Meet JD GATA | Artist, Producer, Dj and Audio engineer

We had the good fortune of connecting with JD GATA and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi JD, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I’m from Alief Southwest Houston, Tx. I grew up with everybody, Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Indian and Pakistan. Having friends and classmates that all were from different backgrounds helped me understand how to communicate and relate to other ethnicities. I learned at a early age that most of us are more alike than different. I learned about different food, music and entertainment. I come from a big family. My parents are both from are from North Florida Tallahassee to be exact and I spent predominately every summer there where i would be back in forth from Tallahassee and Havana, getting them woods in my life out in the country. As i was influenced by Texas rap I was also Influenced by Florida rap also, which has a lot to do with my rap style. The Texas, Florida life has a huge impact on who I am and how I was brought up. From the way I talk, rap, think and live life. It has made me the man I am today by growing up in two cities at the same time. I seen good and bad things in both places. No matter which city I was in there was a lot of church growing up I must say, Baptist and non-denominational. Having both of my parents, grandparents cousins, aunties and uncles helped raised me with a certain outlook vaster than most. My family gave me some of that old school southern game. I was taught to be street smart and book smart. My parents taught me to respect my elders and put God first. Say yes ma’am and no sir and don’t take no shit from nobody. I experienced things in life, good and bad, legal and illegal that helped create the man today. Life is most definitely trial and error, losses are lessons if you learn from them.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
What sets me apart from others is that I was able to experience the analog world of recording music before it went digital at a very young age. I got chance to live in to different states growing up. Texas and Florida. School in Houston, summers in Tallahassee. So that alone sets me apart from everyone, the best of both worlds I should say. A real southern bred cowboy. Learned how to incorporate both styles in my music. I’m a certified student of the hip-hop arts. I can be involved in many different aspects of music period. Anything musically or audio wise I’m equipped to work or I may know how to work the equipment. I might be making a beat, or creating a sound for a movie project, writing to a beat, recording to the beat, mixing and engineering the whole entire track. I can even blend tracks with other tracks and dj mix them out on whole other level. What sets me apart from others is that I started at a very young age and was very fortunate to have been exposed to hip hop music earlier than most. I grew up listening to everything. Gospel, r&b, rap, alternative rock. , screw music, crunk music,bass and booty, bounce to reggae. I was listening to a lot rap from different cities and different coast before it was really a thing to do. When most kids were watching Barney I was sneaking listening to Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre in elementary. Rapping Wu-Tang lyrics at the bus stop in middle school. I’ve been rapping and creating hip-hop music since a teenager. My experience with audio and recording equipment came at the analog-digital era, so I got to witness the game go from tape to cd and zip drive to flash drive. I recorded and produced my first album at sixteen, produced for a group in high school. Got on the radio at Rice University with my mixing skills. I’m most excited about how I overcame the challenges and proved everybody wrong about what I could do with my music. I continued to believe in what I was doing and how I was going about it. I took losses as lessons which turned into wins in the end. No it was not easy. I went from rapping on tape to cd to mp3. You can now catch me on on I-Tunes, Spotify and all streaming platforms including social media. I can do this without a major record label. I taught myself how to make my own projects and put them out. Even did my own videos and covers for some of them also. I kept writing, recording and dropping music no matter what even if It was a little bit or a lot I just kept pushing. Me getting on the radio station Dablazefm down in Miami was a big accomplishment and getting on two Trapaholic mixtapes was most definitely a dream come true. Being in this magazine for a second time is most definitely a great accomplishment. I’ve learned to appreciate and utilize the help I’ve encountered on the way. Don’t take people for granite, everybody is somebody…I want the world to know 4D GATA is here to stay.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If I had a friend that was in town and I wanted to show them a good time, I would take them to a few spots.The famous Turkey Leg Hut to start. Breakfast Klub, or Hot biscuit would be the breakfast spot, The original Timmy Chans or Mike’s Seafood for lunch, and Razoos or Papadeaux’s for dinner. Probably hit up Carringtons for some ratchet fun go downtown and hit up a strip club off of Richmond somewhere afterwards. Hookah lounges and bars are everywhere and so are food trucks and plazas.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shout out to my daughter Mini Sensation (Raquel Alwxis) host of No Filter Houston Podcast, and Brandon Lyles of the Cult 45 Podcast. No filter is a local Podcast that interviews local and upcoming artists out of Houston. She has a great personality and represents the SouthWest side of Houston the Alief area to be exact.  You can catch her on YouTube at No Filter Houston and you can find her on Instagram @Raquel_Alexis. Cult 45 is a podcast that makes fun of and discusses movies that weren’t so good but very popular. It’s great comedy for audiences who remember these films. They represent Houston (Alief) also. You can find them on Instagram and Tik Tok @cult45podcast.

Instagram: @jdgata

Twitter: @jdgata

Facebook: JD GATA

Youtube: JD GATA

Other: Spotify- JD GATA SoundCloud-4D GATA AUDIOMACK-JD GATA APPLE MUSIC- JD GATA Tidal- JD GATA Livemixtapes-JD GATA Youtube-JD GATA

Image Credits
Low Light Dynasty Chozzen Few