In this episode Durell is joined by indie creative and rapper MJ. Durell and MJ begin the episode talking about MJ’s roots and her being originally from Redondo Beach, California but actually being raised in Pensacola, Florida. Durell shares that they both have Florida roots with him being raised in Orlando by way of Brooklyn, New York. MJ shares that she has been living in Houston for the past 5 years because she wanted to be in a bigger city to pursue her music. She ultimately wants to be in Los Angeles so she shares that she is planning to make another big move.

MJ shares that her earliest memories of music was when her mom made her take piano lessons around 8 years old as well as singing in the church choir. She says in terms of hip-hop, her earliest memories of music being from the south was ``Cash Money & Juvenile'' with the single “Back That Ass Up”. She also shares that Lauryn Hill was one of her musical influences as well that got her really excited about music. Durell shares that the South has really left it’s mark on hip-hop and MJ agrees also saying that she feels the South has changed hip hop overall in the way it’s viewed in a positive way.


Durell asks MJ when did she know that she wanted to pursue music professionally. She knew that it was something she wanted to do when she was in college. She shares that she wasn’t doing too well then because she was in a major that she had zero interest in and she wanted to pursue something that would make her happy. She knew early on that she had a very strong love for writing and poetry and she would be around her college friends as they would be freestyling and she knew then that she was going to follow her passion. She knew that it was one thing to write rhymes but to get up the courage to get into the studio and see how she would sound behind a professional microphone. Durell shares that there’s a lot that comes with pursuing music as a career. He says that if you aren’t prepared and ready it can become really difficult to be successful. MJ shares that her message in her music is all about authenticity and standing out from the pack. She makes it a point to focus on her lyricism and her cadence and flow.

Durell and MJ end the episode talking about the one of what Durell likes to call the “3 Pillars Of Fan Engagement” which is Authenticity. Durell shares that if you want to connect to real people then being authentic is a must. MJ and Durell talk about when she began to release original music after college which was a mixtape where she also tried her hand at production. She shares that that was a pretty rough experience because where she recorded the project the engineers weren’t too experienced in working with hip-hop music. She shares that she had stopped releasing music to get some help in developing and growing as an artist and within the last year began to release music more frequently.

For more information on MJ, follow her on her IG
@mjtherapper