We don’t always find our true purposes until later in our lives. For New Jersey’s Juice Potter, it took years of sports and imbalance to find his love in music. The first Harry Potter movie is his favorite of the series, which tells me that he’s not afraid of being patient in the dynamic world we live in. Defining success as “seeing everybody around [him] eating,” Juice fuels himself for the road ahead. With venues shut down, I spoke with the Gryffindor alum about his past, present, and future, including the upcoming Project Potter.
Zac: Who is Juice Potter and where is he from?
JP: Juice Potter is an evil genius. He makes music. He makes magic, more or less. He’s a very brilliant guy. He’s from Miami, FL, and he was born in 2017. He aged so fast, it’s crazy. He’s a magician. He’s a wizard who graduated from Hogwarts. *evil genius laugh*
Juice tells me a couple of stories about how he arrived at his moniker. “Juice” was coined after he brought more than enough lean to a birthday party in 2012. A playful jab in 2017 about his round, gold-framed glasses tacked on the surname “Potter,” which fit him because he was already a Harry Potter fan.
How long have you been making music and what got you started?
I played football all of my life. Music had always been present, I just never paid attention to it. The first time I made a song was in 2009 with my cousin. We would smoke and freestyle. One particular day he wanted to record … Thats what got me rapping, but I was still focused on football, football, football. I really started rapping in 2016 after getting kicked out of school on some bullshit. I was with my cousin –different cousin– and I freestyled some hard shit. He [immediately told me to write it down] … So we went to the studio and recorded it. I found love in it. It really started to be something for me, my heartbeat.
When you really started to fall in love with music who were your biggest influences?
For me, [I found influence in] people like Jay-Z, Master P, and 50 Cent. People of that stature really motivate me. They not only mastered the rapping aspect, but they got the business aspect down pat as well. They let people eat, it’s not like they were being selfish with it either. I don’t have to have the millions and hits that they have, but I aspire to achieve that level of success.
What typically gets you in the mood to create?
Just life. When life happens, good or bad. It makes me wanna express myself. I don’t really have people to express myself to, so I use my music. When good or bad shit happens, I wanna talk about it, and my tracks are where I talk about it.
Tell me more about your upcoming tape, Project Potter.
The greatest project you could ever build is yourself. I feel like I’ve been building myself up from the ground to where I’m at now. I’m still building of course, but I’m a project myself. [The title] Project Potter just seemed so fitting to me. We’re on the rise, coming up. As far as the vibe…I want you tapping your foot and bobbing your head. It might put a smile on your face.
Have you put out a project of this size before?
This is my first project of this size. I put out an EP which was a toss together. One day, one of my fans hit me on Soundcloud like, “I listened to all your songs to the point that I can’t listen anymore. I need some more music.” I was like, “Damn. There must be more people that feel like that.” I picked the 5 best songs that I thought I had and put them out. Potterville was a rushjob for the fans.
[Project Potter] is my first tape/album really getting behind and putting the work in. This is the real deal right here.
What are you about to eat after this conversation?
I’m going to Jefferson’s Cafe in Montclair. I’m getting chicken and waffles, or maybe the fish and waffles. Whatever I’m getting it’s gonna be with waffles. And an uptown (lemonade and iced tea), no ice.
This is another thing I’ve never told anybody: I’m listening to the radio one day and [they’re discussing] a study on ice in restaurants. Why did the study come back that 98% of ice in restaurants has a trace of feces on it? I don’t get ice when I go out to eat anywhere. I don’t care if its Applebee’s, Red Lobster, etc. Dont give me ice in my drink.
Besides “86 the ice,” what’s your motto for the way you live your life?
It’s on my chain. FNF. That’s a way of living for me. My definition of family is “people that are loyal to me, are there when I need them, have my best interest at heart, and never let me question their loyalty”.
FNF. Family, no friends. Fear no foes. Finances, no feeling. Fast ‘n Furious. FNF has a universal meaning. Whatever you feel like FNF means to you, you can put that in place if it fits.
Follow Juice on Instagram @jugopotter to watch his journey unfold.
