Just Blaze: Humble and Kind and Getting Signed

Over the past nearly 20 years, Justin Smith, aka Just Blaze has become a fixture in Hip Hop music and culture. He began producing for well-known artists in the late 1990s, leading to a breakout role in producing the majority of Jay-Z’s “The Dynasty: Roc La Familia” and its follow-up, the celebrated perennial fan favorite "Blueprint”, which reshaped the sound and sonic styles of Hip-Hop music upon its release. Just reached international fame for his production of Cam’ron’s 2002 summer smash “Oh Boy” and instantly became a household name in Hip-Hop culture.

Since then, he’s gone on to produce for Snoop Dogg, Usher, Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, Busta Rhymes, Rick Ross, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Ludacris, TI & Rihanna, and many more. In between record production projects, he also broke into scoring various video game projects for EA Sports, Capcom and Midway, and created soundscapes for Hollywood hits such as Ice Age 4 and The A-Team as well as various TV projects, such as hosting VH1's "Master of the Mix" DJ competition show. 

In recent years, Just has also been touring extensively worldwide as a festival and club DJ (largely due to his surprise EDM hit "Higher" featuring Baauer). Other recent career highlights include producing five tracks on Eminem’s Grammy-winning comeback album “Recovery”, the street anthem "Lord Knows" by Drake and Rick Ross, and the breakout hit "Freedom" from Beyonce's smash album “Lemonade.” With all of this under his belt and new projects in the works, Just shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

In this conversation with Adam Connors, Blaze discusses how he continues to be successful over many years despite the fact that he says many in the music industry have a short shelf-life. 

And of course, Blaze discusses his perspective on what networking means to him and how he has been able to stay relevant thanks to the strong relationships he has formed. 

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