Jay Exodus is redefining Buffalo’s sound, beyond the Griselda’s blueprint.

Peace Jay! Let’s start by asking: what does it mean to be a rapper from Buffalo today, compared to ten years ago when you first started putting out music?How has the scene changed, the opportunities evolved, and how has your perception of the city as an artist shifted?

Being a Rapper from Buffalo today definitely hits different . 10 yrs ago if you told somebody you were Buffalo nobody really cared, they may have never even heard of Buffalo, but ever since Griselda kicked the door open, now when I say I’m from Buffalo people’s eyes get wide. No matter where I’m at on the map, they already have high expectations from you off rip because West and them set the bar so high.

With Griselda’s rise, Buffalo finally earned its place on the global rap map. But do you feel that spotlight also came with certain pressures or expectations—like being boxed into that gritty, grimey sound? Do you think people now tend to put Buffalo artists into a narrow lane, even when their sound goes beyond that mold?

So like I was saying with the first question, people automatically expect you to be good, so you better be good! lol. 

Second we do kind of get boxed in a bit because Griselda is probably their only reference to what Buffalo sounds like at this point and I can’t fault the people for that, but that’s why I pride myself in being a very versatile artist, and it’s my Job to showcase the other soundscapes being that. I’m one of the guys that’s really starting to have an influence now on what hip hop sounds like here.

It’s also a risky business trying to break the mold, but somebody gotta do it, so why not the guy that does both well, the boom bap sound and the more mainstream modern sound.

When and why did you start making music?Tell us a bit about your musical background— what did you grow up listening to, and what pushed you to write and record your first tracks?

My parents wasn’t really on a lot of hip hop coming up, so growing up I listened to alot of 70 & 80s music, my dad was heavy on Jazz so I experienced alot of that. I also had an older cousin that was around alot and she listened to nothing but alternative rock, so it was a lot of different stuff going on. 

By the time I was about 8 is when I started getting into rap heavy, three 6 mafia, 50 Cent, Nelly, Ludacris, OutKast, just to name a few. I remember in 8th grade I heard this song from Papoose called “Alphabetical Slaughter” and I was so amazed & intrigued  by his lyrical prowess on that song, that it inspired me to pick up a pen and start writing rhymes. I did that for a few years. It wasn’t until like junior year of high school my boy DTM got me to record my 1st song. He sawI I had notebooks full of raps, he was like: “Man you gotta start recording!”

So he had a little home studio setup at his crib in the Langfield projects. It wasn’t much lol, but he taught me how to record on it,  and it was up from there.

Your sound is a smooth blend of jazz, soul, boom bap, and West Coast vibes.How do you manage to merge all these influences while keeping your voice unique and recognizable? And what part of Buffalo still lives in your musical aesthetic?

Merging the influences just comes naturally for me, it’s literally how I hear the music. Also I would have to say just a lot of practice, I definitely put my 10,000 in so I know how I should sound depending what type of beat I’m going off of.

The Eastside will definitely always live in my musical aesthetic, because that’s where I spent the most time, and where a lot of my heavy life experiences occurred, both good and bad.

Your latest project, Flowers Never Bloom Before The Sun Comes, really reflects your musical and spiritual vision. Can you tell us what this project represents to you and the meaning behind the title??

I’m From Buffalo. We get 6 months of winter, like literally half the year, so by March 1st I’m about ready to check out this MFer. So this was my way of bringing the spring out, or starting the actual new year. Hence the themes of flowers and new beginnings in the project. In a way I guess you could say it was therapeutic for me.

Earlier in 2025, you also dropped Art of Expression in collaboration with Camoflauge Monk, a producer tied to Griselda. What pushed you to build a full-length project with him? Did you already know each other personally? Was the album created together in the studio or was it more of a remote collaboration?

Me and Monk were already acquainted with each other, I just didn’t know him too well. He had pulled up to Ground Control one day, our store we got in Buffalo, and we just started talking about music. The original plan was to just get a few beats from him but the few records we did was so hard we just ended up doing a whole project.

I want to say it was Pray for the Eastside with Conway and Arm & a Leg that sparked it off.  It started with him just sending me beat packs and I would choose a few out of each until I felt I had a solid soundscape. And then I started recording, Monk pulled up to a bunch of the sessions. He actually made few of the beats on the spot too In studio,  so the whole experience was dope, he works fast, and I work fast. 

What was it like working with Camoflauge Monk creatively? Do you think you stepped into his sonic world, or did he adapt more to yours? And what surprised you the most about collaborating with him?

I think at the end of it we met in the middle and really learned a lot about each other as artists. I always describe his beats as cinematic, everything sounds like a movie scene so I wanted the flow of the project to feel cinematic as well. Him on the other hand, at first he was just sending me stuff to see what I liked, but by about the third pack he sent me they def were more curated to my liking. What surprised me was how quick he started to figure out what I like,  from the Sonics to the tempos, you gotta be a real producer to do that. 

The album features heavyweights like Conway, Boldy James, and ANoyd. How did those collaborations come together, and what were you looking for in the artists you chose to feature?

Griselda is fam we all from Buffalo it was pretty easy to get Con ( Conway The Machine) on there, and I ended up meeting boldy on tour last year with Benny. Anoyd was somebody I linked with on Instagram. I followed him and just was a fan of his work ethic, so I reached out to him one day to put him on to what I was doing. And the rest was history, again being from Buffalo hold a different weight in 2025 lol.

You’ve always had a connection to the West Coast sound as well—on previous projects like 44 and The Exodus, you worked with Jay Worthy and Kamaiyah. How did those connections come about, and what draws you to that type of vibe, which may seem far from your roots but still feels close to your musical sensibility?

Back in 2020 when I was getting back to music, I would travel out to LA a lot. That set a foundation for my return to music, I made a lot of good connections out there. Worthy is also connected with Griselda so within a few phone calls I was able to get in contact with him, we had linked at Bootleg kev studio In LA, the plan was to do one record for my Rocketman mixtape, but I start playing him other records and he fucked with the one joint so hard we ended up doing two songs. 

When I first started recording music I was heavily influenced by the Taylor Gang x Jet life movement, and Wiz always had a sound that was reminiscent of the west coast even though he was from the east, so really that, and just the influence from me spending a lot of time out there soaking the culture up. 

Between 2017 and 2021, you had a noticeable break in your music output due to health issues. How did that experience shape you, and in what ways did it change your perspective on life—and on making music?

It’s one of those things where it’s like really tough while you are going through it, but once you do and you are on the other side looking back it makes you so strong as a person.

During that time I learned a lot about how the human body actually works and realized most of us don’t really know we kinda just consume whatever society or culture gives us. It also allowed me to tap deep into spirituality, and just overall get to know myself better, it all felt like a rebirth. From the healing, to re-finding myself in the music space again.