VIDEO: Jibbs Behind The Scenes in LA
Behind the Scenes with Jibbs in L.A.
Jibbs “The Dedication (Ay DJ)” featuring Lloyd (VIDEO)
Jibbs
New Tempo, New Swag – August 25
IGA
St. Louis hip-hop star Jibbs is back on August 2009 with his second CD and this time he is bringing New Tempo, New Swag. As the title says, Jibbs is doing it bigger, broader, and bolder than on his 2006’s debut Jibbs Featuring Jibbs. From the hot lead-off single “Dedication (Ay DJ)” – in which Jibbs salutes his peers with a catchy remember-when jam featuring former Scream Tour mate Lloyd – to the sexy club-ready pulse of “On The Floor,” Jibbs lets his broad creativity and new maturity shine on a tight ten-track collection. “It’s more mature, more grown up, it’s showing a different side of me now and how I’ve matured is subject-wise,” says the 18-year-old rapper of the new project, which not only features his feel-good rhyme style but vocals as well.
New Tempo, New Swag features collaborations with The Beatstaz, the studio team of his older brother DJ Beatz and his partner Reace Beatz, who also worked on his 2006 debut. Also contributing are Jim Johnson, Cool & Dre, and the Smeezingtons. Guests on the set include Lil Boosie, Lloyd, and Rico Love.
“Dedication (Ay DJ),” a Sneezingtons production, sets the tone for New Tempo, New Swag, with a banging high school anthem. Jibbs explains that he had to imagine the scenario, because he didn’t attend high school. “I got signed when I was 14 after graduating out of eighth grade. So I didn’t get to experience high school life, I was home schooled right after that,” he says. “So I went off what I saw in movies: the proms, the graduations, the homecomings, and what my peers tell me that I didn’t get to experience.” Jibbs shot the video for the track in Los Angeles back in April with director Erik White.
Jibbs goes harder on the second single “J Walk” featuring Southern rap star Lil Boosie, geared toward a popular party dance in St. Louis. “It’s just like a two-step but everybody puts their own flavor with it, they own swag,” says Jibbs. “I took it and made a song to represent for my city and introduce it to the world.”
With his rhyme style already well developed, Jibbs takes a stab at vocals and harmonizing on the edgy groove “Where She Wanna Go (My Girl),” produced by Jazze Pha (Lil Wayne, OutKast, Nelly, UGK). Jibbs says that when he heard the track, he just began free-styling a melody on the spot, inspired by his love of Prince. “I didn’t know I could sing,” he laughs, “so after that song, it actually motivated me to sing a little bit throughout the album.”
Smooth clubland sophistication is also part of Jibbs’ repertoire, as he proves with the pulsating “On The Floor,” which he says is his favorite tune. Also featuring a smooth Jibbs vocal, the irresistible track seems destined to make new Jibbs fans. The Beatstaz track came about almost by accident, when collaborator Brad Young lucked up on the hooky melody. “My brother just went ‘Stop!’ So nobody wouldn’t touch nothing or make another sudden move because things get erased in studio all the time and then there’s no way to go back and find it and re-do it,” Jibbs explains. “It’s been my favorite song ever since because it was magic how it happened.”
Other tracks on the set include the anthemic “True Dat” featuring DJ Beatz, “Performer” featuring Rico Love, and “The Story Of My Life,” where Jibbs talks about the struggles of a lot of teens trying to overcome circumstance to make it.
New Tempo, New Swag shows that Jibbs has solidified his identity as an artist who has come into his own, pushing himself further into more diverse stylistic territory. Rather than feeling the pressure of trying to do a second album, Jibbs says he was simply concerned with creating a set that would truly represent him. “I don’t think everyone got to see who Jibbs really is on the last album,” he explains. “That was a phenomenal album to me because I was 15 –14, and 13 when I actually wrote that album. I’m just now really understanding the direction I want to go in, developing a love for the music business and having my own say-so because I’m older.”
Born Jovan Campbell, Jibbs got his rap moniker as a child because of his gift for “jibber jabber.” With his mother a former rapper, his father a musician, and his older brothers also making their way in the rap game, Jibbs was steeped in music. Inspired by heavyweights like the Notorious BIG, Jay Z, Eminem, Lil Wayne, and hometown star Nelly, Jibbs began rapping at age 8. His brother DJ Beatz, who built production credits on projects by Chingy and Nelly, took Jibbs’ childhood desire to make music seriously. With the Beatstaz behind his 2006 debut, Jibbs Featuring Jibbs, the 15-year-old hit hard with the Number 7 pop single “Chain Hang Low,” which sold over 1.5 million downloads and 1 million ringtones. The young hip-hop star also made a splash with “Go Too Far” featuring Melody Thornton of the Pussycat Dolls, and “King Kong.”
After Jibbs Featuring Jibbs, which peaked at Number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2007, Jibbs decided to give fans a holdover between albums with the mixtape Round One, issued in 2008.
On New Tempo, New Swag, Jibbs is more focused than ever on creating his own lane and knocking down boundaries. “If I hear a beat, and I hear singing on it, then I’m gonna sing on it,” he says. “If that it means I hear and up-tempo beat and its pop, I’m gonna do pop to it, if I hear a beat with guitars to it, I’m gonna do rock to it. I whole theme is to give you good music.”
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