Upon pending dates, the prepackaged gimmicks will expire. These lyrical infants tussle for Rap’s fleeting spotlight. Cognizant of the status-quo, Little Rock’s own, SL Jones, continues to invest into his creative cache. His diverse skill-set challenges categorization; that’s the problem. An artistic battle ensues when the MC is both the arch nemesis and the hero. How will the fickle public respond to an unpredictable artist? An intense ebony glimpse conveys SL’s perspective. Unprecedented confidence concludes his comment, “I don’t even think; I just create. I have to master the craft… My job is to ensure excellence and to just be better. It’s my job as an artist to convince. ” These are his words: Building Business Relationships In whatever situation you’re in, always keeping that student-mentality you can always be in-tune with what’s going on. From being able to benefit from the things around you, you won’t get outdated. Sometimes you’ll do something for the position that it’ll later put you in verses the now money. The now-money, will hinder you from [reaping] later-money. You’ll play yourself for a small check versus grinding. People are only going to respect you as much as you respect yourself. If what you’re doing is amateurish then that’s how you’ll be treated. People may not know that you have your sh*t together; so, they may come at you— they got to respect the fact that this is how you want to eat. If they feel disrespected by it, then you shouldn’t do business with them. You didn’t come into this sh*t to be homies. And everything costs. Then you give it away for free. I would never complain about it. On the artist, don’t cheat the people. The worst thing you can do is have a project come out and it under-delivers. You’ll get that now-money, but you’ll never get it again. It’s better for it to be the opposite, for them not to expect much and then when they come you wow them. Then you got them for life. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lb1LaTMXak&w=560&h=315]  Securing features:  Mutual respect or healthy budget It’s love. I’m new; so, when I first meet somebody I don’t come off hella thirsty. It helps when they already know about you. It’s really, God. I’ve been blessed to where they may of heard about me through somebody. With me and Rittz, we used to be around each other kicking it—cracking jokes and sh*t. I didn’t even know that he rapped.  We’d be in there getting faded, kicking it, having a blast then—it was through Burn One, because we both kinda knew each other. He was doing a show in Atlanta and we linked. I came out. There was a song that I did called “Wild Side,” it’s off Flight Risk. He was like, ‘Yeah, man; you sick.’ Another way that I secure features is by putting them on dope songs. When they get the record they’re like, ‘Damn.’ If I don’t know them, or have a solid connect, my motto has always been approach it like business. A favor will always get swept under the rug. People respect you when you don’t ask them for nothing for free. When you come at them like, ‘Yo, let’s do business.’ Now they respect your mind. The first time you may do business with them, and the second time it may be just love, because y’all started off building on the right foot. It’s happened a couple of different ways. They way I’ve been able to do it there’s always love involved. On  “Grind 100 Hustle” I ain’t gonna lie; whenever we get into the studio together it’s heated. I feel like Killer smashed it. He just took off. I’m the one who always goes first. Usually, I’m the one who’ll pick the beat out. It’s just fun. It’s a sport, too. I still got love for the sport. We really didn’t even think about it. When I think about it, it may have been the homie who picked the beat. He was like, ‘Y’all need to kill this sh*t.’ he had a bunch of old instrumentals. I want to say it was the homie, G. Before you know it it was done. Initially, I was trying to find an original beat, because like to do songs. Write a hook, and then have everybody do verses. But, that sh*t just happened; it was crazy. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFNGFph2Rqk&w=560&h=315] Demonstrate depth of talent while remaining cohesive I guess that’s the part that I have to figure out. With C.O.L.O.R.S. that was just me wanting to exist. I didn’t even know that people knew about it. I don’t feel like I had the best beat on there, or the best mixes. That’s why people gravitated to it; there were zero expectations.  When it dropped, it created opportunities for myself; it got me here. Naturally, you’ll hear the sound; there’s growth. If you listen to it there’s always going to be something on that one that’s a glimpse of what you heard before. The first time I listen to something I don’t judge it. It is what it is. Listen and look at the tile of the project. Do the features make sense? Does the music connect with the title? If you’re going to listen to my music go ahead and take it all in. I got to say some crazy sh*t. I got a new mixtape produced by Metro Boomin—I knew people were going to feel indifferent about Way of Life No Hobby. That’s my job as an artist. That’s the type of artist I am. I experiment; I tried different things. It’s my job to push that line. When some people come out you know exactly what it is. They got two or three moves and they always go to those. With me, I can do a lot of different things. So, I’m going to try—sometimes you’re going to love it and sometimes you’re going to hate it. I like it when you go in and do a whole project […]