Every time I travel, I always look for something to shoot outside of my scheduled work. I truly love
shooting and am always on the hunt. Last night in D.C., JMSN was playing the 9:30 club and ironically his
set started at 9:30.
I’ve always felt R&B isn’t the same; musicianship and showman are things of the past. But apparently,
that’s because I’ve never been to a JMSN show. My faith has been restored in music tonight. There truly is
great music out there – I just have to step out of my box and find it.
Waking out on stage to a SOLD OUT venue was a guy wearing a jean jacket, white turtleneck jeans and
some stained old Vans. I didn’t know what to expect from someone with that look, LOL. Prior to a few days
ago, I’d never heard of JMSN, but after tonight all of his music will be in a playlist. The brother has soul!
Musical gumbo is what I’d call his sound. I hung out after the show and picked the brains of his fans, and
they all had different answers. I would say that JMSN’s sound is soul, a few servings of R&B, and some
blues added to the mix. One fan even compared him to Justin Timberlake! I saw it a little, but to me, he’s
got more soul than Justin.
Backed up by a three-piece band – piano, drums, bass – JMSN himself played the guitar at times as well
while he sang, and the crowd sang along with him word for word. The brother was in his zone and did his
thing! He had crowd interaction, the dancing, the call and response; it was truly one hell of a show.
When JMSN wrapped and left the stage, the crowd didn’t want to leave. They all started chanting his name
and yelled for an encore. I mean, it got to the point where he had no choice but to send the band back out
and come out and perform once more!
This time, JMSN closed with “I’m Bout It.” By this point, I had a show in my own mind he’d call I’m Bout
It! The crowd would respond, “I’m bout it” and then me in my Master P voice would be like, “Uuuhhhh!”
LOL! Anyway, I had a great time tonight and want to send a special thanks to the good folks over at Sol
Republic, as well as JMSN and his management. To find out where JMSN will be next, click here, and to
check out his music, click here.
