J FAREAL PURE COUNTRY SWAG BLOWIN’ UP FROM THE ATL

Gutta World touched down with southern country boy rapper J Fareal. With an all new video blowin’ up the web and worldwide fans spreading the word about his one of a kind county swag, we found out about what J Fareal really has going on and what to expect in the near future. If you haven’t heard of him….now you have!

GW: Sup J! Tell me about the new single coming out.
J FAREAL: Yes, on July 21st! It’s called “I’m Fresh”, and it has one of my boys, from south Georgia he’s got a big name down here, his name is Bravado. We’ll be shooting the video around July 28th in North Carolina and Georgia. And I just released my last single “Next To Me” in May.

GW: When’s the album droppin?
J FAREAL: We’re shooting for August, we’ll have a full album out.

GW: So you started rapping at age 9?!
J FAREAL: Rapping at 9, sure did!

GW: What got you started in that?
J FAREAL: Well my brother snuck home the Dr. Dre Chronic album whenever I was nine years old and I knew we weren’t suppose to listen to it, but after he snuck it home I stole the cassette tape from him and listen to it all the way through and wrote down every word that Dr. Dre said throughout the album. So I had my little notebook at nine years old and I had the whole album memorized from front to back and that’s where it all started.

GW: You just memorized the whole Chronic album and started doing your own?
J FAREAL: Yep, sure did. Which is a little different, a southern white boy listening to Chronic back then.

GW: Yeah, what did people think about that?
J FAREAL: They love it, that’s my swag. I’m a respectable country dude and I just try to make good music and have everybody involved with good music and good livin’, that’s what it’s all about. We got one life to live and I try to incorporate my music with a good feeling. And that’s what its all about.

GW: When did you write your first song?
J FAREAL: My first song was written when I was eleven years old, in middle school.

GW: What about this song “Gotta Go To School”?
J FAREAL: Gotta go to school, actin’ like a fool, cause all the girls think its so dang cool… That was actually my first song.

GW: How old are you now?
J FAREAL: I just turned 28.

GW:  You were doing your rap thing all through high school and then at the age of 23 you had to put everything on hold, what happened?
J FAREAL: We all go through trials and tribulations in our life so I had to put the music down for a couple of years and really had to change myself for who I am. And really had to take a look in the mirror and realize what I wanted to be and what I wanted to give back to the world. Before the age of 23 I wasn’t a positive person and I wasn’t giving back to the world. Once you go through trials and tribulations in life you change. I believe everybody has a chance to change, and I’ve changed for the better. And I owe it all to God and surrounding myself with good people, and that’s what life is about. About making changes.

GW: Was your plan to continue doing music?
J FAREAL: For sure, music is a part of me. Anything you’ve done since you was a little kid, you always go back to your roots. No matter if I was successful in the music business or have a hit record, it never mattered because music is just a part of me. The music is just a part of me and that’s the bottom line.

GW: How would you explain your style of music?
J FAREAL: I’ve had a hundred different people say different things about me, but my style of music is a southern boy just livin’ life and speaking the way I live my life and everything is true in everything that I say. Southern country hip-hop, I’d like to create my own genre, that’s what my goal is. It’s about the back roads, collard greens and fishin’ for me. [Laughs]

GW: People all over seem to really be picking up on it.
J FAREAL: People are picking up on it and I owe a big credit to the parents, because my music…everything I shoot a video for or anything I do I want the parents to be able to listen to it, have the parents be able to ride in the car with the kids and both of the jam out. And that’s what I’m about. It’s checkin on all of the US right now and I’m very very blessed to finally have it checkin’ on.

GW: Just recently you finished the “Next To Me” music video, how was that experience and was that your first full production music video?
J FAREAL: Yes, that was my first full production music video. I live in Atlanta, Georgia and I actually traveled back to my hometown which is Brunswick, Georgia and we shot the whole video there. It was great, I don’t get to go back to my hometown as much as I would like and everybody embrassed me with open arms and it was just a magical moment for me as an artist, but also for me as a person to have people see what I have become. So we got to go to different locations where I’ve grown up down there, and got to bring it back home. So we’ve had a good turnout on the sales of that song on itunes and with radio plays. I feel very blessed for that.

GW: What can we expect with your next video?
J FAREAL: Me and my good partner name Bravado, we’re going to be shooting the video for “I’m Fresh”. And “I’m Fresh” is more of a club song and it’s going to have a totally different feel. It’s just going to be a feel good party song with no negativity. It’s just going to be a good fun song. It’s going to have a totally different feel from the last one.

GW: You have made it very clear not only in this interview but in your bios and such that you don’t want and will not include any negativity in your songs; do you think that’s going to separate you from the rest and is there a reason that you don’t do that?
J FAREAL: Ya know I’m just me and my music is just me and I’m all about being positive. For myself I’ve had to change and I’ve seen the lowest that someone can go, and I don’t want to promote that lifestyle in any way, shape or form, because I’m lucky to still be here on earth. All my music is positive, theres no reason behind it, it’s just what I believe in as an artist and the vision I have for myself and my music.

GW: Do you base your lyrics off of real situations that you have gone through?
J FAREAL: Oh yeah, everything that I talk about, is stuff that I have gone through in my life. Nothing that I say hasn’t happened to me, I believe that’s what music is. If I wasn’t speaking the truth in my music, it just wouldn’t be J Fareal. My name stands for brand, and I want my brand to be based on integrity and honesty, and that’s what I’m all about. I’m just a good ol’ country gentleman, yes ma’ , no ma’. Let’s live life, lets smile, because if we ain’t smilin’ we ain’t livin’.

GW: What’s your process when writing your music? Do you like being by yourself, do you chill with other writers?
J FAREAL: I’m the only writer. I have a built in studio at my house in Atlanta, so I get in there with the candles lit and I say a pray before I write each song, to ask to get Gods help to get the words across and then it’s only poppin from there. Ya know the whole writing process that takes me about a day, recording another day and the turnaround for mixing and mastering and all that. So if I’m in the zone I can have a couple of songs done in one week.

GW: Do you plan on going on tour with your album?
J FAREAL: We’re getting asked to go on tour, but right now I’m just focusing on my project on hand. Right now I’m looking past the venues with a small about of people, we’re looking at the big picture right now. The sky is the ceiling. And that’s the way I’m looking at it, we want bigger and better things and I think we deserve it. So we are looking for the big tour.

GW: Are you with a label?
J FAREAL: I am not. I own my own label Frizzle Factory Productions. I’ve had several label offers, but we just have to get that right price in there. Everything is an independent mode right now, everything the clothing line, the ringtones; everything comes straight to us so it’s a beautiful thing. 17:57

GW: What are you goals?
J FAREAL: The way I work is, I create about fifty songs and then we’ll pick the best ones from there. For us it’s quality not quantity.

GW: How many songs have you written?
J FAREAL: For the next album we have 20 songs that nobody has heard. I want to get up to about thirty to thirty-five and then we’ll pick the best fifteen. Then all of the throw a ways will go on mix tapes around the US to get the buzz out before the album release. That’s how we operate.

GW: What do you think is the most important thing about being an independent artist and getting yourself out there? (Without the backing of a major label.)
J FAREAL: It’s just like anything else, it takes money to make money. If you’re not willing to invest in yourself, then you have to ask yourself who would be if I’m not. So I believe in my product, I believe in the brand J Fareal. I believe we have a corporation in the making, I see skyscrapers here in Atlanta with our name on it. That’s my goal. You have to have a vision, without a vision or a plan you have no goals. It’s grinding, it’s networking, it’s having a street team, it’s having people that back you, it’s having people that love your music. I have been lucky to have that in my career and that’s what you need.

GW: Tell me about the clothing line .
J FAREAL: Yeah, we have the Frizzle collection and each month we have a contest with the fans and each month I pick the winner and they can have the shirt designed. For the clothing line we have about 30 different designs for men, women, children and all different sizes; pretty much my fan base is everybody, so they can have their pick of all of that good stuff. I like to get the fans and the people involved in my work, so that’s what we’re doing with that. It’s goin’ good right now.

GW: So you designed all of the clothes?
J FAREAL: Well my team designed about half of them and I’m involved in that process, but also I bring fans along, ya know we pick a winner from the fans.

GW: Where can the fans by the clothes?
J FAREAL: Everything is through the website right now which is www.jfareal.com and there are several stores that are wanting to pick up some of the clothes. Like my last album was “Southern Pride Living” and those shirts are selling really good right now, down in the southern part of the United States.

GW: Where do you see yourself this time next year? And then in five years from now?
J FAREAL: In a short team goal as in one year. All this music stuff means the world to me and that’s all I want and the rest is in God’s hands. If I’m blessed with a number one hit album, then we’re going to go with it. If I’m still grindin’ as an independent artist then we’re going to go with that. In five years I just see myself livin’ life and grindin’ on whatever I do. The music, I know God has a plan for it and I’m just going to strap my seatbelt and go along for the ride. And a lot of fishin’ in between there!

GW: When do you do your fishing?
J FAREAL: I moved to Atlanta three or four years ago, but I was raised on the coast of Georgia so I was brought up fishing every day. But being in Atlanta I don’t get that opportunity very much. But when I get to the coast I like to fish as much as I can.

GW: So is that what you do in your down time?
J FAREAL: Yeah, but I also like to make time for golfing…but that don’t mean I’m good. As an independent artist and a grinder there is a lot of hours that go into it and you have to allow yourself the time to wined down and enjoy life and do the things that you do like. Because I did catch myself a couple times just working non-stop, seven days a week, and then you get burned out. So you have to make sure that you find time to do the things you like with friends and family and anything else that you want to do.

GW: Is there anything you want fans or people that have never heard your music, to know about you?
J FAREAL: I just people to know that I’m a good southern bred country boy from Georgia, who has the utmost respect for each and everyone in this world. Anybody who listens to my music, I hope they enjoy it and I hope they can smile from it. That’s the reason I do everything. And my main motto is, you got one life to live so live it to the fullest. The sky is the limit. And that’s for everybody. So who would’ve thought we would have made it this far. Just livin’ the dream and I hope everyone else it to.

GW: How did you start all of this? Did you have your parents behind you, did you have a manager?
J FAREAL: The backing came from just people that believed in me. They seen that I had a goal and a vision and they stuck behind me on it. So there for the backing came from friends and family, love them to death, without them I wouldn’t be who I am today. One thing that I can’t stress is that everyone that is out there in the world, it’s all about surrounding yourself with positive people. So you have to look around and ask yourself is this person making me a better person and am I doing the same thing for them. Because the only way that you’re going to coast down life is down hill.

GW: Is there any artist that you would really like to work with?
J FAREAL: Man, there are so many. Ludacris for sure, I’d love to do a soulful track with him. And T.I. has always been a major influence. My music is so unique there is a big group called the Zack Brown Band, I believe they just won some Grammy’s, they are like a southern rock with a country feel to them and I’d love to do a track with them and Jason Alden. I think the combination of us two would do some big things.