We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rich “JKR70” Lester. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rich “JKR70” below.

Hi Rich “JKR70”, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I met a singer songwriter at Davies Uptown Ramblers Club, Named Clay Hughes clayhughes.bandcamp.com The encounter was secretly set up by one of my best friends, Daniel “Lucid Flows” Bartle, thinking that a collaboration between the singer and I would be something to explore.
The project ended up being called “The Whether Machine” a machine that determines whether or not something / a project, thought or idea, is good or not.
The artwork for the project was done by Local artist Donald “Scribe” Ross, scribeswalk.com all of this is a special coming together of my favorite genres, artists and vocalists.
Lucid Flows is on a track as well as Johnny Polygon, Irv the Phenom, Kemet “The Phantom” Coleman, Kutty Slitz and Musician Lenon Bone. (I’m sure I am forgetting someone, so apologies)
To top all of this off, all of my production was presented at the bar the Hurricane in Westport, interpreted by a live band.

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

I got into producing music by happenstance, I had always been interested in music and had owned electric guitars, and Basses over the years, but one day I was on the Plaza and bought a pair of JNKO jeans, and in the back pocket as a promotional item, was a disc with the software, MIXMAN, this would have been around 1999, a fairly simple “DAW” to produce music, my first 4 tracks were Drum and Bass / techno-ish tracks, which I still have today.
I went from there to ACID, then Fruity Loops and am currently using Logic Pro for Mac. I have produced 10 studio albums to date under the Monikers JKR70 and Human CropCircles.
In no particular order…

Human Pride and The Lack Thereof, The Future Is Not What It Used to Be, Tienanmen Square, Constant Movement, Project Lucid, Dreamtime, The Chocolate EP, Audio Black Book, Rumpus in These Horns of Mine, and lastly The King Mixtape.

I also work for Sike Style Industries producing tracks for their videos on Tik Tok and Instagram. sikestyle.myportfolio.com

My latest projects have been with Jevon “Lou Rip” Fisher and Daniel “Lucid Flows” Bartle in a group called MOKS (MO = Missouri KS = Kansas) mokshiphop.com and also visual artist Adrian Halpern, adrianhalpern.com producing music for various art shows and projections with a group that was his creation called A.K.A. (As Known As) along with music Producer Omni San, and musician DJ of Stranded in the City.
[email protected]
[email protected]

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the ability to get some feeling out that I may not have been able to express effectively in any other way, songs I have made have spoken for me regarding heartbreak and anger about my childhood, visual pieces have helped me express myself in my day job in health care, it’s been such a cathartic journey, that I am humbly thankful for.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Art Grants and entities like The Charlotte Street Foundation CHARLOTTESTREET.ORG

Contact Info:

• Website: https://MOKSHIPHOP.COM
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/JKR70

Image Credits

JKR70