We chatted with Def Jam Recordings JAHKOY at the Billboard Hot 100 Festival. He has been creating quite the buzz this year with his blend of R&B, hip hop and electro on his tracks “Still In Love,” “Odd Future,” and “Hold Your Hand.”
You began writing poetry and then turned it into rap, right?
Yes I did. I started writing poetry when I was about 11 years old, and then when I was about 14 years old, I started taking those poems, and turning them into raps. Then those raps, later in like 2014, became singing songs.
What inspired you to start writing poetry when you were 11?
School. So I was in English class, I was 11 years old – I can’t remember what grade that was – was that grade 6? So I’m in grade 6, and I’m in English class, and they want me to write poems. We started reading about Shakespeare, and the way that he wrote. His poetry is very well written, and he had like a certain strategy in the way that he wrote. We were learning how to express ourselves in the way that Shakespeare would. It became a thing where I got really interested in it, and then my teacher pulled me aside once, and told me that I made really good poems, and I was like: “thank you”, and she was like: “yeah”, and I was like: “okay I’m gonna keep writing more poems.” It felt like a really good place for me to express myself at the time. I was really young, I was really shy; I didn’t know how to really talk to people. You know when your young, you don’t really gravitate to people that you don’t really know, because you’re still learning; you’re still young, you’re still shy. So that was the way I got to express myself.
You started recording music really young. You were 14, right?
Yes, I was 14, yeah.
How did you break into this medium so quickly?
Well this was around the time – have you heard of MSN? It was like messenger. So around that time, when MSN was around, people were getting webcams to talk to their friends straight through the computer. I had a little microphone, that came with my webcam, and I downloaded a recording program, and I recorded myself over the microphone with the instrumental there. That’s how I started making music, in my house, right in my house at my computer desk, right there. So I started doing it like that, and that was how I started making my music. It wasn’t the greatest quality, but you had to start somewhere, you know? So that’s where I kind of felt more comfortable to get my music out there, because I felt like; you know what, I’m already trying so hard to make a song right here, in my house, I might as well go into the studio and get something really done. I went out, tried to find someone that had a studio, and then here we are right now, 2 years later.
How did your family react to you starting to you starting so young?
They weren’t so happy, because I found myself getting really… I guess distracted from school with it, because I was always making music. It was something where they kind of got upset a bit; they were like: “You know what? You need to stop making music and pay attention to school.” And I’m like: “This is my passion, you know? I’m not going to let it stop me”. Now my parents, and my family members, are a little bit more open to what I’m doing now, because things are progressing, and it’s getting somewhere. My music has changed so much; it now has a positive message in the music, and it’s a brighter sound too. When I was still writing music, when I was younger, the music was a little bit… I guess you can say aggressive, because I was just still discovering who I am as a person – the things that I was saying wasn’t always appropriate. Now I’m an adult, and I know who I am, and what I want to portray as an artist. So now I’m here, everyone is enjoying themselves, and that’s all that matters.
So you had a stage name when you were younger, Raheem. How did you come up with Raheem?
It was actually a given name from my family. My dad’s side of the family, they called me Raheem, it means like “the one,” like “the merciful”. They just gave me the name. It’s not my birth name or anything, they just call me Raheem.
Why did you switch to JAHKOY?
Jahkoy is actually my real name; it’s my birth name.
What made you switch from Raheem back to JAHKOY?
I kind of just figured, branding wise, in terms of marketing: if you go on Google, and search Raheem, there’s a billion Raheems, but when you go and Google Jahkoy, it’s just me.
If you could work with any artist, who would it be?
Rihanna. I want to work with Rihanna really bad, so bad. She just amazing; I love her art, and the way that she’s able to jump between the different sounds in her creative. I just love her all around artistry, the way she is, and the way that she portrays herself. She has a positive life; she’s very influential. I hope to meet her some day. She inspires me to do what I do.
If you weren’t a performer, what profession do you think you would you be doing?
I would be somewhere making smoothies. I don’t know, I love smoothies.
Why is JAHKOY in all caps?
Just because my name, the way that it’s spelled, sometimes people divide the JAH and the KOY. They think I separate it; they’re like “JAH-KOY” but its just JAHKOY, it’s just the flow. But the JAH sometimes, I guess, could be very aggressive; because JAH – I don’t know how popular it is – but sometimes people, they hear that as the word ‘God’, but its ‘JAH’, and they say it very aggressive. But its just Jahkoy.
