You’ve always talked about bringing Hip Hop back to the way it once was. What does that exactly mean to you?
You gotta bring back the essence. First of all you got to bring back the sound. I’m not gonna say what people are doing right now ain’t Hip Hop. I’m not gonna say what the South is doing ain’t Hip Hop. I just wanna see the true essence come back. Like see [what] everybody wears, how everybody acts. You gotta bring back that feeling man. When I see what people are doing, from DJ Premiere to Marley Marl, [it’s great]. Go get that Raekwon album. When you first heard that BIG album or when you first heard Illmatic… my favorite song is I Gave You Power. People gonna think I’m crazy, but in Hip Hop, you brag and you [wild out] but you also are creative. People talk about keeping it real all the time. Keeping it real is being real and being yourself. That’s what bringing Hip Hop back is. Just do you. You got to bring it back to reality.
You’ve had some issues with record labels, Warner Brothers and Universal. Would you care to elaborate on that?
I was with Warner Brothers and we were working it and then I got signed to Universal and that fell through. So I stepped away from that. I put at least half my album over there at Universal. But things weren’t getting done. In all actually things wouldn’t have got better, they only would have got worse. Then I left the label. So, I’m back in the studio now. I’ll get records popping on my own. They make labels sound like a machine, but it’s not a machine. It’s just people.
What is the current status of your debut release Back To Tha Future?
It’s in the [works]. We are looking for a new situation now, talking to some people. We’re just trying to make it work. I don’t want to say too much and jinx it or make people upset. Back To Tha Future was done. The thing is I’m back in the studio now and I feel like I’m past Back To Tha Future. I’m a different rapper, different man now. People don’t want to hear that. You want me to regroup and make new music. If I put it out now, that shit’s gonna look like a mixtape.
What are your thoughts on the recent underground acts that got major label deals, Papoose and Joell Ortiz?
I’m not a hater. I can’t be mad at them for doing their thing. I wanna see people do their thing. They been doing their thing for a while too and if they get results from it, good for them. You just got to do what work for you.
Are you currently looking for a new deal or do you intend to stay underground unsigned?
Yes, I am. I got a couple of people that are talking to me now. I’m not really with that whole ‘I wanna make a bunch of money’. Nah. I wanna get my music heard. I’d rather just do what I do and do me.
What is the best way for your fans to get info on your events and overall moves?
I got a mixtape out now, it’s called Time is Now, the official mixtape. It’s kinda like a mixtape album. I couldn’t really put it through a label so I just went straight swag on that. You can get it on the corner or on different sites, like mixtapeking.com. They sold out but try to get it. You can also get it on iTunes. I’m just working. I’ll be down in Atlanta for a little while but you can definitely hit me up on MySpace. Myspace.com/jaemillz I like to talk to my fans.