By YRS Jerzy
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer
A name blowing up on the internet, as of late, is London Jae, who is doing his thing with B.o.B. and No Genre. Prior to this, London Jae was making his presence felt in Atlanta. Now, he is nationally known with a string of successful releases.
London Jae has put in plenty of good work, alongside some of the biggest names in the industry. He has worked with the likes of T.I. and Stephanie Santiago, over the past few months. But, his latest collaboration will eclipse all of those features.
Recently, London Jae took time out to speak to Hip Hop Vibe about his increased presence in the game. Being a native of Atlanta, he discussed the loss of Bankroll Fresh, who happens to be his longtime friend. Then, he revealed he has a collaboration with Usher coming soon.
Read the entire interview below:
How did you meet B.o.B. and decide to join his movement? Well, I met him, it was kinda weird. I didn’t know exactly how they caught onto my music, because, at the time, I wasn’t really moving around a lot. I had taken a step back during that period of time, I wasn’t recording as much, I was in the streets. When they contacted me, I thought it was a joke, I thought it was my brothers playing a joke, because they joke around a lot. But, it was for real, I talked to his manager, B Rich, and then went to a B.o.B. video shoot, where we talked and we hit it off, naturally, it felt cool. I felt like they were alright and when we talked, he said it was literally No Genre, they let me do what I wanted to do. That was the coolest thing about it, we can make the kind of music we want to with the music.
Did you know Bankroll Fresh? Yeah. That was like my brother, we grew up in the same part of Atlanta. It was crazy, that still bothers me. The last time I saw him was four or five days before it happened. It was our first time talking in a while and he was telling me how proud he was and he told me to keep doing my thing. It was a conversation like we used to have when we were younger, except now we are really out here doing our thing. Yeah, it still gets to me, I miss him, but what’s done is done. I learned a lot and I’m glad to have him watching over me, I learned from that situation on how to move better. That is one thing you can do is to learn from death. He was such a likable person, whoever ran in contact with him and liked him. Even if his music wasn’t as mainstream, they still knew him. He had all the charisma in the world. You can tell by the outpour of support.
Back to music, do you see yourself making a Bankroll Fresh tribute record? Because of the relationship we had, I wouldn’t make a direct tribute record. But, when I’m recording and I think of him, I’ll say it. I say it like that, because most of my music is freestyle-based. So, it would be something like that, I would say “I miss you.” I would tell him I miss him, because I want him to live, even in death.
Do you have a follow up to your last project in the works? Yeah man, Pain Killers. I don’t know how to explain it, it is going to be too much… for music. But, I’m still going to drop it. It is going to be so crazy and people are gonna be like “who is this nigga.” I won’t ever let up, not to toot my own horn, but I could drop a project every month and each one will get better. I perfect my craft every day, so with each project, I’m getting better. I see that myself, with my Me and My Hoes project, the Valentine’s project, it was all R&B, it was all me, and it was hosted by Tip and the model, Stephanie Santiago. When I dropped it, it did massive numbers and it tripled Better L8 Than Never. So, with this one, it is gonna be some shit to talk about.
When can we expect the first song off the project? It was supposed to come out on the first, but I pulled it, because I didn’t like a order of the record. So, I’m rearranging it, I didn’t want my music to sound the way it was. I want this record to feel good, feel like a story. Music is a feeling, outside of it just being hard, so if it feels good, they’ll keep listening to it. Now, I’m putting it in order as to how it sounds. I know how it sounds and it’s coming soon. It might come in the next two or three weeks. In the beginning of May, look out for it and I got the #FreePainKillers campaign going out.
So, who are some people you will be working with soon, outside of your camp? I’ve been working with Usher lately, Ty Dolla $ign, Young Thug, of course, PeeWee Longway, Trouble. The people that I’m working with are people I actually want to work with, as opposed to just doing something for the sake of doing. Like, Usher is someone I always wanted to work it, it’s a lot of people and it’s going to blow your minds. Usher’s my brother man, we built a cool relationship and we talk a lot. Sometimes, he’ll call me and we will talk about music, we just vibe out, sometimes without even recording. Being in the studio don’t make the best songs, but getting to know them and the music they makes does, that way the vibe isn’t forced. Me and Thug the same way, but we’ve been recording so long that whatever we touch will be a smash.
Where can we find you on social media? Instagram is @LondonJae, Twitter, Snapchat, and everything else is @LondonJae4Real.
Follow YRS Jerzy on Twitter @IAMYRSJERZY.
