Nicky Jam on Freestyling at Grocery Store, Breaking Cycle of Addiction, Eminem, Jay Z, Reggaeton

Hard Knock Tv’s Nick Huff Barili sits down with Nicky Jam for in-depth interview. Nicky talks about his childhood growing up in Lawrence Massachusetts in a household where both parents were battling addiction. Nicky remembers listening to Rakim, Tribe Called Quest, LL Cool J, Big Daddy Kane and wanting to be like them. Nicky says that if he had to pick 3 albums which embody who Nicky Jam is, it would be Sublime’s “Sublime”, Jay-Z’s “Reasonable Doubt”, and Eminem’s “Marshall Mathers”. When Nicky moved to Puerto Rico he experienced culture shock from what he was used to living in Lawrence but quickly adapted. Working at a grocery store, Nicky would freestyle at the register and on aisle 12 about the products and people around him which helped him get his first record deal. Nicky says that working at a cheap hotel signing covers and moving to Colombia helped him reinvent himself and evolved his style to more melodic singing as well as rapping. Nicky describes the day that his mother showed up to his concert in Dominican Republic after not seeing her for 20 years. He says that he broke the chain of addiction for his family because he wanted to show them it was possible and he wanted to use the gifts god gave him to take care of them. Episode one ends with Nicky talking about making his dad proud and how that is more important to him than any awards or accolades.

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