Jadene
Whether you know him as ‘Juls Baby’ or for the OG fans ‘Juls On It’, GRAMMY-nominated producer/DJ Juls is known for bringing guaranteed vibes no matter the setting, with the production of hits such as ‘So Mi So’, ‘Soweto Blues’, ‘True Love’, 'Skin Tight’ and so many more. Juls has a fresh and vibrant sound like no other, his signature flavour can be spotted anywhere, it’s hard to believe that the British-Ghanaian talent will be celebrating an impressive 10 years in the game.
Over the last decade, Juls has collaborated with a plethora of outstanding musicians, some of the names include Wizkid, Burna Boy, Wande Coal and homegrown talents such as Ms Banks, Jaz Karis, Kojo Funds and most recently sounding rising stars Jay O and Odeal. The producer/DJ has an extensive back catalogue that stretches as far as his 2017 breakout LP ‘Leap Of Faith’ to his debut album ‘Sounds of My World’ which features the likes of George the Poet, Knucks, Tay Iwar and many more, through the years Juls has always stayed true to himself and his sound, resulting in a core fanbase and worldwide recognition.
Travelling worldwide to fuel the inspiration of his next track or the mood for his next event, the music that Juls has created will be treasured forever. It should be studied in years to come, as he has consistently soundtracked our summer with records that further implicate Juls’ significance within the culture.
Sign up here for The Juls Baby headline Show at Outernet in London, as he celebrates 10 years in music, but in the meantime here’s 10 Things We Love About Juls…
We love the array of artists you’ve linked up with including Wizkid, Tay Iwar, Jaz Karis, Odell, and JayO - How do you make this all possible?
I think I've always just had my ear to new talent for the longest, I’m always listening to music all the time whether it’s on Spotify or Apple Music, the algorithm is always putting me onto new artists, and I’m always looking for certain sounds or people and most of the time I reach out, chances are that they’ve already been quite keen to work with me, which makes things easier. Some of the collaborations have also come as recommendations, most recently tracks with Odeal and Jay O were from Tomi, who is on my team. In terms of other artists, for example, Jaz Karis, that happened pretty organically, we both reached out to each other funnily enough, so over the years relationships have been built. I’m ultimately open to working with new artists or the artists I already have a relationship with as long as we can make new music and explore different sounds.
We love that you’re still with us 10 years later, did you always want to become a DJ/producer?
I don’t know about wanting to, but I would say I fell into it, I always loved music growing up, but my whole background is finance, I was supposed to trade stocks right now in a bank but for some reason, my passion for music just took over, music makes me happy and I can’t imagine doing anything else, it also feels like a blessing because working in music isn’t easy, you have to hustle and struggle, but I’ve always stuck to my guns and stayed so consistent with my sound. I’m proud of myself in the sense that I’m able to provide for myself and my family.
We love how you always manage to make tracks that can soundtrack the summer, with tracks like ‘Hold You Down’ ft Odeal and ‘Best Interest’ ft JayO, which depicts a summer pool party perfectly - Do you agree that your tracks sound like summer?
It’s not intentional, but now it’s been brought to my attention that my music sounds like summer and sunshine, maybe it’s because I’m African, or because I love the sun, but those factors are a huge inspiration for the music, a lot of the music I can make can be made at home, at the beach, at my parents home or just anywhere in the world, these are all things that contribute to my music.
We love how much you embrace the diaspora through your music - Is that important to you?
It’s not something I do intentionally, it’s just who I am, growing up it was never cool to be African, and I’ll admit I feel like I did have a bit of an identity crisis, I grew up in a neighbourhood where everyone was predominantly white, but I have a Caribbean nanny, my Grandmother was Jamaican and our Ghanaian culture was always embraced at home, my parents brought me up to be respectful to people of all races and religions. My parents did a good job in making sure I was properly embedded into my culture, it all just seamlessly happened and seeped through into my music, especially listening to music like Highlife throughout my childhood. I’m currently working on a film which will tell the story of how music is made, talk about the history of music and understand where I draw my inspiration to create, the focus will be the storytelling of the places we’ve visited to inspire the music.
We love the way you tap into so many different sounds and genres, while still keeping your signature sound - Who inspired you?
Kanye West is the reason why I started making beats, when I first started I was pretty much trying to emulate his sound, when I’m for inspiration I usually go to a producer called Knxwledge, who works very closely with Anderson. Paak, I also listen to a lot of Kaytranada and Black Coffee, that’s my pre-, current, and post-inspiration.
We love your consistency - what drives you?
I don’t know what drives me just yet because I’m trying to figure it out. I do know that I have a purpose, I have dreams and aspirations, I know my music has that summertime fine sexy vibe, but yeah I’m just trying to figure that out.
We love your DJ tag “Juls Baby” - Where did it come from?
So I sent a voice note to a bunch of women in 2016 to say my name in a sensual way, some of the responses I got back were quite crazy, and some of them to this day are voice notes I would never play to anybody, however, there was one that stood out by a lady by the name of Amaarae, so I used her voice, I pitched it, played around with it, I started putting it on tracks, I’ve known Ama for 10 years plus, I always knew she was going to be as big as she is today, she stuck to her guns, I’m proud.
We love how you bounce between being a DJ and a producer - are there any DJs, producers or artists you’d like to work with?
There are currently no DJs I’d like to work with however I do enjoy doing a lot of gigs with my boy Larizzle. From a producer perspective I would love to work with Black Coffee, Kaytranada or Kanye, in terms of artists I would 100% love to work with Joey Bada$$ and Kendrick Lamar, he is one of my favourite artists.
We love Juls, however, it’s so hard to pick a favourite track, what would you say is your favourite track that you’ve been a part of?
Hmm, that’s kind of hard you know, I can’t pick just one, so I’m going to share a few; I worked on U Say by GoldLink feat. Tyler, the Creator and Jay Prince, producing 'True Love' with Wizkid was important to me because that’s Wizkid’s best album for me and 'So Mi So' by Wande Coal, in my opinion, is one of the most incredible afrobeat records of all time, it’s a staple and statement within the culture, those are the three records I'm very most proud of right now, but I know I've got a lot more to come.
We love how innovative and creative you are - What’s next for you?
I look up to Black Coffee, I want to be able to make the dance floor shake, I want to be the soundtrack to people’s lives, that’s kind of what I’m focusing on, I’m trying to finish off a film, finish off an album and celebrate 10 years of being in the game and just everything I’ve achieved over the last decade, for New Year's Eve I’ve decided that I’m going to have a big celebration, if nobody is going to celebrate you, you might as well celebrate yourself!