Armed with an impressive arsenal of musical aptitudes and an indomitable attitude, Jeremih has stepped up and out with his second effort, and he wants his fans to know that it’s All About You. Words by Cavario H.com
HHW: Peace young hustler! Where ya’ at on the planet?
Jeremih: I’m in Tampa Bay right now, headed to Miami.
What’s got you movin’ around right now?
The new album, my sophomore, hit the stores September 28th. Right now I’m on the promo’ run, tryin’a get everybody aware of it, and I’m everywhere. Last week I was in Australia, so I’m kinda behind, but I’m catchin’ up wit’ it, and I think I’ll be all good (LOL).
It’s a wonderful experience you’re having right now. Tell me how you came together with 50 for “Down On Me.”
Man, overall he’s just an entrepreneur, [and] he definitely put his stamp on this industry, so me and my management got in touch with his A&R [and] I ended-up doing a record with him. The fans can look forward to a record [that I did] with Lloyd Banks that I had knocked out as well. But man, that whole camp is just cool. But he heard the record and he liked it, so he recorded it that night and sent it to us the next day, and it was dope. I definitely didn’t know it was gonna turn-out the way it did. We definitely wanted a feature on it, but I wasn’t quite sure who. But yeah man, he definitely came and blessed me with a ‘sweet sixteen’ and it turned out dope.
That’s wus’up, but has the unexpected good fortune caused you to have to re-determine your next move?
It was hard to even say what the second single was. Most of the records I make have single potential to me, in their own way, like my first record featuring Ludacris; it’s starting to really pick up now, even with the video. We dropped it on 106, and now it’s on the Top 10 countdown. Only ten records in the world get chosen for that countdown, so right now it’s moving up; it’s actually #8. It was a new entry yesterday. So, I’m looking forward to the success of that, but L.A. (Reid) chose “I Like” as a single for me, so I didn’t know where else to go from “I Like,” because I feel like the whole album is pretty diverse. I wanted people to see other sides of me, so once 50 did that record “Down On Me,” [which] was definitely another side of me, he kinda put the stamp on it and really liked it.
So 50 really embraced your work?
Yeah, he even heard the rest of the album. Two weeks ago we were just chillin’ out with him in the G-Unit office, and the one song he thought was a single was actually an interlude.
What’s the next single going to be?
I don’t know, man! It’s kinda crazy to try and pick the next single. We definitely think we might be shootin’ for the joint featuring 50.
Are you ready for that turn?
Yeah, I’m so ready for this one! I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited to let anybody hear music that I’ve done in my life. I’m lookin’ forward to this go- round.
People will change their channel quickly, so what preparations are you making to keep yourself relevant?
I see that already. I only just got signed in March of ’09, so it’s only been a year for me, but you know people be like, “Oh, Jeremih must be on the comeback” – but I ain’t been gone for that long. I guess, to the world, I ain’t really been on the scene as much as other newcomers like Drake or Nicki Minaj or Kid Cudi, who all came out around the same time I did. They’ve been really collaborating and gettin’ better looks to the world. They kinda stuck around and did more collaborations with other people, and kinda stayed on the radio. I didn’t feel like I was that far behind, but I’ve seen the response of how quickly people can, like you said, change the channel. But I’m back on it, man! I wanted to get people back in tune with the sound and, so far so good.
Do your interests go beyond the artistry?
Music is what I love to do. I feel like after this album, there should be more of a belief in me and what I can do, and not even just me, but my partner producer Mic Shoulz, who produced the whole album once again. I felt like, at the time, we were just trying to get placement, and none of that ever went through. So therefore, I became that artist that wrote all the records. I’m here, and I just wanna let people know that I’m here to stay.
You wrote all of your songs?
Yeah, man! I mean, that’s really where it started after the musicianship. I’ve always been into playing all types of instruments, and once I began writing, I started producing, and I had so many beats man! I still got a gang of beats nobody’s heard yet. I’m really looking forward to that as well. Once people really get me as an artist, I really wanna branch off and let people get used to my sound, and that’s my next plan – to give them my production as well. I was like the musician turned producer, turned writer, turned rapper, turned singer, turned performer. So that’s been my journey so far.
Twitter.com/jeremih
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