JLD

Thousands of music fans from around the world crowd Austin’s clubs and restaurants this week for the annual South by Southwest Music Festival.

It’s a chance for bands and musicians to show their talents to music industry representatives, which some hope will lead to the next rung up the career ladder, and for fans to soak up a lot of new music.

For two musicians with Waco connections, this week offers new opportunities to shine before the music conference formally closes Sunday.

Dallas hip-hop producer SymbolycOne (S1), known as Larry Griffin Jr. to Waco family, friends and fellow graduates of Robinson High School, has found his star ascending in recent years, working on beats for such superstars as Kanye West, Jay-Z, Eminem, Beyonce and 50 Cent.

He’s been tapped to coach Team Texas, the American team in the first SXSW International Beat Battle, which starts at 8 p.m. Thursday at Avenue on Congress, 408 Congress Ave.

Their opponent: Team Toronto, coached by Matthew “Boi1da” Samuels, who’s produced tracks for Drake, Nas and Eminem.

The competition was organized by Toronto’s The Beat Academy and Houston’s Space City Beat Battle and will pit eight producers on each team against each other throughout the night. As one would expect, there’s been days of trash-talking between S1 and Boi1da on their Twitter feeds.
This week also is a dream come true for Hillsboro native Justin Derington, who has progressed from a time four years ago when he was homeless in Austin, to a short SXSW showcase, working with Waco radio personality DJ Cyse.

Derington, 31, raps as JLD — “Just a Little Different” is how he tags it — although he was connected with South Mob when he was living in Hillsboro.

Derington says his involvement in rap and music started when he was a youngster. After seeing a short poem his mother wrote in the aftermath of a miscarriage, he started composing his own verses. His mom’s fondness for soul music produced a music-rich home environment for Justin and his younger brother Pete.

Derington turned to Waco when looking for an outlet to practice and perform his raps and music while a Hillsboro High School student, and he credits former Waco trio Strange Fruit Project — created and led by S1 Waco rapper Mony Mone, Direct Resonance Recording Studio engineer Steve Rosas and Hillsboro country musician Jerry Burkhart — for their help.

Rosas worked on Derington’s first CD, which the rapper recalls selling at Richland Mall. Graduating from high school in 2001, he started studies at Navarro College on a basketball scholarship, only to injure his knee. He moved to Fort Worth, where he got a job managing Footlocker stores in the city and its suburbs.

He and his girlfriend had a daughter, Ella Lo’ren, but a deep frustration with his work after seven years with Footlocker and his desire to do something with his musical talent led him to a drastic decision, breaking with his girlfriend four years ago to move to Austin and go all-in for music.

“When you’re an artist, it completely consumes you,” he said.

For six months, Derington lived out of his car, then slowly began to cobble together jobs and performing gigs. His brother Pete finished his miliary service and signed on to run the business side of Derington’s music career. A major break came when he was picked to open for Austin hip-hoppers League of Extraordinary G’s on a wide-ranging tour with stops in New York, Detroit and Chicago.

He performed last year at the One Spark Festival in Jacksonville, Fla., and has gigs scheduled next month in Nashville and Memphis, Tenn.

He sees his 6-year-old daughter twice a month and is proud to show her he is achieving success in pursuing his dream.

Is the pressure on for Friday’s showcase?

“I’m not nervous,” he said. “I’m really ready.” - Waco Tribune Herald