JT the Bigga Fiera
WHEN I FIRST INTERVIEWED JT over a year
ago, his status as a local superstar in the Fill-
more area of San Francisco was already sky
high. He had underground tapes circulating
Independently for over two years and his cur-
rent single "Game Recognize Game" was all
over the radio and boomin' out of cars up and
down the West Coast. At the same time, the
Get Low Playaz compilation that he produced
and appeared on was blowin' up and recelv.
Ing national attention. JT comes across as an
incredibly focused intelligent young black man
who is formulating a fat mixture of funk while
staying true to himself and his roots as a ghet
to hustler. Being an artist that is in control of
his destiny, JT understands that knowledge,
Integrity and an open mind are all keys to
healthy mental stability in the music business
of the nineties. After releasing one album and
two EPs independently and dealing with
everything from production to distribution
and promotion, JT has now turned to Priority
for his third and by far most diverse and cut-
ting album Dwellin' in the Labb. -Mr Element
What have you been up to?
Basically, I've just been in the Labb, putting
together some things, and trying to formulate
and get my companies running real smooth, and
putting together projections so that I can set my
short term and long term goals, and basically
just trying to tighten everything up. I want to
keep good in my knowledge base in terms of my
foundation, so if a situation come up, I don't
have to run looking for somebody else, I can
deal with it better from my knowledge span. So,
I'm trying to just take it step by step and con-
stantly plan it. I was trying to expand a few years
ago and a year ago, but I wasn't prepared for
it, and if I would've expanded, it would've fold-
ed because I wouldn't have knew how to handle
it because my knowledge base wasn't a strong
foundation. You've got to have that strong foun-
dation, so that when things start coming on, it's
strong, it's firm, it's going to be cool.
How does it feel to be on a national level?
The full effect really ain't hit me yet, but I see
it coming, and I know it's a responsibility to be in
this type of position, because success can make
you and it can break you. You can be sitting on
top of everything but could be unhappy as hell,
so I just want to stay focused. I know I want to
help my people, I want to help these other
artists out here and other smaller labels and
just people who ain't even in the business yet
but looking for a way out of all this madness and
all this poverty and all this stress and all this vio-
lence and all the negativity, that's my purpose in
this. I want to be part of the solution and get out
there. So, with my success that God blessed me
with, I'm going to focus that towards helping the
masses and helping my people come to the
understanding of what's taking place, because I
92 THE
don't want to be where I'm sitting up in some
mansion somewhere, "Okay you peasants get
away. I'm cool, go get your own, See, I don't
want to be that, I want to still be able to rub
elbows with the man sitting right in the gutter,
sit down next to him and still make a conversa-
tion the way I would've did it if I didn't have shit.
So, as long as I could keep that type of mindset,
I feel good, but it's a lot more work and respon-
sibility. Interviews, appointments, the schedule
gets more hectic, I have an appointment, I'm
getting paged, phone ringing off the hook, bills
coming in, I'm like, "Man, I've got to stay
focused." I am this. This is me. But I do thank
God for everything he's blessed me with. He
gets the credit, because at one point in
time, I thought that I could do it myself
and found out I couldn't go like that
and when I found him and he
found me, then
it put me back
on the path I
was going to
go down.
Righteousness?
Exactly. Staying away from all that negativity,
evil and indecency and all that I'm trying to stay
away from all that. And the average people are
not really focused on it, but I know I have to
because as he giveth, he could taketh
away if I don't handle my
responsibility, so I'm
focused in like
that now.
M
BLIND MELON . SOUP
THE NEW ALBUN
FEATURING "GALAXIE"
Never underestimate
the power of soup.
Red Hot
Chili
Peppers
One Hot Minute
The new album
one
hot
minute
Chil
Available on CD and cassette now.
Yes, now.
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