Interview with Jason T Wallace Aka Fever

Jason T Wallace Jr is a New Jersey native. He is the oldest of three boys.  Pride, discipline, and respect has always been his motto. Since playing pop warner football in the city of east orange and living in his hometown North Newark two of the roughest places in America. Some may see that as a bad thing. Not “Fever” the nickname he earned himself by the time he was a freshman in high school.

His father introduced music to him while in his mother’s whom. Playing soul, hip hop, and r&b music from the 70’s 80’s and 90’s to celebrate life’s ups and downs on a regular basis. It was only right he is musically gifted in some sort. Growing up helping raise young black men in any inner city is not an easy task let alone Newark. He had to be the example in every situation so balancing that pressure with living his own life has be a constant battle. Music is one thing he can do nonstop. Music is his passion. Music is the one thing he can share with everyone. Music is how he was always able to relate with anyone he encounters. Along with fashion, sports, teaching and learning. He was held back in the 3^rd grade for having a hard time learning to read and dealing with dyslexia. His senior year in high school his principal made an example out him and did not let him walk with his graduating class.

Fast forward to the year 2015 he attended 5 different college and universities, earned two college degrees, played both college basketball and football and has won corporate competitions on a national level. You can only imagine the many different situations he was up against from then until now. Family is what moves him and now wants his music to help with the driving.

Lisa: What got you to write songs? And how much of an impact it had because of growing up in Newark?

Fever:

Darius Johnson who was one of my best friends and college roommate at valley forge military college was extremely talented on the football field. How ever his favorite thing to do when we were not scoring touchdowns was debate about music all day and night. He was the first person to hear my story and tell me that we should make music our back up plan if football did not work out. Those were literally his two options to feed his newborn daughter at the time. This had a major impact because he knew about me losing a childhood friend “NICO” to the streets of Newark. Ironically, I lost Darius the same exact way to the streets of Philadelphia in 2015. These deaths along with many more alike them motivated me to change the narrative of young black men in America from inner cities. We must tell the success stories. Not just highlight the poverty and crime rates which directly impact each other.

Lisa: What is your creative process?

Fever:

My creative process is to either isolate my self or surround myself with those close to me and just play music or beats that fit the vibe of the room. Having creative likeminded people around has been a key to me tapping into my most comfortable state of mind.

Lisa: What are your strengths? Weaknesses?

Fever:

My strength is my ability to visualize how I can help with the outcome in mostly any situation once I learn what the goal or goals are.

My weakness is once I am focused on one thing, I can only multitask within that one objective. I am also noticeably quiet or very blunt. Not much in between.

Lisa: I loved your song “ In My Rollie”. Can you tell us what is it about, and what inspired you to write it?

Fever:

In My Rollie was inspired by my three family members King, Rome, and Rae.  we came up with the idea to start our own business the brand name voted in was “MECCA ENTERTAINMENT” together we came up with our own business plan, model, core values, ethics, and logo. It was not easy, and we still have a long way to go before I start to brag about our brand.  However, one night we were sitting at the kitchen table arguing and agreeing on different ways to run the business, but all in all excited about what the future holds for us. One of our team members said “Once we win financially from all of our hard work and dedication, we all are getting Iced out Rolex watches. Ironically, I was in the studio recording one night and told my engineer to upload a beat I just purchased on beat stars. The beat for some reason would not load up so I asked him to play some random  beats on YouTube and I’ll let him know when I catch a vibe he picked about 3 others before he played the beat for IMR as soon as I heard it I said “ yo Taye that beat sounds like that cal boy record envy me “ . A song my Mecca Ent team would ride down the highways of Miami and blast celebrating how far we have come as a family. Starting with literally our own dreams and aspirations. Once I said “all these diamonds in my rollie” my engineer told me to come out and listen to the hook. The rest is history.

Lisa: What types of change do you feel your music can initiate?

Fever:

My music can create Positive change showing the world that no matter your circumstance you can become successful at anything you pursue with purpose.

Lisa: Are you planning in releasing the album anytime soon, and what can we expect? Is there going to be a theme that connects the songs, or something else?

Fever:

I am planning to release A EP in October 2020. I’m in no rush to create a album just yet I’m still learning my musical strengths. I know I belong in this industry I must first find my lane. I want to give you the best of my work when talking albums. Once I feel I am at that point you will hear hip hop, rap, r&B , soul and even some Jersey club music from me. I am at the point now where I just want to create as much quality music as I can. No themes in mind.

Lisa: You’ve grew up listening to 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s soul, hip hop, and r&b music. Where do you think the music industry is today? And how do you think technology has impacted the music?

Fever:

I feel like the music industry is now going through some growing pains. This is not a bad thing in my eyes, but I like how creative and diverse music genres are starting to look. people are more alike than different once more and more people start to notice that the cooler music will become. Technology has impacted the industry tremendously. Honestly, I do not think I would have been able to make a dent in the music industry without having platforms like Spotify and SoundCloud at my fingertips. I was able to teach my self what to do and how make noise without ever going to school for it.

Lisa: Do you ever get inside your own mind, though, about the details? Do you start to write a song about something particular and then be like, this is not an interesting thing?

Fever:

I live inside my own mind. When it comes to music, I can get incredibly detailed I love instruments they make me physically move around which helps me create vibes. This can be strange to some people, so I must lock myself into my head to block out the fear feeling like people are passing judgment on me as a creator. I start to hum and make sounds until I catch a beats rhythm. once I catch something ill make a hook and the song will come together eventually.

Lisa: Who would you like to collaborate?

Fever:

I would like to collaborate with shaqnlivin, king kDub, Lil Wayne, Drake, cal boy, Rihanna, Vince staples, lil baby, Jhene Aiko, the weeknd, Meek Mill, Frank ocean, Neyo, and trey songz. Just to name a few.

Lisa: What is the most trouble you’ve ever gotten into?

Fever:

The Most trouble I got into was with the law for grand theft auto as a freshman in high school.

Lisa: What is the best advice you’ve been given?

Fever:

The best advice I can I give is to dig deep down into your heart and soul to find your purpose. Everyone has one.

Lisa: What’s next for Fever?

Fever:

Next for Fever is to start touring and mastering my sound. while building my brand and making great music that will elevate my family and culture to become the best us, we can possibly be.

Follow Fever: Spotify, Instagram, Soundcloud