All or nothing.
It's a term we tend to hear thrown around a lot and although it isn't applicable in most instances, when it comes to local fight fan and Colorado rapper 'Jay Deuce', it truly is.
'Jay Deuce' has a mindset that he brings to his music and the Colorado rap scene that's not only refreshing in a saturated market filled with 'prima-donnas', but one that separates his music and his 'quality over quantity' mentality from his peers.
As we discussed his passion for making music, the fight game and his future aspirations, the first thing that came up was that he was a Floyd Mayweather Jr. fan and his take on the Canelo fight.
"I'm a fan of boxing and a Mayweather Jr. fan. I feel that everybody wants Mayweather Jr. to lose a fight anytime he faces an opponent. It seems like everybody is against him for whatever reason.
"It didn't go as I thought (Canelo fight) it would. I thought Canelo was going to have more of an advantage on him than he showed. Maybe it was Canelo hyping it up or everyone telling me Floyd was going to lose. Once they both got in the ring, Canelo didn't live up to my expectations. When one of the judges called it a draw it blew my mind.
With the conversation turning to music, I was curious what artist it was that inspired him and lit the fire that drew him down his current life path.
"When I was eight or nine, some of the first CD's I got was 'The Slim Shady EP' and 'The Marshall Mather's LP'. Both of those made me want to be able to write and put pictures together for people with lyrics.
"Music that people could enjoy."
The reasons the Greeley native gave for gravitating towards the rap/hip-hop genre were more meaningful than most are likely to give.
"I feel like you can express your feelings and emotions better in text than you can singing. To be able to put an intricate formula of words in line and be able to rhyme them and create word play with metaphors is definitely more enjoyable to me.
"If you're a lyricist, I think you focus more on your lyrics as far as the production goes."
When talk of the local hip-hop/rap scene came up, I wanted to know what he though of my take on it being a ratio of about 4:1 when it comes to "wannabe's" versus those that actually make moves and have solid talent to go along with drive.
"That's exactly how I see the local scene.
"As far as Colorado, there certainly is a lot of mediocre talent, but the 20-30% that isn't is extremely talented. There's plenty of dope rappers I could mention from here.
"I don't feel like it's just Colorado though. I feel like we could be talking about Nebraska, Chicago, New York. The same could be said for a lot of places. The difference is that Colorado is right in the middle of these United States and there isn't really a unique Colorado sound.
"If you go to the mid-west, New York or California, you can tell the difference between those three types of music."
With so many so-called rappers sharing music on the likes of 'Facebook' and 'Reverbnation', his take on the competitiveness of the local landscape and why the box state is so watered down was surprising.
"A lot of local artists downfall is that they are hateful and try to do better than the next man in Colorado. I'm not trying to do that. When I make music and make moves, I'm looking at the next man in the hip-hop game itself.
"The picture is way bigger in my head.
"Hip-hop has definitely become more commercial. With that being said, it's broadcast and promoted in a large percentage of the world. That alone has made everyone want to be a rapper.
"Everybody wants to have bad bitches. Everybody wants to have the dope cars and the money. Now that kids are able to get their hands on recording software and instrumentals on the Internet, it's easier for anybody to pretend they're a rapper."
For most artists, one of the main avenues of trying to get noticed is to blow-up the local show circuit and do as many of them and as often as possible. This isn't the way 'Jay Deuce' sees the uphill battle to make a name for himself.
"Shows aren't really my concern right now. I'm focused on building solid projects, making sure the engineering, the production, the vocals and the content is perfect along with perfect video production and that everything is one hundred percent with me as an artist opposed to just performing and not having all of that.
"It's certainly quality over quantity for me."
As he moved on to talking about his goals for the next decade, this is when the 'all or nothing' attitude readily became apparent and how we're going to end his story.
"If I'm thirty years old and I'm not famous or I haven't made a lot of money on this or gotten anywhere with it and I'm still performing on stage, somebody better f*@#%ing slap me. I'm not trying to be cocky, I'm giving you my real feelings.
"I'm twenty one and feel like I'm achieving more than some that have been doing this shit for years have. I plan at keeping it going at this pace. I'm going to take it where it hasn't been before.
"I'm dedicated and committed to wanting to be the best for me and being the best period.
"I don't plan on stopping."
You can check out more of 'Jay Deuce' and his music using the links found below:
http://soundcloud.com/OfficialJayDeuce
http://twitter.com/RealJayDeuce
http://reverbnation.com/JayDeuce
http://youtube.com/user/OfficialJayDeuce
You can follow the www.TheFightWire.com on Facebook using the links below:
http://facebook.com/ColoradoMMANews
http://facebook.com/ColoradoBoxingNews
See you at the fights!
