Jamall Bufford has been grinding in the hip-hop game long enough to know that perseverance sometimes outweighs instant popularity. The rhymer from Ann Arbor, Michigan has gone through many different phases in his career, but with the recent release of his latest album, Victim of A Modern Age, Bufford seems to be in a place where the wisdom he’s earned from experience is meshing well with the ambition he still has an artist and as a professional.
“I didn’t know I would still be rapping past the age of 30,” Bufford admits. He emerged in the early 2000s as “Buff1” with the group Athletic Mic League, and he says the moderate success they achieved inspired him to keep pushing. “We put our first project in 2000 called The Thrill Is Gone. From the response we got locally, it motivated us to pursue it. Around then, I knew that this was what I wanted to do.”
After many twists and turns that saw AML break up (“They’re still my brothers to this day”), Bufford soldiered on with his solo career. He’s made waves as an independent artist but he urges anyone looking to pursue a similar path not to take the term “independent” too literally. “I’ve learned that you need a team. You need other people. It is difficult to do anything by yourself. ‘Independent’ is a term that many people like to use but it’s kind of an arbitrary word. There are independent artists who literally have million-dollar backing behind them. They don’t have a major label, but they’re functioning as if they have a major label. I don’t know if anybody can really do it by themselves.”
He’s built a sizeable following around the world on the strength of his talent. Bufford acknowledges that he, like anyone, has felt the sting of wanting more—but he’s proud of where he is. “I’ve learned that I don’t know anything about the industry. I’ve seen so many cases of random occurrences with people getting to a certain level in this music business. By no means do I feel like my career has been a waste or I should’ve been here or selling this much or nominated for Grammys. That would be great but maybe I wasn’t supposed to. Maybe that’s not why I’m making music.”
“If you love it, you stuck with it regardless,” he adds. “I’ve worked with teenagers who put a track out on SoundCloud or something and they come in here pouting like, ‘I only got a hundred listens.’ If you love what you do, you’ll keep doing it. They get a little discouragement and they want to quit.”
Jamall Bufford is just focused on being a better artist and emcee. His greatest goal is to constantly improve. With four studio albums under his belt, he’s still not satisfied.
“I really strive to outdo what I did last time,” he says. “That’s difficult because we’re not working with million dollar budgets. It’s tough. You’ve got to reinvent and recreate and think of new ways to continue to do what you love without completely changing who you are. It has been about three years since my last solo project and I said I would not do this unless I can create something better than last time. And with Victim of A Modern Age, I think I’ve done just that.”
