Q&A With Garden State Rapper, Juice Potter
What was the earliest hip hop memory you can recall?
The earliest hip-hop memory I can recall is probably *hmm* I’m not too sure if you know of this artist, he’s a bit older but his name is Mike C. I used to hear him a lot when I was a kid and I just listened to a lot of his tapes and see him freestyle.
I remember one time going to the studio with my uncle Ib Dolla, I was a kid young as hell and Ib and Mike were up in the lab making beats on one of them old beat makers. Those are like two of the earliest hip-hop memories I can remember.
When was it when you realized that making music was your calling?
A. I hadn’t dropped music in a while after I dropped my EP Potterville. I was laying low and kinda chillin’, you know, just riding off the little buzz I was getting. I wasn’t promoting the project like I was supposed to, I felt like I rushed it. I didn’t get a chance to really do what I wanted to do with the project so I just lost interest in it. I didn’t know what I was going to do and I gotta admit, I lost motivation. But one day, I was walking out of my house like literally walking out of my house and it’s crazy but I see this little girl.
As she’s walking down the street, she walks past me then she stops and turns around. She was like, “You … you Juice Potter?” I said, ‘yeah’ but in my head I’m like, ‘What the fuck?’ She’s like, “Yeah, I see your stickers everywhere. I also saw your music on YouTube and everything.” I forgot I had plastered #Potterville stickers all over Orange, that’s where I’m from Orange, New Jersey. I said to the girl, “Well, since you’ve seen me everywhere, did you listen to the music?” She was like “Yeah, I did and I liked it! I like ‘WAV-E,’ the most.” I was just like damn and I told her I’ll have some more music coming soon and to stay tuned and keep in touch.
After that encounter, I knew I had to keep doing music. I also realized that kids were listening and I can’t be no slouch out here if the youth was on-board with my music. I can’t just put anything out. I gotta give them something to get them going, to feed their brains at least. So, yeah, that was definitely a big moment for me.
Where did your moniker originate?
A. I got the name Juice Potter from two separate occasions. Honestly, I think it was 2012 or it could have been 2013—but I want to say 2012. It was my cousin’s birthday and he asked me to bring some lean to his party. I pulled up with 2 liters of juice. When he saw me, he was like, “Oh shit, cuz—you really brought the juice, you know what? I’ma be calling you ‘Juice’ from here on out.” So, that’s how I got the name Juice. Now, Potter, he was born in Miami.
I was chilling with a different set of cousins and we were out celebrating. I had some round frames on, you know, the round glasses that Harry Potter would wear but mine were gold. When they saw me, they were like, “Damn, son, who you? Harry Potter?” and we all started laughing. But I was like, “nah, I’m Juice Potter, nigga, that shit fly.” “Juice—Juice Potter—that’s me; fuck you talkin’ bout?” And ever since then I been rockin’ with the name.
What was the first track you ever pushed? Is it still out?
A. The first time I really pushed a track honestly is a song called “Down Bad,” featuring Tiyahnn and it’s still out now on all streaming platforms. I had other music out before that but I didn’t really push them the way that I pushed “Down Bad,” so yeah, that song is the first track I really pushed.
How are you coping with this whole Covid 19 situation? Has it delayed any new music production by any chance?
A. Um, it’s been a little difficult of course navigating around COVID. But I’m dealing with it like anybody else trying to keep my head above water. As far as the music, it hasn’t stopped or held up anything because I usually record at a home studio so the recording process hasn’t really stopped at all. What has been a bummer is not being able to physically do shows. I want to perform, I really miss the live stage action. Live performances is a large part of any musicians career, whether you’re mainstream or upcoming. So COVID really poked a hole in that source of revenue for me.
Please breakdown the creative process of your album “Project Potter”. Tell us a little about the album cover concept!
The creative process for “Project Potter,” was actually pretty simple. I kind of wrote the songs that I felt got me Turnt Up and I put them together with a little help from my manager. She helped me get the track list in order so it could really flow. But as for the composition of the songs, it was pretty easy. “Project Potter,” basically sums up everything I had been going through. If you listen to “Intro,” you get a glimpse of how much hard work I really put in to get to where I am. When you listen to “P.H.A.T.,” you get to peak into my love life a little *chuckles.* Then When you hear “Project Pott,” that’s just a break down of who “Juice Potter,” really is. That’s my boast and brag song, gassing myself up. Then we got the heavy hitter “Talk Is Cheap,” I’m a cool dude but don’t ever try to play me, cause I’m not so cool after that. So “Project Potter,” really displays my multiple personalities and I specifically hand picked these tracks to help y’all learn me through my music.
For my album cover, I did a photoshoot with my boy Keith and we had mad fun at that shoot. I ain’t gonna lie, that was probably one of the best shoots I’ve had in a long time and I got a bunch of pics in return so I posted a few of them on my Instagram. I posted the one with me with my middle finger up and a cool white fur vest on and got so much positive feedback. One of my boys X commented “Yo Juice, this look like an album cover,” and I ain’t even second guess it. I just made that flick my album cover.
I think the cover choice speaks volumes because it’s a huge F*ck you to anybody who doubted Juice Potter. I always say I’m a project in myself, I call the shots. So f*ck a critic.
Who is your personal favorite all time best Hip Hop artist? Also, who is your ultimate MC/PRODUCER collabo?
A. My favorite all-time MC or hip-hop artist and that’s a hard one really because I fuck with Tupac. I feel like he did a lot for the, for the culture of hip-hop. But my favorite favorite rapper is DMX.
Ultimate MC producer collab. Man.
I think that I would go with a Beat from Pharrell Maybe Timberland. Damn that’s a hard one. I’d also go with a beat from the Neptunes and do a song with snoop & Wiz!
Any new music we can expect for the rest of 2020?
A. Um, I actually just started working on some new music. I got some new Tunes coming out got some new features. I’m working on. I want to give y’all more content. I want to keep you all engaged. So I’m going to let this project ride out and do some more promo and do some videos, bring y’all some vibes and I’m gonna start dropping some singles..
Did you vote in 2020?
Did I vote? no and I mean, I guess that comes with an explanation. Why didn’t I vote? honestly truthfully I don’t believe in either candidate its just simple as that. I’m not going to vote for something I don’t particularly believe in just to say I voted and did something I feel like if I don’t believe in it, I shouldn’t be doing it. So I’m not.
We have to ask, with all this social discourse and revolt, protesting and rioting, exposed police brutality toward blacks and BLM, how do you feel about this? We would love your perspective on the climate we are living in right now.
When it comes to the police brutality and a protests/riots, I feel like that’s our way of voicing that we’ve had enough. We tried to be peaceful and we tried to turn the other cheek, I guess you could say we tried a few different methods, but we’re just tired. I feel like we’re being targeted at this point and it’s like why? why are you targeting us? Like why Is it so much on y’all agenda?
These are unjust killings. These are not killings that you can look back on and say oh I can see why, or I understand or oh alright maybe he shouldn’t have done this. A lot of this stuff is unjust, there’s no reason, it’s senseless and it starts with the police. I mean we doing as much we could do.
If it is more that could be done why? why should we have to do all of that just to be seen as human? why should we have to do more just to be seen as equal or not even equal just as human beings? they treat us like animals, it feels like open season on the black community. This is not how you treat human beings so I feel like it’s gonna be a long road, but I feel like it’s a road worth taking Because this can’t continue forever. There’s got to be some kind of end to this. It’s been going on since slavery. This is nothing but another form of racism and honestly terrorism. So eventually it has to come to a stop. We’re protesting to be heard and to get things to a better place. We’re trying to get to a better world. We’re not even looking for Revenge so much. We just want Justice, that’s it.
What is your definition of “underground hip hop”?
Underground hip hop to me is anything that’s not mainstream. So anything that you pretty much don’t hear being promoted by big-time promoters or radio?
Anybody that’s like Indy. Artist that didn’t really blow yet. Artist that got some Buzz still yeah, but underground is all the niggas that ain’t blow that’s not on a radio regularly.
Where can people find you on the web? Drop all the vital links.
A.Tap in with me at all the links listed below me
IG: @jugopotter
Twitter: @juicepotter_
YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC__FmYc-jKsGIHPM8bdjpxg
Spotify:Juice Potter https://open.spotify.com/artist/6aMfqHh6BHPJGLqRuhyOog
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/juice-potter/1373343182
https://unitedmasters.com/juice-potter
