Juicy J’s late mother, Shirley Houston, played a part in his knowledge of the music business.
At 13 years old, Juicy J, born Jordan Michael Houston III, was already learning how to make music by relying on the tunes from his grandfather’s piano, he explained on the “Springhill” podcast in conversation with Wiz Khalifa.
“I used to always tell him, I used to be like, ‘But I got to be on the piano.’ He like, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘I got to get ready.’ ‘Ready for what?’ I said, ‘Man I’m going to be rich, famous,” Juicy J explained. “I always felt that I was going to be great in music.”
“My mom saved my life. Rest in peace,” he said. “She saved my life, because when I was 13 she worked as a librarian, and I told her I want to know everything about the music business. So I said, ‘I need you to check me out some books on the music business.’ So she checked me out all these books about publishing, producer rights, and just everything about the business part.”
He added, “When I became who I became, like when I was like 19 and when I sat down with the record labels, they would give the contract to me. If it wasn’t ’cause of her, I would have been an idiot. I probably say, ‘Yeah, how much you want to give me $20,000? You can have everything.'”
As AFROTECH™ previously mentioned, Juicy J’s acumen was shown early on in his career when Hip Hop group Three 6 Mafia was formed in the ’90s, alongside Paul Duane “DJ Paul” Beauregard, Lola Chantrelle “Gangsta Boo” Mitchell, Darnell “Crunchy Black” Carlton, Ricky “Lord Infamous” Dunigan, and Robert Cooper “Koopsta Knicca” Phillips.
“The Juiceman” reveals he still maintains 100% of the publishing alongside Beauregard, and a large portion of the group’s masters.
“I came from the ’90s. We did our deal back in the ’90s so it was different,” the Tennessee rapper said during the “5 Questions” podcast hosted by Dan Schawbel. “We own a lot of the masters, some of the stuff we don’t, but you live and you learn. We came out on top though, we own 100% of the publishing.”
