Jastin Artis | From the DMV to The Future
Jastin Artis is a DMV artist whose music fuses Gospel, acoustic and electric guitars, and Spoken word to give a new wave in typical Hip-Hop music. He's the bridge between genres that music fans didn't know they were looking for, but once you hear his unique sound and style, it's impossible to turn away. When you experience how he delivers his lyrics across his soulful music, it catches your attention for a sound that is truly original. It's Hip-Hop Renaissance.
There is more to come from Jastin as he continues to evolve, collaborate, and extend to the next level in his career. Jastin is also the president and owner of the faith and home-based artist development company, Artis Studios LLC, helping indie artists achieve their dreams.
Fans can look forward to two full-length projects in 2021, one for the spring and one for fall. This will be Jastin's ninth and tenth alum to date, "Love in Darkness I and II." The first single from "Love in Darkness I" is "This Black Skin" which is available on 2.5.21. You can stream it on Spotify here and all platforms.
Gulie Carrington: I’ve been scoping you out on the ‘gram and your website- your pieces, including your media kit are so well crafted and creative. I wanted to open up our chat by asking about your artistic journey; tell me how you’ve grown and how we ended up here today.
Jastin Artis: It’s still weird to me because doing music was NEVER on the agenda. I’m 18 years in and still going at it like it’s my first time. I was a fan of hip-hop, had an appreciation for music (shout out to all the band geeks) but I never knew what music I wanted to do-
GC: I have to interrupt you here- I need to know what instrument you played in band.
JA: I played the clarinet, and I must confess, I did it to be around the girls!
GC: Right on, right on. Continue.
JA: Being a fan, I watched all things music but it wasn’t until junior/senior year of high school that I heard my friend in band class play Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin on the guitar. We were both poets who wrote together a lot, but hearing that encouraged me to look into incorporating music into my poetry.
My uncle got me a guitar as a graduation gift, and I taught myself how to play during my first year of college. Another experience that pushed my journey was traveling to visit my uncle Curtis, who was working at MTV at the time and I got to sit in on an interview with Mr. Cheeks from The Lost Boyz. (Queens, REPRESENT!) That experience as a writer made me want to go into entertainment. I didn’t fully shift to music until months later when I wrote my first song. I love hip-hop, but I’m also eclectic and listen to rock, pop, jazz, classical, alternative, so I just play around when I create. It felt awkward initially, but I’ve learned to own it and I’ve stuck with it. It’s been a long journey, as far as creating my own sound. The journey is never over.
GC: Shout out to your dope uncles for paving the way for future Jastin! You mentioned being gifted a guitar, which led me to the question, what are some other pivotal experiences from your journey?
JA: My uncle Joe got me a guitar, and I just learned this information by the way- apparently he has a gift. He was a preacher, a god-fearing man, and this gift was sight, he could see what people were gifted in before they themselves could. I thought he got me the guitar because he heard my mom wouldn’t, but apparently he just knew I would move forward with music. I can recall teaching myself how to play and thinking to myself ‘is this just a hobby’? Another big turning point for me was in college at North Carolina A&T State University, (HBCU pride!) I was known as THAT GUY walking around playing the guitar and I had countless encounters with people who would give me words of encouragement- and this is only a year or two into it, mind you! After the third time, I felt it was sincere, as if they knew something I didn’t and it kept pushing me to continue.
GC: I listened to your catalog and your sound is very multi-faceted, who are your inspirations for your writing and your production. Where do you derive your inspiration?
JA: I will start with Queen Latifah, my mom bought me Black Rain. That got me into rap. Alanis Morrisette in high school, she was the first person who made me feel like as a poet I wrote differently, and Jagged Little Pill made me feel like I could make it. My reaction was “she’s not even rhyming and people love it!” It made me think it was okay to be different and it helped me gain confidence. Back in college, before the so-called ‘YouTube University’ days, I would even go to the library and read songwriting books. My motto now is to learn how to do it right, before you do it your way.
Jastin additionally cited these artists who influence his sound the most:
· John Mayer
· Ray Charles
· Tupac
· Biggie
· Jill Scott
· Stevie Wonder
· Nas
· Jay-Z
· Michael Jackson
· Beyonce (whom he had the chance to meet and missed it!)
· Robin Thicke
· Missy Elliott
· Aaliyah (R.I.P)
Some of my favorite producers include uncontested favorite, Timbaland, Pharrell and Quincy Jones. I connect with creators who stick to their guns and continue to innovate within their music. Like the ones I’ve rattled off, they have substance, and relative longevity.
GC: I have a clear picture in my mind of your influences and can totally relate. Let’s navigate away from music for a moment, what do you do to relax?
JA: I’m still having trouble with that, shout out to my mom because she’s a workaholic and I get it from her. I learned from watching her that there were certain things I wanted to do, and certain ones I didn’t. Now that I’ve become so immersed in entertainment sometimes I’m in “work mode” and can’t enjoy movies because I’m thinking about how the scene is set up, but I still love watching them. I also love video games like 2k, audio books because even as an English major, sometimes I still hate reading though. Places that have water are great for thinking, praying, meditating. I’m a foodie! I think of myself as a French fry connoisseur. I also love crab legs, but honestly, it’s too much work! (Laughs)
GC: It’s entirely too much work. I don’t want to have to fight with my food!
JA: Supporting people is also very relaxing to me. I’m not on social media to just be scrolling all day; I go down a rabbit hole of sorts figuring out who made this post, who is this person? Becoming a fan, so to speak. That’s relaxing for me.
GC: Awesome. So now I’d like you to tell me about your current project and what’s next.
JA: ‘Can’t Do Without Love’ is the second single for the upcoming album, Love and Darkness I. It is a big project, and my ninth one as an independent artist that I’ve released. This album shows my Hip-Hop renaissance sound that I’ve been creating and cultivating for years now. It has a gospel tone in it. I love God and I’m not shy about that, but it’s not preachy. As we know, as soon as people hear the word Gospel, they think certain things but it’s weird because I don’t feel as though I fit into the Hip-Hop box or the Gospel box so I’m still kind of just out here on my own.
Overall on this album I show that I love God, there are definitely some poetry features- both acapella and in some of the songs, lots of use of guitar on this particular project… so I think this album signifies my transitions, ups and downs in love and displaying the many sides of ‘love’, and how to love in darkness. I’ve been working on this album for 5 years, and it started out one way, and unfortunately I lost my second child two years ago and the music started flowing out, then I decided to scrap my old work and make a whole new project. This album will be my expression of who I am, my stories, and being transparent with my audience. I hope it helps people figure out how to love and be a light in the darkness. In 2020, I started to realized the relevancy of my music and what I’ve learned from the greats is, I want my music to always be relevant, 30, 40, or 50 years from now. Once you finish with trap music, or club music and you’re looking for something with some substance that deals with love, or even grief, I want you to turn on Love and Darkness I. It’s more than just a mood. This is my first time ever doing crowd funding for it, so I’m kind of nervous, but very excited. The release date on my second single, Can’t Do Without Love, is March 26th! Part II comes out later this fall.
GC: We love to see it! It’s incredible that you’ve been able to channel your energy, your hurt, and unfortunate tragedies in your life into positivity and as you’ve said, light. Let’s get an update from where you are now.
JA: My biggest thing now, since COVID, is sync licensing.
[Author’s note: A music synchronization license, or "sync" for short, is a music license granted by the holder of the copyright of a particular composition, allowing the licensee to synchronize music with some kind of visual media output.]
It was the time to cultivate what I do and how I do it, because now I’m 100% in this game. I’ve got a lot of great things on the horizon. I’m looking for my first placement! I’ve been doing a lot of networking, building partnerships but now I feel I’ve been building my team, so to speak. Like everyone else, I’m just trying to stay afloat. Like any other business it has its ups and downs, but man it feels good to be me right now.
GC: It takes courage to jump into this game head first. Thank you so much! I’m so looking forward to hearing more from you in the future. ‘Can’t Do Without Love’ out now!
Check out Jastin Artis: