J. Trills Shows Us the Meaning of Authenticity in “Test Me”
BUZZ LA- Dec 2, 2019
- 6 min read
J. Trills is an upcoming independent west coast artist who receiving strong traction and buzz around his latest single, “Test Me”. “Test Me” was a raw song with an authentic vibe. The aesthetic of the beat had a nice fusion of hype & emotional rap elements. The production was equipped with soft melodies from a piano with your standard kicks and California aesthetic in the arrangement. J. Trills has unique lyricism. His lyrics were highly poetic while also remaining witty and catchy. He gave us a significant amount of lines in which you can repeat as captions. The lyrics were not only memorable but felt like it was a bonafide representation of himself. This blend between marketability & authenticity is an impressive skill J.Trills showed he was possessed with.
J. Trills knows how to get his listeners attentive with his wordplay and feel every lyric that he’s saying due to his passionate delivery. J. Trills began rapping for fun and then noticed how many people around him began to compliment and enjoy his bars, which caused this promising star to begin taking music more seriously and the outcome has been extremely top tier.
You can listen to the unique display of real vibes in “Test Me” here.
Welcome to BuzzMusic J. Trills! How was it growing up in California? In what ways has your environment inspired your style of music?
First off, thank you for this opportunity. For me personally growing up in California has been regular, I'm from San Dimas, California about 40 minutes away from Los Angeles. It's a small town honestly, a little quiet, but all cities have their good and their bad parts around. As I said, it's quiet so there ain't that much action in town, but some nights in my neighborhood there will be some activity going on. Either some fellas are squaring up with each other or there will be shots popping off, besides all that I would consider it a mediocre neighborhood. However, I tried to avoid all that growing up by being involved in sports or making some money here and there at odd jobs, from flipping burgers at McDonald's to bagging groceries at Albertsons. There was a time where I used to slang some bud (marijuana). I used to do it for a minute but wasn't satisfied by not making any profit. The nightlife is lit don't get me wrong, there are times where I'm rolling with my homies, we can either be posted at one of my boys pad chillings, cruising around the city blazing, go to other local cities like Covina, la Verne, Azusa, and other Inland Empire cities, or even go to house parties once in a while. I guess you can say some of that is what inspires my style of music, from growing up loving sports as a kid, to kicking it and getting into shit with my homies like going to abandoned houses and vandalizing, getting hella lit at house parties or kickbacks, and running into the cops here and there. I'm just a young 21 years old trying to seek an opportunity in the music industry. Being born and raised in a state like California where there's so much opportunity and living in a city where its challenging to come up doesn't necessarily bring me down, but motivates myself to keep going harder and make sure every song I make is better than the last.
Who would you consider to be some of your main influences and why?
To be honest with you, I didn't have that many influences in my life besides my father. I looked up to my pop's hustle, he would always find ways to make some money here and there, he would be coming home with something light or a big bag you feel me. That kinda pushed me a little and knocked some sense into me by to never expect a handout, if you want something you gotta go get it yourself. Music-wise, I would say I have too many musical influences. I grew up with no restrictions on music, so I was bumping anything, hip hop, rock, r&b, you name it. I was born in 1997, so of course, my parents had to put me on to some Tupac, Biggie, NWA, Nas, Wu-Tang, Nate Dog, Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, and all the other hip hop OG's who have inspired me. To be honest, lately, I've been drawn to the new west coast hip hop, from likes of Shoreline Mafia, drakeo, Greedo, Azchike, memothemafioso, Kendrick, YG, Mozzy and a bunch of other new west coast artists. I told myself if I ever wanted to be serious with this music thing I would want people to know my style and where I come from. So I guess you can say that's why my music has a little west coast flavor into it because of the wordplay and my beat selections, but honestly, in my opinion, it's just music.
When dropping your first single “Buss Down” in October, what were some challenges you stumbled upon during the creative process and how did you grow from it?
Actually, I dropped "Buss Down" in mid-September, but honestly, I felt like I didn't stumble any challenges at all while creating it. For me, I personally prepare my craft and make sure it's on point before I roll through the studio, that's every time I make a song. I've always been the type of person to keep a notebook and just write anything, poems, songs or my inner thoughts. I started taking music seriously around this past summer, I wrote 'Buss Down' like a couple of days before I hopped in the booth and knocked it out. It's been a month since I dropped it on my Soundcloud and it's already at 10k. I always promote my songs on Instagram and snap chat or some of my homies will spread the word on theirs. Honestly, it's a blessing to have that many people listening to my music around the world already I swear to god.
Let’s talk about your single “Test Me”. What was this song about? What inspired you to write this? Honestly, I felt like I put more time and thought into that song than 'Buss Down'. The reason for that is because I felt like I had something to say about all these fake bustas acting like they gangbang and talk all this shit, basically "posers". There's one thing about gang banging and another on acting like it, I feel like around my city there's a good majority of fake street niggas. Ever since high school I've come across a lot of them and it bugged me, they either could've been dressing like a hood g and claim they got these guns, making the dough, catching bodies and doing all this gangster shit. You'll never catch me doing all that, now do I know people personally or have homies that are really in the streets, of course, I can spot the real and the fake, but I stay in my own lane, go get my own and focus on the music you get me. I don't bang or anything you can listen to my last two songs and you won't hear me mentioning me shooting at no one, saying names, or claiming a set, I keep it real which a lot of these bustas that act as they gangbang should be. Like if you say you in the streets you keep your business in the streets, you don't bring that shit home. 'Test Me' was basically about calling out all those fake niggas trying to be someone they ain't. I took that whole perspective, jotted it down and made it into a song.
What’s your personal favorite element in “Test Me” from your artist’s point of view and how do you hope for it to resonate with your listeners?
My favorite element of the song possibly would be how its different than other songs by being a bar for bar song with a switch of flow. I never attended to make it as a club banger or a song with a catchy hook, I really had something to say on that joint. My goal is to have my listeners to understand my point of view and can relate what I'm talking about. The song has some solid talk behind it, running into fake hood bums and trying to find a dream to make it out and get that bag. I'm positive that I'm not the only one with that vision, but I would want to be one of the few to make it out and get my voice heard. I would also want the listeners to figure that I'm not trying to be like these other rap artists, I don't focus on making a club song or anything, if I'm feeling it I would of course, but I'm not trying to label myself as that type of artist but a west coast artist with his own flow.
What’s next for you J. Trills?
As of right now, I'm planning on dropping a couple of more singles this month and possibly a music video. At the beginning of 2020 sometime in January, I'll be planning on dropping also my debut mixtape titled '9o9 Till Infinity' on all streaming platforms. Once the mixtape drops, I'll be in the works of doing shows and keep staying consistent on making more music. Once again, thank you BuzzMusic for this opportunity to put my name out there as an up and coming artist.
