By YRS Jerzy
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer
For close to twenty years, Atlanta has remained one of hip hop’s hottest cities. Every year, at least two Atlanta artists emerge and take the game over. Now, there is a DJ who is looking to leave his mark in Genius, but he is much more than a DJ.
Genius is a core member of K Camp’s team, serving as his business partner. They rose to fame, together, working on all of his mixtapes together, with Genius hosting them. He also found time to do his own projects and he recently released his biggest one yet.
Fresh off A Eastside Story, Genius took time out to speak to Hip Hop Vibe about his new project. The conversation morphed into much more, as Genius is rising in the game and very passionate about his work. In the interview, he spoke on K Camp, his own work, his goals, his inspirations, and much more.
Read the entire interview below:
Describe the past two years and how everything has gone for you? In the past two years, I have been going through the awakening of Genius. Previously, a lot of people just knew me for being a mixtape/club DJ. I was really focused on trying to break artists and break through in the music industry. It’s really been three years, but the past two years have seen me focus on my music.
In 2012, I dropped an EP and it was really an A&R project, meaning it was all features and no vocals from me. I did a similar project in 2013 and then I was on the road with K Camp and was around his music circle a lot. Being around his people and production squad, I began working on my stuff and writing hooks, and then working with different producers.
We’ve been touring and I’m also K Camp’s business partner, making sure all of his stuff goes right and I’m focusing on my vocal contributions on the tracks that I’m creating for both him and myself. I’ve written 250 hooks, thus far, including the “Money I Made” track from K Camp with French Montana. It’s been a lot of touring and building the Slum campaign and now you see me releasing these projects that I’m vocal on.
I’m in the studio and on tour, doing my thing, and being on the mixtape scene.
So, do you see yourself branching out and doing your own label deal? Oh yeah, definitely. As of right now, I am still building my personal label, Genius LLC. I am the only person on that label, right now, because I am still learning what it takes to run a label. Of course, a lot of that is funding. But, I see myself having a label, or an artist development company. I would probably have my company distributed by a major company. That was always a part of my personal plans.
Did you look at guys like DJ Khaled as a guide? Yeah. I started out as a mixtape DJ, being mentored by Tecknikz, and then watching guys like Drama, Scream, and, of course, Khaled. I see the business moves Khaled has made and I see how he does things. He is on the biggest level, as a hip hop DJ.
On the music side, you had “Po Up & Go Up” emerge as a successful record? It was really my first time pushing a record of my own. Actually executing a record and getting it on a national platform is a different animal. Me and my team actually push this record and for it to pay off was amazing. Pretty much, me and Camp did the song in the studio, Camp and I did the hook, Bobby produced it, and we got it mixed and mastered. The next day, Camp was like “let’s shoot the video” and we knocked it all out right then and there. It was big to see the song really hit on a national level and have a track really moving.
So, can you tell us about A Eastside Story and how it went from being a mixtape to being an album? Initially, it came out as a mixtape, but the deluxe edition is an album, LP. When I started working, me and my team, the thing with A&R-ing records is that your personal emotions are not in the project. I was in the studio and I would get the beat from a producer, or they would make it for me.
But, the artists didn’t always come to the studio to record. So, with this project, when I first started songwriting, I felt like this was a good way for me to start telling my stories, vocally. Previously, I would go and get various producers and artists, but this project was different, I decided to take it back to basics. I’m a DJ, so I break artists and, with this projects, I decided to get people also from the Eastside to work on this album, Felipe, we’ve been working together for a while, so I thought he would relate the story I wanted to tell.
So, we began recording records and Felipe picked what he could relate to, so he jumped on them, I did the hooks and we did the verses. Then, we found the other artists who could complete the story and I’m happy with how it came together, Beat Addictz, I went to college to them, and all of the others did really dope jobs. I wanted to keep it all in-house, so I could tell the story the way I wanted it told. It was a lot, back-and-forth, because I am a perfectionist in the studio and I wanted to tell my story of growing up on the East side of Atlanta
Would you ever consider doing a movie on this? The initial plan was to shoot a documentary about growing up on the Eastside. But, there was a lot of stuff going on and I still want to do that, but I want to make sure it is done correctly. That is definitely in the back of my mind, however. Growing up on the Eastside, or telling the story of going from Jamaica and moving to the Eastside.
So, what do you see the endgame for this particular run? To bring people in tune to my story. If you’re an outsider looking in, it seems like a weird change from me going from just being a DJ to making music now. But, if people can’t learn your story, there will be a missing part of your career. The endgame is to make people aware of my story and showing them the music I was listening to growing up. These are all of my influences as a kid, the Jamaican background, the trap beats. The endgame for the Eastside Story is to bring awareness of my story, growing up on the East side of Atlanta.
Can you let the people know where they can find you on social media? @IamtheGenius for everything.
Follow YRS Jerzy on Twitter @IAMYRSJERZY.
