Harlem’s smoke is still rising. But this time the fire burns from the rap industry’s latest artist, battle rapper Jae Millz. Our first introduction to Jae Millz on a mainstream level stems from his guest appearance on P.Diddy’s “Making the Band,” when he went toe-to-toe against the group captain Ness. However, Jae Millz is ready to step into his own arena and gain attention not so much from battling, but from his first solo effort.
“NO, NO, NO,” Millz hot new single on the Warner Brother’s label pounds the streets with its reggae effect coupled by slick-stabbing lyrics. Mixtape shows from New York City and beyond are now requesting the track heavy. The song is a definite crowd-pleaser that will make rooted Yardies throw up their lighters, and Hip-Hop fiends lick-a-shot.
All-in-all, Jae’s persona for a rookie exceeds the norm. Maybe that’s from an independent drive to succeed, or maybe his desire to excel is paved from the lessons taught by some of the leading legends in this game. Only Jae Millz has the answers, but I do know he is proud to say that cats such P. Diddy are instrumental to his career.
Allhiphop: What’s up? You’re pretty new on the main rap scene. Inform the audience about Jae Millz.
Jae Millz: I got in the game through battling. Battling was my little, well not my gimmick, but my little way of getting in the game. Everybody who was hot….they had to come see me. If you was in the hood and you was hot, they had to bring you up…you gotta battle my man Millz. Then the Making the Band thing happened. Making the Band came you know what I’m saying? Then Puff called my peoples…they were like… Yo! Puff wants you to come down there and do a little Making the Band thing. And then that was my claim to fame.
Allhiphop: Now there are a lot of rappers in Harlem.
Jae Millz: There are a lot of rappers in New York.
Allhiphop:How did you formulate that plan to get yourself seen (by P.Diddy) verses a million other rappers coming out of New York, Harlem preferably?
Jae Millz: I started once again by battling. I mean, I used to battle like everyday. I would battle like three people at one time. Then it got to the point…I was doing you know a little mix-tape here or there. I was just doing anything. I didn’t care. I just wanted to be on anything. Then I started doing a public access show, you know what I’m saying? It only came on in Manhattan, but I was killing it like I was the king of that show. They made an intro just for me! It was crazy…like after that the whole NY started finding out about me. People would just be watching TV and catch the show and see me. People from labels started calling my house off the fact of what I was saying on the public access show. So it all built up. Then I started being on a lot of DJ Enuff’s mix-tapes and Kay Slay. I went on the radio…I was here…I was there, there, magazines, it just blew up and the Making the Band thing of course. Everybody wanna know what happened on the “Making the Band” show.
Allhiphop: Tell us a little bit about that whole Making of the Band and going against the lyrical Ness?
Jae Millz: Our homeboy P. Diddy, I met Diddy when I was crazy young. Like when he first met me he was like you’re nice and a good rapper. You know what I’m saying? He was like there’s a difference between a good rapper and a great rapper. Someone who can really hold somebody’s attention…if you can’t hold my attention then what’s the point of me listening to you?
So when I went into the battle, I always remembered when he told me that from when I was younger.
So I started out crazy. I started out crazy calm, wild, cocky, wild-sarcastic, but I was talking about something. It wasn’t like I was just saying something to be saying something. I was talking about something and that’s what caught his attention. He was just like…Yo! You’re crazy!! But I think before it got out of hand…he didn’t want it to go there. We kept it real respectful for the cameras.
Allhiphop: So what is gonna be your pitch to stay in the game? Are you riding on that battle theory? Are you gonna be that storyteller rapper? What’s gonna be your edge?
Jae Millz: I do everything. If I want to tell a story, I could tell a story. If I want to tell you how I was raised, I’ll tell you how I was raised. If I want to battle through a track, I could battle. If I want to party, I could party. If I want to tell you how beautiful you are…I’ll tell you that I want to ride in a whip with you. I could do all that. So it’s not really like I’m gonna try to stay on the hardcore side. I’m gonna do whatever I feel like doing.
Allhiphop: Now you know that the game is funny right now, real sticky, real clicky. How are you gonna side pass that?
Jae Millz: You gotta do you. People fall into other peoples tracks wanting to do what other people do. Everybody sees 50 Cent doing him and how he’s handling his business. Now everybody wants to handle their business like that. Everybody wants to make DVD’s and have their guns out. You know what I’m saying? Everybody’s a killer. Now just a minute ago ya’ll was nice rappers. You know what I’m saying? Ya’ll was cool. All of a sudden ya’ll killers. Everybody gotta do what works for them. If you do what works for you from the beginning, you’ll always be alright.
Jigga ain’t never changed his style. It worked for him.
Big ain’t never changed his style.
Pac ain’t never changed his style. It only got better.
You can’t lose if you only do what works for you. If you try to do anything else, that’s where you’re gonna mess up. You don’t know how to live nobody else’s life. Live your own.
