Jared Evan Has No Regrets of Leaving Interscope

Jared Evan’s musical range runs deep. The 23-year-old Great Neck, New York native is a jack-of-all-trades, who sings, raps, plays the drums, and produces a soulful catalog of whimsical tunes that attracted many including hip-hop’s reigning mogul Diddy.

Evan passed on the Bad Boy general’s attempt of signing him however, and inked a deal with Polow Da Don’s Zone 4 imprint, which resulted as a road bump with the label’s incessant attempt to control his sound led to his departure.

But it was a blessing in disguise as Evan took on the road of independence. After releasing three mixtapes and an EP, he most recently churned out Boom Bap & Blues, an ear-catching, soulful collaborative effort with DJ/producer Statik Selektah. Earning rave reviews amongst fans and the blogosphere, Evan’s long-delayed moment of shine is imminent.

XXL caught up with the astute upstart on his musical upbringing and whether or not he regrets declining his Bad Boy offer. —Michael Nguyen (@xmikeynguyen)

Growing Up

I was born in Great Neck, New York. It’s a small town right outside of New York City. I never really liked school. I’m just an artist-kid that never cared about that stuff.

My parents had a rough time raising me, and I didn’t care about school or homework, and I didn’t behave properly like all the other kids. I just cared about music. They could tell that I had an interest in music, and they supported that and were happy but my academics had always struggled.

I showed an interest in playing drums and that was one thing I did that my parents supported. They always thought that was the thing for me.

I don’t play sports; I ski a little bit. [Laughs.] To be honest, music is what it is. That’s me all day. I never really had any other hobby. Early on, my hobbies were playing the drums and as I grew older, it evolved into songwriting, producing, singing, and rapping.

Getting into Rapping

I had a bipolar thing to hip-hop growing up. When I was 10-years-old, I remember getting Method Man’s second album, Judgement Day. I remember getting that album and loving it. I would listen to it all the way through.

It wasn’t until I was 13 years old when I really started to love hip-hop. That’s when I started to freestyle. To me it was like drawing on paper. The more I did it, the more seriously I took it and the better I got. It was like drumming. I kept doing that and I was still in my classic rock world—an alternative type of world, but I definitely paid more attention to hip-hop.

I had a lot of Wu-Tang. I started messing around with Killarmy, Shyheim. I remember telling myself in 2001, “Man, I don’t like the current age of hip-hop. I don’t like that Nelly shit. I didn’t like whatever was playing at the time.” I was obsessed with Mos Def, Kool G Rap, and The Fugees. Seeing those videos from the mid-90s and seeing how they did it and how dirty and grimy the cameras and visuals were—it was something that didn’t exist anymore.

Working for The FADER

I didn’t have steady jobs, but I interned at The FADER for a while.
I started interning there when I was 19. That’s how I got my start in the music industry because I made a lot of connections there that led to me becoming an artist.

They basically called it a F.A.R.M. intern. It was the thing in The FADER that promoted bands and artists. We would go around the city going into different stores stickering artists, giving stores merchandise, and taking pictures. I would do that and it just put me into a whole new scene that I’ve never been around before.

Yeah. That was a way for me to get closer to my dream. I was doing anything and everything to pursue music. I was just doing everything. I wanted to be in the music industry before I interned at the FADER but FADER helped a lot more than anything I’ve done.

Studying 808s & Heartbreak

It’s so funny because I put out a mixtape in 2009 called Radio in My Head, and it was right around the time So Far Gone came out. I remember thinking to myself that was similar to what I was doing. The reason why we were both doing similar shit was because 808s & Heartbreak had just come out. I had really studied 808s & Heartbreak front to back. I know a lot of people didn’t like it when it came out because they wanted to hear Kanye rap, but it beautiful. I thought it was genius and it pioneered a new sound in music. I was obsessed with the album. I was marinating it for months.

When you listen to something for so long, it kind of rubs off on you. I started making Radio in my head. Drake then put out So Far Gone and I was thinking, “Wow, this shit is dope.” You would immediately think that you’d be pissed because this dude was doing it, too, and that you should be competitive about it. I couldn’t front when I heard it because I thought it was crazy. Drake became an influence of mine as opposed to me thinking of it competitively, I thought it was influencing my music the way 808s did, even though I thought me and Drake were both influenced by 808s.

Meeting Drake

I remember meeting Drake when I was signed to Interscope. I was with him in the studio with Polow Da Don. Polow was playing my music video, “Frozen,” for Drake and Drake was like, “Yo, real recognize real.” It was so cool to have heard So Far Gone and be influenced by him and then have him cosign me, knowing it was very similar.

He was there with Boi-1Da at the Interscope studio and he was also working with Polow at the time. LeBron James’ More Than Just a Game soundtrack had just released and “Forever” was on that album. My record “Frozen” was also on that album. We were both on the album and he was just around.

Signing with Interscope

When I signed with Interscope, they loved “Frozen.” They signed me off of that video. In my head, I’m like, “Woah, if Jimmy [Iovine] is signing me based off watching the video, then that means they fuck with what I do and if I continue doing what I want to do, then they’ll get behind it.” That’s what the general consensus at the time was and that’s why they were super excited and it seemed like it was going to happen. So I signed and they loved what I was doing, but it’s like I couldn’t rely on them anymore.

Polow Da Don is the guy that took the “Frozen” video and showed Jimmy that this shit is crazy. When I did the deal, my lawyer told me that I was signed through Polow. I was like, “Really? Why? That’s random.” At first I didn’t think it made sense. Polow is amazing, but specifically for what I was doing and who I was as an artist, I didn’t think it made sense. When we did the deal with Polow, there were a lot of records that he was pushing me to do that I didn’t think was really me. I had people around me telling me to just do it, as there’s no harm in cutting the record, and just be political and make Polow happy.

“In Love with You” and Leaving Interscope

There was one record that he was pushing on me that I ended up cutting. I didn’t really like it at first. I told my manager this isn’t me. My voice didn’t fit and I didn’t feel comfortable. I just did it because I thought that’s what you’re supposed to do. Next thing I know its Jimmy’s favorite song. He’s obsessed with “In Love with You” and thinks it’s incredible. I didn’t really fuck with it and it wasn’t really me, but if Jimmy is going to go hard with it—he’s going around playing it to Dr. Dre, and Gwen Stefani—I thought to myself, “Hey, I’ll play the game, be political, and get behind the record.”

It’s a dope record and I’m glad they wanted me to do that instead of some snappy dance record, but for the most part, it wasn’t me. It did great things with 9 million views on YouTube and went number one in Greece, but for the most part, where I’m at now is like a re-birth and it’s a clean slate.

I lost sight of why I got there in the first place. I lost sight of the fact that “Frozen” was what got me there in the first place. I was a young 19-year-old at the time. Legends and veterans championing what you’re doing and you think it’s the right thing to do. It did some things as it went on Entourage and they spent some money and pushed it here and there, but it never fully went to radio, and it kind of dissolved.

I’m kind of happy it did because it was a blessing in disguise that it didn’t go. If it did go, I wouldn’t have made the music I’m making now like Boom Bap & Blues, and I wouldn’t be in the skin I’m most comfortable in now. Everything happens for a reason and my experience and departure from Interscope were both things that were supposed to happen in order to further my career. Being independent, you’re your own boss and calling your own shots. Everything I’m doing lately is beneficial for me.

Declining Bad Boy's Offer

There’s time when I would tell my manager what if we signed with Diddy because he showed interest in me first. He had the ball rolling and wanted to sign me. When I first met him, he was like, “You’re a singer, but you rap and can do this alternative soul thing.” He really understood it. When I look back after the Interscope thing, I tell my management, “Man, what if we rolled with Diddy and what if that worked?” It’s all would’ve, could’ve, should’ve. If it didn’t happen, then it wasn’t meant to happen.

The fact I went through what I went through meant something else is going to happen soon. If it weren’t for Diddy, then I wouldn’t have signed with Interscope. It’s all a chain reaction. Meeting with Diddy had other people interested, which led me to Interscope. I look at it like fate. What’s funny is that Diddy ended up signing to Interscope.

Working with Statik Selektah and Illmind

I met Statik Selektah at S.O.B.’s [performance venue] in New York at some event and I had just been signed to Interscope. Statik was spinning and I went down to the basement and introduced myself. We had done a couple records since then. I had been on his album but until him and I sat down and started to dissect our own project together, nothing had really sparked.

It hit me that Statik is the perfect producer for me. Statik and Illmind are like the sandwich I’m in. Illmind—one of the illest boom-bap producers in the game—plays piano, and is more of a musician whereas Statik is more of a producer, beatmaker, and DJ.

Illmind balances out the spaces where I want to be more pop, more dimensional and chord-driven whereas Statik just dirties me up a bit and provides me with that sample, vintage, hip-hop shit. When you have those dudes, what I end up having is a really unique sound. That’s the team.

Boom Bap & Blues

It’s the prime example of a kid who went through some label shit, left and just without thinking, worrying, or having any pressures of an A&R or thinking about radio. You listen to the album and you can tell that I’m not pushing myself to do anything. You can tell that I’m not really trying, but in a good way. Sometimes when you try too hard, you can smell it and it’s not authentic.

With this project, I went into the basement with Statik. It’s his Brooklyn basement with just vinyls scattered everywhere. I did it without thinking about making hits, making radio, making the charts, and more about why I did music in the first place. I’m super proud of it and it’s my most cohesive work to date.

We put it out for free. I put it on SoundCloud and put a free download link on my website. I remember it getting roughly 15,000 downloads in the first couple days and by the third day, and it went live on iTunes. Even after it was released for free and had been downloaded thousands of times, people decided to buy it. More people who downloaded it ended up buying it. It ended up charting and not only did it chart, it peaked at number nine on iTunes. It’s amazing to me that I can put out a free project and people still bought it.