JOV is a 22 year old producer/artist from Charlottesville, Virginia. Originally a refugee from Serbia, he lived near Chicago, then Indianapolis, and finally Charlottesville. JOV fell in love with music at a young age, he began writing in high school. His favorite rap influences range from old school Mos Def to modern top dogs such as Wale, King Los, Kendrick. Production wise his biggest influences were early Kanye and Jon Bellion. All through Virginia Tech, he continued to write and listen to all kinds of artists.Then over summer 2015, JOV decided to buy an AKAI board and try his hand in production as well. Over the year, JOV grew and combined his influences into a unique sound
https://soundcloud.com/jovofficial/sets/i-am-jov
JOV drops the third project of the year and his debut tape for the 2017 year. Starting off the strong, the mixtape contains the four singles Now They Know, Maintain, What's It Worth, and Your Mind. 14 tracks all for free download at soundcloud, JOV hopes the year for the fans starts off right.
http://www.thisis50.com/profiles/blogs/exclusive-interview-jov?xg_source=activity
What is your name and what city do you rep?
My name is Jovan, the artist name is JOV. The city I represent is Charlottesville, Virginia.
What is unique about you and your music?
I produce, mix, master, and write all my music which allows me to creatively control all the aspects of the sound and feel I want. I make beats that relax the mind and soul, that can allow someone to just let go for the few minutes my song plays. Lyrics wise I am very truthful and show all sides of my personality, switching from song to song. Every song and beat is from the real me, so the listeners get a clear lens to see what I feel and go through in life.
What shaped your music?
Growing up I listened to a wide genre of music allowing me to catch an ear for peculiar instruments which I love to use in my beats. Production wise I would say my two biggest influences were Kanye West and Jon Bellion. I would watch making of videos of beats they did, which allowed me to learn while gaining inspiration. Artist wise the biggest influences currently are Russ, King Los, and Wale. I stay up to date on all the newest music just to peep what is going on in the music world, plus cannot forget the Charlottesville artists.
When did you realize you were going to make music professionally?
Through out high school I was writing in notepads. I realized that I wanted to pursue music when I was taking my summer classes to graduate from Virginia Tech. The town was a ghost town so I started to play around with logic pro and order my Akai midi board to begin with. When I moved back to Charlottesville, I connected with friends and bought the mic set up and the journey really took off from there.
What type of music do you listen to?
I listen to every type of genre, country is a rarity though. When I have an sort of writing or production block, I usually switch to my pandora stations and begin new stations and unwind while listening to different stations. Hiphop and rap are by far my most listened to genres.
Who, to you, is the most undervalued music artist?
I'd say the most undervalued artist is King Los. The man is unreal when it comes to bars and lyricism. Plus all of his off the dome freestyles tear apart the writtens of other artists. Its crazy to me that he is still unheard of to the majority of music fans.
How do you prepare for your performances?
Repetition, repetition, and repetition. Practice makes perfect, so constantly reading over and practicing my lyrics. Within a 6 month period I will probably have around 50 songs dropped so I am constantly working on memorization. I also do get together with friends at a jam place in which we can go over the songs which helps a lot into getting the feel of how the track will go live.
What ignites your (song) writing flow?
A good majority of the time when I am creating a beat I keep it in a constant loop while humming or free-styling over it. Once I hit an idea, feel, or line that I like then I begin to break the phone out and the let the words pour out. Just a small idea usually provides me the momentum and focus to craft through my songs.
What do you do when you don’t do music (creative or otherwise) that you are passionate about?
When I am not doing music, the main hobbies I have are just working out, playing around with photos and editing, and usually just reading up on articles of events in the world. My free time is very small since I like to focus all my possible time on the music. Always love linking and vibing with local artists, studio sessions with other artists provide so much inspiration, its unreal.
Success to you is…
When my family will never stress about bills or working. Also when I can wake up and say with my heart that I am getting paid to really love what I do every single day.
What do you wish you were told when you first started rapping that you think would help any recently starting artists out?
Just be yourself. Honestly these days I see too many people trying to follow trends and most of the time others can see what you are doing. Do the music you love to do, keep an open ear, and just remain positive. This industry will test your patience all of the time, but persevere and don't do a quick change just for some quick change.
Any upcoming projects?
I have been dropping songs every week for a few months now. My main upcoming tape I have is IAMJOV which will start the 2017 year off. Other than that, I am planning some production tapes in which I link together features and will stay dropping songs. No time to slow down these days.
Where do we find you music / music project?
All my music is on my soundcloud page for free download.
https://soundcloud.com/jovofficial