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J.Ivy Speaks On His Grammy Nomination For His Spoken Word Album ‘Catching Dreams’ | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Dec 21, 2021
Spoken word artist, J. Ivy has been nominated for a Grammy for his project, Catching Dreams: Live at Fort Knox Chicago. He called into Sway In The Morning to talk about the nomination and to provide some inspiration to other artists.
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J.Ivy Speaks On His Grammy Nomination For His Spoken Word Album ‘Catching Dreams’ | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Sway’s Universe
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0:00
speaks life
0:02
that's why the world needs
0:04
more poets
0:07
that right there is the voice of power
0:11
the voice of
0:13
concern the voice of love the voice of
0:16
leadership the voice of vision
0:19
the voice of direction
0:21
what a voice has been for us that is a
0:23
grammy
0:24
award-nominated voice right there ladies
0:27
and gentlemen that is the hbo deaf poet
0:29
voice right there ladies and gentlemen
0:32
that is the voice that has been featured
0:34
and collaborated with some of the
0:35
greatest artists of all time including
0:37
kanye west john legend in slum village
0:40
ladies and gentlemen this is the voice
0:42
of a friend and my brother the one and
0:44
only jay ivy is on the line with us
0:47
right now jay ivy what up oh hey hey
0:51
what a dude
0:53
[Music]
0:56
come on come on man
0:58
let's talk about it man
1:01
we're going to do this again in person
1:03
but i just wanted to make sure because
1:04
it's our last week on air
1:06
and so i wanted to make sure i at least
1:08
uh at least tapped in for a second but
1:10
you and i
1:11
we're going to sit down in person and do
1:12
this again but it's an amazing
1:14
celebration citizens i'm opening up the
1:16
phone line uh jay ivy i think a lot of
1:18
people uh first time they either
1:20
heard or saw you was either hbo death
1:23
poet uh the dev poet show or
1:26
on the college dropout album on the song
1:28
never let me down
1:30
um and since then i just think you have
1:33
such a unique journey in your artistry
1:36
it's not like a mc it's not like a
1:38
rapper it's not like a dancer it's not
1:40
like a dj it's a poet you are a modern
1:43
day griot you're a modern day
1:46
orator
1:47
or oracle you are somebody who speaks
1:49
the times um in real time and and give
1:53
your perspective on it and it's your
1:55
work that years from now that scholars
1:59
and academics could go back to and
2:01
listen to your poems listen to your
2:03
poetry and know what was happening in
2:05
that time
2:06
i'm curious jay ivy you had an option
2:09
though
2:10
you could have went any route
2:12
but you chose poetry when did that
2:14
happen
2:16
man paul what happened in high school
2:18
man i had my english teacher she made me
2:20
do a show uh
2:22
and first time ever on stage i got a
2:24
standing ovation i just fell in love
2:27
with the art
2:28
and and just
2:29
kept pursuing that feeling you know i
2:32
went from this this broken kid who felt
2:34
invisible and lacked confidence and felt
2:37
like nobody was listening to him to
2:40
you know
2:41
seeing that people actually heard me
2:43
actually actually saw him
2:45
the truth it just kind of
2:48
found me and uh i found it and just
2:52
just kept moving with it man just off
2:54
the pure pure love and passion for it
2:56
was it the reaction you got that lured
2:58
you in or or
3:01
was it the information you gave
3:03
and how people you know what people took
3:05
away from it
3:07
i mean initially i think it was the
3:09
reaction just just uh just seeing people
3:12
on their feet standing up clapping for
3:15
me it was it was an eye opener and then
3:18
and then it was oh wow they they heard
3:21
what i had to say but but that initial
3:23
reaction was you know that was the shock
3:25
of it all like yo y'all y'all standing
3:27
up for me y'all clapping for me
3:29
you know and then it went from oh
3:32
well let me continue to dive deep into
3:35
these stories that's on my heart
3:37
and and and then it was the reaction of
3:39
people hearing what i had to say like
3:42
you know now i'm realizing okay they're
3:44
really paying attention to the words not
3:45
just my voice it's my words that they
3:48
really paying attention to so that's
3:50
what that's what really just you know
3:51
lit that fire
3:53
who was there then at that time because
3:55
i rich nice is on the line too jay ivy
3:58
uh and
4:00
you know
4:01
and of course tracy g and so we we will
4:04
have
4:05
we were having a conversation the other
4:07
day with lord finesse the legendary lord
4:09
finesse i didn't know that rich nice
4:11
went to high school with lord finesse
4:14
and all these different people were
4:16
around when they were all forming
4:18
digging in the crates crew diamond d you
4:20
know uh showbiz and
4:22
who was around when you were coming up
4:25
was john monopoly around was yay around
4:28
was were you all in the same area like
4:30
when when did that
4:32
crew come together and what was people
4:34
doing at that time
4:36
not for me so i was out so i grew up on
4:39
the south side of chicago but this is my
4:41
brother he went to the school called lin
4:42
bloom and then after he went to the
4:44
school well after he went to limb bloom
4:46
my mom was like you ain't going to
4:47
school in the city so middle of my
4:49
eighth grade year we moved out to the
4:50
birds
4:52
so they will folk like i went to high
4:54
school with mickey hausted i don't know
4:56
if y'all mickey hofstede right now he uh
4:58
he managed g herbo he's the first mc
5:00
that uh that kanye signed back in the
5:02
day
5:03
uh those folks like uh like kid sister
5:06
and
5:06
cool kids later on like the same areas
5:10
the same area juice world is from
5:12
so
5:14
around me at that time it was it was
5:16
really the homies it was really the
5:18
homies mickey mickey he was a year older
5:20
than me
5:21
but um but other than that it i mean it
5:24
definitely wasn't nobody saying i'm a
5:26
poet and then or pursuing to be
5:29
a poet
5:30
and then later on when i got into
5:32
college and then
5:33
when i got back home to the city after
5:35
college
5:36
is when i hit the scene and you know
5:38
there was malik yousef and
5:40
avery art young and and um
5:44
you know these different and then i met
5:45
you know john john i didn't meet kanye
5:48
uh i met him in passing but i didn't
5:50
really like start kicking it with them
5:52
until i moved to new york
5:54
but uh but on the scene there was this
5:56
renaissance this chicago renaissance
5:59
happening from from the comedians like
6:01
dion cole was on the scene little real
6:03
cootie of course
6:05
um and then you had the go-getters doing
6:07
their thing and uh crucial conflict and
6:10
do-or-die and the brat so abstract mind
6:13
state this was around that era like the
6:14
late 90s uh-huh
6:17
okay yo this sounds like this sounds
6:19
like fame right rich
6:21
it's like
6:23
it sounds like uh
6:25
like the movie fan was it was it when i
6:27
look at when you think of chicago now
6:29
and you think about
6:31
what chicago's had to deal with for a
6:33
long time for decades since since before
6:36
we were all born but you hear the
6:38
stories that you mentioned g herbal or
6:40
dirk and you know king vine and you know
6:43
all these duck you know all these
6:44
different people either lost their lives
6:46
or
6:47
folks from the same neighborhood that
6:48
just or the same area that's just been
6:50
at each other's necks for so long
6:52
where was that
6:54
like was that present too when you were
6:57
coming up you know coming out of college
7:00
and was the creative space like a bubble
7:02
that shielded y'all from it or were you
7:04
dealing with that too were you going
7:06
from the stage and then sometimes
7:08
finding yourself environments that's
7:09
more like what these guys have been
7:11
talking about
7:13
yeah i mean that was always an
7:15
element it was always something that was
7:16
a part of chicago i mean this is it's a
7:19
it's a gangster town it's a it's a
7:21
blue-collar hard-working town but it's
7:24
awesome so it's also gangster
7:26
i mean i don't think it's
7:28
it's it's it's a little different now
7:32
you know there's a lot more um
7:34
uh gun play happening now not that guns
7:37
wasn't a factor then
7:39
but uh you know cass will fight you know
7:42
and and live to fight another day
7:44
now is is
7:46
you know cats are quick to pull that
7:47
trigger which which i don't get i don't
7:49
understand
7:51
but uh but it i mean you know the
7:53
streets is always an element uh in
7:56
chicago you always had to watch your
7:58
back the ogs would say to be aware is to
8:01
be alive so you have to make sure
8:03
you know you know you checking mirrors
8:05
you you looking over your shoulder
8:07
you need to know what
8:09
uh who's in the room what's going on at
8:11
all times in case something does pop off
8:14
but but creativity it it it definitely
8:17
did give back then it did give us
8:20
somewhat more of a bubble than now like
8:23
that was that was the
8:24
that was the uh those were protected you
8:27
know the athletes and the artists were
8:29
protected you know like man lee shorty
8:31
alone he good i got him you know the
8:33
streets would protect those that they
8:35
felt
8:36
had had a chance to go on and do
8:38
something special so um
8:41
yeah it's tough to like compare now
8:43
because now yeah you know it's wild wild
8:45
west right now
8:46
yeah jay ivy is with us man he's a
8:48
grammy nominated you know for his album
8:50
catching dreams
8:52
banging album a lot of tracks on this
8:53
that i really like trying to let tracy
8:55
jump in trigger yo jay ivy i'm so happy
8:58
to get to hear you my guy
9:00
you know with your particular absolutely
9:03
with your particular style of poetry i
9:05
want to um get into the connection of
9:07
poetry and hip-hop because in a lot of
9:10
ways they feel synonymous
9:12
uh people will speak about their
9:14
favorite um emcee and in their
9:16
description they'll mention that he or
9:18
him is a poet you know
9:20
but
9:21
we don't often think i don't believe
9:23
that every poet is necessarily an emcee
9:26
so i'm curious for you like
9:29
if you are if someone is a rapper it is
9:32
in your eyes does that automatically
9:34
make them a poet
9:36
what what are the distinctions between
9:38
the two outside of the obvious if there
9:40
are any
9:42
i mean to me the the biggest difference
9:44
is is delivery but i mean if you if you
9:47
carry those words with you you carry
9:49
those you know the the ability to tell
9:51
stories to me you're you're a poet at
9:54
the core all day
9:55
um mmc or
9:58
or uh or poet but
10:00
you know to me the mc's like me growing
10:02
up i was a hip-hop baby so
10:05
the emcees were my poets my storytellers
10:07
one of my biggest influences is slick
10:10
rick the ruler you know greatest
10:12
storyteller ever he is absolutely a poet
10:15
you know that is no denying it um mc's
10:20
are
10:20
definitely posed now now the delivery
10:23
you know puts you in a different in a
10:26
different category you know that's cool
10:28
as long as you you're using your words
10:30
to to your voice what's on your heart
10:33
and and get a a point across that'll
10:36
help
10:36
uh
10:38
push culture forward
10:40
then i think it's it's a lot of there's
10:42
a lot of beauty and a lot of value in
10:43
that
10:45
and for anyone who's out there listening
10:47
who may start off exploring poetry of
10:49
simply you know pen to pat
10:52
just writing their poems in a
10:53
traditional way that maybe we learned in
10:55
school of like all the stanzas and that
10:57
type of structure
10:59
how did you um
11:00
first start practicing actual spoken
11:03
word
11:04
you know lifting
11:06
your um your stories and your visions
11:08
from the paper to your voice
11:12
well get that that goes back to high
11:15
school like me just
11:16
for i really fell in love with the stage
11:19
first that's why i gained
11:21
gain my confidence like i i written a
11:24
poem
11:25
for homework i turned it in and my
11:27
teacher gave me an a on it but i didn't
11:29
think that that that was a gift like you
11:32
know that it took time to
11:34
to see how people felt about my words
11:37
the stage just it was instant it was oh
11:39
i can see that that's impacting people
11:42
so then i i
11:44
i was just looking for ways to get back
11:46
on stage in it but the more i would get
11:48
on stage the more i would write
11:50
and then uh when i was in college one of
11:52
my professors asked me to write
11:53
something for this for this talent show
11:55
the deltas was doing something and she's
11:57
like can you write a piece and perform
11:59
it and i was like oh wow like
12:01
like man i can write what i perform
12:02
because before high school i was doing
12:03
like speeches and monologues from other
12:05
people and i was like oh i can write
12:07
what i perform
12:08
and and just
12:10
having that uh realization it just
12:13
really just it just sparked a whole new
12:15
level and then i got exposed to
12:17
gil scott herron and the last poets and
12:20
and then it really just opened my mind
12:23
up to oh wow you can take these these
12:25
words and these stories and just really
12:28
find ways to
12:30
use your voice as an instrument to to
12:32
paint these pictures and it just it just
12:34
became an
12:35
incredible ride really
12:37
you know
12:38
it's been an amazing ride man jay ivy
12:40
has joined us uh grammy nominated jay
12:43
ivy how's your queen she was teaching me
12:45
yo tracy they were teaching me how to
12:48
what was i learned what's the step i was
12:50
learning
12:51
[Applause]
12:58
sorry she got a new song in time and we
13:00
was playing it at uh over at chad's
13:02
career but sorry was teaching uh
13:05
soy how to step man you had it too bro
13:07
you had it yo y'all i was gonna ask you
13:09
i know y'all was giving me charity uh
13:11
applauds but did i really have it like
13:14
you got one packet yeah you had it
13:16
where's the cardio you have it but then
13:17
you got it at first but
13:21
was filming and cootie was filming it so
13:23
you know cootie and chike they film
13:24
everything you sneeze they get it on
13:26
camera drop that okay
13:29
we'll post it oh you're posted you know
13:32
i ain't embarrassed i got rhythm uh rich
13:33
nice you want to jump in
13:35
yeah man jay ivy my brother my brother i
13:39
i have to say first and foremost i'm
13:42
very extremely proud of you
13:44
congratulations i don't think people
13:47
really know
13:48
the intensity and how important this
13:51
particular grammy nomination is correct
13:53
me if i'm wrong this is the first time
13:56
that they're actually really nominating
13:58
spoken word artists that actually are
14:01
poets that that speak their original
14:03
writings and not reading like story time
14:06
or a book from someone or my speech from
14:09
here you know i mean there's there's the
14:10
mayor sulliman who's who's nominated
14:13
with dave chappelle for 846 and and then
14:16
there's you you know with with catching
14:18
dreams live at fort knox chicago because
14:20
the other nominees are don cheadle and
14:23
who's great but he's you know and then
14:24
is levar burton and then barack obama
14:28
and jay ivey
14:34
this is phenomenal this is
14:36
groundbreaking this is like all the
14:39
poets are from the poet friends that i
14:40
have that you know a lot of them we're
14:42
all on the phone like yes yes go j like
14:46
with everyone's super happy and ecstatic
14:48
it's almost like not even almost you got
14:50
nominated so i got nominated for this
14:52
because it just feels
14:53
so dope how does that feel to be in this
14:57
this first class so to speak of spoken
15:00
word artists to be nominated for a
15:02
grammy
15:03
man i i mean it's it's absolutely
15:06
incredible man now i will say my my
15:08
brother say cool andrews he was
15:10
nominated two years ago
15:12
uh spoken word artist we go back to deaf
15:14
poetry
15:16
and but but this time i mean it for me
15:19
like to see my name on on the list with
15:21
these
15:22
great great men all black men just these
15:26
great black men who i admire who are
15:28
heroes of mine i mean we got mr
15:31
president barack obama you know is to be
15:33
in that class to be you know in the
15:35
class with dave chappelle and amir
15:37
suleiman and
15:39
don cheatham levar burton
15:42
it's an incredible feeling i've been
15:44
i've been floating the past few weeks
15:46
all the poets have reached out
15:48
um you know rooting me on
15:51
letting me know how much uh that that
15:54
they uh they they
15:56
they supporting and they celebrating
15:58
with me and
15:59
and how much they appreciate uh you know
16:02
the door being kicked in
16:04
just giving giving poets uh
16:07
just showing them that it's possible
16:09
just showing them that it's possible
16:10
that i think to me
16:12
you know like you said this this isn't
16:14
like this this nomination isn't just for
16:16
jay ivy this is for the poets
16:18
and and to me that i mean that's a uh
16:22
that's a moment i'm ultra proud of to
16:25
know that that you know the poets are
16:27
like we together on this like we we
16:30
walking through this door together
16:32
so it's incredible man like i've been
16:34
i've been trying to like find the right
16:36
words for it but
16:37
i've been i've been floating brother
16:39
i've been floating i tell you that much
16:41
yeah that's incredible man
16:44
it's it's so great because prior to this
16:47
has always been you know go on broadway
16:49
and win a tony award or you know be a
16:52
part of a tv show or something like that
16:54
so it's just man big up and salute man
16:57
this is just an amazing thing i'm happy
16:58
for you and and and we got to put a
17:00
round of applause for that come on tone
17:02
let's get some applause for my mom come
17:03
on come on where you at
17:07
[Applause]
17:09
uh
17:10
we got some people on the line too uh i
17:12
want to go to lion two aaron is on the
17:13
line from cali um aaron let me see if i
17:16
can put aaron graham rises how you doing
17:19
man grand rises it's like the second
17:21
time i've been on the show man i love
17:22
y'all so i appreciate all that y'all do
17:25
i got a couple thank you for brother ivy
17:28
man um i've been listening to you since
17:30
i was in like
17:31
the fourth fifth grade when kanye first
17:33
came out with the
17:35
dropout project
17:36
and i've always respected you as a poet
17:39
um as part of the reason why i became a
17:41
poet
17:42
uh myself
17:44
my question to you though is how do you
17:46
feel as an actual spoken word artist
17:48
like no offense to the other people in
17:49
the category with you especially my
17:51
brother barack obama but to keep it a
17:52
book none of them outside of yourself
17:54
are actual spoken word artists so how do
17:56
you feel going forward in like into
18:00
you know on this journey like how how
18:02
would you feel bringing in other spoken
18:04
word artists like like myself or even
18:07
like my brother brandon lee
18:09
into this category into this flow to
18:11
really start getting
18:13
our art form some real praise
18:16
man well first aaron thank you brother
18:19
that means a lot um definitely keep keep
18:22
doing your thing with your with your art
18:25
uh it means it means a lot to bring the
18:28
poets into the forefront like one of one
18:30
of my things i've been working on the
18:32
past five six years i've been on the
18:34
grammy board and i've been fighting for
18:36
this category
18:37
like here we have a category title best
18:40
spoken word album and and they're
18:43
never poets spoken word artists
18:46
represented in the category so i've been
18:48
fighting i've sent uh letters
18:51
uh
18:52
to to the academy i've i've uh i've been
18:55
in those meetings with the academy i've
18:57
been fighting for the poets so next year
19:00
when when that category uh when those
19:03
announcements are made for those
19:05
nominations my goal my hope my prayers
19:08
to see that all five spots are poets um
19:12
we we have this incredible art form
19:15
um that we
19:16
that we're part of this incredible
19:18
village that we're part of and it's it's
19:20
important that we shine more light on it
19:23
and and you know we don't we don't need
19:25
the validation but we understand that
19:28
like platforms like this they help
19:29
elevate our message and they help shine
19:32
a light on on the on the message that
19:34
that we're putting out here that
19:36
ultimately changes lives and ultimately
19:38
saves lives so it's incredible to know
19:41
that that um that that door is being
19:43
knocked down and we're gonna keep
19:44
knocking it down so man get your album
19:46
ready because because uh we don't need
19:48
that we gonna need your albums submitted
19:49
next year we need all the to commit
19:51
their albums next year so we can go for
19:54
all five spots you know when we're here
19:56
on out all right hey aaron thank you man
19:58
well um aaron what do you go by what's
20:00
your what's your name what's your poet
20:01
name
20:03
my stage name is aaron t you can find me
20:05
on instagram at its guarantee in
20:07
stockton i run a local open mic called
20:08
truth be told
20:10
i'll tyson
20:11
awesome features
20:12
and uh i appreciate what you said jay
20:15
and i look forward to seeing what we
20:17
really can do as poets in this in this
20:19
world that we live in because if it's
20:21
not us ain't nobody really speaking true
20:22
truth
20:24
come on man talk about it my man aaron
20:26
good citizen aaron we appreciate you
20:27
stockton california that's something i
20:29
might have to go by there
20:31
yeah man shout out to brandon lee shout
20:33
out to brandon yeah
20:34
you know being a poet isn't easy
20:38
you know uh to stay afloat to
20:40
necessarily you you've probably done it
20:42
you probably kind of created a blueprint
20:45
for yourself saul williams someone i've
20:47
known for years
20:48
uh probably created a blueprint for
20:50
yourselves that others can follow but it
20:52
ain't easy it ain't like getting hired
20:54
to do the rap concerts and going to rap
20:56
tours or you know get movie appearances
21:00
it's a lot of highs and lows right jay
21:02
ivy in terms of surviving as a poet can
21:05
you speak to that
21:07
oh man and the highs and lows are real
21:09
man it's um
21:11
i have a quote that says you can get in
21:13
where you fit in or you can make room
21:16
and and that's that's the the key to it
21:18
is like constantly finding ways to make
21:21
room
21:22
for your art not waiting for somebody to
21:23
put you on not waiting not waiting for
21:26
somebody to book you because those
21:28
opportunities may not come and that's
21:30
that's something i had to learn like
21:32
like whatever it is you do
21:34
i like waiting is is the worst thing you
21:37
can do like waiting for somebody to put
21:39
you in the game you know and i say that
21:41
and in the song stop complaining you
21:43
know you're on the sideline man put you
21:45
put yourself in the game like stop stop
21:48
stop waiting for somebody to
21:50
e
21:51
to book you if you don't have a booking
21:53
man create your own show throw your own
21:55
show you know
21:56
pull the people together
21:58
build your support let people know you
22:00
out here like i get i get um checks to
22:03
do certain work
22:05
man that money goes back into the studio
22:06
so i can create my album ain't no record
22:08
label trying to sign me but i'm assigned
22:10
myself you know
22:12
another quote is i i get uh i get
22:15
corporate dollars put my money back into
22:17
myself now i'm a corporate sponsor
22:20
it's important that we sponsor our own
22:22
our own um journey instead of waiting
22:24
for somebody to say hey hey man we'll
22:27
put you on
22:28
so
22:29
it's definitely highs and lows to it but
22:32
uh but when you're doing what you love
22:34
when you're doing what you love the lows
22:36
don't feel so low you just got to keep
22:38
going i want to play
22:40
uh that song stop complaining
22:44
yeah i want to say one of the lyrics you
22:46
said dead man walking dead man talking
22:49
with a mic in his hand
22:53
yeah yeah
22:55
speaker break that down before i play
22:56
the song
22:58
i mean that's you know it's a lot of
23:00
folks that you know they they uh
23:02
they're getting these opportunities for
23:04
they for their voices to be amplified
23:06
but it's like what you're really saying
23:08
like like what are you really are you
23:10
speaking life are you speaking death
23:12
and that's and and in this day and age
23:15
it's important that that we speak of
23:18
those
23:19
you know just just a nod to say hey
23:21
y'all wake up you know let's speak life
23:24
okay let's play stop complaining jay ivy
23:26
is here i'm open up these phone lines
23:28
continuously 888
23:31
742-3345 speak life
23:33
yeah sadie stop complaining stop
23:36
complaining jay iv here catching dreams
23:38
grammy nominated
23:41
that angelic voice
23:43
that angelic voice
23:45
is my my step teacher
23:48
that's my step teacher tracy she's
23:50
talking about teacher yes taught me how
23:52
to step sorry to ray
23:54
tt
23:56
come on man
23:57
uh
23:59
jay ivy has uh done so much
24:02
in this art form
24:04
i think i was i was floored pleasantly
24:08
floored and surprised uh when you
24:10
received the naacp image award for
24:12
writing and on-camera narration of the
24:15
muhammad ali the people's champ the bet
24:18
documentary
24:19
uh you know there's certain things i've
24:21
done in my life
24:22
through this work that the culture
24:24
brought to me opportunity that i
24:25
consider milestones what is that rank in
24:28
your list of accomplishments
24:31
oh man that's that's up there towards
24:33
the top man muhammad ali the greatest of
24:36
all time
24:37
to have an opportunity to do something
24:39
to to pay homage to one of one of my
24:42
personal heroes
24:44
the greatest of all time
24:46
and and to do it um
24:49
uh when we knew that he would he would
24:51
see it you know because
24:53
at the time he was still with us
24:55
so so when my brothers cootie and chike
24:58
called me about about doing this film it
25:01
was
25:02
it was just an incredible opportunity it
25:04
was one of those like that y'all for
25:06
real like we might have to do what
25:08
and then to see how the film turned out
25:11
and then for it to win an image award
25:13
man it was special man that was a
25:15
special special moment
25:18
and our lee got to see it
25:20
yeah he got to see it did you get to
25:22
meet him wow
25:24
nah i didn't get fans to beat him i wish
25:26
i
25:30
that's incredible cootie and chike went
25:32
up bumped into gk he was playing us
25:35
some of the things from one of the
25:36
projects he's working on genius is that
25:38
what it's called
25:39
j.i.b jr
25:42
okay
25:43
are you in that project
25:46
yeah so so i'm the lead writer on genius
25:49
it's a
25:50
it's a kanye west
25:52
trilogy it's the subtitle
25:54
and
25:55
and cody he's narrating the film and i
25:57
wrote his narration
25:59
so i'm i'm super excited to be a part of
26:01
it you know it's
26:02
it's important to be surrounded by
26:04
incredible people yeah and i've been
26:07
blessed man my brothers have always
26:08
looked out for me um
26:10
cody was one who got me or never let me
26:12
down
26:13
and
26:14
and and all these years later he's the
26:16
one that said look we we're doing this
26:18
this kanye documentary and i need you to
26:20
write
26:21
i'm there i'm there thank you i'm not
26:24
thank you i'm there let's go
26:27
that premiere is on netflix in february
26:30
that's incredible
26:31
uh
26:33
your kanye in studio experience
26:36
what what has that been like i've been
26:38
in studios with kanye it's never the
26:39
same thing twice but but what were you
26:41
able to do
26:44
what's that experience like
26:46
what you take with you away from it
26:49
man it it's never the same thing twice
26:52
but it's always always been fun
26:54
it's always been inspiring like my last
26:56
time in the studio was was uh i was in
26:59
the studio for about a week during jesus
27:01
king
27:02
and um and that that experience was
27:04
totally different from when i you know
27:06
the college dropout days
27:08
but it was it was peaceful it was a lot
27:10
of building there was a lot of
27:11
fellowship and
27:13
um
27:14
kanye he he listens like more than what
27:16
people may know
27:18
when this when there's a room full of
27:20
full of like great creatives like he
27:23
he's he's absorbing and he's listening
27:25
and at the same time everybody's
27:26
creating his magic
27:28
together so it's always been it's always
27:31
been dope and it's always been inspiring
27:33
man like that's fun really yeah was it
27:36
was it any videos playing on the on the
27:38
back in the background on the monitor or
27:41
anything that could kind of set a vibe
27:43
uh for the room or it was just people
27:45
gathering just buzzing
27:48
but for jesus king it was just people
27:50
gathering buzzing this is when he had
27:51
those huts outside you know those domes
27:55
so we would uh so everybody would just
27:57
work all day
27:58
and then um and then we would go out in
28:01
those huts and you have a chef come out
28:02
and and we all just everybody whoever
28:04
was there from the
28:06
emcees to the engineers to he had folks
28:09
that were doing architecture work and
28:12
everybody would come together and we
28:13
would all eat together in these domes
28:15
break bread and then after that we'd go
28:18
and listen to what everybody worked on
28:20
during the day so it was just this
28:22
constant like beautiful um
28:25
just just uh there's a lot of building
28:27
going on now i did see the monitors like
28:29
like when cody he showed me footage when
28:31
he went to wyoming he had like you know
28:33
the imagery you know showing um actually
28:36
some of that is in the film too so
28:38
um but yeah it's always you know he had
28:40
things on the wall like like folks on
28:42
the wall you know jesus came so it was
28:44
big um
28:45
you know bible verses blown up that was
28:47
that was around the walls those things
28:49
like that for the imagery different
28:51
images that he was using for the um that
28:53
he was getting getting together for the
28:55
imax film or on the walls so definitely
28:58
inspirational draw from in the room
29:01
jay i'm curious you know in hip-hop
29:04
often it's referred to as a sport right
29:07
and we hear i see you speak all the time
29:09
about
29:10
striving to outwork each other striving
29:13
to be the goat or at bare minimum within
29:16
someone's top five you know is that type
29:19
of energy prevalent in the spoken world
29:22
spoken word world at all
29:25
yeah yeah it's a it's a
29:27
it's a positive
29:29
competition you know it's it's more
29:32
inspiration than anything like if i if i
29:34
sit back and
29:35
and i mean man two weeks ago three weeks
29:38
ago i'm at madison square garden and i
29:40
see amir suleiman
29:42
perform for a sold out
29:44
madison square garden uh with dave
29:46
chappelle and he shut it down he went up
29:49
matter of fact he went up buster rhymes
29:51
went up
29:53
and then amir went up after buster
29:56
rhymes i'm like there's not many people
29:57
on the planet now come behind buster
29:59
rhymes
30:00
you know i mean like there's not many
30:02
people on the planet so like when you
30:04
see somebody with that kind of
30:07
just just and that power and that force
30:10
and it just has a way with the words it
30:12
naturally inspires you to go back and
30:14
like oh man let me let me get on my pen
30:17
cause i know what i have is great as
30:18
well
30:19
and and that that's definitely existed
30:22
in in in poetry we we all
30:25
we all admire each other's work we're
30:27
all inspired by each other's work
30:29
and but you know when it's our turn
30:31
when it's our turn
30:33
you know what i mean like
30:34
you want to come with it you got to come
30:36
with it you ain't got no choice you know
30:38
so you know yeah i said yeah
30:40
you know speaking about that it's
30:42
interesting because rappers and poets
30:44
are different in this one aspect to
30:46
where rappers usually don't perform
30:48
something until they have like a album
30:51
or a single that they're promoting and
30:53
it's different with poets poets will hit
30:54
the stage consistently all the time any
30:57
day of the week every day of the week
31:00
what is your favorite performance space
31:02
in chicago
31:04
my favorite performance space uh
31:08
house of blues house of blues is
31:11
absolutely one of them i haven't
31:13
performed there yet but the chicago
31:16
theater is some
31:17
place that i've been
31:19
man that that place has been calling me
31:21
in my dream so i'm looking forward to
31:23
rocking there
31:24
um
31:26
but yeah house of blues probably like
31:28
been my favorite
31:31
um what would you say is your favorite
31:33
your favorite underground spot that you
31:35
tell someone man when you come to the
31:37
when you come to the crib come over here
31:38
we we getting it in
31:40
favor underground like i love promontory
31:43
promotor is just a dope vibe
31:46
like one of my fave it ain't there no
31:48
more but it was a spot called the shrine
31:50
that was just it was just a oh it was a
31:52
vibe um
31:54
uh
31:55
it ain't there number problematories
31:57
like like that's probably like the
31:59
favorite on the underground side
32:02
hey uh jay ivy man
32:04
poet beef
32:06
did tracy ask you about
32:09
poet beef does that exist
32:12
hey man people are people are people man
32:19
it don't matter what you do
32:21
no matter what you're doing don't be
32:23
there it's gonna be there so yeah it
32:25
exists
32:26
you you ever had a back and forth for
32:28
the poet
32:30
yeah i've had i've asked them back and
32:32
forth but i like i'm not the i'm not the
32:35
uh the confrontational type so i
32:37
i keep it moving when the energy ain't
32:39
right
32:40
you know you folks take they swipe they
32:42
take another swipe all right i'm out you
32:44
know so me i'll i just try and keep it
32:46
moving you know
32:48
so uh but yeah i tell i tell you about
32:50
it one day
32:57
could people do like
32:59
this poetry
33:02
oh yeah yeah i've seen it happen i mean
33:05
again like you have people that you know
33:07
envy envy is a real thing no matter no
33:10
matter what you do
33:11
so people they you know they they may
33:14
battle or
33:15
or they may
33:16
try and block like
33:19
deaf poetry
33:21
the things that
33:22
that poetry is doing like when it was
33:24
just talks of the show and matter of
33:26
fact this is our 20 year anniversary my
33:28
of uh of poetry my episode here i was on
33:31
the first season there was four episodes
33:33
and i was on third episode december 28
33:36
2001. and wow
33:40
hey thank you brother they were they
33:42
were trying to get poets
33:44
um they were doing competitions in
33:46
different cities to find the police that
33:47
would be on the show
33:48
and me and tyree we had moved to
33:50
nashville at the time so when the
33:52
competition hit chicago nobody called me
33:55
told me it was coming
33:56
and and i was devastated i was
33:59
devastated
34:00
but
34:01
god worked it out and i ended up being
34:03
on the show before everybody else
34:05
but it was but
34:06
i i would hear
34:08
that yeah people were like yeah don't
34:10
tell jay don't tell jay because they go
34:12
get it don't tell jay so like people
34:14
that were like really blocking each or
34:17
trying to block me from the moment but
34:19
uh
34:20
but yeah so
34:23
poet beef exists man man that's that's
34:26
interesting hey j i'm asked your
34:27
question
34:29
where is heaven
34:32
heavens in the heart it's in the heart
34:35
you have this song i say that too jay
34:37
ivy i say that too it's right in this
34:40
it's within us heaven is
34:42
it's right here it's in your heart right
34:44
and you have this song called heaven on
34:46
earth um on this project which i think
34:49
is one of the most beautiful so when i
34:51
saw the title i was like well where is
34:52
he gonna go with this and then when i
34:54
heard the content i was like yo that's
34:56
amazing can you talk about developing
34:58
that song
35:00
man so heaven on earth is is dedicated
35:04
to
35:05
to my wife my soul mate my stage mate
35:08
tari toray
35:10
um that's what you heard singing don't
35:11
stop complaining she um she's just just
35:14
incredibly beautiful human being i'm i
35:18
swear i'm not being biased
35:20
but like nah she's great when i
35:22
yeah like when i when i prayed it was
35:24
funny you know just being in the
35:26
industry and i remember um
35:28
telling folks that uh me and ty we were
35:31
together for years and then we broke up
35:32
i moved to new york and then we got back
35:35
together
35:36
and and we and our bond was was stronger
35:38
than ever and i remember telling some
35:40
folks like yeah man
35:42
i'm about to propose man like this man
35:45
she the one
35:46
and and i remember people telling me
35:48
don't do that
35:49
like that's gonna mess up your career
35:51
like don't do that like what i mess up
35:53
my career but when i but when i pray and
35:57
i asked god for help
35:58
my the the the response that i heard
36:01
back was i sent her
36:03
so you know how you
36:05
how you gonna tell me that's gonna mess
36:07
up man you worry about messing up career
36:09
like we we move together in a way that
36:13
brings a lot of joy a lot of balance to
36:15
life so when it came time for heaven on
36:17
earth my buddy uh ahmad grimes from
36:20
nashville
36:21
uh we're originally from detroit he sent
36:23
me this track and i was like oh my god
36:24
his track is beautiful
36:26
and then um i reached out to real
36:29
because i wanted the song to be a
36:30
surprise to tari so i reached out to
36:32
real everybody know real
36:34
you know on rockefeller back in the day
36:37
and i said real i got this song man i i
36:39
need i need your help so
36:41
we were uh we were still staying in
36:43
harlem at the time and and rail came
36:45
through and i actually recorded his
36:46
vocals the vocals that you hear on the
36:48
record i recorded at my crib in harlem
36:51
and real just a phenom of an artist he
36:54
just he's like what you wanted to be
36:56
about i'm like well you know just how i
36:57
feel blah blah blah
36:58
this man wrote the joint straight
37:00
through just sang and wrote why he was
37:02
singing i said oh my god like this is
37:04
incredible so then so then i wrote my
37:06
verse and i just really wanted
37:08
i really wanted the poem to
37:10
to pay homage to the feelings that i
37:12
feel about charity because uh
37:14
she wanted the special ones and and
37:16
sometimes we make the mistakes and let
37:18
go of the special ones or mess it up
37:21
but but uh yeah you're talking to me
37:23
rich right now you talking enriching me
37:25
right now rich you all right rich
37:27
[Laughter]
37:30
you're all right okay
37:32
you're all right rich
37:34
we
37:42
[Laughter]
37:49
of y'all yolkley
37:51
eat a yolk on the violin yeah
37:54
yeah all right she uh she recorded her
37:56
violin though those strange she was she
37:59
was like six seven months pregnant when
38:00
she recorded those strings so it was
38:03
like some extra love that was that was
38:05
in that record yeah
38:06
okay um i mean
38:09
i want to play that record to to end our
38:11
conversation for now you know but i
38:14
can't tell you enough you know i really
38:16
feel
38:17
connected to your journey you know i've
38:19
known you a long time you know i watched
38:21
you evolve a long time i've always been
38:23
in your circles you know uh as almost i
38:27
guess like a big brother you know with
38:29
cootie and chica and rich nice and i
38:31
used to you know they flew out to
38:32
florida with us to did a few things with
38:35
us early on in the work
38:36
you know and just being supportive of
38:39
your music and
38:40
uh of your work rather
38:42
and music and and what you stand for jay
38:46
ivy i really appreciate man as a man
38:48
what you stand for the way you celebrate
38:50
your relationship uh with your wife and
38:53
how y'all do move i truly respect that
38:56
um the way you
38:58
stayed the course
39:00
you never compromise yourself even when
39:02
i see you doing commercials you're still
39:04
in your own way
39:06
and i love watching you doing these
39:07
commercials i love seeing you in these
39:09
different pieces and like you said
39:11
making room not waiting for making room
39:13
for yourself and here's the thing jay
39:15
ivy i don't even feel like you reached
39:17
halftime yet you still in the second
39:19
quarter of your career
39:21
you know
39:22
i don't feel like you reached halftime
39:24
yet do you know that those first that
39:26
first quarter is planting those seeds
39:27
you know they may see them they may not
39:29
second quarter they starting to blossom
39:31
half time is the big show
39:34
you know half time is the big show and i
39:37
see that for you so continue success
39:40
um i can't wait to see y'all again i'm
39:43
practicing my rhythm
39:44
[Applause]
39:48
i love it
39:49
i love it i am and real quick
39:53
no no i'll go say see you at the grammys
39:56
oh hey man see you at the grammys my
39:58
brother and i just wanted i wanted to
40:00
thank you too
40:01
cause you inspired one of the verses on
40:03
the album so off in chicago the second
40:06
verse i wrote because when you were
40:08
doing my block chicago you said jay ivy
40:11
i need a verse and you said put that j
40:12
ivy chill on it and i was like gabby
40:15
chill what's that
40:16
so i wrote i wrote that second verse on
40:19
off in chicago i wrote for the intro of
40:21
my block because of you so i just wanted
40:24
to thank you for for being an
40:25
inspiration and being a part of the
40:28
part of the record man i gotta chill off
40:30
that because i remember that like it was
40:32
yesterday yeah
40:34
if i put that jiv seal on it
40:40
yeah we made it a thing that day you
40:42
know and i had a way of putting pressure
40:44
on people tracy
40:46
i have experienced that
40:49
i put the pressure on you to be great
40:51
that's it and you stepped up to the
40:53
plate and that that was killer boy that
40:55
my block chicago was incredible um but
40:58
oh i didn't even realize i got to go
40:59
back and listen to it man i appreciate
41:01
you jay ivy continued success i
41:03
appreciate it all right
41:08
get the project if you haven't got it
41:10
yet it's been out catch your dreams it's
41:12
grammy nominated j ivy
41:17
[Music]
41:29
you
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