2SUNNY
+
CREW
The three young people in the photo are, from left to right: Shamaur, 2Sunny, and Cesar---aka 2Sunny + Crew. The purple tint in the photograph comes from a special 35mm film used by our Creative Director and Lead Photographer.
BUMPING TUNES IN THE CAR
Jayden vividly remembers riding around with his dad and listening to rap music. There was always something so special about driving around with the volume all the way up. Jayden believes this is what sparked his interest in music. Every time he got out of the car, he thought to himself, “what if I try to make this on my own? What if I wrote my own songs?” Jayden has been writing music ever since.
There was a lot of drug abuse around Jayden during his childhood. He comes from a space with a history of drug addiction. It’s what he came up in. He was born into this space. It’s what was always around him. He never asked for help when it came to getting through some of the biggest challenges in his life. This is where music stepped in, earning its meaning in his life.
Jayden doesn't open about his feelings very much, telling us that he battled depression privately for a long time, and it is was music that saved him. Music has always been his go to. He wasn’t really ever open to talking to anyone about his personal battles with his mental health. He promised himself to never talk about the battles he saw the people around him fighting as well–he would rather tune it all out with music and put his own feelings down in a journal. He wrote until he ran out of paper, some of these pages he ripped out and used them as the building blocks to the songs he would create at the studio.
For Jayden, aka 2Sunny, writing is the only form of self-expression that has helped him heal. It has been his secret tool that he uses to teleport himself out of the hard everyday real moments of his life. His head is constantly filled and pulled out of focus by his emotions–writing is the instrument that grounds the constant motion. For his peers, their outlet's for their mental health battles can be self-destructive and negatively impact their creative career–Jayden is just happy that his outlet is healthy and leads to him constantly creating new music.
“I am always writing...It’s like I’m writing the current chapter of my life. There is always something to say." Jayden's music is a reflection of the constant changing that is taking place in his world–an ability to see everyone else's missteps, having to hold onto the guilt of everyone else's decisions, and being forced to think three times over the responsibility he places on his back–it makes it easier to understand the constant noise Jayden wants to silence. He spoke candidly on the power of writing: "It’s really a good way to get out a lot of shit.”
Jayden's emotions are true to a landscape, constantly shifting with very big highs and extreme lows––his playlist is a reflection of this constant shifting. If you ever get a chance to lay eyes on his Spotify wrapped you will find a wide range of artists that help him overcome the difficult circumstances of his emotional landscape.
2Sunny + Crew
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When the Foster Youth Photo Crew (FYPC) visited 2Sunny + Crew at their home studio, a small stereotypical LA hood white mutt ran up to our photographers legs–as our team whistled, yelled, and screamed to get the dogs attention, we heard the 2Sunny crew tell our photographers: "He can't hear you–that dog is deaf!" The irony, a deaf dog in a music recording studio–their is a metaphor here. Alongside the dog, stood Shamaur (a novice producer) Cesar( a manager), and 2Sunny (the writer and performer).
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Shamaur was one of the first people Jayden shared his writing and music with. Jayden, like all great artists, has slowly let people into his inner circle–placing an immense amount of vulnerability and trust into each member of his crew. For Shamaur, it was an honor he didn't take lightly, telling us: "its meant a lot to me that Jayden has trusted me with his music."
Cesar was blown away when he heard first heard Jayden spit–their origin story, like all the greats, was built inside of a fast-food parking lot. Cesar recalls that night: “We were in a Popeye’s Parking lot, we used the microphone from an iPhone–I just remember thinking, if Jayden could create this song in 10 minutes, in a Popeye’s Parking lot, with just an iPhone – AND it was that good?! What could we all create if we put in the time and effort. We all wanted to see what we could do. I see Jayden going all the way."
It has meant a lot to the entire team that they have been able to find a balance between creating and being friends. Who doesn’t want to work with the homies?
The 2Sunny + Crew Process
When Jayden makes a group of songs, it takes a while to release them. He likes to let them sit for a little and admits he has to go out and live some life before he gets back to them. Jayden's music making process can sound a bit intense to those that don't share his love for making music–to him, this is where his motivation to live his life comes from. Since being in high school, Jayden has walked through his life with his notebook in his hand, using his everyday experiences as the ingredients he uses to craft his music. His notebook is filled with his raw emotions, no filters, no holdbacks–its all about being honest with himself first, no matter how hard it might sound to hear.
The studio is a second home, a space built blanket by blanket, shutting all the noise from the outside world out–literally.
When recording a song, "we pretty much live in the studio...and our studio time is usually from 11pm to 4am...7/11 and Pizza Hut are our fuel." With bloated stomachs and an ambition to create powerful music, this group creates when half the world sleeps, pushing themselves to build a body of work that leaves an impact in our lifetime. If this wasn't enough pressure, Jayden shared the rules he has set for his process: “There’s this big thing with rap, this unwritten rule–you can’t call yourself the greatest if you didn’t do it yourself. It is this “I'll do it myself” type of thing...I just want to make sure my music is really good enough before showing people." Jayden shared that the writing and recording process can be a bit stressful, but we have to wonder why he keeps returning to the process that stresses him out–their's a deeper passion here, an ability to find a sense of excitement. Their is something that pulls this young artist after his exhausting medium wage shift at work to an old closet lined with even older blankets and foam pads, as his peers prepare for bed he begins to spit his first take–their has to be something more here than a little bit of stress.
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It's a process that builds more than music, its a room in which a deaf dog doesn't want to leave, its a magic in the air, a pumping of vibrations that brings out a bit of sunshine, that grounds the chaos in Jaydens life, that holds together a friendship, where some healing takes place, and where these young artists have placed their faith for the future.
Here, Jayden is not afraid, working through a process that is scary to those who don't really love making music.
FYPC had the opportunity to attend a 2Sunny performance at a California Youth Connection (CYC) foster youth convening in Southern California
Jayden shared that when he's on stage, he’s not worried about getting the lyrics right. He doesn’t really prepare because the lyrics never leave his head. The most rewarding feeling for him, is seeing his audience vibe to his music–that's when he realizes "this is what I’m supposed to be doing." It’s validation and his personal satisfaction skyrockets–allowing him to be more confident in his everyday life.
Even at the end of long nights, or after long searches for spaces to perform his music, Jayden never loses the want to make music. He listeners, his passion for writing, and his constant competition with himself to get better–keep him going.
His biggest influence on his music making and music style, comes from the Tennessee born rapper, Isaiah Rashad. A fellow rapper that has experienced marginalization and shares a personal struggle through his lyrics: battling depression. Jayden really emphasized to the team the impact that his depression had on his music career–"I feel like I almost didn't make it out of my depression...It was always there...I couldn't a job because of it and I coped in unhealthy ways"–it was hearing Isaiah Rashads own battle with depression that really got him through these difficult times. Jayden did remind us that all battles with depression don't end over night, "right now though, music helps."
The studio is the center of Jayden's healing journey, it's where the music is built, it's where he only lets the people he trusts in and it's where he can be his most vulnerable. Like a true thoughtful artist, he understands that music has a million starting points, when he picks up his pen, when he opens his phone notes app, when his old boss annoyed him, when the thoughts in his head grow louder–but Jayden shared that whatever he is feeling can be felt through the beats he selects, "The beat is the vibe the song will give off." His music is self-described as calm, chill and vibey music, he jokes: "Lyrical, maybe vibey lyrical." He thinks of every part of the song, perfecting each part to make sure that all of his creative choices blend perfectly with one another.
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Cesar: It’s a break from life when we're in the studio. The world is out there but in here, it’s only about making music. It’s about vibing with the people in here. Everything is right in this moment.
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When we first started, I did have a big worry...​​​We heard a few good tracks but I wondered how can we consistently keep pushing out these bangers. Once I saw Jayden's process I knew we were good. He gets blessed with a whole verse in a moment and starts going with it. He blows me away. How did he listen to the beat twice and already have half the song ready? A little weird in my head but im gonna let you do you. It’s your process.
Jayden can be a bit hard on himself because the next [track] always needs to be better, every single time. He thinks that some of his songs will never the best. I think that his worry is his training montage, he it taking all the steps to be great! He breaks down other artists music. He has a consistent grind. He is always looking to learn more and keep going. Whatever he says about himself, I have seen how much work he has put in.​
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Jayden isn't the only member learning to perfect his skills in music, the whole crew has taken steps to become stronger contributing members. Each day in the studio they challenge each other in their roles, Shamaur searching for echoes in the production, Cesar securing events for Jayden to perform at, and all coming together to develop marketing and promotional plans. In addition to their real world learning, they are also are back in school, attending classes to help the music grow!
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Each second they invest into their craft, the crew sees as a step towards reaching the big goals they want to achieve together. First, they want to create great music, never compromising the music for any reason–its not a hobby, they are pouring their entire passion into it. Cesar also wants to grow stronger business skills to be a great manager and connect to larger venues. Shamaur wants to become better at producing and eventually get in the booth and record his stuff–he is also lyrically gifted, but right now he wants to learn how to better arrange artists and put his own mark on records as a producer. They eventually want to grow into a "real" studio, but are focused on building a solid fan base first with people that really resonate with the music, "we are only going to go as far as the fans let us go...but that means we owe them really great music." The crew is going to stick with a track by track release schedule and work on building a larger album that could take them on tour someday, brining 2Sunny’s music to cities outside of LA. The crew sees every song as a new opportunity: to connect with a new fan, to become better as music artists, and a new chance to get that "real" studio. ​​​
Outside of the studio, the team works together to build a culture of trust and care between one another–and also creating more moments that will make their way back to the music. The trust between each team member has been building since meeting one another in High School. They try their best to get together every weekend, taking trips together and celebrating special occasions–sometimes, just meeting up to drive around with no where to go, it becomes another space that music has gifted them, a fourth space for them to talk about anything and everything.
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Its these sacred spaces of bonding and friendship building that contribute to a better relationship between one another in the studio, where they can trust one another's opinions/feedback–"Doing music with the homies...There’s nothing else we’d rather be doing." Its the trust that the crew has built between one another that helps them notice when one member needs reassurance, like when Jayden might be thinking too much about the next song and begins to feel less happy about the song they are building at that time: "It's a curse, but it keeps me on my toes and creating." All members can speak freely during the creative process, with no fear of judgement. ​​​​​
The Foster Youth Photo Crew (FYPC) is grateful to have been given the opportunity to step the sacred space of this group of artists and witness the closeness of a really caring group of friends building music in the margins. Our crew was fortunate enough to listen to some amazing unreleased music, forcing us all to step up the quality we can derive from the basic ingredients around us as artists–to know that the music we heard was built by this group, probably at 2am, inside of a small studio closet lined by blankets, engineered after a long week of being on your feet all day and a life long battle with the noises in your head, it's inspiring–or as Jayden sees it: "it's the only thing you want to be doing with your time, it never feels like work."​​​​​​
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Cesar: Why fail at doing something you don’t like. I would much rather fail at doing something I’m passionate about....In foster care, so much of life is controlled. You can’t live because it’s too much of a risk. You can’t have a childhood. You’re forced to just grow up way before it’s due. As an adult, I can do what I want the way I want to do it. I’m free to do this. And that. And that too! It would be torture to be denied music. We wouldn’t be happy without it–there’s a lot of fulfillment that comes out of creating. This is what we're meant to be doing.
