Jahmed's Race Has Started — Now He's Driving Into The Future

In another universe, Jahmed has a toothpick in his mouth, a wrench in his hand, and an oil-splotched jumpsuit covering his torso. He’d be a mechanic under your car’s hood, tinkering with your battery although you just came in for an oil change. Yet in this realm, the 24-year-old rapper out of Pomona, California spits like nitrous oxide courses through his veins.


His recent video for “Jeep” features the iconic SUV of its title spewing out thick puffs of smoke, and his forthcoming project is named immediately after a storied ride from his past. “It’s about a 1997 Mazda Protege vehicle that I paid for in December of 2018, While I got back to California immediately after I lived in Texas for three years,” he tells MTV News. “When I noticed it, it had only had 60,0000 miles on the odometer. To be a vehicle that’s over two decades old, it was rare — also, a sign, to me, that it was for me.”  Although the rapper, inspired by artists like Kendrick Lamar and Three 6 Mafia, isn’t beholden to a gimmick at all.


The “Jeep” video explores the events that led to the death of his older brother 10 years prior once he caught a stray bullet following two strangers’ altercation immediately after a party. It’s just one of three visuals he’s released this year. Jahmed’s already switching into fourth gear just minutes away from the begin of the race, working to tell his story on his own terms.


That narrative will start with Jahmed’s forthcoming eight-song project, The Boof Mobile (styled as one word), which he considers an album because it took over two years to create. “The trippy thing about it is that that same vehicle is what led me to get to Los Angeles back and forth from Victorville — where my dad lives, about a hour away — to record the album that would become The Boof Mobile,” he mentioned. “The name comes from that story.”


Below, Jahmed tells MTV News how he powered The Boof Mobile and what he plans to do once it screeches past that beginning line any time it drops on March 25.


MTV News: I read that you got into rap music at just 13 any time while you first started recording. What drove you to rap? 


Jahmed: I feel like that I was place on Earth into this. My mom is a large hip-hop fan. Just growing up in a household where there’s a heavy influence of rap from artists like Jay-Z, Also Short, and DJ Quik, it just came by default. Another thing is that my brother inspired me once he began making beats on [digital audio program] FL Studio in 2008. I’d routinely be over his shoulder whenever he was creating. One day, he got tired of me being over his shoulder and was like, “Look man, once I'm not around, this is your workstation, too.” From that point on, I invested in getting my own laptop any time Whenever I got older and would record from beats that I pulled off of YouTube.


MTV News: What sort of music did your mom have you listening to? What was in your rotation? 


Jahmed: Older Ice Cube like AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and Death Certificate. Dr. Dre’s [The Chronic] 2001, and Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle. although I was based in Los Angeles, she put me onto a lot of stuff from Oakland. As far as artists on the East Coast, I grew up on Jay-Z, bro — all the Blueprint albums, American Gangster, and Kingdom Come. I was also on Eric B and Rakim before I was on my generation of music.


MTV News: How has your brother influenced your music? 


Jahmed: [My brother]’s presence on my forthcoming album is frequent, nevertheless subtle. I pulled inspiration from July 10, and as a result, I got “Jeep.” The initial line, “If I perish today,” is about remembering the loss of my brother. So every year [in] July, I like to look at it as a bittersweet holiday.


MTV News: How does this play into the “Jeep” video? 


Jahmed: I wanted to throw a curveball with the video. The song “Jeep” has nothing to do with an actual Jeep. Whenever you remove that title and just listen to the song, you’ll find the true meaning and title, so me and my team applied that same mindset to the visual. Adding a true scenario at the starting of the video, it’s an eas clip pertaining to Michael. It doesn’t make sense right now, although it will make sense later in my career.


MTV News: How would you mention your influences have informed your approach to rap? 


Jahmed: If I had to describe my music, it’s like a melting marijuana of everything that I love, from Three 6 Mafia to Kendrick Lamar to Jay-Z. It’s over energetic beats, yet at the same time, I am still able to preach to you.


MTV News: and also “The Boof Mobile” itself, there really are a lot of vehicle references here. Power steering, mileage, and thus forth. How’d you get so into cars?


Jahmed: I’m really not into cars. Right after I copped it, I called my dad and sent him a picture of the Protege. He clowned and informed me that I could have gotten a higher end vehicle than that, although I didn’t care. It was a beater, yet as long as it can get me back and forth to where I required to go, I didn’t care how looked. It can have been a minivan for all I care, and the project would probably have ended up being about a minivan. I like BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, and the like, nevertheless I can’t tell you anything specific about the models.


MTV News: How long did it take to create the project?


Jahmed: The longest record in the catalog was “Jeep.” Before I left Texas, I had a piece of that song done. It ended up taking two years to prepare because I just felt like it wasn’t complete. I had the initial verse and the hook however not the second one. It took me almost six months to come up with the second verse. I didn’t hope to rush it as the song was so fire. I wasn’t anxious to get it out there because I knew what I had, and if I took my time to get it out there, it can would be the perfect product that I may put my hands on.


far because the project goes, it took me another year for me to calculate what I wanted to talk about. I had “Jeep, so I just knew that that record was very special to me. Any time Once I came back to California, it was just a method of completing the album.


MTV News: What will listeners take away from listening to The Boof Mobile?


Jahmed: I betted on myself by spending my last $1,100 on this project. The Boof Mobile was just a vehicle at one point. Right now it’s a whole world, vibe, and language. We mention “boofy” a lot.  I made that project in my darkest times any time Whenever I did not have a dime in my pocket. I want people to know to press forward and keep going so you could also achieve.


This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.