In the world of music, it’s not always the bars and the beats that keep listeners engaged, but the one or two-word ad-libs that make the song special. Atlanta’s own OJ Da Juiceman is the perfect example with his iconic “Aye!” and “Okay” that many people think of when they hear adlibs.
Juiceman has been in the music game for over a decade, blowing up during the rise of trap music in Atlanta. With his classic “Make Tha Trap Say Aye” track featuring Gucci Mane and produced by Zaytoven, Juiceman made a lot of noise in the 2000s. In 2024 he’s looking to reinvent himself and get back to where he used to be.
OJ Da Juiceman sat down with rolling out about his new music, the early days of his music career and how his famous ad-lib came to be.
You’ve been with Sukihana recently. How was that?
I was with Sukihana for almost the whole month of March. It was beautiful. It was excellent. I don’t really have too many female records through my whole career of rapping, and for Sukihana to reach her hand out the way she did … it kind of started way before the “Selling” record. Right now, me and Sukihana’s catalog might consist of maybe 11 or 12 songs. Only one of the 12 have been heard before. I’m trying to get into that girl lane. Whatever the girls got going — and they popping and they have motion — you know the dudes are going to follow.
What’s been different from the beginning of your career to now?
I want to say back then we came from the hand-to-hand era. No matter if it was a CD, flyer or poster, we were trying to get known that way. Now in 2024, they got the internet. Back then it wasn’t internet. It wasn’t even YouTube; it was only MySpace. That was the only biggest social site that was out. So, we went from that to they don’t even make cars with CD players on them anymore. They only have a flash drive hooked up or your phone connected. I come from going to the club, open-mic, whatever club is popping — I’m trying to put my CD in your hand because I want you to hear it … and I also got my booking number on it. I’ve had the same booking number on all my music since 2004, and it’s 2024.
How did you come up with your famous “Aye” and “Okay” ad libs?
I started with the “Okayyy.” I was doing it like that instead of the “Okay, Okay.” It was my slow flow back then. When I did finally try the “Aye,” I was doing it like “Ayeee, Ayeee,” and I was doing them back to back like the high-pitched “Aye, aye, aye.” Back then I was doing them during every two bars because I wasn’t sure if people were going to like it. The reason why I came up with it was we come from having old-school cars with rims and beat paint — and we kind of got it from Texas.
We liked the E.S.G. song “Swangin and Bangin” and what you do is if it’s a red light, you’re going to come up the street. You’re going to drive straight, but then you’re going to whip left, whip right, whip left, whip right, whip left — and now at the red light your car is slanted. So, in the car, you might be four-deep and everybody would be bouncing. I always wanted to make my ad-libs to where you were hyped to give you a bounce.
