Juls On Lankin was born in Windsor, or Sud Detroit. Until he was 14, Juls lived in Detroit, but he moved back to Windsor for a four-year stay because he was getting too involved with the street-life of the Motor City. By 17 he had his music played on international radio.
With the education of practice and hustle, Juls’s music proves deep musical understanding, choice beat selection, and bars spat by a man who lived in the trenches. Not only does his music show a true understanding of the culture, but it’s easy to get into for those unaccustomed to these sounds due to the quality of the tracks.
However, Detroit has no resources for artists to get their work out there. Due to this Juls, like thousands of other Detroit artists, struggles to get his work out there. The tools simply aren’t available, so everyone in the scene has to be entirely self-made if they’re authentic.
Respect My Region was able to sit down with Juls to get an interview on his experience. Below we talk about his city, his lifestyle, and how he got started.
Exclusive Juls Interview
*This interview was edited for clarity*
How did you get introduced to making tracks?
I basically started rapping because nobody would listen to what the fuck I was saying. I was hanging out with a whole lot of older people, some of them be talking to me, some of them be talking at me, some of them be talking down. Like alright, whatever, but I got them to listen.
How did you get played on the radio?
I met a DJ through Shawn from the Border City Boys, I sent my music to him, he played it I dunno, two, three days later. I was about 17.
When was the first time you played in the city?
First time I performed [in Detroit] was at an open mic with Ben Jones the promoter. I did a song called “Eat a Dick,” and that was co-produced by a buddy of mine Andre Bowman. I was 19.
How did you get into music?
I started writing like poetry and shit at 7. I had a cousin who used to ghostwrite for people. He used to listen to Foxy Brown, Jay-Z, Nas, The Firm. All them motherfuckers, so I got influenced by that. I was like, oh, this rapping shit cool. When I was 13 I was in the Osborn Marching Knights. I played the tuba.
What do you think about the popularization of colors in the city?
Detroit don’t bang like that. Everybody here claim blood because Sada claims Blood because Lil Wayne claims Blood and everybody back then thought Wayne’s the shit. We bang streets out here like there are the 7-Mile cats, but motherfuckers come up from 6-Mile to 7-Mile to network, to find plugs and shit.
Juls is a perfectionist who is always honing his craft.
“Day in the Life,” a remix of a Stooki Sounds beat, is a great intro to Juls. More is available on Juls’ Soundcloud. His tight instrumentation is easily recognizable, although the musician is always ducking behind new accounts. “Eat a Dick” and “Hit My Line” are more banging tracks. It’s always the move to smoke blunts when you bump his music.
Stream Jul’s Music
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