Interview: Shellz Da Kid and JReal of So Much More

We connected with Ahoskie, NC based artists Shellz Da Kid and JReal of the band So Much More for an exclusive interview to discuss their latest video "P.O.I. (Purpose over Insecurity)", find out why it's so important for them to convey a positive message in their music and much more.

After reading our Q&A with the guys, be sure to stream their new EP "The Adventures of Crash and Burn" and follow them on social media. 

Congratulations on the video for "P.O.I.". Tell us about how the song came out and why you decided to shoot a video for it. Also, who produced the song and who directed the visual? 

The song came about when I (Shellz) thought it would be cool for Jerrell to use the acronym from Jerrell’s college drum line P.O.I. I’m not sure what it originally stands for but I felt like hey, let’s use that but give our own meaning. Jerrell was down with it and I thought let’s sample the Bel Biv DeVoe song “Poison” since it was his drum line's theme song.

We called our producer, Justin Pelham, who is a awesome producer, and gave him the concept. And he brought all together so smoothly. After the song was out and the EP was released, we thought, hey this song as a radio sound. Let’s push this song from a through all the possibilities of promoting. We contacted our good brother Brandon Bucks and he gave us the vision for the video. Brandon Bucks introduced us to our other new brother Mark, who is the CEO of T-Dot Films. We worked with him personally and he directed the video and gave us visual direction throughout the video recording process. 

Why is it important to have a positive message in your rap music, especially now a days when most of the topics discussed in songs range from drinking, getting high and sleeping with someone's girl? 

It’s very important because majority of music that people listen to, at some point they model themselves after a lifestyle that most likely not even the artist lives. However, the cool thing is that the positive message we try to send out, we also try to live and we pray people see who we want them to see. 

What's it like being an artist coming from Ahoskie? Is there a music scene there?

It’s a pretty good scene. It’s growing. It’s kind of challenging but we are up for challenges.

Tell us about So Much More as a group and how long have you been creating music. How did the group form?

So Much More consist of 7 members. Jreal, Shellz, Tyler, Zach, Quan and Dillion. Shellz and Tyler met by Shellz walking past Tyler’s church and seeing their invite to to come and enjoy a Wednesday night fellowship. After that Jreal met Tyler and we met Dillion through Tyler. Zach was a friend that Jerrell and Shellz knew and Introduced Zach to Tyler. Me (Jerrell) and Shellz been friends for 13 years and we been making music ever since. As a group, it’s been 6 years. So shout out to Zach, Tyler, Quan, and Dillion. These guys are awesome at what they do and we appreciate them. 

What's next after "P.O.I." for So Much More? 

POI is on our current EP “The Adventures of Crash and Burn”. This EP can be found on any and every music outlet. The next plan is to produce another video for one of the songs on the EP. We aren’t quite sure of which song at the moment, we are staying in prayer about that. 

Stream/Download "The Adventures Of Crash and Burn" on Spotify

Connect with J-real and Shellz Da KID: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook