Jordy Towers, affectionately referred to by his acquaintances as a “diminutive, mohawked motormouth with an easy laugh,” has a high likeability factor. He’s super cool and his profanity-laced diatribes are actually quite humorous, which explains why the recently homeless rock, pop, hip-hop, R&B artist was able to snag a record deal with Roma Records/Blackground Records. And, he’s also quite talented.
You have to check out how the kid flows fluently between singing and rapping. The Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley native’s style is so diverse, it transcends from ’60s-flavored R&B on his single “Don’t Say It” to dirty, electro funk on “Spaceboy Boogie.”
Not one to shy away from his past, Towers opens us about his fractured upbringing and how inspirational the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, and the Jackson family have been in his life. -yvette caslin
How did you get your start in the music industry?
This has always been my plan. I started off when I was really young; I was a ghostwriter. I wrote for artists out here in L.A., I’d write raps and hooks. I wasn’t always good at it. I sucked when I first started. I think everybody sucked when they first started, but I really sucked. I would write down people’s raps and study their patterns. I grew up with battle rappers, like Canibus, he was like my older brother.
I used to be a runner at a studio, but when they got into the rap cyphers [artists] used to try to battle me and poke at me, like “C’mon Jordy … rap!” After a while I would start jumping in the cyphers and smashing fools, like “Whatever! I can handle you.”
What is your fashion personality?
Suits and sh**. There are two lives — the life you have when you’re broke and looking toward the future, like “this is what I’m gonna wear if I get some dough;” and then there’s the s*** you actually have to wear every day. Now that I’m doing better with my recent [financial] success, I’m starting to wear the s*** that I would have always wore, if I had dough.
Nowadays, I like tailored suits. I wear a red suit right now. I got with Laurieann Gibson; she became my creative director after she left [Lady GaGa] and we became real close. After I got my deal, she said, “You realize however you want to dress now, you can dress that way.” I was like, really? So I had them tailor this red suit, I always wanted to wear crazy tailored, nice, swag’d-out suits. I love Sinatra. I went to the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame once and if you go back in time from the 50’s until now, everybody’s worn a crazy suit, all the greatest rock stars and artists of all time. But, nobody does that anymore. Everybody is trying to be cool. I wear Jordans and G-Stars. I wear nice s***. I like Superdry right now, I’m all over that stuff, but there’s nothing like a tailored suit. I [have] a black one, a blue one [and] a silver one. I love the way a suit and a bow-tie look.
I hear that while you were in junior high, you befriended Michael Jackson’s niece and nephew, Siggy and Brandi Jackson, and you were taken in by their parents, Jackie and his wife Enid, after dropping out of school at 16. Tell us about that.
I speak to the kids a lot. It’s been tough for them since Michael died. They’ve pretty much shut down a lot of people being around them. I love them; they really took care of me in my teenage years. They were the first to put me in a vocal booth. They believed in me.
Check out his new single, “Steal Your Girlfriend.”
