Formula Indie Sessions : Interview with Jay_Mik x Oddy Jee
1. What is your earliest memory connected to music?
One of my earliest memories is riding in the backseat on the way back to the reservation, listening to 90s rap and early 2000s hip hop. I couldn’t understand every word at that age, but I felt everything the rhythm, the bass, the emotion behind it. That feeling stuck with me. Even now when I hear those songs it takes me right back to those drives and reminds me why music hit me so hard in the first place.
2. How did your passion for creating music begin?
Music became a way for me to express things I didn’t have the words for. I started messing around with beats, and that turned into something. Football was always my outlet, but when I got injured, I suddenly had nothing to get my emotions out. Music helped with that. It became the one thing I could do when I couldn’t be on the field, and before I realized it, it turned into a major part of my life. It wasn’t just something to pass the time, it became something I needed.
3. What’s the story behind your current music project?
My current project is kind of the story about me, it’s about my growth, healing, and identity. It’s me as an artist finally stepping into my voice because I was scared to be heard for a little bit I am not going to lie. It explores what it means to come from my people and to chase dreams bigger than what we’ve seen and turn this pain that we all have into something beautiful, and it’s bigger than me, really. It’s all about storytelling, perspective, and truth.
4. How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before? My sound is pretty, but ugly at the same time. It’s sharp, lyrical, and rooted in storytelling. If I had to describe it at its fullest potential, I’d say it carries the honesty of Tupac, the detail of Nas, and the emotions of J. Cole, but filtered through my own experience as a Native artist carving my own lane. It’s smooth, intentional, and always message driven. I want the words to hit just as hard as the beat.
5. What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music? I learned that simplicity is powerful. When I first started, I thought every beat needed twenty layers, a few beat switches, and constant flow changes. I thought that was what kept people listening. But once I really studied emotion, storytelling, and the way the greats used their flows, that’s when it clicked. Sometimes the message hits harder when you give it space to breathe. Letting the emotion lead instead of the tricks doing the work changed everything for me.
6. What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process? I work inside FL Studio with a Blue Yeti mic and a solid pair of headphones. My setup is simple, but it forces me to be disciplined. I focus on clean vocals, tight rhymes, and building beats from scratch or shaping loops that feel genuine. I’m drawn to R&B textures, boom bap drums, and melodic rap elements that help me create the right atmosphere for my voice and my stories.
7. Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
Lately, I’ve been diving into indie artists who are honest in their music. I’m drawn to the ones
who make you feel like you’re listening to part of their life, not something manufactured. If an artist can make me feel their truth in a song, I’m locked in and instantly a fan.
8. How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision? Everything I’ve lived through shows up in my music. Growing up Native, losing people I care about, trying to chase dreams bigger than myself, being broken, and figuring out who I am, all of that shaped my voice. My experiences taught me my strengths, but they also taught me where I’m weak, and I don’t hide from that. That’s my sound. I want Native kids to hear my music and know that there’s so much more out there than what we’re told. We can go far and still come back home with purpose. There’s so much more to life and I hope we all can realize that.
9. What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work? I want listeners to feel understood and to feel seen. I want someone to hear my story and think, “If he made it through what he went through, maybe I can too.” My music is my truth. It’s the pain, the hope, the healing, and the messy parts of life. If someone walks away from my music feeling like they aren’t alone, then I did what I set out to do. I want everyone to know they aren’t alone and that every feeling someone else has felt before.
10. What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
Patience. I’m not going to lie, I used to want everything to happen fast, record deals, hit songs, money, endorsements. But music taught me that growth isn’t instant. Silence doesn’t mean failure. Creation takes time, and I had to stop thinking that way because the more I wanted all of that to happen and the more it didn’t, I wanted to give up, but once I changed my thoughts, it helped me trust the process, trust my voice, and trust that the right people will hear me when they’re supposed to.
11. What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
Id love to perform at a major festival like Rolling Loud, Dreamville Festival or even Coachella, but its not about the fame and money that an artist would get, it would be being able to be standing on that stage as a native artist showing my people that anything is possible in this world, representation matters and i want to be a big part of that wave making impossible things possible.
12. If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why? DMX, without a doubt. I’d want to work with him on one of his deeper songs, something like Damien, Let Me Fly, or The Convo. I want to learn how he blended storytelling and aggression into something you could actually feel. Even if you are a nun at 86, you can still feel that anger, he feels like “man, I’m feeling his soul”. That level of honesty and intensity is rare.
13. Where can our listeners follow and support your music?
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1xQrOGOS3tjzfYe5WHw5N6?si=e7au5LIFR0K288k1oWhCpw Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/jay_mik1/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/apachej-j
14. Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey? My dream is to build a platform big enough to actually give back, to my family, my community, the youth, and anybody who’s ever felt overlooked. I want to grow as an artist, drop meaningful albums, travel the world performing, and one day build my own label, Rezurrection Records, to lift up other artists with real stories worth telling. That is my dream.
15. What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
I hope people discover my truth, that everything I make comes from a real place. I’m not trying to pretend I’m something I’m not. You won’t ever hear me rapping about being in a gang or living a life that isn’t mine. I want my people, and anyone listening, to feel the heart behind the music, the struggle, the hope, the purpose, and the pain. That’s who I am, and that’s who I’ll always be in my music.
