The A-side Session Presents: Just Leevs

For our fourth A-side Session, Just Leevs joined us to expand our repertoire of genres with his captivating rapping, as well as to sit down for an interview where we dove into the difficult decision Leevs made to pursue more unconventional path to hone in on his dreams as an artist. It was a refreshing reminder that image and career paths are fluid and unexpected, but passion will always be the defining tool to hone in on what you pursue. 

Join us for one of our final sessions of the year as Just Leevs shares his insights on the process of being an up-and-coming rapper, as well as a sneak-peek into his upcoming projects.

Natalie Gott: Hey guys, thanks for joining us for another A-side Session. I’m Nat, the Managing Editor here at The B-side and today we have Just Leevs. He just performed a few songs for us that were just really incredible and honestly blew me away. We’ve been so excited to have you. So thank you for joining us today. 

Just Leevs: Thank you guys for having me. Especially for putting together such a good, organized thing at the last minute.

NG: Yeah, this was super last minute but he’s been on our radar for ever so, this definitely worked out.

JL: Finally got a chance.

 NG: So you are kind of newer at what you’re doing. You’ve got two EPs out right now. So how are you curating your image for your audience? What is that like for you and how do you want people to be seeing you?

JL: I want people to be seeing me as somebody that can be relatable in all aspects of life. I feel like everyone goes through their experiences and their stressors, no matter what path or road in life you choose. For example, for me, I’m not going to school right now. I chose to pursue music as my career because it really shapes me and helps mold me and my identity; it’s a big part of me. I just want to use that to help mold other people, especially other underrepresented people out there who don’t know what they’re doing in life. For all of the people who may be freaking out, I want to show you that it’s okay to freak out. That’s my image. Take the good and the bad out of it, and make some gold out of it. 

NG: I totally feel that. We both went to community college. I completely understand the balance of being in that wild transition period of community college, but also trying to pin down who you are as a creator. It’s so difficult sometimes. 

JL: I was not good at balancing that. It took me a while to learn how to balance everything. Going to school in community college, working nearly thirty hours a week on top of twelve units, then also wanting to chase my dreams—so balancing those, I couldn’t juggle it, so I dropped the ball, and that ball was school at the time.  

NG: For now, though. It’s always there for us. 

JL: It’s always there. You can always pick it up. 

NG: So, you started off as more of a coalition of a few artists. So how has everything drifted from that to you as a solo artist right now?

JL: It goes to show that no matter what happens in life, music will always be there to draw out the emotions. During those times, I wasn’t really good at communicating my emotions to people, or even to myself, so music was my way of doing stuff. That was my way of telling the world that, this is what I’m doing and this is how I feel right now. I get questions like, what are you doing in life? Who are you? Do you go to school? I would rather just show you that, this is who I am. I don’t know what type of image you many hold of me. I rather not answer this question and just show you through my music. 

NG: I totally feel that. Sometimes it’s easier to just show people, rather than answer their questions. Because they’re just going to have preconceived notions of who you are, and if you’re not meeting them, well then, what standards do they hold of you? So, yeah, just show the world who you are through your music. So, going through those transitions, how do you feel that your image has changed?

JL: I’m more transparent with myself. At first, I didn’t feel like I knew who I was because I’m making constant decisions and go to school, choose your major, choose your minor, do this and that. People want to tell you how to live your life. No one should hold that power over you besides yourself. Music made me really take the time to reform. It’s something that I’m so proud of. It’s my treasure. Music is something that takes all of the trauma and stress and makes it into something great that I can look at and be proud of. 

NG: Do you feel like the messages of your music reflect what you’re going through in your life?

JL: Yeah, most definitely. It’s me, and also a lot of people of color, or for just anyone who felt like school wasn’t their option and no one showed them another path. I just want to always be the light in the tunnel that guides the people. 

NG: Are you working on anything right now? Any new projects?

JL: Most definitely. I have a mixtape coming out in Spring of 2021. It’s about ten tracks, I would say. It has a lot of great producers, people that I’ve been working with this year. I’ve been working on this project for about three years. My friends have seen the struggle as I’ve been like, “This is it,” and then like, “Nah, this is it.” It’s just a repetitive process. I have something new coming out. It’s going to be great. I don’t know the name yet. 

NG: That’s super exciting. It sounds like it’s still pretty open for a lot of opportunities. 

JL: I feel like this upcoming project will be the most pure piece of poetry that I have composed. Before then, when I was making music back when I first started in high school, it was more so a hobby, spitting bars. But now music is a way to look at life, and show everyone a mirror to be like, “Look, this is me.” To self reflect. I’m super excited about this project. I’ve been working on it a lot. 

NG: I’m so excited to hear that and to hear how your voice has changed through it. So you’re going to play a song for us today from that, right?

JL: Yeah, of course. Most definitely. 

NG: So does that song have a title yet?

JL:  It’s called, “Give Thanks.” It’s just me being thankful at the end of the track– being thankful for everything and the people that stuck with me through my ups and downs, because I know I can be a freakin tsunami of emotions at times. So it’s a thanks to the people who stayed and kept my head afloat. Shout out to Six Press, he’s a great producer out in New York. That’s another thing I love about music: it connects you with people that you once idolized, and now you get to work with. You get to communicate things and they’re looking forward to releasing the music too. So, it’s just a lot of joy. Never been happier

NG: That’s so good. It’s so important to have a coalition of like minded artists. I think that’s when your voice can finally come alive. 

Article by Natalie Gott

Photos by Lyle Kahney and Tovah Popilsky