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Contributors:77three MagazineIssue Number Six: Winter 2015 -December77three.com Instagram 77three_mag

Jakina Ado: Founder & Creative Director

Jakina is a proud Chicago born and raised, Southern Illinois University Alum,

photographer and writer. Instagram:@jakinaado

Email: jakina@77three.com

Spring 2013 3

Jakina ado Photography

jakinaado.com

J.Writes

IS

BIPOLAR

J.Writes

IS

BIPOLAR

His name is crazy but his talent is insane.Photos and Story by Jakina Ado

This name, J Writes is Bipolar, how did you come up with that?

My actual stage name is just J Writes. The J Writes is Bipolar is what I named the EP but people were not remembering J Writes so I just kept saying J Writes is Bipolar.

Tell me about how you first got into singing, what came first singing or writing?I think singing came first. I was singing in church, I was definitely that church kid. All My mom was like the directress of the choir so it was a given that we had to sing, it was sing or die. It started with actually learning how to play the piano in our fam-ily everybody does something musically.

So how did you know that you want-ed to make it your career?As far as when I was coming up from, I would say like 10-12, I’m a goning to be honest with you I was like, the ugly duck-ling, in school for real. So singing, that was my way, you want to get the girls, you better open up and start singing. I was the class clown but for the most part the girls didn’t think the class clown was too sexy. But I got a different look when I would sing or play the piano and so that’s when I was like okay this is going to get me girls so this is what I’m going with.

Okay how about writing?Writing kind of happened on mistake ac-tually. In school I was good with reading, and reading comprehension. I was good as hell at the writing. Then it got to a point where I tried to write poems and stuff and they were pretty decent. The first song I ever wrote was called Voicemail (laughs)and I literally wrote it - you know how people used to sing on their voicemails, I thought I’d make up my own and I wrote it out. It was maybe thirty seconds long

and I recorded it on my voicemail. That was my first song.

What was the reaction to that?Corny as shit was the reaction. But yea people would start singing back to me on my voicemail. Its me singing and I got to listen to other people singing back to me.

How do you feel about the industry in Chicago, has Chicago been good to you?To be honest with you I’m kind of indiffer-ent to it. I’m a artist from Chicago. But I’m not a Chicago artist, if that makes sense. I started doing music right before the cusp of everything that happened with the drill movement so I remember when Chicago wasn’t on shit with the music. I never had in mind that I have to make a Chicago sound. Now if people respect me because I’m from Chicago and they giving me love in my city that’s great but my goal is to be international. I’m definitely trying to see where Kanye’s at and see if I can get past there, that’s what I want to do.

I can see the dedication...I really do want to, its so hard and not even just as artist. It’s hard for people to 100% reveal who they are in all of their vulnerability and the best way I can do it is if I let the music be 100% open. So I have songs that cringe at. I probably would not say [those things] in a regu-lar conversation...put me in a room and just turn off all the lights and I just make you feel like you’re in the studio with me. That’s me being at my most vulnerable state. Everything I do, I kind of keep that. I want to make sure people get a chance to say that they actually know what is on the inside of my head.

Maija Garcia

Founder of Organic Magnetics- a cultural arts organization that offers theater arts education- activist, former dancer and choreographer, Maija Garcia may consider herself a “grassroots artist” but her talents have hit the big screen. Garcia was tapped by Spike Lee to be the Di-rector of Movement in what may be the most controversial film of 2015 -Chi-Raq.

Photos by and Story told to Jakina Ado

Maija Garcia