Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Murray.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
So I started writing music as soon as I learned how to read and write. Not official songs yet but just little lines I thought were cool. I’ve always had a natural love for music. My first gifts I can remember getting for Christmas were like fisher price drum sets and pianos. So you’d always find me making up random tunes before I even learned to write actual songs. Being the youngest I was never the best at anything. My brother and cousins would whoop me in football, wrestling, fighting, tag, hide n seek, video games, just about everything. One day we all were together and had just discovered instrumentals. I remember we found the beat to Soulja boy’s shootout and said we were gonna all write a verse. So we all went home and I spent the entire week perfecting my lil rap. When we came back to yaya’s house (my grandma) I realized none of them even wrote theirs. They were really just talking but I took it serious. So they threw some bs together. We rapped and when I did my verse that I worked all week on it was the first time in my life that I was the best in the room at something. I immediately felt it. Just finally getting that experience of being number 1 turned my love of music into a life long endeavor. Years later my first manager (rest his soul) got me in the studio at 13 for the first time. I’ve worked closely with that engineer ever since. 30
17 years later and everything I’ve done since with my time and money has been centered around music. The story of how I actually got to where I am is even longer but in short; I just kept failing until I finally succeeded, and then I failed some more. I’ve never had a plan b or another interest. Never wanted to go to the league or even be famous. I’ve only ever wanted to make music and live comfortably off my art. I survived Baltimore and Third Ward. I got my degree and accomplished things id never imagine. I can honestly say I’ve had better paths in front of me that I could have taken. At the end of everyday, I just wanna rap.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road is never smooth for any of us really. Even the people who seem like they made it over night. Even the industry plants who did make it over night lol it gets bumpy for us all. I started recording at 13 when it wasn’t cool to be an aspiring rapper yet. Nowadays literally everybody raps. Back then I was one of maybe 4 kids around actually taking it serious. Rapping at the lunch table was always cool but beyond that, nobody wanted to hear that. I also moved around too much. Between elementary and 9th grade I’ve lived in Edmondson village behind the shopping center, ellicott city, cooks lane, over east off the alameda, by west side shopping center, on northern parkway, lochearn, just about everywhere. In a city like Baltimore where where you’re from and who you know is more important that your talent or skill I’ve always felt like that kept me from really having part of the identity. I’m literally from everywhere in Baltimore, but there’s politics to it. Almost like you gotta be from somewhere to be someone. My first manager was my cousin. He died by the time he started taking me serious around 2015/2016. I’d always lacked for a real team but I started building my buzz more when I got to Howard university. I felt like I was really making progress musically and until I got put out for doing stupid things. I did connect with my manager there who would go in to work with me for about 7 years. I can’t say he was useless. We did learn and grow together. In that time period we built a team, I traveled more and for once felt like I really had the people I needed around me. We all moved to Atlanta, (me, him, my producers and engineers). Everything was supposed to really take off until one person decided to be hoe (or whatever word you need to swap it with for the interview). In less than a year of moving to Atlanta I had fell out with the entire team. It’s like everybody chose sides in a situation that didn’t require any choosing. I was crushed not at losing the team but at wasting time. I’d left Houston which I had made home. I was comfortable and being productive daily. Gave it all up for the team goal and it just didn’t work out, but it happens. After that I came back to Houston locked in and for the first time in my life started actually making money, and headlining shows, and doing all the things I should have been doing all along. Overall it taught me my greatest lesson that I should have learned earlier. Trust yourself with your dream. Cause you gotta live with the outcomes. I think I was just so excited to finally have people around me who wanted to work and achieve a common goal together. Finally having people to help me be creative made me willing to blindly follow whatever plan without really trusting my own. But some lessons you gotta learn the hard way.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a rapper who specializes in lyric-driven rap that gives a unique mix of east coast and southern aura. I don’t sound like a Baltimore rapper but I don’t sound like an Atlanta or Texas rapper either. I’ve lived many places for long periods and learned to pick up on their habits that make their music stand out. Not the typical rap of today but not dated enough that it doesn’t blend well with today’s playlist. I experiment with all sorts of music and I almost like writing for others more than I like writing for myself now. I’d say I’m most proud of my shows that I’ve thrown for myself and other artists in my city. I’ve headlined shows on 6th street at SXSW 23’ & 24’ and performed with major artists. Yet nothing made me feel as fulfilled as packing out venues in my city and actually being able to pay artists for their talents. I’d done some business with someone in Baltimore who ended up not holding up their end of the bargain but it taught me that I could pull off a better production on own. And since then I’ve thrown 5 different events in my city over the course of 2 years. I was able to pay artists to perform who’d never made money off their music. I was able to fill the audience with people I knew and loved, crom friends, family, and just other creatives I know from around the city. I love to give back and that just felt like the best form of giving back I could do. Fun fact that nobody really knows. I give away all the money from those shows they don’t make me rich but they do at least turn a profit, a profit which I always give back to the crowd, the artists, and the supporters. And lastly what really sets me apart from others is my range of influences. I didn’t grow up listening to just mumble rap, but I also didn’t grow listening just Tupac and biggie, I’m in that perfect age range that still got all of the 90’s and 2000’s rap. So I known how to structure a song or how to write based on concepts and tell a story. But I also know how to just let music be fun and not too serious or overly lyrical. I think the age of which I started paired with the many cities I’ve lived in (Baltimore, Atlanta, DC, Dallas, Houston) has given me so many great influences and cultures to borrow from and enough time to learn how to make it all work.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
The only apps I rely on heavy are my notes. Right now there’s about 2,000 of them in this phone. Outside of that sny app that makes money. I’m a rapper but I’m still a dad and a man so until this pays for all of my bills, I still get up everyday and get to it. I don’t care if it’s a delivery app, a load board, indeed, linked in, instacart, whatever. If I can use it to make a dollar, it’s on my phone. As for podcasts I don’t really tune in to any directly. I catch clips online like everybody else and there are definitely some I like but purely for entertainment purposes. I’ve never been one to base my day to day on any podcast blog or book. I really just live life. I go outside. I meet people. I try to just let life teach me whatever it wants me to learn. When I moved to Houston for the first time in 2016 I had no friends, no family, no plans, and $4 in my pocket. I get all my wisdom and philosophy from just trying stuff. (I think I said all of that just to say, I don’t be reading lol)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/MookAli
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mook_ali
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@mook_ali
