It’s a busy night in the basement of Morehouse Suites in the Atlanta University Center as James Smartt Jr. comes hustling in ten minutes before the play rehearsal he is helping with is about to end. He greets the group and then immediately jumps into helping out wherever he is needed. The rehearsal ends with everyone getting into a show circle and giving affirmations. The 20 year-old artist brings me along with him to the elevator to take me to his room. He’s passing guys by and dapping them up and quickly checking in with them. As we step onto the elevator, he is greeted by his friend and they exchange words about this party that recently happened in the AUC. I put my input in saying how I would’ve loved to gone and how my friends enjoyed themselves. The guy in the elevator chuckles and says how he was one of the guys to help throw the party together. He mentions that he actually got in the position of hosting and throwing parties because of James.
The elevator finally lets us off at the third floor and we part ways with his friend and go into his room. His three other roommates loudly greet him and they catch up on who I am as well as how their nights were going. James finally settles down in his room and tells me “if you want something to drink or eat get anything you want. What’s mine is yours sis”. As we are about to begin we hear a knock at the door. In comes the guy from the elevator. He briefly apologizes for interrupting and then goes to James to ask him for creative direction for his soon-to-be Presidential Campaign. I watch James think for a little minute and then he spits out tons of ideas that he could do and finishes with “whatever you want to do my brother I’m behind it. I will help you with anything you need.”
James Smartt Jr. was born and raised in Atlanta, GA. He spent time in Miami, FL when he was 3 months to a year. Although he was young, the move had a major impact on his outlook with life. This Gemini man created his brand Its"JES"art to represent not only himself but what he does. When asked that question of ‘what do you do', he says he “I can’t simplify it because it’s all just art” (get it…JESart). He originally gravitated toward the name, JES, because he had a dream of rapping but as he got older, he let go of that dream. He describes his reason with saying, “many people were doing it because they thought it was cool because other people thought it was cool. I wanted to do it because I solely thought it was cool.” He says how he established his brand completely a week before his personal project “REEL TO REAL”, a five episode show describing his journey to manhood through television and music. He had an epiphany moment where he said, “When I did that, I said ‘OH’. I have a brand, a thing that can walk on its own.” He continually uses that brand to build his portfolio and has two other spin off brands. One of them being 725, a brand he describes as one for all, “it’s not just going to be artist like directors, writers but scientist, doctors. Something for everyone so we can combine the arts and STEMS.” He is working on this with another creative friend and their dream is to make 725 and itsJESart like the media version of DEFJAM and GOODMUSIC.
The idea of REAL TO REAL was birthed through the hardships of his sophomore year. “I was pissed, nothing was going my way. I just feel like it wasn’t my turn. Friends went bad on me… it were messing with me and then I just said nah.” He says as he recounts how this idea came about. With the newfound confidence through self-realization of how people only do things for the name of it, he starts to put his passion into organizations that drives him. It all started with him posting long movie/show clips on his Instagram story. He figured he had tapped into something because people were swiping up and telling him that they related with him and that’s when it clicked. “The only creative software I knew and had at that time was Photoshop”, James speaks on how at the time of learning it he was in a creative drought. Things were not going right for him with an RA position he wanted, internships, and the unexpected passing of his grandmother that May. He used this time to focus on his dreams. He showed me the dream journal that he carries with him all the time that has the process of REEL TO REAL inside. “I downloaded Final cut pro and started to get it together. I have no idea how it’s going to come together or how I’m going to do it but I am” he says. Through some consideration with himself REEL TO REAL turned from being a movie to a TV series because he was afraid no one was going to understand what he was doing. He got together some of his friends and showed them a sneak peek to not get gratification but to see what they thought from a viewer’s perspective. Even people that tagged along that didn’t know James well told him that he needed to release this project. What this project meant to him was that he told his story, “it didn’t matter the re-shares, reposts but that I got out here and told my story” because he knew that there were people out in the world that could relate to things that went on in his life.
When asked about who inspires him he gives two big inspirations. One being his family. The women in his life, especially his mom and grandmother, worked hard to support them. He recalls how his grandmother came from the Bahamas to Miami to establish a better life for them working countless hours as a maid cleaning white people’s homes. “It could’ve worked out for all of us if everyone thought this way[college] but everyone was blinded by the fast life” he says as he looks down at feet, “but they are getting it together now and it’s slowly working”. His pastor once told him that when he gets the resources to help his family to not enable them with money, houses, jewelry but to invest in them. James goes on to elaborate on how J.Cole has inspired him. “J. Cole, number one inspiration. That man’s music does a great job of telling a story and his different struggles. I just really feel for the words that he is saying.”
James found his start with the arts through his father. “My father believe it or not was actually like me when he was younger, before he got a job here [Morehouse], but better”, he chuckles as he say this. His father helped to put on FreakNik and put on other music videos shoot in the Atlanta area. He also did production with Beyoncé's background dancers. He admits that he struggled with letting his father in but once he understood the value of second chances, he let him in. His mother let him get his creative ability out young by drawing holiday cards and other child masterpieces for her.
"My work means something to me so I've started being select with who I send it to."-James Smartt Jr.
I ask him to elaborate on what going to school in the AUC means and he whistles before he answers, something he has been doing before every question, and says that he has been through all the different school systems from public to private Christian schools. He describes how he had to assimilate to fit into the private school standards. James speaks on how the AUC molded his art and him indefinitely. “College really pushed and promoted me to do this art stuff and to work with y’all.” As in “y’all”, he is referring to Christian Alexander also known around the AUC as SpadeKnows, a playwright and rapper from New Orleans, LA that created the Dynamite Theater Company to practice his passion. The two met at a poetry slam James helped put on. He heard Spade rap and he knew from that moment he wanted to work with him and they became best friends through their shared love of creating. Spade gave James his first opportunity in 2018 when they worked together to debut Christians first play “Love and Other Things That Kill You”.
James explains that the hardest thing for him is finding balance of working for the people and working for himself. “Right now I have it balanced but as soon as you lose it it’s gone” and he goes on to quote Spade about how you have the lows of the lows and the highest of the highest when you don’t have a balance in your life. “I thought ‘damn’ I should put a price tag on this” because he believes in his art and when talking to his friend Parker he seconded the idea and he sent the poster out for REEL TO REAL to select people to promote the project. "My work means something to me so I've started being select with who I send it to."
His newest venture in the fashion world. He got up out of the rolling chair he was in to show me a pair of Aaliyah jeans that he was working on. I immediately started to freak out in front of him because they were some of the best pants that I have seen in a while and told him that he should begin to sell them. He humbly laughs at me and says thank you. He sits down to tell the story of how he made them. “It’s crazy because this day I was so busy. I was sitting down with my boy Louis and he was telling me how he was going through it. I was finishing up sewing these pants and trying to type up the back cover of REEL TO REAL episode 4 because it was about to drop that night and my boy Louis was like James just let me finish sewing the pants but I told him NO I have to do them . That’s when I receive the call from you, no Spade, like ‘Hey James, they are about to kick us out of here’ and I’m like F**K okay Louis finish the pants for me” then he tells me the idea of how he wanted the pants sewed. "When I got to y'all ans I saw you sharing the new episode of REEL to your story it made me so happy. That's all I wanted". He is excited for the journey he is about to take with fashion and wants people to know to watch out.
James recounts on how “Love and Other Things That Kill You” was one of the most fun projects that he worked on. He says how Spade and him would switch IDs to maneuver around the campus to make sure that the show went on. He laughs when I ask him what is the wildest story of working on the set of LOTTK, he says that another show, Art after Dark, was going on the same time as they were shooting LOTTK the movie. Spade and him were running between the two shows and both trying to direct one show and be in the other.
Growing up in Atlanta put a passion of skating into James heart. “If you grew up in Atlanta and didn’t have a birthday party at Cascade you didn’t grow up in Atlanta” he says. He bought his first pair of skates about a year or two ago once he learned that he could do some different skate tricks. On Sundays you can catch him and his skate crew putting on a mini show for the people.
For James telling peoples stories and his own is the world to him. People find comfort and love in James because his passion for the arts is so bright. I can vouch and say this sweet, caring individual has brought much joy to my life. “When REEL was done I was so happy because I finished a project.” He speaks about how he receives gratification from it all. “I don’t want to be afraid to tap into all artistic abilities”. In 2020 and so on the world needs to expect many major projects from James and his multiple brands because he is going to shake the world. Check out his series "REEL TO REAL" on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/yourduhsigner/