Interview with Jesta

London Penny: How did you get started with music? What made you want to make music?

Jesta: Originally, I wasn’t into music at all, like the only type of music I was listening to was music like my favorite bands, whether it was like rock bands or soft people or just like heavy. People like Joji and all that stuff. X was one of those people who inspired me to get into music more. 

But I was never into like actually wanting to make music myself until my homeboy, Abandon, who I’ve known since middle school back in Michigan, wanted me to hop on a track. I was like, “Bro, I don’t know.” Music wasn’t my kind of deal at the time, I didn’t want to step out of my comfort zone because I thought I’d have a high chance of being trash. And so I was like, “Fuck it, let’s just do it. I ain’t got nothing better to do.” So we went ahead and just dropped the track.

And we were working on “GETBACK” at the time, and he was like, “Yo, you should just drop a track, just see how you feel.” And I was like, “Alright, I’ll test the waters.” And that’s how I created “Fools Gold.” Everybody was like, “Yo, I didn’t expect that from you, bro. That shit was tough. You need to keep going, I can see the potential.”

And I was like, “Shit, I guess. Imma just do this for fun.” And honestly that’s how it was. I was doing music for fun, until I had the LA show. Once I got to LA, I started meeting different people and seeing different artists, seeing people moving differently in the industry. I was like, “Oh shit, I can actually do this because people in the industry were fucking with my shit.” 

And that was when I was not taking it seriously. At the time I came out with music people were fucking with, and I was like, “Alright I kind of got my flow.” And I decided to start taking it little by little seriously, and here I am.

LP: How was the Midwest Meetup this past weekend in Topeka?

Jesta: That was a movie, it was honestly a movie. First off, the amount of amazing artists there was incredible. There were 30-40 different artists there, and talent did not come short. Every single artist was amazing, and throughout the night, as it got later and later, the artists got better and better. I could definitely tell, and a lot of people told me that the energy was charged once I got to perform, since I was in the middle. 

Everyone was filling up the room; everyone had vibes that were high and chilling. And that was the perfect moment to perform. Before I went on stage, I went ahead and told them to turn on the fog machine so it was extra smokey when I came out. I had two different photographers taking photos of me professionally, one videographer filming my entire show personally, and another person with a video camera doing a mini music video for me. But everybody was just chanting my stuff; they were hyped, they were freaking flashing their camera, getting lit, dancing. It was amazing. By the end of the show, everybody was chanting, “Fuck it up Brody!” and it brought a big ass smile to my face, I ain’t even going to lie. Like that was one of the best nights I’ve had so far in Kansas City, and I can’t wait to go back there. I’ve met some amazing people there, collab-wise, artist-wise, manager-wise, and just people-wise. So I definitely loved meeting the people.

LP: ATM introduced me to you. How did you meet ATM/how did you join the 93&Alive Roster?

Jesta: When I first came to Kansas, I decided to do some research into the scene music-wise to see where I could go and step into. I researched some places in Kansas City where I could perform at, but nothing really hit me back. I tried to get into VIVO in Leavenworth, but they were kind of playing with me a little bit but they were cool; through them, they introduced me to ATM. They were like, “Hey, ATM doesn’t really fuck with hip-hop like that, but if he fucks with your shit, he fucks with your shit.” And I was like, “Alright, that’s cool with me” So I sent my shit to him; I didn’t get hit back yet, I think, so I decided to go on Facebook and scroll through promoters in Kansas City, people promoting stuff, managers, and all that. I’m looking and messaging every single promoter and every single manager I’m seeing that’s getting highly recommended. Like I’m not just texting every single promoter I see; I’m texting every single one that I see their name pop up multiple times. And ATM and Dekerek and like maybe 2-3 other promoters were the ones that kept popping up the most, but ATM was the one that was popping up the most. So I knew, I was like, “ATM is that guy, I gotta try and get connected with him.” 

So after messaging a bunch of different promoters, one of the first ones that actually hit me back was Derek, one of ATM’s friends. So I did a couple of throwback shows with him, one or two before ATM hit me back up with an offer to go to Topeka at the Legendary Boobie Trap Bar. And I was like, “Bet it up, I’m down for that.” So November 22, after doing one or two more throwback shows, I had a show at the Boobie Trap. And that was my first show that ATM and I rocked it out. He said he loved it! Everybody said they loved it. 

I was like, “Bet.” I always come to perform and try to please everybody and make sure everyone has an amazing time and understands that it’s time to rock out. It just makes us happy, and they loved it.

I would say that a little bit later, that ATM hit me up. He was like, “Yo, I’m doing management in January. If you want to go ahead and hop on that. I really fuck with your shit and I feel like we could really go places.” And I was like, “Hell yeah, I feel that, too, bro.” And we decided to just work together, and so Imma say from January 1st that we’ve just been working together, and everything so far has been good. I would say that the Midwest Show was my second show with ATM, and probably my fourth or fifth show in Kansas.

LP: Who are you influenced by?

Jesta:  l'm influenced by a couple people, rap and not rap. Rap-wise I'm influenced by people of caliber, people like X and Tassion, Ski Mask The Slump God, Lil Skis, Juice WRLD of course, Megan the Stallion, SZA, Cardi B, even like old style like Wu- Tang Clan. Logic was definitely an inspiration to me too.

As for non-rap artists I want to say inspirations for me are definitely Avenged Sevenfold. Joe G, $uicideboy$ and Freddy Dredd. I want to say John Legend or John Lennon. Not John Legend. Kurt Cobain. Definitely those because there's some rock songs that I'm going to be creating. And I want to say in regards to inspiration for like motivation-wise, I view it as kind of like an X deal. Because he liked to help out all others and stuff and he wants to help a bunch of different people. I want to help a bunch of different people. And I want everyone to understand that they're not alone, too. But at the same time my main message is that we just all need to have some fun. Like life's being taken too damn seriously and we have too much to about as it is. So why not just have some fun? Like some fun is what everybody needs, honestly; like some smiles, some giggles, some dancing, some ass shaking, some drinking, some smoking. Like we all just need to have some fun and just lay back sometimes. Like sometimes people need that.

LP: What are the top 3 songs you are most proud of that you’ve released?

Jesta: If you ask me that back then I definitely would have told you a different answer, but nowadays I want to say my top three I'm definitely most proud of is going to have to go with “Cold Front,” “ANTISOCIAL” and “Raven.” Those are my top three definitely. Cold front, anti-social, and raven. “FUCKITUPBRODY” comes fourth, but that's a close tie with third, with “Raven” because I am proud of “FUCKITUPBRODY” and that one is a popular song. But at the same time, like, “Raven” was my first ever like, singing song. So, I'm kind of proud of myself with that one because everyone that hears it so far, says that they like it. 

LP: You have an upcoming show this Saturday - the Winter Showcase at St. Joseph’s Good Times Event Center. What are you looking forward to most about this show?

Jesta: l've heard a couple things about how this is going to go. The flyer looks amazing, looks professional as fuck, looks like it's about to be lit. 

And we're selling tickets and stuff. It’s definitely going to be like I'm hoping we sell out because I want as many people to come to this show as possible. Because I heard it can house over 100 people. And I heard that usually there is over 100 people at the show. And I heard that the stage is high. So I'm like feeling a little bit like a celebrity rapper type deal. If I'm on a high-end stage and this big room in front of a giant crowd, like I when I get on the stage I want the entire area to be filled with lights and people jumping, screaming, like I want to get hype that night. Like I honestly want that night to be the best night of my music career. That's what looking forward to. And it's not like a high expectation type of deal. It's a my goal type of deal. So I'm going to be in on the selling tickets.And so I'm going to make sure that this gets sold out, no matter what. I'm going to do that. Because I want this to get filled out and I want this to be the best night. I want people to remember this. And I them to remember my name and every single person on that list, every single artist's name. It's going to be an amazing night. And I also heard there's like a little green room type deal for the artist. I don't think l've ever been in a green room before. So I'm kind of excited to see what that's like.