Born and raised in the Ithaca area, Kaleb J. Reeves, professionally known as KJR, is a TC3 student, basketball player, and rapper. Inspired by Eminem and Kid Cudi, he started publishing songs on SoundCloud in 2022. His first song “3000” was streamed over 1,500 times. Since then, he’s expanded to YouTube, Spotify, and more. Using BandLab, he’s made two albums—Nostalgia and Nightmares & Daydreams—in the past year alone. Recently, I had the opportunity to interview him about his musical career and goals.
He described how it feels to have a much bigger fanbase than he expected. “Now, when I walk around Ithaca, Cortland, Dryden, or Lansing, sometimes even Binghamton, we got people recognizing my name and being like ‘Are you KJR?’” It’s for these fans that he continues to make music, despite how busy he is with his entrepreneurship degree, part-time job, and basketball practice. He admitted that sometimes, making music feels like too much effort, but “the fans are the people that drive [him] to make music” nonetheless.
A recent Lansing High School graduate, he advises other young people interested in publishing music to just be authentic. “There’s so many people trying to be like Future and Metro, you just gotta be yourself.” He recommended listening to underground rap, saying it’s “a great place to start because you got so many unique rappers who don’t sound like the mainstream.”
KJR’s next project, “KJR’s Big Adventure” is coming out soon after the release of this issue. In the meantime, KJR says, “I hope y’all have a really blessed day and I appreciate y’all.”