As fate would have it, on the alcohol-soaked bead-littered streets of New Orleans, I crossed paths with a dude named Jason Price, Mardi Gras 2015. We were introduced by mutual friends and spent the weekend enjoying everything that dirty glorious city has too offer from Huge Ass Beers to mountains of crawfish.
The fuzzy weekend came to a close, but Jason and I stayed in touch. We connected over our love for music. No one could predict that just three years later I would be living in LA running my own music website, and he in New York the CEO of a successful clothing company and pursuing rap music. Price just released his first full length album, Yours Truly. A 12 track musical journey tackling issues like social media, the fashion industry, and modern love. (Find links to my top three tracks at the bottom.)
I was completely blown away by the level of artistry and professionalism that went into the production of this album. The top notch sound quality and smooth lyrics will have you scratching your head going, “How is this guy not signed?” Working in the music press industry, I have friends send me their music all the time. However, I have never been compelled to write about it. Put simply, this is not just another SoundCloud rapper. Yours Truly deserves all of my readers ears, and I’m excited to introduce to you to New York’s best kept secret, Jason Price.
When I met you, you were starting your own clothing company Lay Low, and this is a theme you address in the song “Music and Fashion”, what made you make the jump from fashion to music?
I’ve always been a huge fan of music. Part of the reason I got into fashion in the first place was to be closer to rap. I knew if I made fire clothes I would be able to get them into the hands of rappers and go from there. As far as jumping into music myself, it kind of started as a joke. I bought a $20 headset from Office Depot and just started messing around on Garage Band. My songs were complete trash but I fell in love with the process of writing. Watching a song come together is such a sick feeling.
Are you still pursuing both artistic interests or are you putting more energy into one than the other?
I feel like my focus changes on a week to week basis. I’ll draw up a design for a shirt or something and then get really into clothing for a while. Same goes for rap. I’ll make a couple songs in a row and get bored. I really enjoy doing both, but not at the same time. It just depends on what I’m feeling.
You’ve been releasing singles and EPs here and there for a couple years, now you just dropped Yours Truly, what made you feel the need to finally make a full album?
My first to EP’s really had no thought put into them. I would make 6 songs in a row and put it out regardless of how good they were, or how well they flowed together. With this album, I really took my time. I felt like I was finally good enough to put out a respectable project. I had about 30 songs to chose from and ended up with 12 that I thought would make a good collection.
The album is extremely well mixed for an unsigned artist, your samples and layering are a noticeable achievement. How did you go about producing and recording the album?
I’ve gotten a few compliments on my mixing which is funny because it’s not really mixed. I still use a pretty cheap mic and record on garage band. I kind of just figured out a sweet spot where my voice sounds decent. As far as producing goes, I completely outsource that to other people. I have no idea how to make a beat. With that being said, I probably spend more time searching for beats than I do writing. I’ll work with producers I find off YouTube, and more recently with people that reach out through Instagram wanting me to go over their beats. I’ll usually know within the first couple seconds if its something I can work with.
I also enjoyed your use of intros, interludes, and outros, it definitely gave the album a Drake flair. Who are some of your other rap idols?
The song “Homage” gives a pretty good idea of who I’ve been influenced by. I’m a really big fan of the usual guys, Kanye, Drake, Travis Scott. But I feel like I was shaped by Jadakiss, Fabulous, Dipset, Nas, pretty much all the lyrical rappers that came out of New York in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. My favorite of all time is Lil Wayne though, no ones touching him.
What’s your songwriting process like and what’s your favorite line from the album?
My writing process is pretty simple. As long as I have a good first line to start with I can just flow from there. I’ll usually think of a bar in the shower and have to jump out and write it down. From that point, the beat takes over, and I’ll just write about shit I’ve done, eaten, worn, seen, etc… It sounds corny but I think my favorite line is “Nothing wakes you up more than seeing all the people sleeping on you”.
“Fuck social media I hate putting the posts up, for that reason alone I’ll probably never blow up”, a powerful line from one of your tracks. Do you feel like you’d ever change your ways if you were offered a record deal or you’ll always Lay Low?
I think its so crazy what social media has evolved into. People just take it so seriously. I miss 2012 twitter where nobody gave a fuck.
Well, I may be blowing his low key cover, but an album this good needs to be shared. You can listen to the full album here, and you can find Jason on Instagram at @jas0nprice.
My Top Three Tracks-
- Music and Fashion- Major Rick Ross vibes and a church organ beat you feel in your soul.
- Social Media- Subject matter we can all relate to, am I right?
- P.S.- The perfect outro to an album that gives you Take Care realness. https://open.spotify.com/album/74eIAebIdRYJk3dlO9udMW
