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http://www.thisis50.com/profiles/blogs/jay-electronica-disguised-his
Jay Electronica experienced some hip-hop prejudice when people heard the Southern twang in his voice — so he started disguising it.
"I would go somewhere — I would go to an open mic and when theyheard my accent and not understand what I'm saying, it would just be adoor-closer," Jay told MTV UK on a recent trip to Europe. "I made apoint in being able to speak in a certain way that I wouldn't get thedoor closed on me. All of these things make me who I am now, you know.
"I have to admit, you know, a few years ago, I wouldn't haveadmitted this — or maybe I wouldn't have been conscious of it in a wayto admit or be embarrassed — but in my earlier years from when I firstleft home, I was embarrassed from being from the South," he added. "Notin general, but as a rapper because all of the negative things thatpeople in the States put on the South. Like, 'The South, they're slow.They move slow, they think slow, they're less intelligent. They're lessexposed, they're underexposed, they're more sheltered.' So as a rapper— I've been rapping since I was 10 years old — I always had a feelingof 'I'm gonna show you' because we down here doing it. Not that I wasembarrassed necessarily — I don't know if that's the correct word — butI know that when I left home, if someone had heard my accent and heardwhere I was from, the door was immediately closed."
Electronica said he had to adapt and become a chameleon on the mic.While trying to break into the music industry, he moved betweendifferent cities such as New York, Atlanta and Chicago.
"I kind of stiff-armed my roots for a couple of years," the Brooklyntransplant continued of his journey. "Then my sister told me one day,'You know, you act like you're ashamed of being from home.' It was likea reality check. I checked myself. I mean, this is years ago, but nowI'm at a place where I understand where I'm from. I understand myculture and I'm more proud to be from there than associate withsomewhere else."
Despite trying to hide his roots early on, Jay thinks back to the early days of New Orleans hip-hop with a smile.
"I'm from New Orleans and there's a certain type of music," heexplained. "I come from a bounce culture — bounce music. You been toNew Orleans a couple times, you probably heard of the bounce music.It's a part of me; I grew up with bounce music. It's call-and-response,it's trance, it's tribal, it's communal, it's African, it's based inAfrica ... the energy of it."
Jay Electronica experienced some hip-hop prejudice when people heard the Southern twang in his voice — so he started disguising it.
"I would go somewhere — I would go to an open mic and when theyheard my accent and not understand what I'm saying, it would just be adoor-closer," Jay told MTV UK on a recent trip to Europe. "I made apoint in being able to speak in a certain way that I wouldn't get thedoor closed on me. All of these things make me who I am now, you know.
"I have to admit, you know, a few years ago, I wouldn't haveadmitted this — or maybe I wouldn't have been conscious of it in a wayto admit or be embarrassed — but in my earlier years from when I firstleft home, I was embarrassed from being from the South," he added. "Notin general, but as a rapper because all of the negative things thatpeople in the States put on the South. Like, 'The South, they're slow.They move slow, they think slow, they're less intelligent. They're lessexposed, they're underexposed, they're more sheltered.' So as a rapper— I've been rapping since I was 10 years old — I always had a feelingof 'I'm gonna show you' because we down here doing it. Not that I wasembarrassed necessarily — I don't know if that's the correct word — butI know that when I left home, if someone had heard my accent and heardwhere I was from, the door was immediately closed."
Electronica said he had to adapt and become a chameleon on the mic.While trying to break into the music industry, he moved betweendifferent cities such as New York, Atlanta and Chicago.
"I kind of stiff-armed my roots for a couple of years," the Brooklyntransplant continued of his journey. "Then my sister told me one day,'You know, you act like you're ashamed of being from home.' It was likea reality check. I checked myself. I mean, this is years ago, but nowI'm at a place where I understand where I'm from. I understand myculture and I'm more proud to be from there than associate withsomewhere else."
Despite trying to hide his roots early on, Jay thinks back to the early days of New Orleans hip-hop with a smile.
"I'm from New Orleans and there's a certain type of music," heexplained. "I come from a bounce culture — bounce music. You been toNew Orleans a couple times, you probably heard of the bounce music.It's a part of me; I grew up with bounce music. It's call-and-response,it's trance, it's tribal, it's communal, it's African, it's based inAfrica ... the energy of it."
