He Rock. He Roll. He Rap. He’s Choze! Kamil Jones otherwise known as “the chosen one” is a rising rapper based in the ATL. His flow and style mixes the old school with the new, gifting listeners a whole new vibe. As an emerging artist he sports a hustle and grind supporting of his growing career. During a short stint in the military, Kamil would keep the barracks lit with his energy and lyrics. Realizing that the strict environment was not a place for him to attempt his rise in the industry… he finished out his time then went full speed into his music. Consistency is key and Kamil has been steadily releasing new tracks and gaining momentum.His most recent release was an 8 track project titled “Big Choze”. With songs like “Chakra Glow,” “Sunflower Seeds” and “Hi Tec,” the artist is using beats and bars to shift the energies of his listeners.
When did you start making music?
It was a long time ago. Just like make… As far as just making, it was a long time ago. I wanna say, we started in seventh grade, six, seventh grade, me and my friends used to freestyle. We used to just freestyle in class, and that’s how it really always starts. Freestyle in class, record some songs on your phone, show your friends. We even played it in our class for our teacher, she laughed at it. I’m from Danielsville, Georgia which is real country.
They don’t really hear a lot of hip-hop and stuff. But even back then, I will say we was rapping pretty decent, but it’s just us being us. It didn’t really move people but we just kept going.
Since hiphop wasn’t really common where you grew up, how was that?
It’s interesting because at first, as I kept going, it’s like everybody know there’s a shift in the culture. There’s always been a shift, every so often there’s a shift in the culture. So by the time we got to high school, it was like people started feeling it more, but in middle school, it was just like a gimmick. Even in high school, there was people that laughed, just laughed like “Why ya’ll wanna rap?” And I’m just like, “Well why do half of y’all wanna do lashes and nails and y’all wanna be barbers?”
There’s always somebody hating.
There’s always somebody hating. And then even one of my buddies, the dude who I consistently make music with, they used to talk a whole bunch about him and stuff. And just as we kept going, it was just, you realize you don’t care because the local people are always gonna hate. The people that know you are always gonna hate, but it’s like when you reach out and you continue and you start putting yourself on SoundCloud, you get reactions from people that don’t know you personally. So they don’t try to paint a picture of you, so it just became more… It came easier, honestly. Being confident in your music and stuff. It came way easier.
What are some of the people that inspire you, musically?
Casey Veggies, Dom Kennedy, others like… If you know all them 2012, all those 2012 West Coast rappers like… Really, that’s it, like who else? Skim, I don’t know if you know if you know Skim.
What are some of the goals that you have for yourself as an artist?
Honestly, at first, I guess when we first started, everybody kinda imagines themselves in the lights and stuff, but as you continue and you learn more about the business, my biggest goal really is just to like make music well enough, and I guess be so successful in my own standard, in my own lane that I can just pay… At least pay my rent and a car note with it, you know what I’m saying? Just to be able to survive off of it because it’s like more so just… I do want like, you know, everybody wants to go as far as they can go, but right now it’s just like my main goal right now is to be able to get that sustainability so I can not have to… Wait till 5 o’clock to do an interview, you know what I’m saying? So I can have free times in my hand, so I guess time freedom is the biggest goal. That’s how it really is.
In your bio, it says that you are chosen. You have a lot of spiritual stuff going on with your brand. So talk to me about where that comes from and why you choose to do that?
It’s like the triple 4s, like the triple 4s, every time you see like 444, is like the the number of manifestation and stuff. So like to say I’m the chosen one, I ain’t trying to say it in a cocky way, like, “I’m the chosen one.” It’s more so just like, everybody can be chosen, you could be chosen at anything that you wanna do if you wanna be chosen, you know what I’m saying, so it’s just… It’s just all about manifestation, you are chosen. If you say you’re chosen, then you’re gonna make it in whatever you’re doing, that’s the biggest goal behind the brand it’s the message I try to push though. That if you put a whole bunch of hours into a craft, I don’t care if you suck at it, if you put a bunch of hours into a craft, you know what I’m saying, somebody’s gonna vibe with it. It’s gonna turn into something, ’cause I put this like this, in my opinion, Riff-Raff is not that good. But Riff-Raff put the hours in, you know what I’m saying, look at him.
Who are some of the people that support you right now and do they make music as well?
I got a handful of people. My friend Moe Da Don, her Instagram is backinthefuture, she’s a photographer. Honestly, sometimes she does a lot of candid photography that she’ll go and edit up, just to make sure I have content to push out all the time. I got my boy Cody, he shoots videos. Shoots real good videos. Nala London, LondonMakesBeats, Tez, my boy Tez, always has my back. It’s like just really, it’s a friend group, Kali, you know what I’m saying, my homeboy Anaias, he always taps in, just hits me. Sometimes he’ll text me and just quote a lyric and just let me know that he’s still out here listening or like if I drop something, he’ll quote a lyric from it to let me know that, you know, he is still out here supporting and watching stuff.
What is one thing that you would want everybody to know about who you are as an artist?
I’m somebody I’m not gonna cap my rap. I’m not gonna sit here and lie about stuff, everything I rap about is me. I rap about situations where I’ve been broke, you know what I’m saying? So like, you rap about situations where you ain’t… Where like, I only had a dollar in my bank account, you know what I’m saying? I’ll never be ashamed to rap about stuff like that, just being humble and not trying to always glamorize, I don’t like to glamorize the flashy lifestyle and stuff, even though it would be nice, but I don’t wanna glamorize it too much because it’s just like, I guess, chasing money. When you chase money based off of your goals, like if your goal is to be the best painter in the world, but you’re doing it because you want money, your art’s not gonna be genuine no more, you know what I’m saying? It’s gonna be money-driven. So if your money is, if you’re hustle is money-driven, it’s cool to be money-driven, but if it’s too money-driven, it’s just always gonna… It’s gonna backfire, it’s gonna hurt worse whenever you have failures, you know what I’m saying? If you expect to have a million dollars tomorrow, it’s gonna hurt worse when you don’t get it. When you expect to have just like some people appreciate your art, whether it be three people or 300, 3000 or whatever. If you have that… That intention is just basically pull people in to love who you are and get to know who you are and just appreciate you as a person, and appreciate your craft, and you just start appreciating your craft and be genuine to it, then you’ll be okay, you know what I’m saying?
Stream “Big Choze” everywhere and check out Kamil’s visual for his track “Sunflower Seeds” now!
