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JES B is here to put his city of Dade City, Florida, on the map. 

The East Coast rapper prides himself in creating good, fun, positive music. His newest song and visual for “Go Dumb” is a testament to his personality and roots back home, bringing to life the culture of Florida the best way he knows how: through the music.

Falling in love with music at a very young age, JES B recalls seeing his grandfather who was in a band called Daddy Dave Band, as well as his late cousin who was always singing through the house with a broom. To date, he credits his family for his love for music.

JES recalls doing a show in Tampa with Ball Greezy where all the females were singing to one of his older songs, giving him the confidence to pursue music professionally moving forward. And with Dynamic B Records backing him, JES B sees no limits when it comes to his professional rapping career. 

Sheen caught up with JES B in downtown Los Angeles to discuss his background, his name, the making of “Go Dumb,” studio essentials, and more!

 

For those who don’t know, who is JES B?

Florida artist, crazy. Hyped for no damn reason. Good music, positive. Drama-free, just trying to put on for the city. 

How would you describe your sound?

Southern, I’m from Florida. A lot of people think I’m from Houston, I don’t know why but I fuck with Houston. Fuck it, if you think I’m from Houston, it’s gonna make you buy the album? Go ahead and cop it. 

What’s the inspiration behind your name? 

My real name’s Bruce. Nobody knows that, now they do. I didn’t want to be nobody else but just Bruce. I didn’t want to be Pac, I didn’t want to be Biggie. I wanted to be just Bruce. But I didn’t want to put the ‘Just,’ so I put Jes. It’s slang.

What were you on creating “Go Dumb”? What was the vibe in the studio? 

I was at the house one day, just writing. I got a lot of songs, but I didn’t have no strip club song. I want to do a strip club song, but I need everyone to go stupid with it. I’m writing writing writing. Oh, I got one! And I wrote it in 35, 40 minutes. That was that. Then I put my homie on it from Tampa, Lil Rated. His dad is Rated R, Tampa legend. Shout out Lil Rated, Rated R. Tampa, Florida. I’m from Dade City, which is 40 minutes from Tampa. I just called brah up. He wanted to do a song with me, so I said “I got the perfect song for you.” The rest is history. 

Best memory from the video shoot?

Them girls was going dumb. [laughs] It was so much stuff we didn’t put on there, that we should have. The video shoot was crazy. DJ Swift shot the video. Swift, what’s up? Big head ass lil boy. [laughs] Swift made beats for Kodak, Youngboy, all them boys. The best part of it was seeing everybody come together and making it happen. Nobody was being selfish. It was raining. It was hot. The girls was like “fuck it, we’re gonna stick it out. We’re gonna make it happen.”

If someone was new to JES B, what’s one song you would have them Listen to? 

“Tom Brady.” It’s catchy. It’s telling my life story. The hook goes like this: “I had to leave my city to win, like I’m Tom Brady.” It’s real catchy shit. You know how Brady left New England, still came to Tampa and won? So I relate to him on my level. It makes sense and it’s catchy. You could be in the car and it’s a vibe. 

3 things you need in the studio at all times?

Some trees, some smoke. Drank, gotta have some drank. Sometimes a vibe. Some people don’t like to have nobody in the studio. But me? I’m cool with everyone in the studio. It makes me go to a different level. Everybody hanging out. Girls over there stripping, dude over here playing pool. Let me go do my thang now. I got my little crowd, that’s my vibe.

Best encounter you had with a fan?

I had a girl cry one time. I felt like Michael Jackson. You how Mike got them falling? She was in tears to meet me. I’m like she’s joking. She’s capping. She’s trying to feel my hand, make me feel special. But no, she was so excited to meet me. She wanted an autograph. I didn’t know how to sign my autograph, it’s all so new to me. 

I’m asking my boy, “do I put the J first?” Oh, I’ma put a big ass J and a smiley face. That’s my autograph. It’s my unique autograph. She wanted hugs, pictures. Her family came to say hello to me. I’m like what? It was cool though. It was surreal. This what it feels like? Yeah, I could get used to that. [laughs]

Anything else you’re working on? Anything else you want to promote?

I got some songs coming out. One called “Mari,” it’s a single with no features on it. I got another song called “Stay Rich,” another single that’s about the take off. When you hear it, you gon’ say “damn! He said that on that couch, on that roof.” These songs about to go stupid. That’s the next thing I’ve been working on, a couple of singles. 

I didn’t want to put an album out until the world knew me. It’s my body of work, it means something to me. When the world knows me, that’s when they gon’ be like “okay, where’s the album?” Until then, I’ma keep dropping fresh singles and a lot of hot songs.