RJAE Teases What’s Next After Roc Nation Debut ‘You’re The Problem’
RJAE is an artist that you need to keep on your radar. The New Orleans-bred artist is able to use his talents in both singing and rapping to share his personal experiences through music. Growing up, he studied artists such as Lauryn Hill, Simply Red, Sade, Missy Elliott, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and Eminem. This year however, he was able to not only connect with a hometown hero, but share the stage with him as well.
“New Orleans is heavily based in music. One of the greatest artists of all time has come out of New Orleans like Lil Wayne,” RJAE says of the Grammy-winning rapper. “So just growing up and knowing that somebody that close to home could do such great things, it gave me a lot of motivation to to be able to do what I'm doing today.”
He uses music not only as entertainment but as a way to process what has happened in his own life. You’re The Problem encapsulates his relationship with a woman in his life but also touches upon grieving the loss of a loved one and using bodacious bars to show off some of the luxuries in his life.
“I get very vulnerable on this project,” he admits. “But everything is true. I can only speak from real experiences.”
He shows a recent state of mind in one of the standout songs from the project “Her Favorite Jhene Aiko Song.”
“Still gettin’ used to this pain/Still gettin’ used to my name/Came from the gutter, don’t think I’ll ever get used to this fame/Who am I to get used to this?,” he raps.
In addition to dropping his debut with Roc Nation back in June, he was also able to work with his labelmates on the mixtape Humble Soles. The EP is a collaborative effort between RJAE, Reuben Vincent, Vic Mensa, Rapsody, KenTheMan, HDBeenDope, Kalan.Frfr, and more.
“To put all of us in one, you know, under one roof and be like, ‘alright, work’ that's basically what they said,” RJAE recalled of the recording process. “We had so much fun because we was in the studio with like three or four different studio rooms and you just see everybody running in and out of rooms, going into other rooms to do a hook over here and do a verse over there. So we just had a lot fun and it was competitive. You know what I'm saying? It was friendly.”
Up next for RJAE is the documentary to his album as well as the documentary to Humble Soles. Neither project’s release dates have been disclosed at this time. You can stream You’re The Problem and Humble Soles on Apple, Spotify, Tidal, and YouTube. Take a look at our full interview with RJAE above.