In the fourth episode of my Uprooting Passion series, I talk with my good friend Jordan McDaniels. Jordan, JLO, is an upcoming music artist from Chicago who has been with me from the start of my entrepreneurial journey. He is the first photography client I ever had and has mastered the art of taking risks to pursue his passion. In this talk, Jordan shares incredibly wise and inspirational words about the story of his deep-rooted family coming from slavery in the South to making it in Chicago. It is undeniable how the grit and passion passed down from his ancestors have made Jordan the incredible artist and person he is today.
New Release ‘No Top Freestyle’
My favorite track ‘Pain into Paper’
Can you start by giving a little background of you and your family?
My mom and my dad are both from Chicago, so I’ve been here my whole life. My dad is from the South Side and my mom is from closer to the West. They met in high school and in August they celebrated 21 years together. I grew up a little bit everywhere, I lived with my grandma on the South Side and when I got older we moved to the suburbs. I’m always out here, I love being out here as much as I can. There are days when it’s not good but I still love being in the city. Further back my family is originally from Mississippi. It was my great-grandpa who moved from Mississippi to Chicago and that’s when this generation of my family started. My great-grandpa used to pick cotton so we came a long way in the family.
Have you ever talked to any of your elders about their experiences or stories?
My great-great-grandma was still alive when I was born and passed away around 107. We used to go to Mississippi every year after her 90th to maybe 99th birthday to have a celebration so I got to see my older family and talk to them about where they came from. It’s always good to hear stories of how different times were and see how the family as a whole got through the worst times. When I was younger, me and my brothers would go over to my grandma’s house and just play video games but after a while, we realized that they were not going to be here forever so we needed to get as much as we could from them.
It was a blessing to have my great-grandma and great-great-grandma alive at the same time as my grandma. I was having conversations with three generations in front of me and it makes you want to learn more. The stuff they talk about we would never have to deal with or endure, and hearing their trials and tribulations makes me more appreciative of where I am now. I’ve gotten bits and pieces of stories like my great-grandma for example owning a cow down South in Mississippi and making money off of it. I was hearing stories at maybe 12 or 13 years old about her mother being a slave and what her mother told her she had to go through. It’s just the fact that no matter what we’ve read about these things, you could never compare to hearing it straight from the source. That’s why I appreciate it because you can’t find it in a book, but talking to family I got to know what they were going through.
My great-grandpa was the first one who decided he wanted to do something for me and my family and move from Mississippi to Chicago. Everyone before them was in Mississippi which is rural out there so they’re used to a certain way of life. Like I said, my great-grandpa used to pick cotton so when we used to sit around him before he passed, he would look at his hands and tell us “I used to have to use these things.” When I was younger, it didn’t stick with me as much because I used to play sports and think, “What do you mean we don’t use these?” But now I understand, those hands were his moneymakers and that’s how he made his ends meet to take care of his family. Now, we got to have more opportunities to be intellectual but as I got older it started to resonate with me.
What would you say is your cultural influence?
I think it’s a Southern influence but also my last name is McDaniels so I’m Irish and I don’t know if that influence comes in ethnically. For example, I’m African-American but still have all blonde facial hair and green eyes and if we go back to how I was made this way, it originally started with my family way further down the line with female slaves being with slave masters in the South. I feel like culturally though, I was just brought up very family-oriented with either parties or big get-togethers for every occasion. I am always seeing family from everywhere. I feel like the way I was brought up makes me want to make something of myself for both my family and for me.
Where do you see your bloodline in yourself today?
My family has always said the most important thing is family. I always understood that, but as I’ve gotten older I realized that the best people to get you through your worst times are your relations. I think my family put it into me to not be a quitter. I think I got that from my great-grandpa, he was so much like that. He never gave up, even though he went from picking cotton to moving to Chicago and didn’t end up the richest. The biggest thing to him was to take care of his family and that made people respect him as a man because his family was his heart, his key, and he made sure that they knew that. I feel like that’s instilled in me. I’m not a quitter, I won’t give up on anything, I don’t have that in me. I could be writing a song, or doing something I don’t want to do but even if it takes me longer to learn, I’m going to persevere through it. I’m going to always try to push through because I feel like no matter how hard it gets for me, I have it easy compared to my ancestors. There is no quit, there is no waving the white flag, that’s not me.
How can people who haven’t started to explore their passion find it?
Everybody’s been through different things but, I feel like with anybody, you can look back in your life from when you were younger to where you are now. I think you’ve come across your passion prior and a lot of people just haven’t stuck with it. Trying to find your passion, is also trying to find the real you. This is different than wanting to be something you see on social media, your passion shouldn’t be Instagram. I feel like it took me to want to learn to know what I love truly to know my passion. I love basketball, but I truly love music because it’s an escape. I feel like any type of art is an escape, from painting to making music to making beats. Art is everywhere, it is big and that’s why a lot of people’s passions they probably don’t even know yet. The main thing though is to focus on being you before you’re worried about what somebody else has going on. Instagram’s always going to be there, people are always going to have money and a new car. I saw this one video saying that if you wake up in the morning and go on social media to see Beyoncé or Kim Kardashian not having to worry about money but you have to go to your nine to five, that’s going to make you not want to go. That’s going to make you feel like you’re not doing enough in life and I feel like that pulls people so much away from finding their passion, trying to chase somebody else’s passion as if it’s a dream instead of making your own. There are artists that I listen to and I aspire to be like, but I don’t want to be them. I’m still inspired by myself, not the other people I see. They’re doing what makes them happy, and that’s cool, but I want to be me. I’m me at the end of the day at all times. Do the big move, the first move, and go through it because there’s going to be a great outcome from it.
