June You Are : The Pre-Med Rapper

Unheard Voices Magazine is proud to present June You Are!

In a partnership with Reverbnation, Unheard Voices had the opportunity to choose artists, who are claiming their fame, to be featured in the UV’s Unheard Underground

After many submissions and narrowing it down to only four, Unheard Voices Magazine is proud to present winner: June You Are!

Next door you can hear a raging college party. Instead of joining the party, he ignores the noise, and locks himself in a dorm room.

He will spend the entire night working relentlessly perfecting his music and studying biology as a pre-med student. These are the conditions that created June You Are.

Junior Obour (June You Are) hails from New Jersey, a region saturated with hip hop talent.

June started making noise his freshman year of college with the release of 90’s Kids (a tribute to his 90’s childhood and associate group – 90’s Clique). Shortly after his first release, the internet instantly began buzzing about this new artist.

It did not take long for his music to get into the right hands, scoring him an opening act for Warner Brother’s artist Talib Kweli.

June does not view his music as a career, job, or profession. He views his music as a movement, reaching into the minds and souls of those who listen. Judging by his early success, it is likely that this movement is in its infancy stages, on the verge of exploding.

Unheard Voices Magazine asked June You Are some great questions for artists on the rise. Take some time to learn more about June You Are and listen to his track “Pound Cake”.

UV:  When did you fall in love with music?

June You Are : I fell in love with music at an early age actually. Growing up I admired Michael Jackson and at the age of 8 I started listening to Hip Hop. Eminem was huge for me and that just led into me listening to 50 Cent. 50 I loved so much because of his story and the attitude he had at all times. I started listening to all of his mixtapes and when Get Rich or Die Tryin’ dropped I was obsessed. It made me go back and listen to artists like Pac.

UV : How long have you been creating and performing music?

June You Are: Last year I built a studio inside of my dorm room. I taught myself how to mix and edit music so that I could put my sh-t out whenever I wanted to. That was important for me because I didn’t want to have to wait for anyone. My manager got me a show opening for Talib Kweli and it was dope to get on stage for the first time right before a legend in the game.

Unheard Voices: Tell the Unheard Voices readers what your passions are and who or what motivates you to continue to strive in a cut throat industry?

June You Are: I just really have a passion for putting my emotions into a song format. I feel like it’s the best way for me to get my ideas across.

The freedom of making music is incredible. I love creating flows and trying different styles. I study a lot of rappers and at this point I’m just trying to become a better writer, which is what keeps me going.

Obviously there is much talent out there and this is a cut throat industry, but for some reason that doesn’t bother me. I know that I’m doing something that makes me happy and that’s all that matters right now.

UV : How would you describe your music?

June You Are: My music is just an extension of my character. I delve into my daily struggles and where I’ve come from, but I also love to have a good time.

I like music that generates a response, good or bad. The last thing you’d want is no one to have an opinion or care at all.

UV: Describe your style in one or two words.

June You Are: No Limit.

UV: How would you describe rap today?

June You Are: Rap today is actually very diverse. People like to say hip hop is dead but I think it’s far from it. Because of the Internet and social media, you don’t have to listen to what the radio force feeds you.

At any time you can search for the newest music and cater to what you want to hear. You have guys like Kanye and Drake setting the bar, infusing different genres into their music. And then, you have rappers like Kendrick who keep it strictly hip hop with a new flavor. Then you have the guys who make music for people to dance to. What intrigues me the most is the music coming out of Chicago and Florida. Young guys that are living in bad areas, growing up gang banging and talking about it in their music. People get angry but it’s so raw for a reason. Reality is what they rap about and I admire the struggle.

UV: What forthcoming projects are currently in progress?

June You Are: I’m currently working on my first full length project and a mixtape of remixes to popular songs.

I remember listening to 50 Cent is the future and hearing him make catchier versions of popular songs.

I’m trying to remodel that and take it a little further, almost like Lil Wayne did with No Ceilings.

On top of that, I’m working on a project called “Memoirs of a Broke College Student”. I want it to be completely original with a style similar to Kendrick’s “Section 80”. It’s a concept based album and there will be reoccurring themes throughout. I really want to test how ambitious of a writer I can become while working on this project.

UV: How long have you been a member of Reverbnation?

June You Are: I’ve been a member for almost a full year now.

UV:  How do you feel about Reverbnation creating this opportunity?

June You Are: I think it’s dope that reverbnation is giving artists like me a chance to get our story and music out to a wider audience. The most difficult part about the music industry is probably entering and that alone explains the significance of this opportunity.

UV:  Who are your musical influences?

June You Are: My musical influences include OutKast, 50 Cent, Kendrick Lamar, Michael Jackson, Eminem, and Frank Ocean to name a few.

UV: What influenced you to begin your music career?

June You Are: I just wanted to follow a passion that I had for a while. It struck me that you’re only this age for a flash of time, and I’d like to try to accomplish my crazy goals while I’m still young.

UV: What advice do you have for other indie artists trying to succeed?

June You Are: My best advice would be to stay humble and always try to improve your sound. I’m always trying to take notes from artists and improve. Some artists like to come into the game with too much pride and it’ll take you nowhere. I’m willing to and ready to accept any feedback on my music just so I can make it better.

UV: What is the hardest challenge you have encountered with building your fan base?

June You Are: The hardest challenge is definitely loosing sight of what’s most important and that’s having fun and being yourself. Too many times I’ve caught myself trying to please everyone with my music and I’ve learned to accept that everyone won’t like everything. You have to have fun on the track and let your personality show. I would get to points where I wouldn’t see the response I was expecting and I would get very frustrated, almost to the point where id call it quits. However I kept myself grounded by realizing I should just have fun with it.

UV: How in tune are you with your fans?

June You Are: I’m very in tune with my fans. I’m very big on interacting through social media. I’m constantly uploading to instagram and twitter just to keep fans engaged in some way in between releasing songs.

UV: Has anyone ever given you negative feedback on your music, if so how did you react to it?

June You Are: I’ve gotten a lot of negative feedback but that’s what comes along with producing art. Not everyone is going to look at it the same way, so I always try to listen to what people have to say in order to improve. Any feedback in my eyes is positive feedback because the worst thing would be no feedback at all.

UV: What do you hope to gain by being featured in Unheard Voices Magazine?

June You Are: I hope that anyone who reads will see that I’m just a genuine kid trying to break into this industry. I’m still a pre med college student and I’m balancing both of my dreams because I’m too stubborn to sacrifice one. I really would like to test the limits of what our elders say we’re capable of doing.

UV:  How important and how difficult is it to support your career with your own funding?

June You Are : It’s extremely difficult considering I have boatloads of school fees to pay, in addition to dues for fraternity affairs. But supporting my music is very important to me so I never second guess any dollar I spend. In not making any money right now, but I feel good because I know I’m pouring my all into my music and hopefully someday, something great will come from it.

UV: Would you rather be signed or remain independent and why?

June You Are : I would love to be signed, but independent wouldn’t be bad either. As long as I can reach the audience and generate good music in a situation where I’m always in the studio or performing, I’ll be happy. Cats like Macklemore are out here independently and winning Grammys so anything is possible.

UV: If you want to be signed, which label peaks your interest and why?

June You Are : I would definitely love to be signed to TDE. I love the movement they have going over there. If not, I’d want to be singer to OVO, Rocknation, or GOOD Music. Those are the labels that I feel are changing the sound of HipHop.

UV: How has social media affected your career?

June You Are : Social media is the reason I have I career. I started this journey last year when I uploaded my first song to Soundcloud. Because I already had a large amount of friends on Facebook, I made a Facebook music page and invited everyone I possibly could. Somehow, it started to catch on and I begin to receive thousands of plays. I was then approached by my current manager on Facebook and I thought I was being Catfish. It went from that to video chatting him and then signing a management contract and flying out to LA to record.

Check out Pound Cake below: