Chicago rapper Jaymz V drops his new single, “Hard To Love,” a song about an emerging artist feeling hemmed in his relationship and working a 9 to 5 job.
Jaymz V explains, “I wrote this song one night while walking home. I had a fight with my significant other and I needed some time away. I feel like it was an embodiment of my stress, venting and being honest with myself. The world is cold. Music is my way to pass time and work through things. We as artists spend countless dollars and hours on ideas and journeys, and some go nowhere. But eventually, everything will pay off in the end.”
Immersed in music early on, while growing up Jaymz V listened to an eclectic array of artists, including Metallica, Lil Wayne, and Twista. These artists informed the way he considered music and his creative process.
His unique sound blends elements of rap, hip-hop, R&B, and underground Chicago hip-hop, as well as integrating tones and beats from a vast assortment of genres. Besieged by a bout of writer’s block in 2020, Jaymz V traveled to Brooklyn, New York to work and write with producer and songwriter Natalie Shamoun, who helped sculpt his new era of originality and guided him in a fresh musical direction.
In 2019, Jaymz V released his album, What I’ve Been On, Pt. 2, followed by 2020’s My Time. Later this summer, he will release an official remix of “Hard to Love.”
“Hard To Love” opens on low-slung guitars, oozing delicious R&B flavors. When Jaymz V’s emotionally vulnerable flow enters, the tune takes on a fat, rolling rhythm topped by dripping, gleaming guitars. Gliding, echoing harmonies add depth and dimension, giving the tune evocative floating textures.
Then the beat slows, imbuing the tune with savors of poignant exhaustion as Jaymz V’s flow assumes deeper timbres, infusing the lyrics with passionate, aching colors.
Jaymz V has it going on! With “Hard To Love,” he delivers memorable tonal signifiers of his mental and emotional geography.