Justin Witter

Since the Liverpool Lifeguard’s 2014 holiday issue on “Liverpool’s Next Big Thing”, Justin Witter has evolved much from his goals and mindset as a Liverpool High School junior to a now 20 year old college student.

At the time he had just dropped his first significant mixtape on BandCamp titled “HALF”, now he has put out two major albums, most recently his sophomore album titled “You Know Me Better Than I Know Me”.

His music is available now on major streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. This is a far leap from simply producing free mixtapes on sites likes SoundCloud and BandCamp.

Witter says he felt his most notable peak of success thus far in music was when, “DJ Khaled shouted us out one time, my friend Dante Roberts made a song with me and a guy who does internet radio was having DJ Khaled shout out everyone on the lineup that day and he went ‘WE DA BEST! JUSTIN WITTER AND DANTE ROBERTS’”.

When comparing what he wrote as a highschooler he notes that “I was doing music to prove something so it was more intense”. He felt the immense pressure on his shoulders to make a name for himself, understable for most high schoolers making their way in the world.

“Now I’m producing things with the mindset of helping people realize that they can do just as much as I could or make music or whatever they want to make regardless of how people perceive them.”, says Witter.

It has been a major shift for self proclaimed, “Witter the Kid” to change his ideals as we discussed coining the term as a “personal paradigm shift”.

Apart from music, however, Witter now works as a barber at Saving Face in Camillus. He makes it apparent that although music is a huge part of his life, it’s more of a side hobby. He explains how he wants to be able to raise a family and not go off traveling the world because to him, music is more of a personal endeavor and not a major career move.

Witter does mention that, “My friend who lives in New York City, he just got signed to BET’s music label, he had sent a demo tape of mine to some people and Universal got in contact with me.”

This whole time, believing Justin wanted to make a career out of music proved wrong as he followed up, “I don’t really want this to be a career, I kind of just do it because I’m good at it and enjoy doing it. There was a chance [to pursue a musical career], but I just want kids and a chilled out lifestyle where I don’t have to run around the world or put on a facade and have people send me money.”

A similar notion among many involved in the arts is the jaded atmosphere and Witter is quick to mention this when he states, “That’s another thing that bothers me in the industry that people are so fake and only are in it for the money.”

Turning to his major influences, Witter states, “Capital Steez (R.I.P) has been a major encouragement, not just for me, but sending the message to write what you wanna write.”

To pursue his more personal music realm, Witter explains his motive to get away from the popularity complex that always had people looking down on you. He found himself on a “weird middle ground”, “it made me want to break that barrier because there’s really cool kids that you all don't want to talk to because they are who they truly are versus those kids who sit at the same table because they are all attractive or preppy.”

“I felt more in touch with the kids who just wanted to be themselves”, he goes on to mention. This message of being yourself is something Witter garnered in part from Frank Ocean’s album “Blonde”.

He continues on to grab some notebook paper and sprawl down a message he wants to stick with me through high school “Be Yourself- Frank Ocean- Justin Witter”.

This message and set aspirations is something that resonates with those involved with Witter. Morgan O’Connell, an 11 year old cancer patient is currently working on pursuing his own music with Witter.

Witter and O’Connell both explain the condition as Ewing Sarcoma, a rare leg cancer that only produces 1,000 cases a year. How do they know each other? They were brought up with the same vocal teacher.

O’Connell explains, “He [Justin] helps me with what I want to do when I get older, which is to be a musician like him.”. When asked what message he wants to put out in his own music he says, “Being yourself, to be normal and who you are.”

Witter is trying to set himself apart as diverging into a progressive style because, “I’m not with the past hip-hop ideas, what everyone talks about, it's been said, but there’s a lot in hip hop that I don’t think needs to be in hip hop, I’m just about being creative and exploring alternative conversations.” Witter mentions, “It’s all deeper than money and clothes and cars.”

The contrast between complexity and bluntness is something that is repeatedly discussed in our interview. I asked him, “So you’re not a complex person, but your messages are complex?”

Witter replies, “My messages can be complex, but also its not, I talk about whatever I want to talk about. Me being myself can seem complex, but to me it's simple. If someone doesn’t know me and they act like they do, I guess I could come off as complex.”

Something stunning to note about Witter, however, is that he looks a lot like Mac Miller and sometimes his music can be compared to it. Witter states although, “I get told that like every day, its at the point where if someone says ‘Oh you look like Mac Miller!’ , I just pretend I have no idea”.

Besides the interview, round three weeks later, Witter began releasing music under the alias of “Sunny Frontman”. He explained to me in this interview, weeks prior that he did in fact want to delve into alternative R&B. Could this be to my credit? Witter sends a text to me after I inquired, “Haha it’s [new side of music] coming out.”

Witter emphasizes that a takeaway from his music would, “To be comfortable in yourself and comfortable to talk about these topics so others can relate. It’s about being happy and healthy for the most part. If you have to take the sharp end of the stick sometimes, so be it, unhappiness creates the good stuff”.

As we concluded our interview over spilled coffee and clammer of the cafe, Justin and I have a profound discussion about life, mental health and the opportunist times we are living in. To constantly seize some greater mindset and body image as he tells me, “health is wealth”.

Witter is full of a light that others sometimes fear to shed on the world. He takes ahold of the life he wishes to be living and fulfills it, not mindlessly feeding into a bland society. The music he is currently producing is pivotal for the times we are living in and unraveling the mask around the mouth of dictatorial mainstream media.

It is admirable, the work Justin Witter is doing, not only through his music, but his motive to create a positive and accepting world around him. Major props go out to him for really opening up these past few years and even to me about the fascinating existence that bestows him. It might be time we all start being a little more comfortable in our true selves and we can learn a lot from Witter about that.