Introducing… J. Blitz

J. Blitz is one of the best kept secrets in the the New Orleans underground scene. While most outside the state associate the city with former powerhouse labels like Cash Money and No Limit, the city has a new hip hop scene with artists breaking the stigma of the typical New Orleans sound. J. Blitz is one of the leaders in that scene and looking to make a major breakthrough with a big year planned for 2009. We had the chance to talk to J and here’s your chance to get to know the talented emcee.

Where You Reppin?

J Blitz: Well, originally I’m from New Orleans, of course, but I’ve been living in Colorado since Katrina hit in 05.  First i was in Denver, but I’ve been in CO Springs for about 2 1/2 years now.

Introduce yourself:

J Blitz: Let’s see…born and raised in New Orleans, started writing rhymes when I was 12, started taking it seriously at about 17, member of the NOvators, started doing shows at about 20 (yeah, I’m old).  Currently working on 3 albums at once…lol

Previous works that readers should know about:

J Blitz: Ok, well as far as solo stuff, I put out my Suckapunch Mixtape back in 05, then updated it with better sound quality and new tracks ad re-released it as Suckapunch 1-pernt-5 in 08.  As a member of the NOvators, we dropped Crescent City Classic back in 03, as well as appearances on albums from the Senate (”Let ‘Em Know”, from Feature Presentation) and Cutta (”Grind Season, from Open Wounds). I also laid down tracks as part of the NOvators subgroup Quotable on compilations from T Nasty and DJ Hyphen. Ya’ll can check for those.

So you have 3 albums in the works right now, tell us a little about these projects.

J Blitz: OK, well technically it’s 2 albums.  The first project is a previously unreleased compilation of tracks titled Flashes of Greatness. It’s a lot of hot tracks that didn’t make the first album, as well as previously unreleased collabs and stuff like that. That will actually be available by the end of July.

The two albums actually have a strange story behind them.  The first one to drop, titled Destined for Greatness is actually the second album I wrote.  My original intended debut is titled Nice Guys Finish Last, and was the album I was working on in New Orleans.  But after evacuating and all of us being forced to scatter, it got shelved for a while.  But I kept writing and working, and started entertaining the idea of making a quick EP as a prelude to Nice Guys… I kept writing, and the EP quickly turned into an LP.  It began to take on its own identity as a stand-alone project.  And that’s what became Destined for Greatness.

Who’s working on the albums with you?

J Blitz : On all 3 projects so far, most of the production work has been handled by my man Decap, with some tracks from a few other cats.  Destined has a track from Kno (of Cunninglynguists) and the title track was done by M-Phazes- both of those are nuts.  I even did a couple myself.  But there are no guest artists on it. It wasn’t like i set out to do that. It’s just that at the time, everyone’s lives were still so unstable that we weren’t able to get together.  I gotta thank fellow NOvator Allen Poe as well.  Dude’s basically been functioning as my Executive Producer/Manager/Studio Engineer this whole time.

As far as Nice Guys goes, it’s gone back to “work in progress” status.  Which in a way is good, cause now I can go back and re-tool it, change beats, etc.  Maybe even work in some guest spots.  There’s my boys back home, as well as a couple of talented cats out here in CO that I really want to work with.  What I’ve got so far is once again mostly produced by Decap, with a couple done by myself.

If you could only choose one of your songs that defines you, what would it be?

J Blitz: Wow…that’s tough.  I’d have to say “Destined for Greatness,” the title track.  As a matter of fact, that’s kind of what i had in mind when I wrote that song.  I wanted it to encompass all the things that I consider to be the best traits of my music: Lyrically strong, nice flow, an overall positive message, introspective moments, etc.

What’s your thoughts on the state of hip hop right now?

J Blitz: I can’t buy into the doom and gloom that most people repeat when they say hip hop is dead, dying, whatever.  Is most of the stuff that gets major recognition subpar or watered-down? Yes, that I will agree with.  But there is a ton of good stuff out there.  This is no different from when MC Hammer was at the top of the charts and NWA couldn’t get airplay.  I think it’s even better than then, because with the Internet, it’s so much easier to find the good stuff.

Who are your musical inspirations?

J Blitz: I always liked that question.  As far as emcees, cats like Rakim (the GOAT in my opinion), Nas, Pac, Method Man, Scarface, Common, Outkast, Lupe Fiasco, AZ, and some others.  I credit Scarface’s album The Diary as the reason for me becoming an MC.  There’s hundreds of other emcees whose music I love, but I wouldn’t consider them influences. Outside of hip hop, I’d think of cats like Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, and Donny Hathaway as big influences.

Desert Island Hip Hop: If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one hip hop album, what would it be?

J Blitz : Hmm…that’s crazy.  I gotta go with the standard: Illmatic. It’s got everything a great hip hop album should have, and even 15 years later it still doesn’t sound dated.  Just wish it was longer, especially since it’s the only one I can have haha

Any final words for the readers or shout outs?

J Blitz: Yeah- first off, pick up Flashes of Greatness: The Prequel, dropping in July, and Destined for Greatness, dropping this fall.  Check jblitzmusic.com and myspace.com/itsjblitz to keep up on everything.

Also, I wanna mention the Mountain Peeps Colorado Hip Hop Movement that’s going on out here.  Imagine all the illest emcees in the state reaching out and working together to make as much noise as possible.  And it’s working-it’s gonna be huge.  Big up to Chuckcity for being the Voltron head.  And finally, everyone out there take care of yourselves. The world’s a rough place. Peace.

“Monster”

“Niggaz From the South Can’t Rap”

“Just Another Day”

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