Getting to Know… Jaymes Crux | Interview 🎤

For the 36^th interview in the ‘Getting to Know…’ series, The Musical Hype chats with self-produced, Seattle, Washington hip-hop artist, Jaymes Crux.

“Writing helps me process my experiences, and so hopefully, it helps others to process their experiences when they listen back.” That’s some thoughtful insight from self-produced hip-hop artist Jaymes Crux, who hails from the Pacific-Northwest – Seattle, Washington.  Crux has actually previously been featured on The Musical Hype going by a different name, Banamak. The work submitted under the Banamak moniker was top-notch, including singles “Just Friends”, “Youngbloods”, and “Thrones”.

One of the questions I sought to ask Crux during the Q&A was the reason for the name change. Something that stuck out within his answer was, “…the name change comes with attitude change for me; it feels bigger, and it feels like I have a new freedom to start fresh.” How cool is that? Following up the sensation 35^th interview with the incredible Looseleaf is no easy feat, but Crux gives The Musical Hype some awesome answers by all means.  Without further ado, Getting to Know… Jaymes Crux: Interview #36! 

Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype: Hey Jaymes, thanks for agreeing to answer some totally juicy, sizzling, and spicy questions for The Musical Hype. For those who may not be familiar with you, give us some what would you say makes Jaymes Crux distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

Jaymes Crux: Hey Brent! Thanks for reaching out to speak with me. I’m really excited to be doing this. I think a big part of what makes me unique is that I produce all my own songs. So far, I’ve made every beat for every song I’ve put out. I think it gives me a huge advantage in creating the style I want, as well as a ton of freedom to experiment. I get to carefully select each sound in each song, and build it up until I’m happy with it, rather than having a producer send me a pack of beats that I had no involvement in creating. It helps me to feel like the songs are more authentically me.

When it comes to rocking people’s socks off, I’d say live shows are my biggest advantage. I lose myself in the moments I’m on stage and I’m always sure to bring a lot of energy, and I think that energy tends to transfer to the audience, so everyone’s having a good time. As far as rocking people while they’re listening to my records at home, I think it’s a matter of storytelling and being relatable. Writing helps me process my experiences, and so hopefully it helps others to process their experiences when they listen back. 

Faulkner: Previously, I reviewed some of your singles on the site under the name ‘Banamak’.  What was the reason for the name change and is there a clear-cut difference artistically between Jaymes Crux and Banamak?

Jaymes Crux: I think it was just time for a change. I had been thinking about a name change for a while but kept putting it off until it finally reached a point where I felt like “Banamak” didn’t really represent who I was anymore – at least in my mind. I had grown and evolved so much, not just in style and voice, but also in my skills and abilities. At the end of the day they’re both still me, and any artistic difference are just the result of my natural evolution and growth. But the name change comes with an attitude change for me; it feels bigger, and it feels like I have a new freedom to start fresh.

Faulkner:  Backtracking a bit, how about some compelling, totally juicy backstories. How did you get your start as a musician, and what were some of the goals or the visions you had early on?

Jaymes Crux: Honestly it started just cause I decided to rap for fun. I messed around and made a couple songs and ended up having a lot of fun with it. All my friends responded positively, despite the songs being absolutely terrible, and it encouraged me to make more and keep going. At the time I didn’t really have a vision, it’s just what I enjoyed doing, but then I got into producing my own beats and I found that it was a whole new way to be creative. In fact, once I started making beats, I hardly wrote any lyrics for years. My focus was on getting the beats right and finding the sound I wanted. I didn’t have a lot of tools and I had no idea what I was doing, so my progression was honestly pretty slow, but I did improve over time, and the more time I spent doing it, the more a vision grew of pursuing it professionally.

Faulkner: Extending upon the last question regarding goals, have those goals or perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your musical aspirations look like now?

Jaymes Crux: Oh yeah, they’ve definitely changed. At first all I wanted was to be a local artist, and have my city supporting me, but now that’s just not enough. Now I want nothing less than world tours and arenas.

Faulkner: Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

Jaymes Crux: That’s a tough question because my influences are always changing. There’s so much talent out there, and so much great music to constantly explore. Artists like Saint JHN and Russ are influencing my confidence, attitude, and approach, while artists like Drake, Mike Stud, The Weeknd, and Always Never are influencing my writing style and textures – although I don’t think you’d hear it in my music. I don’t really sound like any of them. I could go on to list hundreds of people that inspire me in some way though.

Faulkner: Spicing things up even more with some fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance, in the studio, etc.?  Feel free to be creative.

Jaymes Crux:  I can’t think of anything too insane. When I’m in the studio its usually pretty chill. I don’t invite many people over for the sake of focusing. But I do remember one time, the night before I had a show, I met a group of guys that insisted they’d come to the show despite having never heard my music. I thought for sure they wouldn’t show up ‘cause they hardly knew me, but they came through with even more of their friends and went absolutely wild in the front the whole time. I guess that’s not that crazy, but its something I definitely remember. What is kind of crazy though, is that I had friends that planned on coming to that show to support me, but we ended up selling out the venue, so they didn’t even make it inside.

Faulkner: Keeping it moving, up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song or song(s) you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

Jaymes Crux: This is another hard question because my favorite song is always changing. My favorite is almost always my most recently completed song, so right now all my favorite songs are songs I haven’t even released yet. I think for now though, my favorite song to perform live is “Thrones”. The drop on that always tends to get people moving. It’s an older one, but “Sayin Nothin” is also a fun one to perform.

Faulkner: I’ve asked lots of questions regarding your music.  Moving beyond music, is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center that the world needs to know about Jaymes Crux? Do you have any secret talents or surprising tidbits?

Jaymes Crux: Oooo, good question…  I make a mean guac. Its fire.

Faulkner: Okay, I’ve totally occupied your time enough at this point, so, closing this demanding ‘Getting to Know…’ Q/A interview out, what are you currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure… we’ve pressured you enough with all these questions!  

Jaymes Crux:  I’ve got a couple music videos coming out this summer and I’ll be dropping plenty of singles! But for now, go stream my most recent releases like “Everything,” and “From the Jump!”

Faulkner: Again Jaymes, I want to thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions.  It was an honor having you appear as one of our featured interviewees in our Getting to Know… series.  Best of luck with all of your future endeavors. 

Jaymes Crux: Thank you, Brent!! It’s my pleasure and I’m grateful you thought of me for it. Best of luck to you also!

[Photo Credits: Jaymes Crux]