Jae Skeese is on the way up. Hailing from Buffalo, New York, Skeese is taking over the world as quickly as anyone could ever hope to. With a bevy of recent and upcoming projects on the way, we caught up with the rapidly rising artist backstage at Coachella right before Griselda took the stage. If this is your introduction to Skeese, you’ll learn about his commitment to individuality, the projects he’s pushing (including a blistering freestyle that’s racked up nearly half a million views on YouTube), and what makes the hustle worth it.
StockX: Tell us where we’re at right now.
Jae Skeese: Right now we at Coachella, man, backstage. Griselda about the go up on stage and kill this shit. You know what I mean? Big homies, man. Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine, Benny the Butcher. It’s about to go up.
What are you most excited about?
Most excited, man, about all the things that I got coming up. I’ve been putting in a lot of work. You know what I’m saying? I did the L.A. Leakers freestyle. I was featured on a Big Homies album, God Don’t Make Mistakes. I just dropped a project with Big Ghost called Authenticity Check, man. I just dropped another project that’s called Iroquois Pliskin. I’m working. You know what I’m saying?
What’s the most underrated right now?
It’s got to be like the under-appreciation for lyricism. So underrated. And being an individual, man. You know what I’m saying? Like individuality, having your own sense of style. You see people that always just want to go with the current. I’m kind of like one of those people that go against the grain.
Do you think chasing trends is overrated?
I do. I do. Because again, I’m an individual, you know what I mean? And a lot of people like are comfortable with that and you know, I have a certain level of just individuality that always… I just want to stand out.
What was that journey like, finding your individuality? Is that a journey you’re always on? Do you feel aligned within your lane right now?
I feel like I’m really aligned with what I wanted to do, what my vision was. It wasn’t something that just came overnight. I was one of those people that wanted to fall in line with whatever else was going on up until I realized that with doing that I was just being comfortable, and trying to be accepted. And once I figured out that I didn’t want to just be accepted. It was like, well, “What do I like? What do I love? How can I move to make my presence in the world?”
What’s next? What’s the bigger vision?
Man, what’s next? I got my album, man. My Drumwork [Music Group] debut is called Abolish Uncertainty. So, I’m so ready for that. You know what I’m saying? The world is ready for it. We’ve been previewing some tracks for that. So we’re just building up momentum towards that and continuing to just be able to take care of my daughter and make things better for her. I want her to have the best life ever. You know what I’m saying?
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