Meet Jamaal Franklin

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jamaal Franklin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jamaal, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

I’m a big fan of art, in many forms. I love to imagine the process, what the art looked like from day one to the day it was completed. So I’m always excited about seeing or hearing finished products! That’s a major push for me to do the work and get it done. It may take seconds, minutes, maybe even years, but that finished product? I can’t even explain how great it feels to reach that finish line! My work ethic stems from motivation and inspiration. That’s typically how it starts, right?

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I was born in Memphis, TN but I’m currently based in Dallas, TX. I’m also a triplet; two brothers, Sam Franklin IV and Christopher Franklin. We all came up together, we share the same story. We started off on drums basically at birth because our Dad is a drummer. We started playing piano around the age of 6, after our Mom put us in piano lessons. It sort of grew from there, someway somehow I ended up playing a guitar, and that’s what captivated me. I started traveling professionally when I turned 18. I didn’t get into production until the Pandemic happened… and it changed my life for the better. It opened up my mind to so many musical possibilities. Everything single moment that has happened to get me to this exact moment in time, I’m grateful for! I’m currently working on my first project, I’ve been working on it since 2016, and it’s taken so many forms. I honestly don’t have an estimate for completion, I tend to put everyone else’s work before my own, which isn’t a problem. I just love music, so as long as I’m doing what I love, I’m happy.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

That’s a great question!
Number one: Be a part of the music, not on top of the music. When you’re playing, arranging, or anything of that nature, are you listening to yourself, or are you listening to the entire body of work? Always keep that in mind.

Number two: Less is more. I’m an old soul! I often times find myself listening to music from the 60s to the 80s because music was much simpler then. It’s easy for me to ride in the car and just have a good time. I don’t like to think when I’m listening to music. If I find myself thinking too hard, it’s not enjoyable. There’s not a lot of enjoyable music out now, but I feel that can change sooner than later.

Number three: Make sure your personal life matches your professional life. Something I say all the time is “Focus on trying to win instead of focusing on trying not to lose.” If you are excelling professionally, you should be excelling personally. Don’t get caught up in the rat race. You can lock yourself in your work, but at the end of the day, you have to go home, eat a nice meal, and enjoy that time. Happiness and prosperity is the priority here.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?

An ideal client for me is someone who is easy to work with while we are working, and pleasant to be around when we aren’t working. They have to be willing to get out of their own way. The relationship between the producer and the artist should be seamless. There can be disagreements, but not any arguments. There’s a great quote that I got from legendary producer, Jimmy Jam, and it says,” An argument is something that you’re trying to win, but a disagreement is something that you’re trying to solve.”

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Alex Yassrr
AS07

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