Check out our interview with TeeJay3k.
Florida rapper TeeJay3k first came to notoriety after collaborating with Kodak, another Florida native, at the age of 18. Not only was this TeeJay3k’s first feature, it was his debut record. Although TeeJay3k grew up in Broward County surrounded by a musical family, music wasn’t always an obvious path for him. After incurring a sports injury, TeeJay3k was forced to give up his first love, but shortly thereafter discovered music. It didn’t take long for him to realize this was his destiny.
With an undeniably strong start to his career, TeeJay3k has lived up to the expectations. His Latest mixtape, INTROVERT: SIDE A, includes four tracks, and boasts a feature with Mozzy on track four, “Harder.” TeeJay3k’s got a lot of music in store for his fans this summer and hasn’t let quarantine slow down his process at all. With INTROVERT: SIDE B dropping soon as well as Cold Summer 3 on the way, TeeJay3K is delivering nonstop heat. As his musical sound has developed throughout the years, so too has his maturity, especially when it comes to having patience with his releases and trusting his team and label. We caught up with TeeJay3k about his latest tape, favorite tracks and musical journey. Find out what else he shared in our interview below.
The Knockturnal: Can you talk about the process of making your new EP, Introvert: Side A and can you name some of your favorite tracks off of the project?
TeeJay3k: The EP is self-explanatory, that’s me as a person, I’m very introverted because I’m not into big crowds or anything like that. My favorite tracks off that EP are “Whatever You Need” and “Harder.”
The Knockturnal: What was it like growing up in Broward County and who are some of your musical influences?
TeeJay3k: Broward culture is different than a lot of other places. For musical influences, I look up to a lot of southern and west coast rappers. I was real big on Hot Boys, Tupac, and E40. My dad used to play a lot of west coast rappers. Newer rappers too like Future.
The Knockturnal: When did you know that music would be your career path?
TeeJay3k: I been into music for a long time because a lot of my family is musically oriented, but I never really wanted to do music at first, I was more into sports. I got injured and couldn’t play sports anymore. I didn’t take it serious at first and then two years after that I made a song with Kodak.
The Knockturnal: What was it like to work with Kodak and how did that link up happen?
TeeJay3k: He’s a cool dude, very animated. We kinda grew up together and went to the same school, we basically from the same part of Florida, we had mutual friends.
The Knockturnal: When can fans expect Cold Summer 3 to drop?
TeeJay3k: First I’m gonna drop the next side of the introvert tape, side B, next month then one more song then after that, a little bit later we’re gonna drop Cold Summer 3.
The Knockturnal: Why did you decide to split your tape into Side A & Side B?
TeeJay3k: We were trying to drop a tape, but I didn’t wanna oversaturate people.
The Knockturnal: Do you think it’s better to spread out releases to avoid over saturating fans?
TeeJay3k: Personally I like to drop music as soon as I make it, but sometimes it’s better to wait to put the machine behind a song or an album. Different things work for different people.
The Knockturnal: Do you think signing with a label has impacted how you release your music?
TeeJay3k: It’s taught me how to be patient when it comes to a release.
