We caught up with rapper, comedian and actor Jay Pharoah to discuss his latest EP, “Saturday Night Live,” and more!
Read our exclusive interview below:
Q: Tell us a little about your new EP “The Resurrection”
A: It’s my first project. I’ve done mixtapes before, but this is the first thing that I’ve really put out. It’s just me now. Everything that I rap about, some things are personal, some things are more wide range, it’s just what I’m dealing in life as of now, as of to date all in eight songs. I have more, but that would have been an album. I have three more tracks that I will probably use for the album when I get a chance to do it, but I’m already writing stuff. But it’s about what’s happening now like “Talked To God,” “Angel In Disguise,” “Far Away,” “Dreams,” and “Go Hard,” those tracks are very personal. Rap doesn’t always have to be about shooting people and putting holes in people. As you’ve seen, the game has changed a lot. 2003, 2004, and 2005 when 50 cent came out everybody wanted to be gangsta, but from ’97 to 2000 when it was all about things like ‘my chain is big,’ and ‘my clothes are puffy,’ and it’s just like “what”? And then you had Lil Wayne come in and kind of do both. And Drake came in and did something totally different and then other rappers showed up like Kendrick and J. Cole and Wiz. Wiz is just like Snoop Dog talking about all the weed.
Q: And how long have you been working on this?
A: I was working on it last summer, in between touring. As far as the material, some of that stuff has been on my mind and I never got a chance to put it down on paper. I finally went into the office at 30 Rock, my SNL office and turned it into a studio and kind of did that. I’ve had this studio since last year with the “What Does My Girl Say?” and “28 Reasons” and everything like that I’ve been musically working with things. But this is the first project that I put out with a title on it. I’m proud of this and I hope people rock with it.
Q: Tell me about the producers and writers you worked with.
A: There were no writers, I actually wrote everything. Producing wise you have Virginia producers, a lot of them. You got this guy named Rahk who is in Timbaland Productions. You got my cousin HEF Beats, he is an up-and-coming producer, he does a lot of tracks. He did four of my projects, he did “Go Hard,” he did the Richard Pryor “The Resurrection Intro,” “Dreams,” and he did another one. He sends me stuff all the time and he is like, ‘Yo I want you to spaz on this,’ and I’m like ‘Oh cool’ but then I’m like ‘I need something to spaz on you haven’t sent me anything, I just want some more.’ There is this guy named HighDefRazjah, he is on it. Then there is Kino (Kino Beats), he did the mixing and mastering. Kino did “Angel in Disguise,” Razjah did “Far Away,” Rahk did “Talked to God,” C Spikes did “Whatsapp,” and “Pick Your Poison” is the other one that my cousin did … A lot of people ask me that too when you talk about writers. People ask me, ‘Did you write all of them?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I know how to make music.’
Q: Has your comedy background influenced your songs in any way? Because a lot of your verses are clever and funny in a way.
A: Yeah, of course. I don’t try to separate it. I’m kind of witty with my punches and it is the same way with comedy. I feel like why not take some of that over. And if you think about it, when it comes down to rap and comedy, it’s the same formula – it’s setup then punch line. You set it up and then punch line. It’s the same formula, so if you learn how to dissect it and put it into another form, then there you go, you’ve mastered it. Donald Glover is great at that, he is a writer and now he has an overwhelming, looming rap career. Like, ‘Woah! What the hell?! He has like so many songs! Damn!’
Q: Who have been some inspirations for you when creating music?
A: I know you hear the animation in my voice sometimes so I would definitely say Ludacris. I would even say Eminem, Jay Z, some Kanye definitely, I like Drake, that’s my homeboy, I love him as an artist. So definitely just going from that. You have some of everybody in there. I have such a love for hip hop so it’s like me listening to that when I was younger—Ludacris was my first album and I felt like that molded me as a rapper. H.O.V.A definitely, I listened to a lot of Jay Z records.
Q: What was it like working with your sister Shaina Farrow on your song “Dreams”?
A: She is vocal powerhouse. With her on the track, she could be on my level. It is really cool when you work with people that you really know, it’s just like walking into Thanksgiving for dinner. Everybody is like, ‘You got talent? I got talent!’ Everybody claims that they have talent and there are only three people who do stuff. Everybody has something special they can do but I’m talking about next level.
Q: Are you excited for your sister’s music career?
A: Most definitely! I hope it soars. She has a single out now which is called “More Than Thru With You” and that’s on Spotify so you can definitely check that out. It’s so cool seeing her picture come up. I’m like, ‘Oh man that’s dope’ (The single is also on Google Play and iTunes). Now I have to step my game up, I just have my own SoundCloud.
Q: For your songs like “Talked To God” and “Go Hard” you talk about some real and deep things. What gave you the courage to tell your whole story?
A: Well, I figured that I do it on stage all the time, so having that seriousness comes from doing it in standup and doing it unrestricted. I find that the best comedians can not only make you laugh but they can make you cry, and I feel that rap is the same way, it can make you laugh and cry. Like, you would say, ‘Oh man that was a clever line, but damn he is speaking some real stuff right here.’ I think it just comes from that. I have been doing standup since I was 15 and I have been rapping since I was 13. It’s just like, ‘C’mon, let’s be unrestricted.’ I think it’s even with not being so conscious about what people think and not having that care, when you take that out of the equation it’s kind of like you can do whatever and you gain a lot of fans because you’re being you and you’re not trying to be what everybody else is, what everybody else wants you to be.
Q: One of my favorite songs from this track is “Angel in Disguise.” Talk about what it was like creating that piece.
A: That was a very emotional track because I lost someone very close to me last year. It was my best friend’s mom and she was pretty close to me. My circle is very small so when I lose somebody, it really hurts. That song isn’t only for her, it’s for everybody who has lost someone and has gone through it or are going through it. It’s for those people. That specific for me was for Arlene Schwartson. When I heard the news that she had passed away it really messed me up. I don’t want to sound crazy but this is so real. I had a dream the night before she passed away. Her phone number flashed in my dream and I tried to call her number the next day and she had already passed away. I didn’t even get to say bye to her, so it was even more of an emotional day. Writing that song and being in the booth, I had to stop a few times.
Q: What do you want listeners to take away from this EP? Is there a certain message you want to put out through your music?
A: Yeah, definitely. The message I’m trying to get from this project is that I’m a real person and I that I go through the same issues that everybody else does. There is no difference between us, there is no difference between human beings except at the end of the year somebody gets more taxes taken out of their check than somebody else. Besides that we are all the same. I take this very seriously. I’m not playing around with it. I’m putting out real music and I believe it is relatable and I hope that it is relatable to y’all. It’s just real. This is what I’m going through, this is what is happening. This is what goes on with people. I mean, everybody isn’t on Whatsapp. I’m on Whatsapp, but there is a healthy portion of people on Whatsapp.
Q: Are there any people that you would want to work with in the future?
A: Yeah man. When I come out with my next project I’m going to be working with Wale on a track. I would love would work with Drake on some stuff, that would be dope. I would also like to work with Troy Ave, that would be dope. I would love to work with Jay Z, him and Kanye, that would be dope. I would love to work with them. J. Cole definitely, Kendrick, and there are singers too like Chris Brown and Trey Songz. I would love to work with people who, first of all, can put together dope songs and also who have messages in their music. I like people who have messages in their music, I like that.
Q: For this season of SNL, do you think we’ll see some of your music on the digital shorts or something like that?
A: Definitely. Last year we had “What Does My Girl Say?” and “28 Reasons” and “H&M” and I plan to do more of that. I definitely know that you never know what is going to happen on the show week to week. As far as me and being able to put out music videos and funny stuff, there is definitely going to be that this season. You never know, it could be on next week so you have to watch, you never know.
Q: You said you started to rap when you were 13. So when did start to realize that it was one of your many talents?
A: I think when I put out my second mixtape, like way back, I think when I was 17 and it got a good response. The first one that I put out, it did not have a good response because I didn’t really know what I was doing and it is was it was. I recorded it on a computer mic over beats, it was crazy. It was all on my sound recorder on my Windows computer, it was crazy. I can’t believe that I did that. After I put the second one out, I did it, but I tried to learn how to master the equipment so it actually sounded pretty good. And when I put that out people were like, ‘Yo man this is dope!’ and I was like, ‘Thank you!’ and then I just kept going from there. I put up a MySpace page called ‘Heavy Spittahs” when I was 18 and I had people come in and they would try to rap against each other. From there I kind of learned how to wait, with the punches and things of that sort. I would be battling people – and that was the big thing when MySpace started in like ’03, but it was in ’05 when it became really hot, we would set up forums where you could post your verses and battle people and I did a lot of that. I got a lot of good looks from that. I also went by the name Jay Hawk back then — as a matter of fact I probably still have my MySpace page as Jay Hawk, and I don’t think I deleted it, it’s probably still up there. I just hopped on people’s tracks and mixtapes, and I was battling. I was big in freestyle battling. I battled so many people it was crazy. I think I battled three dudes at one time before and I think called them the ‘Three Stooges” or something like that, it was crazy. And there was nobody to help me and when I called them the Three Stooges people were like, ‘Oh snap, you can really rap! I know you do comedy but you can really rap!’ and I said, ‘Thank you! I appreciate it.’ So around when I was 18 or 19 I was still going hard. I was still making beats. I used to produce and make beats – I actually never realized that I did a lot of stuff. I dabbled in a lot of things but around that time like 17 or 18 I was like, ‘Alright I’m kind of good at this,’ but my mom was like, ‘No you need to focus on one thing. You won’t make it,’ so I just focused on comedy but I always stayed rapping and writing and things of that sort.
Q: How does it feel having your own album coming out soon?
A: It feels good. It’s a lot of pressure because you want it to do good. It feels good – especially if you have something you are proud of. Even if things don’t go the way you think they will, if you’re proud of it, then that’s good. If you’re proud of your product, if you like it, if you think it’s good, if most of the people give you positive support and positive commentary on it then I feel like it’s good. You got to go on with what you like, even in comedy you got to go with what you think is funny, not what somebody else thinks is funny. You got to find your own voice. As long as you find your voice you can build on that and just get better. That’s what it is.
Q: What are some things you are looking forward to on this season of SNL?
A: First of all, being a part of the 40th season is an honor. The show has been on for so long that I’m just looking forward to being able to work with everybody that comes through. I feel like if I could do something with everybody that comes on and it could be substantial, that it could work, I think that I’ve done my job. I’m just happy to be a part of it.
Q: You joined SNL on the 36th season so it has been four years since you have joined, what have been some of your most memorable experiences on the show?
A: Just learning how to craft sketches. I am from standup, I am not from sketch. So learning how to craft sketches until it works has been memorable. Being working with people – being able to watch people like Armisen (Fred Armisen), Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig and those people – and even some of the people I’m working with now like Kate (Kate McKinnon), Taran (Taran Killam), Bobby (Bobby Moynihan), a few other, and just watching them and learning and being able to work with my friends is kind of cool – being able to work with people we like is a cool experience. And Kerry Washington, for me, last year was a very memorable experience on “What Does My Girl Say?” It was definitely fun, it was definitely great last year. I wasn’t petrified – well I was a little bit. You are always petrified with this job a little bit, but I definitely had a lot of fun. And I have seen so many people, it’s like walking on air.
Q: How does it feel having so much go for you? You’re a comedian, you’re on SNL, and you’re doing rap which is going to be a hit, how do you feel about all of this?
A: I feel good. I feel really good. I know it’s a lot of work and I know I can’t really take any days off. I don’t have a lot of time to do everything so when I do; I have to do what’s going to be good. And I’m just excited. I just hope this sparks a wildfire that I hope it will.
Jim Carrey returns to host SNL for the third time on October 25. He will be accompanied by first-time musical guest Iggy Azalea. Former SNL cast member Chris Rock returns to host for the second time. Rock was a cast member on the show for three seasons from 1990 to 1993. He last hosted in 1996 but has made multiple cameos over the years, most recently in 2013. He will be accompanied by musical guest Prince, who previously performed on SNL in 1981 and 2006. Don’t miss a single episode Saturdays, 11:30/10:30c on NBC!
-Vinesh Vora
