Creative Q&A with Choze

WASILLA — Valley-raised rapper and founding member of U.T.N. (United the North), Justin “Choze” Odom recently participated in a question and answer interview discussing his relationship with music and goals for the future.

Q: How long have you been making music?“I’ve been making music seriously since 2007, right around my senior year of high school. I had linked up with D The Lyricist (Devon Shaw) back in Palmer High School. It was more an elective thing for me at that point in time. We had grown up right around the corner from each other, always been real close. I saw that he was really invested in it. When he had his first pressed CD, I was like, ‘nah, I gotta do this too.’ He definitely inspired it. I’ve been taking it pretty seriously ever since.”

Q: What was it like being a part of U.T.N from the beginning?“It was just a band of brothers more or less. We did everything together. We marketed together. We threw house parties together. It was like an unstoppable force… It was great. It was always good vibes. Of course, we fought like brothers sometimes, but it’s memories that I’ll take with me forever. It was so much fun… With D and U.T.N. as a whole, we were the first hip hop act to ever do the Alaska State Fair at the Borealis Theater. We opened up for Sean Kingston and Kendrick Lamar, and I thought that was super dope… Shout out to all the original members of U.T.N. They really inspired me to take this craft and really do something with it, just have fun with it all together. Without them, I definitely wouldn’t be where I’m at with music today for sure.”

Q: What do you think of Devon Shaw’s mission trying to support the local music scene?“The man’s a marketing monster. It’s just amazing to see him work… The love that he gets for what he’s doing. I’m so happy that he finally got recognized at the Alaska Hip-Hop Awards because that is so well deserved… His overall mission is the same mission that we’ve had since the get-go, to ‘Unite the North.’ That’s the only way I feel like we’re going to come up. If we have to move like a team… Divided, we’re not going to do any good for the state. We have to come together.”

Q: What lessons did you learn over the years?“Everybody definitely needs a friend in this industry. Networking is the biggest key.”

Q: After all these years, why is making music still important to you?“It’s just a love. Music can change the mood in an instant. It can bring you back to a certain time or certain place as soon as you hear that song. It really is just love and passion for the way music makes you feel.”

Q: Who were some of your early influences and how did that develop over time?“Definitely T.I., Ludacris, Lil’ Wayne. The main reason was that they came real but they also came heavy with the punchlines. When I started out, all I wanted to do was make people laugh and make people think with a line and just hit ‘em with a Mike Tyson knockout at the end. Those were probably my biggest influences coming up. As this evolved, the game evolved. So now I’m listening to people like Lil Uzi, people like Migos. It may not always have a lot of substance to it, but it gets people moving. So, you gotta take the best from both worlds and evolve with the game.”

Q: How many albums have you released?“I’ve got five with UTN. I’ve got four with 574 Entertainment. One on my own. I would say upwards of 15 projects and then just singles on top of singles on top of that.”

Q: What are some of your current projects?“We’re going to keep continuing to dropping singles until we drop the major project, the album that me and my little brother [Christian ‘Galax-C’ Odom] are going to put out.”

Q: What’s it been like making music with your brother?“It’s hella dope, and to watch him progress as an artist and really find his voice, his sound, and see the love that he gets, it’s like being a proud parent… Just having that whole new dynamic where we’re creating, it’s just a blessing to have that connection.”

For more information about Choze, Galax-C, and 574 Entertainment in general, visit facebook.com/574ent.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com