Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Carter.
Jordan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started writing my own raps when I was in middle school. That was around the same time as Lil’ Wayne’s “The Carter III” came out and I remember playing that album over and over and over again. I tried my hardest to come up with metaphors and imagery like Wayne and I slowly began to show some real promise in 9th grade when I was studying his follow-up mixtape, “No Ceilings”. During the 30 minute gap between the end of school at Mays High and the start of marching band practice, I’d ask some of my friends to video record me rapping lyrics that I wrote to popular instrumentals just like “No Ceilings” in empty classrooms. I was originally going to come out with a mixtape called “No Roofings” with my friend Rod but that idea set the groundwork for what would eventually become my first mixtape, My Favorite Things, about 8 years later. I originally thought that it was only going to be a bunch of freestyles to my favorite songs.
Long story short, I realized and my mentors in music realized that I was an amazing classical percussionist and I went on the serve as principal percussionist of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra during my 11th and 12th-grade year at Mays. My journey as a musician also helped me to acquire a Full Tuition POSSE Foundation Scholarship to attend Boston University. During all of this, rapping had kind of fall by the wayside as I felt that I needed to develop what others saw as talent in me, and I felt like classical music was more realistic. However, during undergrad, I realized this was not the case. I was a sophomore when Mike Brown was murdered without any consequence to the killer, and after watching these cases on TV at the student union, I’d go right back to the practice room for hours at a time. This put me at a crossroads because, during rehearsals, there was no talk about the hurt and trauma that African-Americans were feeling throughout the nation which eventually led me to shy away from my ambitions to one day perform in an orchestra. That being said, here I am with all this musical talent, but no real self-fulfilling way to express it. Come junior year in 2016, my girlfriend went abroad to London after she broke up with me and my close friend and fellow POSSE Scholar Stacy Finley randomly sent me a beat that he actually didn’t even want me to get on. Not knowing this at first, I laid down a verse on it inside another friends dorm room at BU. Once I got back to my dorm, I was playing the song for all my friends and the reception was honestly magical. To see their expressions over my bars really helped give me the that rap would be my thing and I haven’t turned back since. My first song came out on my 21st birthday and now I’m 24. I am blessed that things have been going this well!
Has it been a smooth road?
There have been some obstacles for sure, but they have all helped me to grow stronger. One of my most recent obstacles arose during graduate school at Columbia. I would always get caught up comparing myself to other rappers who were coming up on Instagram and I felt like I wasn’t completely able to be a rapper while getting a masters degree. It took some time to really use my position in school to my advantage and change my mindset because going to school has carved my own unique lane within rap. I’m on a different wave than any of my peers simply because literally no one is doing what I do.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Dreams To Paper Entertainment story. Tell us more about it.
Dreams To Paper Entertainment is the label that I co-founded with my friends. I began this business venture with them because as my success in the music industry elevates, I would much rather own the land, than sharecrop off another’s. Also, I believe that the artists on the label with me, @thejeanlucmusic @lilevo1 and @roam96 are some of the most talented artists of this generation. Together, we make really good music together and it is very fun to do!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I don’t necessarily see any big changes in the industry unless the exploitation stops. The commodification and exploitation of black music by large white-run record labels has led our young brothers and sisters to say nearly anything on a track for a quick bag.
And though we love seeing black people get to the paper, this phenomena has conditioned niggas worldwide, to dismiss certain styles of music without a catchy hook over some 808 drums as corny, outdated, or simply not going that hard.
However, I want to challenge everyone with my music to embrace something unique and I have full confidence in our ability to do so as we are not one-dimensional!
Contact Info:
- Website: whatjordanraps.com
- Email: info@dreams2paperent.com
Image Credit:
@ursprinz
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