ALBUM HIGHLIGHT: 

Zilla Da Track Killa

by Youngin

ALBUM HIGHLIGHT: 

Everything Is Art

by Tom Arts

5Q: J.Nolan

It’s a brand new year and we’re back with our artist interview series, 5Q! We’re starting the year off proper with Atlanta-based rap artist, J.Nolan. With the recent release of The Upbringing, this 23-year old is bound to make substantial buzz in the hip-hop community.

DOWNLOAD: The Upbringing

New Haven isn’t really known as a hot-bed for hip-hop / rap artists.  How has moving to Atlanta impacted your music career?

That’s very true. New Haven and Connecticut as a whole hasn’t really brought many artists to the forefront of the industry, but there’s a lot of talent out there and time will tell if the world takes notice. Moving to Atlanta was never even a choice, though. My parents made that decision when I was a kid and I’m grateful that it happened because I have balance between my northern and southern roots. And even further, my career thus far has been in Atlanta. The people I’ve met and built relationships with have taken place in this city. Everything else has happened online. 

Listening to The Upbringing, I hear a hint of Mobb Deep, Mos Def, Jay-Z and a few others in your delivery.  Who are some of your biggest influences, musically and non-musically?

The dynamic of myself and Yung B Da Producer is very similar to Mobb Deep with the fact that both of us rhyme and B makes the beats. But we have a wide variety of inspiration that can come into play at any moment. The Upbringing was made primarily as an ode to the Roc-a-fella sound of 2002-2005; State Property, The Diplomats, Just Blaze, Bink!…that was the foundation of this album and it kind of took a life of its own once we actually started recording. When it comes to writing structure, we look at people like Nas, Raekwon, and AZ’s earlier work because these are the people we relate to. 

Outside of music, we play off of each other being that we’re family, so we share experiences that spill into the music. We both have strong faith in God and Christ and that gets heard as well. I feel like we’re put here to be spokespeople of this generation. Not necessarily the only spokespeople, but we aim to contribute something of more value than just a few hot songs and you never hear from us again.

Can you give us some insight on The Manifest Movement and the definition behind it?

It’s basically a continuation of what I was touching on before. The Manifest Movement is our company and we’re not limiting ourselves to just being artists. We have talents in writing and producing so that’s our bread and butter, but we plan to actively take a role in filming our own works and being people of change within the community at large. Even if we can only speak to one person at a time or do these types of interviews, I want to project intelligence into what Hip-Hop is and can be. We can make the most grimy, street based music ever heard by man or make people dance, but when it’s time to sit down and speak I want to show people that there’s more to it than just rapping and being cool.

Being an independent artist, it takes a lot of time and effort getting your music out there.  How have you utilized technology and social networks to gain a fan base?

Technology created a lane that wasn’t available to me in Atlanta, you know? Like, nobody wanted to work with some 18 year old kid that had nothing but a bag of CD’s. Unmixed CD’s, just raw talent. That wasn’t gonna happen. I didn’t know anybody that could give me a stage to rock on or anything, so I started posting my music online and looking beyond the people in my city. Eventually it led to me forming relationships with blogs, DJ’s, fellow artists, etc…both in and out of Atlanta. Now I’ve developed somewhat of an international presence and I’ve never even been outside of the United States. Social networks made that accessible. 

Last question, the 1st or the 15th…when are them bills due?

Ha! Really around the 27th for a lot of stuff, but that’s closer to the 1st. If there’s anyone similar to me out there, you know about things not getting handled until around the 3rd or 4th when it’s due on the 28th…if then. But the 1st & 15th song was really just to kind of shed light on some of the circumstances we either grew up around or personally experienced. The first of the month is nationally known as the day the government assistance comes through and growing up in the 90’s, that was prominent in the community we came up in. We just wanted to bring it up to date with the circumstances of today where things haven’t really changed much, other than the perception outside people have about it.