Kidzworld recently had a chance to ask up-and-coming artist Jared Evan some questions about his life, his music and his loves. Read on to find out more about Jared, who describes his own sound as "a melting pot of psychedelic blues, rock 'n' roll, alternative rock, R&B," and, most importantly, hip-hop.
Kidzworld: Have you always been into hip-hop?
Jared: Actually, early on growing up I wasn't. I was a rock and soul FIEND. My founding influences was stuff like Cream, The Beatles, Sublime, Led Zeppelin, Al Green.
Kidzworld: When and how did you start rapping?
Jared: I started to freestyle when I was 13 years old. I did it so much, it eventually became an everyday thing. I would come home from class put on a DJ Premier or RZA beat and just go nuts. It was practice without me even realizing I was practicing for anything.
Kidzworld: What would you say to people who don’t believe hip-hop’s a legit form of music?
Jared: I would say they're wrong. Then I would say go home and learn about rhythm and cadence, and understand that when people rhyme, they are playing an instrument with their voice and lyrics. The art of rapping, is exactly like playing an instrument, the only difference is the instrument is the mouth and voice.
Kidzworld: How about people who say kids shouldn’t listen to hip-hop/rap because it’s a negative influence?
Jared: I would be understanding towards that notion, but would still tell those people they are wrong. Hip-hop is real. The issues that are spoken about in hip-hop are only spoken because they exist in the world. I actually think it will inform young kids the difference between right and wrong, if they listen close enough.
Kidzworld: Who did you listen to when you were growing up? Who are some of the artists you look up to the most?
Jared: That's a very large list but the people who had a major impact growing up were Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Cream, The Who, Al Green, Sublime, the Wu Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest, Radiohead, The Roots, Jimi Hendrix, Jethro Tull and James Brown.
Kidzworld: How did you first break into the music industry?
Jared: I started to intern at The Fader in NYC through my manager/childhood friend/mentor Matt Graham. During my time there, I created a bunch of great relationships with a lot of people, one of those people being music video director Rik Cordero. Rik and I became good friends and he started inviting me out to play cameo roles in his videos. Shortly after that, I sent Rik some music I had been working on at the time. Rik had no idea I was a musician, let alone an artist trying to make his way. As soon as he heard the music he was blown away. My manager Matt had then asked Rik if he would like to get involved and work with me. Rik immediately said yes and that's when we started to shoot videos together. Rik and I shot two videos for two songs I had produced and written, and these videos started to circulate within the music industry. A few weeks after we shot the videos, I started to receive offers from several different record labels and Interscope was one of them.
Kidzworld: Who have you worked with? Who was most exciting to meet in person?
Jared: Man, I am blessed to have been able to work with people like Dr. Dre, Polow Da Don, Boi1da, Kevin Rudolf, Mike Elizondo, Illfactor, !llmind, DJ Khalil and of course Jimmy Douglass. The most exciting person I have met/worked with would be Dr. Dre. He is such a genius and a huge part of me growing up. Man that was like a dream come true!
Kidzworld: What’s your vision for your music in the future?
Jared: My vision is to help contribute to the evolution of music. To have music be as natural as it can be once again, where artists only focus on their musical creativity and nobody else's. I really just want to leave my own fingerprint on pop culture.
Kidzworld: What do you talk about through your music?
Jared: I talk about a lot of different things. Most of the things I talk about are different feelings I have at any given moment. Whether those feelings are sad, mad, heart-broken, humorous, etc. Raw emotion is what drives my music and my debut album certainly portrays that.
Kidzworld: What’s the best advice you would give to kids who want to rap?
Jared: The best advice I'd give to kids who want to rap would be, be who you have been your whole life through your rhymes and through your music period. Don't imitate others. Express yourself honestly and the sky is the limit.
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