INTRODUCING: JASON804- The Man Behind the Brand (Pt 2)

  MEET JASON804 'J boy' CAREY  

                                             

Only a selected few have that “It” factor. I first observed this entertainer at last years 2013 ESSENCE Festival on the main stage. From the time he hit the stage to exiting, one would only walk away feeling entertained. I've witness this drive before while working and walking the same hallways as this little known on-air radio personality named Ryan Seacrest (before he moved to Hollywood). His drive and presence were enormous and that mirrored-drive can be seen in Jason804 “J-boy” Carey.

With an internal clock that is t.t.g (Train-To-Go), this VA native love his Richmond roots and rep it like a badge of honor. You can find him actively involved in any of his entertainment endeavors under the JASON804 Brand. He’s everywhere!
  Ladies, this single bachelor has an infectious smile and a personality that will make you float into the light. With his comedic charm and fun loving spirit, you can be sure to catch him on any platform with a mic, turning it up and entertaining the crowd. I spoke to the man behind the JASON804 brand as he discussed growing up, women, Artists in the game and going after that number one spot. Continue reading this part 2 interview. In case you missed part 1 click here.

On Family/Growing Up
JASON804 grew up in a traditional household with siblings’ Ashley, Morgan and older brother Lorenzo. He lost his biological mother at the tender age of 5 but his dad remarried to a woman who taught the true meaning of a strong work ethic. “This is the woman who raised me. I don’t have a stepmother, that’s my mama.” As a kid, his parents pushed him to perform for family and friends. By ages 8 and 9 he fell in love with entertaining and before the age of 14 he was writing rhymes. Jason grew up with a church-base foundation.

 “Oh yeah we definitely went to church every Sunday. I went to Vacation Bible School, Revival, all of that, I have preachers in the family. I don’t go shoutin’, speaking in tongues or claim I’m holier than thou but I understand there’s a strong faith somewhere and I don’t believe that faith and worry can coexist. It all comes from the foundation I was getting.”

Jason lives by the motto ‘to be extraordinarily great’. Something his mother instilled in him as a youth.  

“Her thing was always have a hustle. Don’t be out here just existing…my mom can do so many things. She was a radio host on a gospel station. She sung in church and ran services and she use to direct weddings, assemble the bouquets for weddings and now has a cake business etc. I use to dig up vegetables at my grandmama’s house and go around with my wagon and sell vegetables. I say in a song, ‘My mama made me a hustler’.

I talk about my mom all the time, we wasn’t always close until I went away to college then she realized how much she loved me. The day she dropped me off at college, she cried when they got home and told my dad to go back and get me. She never showed any type of emotion like that. My mother is crazy about me and my sisters say “mama don’t cook unless you come home,” (laughing).

My sister Morgan, we’re 4 years apart and super close, that’s my girl, love her to death. My sisters are the most important thing in my life. I don’t drink or smoke, never been to jail but I always say, my sisters and sports saved my life. I say sports because I was in practice when others were out there doing stupid stuff. I played baseball, basketball and football so I was always practicing but I always thought “what would my sisters say and how would it affect them if I get caught.”

 On Women

I’m a man of many interests so she has to peak my interest and challenge me mentally, have a dynamic personality, some interests and a sense of humor. She must understand what it is “I” do. Physically, I love pretty women- all shapes and sizes. I love well put-together stylish women, who don’t have to be a high-fashion label whore but some sense of style. Nice teeth, eyes, hygiene…if she wears sandals, her toes are painted etc.   

Another thing is that I like going shopping with my girl. Straight up! I’m a heterosexual male and I would go shopping with her. This is the thing, it comes down to logic. If I know I like women and a fashionable woman then I should know what I like and what they’re putting on. I can go to the mall with you to see what’s hot. I would look in InStyle magazine. Let me see what’s in season, “this color ain’t pop’in this year, they not wearing that design of wedges”. The Steve Madden’s, the Monolos, I just seen the other day like the Timbs design but a platform boot so I’m like “Is that funky?, because that don’t work. I’m like “girl, don’t go into Rainbow… you got that from Rainbow”. I know this stuff because I want you to be fly, you gotta match my fly. I’ll go, sit down and don’t get bored saying I want to go somewhere else, when she’s shopping.”

When asked if he’s a romantic person, his response…
I think it through. I’m very intuitive; I’m going to pay attention to what see likes. Every girl doesn’t like flowers so don’t go buy flowers. She may not want to go to the movies, maybe she want to go on a picnic. I don’t have a problem with it, I’ll go sit by the river on a blanket and eat some food, and it’s cool. It has some depth to it. My dad taught me how to love, how to take care of my sisters and my mama when he talk to me.

On Music/Acting
I’ve always been the one to dissect everything. Being a film and music maker my thoughts are on the production side. When I watch film, I wonder and think, “Where did they shoot that at, or they shot from this angle and how many cameras they use? It’s the same when listening to music. It comes from engineering, I got a degree from A&T, I came out and worked as an industrial engineer. I think like that naturally, it’s in me I break things down so much. I simplify things…and things I should be emotional about, I’m not.

UC: I first met you at Essence Festival, how did that involvement come about?

JC:  I work with Timeless Brands, their creator and owner of another event I do (PlayDate USA) which I host nationally. Companies come to them and hire us to do their activations at these large festivals. My first year there, a few years back, I was doing Amtrak, and we did their activations, we interacted with people, told their message, push their wares etc. American Cancer Society was there next to our stage. They saw me and my partner for three years straight. They approach our CEO and said we want you guys to represent us…”we want you”! So we did it another year and had a couple different clients.

UC: Describe a typical week for you?
JC:  In a typical 7 day week I may get 7 to 10 hours of sleep. I spend a lot of time promoting the JASON804 and everything under that umbrella from phone calls, emails, to making appearances at various places even if I’m not working. I show my face so people see me enough to keep me relevant. Any given week I will host 3 to 4 events in Atlanta or travel out of town, nationally to do an event. Every piece of what I do is dedicated to JASON804 brand. JASON INC. I look at myself as a business.

UC: You’ve been in several indie films, Stomp the Yard 2 and others, any upcoming acting projects or are you concentrating on promoting the album?   
JC:  Having a brand and wearing many hats, you may have to restructure things or change your approach. I evaluated various areas of my brand to determine which served the biggest purpose of revenue stream. The personality/host side was the strongest category so within the last year or so I spent time growing that to make sure I’m in demand. You must have a true following and if not then you have work to do on that side of the game. The bottom layer of that is you’ve gained more fans and created a platform to release music, book, movies, TV show etc. That was another reason why it took long for the album to come out. 
UC: Certain people have to be a little crazy to do all the things they do, (laughing) you fit in that realm along with Diddy. I don’t know who will give who a run for his money.
JC:  (laughing) It’s crazy because I wrote a self help eBook, on my website, called “How to Make More Money with Your Music”. It’s an easy read and I think every artist would benefit from it. It’s gives helpful tips, inside scoop valuable information, putting you on the game. It’s $10. I wrote that while in the middle of writing scripts for this educational children’s show that was shot in Atlanta. Kids learned the scripts and actually went to schools to perform it.

UC: You’re on a roll, It’s shorter just to list what you ‘don’t do’ (laughter)

JC: (laughter) People ask “so you’re a rapper, or this or that?” I just say entertainer because it’s an umbrella of things I do. You tell me what you need me to do and I’ll get it done.

UC: Who are some of your influences, in the business on any level?

JC: Funny you mentioned Diddy, I fool with him hard. I like what Nelly was able to do. He wanted to be a solo artist and was able to turn things into what he wanted it to be. I like what they’ve been able to do with Nick Cannon, from where he came from, his image changed to now. I want his spot, like right now. It’s him, Ryan Seacrest, Carson Daley, all those guys. I want their spot, and Wayne Brady. Someone asked the question of all the things he does. He said if you don’t let him in the door he’s going to come through the window and if you don’t let me in the window I’ll come down through the roof. So I’m going to give you all these talents, everything I got, to get that spot I want. You’re not going to deny me, I’m going to show every single tool I got. 

UC: What’s something people would be surprised to know about you?

JC:  I don’t like popcorn, I go to the movies by myself often. I do that because so many things, ideas etc in my head. I can’t get my brain to stop so there’s a part where I can’t sleep. But when I stop to watch a movie, I can actually get lost in a movie and that’s my break. People may be surprise but I like documentaries but I like coming of age stories, like Pitch Perfect, a chick flick but I’ll watch that.

UC: Do you ever cry with a movie? (Laughing)

JC: (laughing) Naw, I don’t cry on a movie, but some make you want to like Armageddon, Dances With Wolves…the way they score movies are set up to make you cry. A couple joints set you up for failure, you’re fighting like "grrrrr, you’re tough". (Laughter)

UC: Can you cook? If so what’s your specialty dish?
JC:  I can and I like to. People like the way I cook fish, baked or fried etc. They say “I don’t know what you doing to this or how you season this but this fish is what it is!” (Laughter)

UC: Weirdest or craziest moments a fan/partygoer did that you’ve witness?
JC:  One of my partners had sex with a girl behind the speaker that he just met when we were out of town. He said "we got a go". I said why? I hit this girl behind the speaker and I don’t even know her, I don’t know what she look like. I don’t know what’s going on, (Laughing) I said “What?!, how did you get to that? How did you get from hello to having sex? I want to know the process, how can I make this happen ‘cause now I’m very competitive. How you expedite… what did you say, what did you do? I don’t understand. (Laughing)

UC: (laughing) I see you methodical thinking coming out.
JC: (laughing) that’s the part that’s challenging but I’m also intrigued, like how did you get from Hello to boning. I need to know, we haven’t been at this party that long and we out of town. I mean all of these elements are against you and you won just now or kind of won (laughing). I don’t know… you don’t know who this chick is, it can go 50/50, she could be pregnant, did you wear a condom etc. There’s a lot of steps here, this was years ago I’m still confused.

UC: (laughing) Did he ever call or see her again?

JC:  He couldn’t find her! He didn’t even know what she looked like. When the lights came on I asked did he ever figure out who she was and he said “no”. I said man she must had a banging body, to the touch, like on some Ray Charles type where he felt her wrist. I see a lot of things and it’s all a blur, but that sticks out.

UC: Favorite leisure activity/hobby?
JC: I play sports, I like to play ball but don’t play enough ball.
I want to go to a ball game, on Sunday I want to watch football, watch the playoffs. I hate July and August because baseball doesn’t mean anything basketball is over and football hasn’t started yet. Those are the worse sport months of the year unless it’s the Olympics. I love and always played sports. I’m an avid adventurous, I’ll go skating, skiing, zip lining, rock climbing, etc. I’ll try anything
once, that’s part of me being adventurous but interesting.

UC: Where do you see your career going in the next few years?
JC:  Television. I want to be the most sought-after personality in the entertainment game. It can be a new show, new sitcom, a game show etc. Jason is the first to call, that’s where I’m going. Ryan Seacrest gets a minimum of a “Mill” for everything he does.

 

 Jason left encouraging words for anyone on their journey, hustling, trying to get it..

"Start going to those networking events, meeting those kind of guys, so be in the action. I really don’t like going out to clubs but I’ll go out when I’m not working because that’s where all the action is. I’m from Richmond and I feel as if I did everything I could in Richmond. I needed to be where opportunities were happening for me. If not I wouldn’t have been on the Tyler Perry Show in Richmond, it just wouldn’t happen so I had to be here in Atlanta. I would not have become the national host of Playdate to be able to be rocking’ in Mexico working at a resort or the Dominican Republic or at the Hoodie Awards sitting backstage with Steve Harvey, New Edition, Trey Songz and Nephew Tommy. We in a room full of comedians and I’m killing ‘em. I wouldn’t have that opportunity, so you have to be where the action is. It may not be Atlanta; it could be Chicago, D.C. or wherever."

Thanks to JASON804 'JBoy' Carey for a great interview and some hilarious moments. I had a blast! Check out the numerous layers to this entertainer at:

JASON804live.com

JASON804 (Instagram)
JASON804 (Twitter)
JASON804 (Pinterest)
JASON804 (MySpace)

JASON804 (KiK)

Reverbnation.com/JASON804

Facebook.com/JASON804BRAND
Also part of JCSQUARED (S/O)
Mind of a Champion out now and don’t forget his eBook ‘How to Make More Money with Your Music’.
Pics: JASON's FB

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