[FEATURE] VIPER PRESENTS: JBEE

JBEE is pioneering his own Lo Fi romantic Drill sound and has built a dedicated fan base both on and offline since 2021, get to know him better via this VIPER interview…

Congratulations on your debut mixtape ‘HBK’, what is the overriding theme of the project?

The theme of my tape ‘hbk’ is literally just love and heartbreak. On the tape I explore both sides with songs like ‘just 4 me’ which explains my love for a girl and ‘DTB’ where I talk about a heartbreak I’ve had with another one.

What five words define your sound?

Five words would be, authentic, motivational, lyrical, heartfelt and lo-fi.

Tell me something unique about your creative process?

People find this hard to believe but I never write my lyrics down, I prefer to make them up in my head and when it’s time to record I lay them down.

Which song of yours would you like people to hear first?

The song i’d like people to hear first is my ‘Next Up’, I feel like I put a lot of heart into that song and a lot of people can relate to it too.

What inspired you to make that song?

The inspiration behind the song was really me showing how hungry I was to make it, I also talked about how people wouldn’t stay true in the beginning but once they’d seen some sort of success they’d claim they had been there from the start.

What’s the most vulnerable you’ve allowed yourself to be when writing/making music?

In most of my songs I’d like to say I’m pretty much vulnerable as I talk about real life experiences and everyday things a person would relate to.

Your mixtape features some of the scene’s most in-demand producers, do you have a favourite single and what was the process like creating this track?

I haven’t got a favourite track specifically but I’d say ‘Brown Eyes’, produced by Chris Rich, is one of the best tracks on there. The process was literally nothing extraordinary, Chris played the beat to me and the vocals in the background stood out to me so I made sure my lyrics somewhat related to what Chris was singing about in the background.

What’s the best/worst experience you’ve had on stage?

Best experience I’ve had on stage was probably at Reading, before I got on stage my DJ had the crowd chanting my name and I didn’t expect that many people to come out just to see me it was a crazy moment. My worst experience on stage was probably at a club show and the DJ decks kept messing up so the songs would stop playing randomly but the crowd were still getting lit with me so it was calm

What is your favourite song to perform?

My favourite song to perform has to be 4AM the crowd goes crazy for that song  

Which artist/song/album made you want to make music?

I’ll be real I can’t remember exactly what artist but what I do remember is me and boys in secondary would always freestyle to beats in the playground 

What’s the meaning behind your name?

There isn’t much of a meaning behind it, but I used to call myself JB and ally of people are called that so I just added the the 2 e on the end 

If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing instead?

I was working towards being an aerospace engineer 

What’s success to you?

Success to me is when im acheiveing all the goals over set for myself & being able to make sure my family and friends are good in every aspect whether that’s financially or whatever it may be 

What moment in your life/career forced you to change direction?

I remember just before 4AM blew up I was working in a warehouse at the time I found myself really hating a 9 to 5 job so I put my all into that freestyle and it was technically my last straw with music so it had to work and it did 

Where can people keep in touch with you?

Type in JBEE on every platform you’ll find me !