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

Jordan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Graduating from Full Sail University for me was a big risk. I say that because around the time of enrolling my first child had just recently been born, and I knew school was going to be equally time consuming. Not only that, but I was still working a Full-Time job on top of joining the Parent Club.

At first, everything seemed like a walk in the park. Classes weren’t too hard, I was getting off at 3-3;30 everyday, and the baby slept most of the time. Fast forward into 6 months, and there was total 360 shift. My son was now a lot more active, I changed jobs to make more money, and classes had started to become more advanced. I was definitely beginning to feel the pressure of life begin to hit me smack in the face.

However, that made me sink my head down and get more focused. I was determined to make it across the finished line, and become the first one in my immediate family to graduate college. There were many nights I felt like throwing in the towel but the question “What would that benefit?” would always pop up in the back of my mind. I’ve never been a quitter in my life, and I wasn’t going to start now.

What made me take this time around so serious was the fact that I wanted to make a a change. Not only for my family, but also in other people’s lives and communities. I know how it feels to want to something, but not have access to the proper resources to make it available. I also wanted my kids to see me walk the stage so that when they begin school, they would be inspired to graduate high school and go to college. Our classes were year round So we only got breaks for the main holidays like Springbreak, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

It took me 2 1/2 years to finish but I got my Bachelor’s Degree in the Audio Productions Program. A few months after, I landed my first position as an Intern at Goldie Sound Productions. I’m currently still there learning more about engineering, sitting in recording sessions assisting engineers, and getting hands on experience in a professional studio. My next step is to be a part of the team and becoming an engineer for Goldie Sound.

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 Jordan, but you can call me Zoolie (that’s my stage name). I was born in Tallahassee, Fl but raised in a small town not far away from there in Bristol, Fl. I classify myself as an Artist, Audio Engineer, and Producer. Early on I always liked the way music made me feel, and how it sounded to my ears, so it’s no surprise that I fell in love with it.

I began writing around the age of 12 years old and never looked back. I recorded my first song in a neighborhood studio, where my older cousin and his brothers would go and record. One day he took me and them to drop our first song “Money, Money Here I Go” and from there I never looked back. The urge grew stronger and stronger to the point I downloaded free recording software off of the internet, and started learning how to record myself. I didn’t have funds to purchase a real mic, so I found a webcam mix, rigged it up, and i setup a little home studio.

I have ambitions to become one of the best rappers ever, and to change the narrative. I like to rap about my life, things i’ve seen, and how I feel about pretty much everything. I feel like my music is different from the music from today, because now-a-days everybody a killer or a gansta. Nothing wrong with it, but it may be the reason why so many kids & rappers are dying. We could still make music without always having to tell on ourselves basically. Then again, killing is most teens reality in this day and age, so I rap about what I feel and see in hopes of shifting the mindset.

I’m most grateful that no matter how long it took, I’ve never gave up on my dreams. I never stopped believing that one day I was going to make it in the music industry, and leave my mark. I used to let what others say impact my decisions and my drive, which always left me feeling depressed and less than who I know I am. Now, I don’t pay it any mind because they see it, I no longer have to tell them.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Before getting on as an intern at Goldie Sound Productions, I turned in my resume three different times. The first time I saw an AD on Facebook from Goldie’s page about looking for Interns so I emailed them my resume. I was still in school around the time but I was trying to get a early jumpstart on having a position in a studio. Needless to say, I never heard back from them.

So I started asking different producers that I was following on Instagram about if they knew of any studios that were possibly interning. They all referred me to Goldie Sound. So I emailed my resume for the second time, gave it a day or 2, and then I called to check on the status of it. The assistant at that time told me that they had filled all positions for interns, and they were no longer accepting resumes. Immediately, I got discouraged and felt like it was going to take forever for me to find a studio because of my location.

I gave it about 3-4 days after that, and I submitted my resume again for the third time now. in the meantime, I kept looking around for more studio’s to submit my resume at, so I wasn’t even checking to see if they had responded. One day, I randomly checked my email and I saw that I had gotten a response. They offered me a position and set me up for an interview. I’m currently interning there now!

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I knew more about youtube back when I first started putting out songs. Soulja Boy utilized it the best back when youtube was first becoming popular, and actually got himself a deal. I thought it was just a site where you watched videos. Technology wasn’t so advanced back then.

Twitter was another site that helped artists promote their music. I used to think as an artist that you just make the. song, and everyone would listen to it. I didn’t think about how to upload it, popular sites to upload it on, and how to promote it. I thought that was automatic. Now I realize you have to do the projects as well as the groundwork behind the scenes. Such as promoting, performing, etc.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jmccray42.wixsite.com/my-site-1
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zootkidd_jd/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100058684362399
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-mccray-68943b1b4/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiteJd
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJviUPE6bodnyH2WDZdYbHg