|
SCENE
| April 23 | Send features
tips
All rapped up
A UTA student follows his dream
and brings his own style to hip-hop
 |
| The Shorthorn: Brandon Wade |
| Undeclared freshman Jaymar Searls, or
J-Rooga, has been rapping since ’98, has performed
at the EX.C.E.L. Campus Activities talent show and is
currently pursuing a record deal. Searls said he prefers
to be able to rap about things that anyone could relate
to, not necessarily just one thing. |
|
By Britney
Tabor
The Shorthorn Scene editor
J-Rooga says that around his way, when
rappers like the late Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z came up out of
the ’hood, everyone wanted to follow in their footsteps and
be a rapper.
The Brooklyn native and undeclared freshman whose real name is Jaymar
Searls said rapping has been something important to him since 1998.
He said New York, the heart of East Coast hip-hop music, is full
of dance hall scenes and amateur rappers freestyling in the streets,
luring a large audience. Attracting crowds is what made him want
to pursue a rap career, Searls said.
“I’ve been prepared, and I’ve been waiting on the
opportunity to show my talent,” he said. “I’ve been
passing my demos out to various people, just to see if they like
me. As long as people are entertained by what I’m saying, I’m
motivated to continue rapping and writing.”
Searls began working on his first solo demo in a Trinity House studio
owned by Brent Barge, a producer and mechanical engineering sophomore.
He recorded eight tracks that deal with his hometown, Brooklyn;
his clique, which he calls Centennial’s Finest; and past relationships.
Searls said he hopes he can follow in the footsteps of other New
York rappers and make a name for himself as a platinum rapper.
“If my demo gets played to the right people, I hope I can have
nice things someday, but if not, then I hope to be one of the best
rap artists in Texas someday,” Searls said.
Searls said he began writing music in 2000 after rappers in Brooklyn
told him he had what it took to make it. He said the same rappers
who encouraged him went on to work for Russell Simmons’ Def
Jam Records and to premiere on BET’s “106 & Park.”
Searls first appearance was at EX.C.E.L. Campus Activities’
UTA Star Search. Since then, he has tried to get his name out by
distributing his demo to keep his name on the streets. Searls said
he was recently approached by a Def Jam promoter, who allowed him
to play Def Jam’s new “Vendetta” video game. Afterward,
she taped him doing a freestyle piece about the game and then sent
the tape to Def Jam’s recording company to be considered for
a future project.
“Growing up, I watched music videos and thought it was cool
because artists had the audience with all eyes on them, and that
was something amazing to me,” he said. “Star Search was
my first time having something like a concert feeling, but I wasn’t
nervous. I was anxious, and I just got up there and did what I had
to do.”
Business freshman Ryan Bolden, a promoter for Playa Productions,
said Searls was one of the first people he met when he came to the
university. He said he was overwhelmed the first time he heard Searls’
rapping skills.
“In the South, you don’t hear someone with that type of
style or content,” Bolden said. “His vocabulary is just
out of the water, and to look at him, you wouldn’t think he
would be a rapper.”
Bolden said he and other members of Playa Productions have held
rap battles in Centennial Court apartments since the beginning of
the spring semester. He said amateur rappers freestyle to instrumental
beats and, at the end of the battles, Searls is one of the last
men standing.
“He’s one of the best on campus, and when it comes to
freestyle contests, there’s no competition,” Bolden said.
“He’s just elevated. And because he’s from New York,
he brings a different style of music to the competition.”
Undeclared freshman Sam Craven, who works on beats and lyrics with
Searls, said J-Rooga is not the type of rapper who is demanding
when it comes to working on tracks. He said Searls is a down-to-earth
person who has a good chance of having a successful career in the
field.
“He has a New York style, but he tries to fuse it with Down
South traits to form a style of his own,” Craven said. “I
have not seen a rapper yet do something like that.”
|
|
