Interview: Las Vegas Rapper Jag Gatz Discusses His New Music Video "Live In My Bag"
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“...I’m also eager to make history I can look back on. It gives me an opportunity to grow, and also a chance for fans in the future to check out my beginnings. This mentality keeps me driven for success and hungry for more.”
Congratulations on the release of your new music video for "Live In My Bag"; it's a very DOPE visual. Tell us about how you connected with the director Sniik and where in Las Vegas was the video shot.
Thank you, that means a lot! I actually met Sniik at one of my earliest performances at a show, he was looking for artists to film and luckily I was in need of a director. I told him I would hit him up as soon as I had a song I wanted to do a video for, and thus we reconnected for “Live In My Bag”.
As the song has a dark and ominous feel to it, I wanted the setting to match that, and we happened to find an empty lot and parking structure that was perfect for it. We shot the video in Downtown Las Vegas, near the Arts District. This is an area that has played a major role in my come up through the Vegas music scene, so I was hyped to make a moment there that I can look back on.
Regarding the song itself, what inspired you to write it, and what about the Buu Backwards produced instrumental led you to use it?
Crazy as it is, I actually came up with this song before I had released any material. I’m coming up on 2 years since I started releasing my music, so it’s wild to see a song that I had held on to longer than that, finally come to fruition.
The inspiration really came from how I saw everybody talk about how they were “in my bag” and it’s phrase that I felt perfectly resembled my mindset at the time. It’s so simple, and it basically describes dismissing the distractions and staying focused. Therefore, I took the phrase and elevated it to “Live In My Bag” and just wrote what I felt I’d need hear to keep me in that bag. After that I had about 60% of the song sitting there, and once me and Buu connected, I heard that beat, and I knew it would be perfect for this song. The high pace and sinister vibe complemented the lyrical content of the song, so I finished it up, shot the video, and got ready to show it to the world.
Will "Live In My Bag" be a part of an upcoming project that you're currently working on? If so, what can you tell us about it?
Yes it definitely will. I aimed to use this song and video as a kind of roll out for the project, hopefully to build up hype for it. I feel like this song truly sets the tone for the project, and I would say “Live In My Bag” is my best song to date.
As for the project, it correlates to the song as it is filled with motivational music that I feel gives me encouragement. I’m praying to get the project out soon, but with all that’s going on in the world there have been a number of setbacks. No matter, I’m anxious to show my talent to the people and have them enjoy what I have to offer.
If you could pick any artist to appear on a remix to "Live In My Bag" who would you select?
As such a big fan of hip hop I could think of so many names that inspire me that I’d love to get on this song. As always, many of the top artists are so versatile they would destroy any quality track you gave them, such as the Drake’s and Kendrick Lamar’s.
However, as much as I’d want that, to fit the question, I think I would choose someone who would speak to this song specifically. My choice would be Meek Mill, as I feel that he would go crazy and match the energy and tempo of this record. I feel like Meek doesn’t get his props enough, so a song with me and him is for sure something I need to see.
What are some things/people/places that inspire your creativity as an artist when developing new music?
I’d like to think I’m able to pull inspiration from a lot of places for my music, and I think this song is a dope example of that. Basically I got a lot of inspiration from just the phrase of being “in my bag” and seeing how people were using the phrase, along with the energy around it. I resonated with that mood heavily, so I just tried to put that energy into a song, and I’m very satisfied with how it came out.
As this is my first music video, I’m also eager to make history I can look back on. It gives me an opportunity to grow, and also a chance for fans in the future to check out my beginnings. This mentality keeps me driven for success and hungry for more.
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