On Jensen Kirk’s newest single and visual, “Lost In The Sauce,” he spits, “can’t get lost in the sauce, gotta get paid when I talk. You know everything costs, that’s universal law. They gon’ try to throw you off, but the opposition flaw. I came to get it all, because everything I want costs.”
Hailing from South Central Los Angeles, Jensen Kirk has been grinding for the past decade, creating his own lane within music and fashion while making sure he’s always keeping family at the forefront. When describing himself, he states, “I like to say I’m my father’s son and my mama’s child. I’d like to have a family in the future.”
With the ability to both rap, sing, and write songs, Kirk broke out onto the scene with his smash hit “California Girl.” which hit mainstream radio in perfect timing. Additionally, he had a big moment with the release of “Paper Chaser’ featuring Big Sean, which was featured on one of Sean’s mixtapes.
Now, Kirk unveils his newest project titled VISIONS, an acronym that stands for “value in sight is one’s next success.” The 10-track project is spearheaded by lead singles “Baby Bluek” and “Lost In The Sauce.”
AllHipHop: You’re from South Central LA, how was that growing up?
Jensen Kirk: It’s a gift and a curse. We get opportunities, but at the same time a lot of people think it’s easier because you’re in a big city. Sometimes, it’s a lot of politicking to get through to what you’re trying to get to. It’s a lot of gang interference sometimes, when you’re growing up in a community and all that. It’s also a lot of positives too, as far as community is concerned. That had a big effect on me, my morals. Just giving me morals and having a bigger outlook on what I’m trying to do for real, but I love it. I grew up here, I love it.
AllHipHop: Biggest influences?
Jensen Kirk: I look up to artists like Hov, Kanye, 50 Cent, Drake, people who were able to do it on a big level. The people that’s doing it right now would be Kendrick, Cole, and Drake.
AllHipHop: At what point did you decide to do music?
Jensen Kirk: I got my break in the game when I had a song with Big Sean called “Paper Chaser” that got to radio, Power 106 and all that. Once we got that on the radio, bam! We here. We got to do tours, that’s when I knew that I’m here for real. Then Kanye posted it on his blog at the time, that’s when it was like “okay yeah, we’re here for real.”
AllHipHop: How’d “Paper Chaser” with Big Sean come about?
Jensen Kirk: I had an A&R at the time that introduced us, then Sean came to the studio and it was history after that. He heard the song, he said “bro I need to put a verse on this.” I said “let’s do it!” After that happened, it was boom boom boom. Just easy after that. He put a verse on there, I shot it to mix show radio. Shoutout to DJ’s that played it for real.
AllHipHop: Is Jensen Kirk your real name?
Jensen Kirk: Mmhmm. With the name thing: at the time, I had the name J.K, JK, and all these aliases. I thought man, I need to go on and just use my real name. Because the music I was doing at that time was adding up to where I really wanted to see myself going. Once I made that name change, that brought us where we are here today.
AllHipHop: New EP Visions out now, how are you feeling?
Jensen Kirk: Yeah man, Visions. It’s crazy, production from Willie B. He did a lot of stuff with TDE, Kendrick, SchoolBoy Q. Production from Super Miles, he did the Wale, Chris Brown single. I’m just blessed to be here. We got two singles that debuted, they both did 50K on YouTube. We got 100K on YouTube and all that, it’s a beautiful thing.
AllHipHop: What’s the acronym for Visions?
Jensen Kirk: Visions acronym is value in sight is one’s next success. Coming into this project, I was thinking “okay, what do I want to change from the last thing I dropped?” Coming out the pandemic, doing all that, what do I want to change? Hindsight is 2020, we all got hindsight right? We don’t want to go back to the past. Insight is now, foresight is where we see ourselves in the future. I took all of those sights, how can I initiate that into the project? That’s where Visions came up because damn, all these sights is a vision. It’s my vision, and I want to put that in the project.
AllHipHop: What songs mean the most to you?
Jensen Kirk: “Baby Bluek,” that’s the main single we dropped. Then “Lost In The Sauce” is the follow-up single. Them probably the two right now to draw people to the project, to have people go to Youtube and see all that. But the one that really sticks out to me, I’m a be honest, “Lost In The Sauce,” but I also think “Jumpin out tha Roof.” A lot of people like that song, so we might shoot a video to that.
AllHipHop: What were you going thru recording “Lost In The Sauce”?
Jensen Kirk: I just heard a beat for real. Super Miles is a fire producer so once I heard that beat, it brought out that emotion where “yo, can’t get lost in the sauce. Gotta get paid when I talk, everything costs.” But it also brings back to where I see myself in the future, foresight. “I gotta get paid when I talk, everything costs.” That’s where I saw myself in the future, in my near future too. Yo, I want to do these shows. I want to get booked for these shows. I want to hopefully sign a lucrative deal. I really want to be for real in this s###, not just play play.
AllHipHop: How’s the independent grind?
Jensen Kirk: Independent is cool, but we’re always shooting to be lucrative and to make some financial gains. But also too, not just for the now. It’s important for me to have generational wealth and all that s### that Hov and all them be talking about. That’s important for me. How can I set up my family and my next seeds? That’s the way I look at it, I’m sacrificing this for the now. So that the people that I bring in — not even just my family, but the people that I employ. How can I help better their situation?
AllHipHop: You’re a songwriter too, can you touch on that side of you?
Jensen Kirk: Early on, I was in the studio with Rufus Blaq. He did a lot of songs with B2K, Rihanna, a lot of people. I had a lot of study under Rufus. As far as collaborations, being in the studio with No I.D. around the time when I was with Big Sean, and coming across J. Cole in the studio. Just seeing how these people write their music and produce their stuff, that was big for me. It brought a lot of confidence to what I was doing to say “okay, yeah this s### is for real.”
AllHipHop: How would you describe your fashion sense?
Jensen Kirk: In the grand scheme of it all, I’d love to do a collaboration with a fashion brand. I know early on I was part of the Rhude clothing brand. A lot of people are rocking Rhuge now, and I was part of that early on. Seeing how that was developed and formed, for me it was like damn. People like my sense of fashion and like what I bring to the table. Being a part of the brand or being a part of any type of fashion line, that’s big in my future. I f### with it. The aesthetic, the style, Pharrell, what he brought to the gam . Kanye, what he brought to the game. I f### with all of that s###.
AllHipHop: 3 things you need in the studio?
Jensen Kirk: My engineer Chris Plata, that’s my engineer. I need the atmosphere need to be good, whether it’s beautiful women, good friends, just people with good atmosphere. The third thing I need in the studio, some water for real. Some good water because all that rapping, it’s a lot of talking. So you need to be hydrated.
AllHipHop: Goals yourself as an artist at this point of your career?
Jensen Kirk: Yes of course, goals for real. I want to be named amongst the greats. I want to be really in the game for real. I want to be really a part of this s### and not just for play play. I really want to be initiated and named amongst the greats, that’s really my goal, I want to be named amongst the greats and be financially lucrative in the future. In the near future, that’s my goals.
AllHipHop: Anything else you want to let people know?
Jensen Kirk: The project is out now, Visions. We got two singles, “Baby Bluek” and “Lost In The Sauce.” They doing dumb numbers on Youtube. S### I’m trying to do more interviews with Shirley, that’s what I’m trying to do. [laughs]
