Tatty Jones Talks, “Mega Jugg 2,” Growth As An Artist and Lil Wayne Inspiration

Tatty Jones drops the sequel to “Mega Jugg!” Part 2 is stacked with 12-bangers.

Tatty Jones understands that his grind has to be top-notch. He also understands his rise to the top won’t be a smoothly paved road. Coming out of Slidell, Louisiana doesn’t hit quite the same as being from New Orleans or Baton Rouge. Slidell is often overlooked by those two rap heavyweight cities when it comes to Louisiana therefore, Tatty’s work ethic has to be second to none. He’s proven to have a relentless grind and always delivers consistency from project to project. His latest project, “Mega Jugg 2,” is a well put together sequel to his May 2019 release, “Mega Jugg.” With features from, Tripple Jones, Agoff and Brazy, “Mega Jugg 2” may be Tatty’s best work to date.

During my recent convo with, Tatty Jones, we talk all things, “Mega Jugg 2, why he implements Lil Wayne’s, Sqad Up days mentality and much more!

You recently dropped, “Mega Jugg 2.” Tell us about the project.

Tatty Jones: Ah man, it’s obviously a sequel. Part 2. A lot of those songs I kind of had already. I really wrapped it up and did a lot of those songs in the last 2-weeks of me dropping it. If you heard all of it it’s kind of just real street trap music. Giving them a little piece of me right now.

Having sequels seems to be a theme of yours. I noticed you have done that in the past.

Tatty Jones: Right! Yeah, I really liked the first one a lot too, so I definitely wanted to give this one a sequel because I felt like the first one was a classic. I wanted to give them another one.

What separates “Mega Jugg 2,” from the first installment?

Tatty Jones: I really just feel like I gave it a little bit more radio hits on this one. This one is a little bit more commercial than the first one. Some of it is still street too, like the intro and all that. The “Abg,” song and “Major Wave,” and shit like that… I feel like that’s some shit you can put on the radio.

“Abg” is actually my favorite track on this one.

Tatty Jones: Right-right! That’s what everybody is saying. They feel like that’s the hardest one. I gotta make sure I have a dope video with that one.

When can we expect a visual from that joint?

Tatty Jones: Probably in the next 2 ½ weeks. I should have something. My video man comes pretty quick with the getting it back to me after editing. So, I should have something in a good 2 ½ weeks. I had just dropped 2-videos that’s on the tape right now. I had just dropped those, but I ain’t do nothing new yet.

It doesn’t appear like Covid-19 has slowed you or your working process down any.

Tatty Jones: I wouldn’t say it has affected me because I was doing all those types of things before it even started. I was quarantining before the quarantine. I already social distance. So, it didn’t really do anything. It kind of turnt me up. It’s really giving people a lot of time… which I do myself anyway, I think a lot. But it really gives you time to think and attack the things that you should’ve been attacking at home, whether it be real life stuff or whatever. Being home, if your license were messed up or you gotta fix your credit, whatever you gotta do, you can do it right now. And I just wanted to have a lot of stuff built up. It helped me build everything up, so when I do hit the world again, I can attack them, ya know what I’m saying.

Not that you could ever plan for a pandemic, but has this been a lesson for you musically to stack up as many songs as possible in case there is a reason you can’t get to the studio?

Tatty Jones: Not really for me because I feel like I do that anyway with everything. It carries over into my regular life because I do that with everything. I like to kind of have… whether it be shoes, clothes or whatever it is, I like to have it stocked to the side for a rainy day. That way I can come and hit them with what I need to hit them with, something fresh. I like to have stuff to the side, just extra.

Do you feel like you are better lyrically drawing from experiences and what’s going on in the world or have you discovered that being more isolated and secluded makes your pen operate better?

Tatty Jones: I’m not an out and about person, so I don’t think it affected my music. It’s still kind of the same for me. It didn’t too much change for me. I like to be at home, and I got my bar at my house, I’ll drink at home. My friends will get me out, but not often. But I feel like I put more of myself into it this time. A little bit of me and my regular life. I said some things in there that’s just me and some stuff that was going on at the moment.

It’s a family affair on this album, Tripple Jones and Agoff are all over it. Is that important to keep them around because you guys feed off one another and it helps to elevate your game?

Tatty Jones: Yeah, because that’s crazy too. A lot of those projects that we did, it was real organic because we’re family. People probably wouldn’t even know that, but we’re family, so it’s real easy to feed off of each other and it be so natural. It’s always fun and definitely organic.

Both covers for your, “Mega Jugg” series seem to have sentimental value. What’s the sentiment of those covers?

Tatty Jones: Oh yeah! If you see the first cover, I got the money and I’m on the phone at a very young age, so it’s like I’m talking to the plug, you know what I’m saying. And on the second one, that’s my Grandpa Henry and I’m on the bike, so it’s like, I’m starting to ride now. I’m about to hit the road. I’m bout to hit the streets type shit on the bike.

That seems to be very calculated. Is that accurate or did it just happen like that?

Tatty Jones: It’s a little bit of both. Like sometimes, even the stuff that I say sometimes… sometimes it don’t even be true until I be done said it and then it comes to life. It be kind of weird how it comes together. I feel like subconsciously I be doing some things that I don’t even know I be doing, and it turns out to be very calculated. People will be like, “Damn, I like the way you think. I like the way you did that.” Like I said, sometimes it will be sporadic and sometimes it’s thought out.

I have known you for a long time and to me, you didn’t start taking music seriously until Lil Wayne came with those Sqad Up albums. What impact did those have on you in terms of you wanting to pursue music?

Tatty Jones: Man… I’m glad you said that because I be trying to make my music sound like that. I be wanting all my shit to sound like mixtapes. I like how songs will come off a song and then go into another one. That’s why on some of my tracks, it will go straight into it. I told them, cut all the front out, cut all that talking out, and go straight into it. I want them to feel me. I know people attention span is real short, so it’s like, I’m just trying to give you as many previews to let you know that I can do this. Some of those songs aren’t a full complete song. It’s like a taste and people will say, “Damn, I felt that. I wish you would’ve went longer,” but you gotta restart it or just stay tuned in. I don’t really have a lot of people tuned in to have a complete full project and just have them tuned in. I want to give them some stuff, and they can just go to the next one and they all flow. A little nice something to listen to and add to my rotation. I know a lot of people say they like to hear me when they working out and all that type of shit, but it’s really just a big promotion.

I still try to make my music like what Wayne was doing on the Sqad Up stuff. I think about making music and I want it to sound like that. I want it to sound like a Sqad-Wayne. Everybody know I look up to Wayne, so I wanna sound like Sqad- Wayne. If you liked that era of him, you would probably like my music. And of course, it’s 2020, so it’s me mixing my flavor into it too of course, but that’s what it’s definitely inspired from when I make any tapes because that’s what I liked the most, Sqad-Wayne.

You have grown so much as an artist from the, “Green Eggs And Ham,” days. Where do you feel you have grown from that beginning stage to present?

Tatty Jones: when I first started with, “Green Eggs…” that was just mixtape stuff. I feel like a lot of people used to be telling me, “Yeah, you can do that mixtape stuff, but can you do something on your own beats? Can you do an original beat?” So, it’s like, okay, now I get to show you that I can do stuff on an original beat. I used to take their stuff and flip it in a way, but I would still use a few words that they said. I would basically have their cadence, so it’s really easy if you know how to do music to just take their cadence and add my words into it. Now, I have to pick my own flow, I have to pick my own cadence. I think my vocabulary got better. I think my song making ability got better. And me being able to put myself into the music, real life experiences that I had.

I always give you props on your beat selections. How involved are you with selected what beats make the projects?

Tatty Jones: In the beginning, it was my manager, Swaggy, but now, I pick all my own beats. I really feel like that’s my greatest asset. I think my beat selection is always super A-1. I like to do that because I don’t really like to pick beats that somebody might pick over. All of my beats are just going to sound like all bangers. Even if it’s some different shit like a girl song, it’s still a hit beat. To me, I don’t pick any beats that can be skimmed over. It’s my selection and my opinion, so I don’t know, but you just said you have always liked my beat selection too, so I’m on to something. I think that’s probably the most underrated thing about me. I like, Wheezy beats, man. That’s what I be getting. The “Abg” song is actually a Track Burna one. He’s from Slidell. He actually made that beat, so that was two Slidell people coming together and making a hit. And he made the, “El Rapido.” But the other ones were like YouTube beats that I picked. They were Wheezy type beats. I love the producer Wheezy. He do a lot of Gunna shit and Thug shit. I know what I want my shit to sound like, so in today’s world, you could actually go find that on the internet.

Slidell is stuck in the middle of New Orleans and Baton Rouge and musically, especially from a rap standpoint, the city gets overlooked a lot. You, Tripple Jones, Agoff along with some other rappers are carrying the cross right now. What does that mean to you?

Tatty Jones: It’s real important to me. We never really been put on the map for music. Agoff kind of skimmed the surface with Soulja Boy and stuff, but I kind of want to just take that shit to a whole other level to where we are just recognized for that. They got other artists besides me that is nice out of Slidell, and they just don’t get that recognized. I don’t know if it’s because they feel like we come from across the water or whatever it is, but we just not getting the attention that we deserve. But I’m trying to knock those walls down and be the pioneer for it if I can.

Keep pushing and stay on your grind. Is there anything else you would like to add?

Tatty Jones: Shout out to, Track Burna, who made that “Abg,” “El Rapido,” he does all my mixing. That’s who I record with. Shout out to you and, Geezyworld and all my OG’s who just inspired me to be great and believed in me when a lot of people just gave up on me. Shout out to, Trip. You know I tap in with him every day. We’re trying to wear this thing on our back right now. Anybody that gave me the inspiration to keep going and doing this music, really. Anybody that supports me out there, keep supporting me. Go get that, “Mega Jugg 2.” We’re going crazy on that thing.