Jalen McMillan

Jalen McMillan - US rapper

Person

About Jalen McMillan

Jalen McMillan (born December 24, 1994) is an American record producer, recording artist, songwriter, composer, philanthropist and actor. Jalen has written masterpieces in almost every genre. Jalen has high octane vocals and has gained universal fame for his ferocious hard pounding production, multiple digital vocal enhancements and tireless stage presence. His contributions to popular music, fashion, along with his publicized personal life, make him a global figure. He has written several hundred songs and produces and records his own music. With a very diverse subject matter, Jalen creates mass appeal for generations of music lovers. Jalen profoundly influenced the development of many different musical genres. He is one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20 & 21st century. Commercially successful in many genres. His distinctive sound and style has influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, R&B, Pop, dream pop and rock artists. Jalen is considered the most gifted musical genius in history, as well as the most famous genius of any field in history. The lyricism of Jalen is often in regard to his riches, fame, fantasy, past relationships and his glamorous lifestyle. He is the greatest of all composers, of all recorded history, because of the intellectual depth of his music, the technical demand, and the artistic beauty. Jalen often terms his sounds as “Musical Dreams“. Born in the small middle-income neighborhood of Peekskill New York, Jalen was the first born to an African American - Carribbean infused working class family who lived in several areas in the Southern United States, including Montgomery Alabama and Mississippi before settling in Miami Florida when Jalen was six. Jalen has four younger siblings, three sisters and one brother. He showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Although already considered talented Jalen credits his father's strict discipline with playing a large role in his worldwide success. Jalen gained an interest in music at an early age, writing his first song in the shower at age eight. It is also around this time Jalen recorded his first album at Demo World, a small Richmond Heights studio. The project was an educational multiplication album which saw Jalen singing and rapping alongside his sister and father. Although only selling a few hundred copies locally and minimum views on YouTube, it is here where Jalen fell in love with recording. Throughout his teenage years he would partake in singing at large weddings and performing for his church “Faith & Life Fellowship Ministries“, often called young genius. At age fourteen after rehearsing Michael Jackson's hit “Rock With You”, Jalen tried out for his Middle School's talent show. Upon taking the stage dressed in his same red school polo and rolled up khaki pants, Jalen was severely booed making him cry and quickly run off the set after only the first verse. The following day in school Jalen was laughed at and called” loser”, which contributed to his dream of being the greatest of all time. It is during this time also where Jalen became close with Derek Hoytink in a guitar class. Although having a younger brother, Jalen describes Derek as the same aged brother he never had. While still in school, Jalens father introduced him to artists like Sam Cooke and Bobby Womack to develop a strong voice. Despite numerous suspensions due to cheating, misconduct and skipping class, the troublesome but highley intelligent young Jalen graduated Middle School at the top of his class. During Jalen's freshman year in high school he developed overly obsessive feelings toward his first girlfriend. Often buying her gifts and jewelry to satisfy her, Jalen was often too broke to afford school lunch. Depression struck after the relationship went separate ways according to numerous sources. After taking a class in 10th grade (John A. Ferguson), the now very popular attention seeking Jalen learned the art of producing and composing a song. He began developing his signature sound on the computer programs Fl Studio and Reason. His teacher however did not like any of the recordings, often giving him low grades. His teacher had already gained success as a Dj producing hits for multiple top artists and performing at extravagant night clubs. Around this time Jalen began taking dance, guitar and saxophone lessons. During the 2013 school year, Jalen enrolled in his school's "Black History Show" immediately being voted the host and a musical act. Jalen sampled a beat from YouTube and along with three friends created a Hip-hop song with four verses each. The show was presented to an audience of approximately 4,000 students. It's best remembered for Jalen's captivating and commanding stage presence. Multiple recordings were taken of the performance. The popularity of these videos helped to bring the then-relatively-new school to instant fame. Jalen continued to produce for himself and graduated High School despite his disrupted behavior. On May 8th, 2014 Jalen McMillan announced the official release date & artwork for his debut project “Genesis” via his official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. The artwork quickly caused worldwide controversy, as it only displayed a pair of lips and his name in cursive writing form. Multiple online blogs and publications refused to upload & support this move due to the disturbing nature of the image. On May 18th he began promoting his next single “All Over You” which released May 24th 2014. The single was a huge commercial success and defining moment in his rise to superstar status. “All Over You” is a song about a beautiful girl Jalen was sexually obsessed over and frequently dreamed about, however when she suddenly dies one day, Jalen is heartbroken and reminisces on the times they had in his dreams. Through the song their obsession becomes more and more prevalent as the girl says she will give Jalen his soul to become famous, to which Jalen says he does not have that amount of power. The instrumental was produced at one of Jalens friend’s house after a sad rainy day. Jalen originally recorded a demo one night with his engineer and a girl he liked at the EOS studios, later adding overdubs and multiple synthesizers and filters. It features a sample from Genuine’s “Pony “, along with a robotic toned Jalen rapping and singing. The song is dominated by his synthesized and digitally enhanced vocals, almost sounding robotic like. The song also features an instrumental breakdown after the 3rd verse. Consisting of Jalen’s signature kick drum and snare the extended version lasts for around 3 minutes before Jalen adds the synthesizers and the hook jumps in. “ All Over You “ is generally regarded as a masterpiece and has been universally acclaimed while also dubbed as one of the greatest fantasy love songs of all time. Initially intended for a buyer’s only release, on June 29th 2014, Jalen McMillan posted a status update on Facebook saying “If this post gets 5000 likes, we will upload the full free stream to Genesis upon its release” to which the status update received over 10,000 likes from his now worldwide fan base within the first couple seconds. Upon release on July 1st “Genesis” gained millions of plays & likes within the first week on his official SoundCloud page. On July 8th the project was released as a free download and generated over 10,000 downloads within the first 3 hours

Taken from Last.fm

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