Benjamin Stackz

“The Woman In the Red Dress” Congestion, suits and ties, black and white, everyone briskly moving in the same direction… Like a New York street, the monotony of hip hop and R&B consumes us at a rapid pace, and we realize that something’s missing. Something to get us plugged in. That “It” Factor. Something to refurbish from the inside out the path of uniformity that music as we know it has begun to take. Fortunately, every so often we are lucky enough to have something grab our attentio...

“The Woman In the Red Dress” Congestion, suits and ties, black and white, everyone briskly moving in the same direction… Like a New York street, the monotony of hip hop and R&B consumes us at a rapid pace, and we realize that something’s missing. Something to get us plugged in. That “It” Factor. Something to refurbish from the inside out the path of uniformity that music as we know it has begun to take. Fortunately, every so often we are lucky enough to have something grab our attention, something out of the ordinary that disrupts the typical repetition. I am that something! I am “The Woman in the Red Dress” amidst a sea of black and white. Full of infectious, positive energy that is impossible to ignore; a melodic voice and swagger that leaves onlookers perplexed… yet mesmerized; Eager to usher in a new generation of youth-reigned Hip Hop, R&B, and Pop… we introduce to you: Jai. Green “Plugged In” In an industry filled with followers and individuals who would rather emulate others as opposed to setting the tone, Jai. Green finds himself doing the exact opposite while trying to find a balance between real and surreal. “I see things through a different set of eyes so to speak,” artist and performer Jai. Green comments. “The music industry might see in X’s and O’s, and although I am able to see the same thing, I can also see the many different avenues one can take to interpret them.” He explains that making music is not just about simply putting music to a beat. In his opinion, it involves creating an image and allowing yourself to truly get fully plugged in to the task at hand. “If I can’t see it, I don’t write it,” Green states. Reality plays an important part in the construction of the music Green writes. He feels that real life experience is what gives music a “soul” and is what will ultimately provide a common ground with which the audience, or listener, can relate. “The ‘It’ Factor” The ‘It’ Factor, according to Green, is “anything with a catchy melody or something that is so left field it just might work.” Green goes on to add, “Whether we’re talking about music artists or a business, everything that has become successful has had some level of an ‘It’ Factor.” When it comes to creating his songs, this composer tends to keep his mind focused on developing something unique that will stand out from his colleagues. When it comes to selecting a beat or working with an artist, variability is always a must. Music is not just a recent hobby for Green. “I’ve been writing raps and perfecting my craft since high school… just writing lines. If I thought of a hot line, I’d jot it down and come back to it,” he comments. As lines turned into hooks, hooks into verses, and verses into songs, this is where the journey began for this fresh-faced composer who wrote his first two official R&B songs in 2008 while in his freshman year of college. Songs entitled “Sorority Girls” and “Traffic Light” became local hits creating a name for Green on campus as the man you want to see for R&B songs and hot hooks. This would be the first of many times Green would experience the fruits of success as a writer and composer. Despite what you may think, Green was not always a just the man behind the scenes composing the lyrics for others to get “the shine” off of. He also has and continues to perform his original compositions which have landed him gigs at venues such as Georgia Perimeter College’s Spring Fling, an extensive number of Open Mic Nights, and an invitation to perform at Howard University’s Homecoming. His first single, entitled “My Love,” which gives insight into some of Green’s past intimate relationships, is currently in rotation on Tampa Bay’s own WBUL College Radio where he was also featured as an artist. “My Love” finished in the Top 10 on the Hip-Hop charts of Ourstage.com and is ranked first in Georgia and second in the Southeast. Green’s second single “Secrets,” which he feels that the entire female audience will be able to relate to in one way or another, is scheduled to make is debut second quarter. “From The Inside Out” An Atlanta, Georgia native by way of Dayton, Ohio, Jai. Green currently resides in Orangeburg, South Carolina where he attends Claflin University, a Historically Black College and University. Majoring in mass communications with a concentration is radio, sound, and television production, Green looks to be indispensable in the music industry. In 2007, Green landed a Junior A&R internship at Rowdy Records/D.A.R.P. Inc. He was blessed to be in the presence artists and producers such as Dallas Austin, DJ Green Lantern, Short Dawg, Chili and T-Boz of TLC, Sammie, and Kamye West. Green took this opportunity, one only given to a select few, to become a student of Hip Hop and to learn from the unique style of each and every person he came in contact with. This allowed him to perfect his craft as he allowed others to critique the music he carried with him on a daily basis. “I wouldn’t take ‘No’ for an answer,” Green remarks, and this persistence is what set him apart and got him noticed by Mr. Southern Smoke himself. Eventually, DJ Smallz ended up asking Green to do an introduction for his syndicated “Southern Smoke Radio Show” which would be only one of the many opportunities that would enter the path of this up-and-coming R&B icon.