J.Period got in contact and asked to help put the visuals to his next master mix based on the Black Panther Movie. J.Period is an Award-winning DJ/Producer J.PERIOD (Billboard #1 album for The Hamilton Mixtape) taking listeners on an exclusive journey into the secret forests between Wakanda and Stankonia, sampling the Black Panther score and soundtrack to create exclusive new Outkast remixes that explore the roots of hip hop in the African drum, themes of empowerment and identity, and the musical intersections between the Afro-futuristic world of Black Panther and intergalactic funk of Outkast.
Below is an excerpt from his latest interview from:
C.: Fast forward to now, how did the #WAKANDAFOREVEREVER mixtape come about?
J.P.: The whole thing started with April Reign who is essential to the project and is also the voice of the flight attendant at the beginning of the mixtape. She posted something about the “Andre Forever Ever” meme. It was about Black Panther. I just saw it and laughed in my head and just thought, “I’m going to make a mashup mixtape called Wakanda Forever Ever.” I put it online as a joke and people started hitting me up like, “Yo is that a real thing?” I spoke to April after listening to the mixtape, but when she told me to listen to the score, it opened up a whole universe for me, sonically. Things that sounded like they weren’t meant to go together just sounded so good together. The whole thing unfolded from there in this amazingly, organic way.
C.: While listening to the mixtape you can clearly hear the Afro-futuristic sounds of Black Panther but also hear the distinct Outkast, Stankonia sound. How did you do that without sacrificing either culture?
J.P.: If you take hip-hop down to its rawest elements; the lunchroom drums, beatboxing and rhyming over it and then you put big African drums over it, the essence is the same. Sonically it takes it to another place. That was the first thing it unlocked— just how good those rhymes could sound over those drums. And on the score, they’re merging these worlds. Those old, authentic original drums worked well with these futuristic Afro trap sounds. So I just started experimenting and sampling elements of the score, putting my own beats and producing the bridges between those worlds. The movie does an incredible job of producing the visual so you can see these things you never imagined before. Add the music, and all of these things started feeding each other to make things even doper.
C: This is your second mixtape featuring OutKast. How has OutKast played a role in your career?
J.P.: Last year I did a mixtape on the anniversary of Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, and I initially played it at an OutKast tribute party I was DJing. And it was all about taking new looks on old things and remixing them over new beats, and it gave me a deeper appreciation of OutKast. I tend to think of OutKast as a whole thing. But when you dig into it you see how skilled they are and their knowledge of the culture. And though they are from the South, you see that they are descendants of New York hip-hop. You can find those same themes in Rakim. And when I started to put those beats over Black Panther beats, they began to take on a whole new meaning. OutKast has always been one of my favorites and Andre has always been one of my favorite MCs and really getting into their projects and the mechanics of their rhyme styles, I really gained an appreciation. There are only a couple of groups in the history of hip-hop that are as creative as Outkast.