Jay Stubbs (Corona, CA) – “I Need Money $$$”
My name is Jay Stubbs, and I hail from Corona, CA. I’ve grown up in and on music my entire life. It’s ironic that I now create hip-hop music, when in fact, it is the last genre that I liked and even got into. This is why the music I create is unlike anything else. I grew up on old school R&B from mom and dad, with my dad also geared largely towards old school rock and roll(Rod Stewart,Led Zeppelin,TheStones,PhilCollins, I could go on all day etc.)
My personal tastes were not only geared towards those, but I also was a big fan of pop and alternative just from what I personally enjoyed. So here I had all of these genres I was fans of, but yet and still no rap, driving my older brother crazy because he was into Wu-Tang, Tupac, D.O.C., Bone Thugs, and etc., then here is his little brother(me) bumping, jock jams, show tunes and pop songs lol. Mind-Boggling I know. Even to this day and still moving forward, my dad would never call me weird. I’d say I was weird but would always say “Naahh Son. You’re just unique. You’re cultured.” I thought it was just Dad being Dad or parents being parents saying the right things and what not, but the older I get, I realize that he was on to something.
Anyway, every summer we would visit my family in St. Louis Missouri. I have a favorite cousin who’s about 5 years older than me. Everything he did I wanted to do and everything he liked, I wanted to like. I’ll never forget… So this guy plays the same CD in his car everyday for the entire summer(Rap of course). Day after day after day, I’m in the car with him, it’s the exact same thing. After like day 3, I’m like Jelani, who is this same guy you keep playing, you play it like everyday. He says, “It’s Reasonable Doubt by this new rapper named Jay-Z.” From that point on it stuck and grew on me. To this day, whether I’m right or wrong, or have a valid claim/proof as to why Jay-Z is my favorite/greatest all-time rapper, if nothing else, it will be because he introduced me to hip-hop at a time when I was finally ready. I truly believed that this is why I took a liking to it last. All of the other music genres provided me with culture and gave me my foundation. Then years later when I was ready, the timing was finally right and something clicked. I think throughout time, this is what most artists regardless of genre style have come to lack. They can get by for a little while, but their music doesn’t last and it doesn’t stand the test of time because of their foundation. I don’t have any specific sound or rapping style. You can’t hear an instrumental and say “this is a Jay Stubbs type beat or sound.” Every song I do is different and unique, and although you may be listening to me, you’d swear at times that it wasn’t. Or you may hear a song that I do with 3 different features who sound different, but indeed they are actually all me lol. Crazy I know. But I am music. I can truly say that because I grew up on it all and am a fan of it all, and for this reason, this is why you get the most unique of the unique. You get ME. Jay Stubbs.
https://soundcloud.com/jaystubbs
