We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jonathan Riley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jonathan below.
Jonathan, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I first realized I wanted to be a music creative when I was first applying for colleges back in 2015-2016, but the idea solidified after the first year of college. It was my senior year of high school and, by that point, I was looking back over my scholastic career and all the extra curriculars I participated in. The common thread was either sports (Basketball or Track) or I was in the band program. I started on the trumpet at Clifton Elementary School, Started to play percussion when I hit 7th grade at Greenforest Christian Academy, then made the full transition to percussion in 8th grade when I transferred to Columbia Middle School. Since then, I’ve been playing percussive instruments. Having such a rich history with music really showed me that I wanted music to be a part of my life, for the rest of my life. Fast forward to college, and I chose to move on from playing instruments and focus more on music production. That single decision has changed my life because it put me on the path that I am walking now.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Jonathan Riley and I am an artist, producer, and soon-to-be engineer going by the stage name Jeminii (pronounced like the zodiac, and YES I am a Gemini.) I started my music career as a producer in my junior year in high school. I was inspired to make music because of the beat switch on “Day N Nite” by Kid Cudi. It was the coolest thing to me and I was just encaptivated by the idea that multiple ideas of a song could be present AND executed. So I grabbed a copy of FL 11 and hadn’t looked back since. Fast forward to my freshman year in college, I was producing under a different name at the time but ended up changing it to my current one. I met one of the doper artists on campus named Coley Xavier. We linked up and he was the first person to really want to work with me on a song and I was honored! The collab got a placement on his Self Titled Mixtape (Coley: The Mixtape) and the song, “R.O.T.C,” has 13.9k plays (just on soundcloud alone)! That was one of the defining moments that I could be successful if I really pursued music as a career and passion. After a year or two, I began producing and pseudo-engineering my brother’s whole mixtape, and even featured as an artist. From there, I then began my EP Series and currently have 3 EPs while working on the final for the series (It’s almost done, so BOLO!) In between the process, I’ve placed a couple feature verses and I’m currently producing and engineering on a couple different artists’ projects in the city.
Outside of my own music, and one thing I’m very proud of is, I am a remote technician at Radio One Atlanta and I’m a recording studio engineering intern at Lokey Recording Studios. Both jobs constantly fuel my passion for music in different ways and I couldn’t have asked for better jobs for me (I can/should definitely ask for better pay though haha, It’s still hard out here in these streets!) Otherwise, every aspect of the job is fulfilling and I can’t wait to see how I progress and grow!
Overall, I’m an artist, producer, and (soon-to-be) engineer and I enjoy working in Hip-Hop/Trap (Mainstream and Alternative), RnB, and I would like to work with Pop, Latinx, and Afro Artist in the future. I thrive to express myself within everything I do, and whenever I work with someone I want to see myself in some shape or form (hence one of the reasons why I chose my name), so I encourage creativity and having a safe space to express it. So, come as you are; I am here as a conduit to produce great music for the masses. I offer production packs, great writing (song-writing and for feature work), and music engineering.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Around the start of the year (2023), closing out the first quarter of the year, I was laid off from my Marketing Rep position with an insurance company then later in May my radio internship ended because my boss quit. From the bottom of March through the bottom of June, I was unemployed and my pockets were completely tapped. I took a step out on faith and applied to Lokey Recording Studios to be an (UNPAID) intern for the chance to get hired on full time. Now, for the financial savvy or folks with common sense, that clearly was not the greatest idea in terms of income. Luckily, in the process of applying to different places, I also landed my current job at Radio One Atlanta and have been doing better bit by bit since. Throughout that time, I was in the process of moving back home out of my apartment and still had faith in God and my ability to figure it out along the way while taking a chance on myself and chasing my passion. Now, I’m the Lead intern and I’m about two months out from completing the internship and coming on full-time! Let this be the motivator to go after your passions/dreams and follow the path set for you because you NEVER know how your path will move forward.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
On the Ground-level, Artist need to push themselves within their own creativity and work together. Collaboration will take you a lot farther than just by yourself. Remove your ego and you’ll have SO much room for growth on all levels. Finally, please pay people properly, whether it’s paying producers for beats, paying vocal artists for features/vocal contributions, visual artists for photo/video shoots and cover art and engineers for their mixes! We are all in this struggle together, but that doesn’t mean we have to STRUGGLE together. The faster we help each other, the faster we can help ourselves.
On the Upper-level, we need to re-diversify the music selections! While the current mainstream is thriving, a lot of it is coming from one source (of thought). What we consume is then perpetuated, so let’s make sure there’s a balance of what there’s to offer sonically. Also, PAY YOUR WRITERS AND PRODUCERS FAIRLY!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/98jeminii
- Instagram: @98Jeminii
- Twitter: @_Jr98_
- TikTok: @98jeminii