Publication: wordplaymagazine.com Date: 28th February 2018
What’s good people! We’re back again alongside Deezer with another edition of 10 questions. This time around, Daniella wanted to delve deeper into the world of Jay Prince…
What was it like growing up in East London with a passion for music? How were you able to branch out, solidifying a career for yourself both in the U.K. and abroad?
Growing up in Canning Town, Newham was great. I grew up with a solid group of friends which I’m real grateful for. Growing up there was a solid community of kids with similar interests and there were a lot of opportunities to express that – youth clubs, football clubs, these things took place weekly offering kids like myself growing up in my neighbourhood a chance to really do something positive with ourselves. I used to attend a youth club called Hartley Centre which was in East Ham where I’d start recording music for the first time ever at the age of about 15, and also went to another that was right by my house in Canning Town which was organised by some of the older guys on my street.
It was also difficult because of just other things that would go on, violence etc. You know it can really give you a perspective at a young age to where you wanna be in your life. So I’m thankful for those youth clubs and the people I had around me and still have. I think thats how I’ve been able to branch out, at a very young age I was encouraged that things can go the way you want it to with a little direction, and that’s what I wanna be able to offer to the young kids that grew up in similar circumstances or just kids in general, a sense of direction and guidance, that can really be the difference in your life.
You’ve spoken about working in retail before you began your music career. What advice can you give to upcoming creatives working in careers that they aren’t necessarily passionate about?
I say listen to your heart, it can be hard leaving something that has security.
I worked a few jobs before fully doing what I do today, from being a paper boy riding around Newham with my boy at 6 in the morning, to being a sales man for a phone company whilst trying to get a degree at University at the same time, to being a steward at a football club. One thing that helped me was using those jobs to fund my passion so I could then go on to do what I love having a job helped me pay for my studio equipment, which then led to me being inspired to take on film photography (loungeinfilm) and putting together a collective (DRMCLB) where we create a platform for ourselves and other creatives to come together and do what they love. From then on everything started making more sense for me. When you know you’ll know.
You released your mixtape Late Summers in 2017, showing the world what you are capable of lyrically. I Believe In You(featuring Mahalia) particularly resonated with me. Where did the passion to create such a heartfelt track come from?
For me, it was coming to a realisation of just understanding it’s okay to be myself in everything I do. We often worry about what people think of us, how we come across, and sway what social media feeds us, it can really mess with loving yourself you know? All this worry and focus on what’s going on but no time to live your own life. I feel like we all at some point put on a front to impress people in what we’re doing. I tend to ask myself and identify what I can do in my position to help continue putting that good energy into the world.
Your COLORS performance has reached over one million views and is undoubtedly one of the standout performances on the platform. How did the opportunity to perform come about?
I’ve always been a fan of the platform, I feel like they always got dope artists on there killing their performances so I was excited to do one. I was touring with Chance at the time and we had a stop in Berlin and they knew I was gonna be in town so then we just connected and got straight to it.
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