Press Lives Matter: Jack Gregory, StreamCut A&R/Lyrical Lemonade Contributor
Written by Greg Harris
Press Lives Matters have been a stapling a platform for Modern Life Mag and has given the stage for individuals to voice their experiences in their creative + impactful careers. Scoping from different industries, this particular series painted a unique picture of Modern Life’s diverse ethos. It gave the spotlight to the key playmakers that’s making their line of work shine differently.
As Modern Life continues the tradition of a reader’s favorite, we dive face-forward into the story of Jack Gregory, an emerging dot connector in the music industry that hails from Nashville, Tennessee. Coming from a place that carries a rich history in music, Gregory has found ways a playing a pivotal role into breaking new talent with his from Music City Underground, Elevator, and now Lyrical Lemonade. As far as his writing has gotten him in his career, he’s now happened to break even more records with becoming an A&R at StreamCut, a groundbreaking company that’s shaped some of today’s stars on their versatile roster.
During this Press Lives Matter conversation, we had the opportunity to discuss his upbringing, his pretty impactful journalism career, how’s his recent experience with StreamCut, and much more.
Check out the new exclusive story below.
How’s Your Modern Life?
My life is busier than ever before. In the past two months, I left school and accepted a full-time a&r job with Streamcut and cannot wait to see what all the new decade brings.
What are three things you have to do when you first wake up in the morning?
Every morning I wake up and check for missed calls, emails, texts, etc. and then I hop on SoundCloud and YouTube to catch up on any recent releases before taking a shower and starting my day.
When it comes to your upbringing, how would you describe growing up?
My parents were both incredibly hard-working and always made sure that we were provided for and are relentless in supporting my dreams. I grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in West Nashville and got to see my city completely transform in the past decade, going from an average regional city to one of the fastest-growing places in the entire country. I played sports all throughout my childhood and that was one of the first avenues where I could express my love for music because my teammates and I would always bond over what music we were listening to at the time and that put a spirit of discovery in me very early on.
What were some instrumental moments to you when it came to you and your love for music?
My love for music really began when I got my first iPod in like 2011 and after having it for a few months I started digging a ton on Hulkshare and DatPiff and those were the really instrumental moments of me shaping my first tastes. At this point, I was really into projects like Meek Mill's "Dreamchasers" series, all of the Lil Wayne "Dedication" mixtapes of course, and Chief Keef who captivated the attention of literally any person under eighteen when he dropped and these were the first artists that I got into beyond a standard casual listening experience and I don't think there could have been a better era to immerse myself into.
What were some influential bodies of music that shaped your ear into what styles of music that you like?
I would say that Joey Bada$$ and Chief Keef were easily the most influential in helping hone my taste from a young age and to this day will still gravitate to rappers that are using either of those artists as a primary source of influence. It wasn't until about 2014 when I downloaded SoundCloud that music started to become my whole life. Isaiah Rashad's Cilvia Demo and his collection of tracks that became known as "Pieces of a Kid" each had huge impacts on me, obviously, Chief Keef and the entire Chicago Drill scene shaped my interests very strongly and the whole concept of "local rappers" that he birthed is so interesting to me to this day, also the aesthetics of the '90's revival that Joey Bada$$ and all of the Beast Coast movement championed moved my eyes towards more of an emphasis on visual and creative direction. This all leads to the "SoundCloud" scene that started to formalize my involvement in music and that era has been massively canonized already but if artists like Bones, Xavier Wulf, and Thouxanbanfauni had never blown up I probably would never have ended up writing about music in the first place.
During the course of your career, you’ve been an established writer and helped many. What got your start in this area and how has this helped you?
Writing has always been something I loved, and even as early as elementary school I always wrote for the school paper or something of that nature, but when I first got to high school I started a blog about Nashville's hip-hop scene and called it Music City Underground. I talked a lot about our city's music scene obviously but also I wrote a lot about local politics, and gentrification in particular, and this put my writing onto the radar of many who would've never visited my site otherwise.
As my blog began to increase its local and internet notoriety new people started to take notice and one of them was Bryan Zawlocki of ELEVATOR who brought me on as a staff writer during the summer going into my senior year of high school and this gave me the platform necessary to move my writing to a larger audience. Writing gave me so many connections with artists, producers, A&Rs, graphic designers, videographers, and other dope people within the music business and that network of creatives and business minds bolstered my career more quickly than I ever thought possible.
How has it been working with the likes of ELEVATOR and Lyrical Lemonade, and how have they helped you with your profession as of today?
ELEVATOR was really what began my "industry" career if you will and I learned so much about topics ranging from how to properly structure releases, to new ways to dig and discover new artists, and even taught me a great deal about matters like copyright law and YouTube algorithms. Bryan gave me so much invaluable advice and experience and trusted me to write about whatever I was passionate about and luckily enough it seemed like people enjoyed what I had to say.
I've only been with Lyrical Lemonade for a couple of months now but Seamus and Elliot have built a wonderful group of writers and all of us are competitive with each other on trying to beat each other to new releases and this has really rekindled a love of music writing that I was beginning to find monotony in.
In this fast pace of music and the industry that comes along with it, it’s a lot to bare to say the least. What are some high points and low points you want to touch on in today’s music game we’re apart of?
The music industry is exhausting and I really have hated almost all of the politics that go along with it. People expect you to do things for them for absolutely no reason and people have zero shame in asking you for favors but have the nerve to be rude when you can't oblige them and having had innumerable interactions like this for the past two years has turned me into a much more reserved person, but this new level of inaccessibility has made it way easier to get work done and navigate new circles.
However I cannot lie, I really enjoy getting to meet rappers and other people in the industry that I have always looked up to. It is always fun to brag to my friends about meeting artists that we have been listening to for years and I have always made sure to be a fan before anything else, and this mindset gave me a lot more appreciation and passion for the work I am doing. As far as industry storylines I've been keeping up with I have been particularly enthralled by NBA YoungBoy and how he has been able to captivate the nation's youth in such an all-consuming manner.
Being on the side of the good guys, you’ve joined the forces of Streamcut. How has it been working with them and being able to express your love and truth for music with a fast growing company?
Streamcut has been a dream already and I am surrounded by so many wonderful people that are helping guide me. I recently signed my first artist who is an eighteen-year-old rapper from Nashville named TeamLilStraw, and we are planning on putting his first project titled "Cautious" out in the next month, and this process has been new and difficult but tremendously rewarding already.
Straw is an incredibly gifted artist from a technical standpoint but his message is absolutely indispensable, especially for those from Nashville. I also just brought on a producer named Topper Atwood who is unbelievably gifted and I think he has all the tools necessary to become a household name in this industry. I'm really looking forward to seeing who else I have the chance to work with in 2020 as well.
Working with Streamcut, what areas you feel like you guys will be able to make an impact for years to come?
We have done a fantastic job of adapting to an industry that is changing at light speed thanks to the expedited progress that the internet has provided for, but no other companies are really offering deals like ours. We guarantee complete ownership to any artists or producers who are signed to us and this alone is a game-changer in an industry that more and more is robbing creatives of their publishing catalogs.
STREAMCUT ARTISTS + PRODUCERS
This has been major for us, especially on the publishing side, since we have assembled a stable of producers that are rivaled by very few and we have had huge success in securing a lot of major placements for them and our royalty collection services are unrivaled. We constantly adapt to all of the new challenges and opportunities that arise and I think we will only be able to help artists more in the future because of that mindset towards innovation.
When it comes to Jack Gregory, what are some lifetime goals you want to sketch out for yourself that don’t necessarily involve this airtight industry?
My only goal for the work I do in music is to change lives. There is nothing more rewarding than helping artists make enough money from their work to support themselves. The more people I can help reach that destination the better, and the day that I can no longer do that is the day where I will pivot to a new industry, but until then I can't really foresee myself ever wanting to do anything else.
What are three cool things that people wouldn’t expect to know about you?
Well, I probably wouldn't be doing any of this music stuff at all if I didn't get my fourth concussion in the summer going into my senior year. I was actually planning on playing college football, but luckily enough during the same week where my football career effectively ended Bryan reached out to me with the ELEVATOR opportunity. Other than music my other main love is basketball and I love playing pick-up in my free time.
What are three goals you have set for the new decade?
In the next decade, beyond anything else, I really want to work hard to become a good man and a better person and if I can confidently say that I did those things then I will consider the '20's a success, but as far as music goes I hope that by the end of the next decade I will have been apart of projects that end up being cult-classics, and that is always my goal. If I look at my favorite artists currently they are all moderately popular from a numbers standpoint but each of them have their own respective rabid fanbases that feel an incredibly personal connection to the end product and if I can help these types of artists thrive and find their audience then I think I will have done my job to the fullest.
When its all said and done, how do you want to be remembered?
I want to be remembered as someone who never impeded progress and always did their best to push the culture forward. I want to be considered an artist's advocate and make sure that I do my best to ensure that artists are treated fairly by their labels and other representation because if the past year has taught me anything it has to be that so many people in this industry put profits over fair-deals and I never want to be associated with people like that.