A new King on the Block
I sat down for a Q&A with King Jvmez, the budding rapper from Jos metropolis on the heels of his new song
King Jvmez
is a fast-rising star from the Jos metropolis, trying to be relevant in a very tough climate and industry that’s not friendly to up-and-coming artistes. We sat down for an interview to reflect on his career’s trajectory and his new hit 100 O’clock dropping on the 14th of May, Fresh off his last hit “LOUD”. He promises this new song will be worth the wait. The interview touched on different topics and his journey so far.
What inspired you to get into Music and is there an artist you could point to and say “Yeah this is who inspired me”.?
Well, back then I was into poetry, I think since when I was about 11 years old and I had a friend – he was older – who was always saying my poetry composition was good and I should try to channel it into writing music lyrics. I shrugged at first but he kept on insisting and one day, I reluctantly followed him to the studio and boom, here we are. As for a particular musician that inspires me, I grew up listening to Lil Wayne, HOV, 2Pac & Biggie, these were guys I admired and want to sound like, so I won’t just pick a particular person but I drew some form of inspiration from every one of these guys.
How would you describe the music you typically create?
Am a very versatile artiste and would not want to confine myself to a particular genre. If I was forced to pick, I will say Pop because be it Afro-Pop or Hip Hop, I believe my work ethics speaks for itself and Pop is kind of encompassing of all the elements of music regardless of its genre and so I will go with pop.
What is your creative process like?
I’ll say most of the time its spontaneous, as soon as I have an idea, I try to put it down and hit the studio. There was a point in time I wasn’t even sleeping, I just wanted to be in front of a microphone. It got so hectic that I entered the studio on a particular day and my whole vision was blacked out, my body couldn’t take it no more because of the stress I had exposed it to from lack of sleep for days, it literally went into hibernation mode. I have a band of brothers though, Ill Gang, they always put me on my toes and my management, Riverside, they always try to bring out the best in me, so creating music comes easy for me. It suffices to say its second nature at this point. I live for this shit.
How did your family see your music ambition from the onset?
You know, at first my folks felt all this music stuff was youthful exuberance and I will outgrow it, everyone was like focus on your education, graduate, get to the Uni and all but with time, they realized it was more than just youthful exuberance and there was really a passion for the craft. Since then, they have been supportive. I believe they now see and recognize the vision.
What’s your take on the Jos Industry, and the whole Nigerian Music industry at large and making it as an up-and-coming artiste as yourself in Jos metropolis and what will you change if you can?
I like this question, but there’s no industry in Jos if we are being honest. The guys who make it out don’t even help the ones here, all they do is rep Jtown from far without any substantial effort to influence the prospects of the industry. It is not easy for up-and-coming artistes like myself, its 30k to have my song on radio for a week, and there’s no return on investment because I don’t even get paid if I perform at the so-called biggest shows in Jos. If I travelled outta state, at least I get paid something to perform, so the best thing is to be worried about putting J town on the Map. You have to just branch out, no investors here, it’s pretty nonexistent in my opinion, so just be worried about making it out and putting J town on the Map. As for the music industry at large, we need to be more receptive to Hip-hop artistes, even though it’s getting better, we still have a long way to go, investors should try to take risks on artistes that do not sound commercial, the irony is the so-called commercial artists in Nigeria, as soon as they want to do a foreign collaboration, they go for rappers abroad while the dope ones here don’t really get appreciated. Investors should take more risk, look at Nasty C in SA, he was groomed from a young age and huge amounts of money was spent to prepare him for the industry and he is now thriving. Investors should try to take more risk and good things will happen.
Loud
is like your biggest hit and I like it too, the video is nice with Tomi Obanure, what was going through your mind when you made that jam and what other projects of yours do you like?
At that point, I just needed to drop a song at that time, So I went into the studio and created loud. Tomi hit me up on IG, we just fucked with each other’s vibe and we both decided we should do something, so I checked the guy out, boom we agreed and recorded in separate studios. I enjoyed every bit of it. Also, I dropped a 12-track mixtape in 2019 called “Junkyard”, it’s a project I really enjoyed doing. Also, my friend Rinji was unjustifiably murdered by men of the Nigerian Army and I did a song called “Untold” to highlight the brutality that’s inflicted upon youths in every part of Nigeria by security operatives and this whole #EndSars movement was very much needed because we need proper reforms in this country. I also did a jam called “Things I Miss” to share how I was able to get by the whole lockdown and quarantine period in 2020. They are just a few of my favorite projects.
There was a time you had a deal with Choc City, I think under the banner of Up North, What’s up with that whole ordeal?
Actually, it wasn’t Choc City directly, I was offered a contract with a subsidiary called Up North that was controlled by M.I and G plus in Jos. And a whole lot of things were going against me at that period because Choc City got a Warner Music deal so it made almost all subsidiary deals under Choc City sort of defunct and new deals were handed out to us but the people controlling UpNorth at the time did not like the new terms and so they backed out , the rug got pulled from underneath us and I woke up without a deal, but I enjoyed every bit of the debacle and took some important life lessons from that whole situation. I remember how happy I was to go to Lagos and I had the contract PDF in my phone, was happy to look at it but its all good. Everything happens for a reason they say, we are trying to look ahead and see what the future holds.
Also, you were slated to perform at Urbanfest few months back, I heard you were backstage but did not get on the stage, what happened?
That whole Urbanfest thing was kind of funny, that night, I was patiently waiting to perform but it never happened. I was dumbfounded at first but was kinda relaxed all through the night. I took it in stride and now its just to keep on with the hustle and stay focused on creating good music. We move ahead.
If it wasn’t for your music career, what will you be doing?
I can’t even lie, am a lowkey stubborn person so who knows I might be posted up slanging dope at a corner somewhere(laughing). But on a more serious note, am someone who tries do their best in whatever field they find themselves and I would have been an honor student if I was focused on being a career person outside of music, but as it stands now, it’s the music for me man.
Which artiste will you want to collaborate with if given the chance?
I don’t really like this question because I want to collaborate with a ton of artistes but if am forced to choose. I’ll say in Naija, its Wizkid, because I saw the hustle from its inception and I recognize and I respect it, so Wizkid, but for foreign artistes, its J Cole, am sure I don’t need to get into the nitty gritty details of how good he is.
Message to Fans
My fans, I really really love you guys. What I really want you to do is to watch the process, pay close attention to it, so you appreciate it in its final form. My project is already done, all that’s left is to roll it out. I could pull a Beyonce and drop it without publicity but I don’t have her clout yet, it has to be released with a proper infrastructure so you hear it everywhere. It is coming soon and I love you guys. Please keep supporting and download the new song 100 O’clock on every platform now. Trust the process so you can appreciate it more and when I don make am, if you see me bill me.
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: King James Apple Music
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: King James Spotify