There can be so much done to try and make yourself stand out from the crowd, but sometimes the key lies in staying true to who you are.
With three songs, Giovanni James has shown himself to be a very versatile artist, with no fear of genre lines. I got the opportunity to share some words with the new Warner Bros. signee, and was interested with his determination to remain unique in a copy-cat industry.
The questions are in bold.
I listened through “Whatchu Want,” “Shame on You,” and “Sheri.” Theyβre all radically different sounds. Do you think that as an artist you want to be branching out into these different styles or is more of testing the waters to find a sound to make one your own?
Well I think Bruce Lee, I study all the old greats, said it best that you should have the style of no style. So for me, you do what you feel because when marketing and all that stuff comes in, thatβs when I think people start to determine all those kinds of things. When youβre writing a song, and itβs real to you, you just do it. For me, itβs best to set the table in the way that you expect anything. I think that when people try and box me in thatβs when I want to go the exact opposite. So itβs not about having one sound, itβs about being honest with whatever the moment is, and if it makes it to a place where a lot of people are hearing it, you just let the people judge it.
Have you always felt like youβve taken that approach to music?
Well I started out as a dancer; a breakdancer and as a B Boy you learn to not bite other peopleβs styles and you have this kind of integrity. For me, I donβt know if thereβs something Iβm looking for, I just never try to copy other people and other sounds. I feel like thatβs a mistake. As an artist I feel like Iβm here to report emotions, human conditions, or just something trivial. Whatever it is, I think I ought to be expressing the moment. That to me, is as truthful as I can be. If you think about life, I donβt know how today is for you, whether itβs a good day or a sh***y day. But as an artist you report on that exact thing. I donβt believe in telegraphing, I think itβs kind of lame. People donβt realize that the concept of making a recordβ¦what is a record? Itβs a moment in time thatβs been captured. So itβs about moments and with moments you donβt want to keep repeating the same thing over and over until you get successful.
Do you feel like there are any records youβve heard in the past that really hit that target of being a truthful moment in time.
I think for me, Iβm somewhat of a history buff. I like to know what happened before because it can inform you further in the the now. I like stuff from before my time so I think all the Bob Marley stuff, all the Jimi Hendrix stuffβ¦I like all of that earlier stuff because people were being real with how they felt during those times. It felt like commerce and money wasnβt really a part of the process. Now it only became a part of it because people were doing stuff that they loved or that they felt and once the audience came the money came.Β I think Kendrick is making a record that is truthful for him and I think thatβs great for this time. Talking about current artists, I think him and J-Cole are achieving that.
So what are you planning next, is there an album in the works, whatβs coming up down the line?
I mean I have so much music dude, Iβm constantly recording music. I have probably five albums worth of material and itβs an ever growing thing because I really think these things are in the air and when you hear them you take it in as dictation. So when I start hearing stuff, and music to me is like colors, itβs like painting. You take your colors and go and paint what you hear. Iβm totally looking forward to an album, the way everything is done now they obviously make you come with the EP first but I actually wanted to drop the album first.
It sounds like you donβt want to stick to that traditional path. You just want to make art as you go and as you feel it fit…
Well, in America, you canβt escape certain programs. So I like to trust my collective consciousness about commercial things and not telegraph, but trust that when i make music it seems to happen, in the way Iβm programmed, so that itβs truthful. I try not to think about it, but it sort of comes out naturally in the ingredients. Iβm signed to Warner and its not about money. They wanted to do an EP first and then an album. I wanted to do the album. So I donβt think of things the way they think of things. They do business, Iβm in the business of creating. You just gotta paint what you can and hope the people who sell your music will be able to do it.
art by your homie, Arthur Banach
check out more on my insta @wildhxir
