Recently, we met with Lyric at an apartment sky lounge with the Trinity Overlook Park as our view. While our first impression of him is that he is soft-spoken, there is a bigger persona to the man behind the invisible mask.
Horror movie fanatics who revere Jason, the infamous masked maniac movie character, circle Friday the 13th on the calendar and always look forward to this day. Lyric calls it his "lucky, lucky day to stick to" when it comes to dropping music. “Of course, every 13th,” Lyrics says, telling us a new installment of his Brick x Brick series releases on June 13, five years after Brick 4.
The Brick x Brick mixtape series started in 2015. “When it comes to a sound, that's when the Brick series comes into play because it's more aggressive. It's more … I guess you could say ‘pop my shit’ Jayson Lyric. It's almost like my alter ego, Jayson with the mask,” he says.
Lyric goes on to reveal that despite pushback from record labels, his alter ego will still have a place in his career following the blueprint of so many artists before him. “I guess it really is [my alter ego], which is crazy because I remember sitting down with A&Rs back in the day, and they would tell me that they didn't like that I did the Brick series versus Lyric Show and Cashmere Don," he says. "They thought it would be confusing the people as far as giving them two different types of personas. I didn't care; I stuck with it cause this was what I liked to do, and I felt like it represented me. I feel like we all gotta a dark side that we don't speak [about], and that comes out how it does. So this is my ‘fuck it’ moment.”
While his last few projects have leaned more into atmospheric trap meets contemporary R&B, he knows it’s time to tap into those gritty bars that we know will provide powerful punchlines and storylines.
Like the 1994 cult classic film Jason's Lyric, with whom he shares a name, Lyric loves cinema. An avid listener will pick up that he’s a student of the arts, and this has been prevalent throughout his career. This mixtape and its visuals will show us the city through his lens.
“I wanna go more in-depth with this project 'cause Brick x Brick really came from me feeling like me and my peers were rebuilding the city.” He says, “So even in the promo, I show like the start of Dallas and clips of Deep Ellum and how that used to be blues and soul and neo, and that's where the Blacks will hang out.”
"Some of his [mixtape] records are probably his most famous verses that you might even know better than his albums," Lyric says of Lil Wayne's acclaimed mixtape series.
Flavio Cervantes
Lyric is educating himself on the city's foundation and watching documentaries to inspire Brick V's aesthetics. “People really don't know why people settled in Oak Cliff and [about] the Kessler. So, I really want to document Dallas history because I feel like nobody's really told that side of it from a hip-hop standpoint, and so I’m going to tie all that in,” he explains.
Mixtapes have always been the way artists express themselves outside of commercial hits. To Lyric, Lil Wayne is the standard given that this project is a series reflective of Weezy’s history of mixtape installments like Da Drought, Dedication and others. Weezy isn’t the only rapper who inspires him. Jay-Z’s "Grammy Family" freestyle is a favorite, as well as the mixtape run of Cassidy.
When it comes to Dallas rappers, there is a homage to be paid. “Man … really DSR [Dirty South Rydaz]! Anything DSR, like I don't think they get enough flowers,” he says.
He goes on to proudly name mixtapes from Dallas artists that have inspired him.
“Back in the day like Tum Tum, Fat Bastard, Big Tuck, that's what we grew up on. And we had all these different CDs of them, and we burned them and they would scratch easily, so we made a bunch of copies. But DSR, for me, is top-tier, and then I think of Thug Boss Nation because them my homies and Yung Nation. Their mixtapes back in the day really influenced a lot of the culture right now from the boogie movement and on,” he says.
Those reflections bring back so much nostalgia, leading to a time when malls were popular and purchasing physical CDs was the norm. “I used to go up the Valley View like, you know, you actually bought mixtapes from the mall. But that's not a thing anymore, but that's part of the culture, so that's part of the history,” he says.
“Brick V [is] when I'm ‘Mixtape Lyric’ because I can still consider myself a top five-type [of] MC,” he adds. “And so, a lot of my fans, they'll be ‘Oh, we like the R&B, but we wanna hear you rap, rap,’ so I'm catering to those fans.”
Hip-hop has its sporadic eras of uplifting women, especially Black women. We can always count on a few artists to give us the “get ready with me” and affirmation-style music as consistently as the Cashmere Don does. For Lyric, it’s not just a phase. He makes music for the baddies and holds his “lover boy style” near and dear to his heart, but it’s not always on purpose; it’s embedded in him due to his roots.
“A lot of times it's not even like, ‘Oh, let me do this because I know women are gonna appreciate it,’” attributing his innate ability to capture a female fanbase to being a good son and an even better father. “It comes from having a daughter. And then it comes from how my mom raised me. I had to respect women.”
His 2021 song “Self Love” featuring Nevaeh from his Outer Body Experience EP is a ballad-style track that has provided solace via social streams for big names like Meagan Good, Jazmine Sullivan, La La Anthony and so many more. The song, which started as an acoustic version produced by Jayson and his friend KGray, was inspired by Jazmine Sullivan’s Grammy Award-winning album Heaux Tales, which provided a similar safe place for women seeking inner healing and self-reflection. Sullivan’s social media acknowledgment was the most important one.
“Just to see Jasmine posted it online, it's like she don't even know,” he says. “She influenced this record, so that was crazy for me.” Jayson also reveals having ambitions of a remix with the songstress, which we all hope can still happen and his hope hasn’t dwindled. “It’s never too late,” he adds, calling it “one of those timeless records that's here forever.”
His breakout single landed him a distribution deal with Warner Music imprint Asylum Records, in partnership with his label NHouse Republic, and since the deal, he has released the 2022 EP Midnight Rambler, and now on to his most recent album Extended Play, which dropped in December 2024.
Lyric wants to take his talents into film and directing, getting behind the camera for videos like “If You Feel Like It” and teasing a documentary for his Late to the Party album. He is aligning his intentions to present his visuals as a gift to viewers and listeners. “I think through the visuals, through the presentation, they're going to feel like Dallas is the coolest shit on the planet. I want to represent Dallas in such a tasteful way,” he says.
With Brick V, we can hope that the Lyric Show can give us the perfect soundtrack for the blazing Dallas summer ahead.
“I just think it's perfect timing. I see a lot of people saying that like I'm back. They need to feel like I'm back,” he says. “So what better way to do it than a Brick V? On a Friday the 13th. During the summertime where I can pop it, and people can feel like they [are] popping it while listening to it.”
Jayson Lyric & NHouse Presents: Brick V: All Black Affair on Friday, June 13, at 7:00 p.m. at Cosign Studios, 126 Glass St Suite 110. Tickets to his album release party start at $40 here.
