Last May at KOTD's "MASSacre," some drunken, semi-shirtless yahoo stood behind E. Farrell shouting through much of his friend's big-league debut. About eight months later, he stood alongside him as the two took on DNA and K-Shine, one of the most popular doubles teams in the world.
Coming out of Connecticut's iBattle scene, JeFFrey basically went from "who is that dude?" to "JeFFrey is that dude" in less than a year.
We hit him up with our questionnaire for standout newcomers ahead of his upcoming battles with Laugh N' Stalk at Day 1 of KOTD's "Back To Basics 4" and Qleen Paper at iBattle's "Allegiance 4."
Who are you?
JeFFrey AKA Young America.
How old are you?
I honestly feel like I’ve been alive since July 4th 1776, so roughly 239 and a half.
Why do you live where you live?
Well, I was born in California and lived there as a baby then my dad decided he didn’t want us living somewhere with year-round good weather and we migrated to CT. It’s cool though since it’s the Constitution state.
How long have you been battling/rapping?
I’ve been rapping since high school. I was like that really cool kid that just was fuckin boss at everything and decided to start rapping to add another thing to the list of things I’m good at. I started battling somewhere between 2 and 3 years ago, I kind of forget.
What made you start?
I pretty much only started battling because iBattle existed in Connecticut. I’m unbelievably lazy so going to a league in like New York to get my battle “career” started just wasn’t an option. I think I found iBattle cause of Ness Lee vs. The Saurus and started checking out their other shit. Then I was like, I could smoke some of these guys, let me join. Then I joined and lost 14 battles in a row, and here I am.
How did you get your battle rap name?
I used to go by J-Kellz and had to ditch it because J dash names got really played out. (Sorry to anyone with J dash names, yours is dope). I toyed around with ideas for other names but just couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t corny. And I figured if I could take a common name and own it, kind of like when you hear Oprah or Seal you know exactly who they are. There’s gotta be a handful of girls named Oprah out there that are pissed. The two FF’s stand for Friends Forever. They don’t actually, but they should.
How would you describe your style in three words?
Gutter, wisdom, America.
What makes you different from other battle rappers?
Aside from my looks and long history of shacking up with top tier women, I’m actually bout it bout it.
What’s your best battle?
My favorite battle of mine is probably me vs. Greedy Grimes. He’s a close friend of mine and I just had a ton of fun during it. It’s kind of light hearted, but battles don’t always have to be hour-long sweat fests of aggressive shit.
What was your worst?
The battle that I hate the most is a judged one I had against a kid named Tommy Gunn that I clearly won but the judges said I lost. I kind of dodge the real question because all my old battles are pretty trash. All my current battles suck too, but I’m makin it work somehow.
What did you learn from them?
To not prep that hard. The loss was the hardest I tried writing for a battle and I knew my shit so good that I rushed through it bad. Now I rap slower because I’m trying to remember everything as I go. It adds some unpredictability to it.
What’s surprised you the most since you started battling?
How many hot girls don’t watch battling. I could’ve sworn I was going to be tackling babes left and right at events.
What’s your favorite battle of all time?
For a long time it was Dizaster vs. Canibus. Shit had so many funny parts to it. It was just entertaining for so many reasons. I really don't know what I would pick for a cleaner back and forth tho.
Who’s in your current Top 5?
E.Farrell, Bangz (no bias for those two, I swear) Gjonaj, Fresco and Goodz. Side note. Dylan Dylan Dylan jokes are so fucking bad, hopefully nobody ever says that in one of these.
Which battle rapper annoys you?
This kid that always used to inbox saying I was scared to battle him after we locked in a battle and he backed out. It just made no sense and relentlessly pissed me off.
Who would you battle if you could choose anyone?
Goodz. He’d kill me without trying, but he's the god.
What’s the biggest problem in battle rap?
Too many clones. I hate when people all rap with the same battle body movements. It’s fucking weird, cause there's no way they rapped like that before they saw someone else do it.
How would you fix it?
Fire them all.
What do you do when you’re not battling?
I pretty much battle 24/7, hip hop is so deep rooted in my veins. So I rarely do much else, but when I find the time I play video games or party. I’m turning into a washed up drunk soon and I honestly can't wait.
How do you want to be remembered?
As the kid who flew out of a battle in a helicopter then jumped out in one of those winged flying squirrel suits holding two uzis doing really cool flips while red white and blue fireworks go off behind me and then I perfectly shoot a really hot girl's bra off with a scarily dangerous bullet that just misses hitting her.
Want more? Check out our interview with Dunsh, featuring JeFFrey.
Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
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