Xyrenn: I’m here on behalf of GUAP Magazine speaking to The Prince of Toronto himself Jazz Cartier. How’s does it feel to be back in the U.K.?

 

Jazz Cartier: Yea man, it feels good. I get a lot of love out here.

Xyrenn: That’s dope, because I remember seeing you in Leeds at Headrow House, and that was fire. I just want to give people a quick intro into who you are, for those who may not be as familiar with you. Tell us a little bit about how you came up in the Toronto scene?

 

Jazz: So yea, I’m from Toronto. I started rapping when I was like 15/16. I moved around a lot when I was a kid, so when I graduated High School I moved back to the city. I started partying and taking over the streets. Then once people started knowing who I was, that’s when I started getting back into the rap stuff very seriously. Fast-forward, I put out my first project [Marauding in Paradise] in 2015, and since then, it’s just been a rollercoaster.

 

Xyrenn: Yea man that’s crazy. I mean there’s a lot of big tracks on that project, ‘Switch’ probably being one of my personal favorites. So in 2016, you put out the debut ‘Hotel Paranoia’. I just want to get a feel for how it was for you putting that project together. Writing, the creative process, just talk us through it.

 

Jazz: So yea, with both tapes it was just me and my producer Lantz, and Lantz had everything. We usually make everything on the spot. For example ‘Switch’ we made in one day, ‘Dead or Alive’ we made in one day, ‘New Religion’ we made in one day. Me and him work based off vibe you know. From there we make a skeleton, sit with it, figure out what we like, then add extra harmonies, background vocals and extra production.

 

Xyrenn: A very vibe orientated process; I feel that. Would you say that this gives you a better result as opposed to when you have a producer send you a beat and you write to it?

 

Jazz: Yea, most times definitely.

 

Xyrenn: Ok, I wanna talk briefly about the general reception of the album. How do you feel its been received by the public? It’s been out for about a year now right?

 

Jazz: I mean it’s brought me to London and the U.K twice so…

 

Xyrenn: [laughs] People are obviously vibing with it then for sure. Off the back of that, I wanna talk about one of my favorite joints off that project ‘Red Alert/100 Roses’. The video for that was going crazy with the 360 VR. Can you give us your take on how the process went, from concept to final product.

 

Jazz: So my director Jon Riera came to me with the idea, and then we sat with the treatment for a bit. We knew we were on to something so we knew we had to do something epic. Post-Production took about 6/7 months and the shoot itself took 3 full days. All in all I’m happy with the way it came out.

Xyrenn: In terms of the process of putting that together, do you think it went smoothly? Is that something your going to take forward with the videos you plan on doing in the future?

 

Jazz: I definitely learnt a lot from that experience as that was the first time doing something like that. So now that I know what I can do… I’m fucking up everybody, I swear to God [laughs]

 

Xyrenn: As well as music, I want to get to know Jazz the person a bit more. Can you give the people an insight into what you’re as a guy outside of music? What are you listening to? Is that your phone right there? I wanna know what you’re bumping right now?

 

Jazz: Right now; we got that Sampha ‘Process’ on deck; we got that new Big Sean on deck. I’ve been running through that heavy. That Jay Z song ‘Imaginary Player’, that’s been the song I play first thing in the morning when I get up for like the past 5 years. Literally like every morning, motivation.

 

 

Xyrenn: Ok dope, off the back of that. Who do you think is next up in your opinion from Canada and Toronto? Obviously we have guys like Roy Woods and The Weekend doing mad stuff.

 

Jazz: Shout out my boy Roy, that’s my guy. He’s the next wave for sure.

 

Xyrenn: Is there anyone else, maybe a bit more low key that we may not know about not being from the city?

 

Jazz: There’s a lot of kids man. Like there’s so much that if I say one, the others are gonna get pissed that I didn’t mention them. Just know that there are a lot of kids from the city doing their thing.

 

Xyrenn: Do some Googles then yea? [laughs] So when your not making music, in your down time what sorts of things are you watching? Movies, T.V. Shows, are you a big visual guy?

 

Jazz: I watch a lot of movies and I play a lot of video games.

 

Xyrenn: What games are you smashing right now?

 

Jazz: FIFA

 

Xyrenn: FIFA! Yes, spud me on that real quick. How’s your journey going?

 

Jazz: I don’t play journey, I play online.

 

Xyrenn: Any T.V. Shows, Cartoons? The fans wanna know this stuff man. They want to feel more connected to the artists they fuck with.

 

Jazz: I just finished The Walking Dead, I hadn’t seen it before but I fuck with it heavy. I watch a lot of random T.V Shows, like Power, Scandal, House of Cards. I’m all over the place bro. I used to watch a lot of cartoons as a kid, like Gundam.

 

Xyrenn: Ok Sick, so from what I’ve seen on the Instagram, you’re a pretty saucy guy. Where are you getting a lot of your style influences? Are you big into fashion or?

 

Jazz: To be honest bro, everyone thinks I’m so into fashion. I just know what looks good on me. I’m not really out here jerking off to all these high-end fashion designers. That shit is cool, but really, I see shit I like, I cop it, I wear it. You know cos when you were broke you didn’t have options. Now I got a little bit of money, I got options you know?

 

Xyrenn: For sure, I definitely feel that. Lastly is there anything we should be looking out for from you? Singles/Projects?

 

Jazz: New project called ‘Fleurever’ coming soon, bigger singles coming soon, bigger collabs coming soon. T.V. Show coming soon.

 

Xyrenn: Oh damn?! Can we hear a little bit more about that or is that hush hush?

 

Jazz: It’s with Vice, so that’s coming soon.

 

Xyrenn: Man that sounds very fresh. So, any last words for the people before you go kill it at KoKo tonight?

 

Jazz: ‘Fleurever’ coming soon, Its gonna fuck the streets up, fuck the world up. Shout out GUAP Mag man you guys are fucking real, I fuck with you.