Chicago rapper Jay Wood doesn’t ride waves, he makes them. Like countless others across the globe, he graduated college, University of Missouri, into a pandemic. But COVID-19, for him, is perhaps a blessing.

Instead of dealing with the stressors of looking for a job, Jay is taking the time and energy to continue his growth as a musician and artist. In late summer, he released his latest EP, Trackstar, and the drop is inviting well-deserved positive reviews from music writers. Here, Jay takes us behind-the-scenes of his music and shares how he got to where he is, and where he hopes to go.     

A self-proclaimed renaissance kid, Jay grew up in the city’s south suburbs dabbling in everything from engineering to band. Though in high school he played football, music and poetry ended up being the two constants that fed his passions and determined many of the moves he made. He started dropping songs his senior year and joined Freesole, a collective that at the time had over a dozen members. Summer 2016 the group started putting on concerts, the last of which sold out.

“We did it for ourselves and we set it up ourselves. It was small but still prideful.”

Though intelligent and naturally good at school, he had little interest in attending college, but his parents’ pressure led him to Mizzou.

“I was sad when I left for college because I felt like I was being taken away from something I loved so much.”

Though it took him away from Freesole, the move turned into a huge positive, because “if you stay at home and rap, that’s going to be your story.” And though there’s nothing wrong with that story, Jay’s is so much deeper because he left.

At Mizzou he joined poetry club, dropped albums that he made fumbles on (like messing up the marketing), learned from his mistakes, met his now producer Namesake, performed at festivals, and overall made a name for himself. Now that he’s back in Chicago, he can more easily define who he is as an artist.

First of all, he no longer yells over the beats and he doesn’t always rap. Both pieces of advice came from Namesake and, looking at the Chicago Reader review that dubs his singing “gold-flaked,” Jay and Namesake are obviously doing something right.  

“Sometimes saying less is saying more. You don’t have to show every tool you got. You can get the point across without being obnoxiously rappy.”

As for the content of his songs, which have always been and likely always will be raw and genuine, Jay credits his healthy obsession with love and relationships for allowing him to rap about anything through that lens.

“I talk a little bit about everything but most of it revolves around romantic things. Even when I’m talking about something else, I’m usually talking about it through the scope of romantic relationships.”

And when it comes to inspiration, Jay doesn’t have to look for it. Maybe that’s an overlooked gift, a mark of an artist, or at the very least a personality trait that reveals so much about a person’s character, but when you pay attention as he does, you don’t have to seek things out. They just come to you. Everything and anything is inspiration.

When all of the above is combined, you get an artist with more promise than most others. But in the age of Soundcloud and TikTok, the pressure to stand out remains. So, how does Jay deal with it?

“Don’t try to stand out. Viral blowups are fragile because they could all be gone in a week or a month. Develop your sound, don’t try to ride a wave. Make your own personal thing. Because you doing that is going to be different already. From there, build it up from the ground. Even if you’re moving brick by brick you’re going to have a good foundation.”

And that’s how foundations are built.

Though Jay may never ride a wave, he sure is making them and it’s exciting to see where he goes from here.

Follow Jay Wood on Instagram @jaywoodsole and listen to his music here.