Brooklyn emcee/producer JK1 presents “Overstoodâ€, the new single from Hip-Hop Doesn’t Love You Back, his forthcoming debut solo album featuring A.G. of D.I.T.C. and Roc Doogie. Currently residing in Tampa Bay, FL, JK1 released three volumes of his 1st Come 1st Served series and produced the bulk of Queens emcee Truth’s 2016 album From Ashes To Kingdom Come (watch the music video for “New Type Of Something†featuring Sean Price). JK1 is a former member of Connecticut-based underground collective Antfarm Affiliates, and his former crew Phenetiks landed a spot on the Rawkus 50 in 2007.
“The title Hip-Hop Doesn’t Love You Back started off as a joke that came from a conversation with a close friend,†JK1 says. “Basically talking about all the work we did together years ago, and the love we did it with. Fast forward a bit, and now it’s less of a joke and more of an acknowledgement of where things are with my personal relationship with music, and my surroundings.
Last year I lost my wife and partner of 14 years to stage 4 cancer. I wasn’t going to finish this project, but after losing my wife… it’s one of very few things that kept me going. She’s my inspiration for everything I do going forward.â€
How did you get your stage name?
Well, Admittedly there was a graf writer I went to I.S. 111 with in Bushwick BK that used to write JK Oner. Written out I always thought it was dope because those are my government initials. They weren’t his though, and I never knew what the science behind him using JK was.
One day I was building with son at a hooky party, and jokingly told him I’m taking my initials back. He didn’t know what I meant. I Told him he’s been tagging my initials. Brothers had a few laughs because He had no idea those were my initials. Wasn’t something we spoke about prior to then. I was rhyming for a few years at that point, but hadn’t come up with a name. I was in cyphers just calling myself Jay.
Anyway son was cool with me using it, and I just styled it differently. I changed Oner to 1 to symbolically represent myself as being the 1 only me. The Supernova part came from how large I thought certain names sounded back then. Something THE something always sounded regal to me. Shit like Jeru The Damaja or Neek The Exotic to name a few.
Science was always intriguing to me, and the word Supernova itself, and it’s definition stuck with me. Added it on, and I’ve been JK1 The Supernova since.
What made you decide to become a rapper?
Seeing, and living Hip-Hop culture first hand definitely had an impact on me early on. My generation was born into it well before it became the world wide phenomenon it is now., but there was something special about being a kid in NYC in the 80’s & a teen in 90’s, and being in the thick of so much dope shit happening.
I just wanted to be a part of that energy. A huge fan of the music first, then out of the blue it hit me… they write this stuff down! Oh shit! So I started writing. Shit was wack, but it was a start. By the time I started to really rock with what I was writing I figured “yeah, I got something hereâ€.
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What’s the first rap song you ever heard? Describe the moment.
Oh man! I really couldn’t tell you what the first Rap song was, but I can tell you two that definitely stand out. Joeski Love – Pee Wes’s Dance & Whodini – Big Mouth. Living on Patchen Ave &. Van Buren St. in Bed-Stuy at the time. There was this dude name Pernell who lived in the building over from us. He’d be playing joints out of his car, and the lyric “Pee Wee Herman acts like a jerk†came out the speaker, and stuck with me. Same thing with the chorus on Big Mouth.
I’m a kid kid and I’m running around telling adults that they got a big mouth. The forefathers of Hip-Hop were a late discovery for me, and eventually after building with older heads who had the legendary tapes of cold crush, treacherous three and shit like that. I got caught up. But that Joeski Love & Whodini shit are definitely my earliest memorable experiences.
How did “Overstood†come together?
I made the track, wrote it and recorded it all in the same night. The picture goes a little like this. Usual shit during that time was sitting in the lab with my wife, may she rest in paradise… but yeah sitting in the lab with my wife, smoking, having some laughs, listening to records.
The sample jumped up at me, so I threw it in the maschine, chopped it up, programmed it, sequenced it, and wrote to it during the wee hours of the night. Laid it down shortly after writing it. It was one of the first joints to get recorded for the album, and set the tone for a couple of the joints that got made after.
Fast forward a bit. My brother Protege and I took a trip out to South Korea on some getaway vacation shit, and end up shooting the video for the joint out there. On the hook I say “catch me on the avenue, keeping it concrete as it should be†we were definitely on the avenue out there, and the shit was definitely concrete. Great time shooting that by the way.
What are your predictions for 2019 in hiphop?
2018 was a good year for Hip-Hop. I mean as far as the stuff I check for. I can’t speak to what goes on above ground, but there are some noteworthy successes I’m aware of. Props to the surface dwellers getting theirs! I think… y’know, If heads keep the momentum up I predict that 2019 could be monumental.
Separate from established artists. I look at artists, and producers that I have relationships with thru social media. They’re hungry, ambitious, talented, and are making splashes. Just recently a bunch of us got spin on DJ Premiers Live From HQ SiriusXM show on the same night.
I read the playlist following that broadcast, and these brothers whether it be producing or emceeing, and myself were peers among greats. Shit is real! So predict that they, and myself could easily be at the helm of laying the groundwork for the next wave of rawness to leave an impression in 2019 and beyond.
