Music Mondays is proud to present our first interview of 2022. Zomb Slays had the chance to sit down with 777Fury and Mikal Jones to discuss their starts in music, their recently released project “Be Patient With Me, I’m Only Human” and much more in this Music Mondays exclusive. 

2/25/2022

First off welcome 777Fury & Mikal Jones, it’s a pleasure to finally get to sit down with you both. Let’s talk about some early stats, where are you both from and how old are you?

Mikal: I’m from Atlanta, currently living in Houston, feeling old as shit at 24.

777Fury: I'm from Vegas & no, we don't all live in casinos! Currently 22 years of age. 

Mikal: He lies, it’s only casinos.

Damn alright so we got a wide range of territory covered between you both! That’s actually really sick, let’s talk about your upbringings for a moment. Tell me about your experiences growing up in Atlanta and Vegas respectively. How did you come to reside where you are currently?

777Fury: Growing up in Vegas was pretty fuccin boring but me & the homies would make our fun. When I was younger I had a regular ass childhood. I played video games, went outside, but as myself & the people around me got older our mentalities changed. So now we want money, started chasing after girls, started adjusting and adapting to our environment. Currently I'm in Houston with my brother Mikal, putting overtime in to make sure the album is fully appreciated.

Mikal: Atlanta was mostly sports as a passion for me until my parents moved to Houston for my Dad’s job. Lots of basketball, football and baseball. Then it was almost strictly music for my focus to the point where I dropped out very early Sophomore year to pursue music primarily, get my GED and start working. I recently moved to North Houston with my girlfriend after she graduated from Texas A&M and have been working on honing the craft since then. I LOVE Atlanta though and one of my goals is to get a house there. That’s my home through and through, but I have a special spot for Houston, but 10/10 times you ask where I’m from and what molded me, it’s Atlanta. 

Woah both well said, Atlanta and Vegas are such prolific areas but when growing up there you can have such different experiences and vibes. Speaking more specifically into the music side of things, what are some of your earliest memories of music? Who did you grow up listening to?

Mikal: Hearing Outkast on the radio in Atlanta all the time has got to be up there as far as memories go. I honestly listened to a lot of what was popular at the time and what my older brother was playing. From Snoop, Outkast, early Eminem, D12 and 50 Cent to System of a Down, 311, Sublime, Phish, Korn, Rage Against The Machine and Slipknot in my younger years. Much more I could name off but I’ll stop there for everyone’s sake.

777Fury: I remember my big brother having a copy of The Massacre by 50 Cent & I'd listen to it on car rides with my mom using this portable CD player. There was also a copy of the doggystyle album by Snoop that I think was my sister's & I'd listen to that in the cd player as well. Mind you I'm like 7-10 at the time listening to these albums for hours but when I didn't have my hands on those my mom would always play old ass R&B. Stuff like boyz II men, marvin gaye, teddy pendergrass, and I'd just fall asleep to it in the car during a long ass drive.

Awesome memories honestly, Mikal you have such a wide variety and Fury you can definitely see how you became so skilled so early on with a mature sound. When did you both decide you wanted to start creating music? At what point was that? Mikal you mentioned this was an early process for you, how did that come about?

Mikal: I knew this was what I was made for at around 12, 13 years old. I started off DJing and it was actually EDM artists and random DJs like deadmau5, DJ AM, Rusko, Joker, Doctor P, Cookie Monsta and the sorts that made me want to do that. Eventually that molded into producing and partly going back to the roots of Oukast etc. and inspiration from what I was listening to then as well. Kendrick Lamar, Vince Staples, Mac Miller, Flatbush Zombies, some older Chance The Rapper, Kanye, Kid Cudi and more. For a long time it was half DJ half Producer for me, but now my main focus is producing. Which works well because when I perform live with artists I can just DJ myself.

777Fury: I started making music around 13, the homie took me to the "studio" which was just someone's apartment & the dude had a laptop and mic lmao. I didn't like how any of it sounded and they clowned me for a terrible verse so I was like fuck it, I can do better than both of em. Ended up getting a laptop as a birthday gift, started recording myself, writing verses often, just sharpening the blade.

Super interesting honestly, Being a producer with DJ experience is such a plus and Fury that made me laugh. That's how you do it though, I think it's dope how you both had relatively different starts in regards to music but managed to mesh so well on tracks. At what point early on did you both realize this is something you wanted to take seriously? Mikal you mentioned it came like butter for you but was there a certain point you both started to take it seriously?

Mikal: I was 17 or 18 when I realized that I’m not too young to be seriously pursuing this as a career and life choice.

777Fury: I'd say I always wanted to really do something with music but I just never knew how to get things off the ground. But around 2017-18 enough things started coming to fruition and seeming possible to make me really keep my foot on the gas.

Two artists who knew when to keep their foot on the gas, love to see that. What are some of your goals with music? Do you have certain things you want to accomplish with music or from music?

Mikal: I have random goals like DJing Ultra Music Festival would be cool, or touring etc. but honestly I want to just get my family solid off my art and have it to where this is all I HAVE to focus on, and eventually to where I don’t have to worry about anything other than family and those around me.

777Fury: Exactly what my dawg just said. I want to make this my way of living, i don't have to get crazy rich or whatever..just wanna live comfortably & be able to pay it forward.

I actually couldn't agree more, I know some people have specific things they wanna do but I can totally relate to just wanting to be straight and make sure everyone around me is. That brings up my next question, what are your moves for the rest of February and 2022 in general?

Mikal: Right now we are both heavily focused on our album that just released, Be Patient With Me, I’m Only Human, and really locking in our sound among a lot of other stuff in the works I’m not sure if I can really speak on.

777Fury: Just trying to expand, build upon what's already gotten us here. Putting work in to give the people that support us a good show.

Love that, Mikal I'm glad you mentioned the new project you both have because that leads me to my next question, at the time of this interview 777Fury & Mikal Jones new project titled "Be Patient With Me I'm Only Human" has officially released. Let's talk about this new collaboration for a moment. Give us a back story on this project and how it came about, I noticed the description on Soundcloud is extremely well written as well which gives it a really great energy and it made me curious about the early stages of this project.

Mikal: First off the description is all 777fury, that shit is from his heart and I suggest anyone who listens to the project take a second to read it. That’s sort of a Soundcloud exclusive along with the 2 bonus songs, Animated & Burden of Proof. The songs have been in the works for probably the better part of a year and a half or 2. We decided to split it up into 2 parts while curating for the story the songs tell, the subject matter and overall sound. For me this album really kills off a lot of old stuff about us and births a lot at the same time. Almost like Oukast “Speakerboxxx / Love Below” with the A Side B Side.

777Fury: I see it less as killing things off and more like coming to terms with everything. You are your past, present, & future. "Be patient with me" was supposed to be a compilation ep with a bunch of songs produced by various producers but as my life started going in a few different directions i settled on making one cohesive project instead of trying to pull inspiration and what not from multiple sources & Mikal was instantly ready to start sending me beats. "Im only Human" was just an addition I added for promo sake but after going through songs to curate the project Mikal & I decided on treating it like an "A Side, B Side" type of thing.

I’d honestly say the description really impressed me when I first read it. It had to be one of my favorite parts after hearing an early copy. It’s really telling how Mikal describes it as a birth and death and you can tell how mature the project is at certain points but also maintains the chaos in the first half so it’s like a mix of all of these circumstances like Fury mentioned. What was it like putting together a project like this? Would you say it was some of the more fun you’ve had putting together a release?

777Fury: It was definitely an experience to say the least. Fun at some points and far from it at others, in terms of the creative process. 80% of the songs were made simply from whatever i was feeling or going through at the time without intention of making a project. "Crutch" and "Let Go & Grow'' are the only songs that were made specifically for this album. So the most fun I personally had was organizing all of them, figuring out the vision & then executing.

Mikal: I agree with the fun part of it being the curating, vision and execution / what we are doing now for it.

Creating experiences like this is truly some of, if not the best part of music. Especially considering how well you guys work together inside of art and outside of it, what is your creative process like for only this new project “Be Patient With Me, I’m Only Human, but how does the creative process go for a 777Fury & Mikal Jones song?

Mikal: Shiiiiit… To put it simply? Beat. Write. Record for the most part. It’s more fun in person simply off the fact that we can bounce off each other musically in the same room compared to on facetime or something.

777Fury: It's really that simple for real. I'll probably throw some anime on, play video games or whatever while dawg cooks up a beat on facetime then proceed to write and send it back. When we're in the same city it's essentially the same situation, just a quicker process.

In person there is always such a vibe and so much better for workflow you really gotta love it. I used to really like the discord sessions too. This project is easily one of the most well constructed pieces of underground art I’ve heard in a long time, it manages to keep the crispy side of the underground intact but also branch out and be well structured with a lore behind it. I really don’t think anyone should be sleeping on this in terms of quality. Do you each have a favorite track off of “Be Patient With Me I'm Only Human”, If so what is it?

Mikal: It’s funny you mention quality because we both feel we’ve leveled up multiple times since the project has been finished. Marching Band, Crutch or Guard Dog would probably be some favorites for me but they are all very special to me.

777Fury: I can't even pick a favorite to be honest. Depending on the mood I'm in or what I'm doing each one can have a different affect or bring up a different memory so I have a love/hate relationship with some songs and purely love others or feel like I could've come with a different approach.