Creative Q&A with Justin Pendergrass

WASILLA — Justin Pendergrass is a Valley-raised rapper who discovered the healing power of music at a young age, spending a lifetime cultivating a craft that’s directly tied to his personal journey overcoming the struggle of wanting to take his own life.

Pendergrass recently participated in a question and answer interview to discuss his relationship with music, the release of his first studio album, “Building a Plane in Flight,” and using his passion for rap and community outreach to prevent suicide and help others who battle the same demons he’s familiar with.

Q: How long have you been making music?

“Oh man, going on 19 years. I started writing when I was 10.”

Q: When did rap come along?

“I think at 13. I wanted to be a rockstar first, but I couldn’t play an instrument. I still can’t,” he said with a laugh. “I just fell in love with rap because it was like the perfect connection between the music that I wanted to be a part of and the poetry I fell in love with. It just blew my mind. I didn’t know it existed. So, at 13 years old, I heard my first rap song which was, ‘Tricky’ by Run DMC, and I was like, “I want to do this. I can do this.’”

Q: Kind of late to the party, huh?

“Yeah, kinda late to the party. I lived in a sheltered home. My mom and dad used to tell me rap was the devil, it was bad for me,” he said with a laugh. “So, I started writing rap when I was 13, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Q: Did making the album bring you any closure?

“It did man. It basically let me like, shut that chapter of my life and move on with it. That’s what music is right? It’s that storytelling. It’s healing. It’s growth.

Q: When did you fully realize that you were the kind of person who enjoys the poetic nature of rap and likes to write their thoughts down, and how has that changed as you’ve gotten older and gone through things?

“It actually wasn’t an easy process. So, I moved around a lot in elementary school. So, I didn’t learn to read and write like every other kid in my class. I was so far behind that I was put on an IEP for reading and writing, and I struggled so much with reading and writing until one of my teachers introduced me to poetry and it made the connection between the words I was reading and the things I wanted to hear… So, then I started writing my own stuff because I noticed these people were writing their feelings down. I was like, ‘I feel like that. I think I can write something like that…’ Eventually, it started to morph into its own thing.”

Q: After all these years and various transitions through life, what does music mean to you now?

“Music has always been my number one coping mechanism to deal with my mental health. It’s been the first place I turn every single time… It was deeper than just writing it down on a piece of paper… I had to learn to open up to other people and let people into my life… The opposite of suicide is connection… It’s been a real healing process… My bucket list is this album. It was a song on the radio, it was owning a studio, and I’ve achieved all those things within 10 years of my last attempt on my life.”

Q: How’s that feel?

“It feels absolutely incredible… to be able to look at my life and say, ‘hey dude, you made it, and now you’re on the other side, and now you can provide healing for others.’ That’s really cool for me to think about. In terms of this album, I just hope it does provide any sense of healing for others, or at least a sense of who I am, or why I am.”

“Building a Plane in Flight” is available to stream online on platforms like Spotify and Amazon Music.

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