Jake Miller: I'm Trying to Get the Justin Bieber Audience

By Lee Castro Mon., Dec. 12 2011 at 7:03 AM

Categories: Local Music

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At first glance, rapper Jake Miller's look resembles an American Eagle catalog model or the lead singer of an up-and-coming boy band. And, as a matter of fact, 'NSync was once his favorite band.

"I only listened to them when I was 9 or 10," says the Weston resident. "I remember sitting in front of the TV and learning all their dance moves and trying to learn all the words to their songs."

But this 19-year-old rising local talent who won the Samsung/T-Mobile Sidekick 4G Battle of the Bands contest worth $35,000 earlier this year and has snagged spots opening for Snoop Dogg and Mac Miller, initially called himself J. Killa.

A simple class assignment from his English teacher turned into a passion for writing and rapping. It was then that J. Killa, a nickname given to him by his friends, was born. "When I started putting out videos and songs and stuff and started getting recognition, the only thing I kept on hearing from everybody, the only negative feed back is, 'You need to change your name,'" he says. "A little, white Jewish kid can't be going by the name J. Killa."

Within the past few years, white rappers such as Yelawolf, Machine Gun Kelly, Mac Miller, and Asher Roth, the latter two Jewish as well, have become abundant and gained recognition in a genre where they are the minority. And Jake Miller himself has been rapping for a little more than a year. In that time, he's received offers from various labels, including Universal Republic, based upon his laid-back style and winning looks.

Jake released a seven-song mixtape named Summer Session in August, with some songs turned into music videos posted on his YouTube channel, which has gained more than 620,000 views.

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