Los Angeles, CA

Before getting into another highly anticipated #LitnessTest, #DXLive’s Trent, Marcel and Jake recently welcomed Jallal into HipHopDX headquarters in Hollywood to preview some of his new tracks and talk about working with Yasiin Bey, f.k.a. Mos Def.

The previously had a successful DX debut with “Imma Dog” which garnered some serious traction when it came out back in February. Prior to that he opened for Yasiin Bey at the L.A. stop of his U.S. tour. While the rising artist would not confirm nor deny whether he agreed with the #DXLive Crew’s less than stellar assessment of Bey’s new music, he did say that like most of us, he remembers the Black Star rhymer for his early work.

“Every time I’m with him I see him for the Black on Both Sides stuff and of course the [Black Star] stuff,” noted Jallal, who also told the story of meeting Bey in Santa Ana. “It was like five years ago. He had called me over to, I wanna say it was the Yost [Theatre in Orange County]. He was doing a show. When I met him it was everything I expected. He’s such a musician and a poet in one sense, one side of him and the other side is like a totally normal human being that you could chill with or grab coffee and just talk about life. He’s like the Dos Equis man.”

HipHopDX | Rap & Hip Hop News | Ad Placeholder
AD

AD LOADING...

AD

Bey was so impressed by the young artist in fact that he offered him an opening slot on his musically confusing L.A. show earlier this year. The experience was still one to remember for Jallal. “It was a great reaction. People were going super crazy,” Jallal remembered, also saying that Bey was the inspiration behind him remaining independent. “[I’m] staying independent at this moment. I learned that from [Yasiin Bey]. Being around someone that’s been with the major [label] for some time and shown me the ropes.”

Check out the full interview above and tune into #DXLive Thursdays from 3pm-6pm PST.