What is your real name? Duane McFall

How many aliases do you have and what are they?  Five - Jordan~Jay, Swahh Jay, Swahh, The Studio Doctor or Jay

How old are you? 24

Where were you born?  St. Louis, MO

When did you start doing music? I started in 1994 but it wasn't until 1997 that I really started doing music everyday and not until 2000 that I started doing it seriously.

Why did you decide to peruse a career in music? Honestly nothing. I was always good with words so poetry and story writing were my earliest forms of expression.  My musical inspirations started about the time I was in 5th grade listening to all types of music it was about this time that I started buying cassette singles for the instrumental tracks; so that I could write my own songs without the vocals getting in the way.  As a freshman in high school I started getting into producing my own backing tracks all-the-while I was still working on my lyrical abilities.  

What give you the motivation to write the way you do? My motivation comes from all types of places. Friends and enemies are the easiest things to write about but over all the motivation to write comes from my life and my life experiences.  Honestly, motivation comes and go the key is to keep writing through the times when you're not motivated so that when you do get motivated you can make the most of the motivation you have.

Do you ever just set up a track and freestyle a verse? A lot of the time I do that.  A little known fact is that half of what I write on paper actually makes it to the tracks that you hear.  I typically write outlines to the beats and just put my heart and emotions on the tracks. Listen to my words do they seem like their freestyled?  Yeah I didn't think so but I don't consider myself a freestyle artist because of the "outlines" but I've been told other wise by family and strangers alike. Just listen to the 19 freestyles that I've got online and tell me what you think.

Who do you most like working with?  Family. That's it there's no one that's better in the studio when it comes to the total package but there are probably a dozen cats or so that I have gotten in the studio and just mashed out hot tracks with that I would go back in the lab with.

Who’s your favorite lyricist? Favorite lyricist is an impossible question to answer for the simple reason that there is not one person that has put everything it takes to be a perfect lyricist.  So for me Common, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, Jay-Z, Mos Def, Notorious Big, Eminem, 2 Pac, Mad Child of Swollen Members and Remedy for my current top 10 lyricists; in no real thought out order.

Who’s your favorite producer? Once again this is one of those impossible questions to answer with one name. Timberland, Dr. Dre, Rob The Viking, Just Blaze, Kanye West, 9th Wonder, J-Pham, Lil Jon, The old Beats By The Pound, DJ U-Neek in the E. 99 Eternal Days but occasionally something new he puts out and any underground producer that puts the work into his beats with out sounding like every other producer that's out.  Although these are some of my favorite producers they all have there little things that they do that prevent them from being my favorite; like being too repetitive with their beats, or over using samples but in the same respect as a producer I can understand the reason for doing both.

What's your favorite album? Now that's impossible to pick one.  Scarface - The Fix, BTNH - E.99 Eternal, Royce Da 5'9" - Death Is Certain, and Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt just to name a few.

What's your favorite song? Although I am not a fan Joe Budden's Walk With Me Has To Be One Of My Favorite Songs.

What other genres or artists from other genres have influence on you? None. No but really I don't really listen to much music Hip-Hop or other wise but there are a few of my non-hip-hop artists/groups that I listen listen to some of them being but no by any means limited to Linkin Park, Bionic Jive, Marz, and Bob Marley & The Wailers.

What artists have you performed with? I've preformed with a bunch of artists but most of them really weren't as talented as they wanted everyone to believe.  But you know I've also have a bias opinion.

What's your favorite Rap Style? While this used to be a question that I wouldn't really answer I have since found my true calling with my style.  And while most people will not consider this an answer and emcee/producer will fully understand what I mean here's my answer.  I do what the beats tell me to do.  So I love every style that complements the beats that I am flowing over when I put real lyrics behind it.

What's your favorite song from Things Have Changed? This is a hard question since the CD is my CD but really .it all depends on the mood that I'm in when you're asking me.  The song that must be played every time the CD is in the player is Another Level; simply because this was an instant classic the day it was written and is still a crowd favorite. Nothings Left is another one of those tracks that must be dealt with along with the same lines as Can't Handle because they we're tracks that I really didn't care if the average consumer liked.  It was heartfelt lyrics that were written for my family and anyone else that has been though an experience similar to mine. So that's about all I can tell you about the CD but if you need more contact me.

Favorite Song From The Backlash Mixtape?  Honestly I think that Things Have Changed is a much better project over all the mixtape dose have it's moments of greatness.  With over half of this CD being produced by me makes this one of the more interesting projects I've put out.  In addition to that this is the first project that features artist that are not signed to our label.  Just like on Things Have Changed the mixtape version of Another Level is another classic and most people including myself consider this version better than the original version; not only because it captures much more of the energy from our live show but it also has a much improved last verse created by GhOsT, the only missing member from the original. But my attempt to answer this question will have more than one answer; sorry folks.  While I think that You Don't Have To Say is one of our stronger tracks over all I think that the actual production is actually lacking to some of my other work on the project. For example the tracks I produced for Psyche Child, How We Ride and If It's On, Then It's On are much better than You Don't Have To Say.  My actual favorites have to be From Hello and the Bound Inc throwback hit To You (With Me).

What projects are you currently working on? Jordan~Jay Presents...The White Album/Musica Practica, Absolute's Untitled debut album. Theory Nine~Eleven - The Deeper Meaning and many more.

What is the best thing about making music on your own? The absolute best thing about making music independently is at you have complete creative control over the production and lyrics; which mean we don't have to write to the industry format to have you're music heard. Another thing about working independently is that you don't have to worry about doing everything that the industry considers "right."  For example we don't have to dress in a certain way or say certain things when asked the tough questions.  We can dress anyway we want and say what ever we want when ever we want.  So, the single best thing is we're in complete control of our destiny of both our career and life.  But on the flip-side the worst part about being an independent artist is that you're in control of you're own career so if you screw it up then you screw it up and then its a wrap.

What do you hope to accomplish in the industry?  Well I hope that I can expose the industry for the primarily commercial dominated medium that it is.  In doing so I hope to establish a platform the non-conformists that are doing real music to not only get heard but also to distribute their music to the consumers that want more from their music.  I also plan on doing this without placing myself or any of my artists under the corporate restraints of  commercial formatted record industry that only supports a select number of artists to place millions of dollars behind to make millions of consumers embrace their product no matter how bad it maybe.  I will continue to refuse to work with people and labels that have little or no regards for the music and culture that the music represents; even if that means that my big break never happens and I am forced to touch my listeners one at a time.

What is it like in the industry, I mean having anything you need at your disposal?  Honestly I wish I knew how that was.  Although I am doing better than a lot of artists I would not consider myself a full time member of the industry.  But to answer your question it has to be heaven I can't tell you how many times I've needed a piece of equipment and couldn't get my hands on it but you best believe when I can have anything I need I will update this question for you.

Have you ever wanted to put someone on track with you, is it hard to get them on track with you?  Yes, all the time and yes it is hard to get them on tracks.  The music industry is a business and just like every other business it's here to make money and similarly the artists are managed my people who's soul purpose is to make money for himself and the artist/artists he/she represents.  So between the inaccessibility of the artists do to time constraints and the typically enormous amount of money artists charge to be on other peoples tracks it is nearly impossible to get big named artists to guest appear on your songs without having the proper connections to find the artists and a couple thousand dollars to pay their desired fees.

Who do you hope to work with in the future? Too many people to mention but lets just say that they're artists that share the same vision that I've have.

What would it take for you to get on one of my tracks or for me to get on one of yours?  Talent. It's pretty much that easy. I'm willing to work with any artist that respects the game and the art of hip-hip.  So contact me and we'll work something the usual fees that we charge is for gas and a place to stay if you're out of our area too far.  But we can also work out internet collaborations that would be completely done over the internet.  Other than that we negotiate prices for our beats so never be afraid to ask us what we can do for you because we love working with new artists.

What advise would you give to those just now trying to get into the industry?  Keep on keepin' on.  It's the only thing you need to do for real. Keep working no matter if you're trying to be an emcee or a producer you need to keep working at it because no matter how good you think you are there will always be a person that is better than you in some way.  Ok, I lied there is one other thing; you need to stick to you.  What I mean is that you need to do music that you like and keep yourself from imitating what is already out to get your deal. The industry already has an artist that sounds that way so why do they need you?

Anything else you want to say? (Shout-outs, quote, etc): I'd like to say thank you too everyone involved with my label and every single person that has purchased Things Have Changed, downloaded The Backlash Mixtape or any of our mixtapes and to everyone that has and continues to show us love.  I would also like to extend love to all my family both blood and all those that are bound by blood all over the world.  Don't forget to catch me when I'm online or show us love in the guest book and what ever you do don't forget to check me out on our upcoming releases and as always holla at ya boi Swahh To Tha.

Contact Jordan~Jay - E-Mail - AIM