We caught up with the brilliant and insightful JedtheSloth a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi JedtheSloth, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I released a song titled “PLAYBAW” in August of 2023 and wanted to make a music video for it that was different than anything I’ve ever done or anything that you commonly see being done. Fast forward to nearly a year later and we are set to wrap production after almost a year of creating what can now be described as a short film. There is a cast of 9 actors and a complete narrative storyline in a 5 minute run time. For the exception of the scenes I am acting; I wrote, cast, booked, filmed, directed, and edited this project myself. I plan to finish post production in August 2024 and want to host a live screening before it releases online on the WHITEDIRT Youtube. Extra scenes and BTS can be viewed on my Instagram.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m JedtheSloth, a music artist/film producer and founder of WHITEDIRT Productions based out of Baton Rouge, La. I’ve been writing and recording different types of music since 2008 but am most know for rap music. I started writing and performing as ‘DJEDTHVSLOTH” in 2015 after being part of a rap duo in New Orleans for about 2 years. I eventually evolved and fell in love with film making as well and in 2020 I decided to simply go by “JedtheSloth”.

I always had an interest in film making but in the early days of my rap career I would hire videographers to film me and then edit the video myself. I eventually decided I wanted to invest in film gear and build my own team and in 2016 WHITEDIRT Productions was founded. Initially WD was focused on music video, live shows, and music production. During the quarantine of 2020 I had alot of time to experiment with film making and that lead me to love cinematography and writing. I ended up writing a TV show pilot for a show titled “Down the Road a Ways” (the trailer is on WHITEDIRT Youtube” as well as another personal cinematic long term project that hopefully I can share more about soon.

In 2021 I started the professional wrestling stable/faction “DISOBEY. In 2023 I started the “Playbaw Podcast” that started out as a platform for me to discuss various topics and has now formed into more of a guest documentary based Youtube series. Playbaw Podcast Episode 8 coming very soon.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Learning how to acknowledge and utilize my “pride” in healthy ways. Pride is a funny thing, especially in creative spaces. What pride meant to me when I was 24 is alot different now that I’m 34.

Like most early to mid 20’s young men, I was in an identity crisis. I was a freshly obsolete college football player who had been conditioned to do nothing but try to dominate and win since I was a little boy. I knew nothing but how to compete and I wanted to attack the creative landscape with viscous intent. I wanted to be as different as possible from everything out there and I feel like creatively I accomplished this.

With that being said, I wasn’t equipped to deal with how this would be freely interpreted interpersonally amongst my peers. Simply put, I wanted to be the king. Being a competitor is a gift and a curse when it comes to art. It seemed as if every piece of the puzzle I picked up I would drop one that I was already carrying.

Through this process I learned the only competition I have is myself. I learned that pride is not necessarily about having pride in your own accomplishments, but about what you can create that’s bigger than yourself. Now I have learned I want to build something that can live beyond me, something that can have meaning beyond myself. When I die, I want WHITEDIRT to still be around long after me and I don’t think that’s possible if I only have pride in myself.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Know what you want and move with intention. How do yo know what you are doing if you don’t know why? Not knowing what you want is ok. There is a time and a place for figuring that out, especially if you are still young. The simple truth is; if you don’t find out what you want then you can’t move with intention.

For me, I know my strength lies in my genuine nature and ability to give you something you won’t find anywhere else. I founded WHITEDIRT on the notion that when you see it, hear it, taste it or smell it or feel it you immediately know what it is without having to be told. Even if it is good for the algorithm, you won’t catch me chasing trends. People can sense when you are not doing something naturally. I try to keep my work as “handcrafted” as possible, even if it takes longer to make. I know my lane and it’s not necessarily the fast one, the word sloth is literally in my name. My flavor takes more time and care to cook up instead of rushing to push out as much content as possible as fast as possible, to be quickly forgotten. I strive for timelessness.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: JEDTHESLOTH/WXITEDIRT
• Facebook: JED THE SLOTH
• Linkedin: JEDTHESLOTH
• Twitter: DJJEDTHVSLOTH
• Youtube: WHITEDIRT
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/djjedthvsloth

Image Credits

WHITEDIRT Productions
Steven Lepre Photography