Harlem rapper TJ Porter didn’t always plan on becoming rapper — his aspirations were on the court. That all changed after an ankle injury and the death of one of his closest friends. From then on, TJ made two songs, which have garnered over 400 thousand views in less than a year. The athlete-turned-rapper has also already signed with one of hip hop’s biggest record labels — Def Jam, and is on the verge of mainstream popularity.
With the onslaught of new music being released by the young rapper, we decided to sit down and have a conversation with him about who he is, how he’s gotten this far, and his plans for the future.
Underground Underdogs: Can you introduce yourself for the people who may not have heard of you before?
TJ Porter: My name’s TJ Porter, I’m from Harlem, and I just signed to Def Jam. I play a little bit of basketball and all that [laughs], and yeah I’m just working on new singles and projects.
While doing our research we found that you were initially hoping to play basketball professionally, but switched to taking your music seriously in memory of your friend, can you break that situation down some more?
Yeah, so before my friend died, I had made a song when we were like 13, and he always told me to rap but I was just playing basketball. Every time he would tell me “You should rap, you should rap.” and he passed away due to gun violence. After I was going through our messages, and saw that he was always telling me to rap so I just decided to start it again, and the first song I did just went viral.
At what point did the music become a legitimate career path for you, as opposed to basketball?
It became a clear path for me when I broke my ankle. I met Wayne (a veteran manager) in about about October 2017, which was cool for me but I wasn’t sure about what they were going to do. Then my ankle broke during the season, so basketball starting slowing up and I started locking in the studio more, and my songs started coming out way better, so I decided I wanted to rap more.
Who would you say your biggest musical influences are, especially being from Harlem?
Overall, I’d say Meek Mill, Nas, Lil Durk, people like that because I feel what they say. New York has influenced me a lot, I just talk about what I go through, what I see, and what’s going on that nobody else is talking about in the city, because there’s a lot of real stuff that’s going on and people are hurting. A lot of people don’t have the courage to say it, but I think I do, so I just say it in my songs.
I’ve heard about your reputation on the courts, what other rappers have you played with?
I’ve played basketball with Desiigner before, Meek Mill, a lot of people and superstars. I’ve played with some of the top prospects coming up.
We know that you have a deal with Def Jam, but how did that come to fruition?
It was during a phase of time where I didn’t think that music was going so good. I was on the phone with my cousins, telling them that I was going to stop, and thinking of thanking Wayne for the opportunity, but that it wasn’t working out. Wayne had called me though, and said that Def Jam wanted to sign me. It was crazy that I was just about to quit, but he had made me meet with with a whole bunch of A&R’s, and it just went from there. They had put me in the studio with CashMoneyAP, I really like his beats. From there after that, I made a song called “stars,” and they wanted to sign me so I decided to sign
Was the decision to sign immediate, or did you wait a bit before making the decision?
Nah, we waited. We’re not the type of people to jump on the first offer, everything has to be good. No amount of money could make me, I make myself, my words make me. The money doesn’t make me.
What type of production do you look for in the studio, how does your song making process work?
It basically depends on what type of mood I’m in. If I’m in a happy mood, I’ll make songs like Glowin’ Up. If I’m feeling hyped, I make songs like that, I look for a heavy bass and something that’s uptempo. Depending on the mood, sometimes I’ll feel like talking about something that’s real and will actually touch people.
Let’s talk about your new EP Pregame for a second. What can fans expect from it?
They can expect a lot of new music, good melodies, good flows. I believe that a lot of people are going to like the new sound because I haven’t dropped in a while. I’ve only dropped two songs in 11 months, but I’ve been posting snippets, which are going crazy. I know people are waiting for it to drop, and I hope that I’ll get good feedback.
What collabs and features can we expect on the tape?
Nothing too big. It’s cool to work with other artists but I have to establish myself first. I have songs with other people, but nothing on Pregame.
Who are the people you would like to collaborate with?
I wanna collaborate with Lil Durk, Lil Baby, A Boogie. People like that, with that sound. I know it’s going to take a lot of work to get where I want to be but I’m willing to put that work in.
How did you release only two songs and reach the numbers that you have?
Actually, we didn’t have a plan for it at the time, like those two songs were throwaways. I called Wayne, because I wanted to drop new music and he told me not to drop the first one, but I did anyways. It just went crazy from there. The second song, we didn’t know it if was going to go that crazy, but it did go crazy.
Lastly, what would you like readers to know about you?
Never be afraid to be yourself, you know, do what you want. I feel like I’m the only artist who doesn’t smoke or drink. I could be in the studio and everybody could be doing it, but I won’t because that’s not who I am. I feel like I’m the voice of the trenches. To me, you really stand out more if you don’t do what everybody else is doing.
Listen to TJ’s brand new EP “Pregame” down below