We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jeffrey Jones a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jeffrey thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made?
The best investment I ever made was betting on myself as an independent artist and entrepreneur you’ll hear a lot of no’s but for me it’s just not right now. But I continue to invest in myself as an artist when it comes to my own marketing and promo. And investing in myself as far as perfecting my craft. My worst investment would be … lol my cologne I took a big loss with that and those are the stresses of entrepreneurship people don’t see. You may see I have my own cologne but the manufacturing and shipping worldwide was a bit much lol
Jeffrey , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Well I started recording music with my friends from north Philly and eventually took it seriously and made a name for myself in the industry I started back early 2000’s. From there I understood the meaning of being a brand and how to commercialise my image and monetise it. Being as though I’m Haitian I came up along with data the great the mr say go voodoo bear line where I have merch and various items along with actual bears coming soon! My music opens the door to be able to bridge the gap between young and old in the upbringing in Philadelphia this bear represents that. I truly want people to create memories from my music and merch and be able to tell their story as well.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Well I grew up in north Philly the strawberry mansion section to be exact, and it’s very underprivileged and poverty stricken. And without the proper resources people find idle time and tend to result to survival instincts in order to live. Some of those things are crime and I was not exempt. So as an independent recording artist portraying images of real life actions I was sent to prison which caused me to lose brand deals with corona,Voss water, and clique vodka. I went to prison for 5 years and lost my potential deal with slip n slide records but since being released in aug 2021 I have released music, opened up for the likes of peedi crack, talib kweli with i-know Brasco. Been on live with Royce da 59 signed with entourage, I launched my merch line and my own cologne as well as a publishing company in works. As a felon I have it even harder but I stayed resilient and continued to build my legacy. I don’t care how many no’s I hear, someone will say yes
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn that everyone doesn’t have your best interest. Just dealing with different managers brands meetings people etc. You’re only as good as what you can provide. Everyone has a motive so keep relationships transactional and business related. Because even family and friends can just be around for a gain but if you fall the run. Contracts are big. don’t trust anyone’s word because words are translucent in the industry. So business is business from now on with me !
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.iamyourbrandman.com/mrsaygo
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haitiock?igsh=dHR1cTg3a3l6b2E2&utm_source=qr
- Twitter: https://x.com/haitiock?s=21
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@haitiockofficialmusic?si=K1a-iG_JAgXk2ukP
Image Credits
Data the great