Jiggy The Goat is an up-and-coming rapper from Wisconsin who’s had success with some of his tracks like “Anxiety” and “If I Ever.” He’s also managed to make some major connections early in his career which seems like he won’t be underground for long, mainstream success is almost calling his name. He talked with us about how he first got noticed, his influences, what he’s got in store for 2018 and a lot more.
UU: So you’re from Milwaukee right? What’s the music scene like out there?
Jiggy: Well I’m actually from Racine, Wisconsin – about 30 minutes south of Milwaukee and an hour and some change north of Chicago. The music scene is pretty dry as far as national coverage. I’m trying to be the first one to make it out of Racine and make a way for other small town artists. Milwaukee has their artists such as IshDARR, Lil Chicken, MT Twinz but they haven’t popped mainstream yet. Roy Purdy is from Wisconsin, he’s probably seen the most success, but the music scene overall needs work.
The first time I remember seeing your name was the video of you rapping “If I Ever” with the bandanna on your head. Did that video help your career at all maybe attention wise or other artists reaching out to you?
Yeah that video helped me catch the attention of a lot of people actually. I was buzzing a little before but when I dropped the original snippet of “If I Ever” with the red bandana in the studio it got like 5000 retweets. $ki Mask The Slump God actually liked the video and followed me, I was surprised at the time because he was that nigga and still is [laughs] and artist like OG Maco, Swaghollywood hit me up and shit, and Lerado and Adot actually hit me up around that time too and they are both considered close friends now you could say. The main person that caught the attention of that was @heshnigga_ , he always retweets my shit now and shows love on here and IG with reposts. I know Justin Staple from Vice liked the video when Hesh reposted on his IG, and Alison Wonderland liked my music video on his IG as well, which was all just crazy to me at the time. We linked in Milwaukee when they came here for tour with Action Bronson and I linked with them backstage and did dabs for the first time with Bronson, so Hesh was a good relationship too.
https://twitter.com/J1GGYTHEGOAT/status/938435072348295168
That’s insane. Crazy how much power the internet has…
You seem to have a lot of really quotable and memorable lyrics that people like, do you keep that in mind during the writing process or does it just come naturally ?
I really just be saying whatever comes to my head. I haven’t been writing lately just because I like keeping shit natural. I like going off the top in the studio now.
How did that “Anxiety” record come about? Have you met Bighead before?
[Laughs] Yeah Bighead that’s the homie man, his thot ass. But basically shit I FaceTimed Bighead random as fuck one day actually with a red bandana and a red Durag and I was trolling him and shit, but then he said he fucked with me and wanted to know who I was so yeah he sent me the beat a few months ago before we met in person at the Lil Pump Show in Milwaukee he got me backstage it was the littest show I been to by far.
Who are some of your biggest influences or what did you grow up listening to?
I grew up listening to a lot of jazz and shit. I played the double bass and trumpet growing up, my dad was a drummer, he got me my first karaoke. I grew up listening to a lot of Kanye, Kid Cudi, Drake, Biggie, Nas, and a lot of the old battle rappers like Cassidy, Reed Dollaz, Arsenal, etc. My biggest influence in this music shit though is Chief Keef or the Migos. When Sosa came out I was on him before he blew up I used to listen to songs like “Bang,” “Off the Meter,” “John Madden,” I was in my glo for real for real.
Can’t go wrong with Keef. He’s a legend and pretty much inspired this whole new wave. Where’s your favorite place you’ve performed so far?
So far man my favorite performance was the last one in St. Paul, Minnesota just because it was the most recent with my new music. I opened for Migos in Memphis January 2017, that was live too.
Any future collaborations you have in the works or that you want to happen?
I got a few songs with Lerado, one with Rooski and Lerado, one Adot unreleased and 10cellphones. Smokepurpp, Supa Bwe, and Grownboi Trap told me send opens but they ain’t send shit back yet, you know how that go [laughs].
We’re looking forward to those. What are your personal goals for 2018?
I wanna hit a million streams on a song man, and I want to move to LA. Or back to Texas where I originally started my career and shit. I also want to get back in the gym I been capping, I need to get back on it, this rap shit been all drugs and bullshit. Other than that I just want to keep getting money and making sure my family straight man. I don’t really care about the fame and shit if it comes, it comes.
I respect that. Anything else you want to add or tell the fans?
Shit, just stay in tune for what’s next and go run my music up. I got a lot of versatile shit on my Soundcloud, and will be on Apple Music this month. And to all the people out there that want to live their life how they want and not how someone else pictures their life, go fucking get whatever you want and do what you feel is right for you.
Check out Jiggy The Goat’s song “Anxiety” above, and listen to the rest of his music here.