JCarter – Q&A Interview
Tell us a little about yourself. Where you are from? How long have you been making Hip Hop?
I was born and raised December ’92 on the outer skirts of West Columbia, SC in a suburb right outside the mane city. I started doing gospel rap at age of 10 and around age 15 is when i made the transition and began doing actual Hip Hop.
What influences you in making Hip Hop?
Aside from all the greats such as Rakim, Big, Jay, L, etc. The main artist that have really influenced me the most are Ludacris, Kanye, Curren$y & Wiz Khalifa. And i have thought about this question as far as where these artist have influenced me the most and for what reasons. Ludacris was really the first artist that I became a ginuine fan of just because of the animated energy that he brought & his flow and the way he put words together. Kanye taught me how to think outside the box a little and just let my imagination be itself at times. When i began listening to Wiz & Curren$y, their music helped me care do a little less “rapping” and a little more “speaking” when in my music
Describe your music, and what separates you from other MCs?
I’d say my music is very energy driven. Not hype necessarily, but I like for every one of my songs to grab hold of you and put you the same place I am when I wrote. Almost like a transfer of energy for the song to the listener. In whatever type of song that I make, I want it to impact you in some type of way. I think my music separates itself in way because of my versatility. I have so many different kinds; purposely. On the album alone there are heavy club bangers such as “What We Bang” & “Bounce” to Powerful concept songs like “Life v. Living” & “What Dreams are Made Of” all the way to radio singles such as “On Me” I pride myself in making such different styles of music & challenge myself to continue to do so.
Who have you collaborated with? Who would you like to collab with in the near future?
No big A-List individuals. I did a record with BenG, one of Waka Flocka’s upcoming artist under his label Brick Squad Monopoly. I’ve always dreamed of working with Wiz & Ye’ of course, but Pharrell, Luda, Erykah Badu, & Inspectah Deck of WuTang.
Your definition of “Underground Hip Hop”?
“Underground” hip hop has evolved so much because of the internet today. I think that underground hip hop is simply music that the media either chooses not to promote or have yet to be discovered. Basically, society chooses what they want to be underground now a’days.
Production wise, who are your influences? Who does your production? And who would you like to work with?
Harry Fraud & Sledren are probably my two top favorite producers. We at Theta Nu Phli Records, Inc have our own in-house producer, ChrizBeats; who typaclly makes the majority of my music at this point. (@ChrizBeats) Producers on my list to work are deff Fraud & Sledren, NoID, Cardo, Ye’, HitBoy, Clams Casino & there are countless others but that’s just to name a few.
Any current or future projects you are promoting?
2PHLI the album of course. A “Kickin’ It Part2” is in the works, go get Mars Young – STARSHxT on LiveMixtapes right now, & look out for a Theta Nu Phli compelation project soon as well. More projects are close to being done but timing is everything.
Can you give us a brief description of the creative process of 2PHLI? Also/ what was the idea or concept description about your Album Art Cover.
Well 2PHLI is my 7th project collectively. And on most of my previous projects have be pure mixtapes in my mind. Me & Bizzy (ChrizBeats) worked on the beats alone for 2PHLI for close to a year, back & forth from him making them then both of us critiquing them. I wrote about a total of 25-30 songs before I sat and narrowed them down to those 13. i wanted to make an Album. An official body of work, & that meant that 2PHLI couldn’t sound like a mixtape at all, so we needed to take it to that next level. The album cover has two hands on the front. A two or “peace” sign on the left, then our Phli (//\\) hand symbol on the right. I wanted something simple but something that people will look at when they catch a glance. The purpose of the two females is to simply draw attention to the album & give the public something to talk about. With me being an independent artist/ label, free promotion is never a bad thing.
Where can we find your music and info?
All of my music & videos can be found on my website http://thenuphli.com . From there, there are links to my Twitter/IG : @julian_carter , my soundcloud.com/jcartermusic, my YouTube Channel, & more !
Any shout outs?
They know who. //\\
