Hnst Talk: J. Crum

In 2019 we have met the Villain and the Vigilante, now we talk to the man.

J. Crum has been doing his thing this year and we were excited to get the opportunity to find out how things have been looking from the inside!

“Man, things have been going well! Just got back from vacation and getting back into the swing of things.”

“I dropped ‘Villains’ at the top of the year, been performing pretty regularly since then, and my video for ‘Placebos’ is about to hit half a million on Facebook.”

“Villains’ was a concept project.”

“I wanted to take someone who was set in their ways and had accepted the worst parts of themselves as a trait versus a flaw. Go through the process of acknowledging a need for redemption, to finally being redeemed.”

“I’m proud of it. My favorite tracks are ‘Placebos’, ‘Villains’, and ‘You Are’.”

No lie, ‘Villains’ really got me keeping tabs on the Omaha, NE emcee. The album is in my mix of top projects of the year. Next up, we were hit with the vigilante.

“It’s the next chapter.”

“The vigilante’s chapter is really about walking in one’s true calling. I think many times we allow ourselves to get in our own way when doing this thing. We think we aren’t good enough, or we mess up too much, to walk in what we were made to do. I think the Bible was intentional in showing the mistakes of its heroes so we could see that, even the worst of the worst, can be used. I wanted to release music encouraging the listener to be walking in what God called you to do, be that hero someone needs, and point them to Jesus.”

“The next project is called ‘Vigilantes Vol. 1’. I’m releasing a new song from it every two weeks until November.”

“I’ll probably release another separate project before returning to ‘Vigilantes Vol 2.”

So were first hit with “Vigilante” as the lead single from the next project. That was followed up by “Alright”, a track Crum performed with his wife.

“I was blessed to do that one with my wife.”

“It was dope. I wrote the lyrics and sprung it on her unexpectedly, lol. She hates it when I do that.”

If this stretch of releases, that also has included “Unfamiliar” and the latest drop “Made For This” (where Crum teamed up with Indie Tribe’s nobigdyl.), doesn’t have you excited about ‘Vigilantes Vol 1’ – the the cypher track “Open Season” should have your eyes open.

“It was an honor working with some of my favorite lyricists.”

Crum joined a group of heavy hitters in Joe Ayinde, Nomis, CZAR Josh, Thomas Iannucci, and Shiwan to see who could call the title of top spitter in indie CHH.

“It started out as a tweet that Thomas Iannucci sent out. Nomis replied and suggested a cypher. I had wanted to work with Nomis, Josh, Joe, and Thomas for a while. Shiwan and I already proved our chemistry on ‘Underdogs’, so it was dope to link on something else.”

“It’s a cypher, so it’s a chance to really flex technically. I make some sacrifices technically for catchiness in some of my songs to create more replay value for them. I knew I couldn’t come halfway cause all of them are monsters. I’m confident in my pen and ability though. I wasn’t necessarily thinking I’m gonna body them. It was more like I need to stand out and make the listener remember me.”

While it has been a busy 2019 for J. Crum, it is far from over.

“I’ll be putting up some of my tour dates soon for the fall. I also have another single dropping August 30th called ‘Elevate’ that features Montythehokage.”

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What has been your favorite release from J. Crum this year? Where do you rank him among the lyricists in the indie realm? Who is as antsy as we are to get ‘Vigilantes Vol 1’?

Hit up the comments and let us know now!!!