"Jwalt said his motivation for rapping is trying to make people happy with his songs, that it’s his medicine after having a bad day, and his relief."
-Trevor Walton
Justin Carter Walton, a.k.a, Jwalt, is a 16-year-old rapper, poet, and activist. Jwalt has met with many people like Sway Calloway, from “Sway in the Morning”, DJ Toure, Common, Talib Kweli, Black Thought, Stephen Curry, Mistah Fab, and many more. Jwalt is a independent artist, but is signed to a management company called Creative Theory LLC, and is managed by his father, Dewayne Walton. Jwalt's music has been on Youtube, Soundcloud, Spotify, iTunes, Google Play music, and many more digital platforms. Jwalt has been doing poetry since he was 8 years old and started rapping when he was in the 6th grade.
Jwalts’ most recent song “We ridin” features Oke Junior, Mistah Fab, and and another OSA student, Genesis Chambers. The song is about the Bay Area Hip-hop scene and paying homage to the ones who came before him. This is one of my favorite songs by him because he has great flow, the chorus is really catchy, and the beat is really good. One of my other favorite songs by him is called “Oh Man” featuring Ajai Kasim and Seiji Oda. The song has a nice rhythm and the tempo is just right.
When I interviewed Jwalt on his life, he told me how he first started doing poetry in elementary school at the oratorical fest in second grade. After, he did his first rap song which is “Just a Dream.” It’s about dreaming in the world not being scared of police. Jwalt said his motivation for rapping is trying to make people happy with his songs, that it’s his medicine after having a bad day, and his relief.
“Everything I make I try to have a message in it,” Jwalt said. “I don’t make music just for nothing. I feel like music is my language That everyone can relate to everywhere in the world”.
Jwalt went to East Bay School for Boys for middle school, and now attends high school at the one and only, Oakland School for the Arts. When Jwalt came to OSA, he was a spoken word artist. He got into Journalism and that’s his backup plan if his forever rap career doesn’t work out. He met CKerr and Ms. Karnes, Literary Arts teachers who helped Jwalt with so many things, making him a better writer today. Studying spoken word with his friend, Audacious, also pushed him to the limit with his poetry.
At only 16, he had so much amazing things in his career like being the youngest to be in the Doomsday Cypher which is a show hosted by Sway Calloway in New York city, meeting Common at a panel, performing with Daveed Diggs who was in Blindspotting and was in Hamilton the musical, and performing at Hiero day which is a one-day best hip hop festival of the East Bay and it’s a chance where people can experience hip-hop culture and other amazing things there.
I asked Jwalt on when his next song is coming out and what the title might be. His replied that he can’t say the title of the song or what it’s about. But, it’s coming out soon. I asked him who his top 5 inspirational rappers are, and responded with J-Cole, Common, Tupac, Biggie, and Lauryn Hill. The last question I wanted to ask is what is the best thing being a rapper. He replied that the best thing in being a rapper is telling a story as a rapper people can relate to.
Jwalts’ most recent song “We ridin” features Oke Junior, Mistah Fab, and and another OSA student, Genesis Chambers. The song is about the Bay Area Hip-hop scene and paying homage to the ones who came before him. This is one of my favorite songs by him because he has great flow, the chorus is really catchy, and the beat is really good. One of my other favorite songs by him is called “Oh Man” featuring Ajai Kasim and Seiji Oda. The song has a nice rhythm and the tempo is just right.
When I interviewed Jwalt on his life, he told me how he first started doing poetry in elementary school at the oratorical fest in second grade. After, he did his first rap song which is “Just a Dream.” It’s about dreaming in the world not being scared of police. Jwalt said his motivation for rapping is trying to make people happy with his songs, that it’s his medicine after having a bad day, and his relief.
“Everything I make I try to have a message in it,” Jwalt said. “I don’t make music just for nothing. I feel like music is my language That everyone can relate to everywhere in the world”.
Jwalt went to East Bay School for Boys for middle school, and now attends high school at the one and only, Oakland School for the Arts. When Jwalt came to OSA, he was a spoken word artist. He got into Journalism and that’s his backup plan if his forever rap career doesn’t work out. He met CKerr and Ms. Karnes, Literary Arts teachers who helped Jwalt with so many things, making him a better writer today. Studying spoken word with his friend, Audacious, also pushed him to the limit with his poetry.
At only 16, he had so much amazing things in his career like being the youngest to be in the Doomsday Cypher which is a show hosted by Sway Calloway in New York city, meeting Common at a panel, performing with Daveed Diggs who was in Blindspotting and was in Hamilton the musical, and performing at Hiero day which is a one-day best hip hop festival of the East Bay and it’s a chance where people can experience hip-hop culture and other amazing things there.
I asked Jwalt on when his next song is coming out and what the title might be. His replied that he can’t say the title of the song or what it’s about. But, it’s coming out soon. I asked him who his top 5 inspirational rappers are, and responded with J-Cole, Common, Tupac, Biggie, and Lauryn Hill. The last question I wanted to ask is what is the best thing being a rapper. He replied that the best thing in being a rapper is telling a story as a rapper people can relate to.