Somebody has to cover everything going on in the industry, and Jeremy Jackson, known professionally as J Jack is one of those people. The Saginaw, Michigan native started Thawed Magazine to cover every aera from Michigan to Arkansas, showcasing some of the best talent the industry has to offer. Thissomebull.com recently sat with J Jack to get the history and future of Thawed Media.
TSB: Introduce yourself to our readers.
J JACK: Hello Everyone!! My name is Jeremy Jackson, and many know me as J-Jack!! I am the creator and CEO of Thawed Media and Capital, LLC. Under TMC, LLC is my Magazine called, “Thawed Magazine.” Also, we do 4 Live shows. “Thawed Sports Talk” on Saturdays at 7PM Eastern Time, “When Life Talk” at 7PM Eastern time, “Magazine Feature” where we interview a creative every Tuesday, also at 7PM Eastern time and “Thawed Sports Talk-Texas”, which airs at 8PM Eastern time. Each of the shows stream live, on Thawed Magazine’s YouTube Channel, and 2 Facebook Channels (My Personal Page and the Thawed Magazine Business page). Plus, you can find the links on most sites from our twitter, LinkedIn, Live Waves and more. Or You can google Thawed Magazine or go to our website @ thawedmagazine.com
TSB: Tell us about growing up in Saginaw, Michigan, but being born in Arkansas.
J JACK: Yes, well, I didn’t really know much about Arkansas growing up. I was born in a small area of, I think, population under 1 thousand. Well, really, I was not born there because it didn’t have a hospital. And it still doesn’t. It’s small. It has a clinic. But if you need a hospital or even if a house is on fire, it may take 30 minutes ATLEAST. So, I was born 30 minutes away in a city called El Dorado, Arkansas. Yet, My Grandparents’ and Mother, lived in a small area called Strong, Arkansas, where the population may touch 1 thousand. As a Baby or so, as I can’t really recall all details, My Parents moved to Saginaw, Michigan. So, Saginaw was all I ever knew, except when I would see my birth certificate growing up. Saginaw was great growing up! As a Kid, I played of course and a lot of times, I was in the “Latch Key Kid” type of designation, as my Moms worked hard as possible to provide. My Father did too yet, he was more Street. He was known as “Bad News.” That was his Street name. So many times, I stayed at My Grandma Irene’s house after school til My Moms got off work or when I was a teen, hung in the streets, played basketball, playground etc. until my Moms would get off work etc. Overall, it was excellent to me. Saginaw taught me a lot and helped give me the grind many see now. I moved back to the small area of Stron, Arkansas, in 2015, when My Grandparents passed away, so I could help My Mother. My Brother Leon was in college and my Younger Brother Kendrick was about to come home from Prison. It’s where I reside now but I’m always repping Saginaw and promoting the city and Creatives from there as well.
TSB: You’ve been involved in music since a kid, tell me about how you got your start.
J JACK: In Arkansas, I can remember a song like “Double Dutch Bus” etc. or older songs that my Moms played while I was very young, for some reason. I don’t know if it was after or visiting. But they were and are still very vivid. I can recall, well, it was a Christmas present when I turned 8. It was a “Boombox” or ATLEAST that is what it was to me. And I gave it plenty of use. At first, I used it to record songs from the radio that I liked. But then something clicked in me, when seeing a microphone piece to it. Where I figured, if I can record a song from radio to a tape, why can’t I record myself?? It presented some challenges by it only having one cassette tape deck. So, I improvised. First, just recording vocals and then another boombox to play the instrumental while recording on mines. I was then hearing myself and creating. My Cousin, Kenny “Bo” Jackson would visit me, or I’d stay with My Uncle Kenny Sr. (his Dad) and one day, when he was 8 years old and I was 10, while our Parents were talking, we were in my room and put it to use. And we were saying stuff like. “This is the Arkansas Connection, making you think.” Well, I can’t remember the rest. Ha-ha We still joked about it all. not too long ago.
TSB: How did “Da Hype” Magazine come about?
J JACK: Da Hype Magazine, I first considered it as a prototype of sorts, to see if I was even capable of doing it. I loved Magazines and well, Hip Hop in general, since the early 80’s. I had bundles of Magazines. Too many. So many, My Moms would throw some away and I wouldn’t even notice it. I had drawers filled. Attic was filled to where they were spilling onto the floor, wildly. This was before any social media of course, so it was a needed source of information to me. To keep up to date and if it something comes out or a new Artist or song etc., Then I was trying to get it. By 2003, I stopped recording music with My Group Of Brothers. We were called Double M (Joseph “Mr. Godsent” Polk and Ney Dash) Rest In Love Ney Dash!! NDC was an inspiration to me, and he still is, to me. It’s kind of a long story but we will only touch a part of it, I guess. I was always observant and By 2003, I realized, we didn’t have media outlets and performing was hard. 107.1, our radio station in Saginaw, stopped playing Hip Hop and Rap Artists and an Artist from Saginaw later had to go to 93.7 in order to get any radio attention. We did shows in Detroit, Indiana, quite a few B.E.T. Comic View intermission shows, where after the comics performed, we’d do a few songs etc., but if we didn’t record it or tell anyone, then it seemed that they didn’t even exist. I immediately began to think about future Artists and that I wanted to help the scene and rapping wasn’t it for me. I was more of a “Off the Top” guy and a Battle Rapper, more so then a Studio or Song writer. So, I went to shows, with a mini camera that had a recorder on it and started asking people questions or on spot interviews. Then I reached out to Bone Skanless, and he agreed to do the cover. He passed away before we put it together. My first cover in 2004 didn’t feature an Artist on the cover but a Collage of “Just Us Two Productions” which I had a plan to do with My Cousin Bo, so the cover was a collage of two people back-to-back. By 2008, I teamed with A&R Herk of Sag TV DVD, who had also purchased my first Issue. I didn’t know him when he purchased it but the person, he had to grab the magazine, I worked with and she put a word out, that I had started a Magazine, so he reached out to buy it. He’s been a Brother ever since and was always a Great Ambassador and Promoter for Saginaw. We promoted and worked together for years. He was the first Creative to grace the cover of any Magazine I did. Which is two different Magazines I’ve done now.
TSB: Talk about the transition into Thawed Magazine and Thawed Media.
J JACK: First off, Thawed Magazine means “Thawing out any obstacles in your way, Stay Thawed!!” Around 2014, as Da Hype was gaining traction within Social Media, again I was observant. When I was doing Da Hype Magazine, I had a DBA but that was it. I wasn’t a businessperson. So, I was getting demands to come to Canada, Africa to the United Kingdom and more but I was more so only thinking Local and Saginaw only. Although on Social Media you can reach so many people and areas. I connected with quite a few Magazines and people doing creative works. Managers, Business Owners, DJs, etc. A Magazine In the UK and a Radio station out of the UK on twitter, in which one, they would ask me about Artist. The Magazine, I gave them a Gospel Rapper that I felt was dope and they connected with him and wrote a 3 Page article on him. I had also interviewed Georgia Peach Rasheeda, Gunplay was featured in Da Hype and many other Artists, well known Mainstream to local but again, My business was very subpar. I began to do research and “Hype” was on the internet as a name of 10 to 20 or more magazine. As I researched, I seen they were more on business then I was. So, I stopped doing Da Hype in 2014. Last Issue featured Artist Bub Bizzle on the cover. And by 2018, I had come up with a name that no one had. Formed my LLC and DBA under it and worked on creating an umbrella of what I was learning. Thawed Media and Capital, LLC was it and it came about, as I had moved to Arkansas in 2015 but on a visit to Saginaw late in 2017, I was freezing, and it was a different type of freezing then I had because I grew up there. It was from going thru 100-degree temps in the South now. And I said when I was in a room, I need to Thaw out. I need to be Thawed. And I looked in the mirror and said Thawed Magazine. And this was after going thru 2015 to almost all of 2017, searching, watching, and trying to find a name that wasn’t being used NATIONALLY!! So, I put it into motion quickly and at first, had Lawyers that I was paying every month, a small fee. Sometimes, getting a little legal advice from them to a point and after, I put the name out and began working on promo and the first Issue. In January of 2023, I plan to release the 4th Issue, so time has been moving. That is the Magazine and with the Media and Capital, I began to plot on doing Lives, studied the stock market every day since 2019 when I entered it and I want property if all goes well. I own one currently in Michigan, so, it can ACTUALLY become Media AND CAPITAL but right now, it’s lacking the Capital part!! Ha-ha
TSB: What are you currently working on?
J JACK: Currently, every day I’m working on something. I plan to attend a Music Festival in December, in which we gained Media Passes for, in Houston, Texas. I put news articles and more on thawedmagazine.com, which is my website I built from scratch. Working on the 4th Issue of Thawed Magazine, as well as putting together a video from an event in Arkansas we just attended. Also, Live shows every Saturday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays!! Wednesdays are Hosted by Crystal Flowers and Joe McMiller, as they discuss Life Topics for “When Life Talk” show and podcast. Thursday’s are hosted by Mizta Dre B for “Sports Talk Texas” and Saturdays, I join Jeff Bulls for “Sports Talk”!! That originated from a group I created, along with Jeff and Dev Baty. I was tired of going on personal pages and beefing about Sports, so the group became reality on August 8th, 2011! To bring together Sports Enthusiasts and trolls!! It was one of the first of its kind on FB. And when we first started, trolling wasn’t popular nor widely used. So many people were ran out of the group or didn’t know how to troll or even engage in Rivalry talk. It is a group with a heavy UofM, MSU and OSU presence. As well as many who represent teams in all major sports. Also, And any Sports Talk group that say we weren’t, ATLEAST point to the day of your group that was before August 8th, 2011, and it’s cool. These types of groups were essential to why you see a lot of Sports Talk Lives on YouTube and overall.
TSB: Contact information
J JACK: Creatives and businesses can contact us thru thawedmagazine.com or thru email thawedmagazine@yahoo.com. On any site, you can type in Thawed Magazine to reach us or follow what we have going on. And Salute to Thawed Foundation, Thawed Family and anyone who rock with Us!! As I always say, You could have chosen anything to do in the world right now, but you chose to rock with Us and for that, We Salute You!! And Thank You SJ and most definitely, Much Respect for what you and your Brother do for the Game!! Keep Grinding and Stay Thawed!!
Conversation Conducted By: S.L Jackson (www.1sljackson.com Santoine@thissomebull.com)
