Max Julez – Q&A Interview
Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? How long have you been making Hip Hop?
I was born in Ann Arbor,MI… Raised in Denver,Co, and currently live in Monroe, MI., 30 minutes south of Detroit, 20 minutes north of Toledo, Oh…I’ve been writing songs almost as long as I can remember, started out as a b-boy,turned dj, turned Mc, turned Producer…but officially started making and producing my own records right around 1996…
What influences you in making Hip Hop?
Life in general, mostly whatever mood I’m in that kinda dictates the flow…sometimes things happen…and I get inspiration from that…other times I feel like” this is what’s not being said”…and I go from there…a lot of times I try to emulate a sound…like Motown or heavy metal or jazz…and freak it my way…or I jus luck up and find some chord or sample something wrong…and inspiration strikes. Sometimes I hear a song and I try to capture that same feeling, I just transfer the feeling to how it applies to my life situations.
Describe your music, and what separates you from other MCs?
Max Julez music is the evolution of hip-hop…in order for hip-hop to be truly considered art…we have to be able to make great music…not just sample it…right our own chords…play our own instruments…Hip-hop is my art…the instruments become my canvas, and the Mic is my paintbrush…that’s what separates Max Julez from the rest. I’m not just a ill Mc, or turntable tech, or Fl studio Pro…I’m the appetizer, dinner and desert..the whole enchilada so to speak…lol
Who have you collaborated with? Who would you like to collab with in the near future?
Honestly the debut album Max Julez Proverbs 20:15 has no collabs, except for my daughter’s on “thank heaven” , but that was by default .
I had planned on guests on several tracks, but inadvertently had to switch directions after losing the original source material .
In the near future you’re gonna see Max Julez collabs popping up all over the country…I got peeps in Atl, San Diego,Denver, the Bronx,and Tampa…so definently look for Max Julez creeping into up city…somewhere somehow…
Your definition of “Underground Hip Hop”?
I define underground as under the radar…whatever style emo, gangster. Expiremental, lyrical…new school…whoever has the drive to put out their own music … no matter what anybody says… or to step out independently like we can’t wait on the labels …we can do it ourselves…fresh, new raw…that’s underground hip-hop…
Production wise, who are your influences? Who does your production?
Dj premier Rza Dre dj muggs Pete rock Timbaland R.Kelly Mikewillmade 9Th wonder Swiss beats hi-tech lex luger Neptunes dgic Manny fresh big krit etc…I couldn’t take up that much space…J dilla…Eric sermon…etc…
I produce all my own tracks, play a lil bass some keys…drums, but I like to use other cats beats just for something fresh and different… I was brought up on the 2 tables and a Mpc but I also started messing around with computer programs like acid back when it first came out …ironic cause then it wasn’t considered a beat if it was made on a pc…but most tracks I produce are made using both methods cause it provides the most flexibility .
And who would you like to work with?
I’m game with workin with anybody anywhere, but …shady…black milk…guilty Simpson…slum village…Royce…trick…big Sean…all the Detroit cats…I’m tryin to bump heads with theme cats…that’s just love off top…I wanna do a dilla mixtape or maybe my only mixtape cause I don’t really do those lol. I guess you could call that working with somebody?
Any current or future projects you are promoting?
Bet I’m still pushing my debut Cd Max Julez- Proverbs 20:15 https://maxjulez.bandcamp.com/album/pro-20-15 …it dropped digitally about a year ago…but due to the surgery of a member of my immediate family, I had to put the music on the backburner… but with that behind us it’s kinda like a rerelease…we got the album re-mastered, we got all new videos coming and we just started up the website for TheArtofHipHopproductionz.com
Can you give us a brief description of the creative process of Pro. 20:15? Also/ tell us a little bit about the concept and idea behind your Album Cover Art.
The creative process for album was kinda bananas . I had finished the album, studio was getting remodeled so all my equipment was moved to storage…Then the storage company accidentally through all my equipment away…even the finished tracks…I was devastated…but it really was a blessing in disguise because I had to redo the entire album…New beats, re-wrote/recorded all the verses…added new tracks…plus they gave me insurance money, which I used to buy better equipment, which upped the production level considerably.
The album art started with how I wanted the CD to look…It’s just something that’s been in my head a really long time, like to me the CD cover is the clothes lol the CD is what you see when the clothes off…after I got that vision down…the rest kinda flowed from that.
Where can we find your music and info?
Www.OrchardGreenhouseRecords.com
https://m.facebook.com/MaxJulez?ref=bookmark
Twitter MySpace Soundcloud: Max Julez
Any shout outs?
I gotta shout out undergroundhiphopblog.com for the luv…Most importantly got to shout out GOD…without him none of this is possible, definently the fans that support the music…shout out to my fam , always got my back…and my lovely wife and kids that keep me focused and motivated on the task at hand…Thanks for all the support…all we do is grind…So show some hip-hop love…Go get my debut CD … https://maxjulez.bandcamp.com/album/pro-20-15
…Enjoy and God bless Max Julez
