Jefe Chindrix is an artist who began writing various types of literature as a way to express himself. He comes from a family where some members are artists or musicians. At some point, he tried music as a release and immediately fell in love with it. He wishes that others could find the same release in his music that he does. Check out his song “You’ve Got Mail” and the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
JEFE CHINDRIX: I’m a artist from Cleveland, OH. Come from a family oriented household. Growing up I was into sports more than music. Music was always there but I never took it into consideration until I got older. My family has several artist and instrumentalist so I guess you can say music is somewhat in my blood. I would say music got started for me when my friend suggested I should take my literature and place it over a beat ever since then I’ve been making music.
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
JEFE CHINDRIX: I’ve never had formal training when it comes to making music. I’ve had moments of being present with some of the artist in my family. When they performed or went through their creating process, so that kind’ve gave me an insight on how to go about it.
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘JEFE CHINDRIX’?
JEFE CHINDRIX: My strongest and first influences were a mixture of people and genres. I listened to a lot of R&B and gospel growing up because of my family. My father would play R&B Saturday morning on our way to our bowling league and then Sunday my mother would take me and my siblings to church. As I became a teen Kanye West was my influence into Hip-Hop. The beats he created and the way he spoke about his life was cool to me.
So my stage name came from my friend calling me Jefe often and Chindrix is a mixture of my last name and Jimi Hendrix. I was a fan of him when I was growing up
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
JEFE CHINDRIX: What should resonate with listeners is alot of my songs are created from experiences. It’s important for me to express this because my hope is that with people knowing this if they are or currently going through the same thing they can relate.
My sound is a tough question, but I would say most of my songs is a melodic vibe for the most part. But I think people will see I have an arrangement of sounds and I’ll leave it up to them as to how they perceive my sound.
5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as R&B?
JEFE CHINDRIX:
My development can be viewed as still in the early stages. I’m still figuring out myself as an artist so to speak. There’s certain things as an artist I’m still learning and understanding how things work in this industry. I’m getting closer but development takes time.
6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?
JEFE CHINDRIX:
Music can be a trailblazer for many things when it comes to the political aspect. Music can be used to get a message across similar to how athletes use certain platforms to display their support of things. Culturally & spiritually I feel music plays a big role in both. I’ve witnessed music affect individuals in a way words can’t really describe while growing up in church. Culturally, I can feel the passion people have for the type of beats or phrases they may use in their music, its a beautiful thing to listen to. Music can hit people in different ways and from many angles.
I wouldn’t say I personally try to hit these markers when I create music. However with my music coming from an experience of mine. If this experience coincides to those categories we talked about then the shoe fits essentially.
7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
JEFE CHINDRIX:
Definitely, it’s giving me a lot of fulfillment. I find joy in this because it helps me get things off of my mind in a different outlet. Also, when I have people telling me they enjoyed or was able to relate with what I created it adds to the fulfillment.
8. With social media having a heavy impact on our lives and the music business in general, how do you handle criticism, haters, and/or naysayers in general? Is it something you pay attention to, or simply ignore?
JEFE CHINDRIX:
Yeah so criticism, haters, and/or naysayers, I do look and see what they say about my songs. The reason is because I understand that everyone or thing has room for improvement and I’m no exclusion from this. So, I listen to it or read it to help me think about what areas I can improve. Now, I will say I don’t allow the feedback I get to become a detriment to me or my creative process. For me I take what some people may consider negative energy and transfer it to positivity.
9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
JEFE CHINDRIX: The most difficult thing I’ve encountered so far in music is overthinking. Sometimes I can find myself wondering if a pitch or note was the best it could be. Making corrections is fine and knowing that you’re capable of creating high quality is apart of the process, but knowing when to cut that off and leave the song be is a constant adjustment for me.
10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
JEFE CHINDRIX: So in the short amount of time that I’ve been making music. I would say the proud moment for me is having situations like this. Magazines and blogs such as yourselves given me the opportunity to share what I’ve created and answer these questions to give people an idea of who they’re listening to behind the music is dope to me. So thank you in addition to that.
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