Words by Javier Nino

Jack Red has to be one of the city’s best-kept secrets. Before he was putting out music on soundcloud as Jack Red, Jabari Rayford was building a strong reputation as a talented engineer/producer at Soundscape Studios, home of Closed Sessions. In the last few years he's been featured on Vic Mensa‘s Innanetape, has played a support role in Sir The Baptist collaborators the Chuch People, and contributed the The Social Experiment's Surf. Just this past summer, Jabari produced Chance The Rapper‘s “We The People”, which was featured in Nike‘s Olympic-themed “Unlimited Together” commercial. 

Now, while navigating through the hookup hits and club anthems that are commonplace among today's R&B artists, Jack Red brings back some old school flavor with “Naked Hands”. Jack’s music is heavily influenced by the soul and style of; Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Bob Marley. With "Naked Hands", Jack Red was able to describe the many memories he has shared with his partner, from the moment he proposed to his high school sweetheart to now living with his wife and exploring the depths of love.  

The southside native has his Homegrown EP in the works, and has already released "Heat" and "Homegrown" in addition to today's release. Sounds like this EP is shaping up to be something special. Be sure to check out "Naked Hands" and look out for his Homegrown EP sometime in the near future.