Elfstedenblogt

part 8:

Wax

Posting in English again. For those who are not familiar with the Elfstedenblogt, this is a series of posts where I visit 11 different cities and meet 11 interesting (music) bloggers. I started out interviewing Dutch bloggers, then decided I wanted to cross borders. Now I’m in L.A. interviewing one of my favorite rappers on the come up: Wax.

I was tipped about a year and a half ago about this guy, and have been a big fan of him ever since. Actually, one of my first posts on Trouble-Online was about Wax and his brother Herbal T. Wax especially uses their YouTube channel extensively, posting video blogs, uploading clips, freestyles, promoting upcoming gigs, documenting his tours, even winning contests related to barbeques somehow. With a good sense of humor and a lot of talent, please meet Wax.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.

“My name is Mike Jones aka Wax (@BigWax on Twitter).  I am a musician.  I rap, sing, play various musical instruments, and produce music. I started out doing these things when I was a little kid.  These days I am mostly known for the videos I post up on Youtube.  A couple years ago my brother, Herbal T, and I joined YouTube and started recording ourselves rapping.  We put the videos up and have been making and posting new stuff ever since.”

2. What made you decide to start posting videos on YouTube, and what motivates you now to keep doing that?

“Hmmm, maybe some kind of desire to be seen?  I guess most people that do any kind of art want others to see it.  Not saying I wouldn’t be rapping in my basement to myself regardless, but there’s something that makes you want to ‘exhibit’ your art.  YouTube is a perfect vehicle for that.  As far as motivation, I get a kick out of it.  Now it’s gotten to the point where a lot of people would be upset if I didn’t make new videos haha.  Also it’s gotten to the point where this could be a viable career if I keep building my fanbase.”

3. Your YouTube videos are getting a lot of views. Surprised?

“Yeah they’ve been doing better and better over time.  I think it’s just like anything else, people tell their friends about something and the news spreads organically.  Every day new people discover our videos.  I’m wouldn’t say I’m surprised by it, we have a lot of entertaining videos to offer!”

4. Seriously, how did you get so many subscribers, even though you’re no mainstream artist?

“First off it’s all relative, compared to many of the people on YouTube we don’t have that many subscribers at all.  Still we do have a good following on there.  When we first started putting out videos we would promote them by commenting on other videos.  We would say things like ‘this is dope, if you like this you should check this out’.  We didn’t do that for very long though, after awhile it just started to catch on.  The number one thing is to have entertaining videos.  It doesn’t matter what you do it’s just gotta be entertaining to people.”

5. In several videos you emphasize making music low budget by using stuff like kitchen appliances (example one, two, three). Why?

“Why not?  lol.”

6. What are your current activities, projects your working on, plans and ambitions for the near future?

“I’m working on tons of stuff.  I have a manager now that is helping me do some really interesting things as far as the actual music industry is concerned.  So on that end I might be collaborating with various people but I don’t talk about eggs until they are chickens.  I am working on an album with my boy EOM to follow up our first album Liquid Courage. I am working on a mixtape as well.  Always working on new YouTube stuff, got a new series called Free Song Friday where we give away a free song every week.  Might do some more contests on there, who knows man!”

7. Which one of your songs would you really like to draw attention to at this moment?

“Probably the song Do you think it would be ok? It’s pretty new and I think it’s dope.  The whole beat is constructed using an acoustic guitar and it’s got a nice hook and good rap lyrics.  Girls and guys can all appreciate it  in my opinion.  It can be downloaded HERE.

8. So when are you coming to The Netherlands???

“Haha I don’t know man.  No immediate plans to make it over there but hopefully if things go well I’ll be over there soon!”

9. Anything else you would like to share?

“Use the internet to your advantage!”

That’s right. Thanks Wax!

So people if you like what you saw, subscribe to the YouTube channel, or join the mailinglist through his website.

If you like to read more interviews from the Elfstedenblogt series, and know how to read Dutch:

Part 7 (Brussel): On-Point
Part 6 (Rotterdam): Quality Time Online
Part 5 (Tilburg): The Find Magazine
Part 4 (New York City): Potholes In My Blog
Part 3 (Utrecht): Eerste Hulp bij Plaatopnamen
Part 2 (Groningen): FunkiMag
Part 1 (Leeuwarden): Nieuwe Muziekpromotie

[source: Trouble-Online]