Interview: Jalen McMillan Talks About His New Mixtape "Welcome to the Inferno"
Big ups to Los Angeles based artist Jalen McMillan who connected with DCWS for an exclusive interview to talk about his newly released mixtape “Welcome to the Inferno”. We appreciate Jalen for taking the time our his busy schedule to chat about the mixtape, as well as his biggest musical accomplishment, his upcoming album, which is dedicated to the late, great Kobe Bryant, and much more.
After reading our Q&A with this talented artist, be sure to connect with Jalen on his website and social media, and check out the “Welcome to the Inferno” mixtape. Also, be on the lookout for our review of the mixtape coming later this week.
Congratulations on the completion and release of the "Welcome to the Inferno" mixtape. What makes this project different sonically and thematically from your earlier releases?
First of all, super excited/happy to be doing an interview with the DCWS team! I don't really do a lot of interviews but I’m a huge fan of what your team has going on. Keep up the amazing work; I see your team doing big things and it’s a huge accomplishment for artists to get featured here.
I played basketball growing up and it relates pretty closely to recording; the more you repeat and practice the better you get. With “Inferno”, AD (the owner of Goldie Sound Studios), my creative director ChrisMaejorBeats and myself stayed locked in the studio for months at a time, so I feel like "Inferno" is just me at the prime form in my craft, shooting free throw after free throw and getting better with each song.
You could hear the difference between "Miami Ten" (which was recorded 2 years ago) and "No Cap", which was the last song we recorded.
On this project you handled the production of each track; tell us about your creative process when it comes to developing your beats and what software/hardware you use.
Believe it or not, I started off as a producer back in high school. I was taught Reason and FL STUDIO back in 9th grade. I used to get high with my boys and make beats for all my local rapper friends, until I realized they were the ones getting all the girls lol.
So fast forward to “Inferno”, I usually spend a good part of my day on YouTube searching for beats, I buy the tracked-out versions of the beats I like and modify them with AD and Chris. S/o to Mr. Perenzo back from John A. Ferguson, he was the best teacher and taught me everything there is to know about production.
When you are not creating new music, what are some things that you enjoy doing for leisure?
There's never a time I'm not working. I work 24/7; I'm trying to be the best in the world! If I'm not in the studio or working on a new song or video, I'm working on my real estate investing, which is my 2nd passion. I'm new to LA so I plan on continuing to invest in real estate and other business ventures on the side as I continue to grow as an artist, but truthfully I don't really have “free time”.
If you see me in a club or out, I’m paid to be there. I have a lot of friends and people in my life that I love, but right now I’m pretty focused on getting better, so I don’t have the time to invest on building relationships (unfortunately).
What would you say has been your biggest musical accomplishment thus far?
Every time we get millions of views or streams, or climb up the charts, it's never taken lightly. I'm very happy the public enjoys what I do.
I feel like everyday there's a new accomplishment, but I'd say the thing that makes me most happy is being able to be a positive influence on the kids and provide for my family. That's my biggest/favorite accomplishment. I plan on investing a lot of funds into humanitarian work. It's bigger than just "me"; I want to help the world get to a better place.
Why should every person reading this interview stream and purchase the "Welcome to the Inferno" mixtape?
If you're a fan of what I do, I think you'll love this record. You'll hear the growth from a lot of my earlier work. We put in years of work on “Inferno” so I hope you enjoy!
I hope this project will be remembered for the next 5-10+ years.
You are already hard at work on another album in honor of the late great Kobe Bryant. What can you tell us about it?
First off, such devastating news. Kobe was such a huge inspiration on my childhood. Growing up, my father taught me to have "Kobe Bryant work ethic" with anything I decide to pursue, meaning to go at it with 110%. That's part of the reason I'm going so hard with music, because that's what Kobe would do.
The news almost made me cry! My family and I send our deepest condolences out to Kobe and his family, as well as the other victims of the crash. Also, I live in Calabasas next to the Kardashians where he crashed and it's just so heartbreaking! That whole day was terrible in LA. I can’t imagine how Vanessa’s feeling.
I'm flying to Tallahassee in April. I'm going to be locked in the studio with AD, Chris and my director DreamAbove 561 for a follow up record and to film a few music videos. All the songs are already written and my next album will be in honor of Kobe! #24.