Julez Smith is so fly! The nine-year-old already has vast knowledge of music and training from a number of Hollywood greats. Mr. Smith’s mom, Solange Knowles, opens up to NPR about her son’s talent.
“Well, I honestly try to have the approach that this is real life. This is the real world that we live in, and I don’t really try to shelter him from a lot of things that he’s gonna see when he looks out of the window,” says Solange of her contribution to Julez’s growth in the music industry. “There’s obviously a certain level of profanity or sexual profanity that I draw the line at, but he loves Jay, he loves his latest album.”
Julez is into the new electric dance movement known as Dubstep. “He’s loving Dubstep. Like loving Europe drum and bass Dubstep vibes, so. It’s super interesting because it’s never been played in our household but I think it’s something that’s sort of becoming a phenomenon with kids his age because — I believe they have exposure to it through video games or something.”
In addition to getting inspiration from video games, Julez is learning about music from various Hip Hop artists of the time. “He knows a bunch of Tribe records,” says Solange. “He was actually like, four, saying ‘Bonita Applebum,’ super, super cute. I have footage of it. And I’ve played him some Nas records. I kind of curate through the ones that I think are important for him to hear. And there’s some newer hip-hop, that I’m cool with him listening to.”
The singer adds, “He also loves Macklemore, which is not an artist that I have in my rotation, but he — it’s on the radio. He responds to it and it’s, it’s positive, so. He’s the first guy that I had to do the, ‘My son loves you, will you take a picture with him?’ thing at The Roots Picnic and I just felt so annoying, like you’re really becoming a mom. Like a real mom.”
