Brent grew up in the same part of Chicago as Kanye West (the city’s Rainbow Beach neighborhood) before moving to Madison during high school.
He was a star basketball player before dedicating himself to being a recording artist. It was through a friend that Brent was introduced to UW-Whitewater men’s basketball assistant coach, Todd Skrivseth. It was meeting Skrivseth that led Brent to enroll at UW-Whitewater where he majors in broadcast communications.
Now, his basketball career has come to an end, he is nearly finished with school, and his music career is starting to take off.
Brent has created his own genre of music, called SEX & B. Simply put, it is a more modern version of R & B. He created a DVD called “Midwest Explosion,” featuring local artists from Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago. The DVD has already been picked up by MTV. He’s attended the Grammy Awards, the BET Awards, and most recently, Super Bowl XLV.
He also has a new album coming, a new single that will be featured on MTV, BET and countless Internet sites, and an upcoming concert on campus.
Despite his hectic schedule, Brent still manages to attend UW-Whitewater full-time. Regardless of his success in the music industry, Brent is passionate about getting his degree.
Brent sat down with the Royal Purple to talk about school, music, and how he balances them.
Royal Purple: Tell me a little bit about your music; what is the genre you created? What’s it all about?
Young J Diamondzz: I created my own genre. It’s called Sex & B music. Not necessarily saying, you know, sex in that sense. I really don’t call myself an R & B artist … because I sing more of today’s music … I call myself Sex & B mixed with R & B. I just want to create my own thing and try to be different, you know, and stand away from everybody else … Sex & B is about like really a lot of sexy music, a lot of touching, dancing, you know, with just really [infectious] beats. I’ve been doing it for like the last four years and it actually just took off.
RP: What brought you to UW-Whitewater?
YJD: I had a friend who had gone here. I used to come by here check out the facilities and hang out. I thought it was a pretty good college, but I wasn’t interested in going to college at that time. I was still working on the music, trying to get my craft in place. In that time I was becoming a basketball legend, a lot of people had heard about me through basketball. A friend knew a coach here and told him [about me] … So I came down, met with assistant coach Todd [Skrivseth] and the rest was history.
RP: What happened with your basketball career?
YJD: I actually ended up getting a little stomach problem that kind of stopped me from being able to play ball at UW-Whitewater. I felt like I would have been a monster, we don’t know where I would have been right now, you know … I’m fast.
RP: You said you weren’t interested into going to college at one point. What made you change your mind?
YJD: Growing up in Chicago, education comes last. People don’t really think about that. It’s all about the cars, the clothes … having money and things like that. By the time I was 24, I had already seen everything I could have possibly seen, you know, being out of town, having every car you can think of, plenty of money. There was nothing I had not had been able to see, but education. Education is a whole different high; I’m going to be honest with you, that’s how I basically look at it.
RP: What it’s like being a student and a full-time recording artist?
YJD: It’s hard, man. Some days, I’m jumping on a plane right when I leave [school], to go work on projects … Countless hours of driving. The main part about it is getting adjusted to college. I came here and really got put in a situation where I was like a wolf. I look at these kids that walk around here, some of them were already branded to become students, it was in their blood. I wasn’t branded like that, you know what I’m saying, so a lot of this material is a lot harder for me … that’s why I come to class and don’t miss class.
RP: What’s your No. 1 priority right now?
YJD: To be honest with you, school, because it’s more rewarding right now. Money I’ve already had. Money and cars, I’ve already done all that. School is something I just find more rewarding for me. School and music help each other, they mix with each other, because being educated in some of the classes that I’ve been taking here has helped me in my business.
RP: With all your music success, and going to school, what has been your biggest accomplishment so far?
YJD: Through all the accomplishments I’ve had, the biggest accomplishment was having a 3.8 [GPA] in a semester here, because I was told growing up I was never going to be nothing and I believed that.
RP: What’s your next project?
YJD: I got a new song coming out with Young Joc and Kia Shine, coming real soon. Actually Feb. 26 Kia Shine will be here at the [University Center] Hamilton Center. We’re shooting a video for my first single that’s going to be all over the world pretty soon, as far as video wise … BET, MTV.
