JackRabbit James Talks About Underground Cypher
Written by DJ treK Wednesday, 30 March 2011 21:45
James Clark, aka JackRabbit James has etched out a nice space within the DFW hip hop and art community. Over the past 2 years this man has been on a relentless mission to grind out and promote himself as an artist. With the release of "Something Simple" in November of 2009, a mixtape recorded and mixed by DJ Three6t, JackRabbit began his audio assault. His lyrical talents have taken him from A list venues in DFW like the House of Blues to the Airliner in L.A. James is currently working on his first music video and EPK with Teddy Cool of Blue Pill Ent. Whether he's rocking a crowd of 5 or 500, don't expect anything less than 110 percent from this man.
After receiving the text, " Yo check out 'We Rise Up' by Ufilmhouse productions on vimeo.com and peep my new video!!! 14 person colaboration song, lemme know what u think," we had to know how does such a large scale project go down. We went straight to the promotional source, the infamous JackRabbit James.
Yo James, so what's the story on this cypher? Who's all involved?
Me, GOAT, galleryCat, Evan-Paul-LadyBee from CoLab, Spoonfed Tribe, Steve Wick, Grant Braudrick, Matt Barron, Patricia Islas. It's crazy to actually look at the list of names of everyone involved in the song written out. Fourteen people, not including the individuals who filmed, helped, and provided extras for the video portion. Everyone involved has my utmost respect as a musician. This is a 'built from the ground up' song. Lots of talent, passion, and time were bled into this cypher. I am completely stoked to have been a part in making this track.
Can you describe the ideas behind the initial conception? Did you have any idea so many of Dallas' leading musicians would be involved?
When the idea was first sparked, I had only heard a small bit about it. When we sat down at the ALM office for the first meeting and there was a mobile studio set up, I was surprised. I didn't know it was gonna move so quick. We recorded guitars, tweaked drum beats, and grubbed Zini's. It was cool to have met some of the artitsts for the first time and actually sit down and build with them. After seeing various musicians that I can say I'm a fan of come through The Barnyart to record, I knew it was gonna be big. Big props to GOAT, he's my fam and he puts his heart into everything he does. I felt like our crib was no different than any multi-million dollar studio. Art, Love, and Magic made this musical beast.
For those that don't know, what is The Barnyart?
The Barnyart has been everything from my calm spot to the wildest place I've been in. A block from Lowest Greenville. Two bachelors makin' it through the struggles of animal life. We are all animals, you know? From Donkie Monkie TV to, "no hand in our pie" style production. Which as of that last sentence is my new label name (laughing)! All in all, it is our place to feel free and creative. A building place for things that have and things that will make a mark for us in the entertainment industry.
What were some of the biggest challenges in working with such a diverse group of artists?
I think the hardest thing was probably gettin' everyone together to write. We had several rescheduled sessions. In the end, the three emcees on the track didn't even write in the same place. As the song grew, frustrations faded away. Just listening to it being built was dope. I think GOAT put up with the most, he recorded everyone except galleryCat and mixed and mastered the track. Everyone put many hours into it. It is an amazing feeling to know I'm on this song!
Other than GOAT, have you worked with any of these musicians before? Has this project changed any of your ideas about collaboration? Do you forsee any future projects stemming off this cypher?
I am in the process of working on another large collaboration project with Steve Wick (Hologram Dagger). Other than that, this is a first time working with most of the musicians, but definitely won't be the last! I think this project showed how easy something so simply thought out can turn into a mess quickly without the right direction. With people such as GOAT and David Rodriguez pushing this to be something great, there was no doubt in my mind anything was possible. With enough fuel, the flame becomes unstoppable. I see much to come in the future. I already spoke with Grant Braudrick, galleryCat, and Matt Barron about doing other projects. They would all be separate endeavors, with the point being to flood people's ears with as much as we can. Force them to love us! There will for sure be much more to come in the future and I look forward to working with as many people as I can.