Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jahan Nostra. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Jahan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The more we talk about good leadership the more we think good leadership practices will spread and so we’d love for you to tell us a story about the best boss you’ve had and what they were like or what they did that was so great?

Paul T. Jones is the greatest boss I ever had. He is a great leader, entrepreneur, philanthropist and most importantly, he is a great person. I will always appreciate him for his mentorship, guidance, down to earth approach, and help with me starting my own business. He was a great leader because he put morals above financial gain. The impact he had on me was huge. He emphasized the importance of business and entrepreneurship and the importance of giving back to communities in need.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Jahan Nostra, and I am an Emcee and Hip Hop Artist from Mount Vernon, NY and Stamford, CT. I began my career in the 1990’s when I was signed to BMX Entertainment in Brooklyn, New York. Over the years, I have released several mixtapes, three full length albums, one EP and a handful of singles. I have songs featuring the legendary Masta Ace, Smif-N-Wessun, Hakim Green (of Channel Live), Ché Noir, Ceschi, REKS, Tone Trump and Tahmell. I have also worked with some incredible singers, including Omar Wilson, Mela Machinko, Ajada Reigns, Zhaklina, Finn Wiggins-Henry (Singer/Producer) and Symphony Swingg (Singer/Producer). In addition, my last two projects were mastered by the Grammy Award-Winning Engineer, Daddy Kev who is one of the best Engineers in the music industry. I have performed everywhere from New York to Chicago, Miami, Atlanta and Montréal, and I have done shows with Ludacris, T.I., Das EFX, Smif-N-Wessun, Buckshot, Hakim Green (Channel Live), Cappadonna (of Wu-Tang Clan) and many others. I have also won several awards for my work, including Best Music Video at the Hip Hop Film Festival in Harlem and Best Male Artist at the Urban Mediamakers Festival in Atlanta. I have performed at shows sponsored by Live Nation, NBC Universal and Spotify and I have been featured in Hip Hop DX, Earmilk and The Huff Post. I am an Emcee, Artist and Songwriter and I own my music publishing company, Ever So Prominent Music Publishing. I also have my own clothing line and Merch through my company, Ever So Prominent, LLC (Available at: JahanNostra.com/SHOP or JahanNostra.Etsy.com)

I believe what truly sets me apart is authenticity. This is why I have an Artist Statement that I live by: “I reflect reality, uplift for the future and prove that I’m the illest.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

2019 was one of the best years for me. I performed at shows and festivals in Miami, Chicago, New York, Atlanta and Montréal. I won several awards, including Best Music Video at the Hip Hop Film Festival in Harlem and Best Male Artist at the Urban Media Makers Festival in Atlanta. In February of 2020, I performed on the Griselda Records What Would Chine Gun Do Tour? (In Partnership with Roc Nation/Shady Records). Then, the pandemic happened. There were no shows, no festivals and no film festivals for almost 2 years. During the pandemic, we all had to pivot. For me, I turned the obstacles into new opportunities. Without any live shows, I had to change my strategy. I started thinking about new ways I could engage with my current audience and also reach new fans.

One day in April of 2020, a b-boy from France posted a video of himself and his partner breakdancing to my record “Welcome Home.” (We had initially met in person at the Under Pressure Festival in Montréal back in 2019.) I reposted the video and it got a lot of engagement with my fans. Then, I started thinking about how everyone in the world right now is sitting at home on their phones, tablets and computers, then the best way for me to reach new fans is through social media advertising. I began running ads for the breakdancing video targeting fans of underground hip hop and breakdancing. Then, the new fans started rolling in. Soon, I was reaching new fans from all over the world and a lot of them were creating their own content to my song “Welcome Home.” There was a breakdancing crew from Italy called the Free Steps Crew who got together and created a video of their routine to my song “Welcome Home.” Then, a b-boy from Brazil created a video to “Welcome Home.” Then, Yuya, a freestyle basketball player from Sapporo City, Hokkaido Island, Japan created a video of himself showing off his freestyle basketball skills while he was dribbling all over his city streets. That video went viral, and it now has over 2.5 million views. Throughout the pandemic, I ran targeted ads on a lot of my videos and songs and the strategy helped me grow from about 7k followers to more than 19k followers on Instagram.

Using this strategy during the pandemic helped me expand my audience significantly and it opened up even more opportunities for me. My latest album, Violet Skies features Producers and DJs from France, Australia and Serbia and I was able to connect with them through Instagram.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

There are two lessons I had to unlearn. The first lesson is that young people (ages 18-30) do not like my music. My music is in the category of Lyrical Boom Bap that emulates the Golden Era of Hip Hop. If you make classic music, there will always be an audience for it in any age bracket. The second lesson is that artists always need to keep putting out new music to stay relevant. This is not necessarily true. If you are an independent, artist putting out quality music is expensive. You have to pay for studio time, producers, engineers to mix and master the records, graphic design for cover art, and videographers for music videos. The expenses for each release can add up. That’s why I have taken songs from 2016 and I continue to market those songs to new audiences. If the audience is new, then the music is always going to be new to them. The backstory to these lessons is the fact that my song “Welcome Home” went viral during the pandemic in 2020, 4 years after the song came out in 2016 and the most of the new listeners were young, ranging from 18-30 years old.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jahannostra.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/jahannostra?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jahannostramusic
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jahan-nostra-b3189b65
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jahannostra
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@JahanNostra
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2fgLSRLR1RBMrJMB7pQfpc
• Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/jahan-nostra/537539901
• BandCamp: https://jahannostra.bandcamp.com/album/violet-skies
• IMDB: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm9530946/
• Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/JahanNostra

Image Credits
Andrew Binger | R.O.C. Photography MeaS7 (Graffiti Art) Najwitthecam Emile Arthur-Ricketts Bryant Norman | Styled by Carina Camacho Cavier Coleman | Styled by DapperAfrika