Even in his earlier YNW days, JGreen never intended to rap, but fate had other plans in store.
Most people, including JGreen, would say fans tend to associate him with longtime friend/collaborator YNW Melly. “[FiveTen] is just opening the fans up to me, because as far as they knew me I’ve just been associated with Melly…now this is opening people up to my world and my world is FiveTen,” says JGreen on distinguishing himself as an artist and the meaning behind his newest project title. JGreen was even present when Melly founded the YNW collective, but it wasn’t until later down the road that he found his calling.
After overcoming countless tragedies and seeing overwhelming support from rap staples like WorldStarHipHop, JGreen realized he could do something with his music. Whether it’s carrying on the legacy of those he’s lost or describing his trials and tribulations, JGreen’s melodic rapping paints vivid pictures of his experiences with an authenticity that resonates with fans. In the two to three years that JGreen has been releasing music, he’s garnered over 30 million views and 5 million streams and has collaborated with stars like Mozzy.
Check out what else JGreen had to say about his latest project FiveTen and upcoming vlog series.
The Knockturnal: What was the defining moment for you that motivated you to pursue music seriously?
JGreen: I ain’t gonna lie when I first got on WorldStar (Hip Hop) that was a move for us, something real big, once we got that type of attention we were like alright we could probably do something with this.
The Knockturnal: Did your first WorldStar video lead to anything significant happening in your career?
JGreen: I really just kept working and shooting videos and doing everything at my own pace until I flew out to Atlanta and met my current manager and we really started connecting and that’s how everything started coming about.
The Knockturnal: Did he reach out after seeing the WorldStar video?
JGreen: No he actually knew Melly. Him and Melly were working on something, but that’s before I started making music, I wasn’t making music then.
The Knokturnal: What was it like working with Mozzy on the “Rugged” remix?
JGreen: Me & Mozzy never got to work inside the studio, but I’ve met Mozzy and he a real cool dude and really humble, and he funny too.
The Knockturnal: Who are some of your dream collaborations?
JGreen: You want me to be for real? Like for real, for real?
The Knockturnal: Definitely.
JGreen: I ain’t even gonna lie if I do a song with Justin Timberlake that would be hard. My normal collaborations – even though that would be nice as well – everybody has those, why not think outside the box like Adele or something crazy like that.
The Knockturnal: How did you narrow down which tracks would go on FiveTen?
JGreen: Most of them are ones I really like listening to, most of them were newer, some of those tracks I did three years ago. The rest of them are from a year, two years ago, that’s why they sound so different in range, it sounds different in feeling, different in everything because they’re really songs from two or three years ago.
The Knockturnal: My favorite records off the project are “Pop At Ya Cap” and “Free Savage,” which of the 21 tracks are your favorite or in your top 5?
JGreen: Top 5, I would say “Pop At Ya Cap,” “Free Savage,” “Symphony” “Sliding” and “Teach Em Something.”
The Knockturnal: I know your project is named after a major road in Florida, but can you elaborate on what this project means to you and why you chose FiveTen as the title?
JGreen: The project is just opening the fans up to me, because as far as they knew me I’ve just been associated with Melly, but they never really seen me drop music, now this is opening people up to my world and my world is FiveTen.
The Knockturnal: How do you feel when interviewers ask you about Melly and YNW?
JGreen: It don’t really faze me because I know the real, we all know the real, I been knowing him since we was young. We really from two different hoods and came together, we really from two different places. I just talked to Melly last week. People in Florida know, when you see Melly, you see me.
The Knocktunal: Where did you record the project?
JGreen: I recorded in Atlanta, California, Florida, and New York at Quad studios.
The Knockturnal: Are there more visuals from the project on the way?
JGreen: “Teach Em Something” is dropping on Monday and then “Sliding” and “Symphony.”
The Knockturnal: Is this the first project where you had the help of A&R’s and had help with the release?
JGreen: Yeah this is the only project -this is the first project where I had full assistance.
The Knockturnal: What was it like to have that added help while rolling out a new project?
JGreen: It was kind of like an ease, usually when I drop I just drop things and they do what they do, we don’t do no interviews, no event -other than people we already cool with, but that outside connection – we never had those outside relationships with the people that we need to have relationships with.
The Knockturnal: Are you currently independent/unsigned?
JGreen: Yeah, and I currently have distribution with Empire.
The Knocktunal: Do you prefer being independent or are you looking to sign in the near future?
JGreen: I feel like you gotta move at your own pace and at your own will, I know most people who get in this industry rap game are kids, they don’t have nothing to fall back on and for me that’s different, I haven’t been a kid in so long even though I look this way. I wanna ride my own wave for a while and wait till the opportunity is right and we ready to take it to that major level.
The Knockturnal: What are you currently working on?
JGreen: I’m working on my next project and I’m working on a little vlog series, it’s gonna start out when I officially start recording for this next tape that I’m doing. For my next project, I’m going to attach a vlog series to the project so my fans can get an inside look into my life.
