JGood

More laid-back, but just as lyrical as his TUS counterparts, J. Good’s smooth flow is somewhere between Lupe Fiasco and Murs. A spoken-word poet-turned-rapper who has hit the Sacramento scene with a Kid Cudi-esque self-awareness, J. Good has shared stages with KRS-One, Rakim, Wale, Big Sean and Rhymefest.

In March, J. Good dropped his first solo album Look on the Brightside, which received rave reviews from online critics including www.2dopeboyz.com and www.rockthedub.com.

When asked to sum up J. Good, Neighborhood Watch founder Fifth Ave (of DLRN) immediately answered, “Content.”

“He’s real chill with that laid-back delivery, but the content is always on-point,” he added. - Andrew Bell. Sacramento News and Review

Sacramento isn’t known for their rappers but with the amount of talent on the rise that might change in the near future. Without a doubt T.U.S member J.Good is contributing to the Sac Town hip-hop revolution. The Usual Suspect spitter sits down with me to discuss his upcoming project Searching for Alicia Silverstone, being sponsored by MMVIII, The pending Zombie Apocalypse, Zoe Kravitz, and much more. Without a doubt, J. Good is an artist i would bet my money on in 2012. Watch for him! Read the interview in it’s entirety after the jump.

Yoh: First off i want to welcome you to TheTapeDeck! For the ones unfamiliar can you give us a little introduction?

J.Good: Thanks for the opportunity bro! I am J.Good aka J.G Slater aka Zoe Kravitz’s husband. South Sacramento emcee and Co-Ringleader of TUS

Yoh: Swag swag. This year has been a pretty big year for you. A3C, being chosen as one of Sacramento’s freshman for 2011. How would you describe these experiences?

J.Good: These experiences actually help me stay grounded and humble because I’m nowhere near where I want to be.Towards the end of every year I set a few personal goals for myself that I want to achieve in the next year to help me focus. Being chosen as one of Sacramento’s Freshman was a great experience because of the company I was in. Chuuwee and Konkwest are like my brothers so it made the opportunity even better. A3C was amazing because I got to learn and meet so many people I look up to as well as perform in one of my favorite cities.

Yoh: Mind sharing a few of your goals for 2012?

J.Good: Well I already have a few projects planned for next year, working on some of those right now actually. So I want to get those out to as many ears as possible, more shows in more cities, and I want people to know that TUS is just getting started. That’s the simplified version haha.

Yoh: Could one of those projects be “Searching For Alicia Silverstone”. A little birdy told me that this project is dropping December 19th. Could you give us a little insight on what we can expect from it?

J.Good: SFAS is a collab project with me and a dope producer from Sac named Rufio presented by my sponsor MMVIII out of Canada. It started out with all 90s samples, so I wanted to choose a big celebrity from that era that fell off to “look for”. I was watching an old Aerosmith video and seen her, then everything clicked. As I started writing, Alicia Silverstone became a symbol of success. So you can say the tracks on there are all stories about me looking for success or consequences of reaching success. All the tracks are also named after her movies haha. You’ll find Ced Hughes, Chuuwee, Keno, Haz Solo and miss April Bambao featured on there.

Yoh: Interesting concept. Will be a must check out. So if J.Good wasn’t pursing a career in Hiphop what would you be doing?

J.Good: Probably a college professor. That’s another thing I’m pursuing right now. I think it’s a good look to be a positive Black role model in something other than entertainment. So hip hop is my release and passion but so is education.

Yoh: That’s pretty dope I must say. You seem like a very deep thinking young man. Do you read a lot? If so what’s some of your favorite books? No Harry potter.

J.Good: I like to read every now and then. Not as much as I used to though. My favorite books would have to be The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Dubois, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Decoded by Hova.

Yoh: Decoded was great. Very inspirational. Going back too SFAS. Since its finished, do you have a favorite record off it. Or one you just can’t wait to perform?

J.Good: It’s hard for me to pick a favorite. I like to perform The Art of Getting By, hopefully one day I’ll get to perform it with Ced Hughes. But besides that I like performing Le Nouveau Monde(ordre) with Chuuwee and Keno. Hella energy on stage

Yoh: Indeed. The energy you and Chuuwee had at A3C was insane. How did you end up being sponsored by MMVIII?

J.Good: Random luck. Haha. We linked right after Look on the Brightside dropped this year. The clothes they make are dope as fuck to me, and he was digging my music so we just started working together after that.

Yoh: Most def will be checking them out. Being an artist coming up in such a clutter industry what is it about your music that makes you stand out?

J.Good: I’m me. I know it’s a cliche thing to say but whenever I write anything it’s all me. I told myself I would never front or fake anything I do with my music. I make my music for myself before anyone, but if people can relate to what I’m saying then I feel like I did my job.

Yoh: Word! Well I only have a few more questions and it’s a wrap sir.
1. What is the origins of your name J.Good?
2. Name a few of your influences and out of that group which one would you want to make music with?
3. If I told you Zoe Kravitz was going to read this what would you say to her?
4. If you the zombie apocalypse started now. And you could only use the items to the right of you. What are you using to survive with!?
5. What does success mean to J.Good?

J.Good: J.Good is just a play off my government name which shall remain unspoken for now. Lmao. It was my nickname back when I used to play basketball so I just kept it.

2. My influences are Jay-Z, Blu, Phonte, my TUS crew and I’ll throw Harlem World Mase in there too. If he never fell off I would have loved to work with him. But since he found God, I’d love to work with Phonte easily.

3. If Zoe Kravitz was reading this I’d just invite her to the studio. I know she has a band. So maybe we could knock out a track.. That’s me being professional. Gotta keep my thirst to a minimum.
Lmao.

4. Shit I’d be ass out if the zombie apocalypse happened now. I’m in the car on the way to The Throne concert so I’d have 4 nickels to kill those bastards. I’d have to be on my MacGyver steez.

5. Success means happiness to me. I wanna see my team make it, my family and my significant other happy. If all that happens then anything I’m going through will be successful in my eyes!

Yoh: Haha I want to thank you J.Good for taking the time to do the interview. All we need now is your social media information, any shoutouts, and we are done here sir. Best of luck with everything in the future. Always welcomed here on TheTapeDeck.

J.Good:Twitter.com/jgoodtus
Jgoodmusic.com
Facebook.com/jgoodmusic
Jgoodtus.tumblr.com

Shoutout to my TUS family, Rufio, MMVIII, anybody who fucks with my music and all the Bluffington High Black Sheep. Of course to the Tapedeck for holding me down. Appreciate the interview! - Yoh, The Tapedeck

Justin Good, a fourth-year education student from California State University at Sacramento, otherwise known as artist J.Good, believes in keeping it real.

From writing his own music to talking about his own personal experiences in his songs, Good said he feels that is the best type of music.

“I don’t believe in someone writing your stuff. That way, you can feel emotion from the artist. I honestly write everywhere,” Good said. “I write at work. I write at class. I write at stoplights in the car … I write about girl problems, my experiences, something that I’m going through. That, to me, is the best music.”

Good will perform tonight at Kerckhoff Coffee House as part of Cultural Affairs Commission’s weekly concert series. He will be the first artist that will kick off a month of hip-hop appreciation, in honor of Black History Month. CAC co-programmed the event with Hip Hop Congress.

Amanda Haas, a third-year international development studies student and CAC concert series co-director, said that this is CAC’s first year co-programming with other student groups. She also said this year’s concert series, which originally was a jazz series a couple of years ago, is going to be different than previous years’.

“Last year, there was a lot of focus on student group and jazz influence, which we still have a lot of, but now, we’re pulling bands from different schools,” Haas said. “We try to bring in what people want to hear that’s within our price range, and also (create) a platform for student groups to express their music and get their voice out.”

Good, who was raised by his parents to listen to artists such as Outkast and Lauryn Hill, said he has always enjoyed hip-hop.

“I think it’s great. Hip-hop as a genre is a very important part of the African American culture, especially when it’s presented in a positive way,” Good said.

Good, who said he loves the ’90s, took inspiration from that decade and incorporated it into his music and his latest album, “Searching for Alicia Silverstone.”

“My best friend tells me that I should’ve been in the ’90s. Everything I enjoy is from the ’90s, from the way I dress to the music I listen to,” Good said. “So, I got this idea to pay homage to someone who was more prevalent in the ’90s. I got inspired by that because I was watching an Aerosmith video, and (Alicia Silverstone) was super hot.”

Good will perform many of the songs from “Searching for Alicia Silverstone” and also from past albums such as “Looking on the Bright Side.” He also said he will bring members of his Sacramento crew, The Usual Suspects, to perform with him on stage.

One of the members of The Usual Suspects, rapper Efren Lipana, also known by his stage name Konkwest, will be performing a song called “Anti-Vanity” with Good tonight.

“(The set) is a nice mix of up-tempo and slower-paced music. We like to get a feel for everyone,” Lipana said. “I was on (Good’s) ‘Scrubs’ tape, the song ‘Anti-Vanity.’ I rapped on one of the songs.”

Good said his music is relevant because he’ll never rap about anything he doesn’t have. Good said an example is that a lot of people can relate to being broke in college.

As for after graduation plans, Good said he wants to pursue teaching – more specifically, at elementary schools. He names education as his first priority, but music is definitely not far behind it.

“I want to go to school and get my degree because it’s always something I want to do. I’m the first person in my family getting a degree, so that’s pushing me,” Good said. “But if an opportunity presented itself to expand my music and everything, I’ll take that, no doubt.” - Laurie Allred, UCLA

I presented ya’ll to J. Good and his latest project, ‘Look On The Brightside’ about a month ago. That project has had A LOT of play in my iPod, & I reached out to extend my support to J. Good the other day. We exchanged a couple e-mails & now I’m happy to announce The Collab Project’s second official interview. Play some of his tracks down below while you get familiar with J. Good!

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TCP: Sometimes I compare evolution in the industry to the schooling system we’re all used to. You start off with raw talent but don’t fully know how to handle it, elementary school. You grow & learn, middle school. Things start taking off, high school. Work harder at it, college. & then you made it, graduation. Think that’s a fair train of thought? If so, where would you say you stand right now?

J. Good: Definitely agree with that haha. I’d say I’m just graduating high school because things are just starting to take off. I’ve really only been rapping seriously for a short amount of time (2-3 years) in comparison to some artists. My first mixtape ‘Breakfast At Night’ was just me seeing if I could and wanted to do rap. My second project ‘Scrubs: The Lost Mixtape’ was just something fun I wanted to do to showcase my improvement, and ‘Look on the Brightside’ was my first step into actually putting everything I had learned into an original project with a consistent sound.

TCP: Musical influences? Name some CD’s you bumped on the Walkman back in the day.

J. Good: Growing up I had a lot of different views given to me on music. My mom introduced me to the dope R&B like New Edition, Jodeci, and Blackstreet. And my grandma would school me to the legends like The Whispers, Teddy P and Earth Wind and Fire . My first albums I ever got to pick out on my own were ‘Aquemini’, ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ and ‘Harlem World’ by Mase, so those albums really got me deep as a music listener.

My current influences though are Jay-Z first and foremost, as well as Blu, Phonte, Joe Budden and my T.U.S fam.

TCP: In “Change My Ways” you say, “So rhyme books & text books took up my time…” When did you first put pen to paper & realize you should make a career using this talent in you?

J. Good: I did spoken word poetry with a crew called One Drops Disciple in high school, so I always loved words. But the first time I heard ‘Below the Heavens’ I knew I wanted to do music seriously. The stories Blu was telling I related to and I felt like I wasn’t alone, so I figured, if I could give someone else that feeling, it would be hella fulfilling. From there I found myself in class trying to take notes and write down lyrics I was thinking of, and everything went from there.

TCP: You stood at the top of your class during school, didn’t you? Did you go on to higher learning after that? If so, how did you manage classes & music?

J. Good: I was always in honors classes coming up, and set college as a goal for myself before I started to do music. I wanted to be the first person in my family to attend college so I definitely went. I’m still in school actually. It’s hard trying to balance time, and I always think about what I could do if I devoted all my time to music, but for me school is first and I figure I can do that when I graduate. I give all my free time to music though.. thankfully I’ve had some professors who are understanding about me missing some days for shows haha.

TCP: How have you seen your name growing, both in California and all over the nation? ‘Look On The Brightside’ definitely bounced around the blogosphere & has gotten good play.

J. Good: It’s still a little weird for me hearing my name in different places. It’s most def exciting though. I’m definitely appreciative to everyone who has taken the time out to listen to ‘Look on the Brightside’. The most shocking thing to me is how it’s spread internationally to various places. It shows how the internet can make the world smaller.

TCP: When I first came up on ‘LOTBS’ I learned of The Usual Suspects . I went on to research a little bit about the collective, but the Facebook page is outdated, and there is not much available online, unless it is a blog promoting an LP. Give me a little background on TUS.

J. Good: T.U.S is my second family. We’re basically a collective of emcees, producers and other artists from Sacramento. Myself, Chuuwee, Keno, TonE da Underdog, Tellapath, Konkwest & Lady Blue and Drian, do the music and Jordan Yee (Photographer/graphic designer) and Mandark (artist) do the visual side. TonE, Chuuwee and I basically showed up later in the Sacramento hip hop scene, and it didn’t seem like the established cats took us too seriously, so we decided to make our own crew, and do our own thing.

TCP: You grew up around the original West Coast rap. The West Coast game has definitely changed since then. For some time, it seemed West Coast artists were a bit quiet, but lately A LOT of talent has been coming out of California. What are some names that have caught your eye, both rappers & producers?

J. Good: So many to name lol. The West Coast is making crack right now. I always make sure I’m a fan before an artist. I listen to a lot of Blu, Pac Div, TiRon, Ayomari, El Prez, Hawdwerk, everyone in TDE, Odd Future and Childish Gambino (I guess he counts as West Coast). Northern Cali is definitely underlooked as well. Bias aside, I feel we are just as talented. My T.U.S crew, DLRN, Skynet, Torrey Tee and C Plus from Sacramento all make crazy music and none of it is similar to the next artist, which makes the scene ill. As far as producers go, Jansport J, Rufio, Nefarious are some of my favorites. I’d like to do some work with Swiff D and Jhene Aiko at some point in my career also.

TCP: Think TCP can get a little peek into your future? What moves do you have coming for fans?

J. Good: Coming up, I have a couple music videos from LOTBS dropping and a project with producer Rufio put on by my sponsor GOLD. I’m in a group called The Avengers with Chuuwee, and you’ll see our project soon too. I like to take my time with projects so they have that lasting replay value which I feel is lacking nowadays.

TCP: Finally, NBA Playoffs … Who do you have in the Finals? & who wins it all?

J. Good: I’m a huge sports nerd, but these damn playoffs have been crazy. If Kobe’s ankle can hold up, I think LA beats OKC in the western conference finals, and Chicago beats Miami in the east but I can see that going in any direction haha. Lakers beat Chicago though in 6 games.

TCP: Thank you for taking time out for this interview. I’m sorry we could not do it face to face, but I’m glad we got the opportunity to learn more about J. Good. We’ll have time for that face-to-face in a couple months when I make it out to Cali & catch you at a show! You’ve got a great vision & definite talent. Stay up my dude, and keep on your good music mission.

J. Good: Appreciate the time! - The Collab Project