JayTheKidd drops new single, mixtape coming out this summer | Arts & Entertainment

An 18-year-old hip-hop artist recently released a new single, is planning to release another single in June, then a mixtape in July.

JayTheKidd, or Jayden Duplessis from Lyons Brook, released his third hip-hop single, 2ManyProblems, on May 5. It will appear on his debut mixtape Better Late Than Never planned for release in the summer.

“Now it’ll be July because of the show dates. It’ll be like a listening party,” he said. “The project will be right around the start of July, mid-July.”

JayTheKidd shot a video, which he hopes to release this summer, for one of the lead songs on the mixtape.

“This is the plan, to try and break through the next barrier. I feel like I’m at a certain level, which I’m totally happy about, but I’m just always about reaching the next level, the next goal,” he said. “This has been the plan since last summer, last show. Pretty much a year building the whole plan of putting it out and getting it all mixed and mastered properly.”

Calling it a “favourite of mine for a while now,” JayTheKidd said there has been a great reception to 2ManyProblems.

“The song is doing really good numbers in the States right now, more than here. There’s probably 30,000 or 40,000 streams from the States right now just on the new song,” he said.

JayTheKidd recorded his song at his home studio in Lyons Brook.

“I’m not a great mixer and masterer for the vocals but I can record my demos and I have a good mic that I’m able to send those vocals off to somebody that can make them sound more professional,” he said. “A lot of these songs coming out, they’re mixed by other people but recorded at my house.”

Marthin Gundersen, an engineer established in Norway who has worked with Nova Scotian artists Classified and Quake Matthews, mixed and mastered the single.

The production comes from New Jersey-based producer Jai Lailli, who produced both of JayTheKidd’s previous singles, Revenge and I’m Back, and produced multiple tracks on the debut mixtape.

The first single, which won’t be on the mixtape, was recorded in the summer of 2021 and the second came out last September.

“The group of songs I’m putting out, they’re a little bit older, they’re from about when I released my first song and I’m just getting them out now. They were more created all in a certain period of time and all have the certain same feel to it,” he said. “I talk about the future a lot in my songs; talking about the future, what the future may hold, different future problems, money-wise, women-wise.”

Revenge became a viral hit after it was released gathering a total of 320,000 streams across all platforms.

Noting that he has been making music for five years, JayTheKidd said he is constantly “evolving and learning” to become a better artist. He said he’s spent countless hours improving his skill set.

“I’m just really trying to break through in the province and get it more known. It’s doing pretty good here in the county, but I want to go more provincially,” he said.

JayTheKidd’s first live performance took place in the summer of 2022 as COVID-19 slowed down.

“That was pretty sweet,” he recalled. “It received a lot more attention than I initially thought.”

Last summer, JayTheKidd headlined for 200 people in five days, and even had the opportunity to open up for Juno award winners Classified and JRDN.

“It was pretty cool, I got to meet (Classified) backstage and talk a little bit. He’s a pretty cool guy,” he said. “He’s a big inspiration, especially because he’s one of the main and only people that made it out, especially in hip-hop, from Nova Scotia.”

With most of his time invested into finishing high school and working a full-time position in a group home, JayTheKidd had to use the time in between to make sure everyone in the province heard his music.

After graduating early from Northumberland Regional High School, this summer JayTheKidd will be performing at Glasgow Square and is hoping to take the music business program at Nova Scotia Community College in the autumn.

“This next level, I want to be able to do what I did here in Halifax and Truro too,” he added. “The plan is to build a little bit of a tour so by the time the tour is coming, there’ll be an actual bigger project. This is still the smaller one to get all the other songs out, and then there’s newer songs that I’ve been working on that will be for the next project.”