Atlanta rapper/producer J Cutta presents “LTU”, his new single produced by Cutta and King Corn Beatzz. J has produced for the Youngbloodz, the Dungeon Family (click here to hear “Fall Back”), has opened for Soulja Boy and has been featured on mixtapes with DJ Scream and DJ Teknikz. J’s last album was Life, Lies & Luxury (stream on Bandcamp), which spawned the single “Livin” (watch the music video). Last summer he released his single “Summer Of Sam” (listen), and released several songs on Soundcloud as part of his Music Mondays series (Soundcloud). “The idea and the creation of the song came from good vibes in the studio,” J says. “I wrote a few different hooks for this track. Recorded all the different hooks and decided this was the one. I really wanted to create something different from my usual. I listened to this track over a hundred times in the process of completing the record. I get anal from time to time when it comes to a song so this should pay off in the long run.”
Atlanta is such a focal point in the rap game these days. How have you seen it evolve in the last year and what do you feel is your place in it?
Atlanta Music and the vibe is ever changing. You really notice it with the beat selection of the latest hits or songs are booming in the city. Once Atlanta gravitates to one particular sound, a whole movement is behind it. Atlanta supports a lot of upcoming artist before they actual are discovery by the rest of the world. That is also where I feel like my place is, the next upcoming hit maker, next upcoming mega star, however you wanna label it. Once my city get the track moving, the rest of world will follow suit.
You say you wrote several hooks for “LTU”. What’s your process for writing a hook?
LTU, one of the songs I just natural spent a lot more time on compared to others. Sometimes it just happens that way. I say that to say this song is a little different then my norm and I wanted it to be different from everything else but still have a warm welcoming sound like the Hot 100. Thats where the experimenting came in, trying different hooks, recording the LTU hook many different ways. Going back and forth with the engineer because the mix wasn’t exactly the sound I visioned. These things are normal when you have a vision or a feeling.
Pick one old school artist and one new school artist who are major influences on you and tell us why.
Outkast has always been a major influence on me as a person and as a artist. I still listen to Speakerboxx, The Love Below, and Aquemini. Its on my phone and I play it every now and then. Far as new artist in the game right notice a couple of artist just because I have to be aware or in the know. But as of right now I dont allow new music or new artist to influence anything I’m creating. I want everything I’m creating at the moment to be solely coming from my creativity, if you get what I’m saying.
Who has been a mentor to you in this game and how?
Far as Mentors go in my music career, unfortunately I do not have one. As an independent artist, it has been a huge learning experience from trail and error. You network and you meet a lot of people but at the moment it stops there. My drive is believing that what I want and how I want to do it is a reality. These last two year so many artist have reach peaks without a label and I plan to do the same.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a solo artist?
Advantages of being a solo independent artist is that its all on you and when everything is great. You receive all the praise. The disadvantages are the same because when something goes wrong everything fall back on to you. But when that happens at least you know there are no “what IFs” because did what you wanted to do, you choose the record that you thought was best at that moment in time.
Twitter [@datsjcutta] | Twitter [@kingcornbeatzz]