Ypsilanti Rapper Kid Jay Has Big Goals & Wants to Spread Positivity
Kid Jay with Mean Jean & Shannon Renee at the 105.1 The Bounce studio.
Mean Jean and Shannon Renee welcomed Ypsilanti rapper Kid Jay into the 105.1 The Bounce studio. Kid Jay is opening for Slick Rick at Diamondback Music Hall on Saturday, February 10th.
Blowing Them Away on America’s Got Talent
This isn’t the first time Kid Jay has performed with some big names in hip hop. He’s played shows with Method Man and Redman and T.I. and Jermaine Dupri. He also appeared on “America’s Got Talent” which he says a great experience. Kid Jay told The Morning Bounce, “I got the four ‘Yeses’. It was crazy to see Simon stand up and actually clap for me. Because usually he’s known for ripping people.”
Working With a Legend
Kid Jay is signed with veteran Detroit rapper and producer, Trick Trick. He says, “It’s amazing. It’s not every day you get the call to work with a legend. As soon as we came in the studio, he was like, ‘All right, nephew. I got these three songs for you’. So, now I have one of those songs coming out. It’s called “Deep in Love”. It got a sample on it. I can’t talk about it right now. But it got a sample on it that’s never been used before. And I’m really excited for y’all to hear it.”
Kid Jay in the studio with Trick Trick. They’ve got some
music coming that he can’t wait for you to hear.
Spreading a Positive Message
As far as his style goes, Kid Jay says it’s all about positivity. “My message of my songs is pretty much positivity. I try to preach to the youth that you don’t have to make music a certain type of way. You don’t have to cuss everybody else and use the violence. You can make good music with that type of substance.”
Lofty Goals With a Purpose
Becoming successful in rap is just one of his goals. Kid Jay explained that he has a project planned that has a special place in his heart. “I want to build an all autistic high school. I want to name it after my deceased grandmother, Shirley Copeland. So it’d be ‘Shirley C. High’. It came from the idea after my little brother was born. My brother has autism. Growing up, we had to learn how to work around kids within the spectrum. So, I got the idea pretty pretty much from him. I want him to go to school where he can be comfortable with his self. He doesn’t have to worry about the extra stuff like bullying. It’s where he can be himself.”
Check out our interview with Kid Jay below.
Look him up on Facebook at this link… https://www.facebook.com/officialkidjay1
And on Instagram here… https://www.instagram.com/officialkidjay/
These Hip-Hop Albums Turn 5 In 2024
It’s hard to believe that these albums will be celebrating their fifth anniversary. Many projects on this list cemented artists’ placement in hip-hop while others had an unfortunate downfall in the coming years.
Megan Thee Stallion is one of the artists on this list who has continued flourishing. That year, Megan Thee Stallion released her first commercial mixtape, Fever. However, she was already heating up on the internet with the release of her two prior mixtapes and her viral freestyles (if you know, you know).
“Big Ole Freak,” which was released a year prior to Fever, was the rapper’s breakout hit and her first certified platinum record.
Since then, Megan has been keeping busy in the studio and has released two full-length projects. Her debut album, Good News, arrived in 2020 with hits such as “Body,” “Girls in the Hood,” and “Savage Remix” featuring Beyoncé. The track was nominated for “Record of the Year,” and it took home the Grammy for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. Megan also snagged Best New Artist that year.
“Writing this album, I treated it more like writing in my diary than actually trying to put together a song,” the rapper said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “I just want to talk about how I really feel and get personal with my hotties.”
What Is Megan Thee Stallion Doing Now?
In 2023, Megan released “Cobra,” where she addressed the loss of her parents, the 2020 shooting incident by Tory Lanez, and her ex-boyfriend Pardison Fontaine’s alleged cheating. She also was featured on Cardi B’s “Bongos,” and did a collab with Renée Rapp titled “Not My Fault” for the Mean Girls soundtrack.
As for 2024, she said that a new project is on the way which will be funded by herself since leaving her label.
“This part of my album is very much so funded by Megan Thee Stallion because we’re trying to get off… Y’all know what’s the tea. But I have no label right now,” she explained on Instagram Live. “We’re doing everything funded straight out of Megan Thee Stallion’s pockets. So, the budget is coming from me. Motherf—ing Hot Girl Productions! The next s— y’all about to see is all straight from Megan Thee Stallion’s brain and Megan Thee Stallion’s wallet. We are in my pockets, hotties, so let’s do our big one.”
“It’s really just me this go around until we sign to a new label. But I don’t want to sign to a new label right now because I just want to do it myself,” she shared.
Take a look at these projects from 2019 that were so good that we still listen to them today:
Jonel Jaksa is the producer for The All-New Morning Bounce with Mean Jean and Shannon Renee. He’s been with 105.1 The Bounce since 2020 and has been in radio for over 20 years. He’s worked at several stations and in a wide array of radio formats, from hip-hop to rock to country music to sports talk, and is a three-time Michigan Association of Broadcasters award winner. As a content creator for 105.1 The Bounce, Jonel writes articles on hip-hop music, movies, WWE and pop culture.
