . You know , uh , my father would always say , put me in a box and I'll always find something to do . You know , whatever it's like make a beat or play with my fingers or like do whatever you just imagine it . Get out the pots and pans you know I said you're like you know , I love that , yeah , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1So yeah , it's been a while , it's been a while nice , okay , and then where ?
Speaker 2so where'd you grow up ? Tell , tell me about your life .
Speaker 1Trinidad , Trinidad .
Speaker 2Tobago Shut the Trinidad .
Speaker 1Hey , hey hey , hey , I didn't bring , you know a slacking for not bringing my , my flag . I miss red , white and black . You know , I say what happened You're , I'll call it out , I love it , I love it .
Speaker 2So how did it bring you ? How did you get to where you're at right now In Fullerton ? How long ago ?
Speaker 1Like March , I moved here in March of this year , so you're fresh .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , yeah , I was living in Chicago you know , oh , so you were in Chicago first .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , yeah , how long were you in Chicago ?
Speaker 2for For about four . Okay , how'd you like it over there ?
Speaker 1It was beautiful . I hate the cold , I hate the winter .
Speaker 2Oh , it snows , out there , huh .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Ooh bitter , I can't handle it . I'm not a snow girl , me either .
Speaker 1You know , coming from the islands , coming to that , like your first time experiencing it . It was beautiful , serene , you know .
Speaker 2First time it was like's not fun . It's not fun , no , yeah . So then you're like f this , I need to go to the west coast , yeah , okay .
Speaker 1Yeah , need to explore music , need to be closer to you know family , my mom and my sister . They live up here , you know . So you know , so as I be able to be closer to them and explore the california scene and see what it has to offer . And so far , so good nice , I love .
Speaker 2It okay , so going . How would you describe your musical style ?
Speaker 1Lo-fi hip hop . You know it's , as I said , melodic . I like to flow . I love to tell stories , you know I love to have fun . You know what I'm saying . But I also like to inspire and uplift people throughout my music as well , you know so . It's a good range . I feel diversity that I could spit on anything , you know so it's just . But there's a certain type of vibe that I tried to strive for . It's like uplifting lo-fi type .
Speaker 2You know good , good vibes you do have that vibe yeah , like it is something like you can sit and listen to in your car . You can vibe to it at a show . I loved it . Honestly , I could sit and listen to , I'm all all right . I need to put when is the album dropping , my friend ? So now that we're talking about songs and all that good stuff , how does your songwriting process work for you ?
Speaker 1that's a good question . That's a good question . It varies from song to song , beat to beat . Sometimes it'll take like three months to write a song . Sometimes I'll write it in an hour . It's just depending on how I flow in that day , you know , like the type of vibe and type of energy that I tapped into at that point in time . You know , um , I feel like songs that uh , more meaningful and uh , I feel like I want to express , because I wrote a song for my mom for her birthday last year .
Speaker 2That one took me a while , you know , because you know I can imagine , yeah , there's probably a lot . You want to pour into it Exactly . And you're like , damn , this is like a 10-minute song .
Speaker 1You know what I'm saying . Yeah , yeah , that one it took a while . That one took a while , you know , because I really appreciate everything that she does as a person and as a mother . You know , yeah , yeah , but other songs , like this , other song I wrote that's actually really good , I really enjoy . It's called Invulnerable . That song I wrote that in an hour .
Speaker 2Isn't it crazy sometimes ? Sometimes you're like pulling teeth , You're like when is this song going to just pop up ? And other times you sit down and it's like five minutes .
Speaker 1You're like , let's go , let's lay it down .
Speaker 2It's so crazy how that works . So your main source of inspiration I mean we've got your mom , what else ? What would you say , is like your main , or just from everywhere ?
Speaker 1I take inspiration from a lot of different sources . Just shout out my cousin Negus Negus .
Speaker 2Jack Yo Yo .
Speaker 1When all your haters man , because all your will , this is only time , time and place , you know . You know the time and place thing . But he is a very , very , very , very talented human being , you know , and very wise . You know .
Speaker 1I'm saying so it's like , and he's living in trinidad right now . You know I'm saying so . Yeah , it's um , is is him my sister , my father , um family . You know things that go through life . You know past relationships . You know . I said yeah , I said just everything . You know . You draw inspirations as an artist . You know yourself . You draw inspirations from many different sources , you know .
Speaker 2So it's like , yeah , roll with the punches , you know absolutely you feel like it kind of like hits you out of nowhere sometimes . Yeah , you're driving , tears are falling , you're trying to type notes on your your freaking iphone . It's scary it's scary , oh my goodness , so has your family been super supportive of your music .
Speaker 1Yeah , I mean , they keep it real to me . You know when it's not good they tell me . You know it's like hey yo .
Speaker 2They're like no , yeah , next song , do you have another song ?
Speaker 1And that's very important , you know . But yeah , they're also very supportive as well .
Speaker 2That's the best part .
Speaker 1Yeah , both of us . Well , you know that's the best part .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , constructive criticism , baby , in life , you have to learn how to take it I love that , though you got to keep it real , because otherwise I mean you can end up like and I mean sorry to knock it , but like an american idol contestant , you know oh , they've been out there .
Speaker 1You know what ?
Speaker 2I'm saying poor babies . So how do you stay motivated ? What motivates you ? What is your drive in this industry ?
Speaker 1the most high uh gift thanks . You know um being grateful . Uh , just , you know , sometimes it's that's a good question as well . Uh , I have goals that I want to accomplish in life uh be able to self-actualize and um be blessed enough to help others , you know . So that's , that's a good motivator right there , you know I feel like it's a great motivator yeah not a lot of people would say that , especially in the music industry .
Speaker 2you know , I see so see so many people they , you know , just kind of hold on to everything they have and I'm like , are you going to get buried with that ?
Speaker 1Life is too short , you know what ? I'm saying and everybody could . Everybody , you know , could make it . Everybody has and there's enough resources that everybody can make it you know , you just have this genuine soul about you .
Speaker 2I truly like wish you all the best in this industry . Because it's missing . You know , you get a lot of ego in this industry and you get a lot of people that just had this chip on their shoulder or they feel like you know they're owed something . But I feel like you really truly want to give into this industry and that's huge and keep that passion , keep it going
Musical Advice and Ambitions
Speaker 2. So what advice would you give aspiring singers or aspiring musicians ?
Speaker 1find your voice . Find your voice , that's the most important part . You know ? Um express yourself however you may feel . You know , expression is just that expression . You can't limit it , you know . Don't try to limit your voice . Um , be yourself . You know , and enjoy what you're doing . You know , and see it as an outlet . It doesn't always have to be about good , good vibes , it doesn't . You know ? If that's what you're going through at that point in time , yeah , write about that . But if you're not going through something good , write something that to help you with that .
Speaker 2You know yeah , because you can't fake it , ah , and people are gonna know if you're exactly because they'll be like that song is off you know they're like what ? Because you'll hear certain artists , you're like that's not a left field for that artist , and you'll know that that was a forced song going back to like the songwriting stuff we can shove stuff out really quickly , but if it's like that and it's not what's in our heart , it's not gonna going to . Like you said , keep it real .
Speaker 2Like who you are , if that's the best . I think that's amazing advice . You know , if you're not going to be your authentic self , you're just going to put forth something that's absolute garbage . I love that .
Speaker 1I love that . Thank you , thank you .
Speaker 1Um so what do we have on performing anywhere soon ? Uh , no , not right now . Um , I haven't had . I honestly have been kind of as I told you before , like I deactivated instagram for a while . I've been kind of like trying to explore myself and learn myself and grow myself a little bit , um , and detach from , you know , the bs of you know , like everything going on and again build inspiration overall . Um , but , yeah , because I was , you know , I feel like I was on go for a while and I was telling myself , yo , I haven't , you know , tapped into my music self in a while , you know , and and I was like I was like no , tap into yourself . I'm like , yeah , music , like no , music is just a portion of your life , you know , like you have your individual being that you need to feed as well , you know , and I feel like , um , right now , that's what I'm mainly focused on um , just growing overall . Um , but I do have a bunch of stuff written that I haven't released as yet . It's about 50 something , you know .
Speaker 2Yeah songs yeah , a lot going on yeah recorded .
Speaker 1A mix need to be mastered . You know I'm still working on mastering for all of them , but um , uh , it's just time and place . You know so well , one of you guys want to see me again . Let me know .
Speaker 2I'll , you know , drop some stuff you know you come on by anytime and vibe out . It was the jam , um . So that , speaking of that , you do all the music making yourself so i've've just learned to make beats .
Speaker 1What's wrong with ?
Speaker 2me , that was it . We make music .
Speaker 1The mixing and yes , yeah , yeah , mixing and mastering I can't come up with any words right now . You got it . You got it , yeah , okay , yeah , very cool . I realized that spending studio time money is very costly . Oh , it's very costly , you know .
Speaker 2So I'm like you know that is the most expensive part . Yeah , you can be an artist all day long , but taking it to the studio ? You sure you can take it to the studio , but good quality studio , oh , spendy , especially nowadays they're like oh , it's going to be like like three thousand dollars a song . I'm home what ? No , no , no , no , no one has that not anymore .
Speaker 1So we're gonna teach ourselves exactly , and hence why exactly so did you ? Teach yourself how to use all this stuff so youtube helped , but what really um , really pushed , pushed my uh recording . Another level was this one uh uh studio I went to , I went to a few to learn as well , but uh , one studio , joe miller , and military studios in chicago oh yeah , he was like pivotal and helped me learn how to eq , compress , um , basically those what he mean to like .
Speaker 1If you want to know how to eq and compress your stuff , everything else after you could just add your flavor to it yeah you know , um , yeah , subtractive eq , and I was doing a lot of additive eq and I'm thinking like oh shit why is my . You know why is not something like you know ?
Speaker 2yeah , why is it sounds so muffled ? Yeah , levels and stuff have to be balanced just right , or you're like wait , I know I sang this song , but it sounds like there's I'm in the background somewhere right , right yeah mixing is like the most important part yeah , yeah , so I enjoyed doing it .
Speaker 1You know it's um . It was , I remember , like the first , like after after four years . That's when I finally got like decent . You know , I was like oh shit , yeah oh yeah , the first recording you ever do .
Speaker 2You're like this is all garbage , yeah garbage , garbage . It was like hey , yo oh , yeah , same and so do you go back and listen to your old recording of course , of course , you know do you have people ask you oh , can I hear your first recordings ? What do you say ?
Speaker 1no , no , no , no , no , no you're like um , I lost those .
Speaker 2That's what I say .
Speaker 1I'm like those don't exist you know , I said let's just keep it to the .
Speaker 2you know , You're like , I have some new stuff .
Speaker 1I can share . That's awesome , yeah , thanks , oh , my goodness .
Speaker 2Can you share with me , like a personal or emotional connection you have with a specific song ?
Speaker 1That's old or right now .
Speaker 2Doesn't matter , like a like a new , old , something you're working on , so I have uh , this one song terminal five with my sister uh yeah , yeah , this it's about she's singing too . Yes , beautiful , beautiful voice , if you want to listen to any song by me and my sister .
Speaker 1Yo you a mom , uh , jj . It was under my other name when I started music . Yeah , yeah , but um , you are mom , jj .
Speaker 1It's like a picture of a woman with a vacuum saying you're mom , you're mom , you're mom , um yeah , we'll put the link below this episode you know , um , yeah , um , but yeah , terminal five essentially was a song about um , our transition from trinidad to america , uh , and what I was going through at that point in time , or you know me trying to focus on you know . You know what needs to be done instead of all the you know , because sometimes in life a lot be going around like at the same time and you're just like , oh shit , you're trying to juggle everything you know and it's like you can't . Sometimes it's just like that you know , but you have to stay focused absolutely .
Speaker 2You can have 800 things in the air and you gotta figure out how to make them all happen . Yeah , you're doing good , you're doing really good um okay , so I'm gonna go back to young tomorrow okay how did you , how did you guys all end up moving from trinidad ? How did that transition happen ?
Speaker 1uh , my mom moved first . Uh , she followed . You know , love you know . And uh , uh , we came shortly after because you know family drama and yeah don't really want to get into family drama .
Speaker 2It's okay , you don't have to get into the drama .
Speaker 1Yeah , you know , as you pass , but everything was for a reason . You know . I believe that , and look where I'm now . So give thanks , I love that . Yeah , I love it . Oh are you still together ?
Speaker 2no , okay , okay , but you know what , though , it got you guys here exactly ? And that's magical . And then I'm sure that's branched out to many different things in your guys's lives . Yes , of course , yeah , yeah , um , yeah , of course , give thanks oh so , um , wrapping things up with like the music and stuff . What are your , what's your ultimate goal , like ? Give me like a I'm not gonna say five years , because a lot can change in five years . Give me like a two year . Where do you want to be ? Where do you see yourself ?
Speaker 1Doing a lot more performances .
Speaker 2Yes , please yeah .
Speaker 1Performing a lot more and just spreading the vibes on . You know , yeah , yeah , I hope so . I'll say that for you it will be .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , I hope so . Yeah , I'll see that for you . It will be . I'll be there . Hey , I'll be cheering you on Hell yeah . How was your experience here so far ? It's been chill yeah .
Speaker 1Yeah , oh , at this performance here . Yeah , oh , I love this . Yeah , yeah , yeah , I love this . You guys have like a end of the portraits and everything that's going on like in the background as well . That shit is cool , yeah , and I y'all , y'all on , y'all on 10 with it . I like it .
Speaker 2I love it . Yeah , yeah , yeah that inviting artist environment .
Speaker 1I feel that vibe too , Like when I first came here .
Speaker 2I was like okay , I'm going to throw a curveball at you , right now . Okay , what's your favorite scary movie ?
Speaker 1Favorite the remake of it . Oh Okay , my favorite part of that fucking movie was when like they was like no , no , no , it was like that part I was like okay , I love this , I love this , I love this .
Speaker 2Someone is passionate about horror movies .
Speaker 1So it was like there was like three doors and they had to , you know , make a choice , right , yes ? And then he one of the kids was like oh , it's not real , it's not real , just remember , it's not real . And he opened the door and they actually got through and then , like the clunk turned around . I was like , oh , it's not real enough for you , so I can make it real you're like I'm out that one is a good one .
Speaker 1That one remake they did a good one , yeah , yeah , they really did a good one , that one , yeah . And you spread to Halloween coming up . You know , I say , should that ? No , no , no , I'm thinking I don't even know what I'm going to do for costumes , really , yeah , no , oh , you got to figure it out .
Speaker 2We're coming down to the , you got exactly 30 days or 20 days , I'm sorry .
Speaker 1Yeah , and there's a show I'm performing for Halloween too .
Speaker 2What ? Yeah , okay , I asked you . Yeah , I forgot .
Speaker 1You know how dare you Hold on ? When is it ? Let me know , tell me all about it . Yeah , I love that .
Speaker 2I love that you like the remake of it . I liked it . I like a whole new movie , I think . Cause I love the classic . It so much . Okay . And I love Tim Curry is one of my favorite actors , so I had to kind of think of it as all right . We're just going to take this as a whole . New take on it .
Speaker 1Yes , I did like it , okay , cause .
Speaker 2I think what scars guard ? He's a creep .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2I think he's got creepy you yeah , I'll be like no , you need to run right now . That man is . No , he'll bury your body right back
Halloween House Party and Wisdom
Speaker 2to your show . My dear , yes um , this is the oh yes , we have a halloween house party , and where's it located at ? Or is it ? Is it ? Is it private ? Is it private ?
Speaker 1You know what I'll have to find out ? Okay , okay .
Speaker 2We'll let our guests know .
Speaker 1Yeah , if it's not mandatory .
Speaker 2Oh see , now you got to find a costume .
Speaker 1Yes , that's what I've been . What do you , what do you think ?
Speaker 2Now you got to go as it . Ah , I mask . Oh , you just pop it on and a little clown suit and call it a day . I'm a mask fan , I love it . Okay , so you don't have to commit to all that yeah and deal with that like sweating off when you're performing nothing worse yeah , okay , okay , okay , okay , okay , okay .
Speaker 1You know what ? I'll take care of my nuts . There you go , easy peasy easy right .
Speaker 2So any words of wisdom to pass on to our listeners tonight and I'm catching you off guard , right .
Speaker 1Words of wisdom for the listeners hey give thanks , you know , attitude of gratitude , their seasons . Just remember that there's seasons for everything in life . Uh , you will be up , you will be down , to remember Hills and valleys , baby .
Speaker 2Oh yeah , I love that so much Thank you . You're fantastic I thank you so much for your time tonight . I appreciate you taking time to share your life experiences and your love for music and . I just wish you nothing but the best , honestly . Thank you , thank you .
Speaker 1Thank you .