by Abi Falin Horspool
Photographer: Clark Clifford // Executive Producer: Celene Anderson // Creative Directors: Walter Robert and Zach Collier // Photo Assistant: Walker Hanson // Stylist: Josh Edgar // Videographers: Noah Richmond, Aaron Hinton // Shot at The FIND Lab // With Wardrobe From Wind & Sea, Mindbowling, & Acre
As I walk into June Audio Recording Studios, a question lingers in my mind: if his name isn’t Jmack, then who is he?
From my research, I knew he was a rapper and a sharp lyricist making waves with his introspective hip-hop. But as I watched and read old interviews, I realized that, more than anything, mynameisntjmack wants people to know he’s from Virginia.
In fact, Virginia is the first thing we talk about.
Jmack steps out of the studio and into the control room, still caught in the energy of recording his live sessions for tmrw. But before sorting through the live takes of songs from his new project, BOOKMARK 2, he shakes hands with every person he hasn’t met yet.
“You’re the one from Virginia, right?” he asks me from behind his long hair.
“That’s me,” I say, and we’re off, trading stories about our shared home state. Later, sitting in the blue velvet seats of Provo, Utah’s theFINDlab – surrounded by film cameras, books, and potted plants – Jmack takes me back to where it all began: Yorktown, Virginia.
Jmack grew up in the shadow of Langley Air Force Base, where friendships were fleeting. Military families were always moving in and out, a constant cycle of hellos and goodbyes. “It was hard because I feel like when you’re young, you define a lot of yourself based off of who your friends are,” Jmack says. “A lot of my identity was kind of formed by being alone.”
That sense of isolation stretched into his adolescence. In “american spirit,” a track off his new project, Jmack reflects on how he dealt with strained relationships through both substances and solitude. “A lot of the trauma is self-inflicted,” he reflects. “The drugs, hanging out with the wrong group of people.”
Jmack lost friends and family in Virginia, went to rehab, and grew distant from many of the people he once knew well. But in his 2020 song, “Alarm,” Jmack flips the perspective: “A shoutout to my problems and my schizophrenic tendencies / Shoutout to my injuries, memories, and enemies.” To me, he says those experiences built him.
<div>“I’m real grateful for those mistakes.” That loneliness and pain planted the seeds for the self-exploration that now drives his art. "mynameisntjmack is trying to find myself through the music.”</div>
In another track on BOOKMARK 2, “02 sonata,” Jmack says: “Lost time in the South, imma die in Virginia.” When I asked him about this part of the song, Jmack reflected on the complexity of his relationship with home. Leaving Virginia for Los Angeles was a major decision — one he knew he needed to make so he could grow. But after moving there, Jmack realized he wanted to rebuild the bridges with the people he lost on his Virginian wayside.
His transformation is reflected in “cavalier,” the lead single from BOOKMARK 2: “I never thought I would miss it / Drama and problems specific / Distance had taught me to listen / Mission had taught me to focus.”
Moving to LA put life into perspective for Jmack. He devoted himself more fully to his music, got clean, and started living better. “A lot of those relationships have since been repaired,” he says. “A lot of those people either came back into my life or were at least willing to recognize the work that I put in.”
Connection is everything to Jmack. That was evident to me right from the get-go. It didn’t matter what setting we were in — whether he was recording music, posing during a photoshoot, or chatting in the moments in between, Jmack carried himself in a way that showed he knows himself and wants to know others.
<div>“Who are we if not an amalgamation of people that we've come across?” Jmack says. “For better or for worse, everybody that has ever interacted with me has poured into me.”</div>
Recently, he’s gained traction through collaborations with fellow Virginian Tommy Richman. The two initially bonded over their love for Ultimate Fighting Championship before making music together. The two are featured on one another’s albums and are heading on Richman’s Coyote Tour across North America and Europe. It’s not often an artist gets to tour with their best friend. “I’m excited,” Jmack says. “It’s gonna be family vibes.” He says its been a blessing having such a close friend who has experienced similar challenges.
Their most popular collab, “BUNKER/PREROLL” wrestles with insecurity and self-doubt. Jmack has a line in the song, “Couple thousand fans, a couple friends, I'm still alone,” that suggests isolation despite his success. The lyrics are about fighting the internal battles of anxiety that no one else can see. It’s no wonder it’s such a popular song. It’s real and relatable. And realness is what Jmack is after, most of all.
When you look at it on a deeper level, Jmack’s music isn’t easy to pin down. His sound doesn’t fit neatly into a box. It’s rap (and I’d argue it's rap meant even for people who “don’t like rap”). It’s hip-hop. It’s lyrical. But I think the most important box it ticks is that it’s refreshingly honest. “I’m looking for people to be intrigued by the thought processes that go into making the music,” he explains.
What is that process? Chaotic. “It starts and ends with weed,” Jmack tells me with a laugh. “I write kind of manically.” Ideas come to him while he’s driving, in the middle of a conversation on the phone, and even in the shower. His notes app is a scattered mess of lyrical fragments, waiting to find their place in a verse. “It’s like if you’ve ever seen in film when they try to catch a serial killer and there’s somebody with all the pictures and the red string on the wall. That’s how I write.” This process has fueled some of his most raw and honest lyrics.
And his strategy is working. 2024 was a breakout year for the artist. His debut LP, mynameisnt, reached millions and millions of people. Touring with Tommy Richman is a major milestone. And yet, in the opening line of “american spirit,” he says, “I hate discussing the numbers in public.” For Jmack, it’s not about clout. It’s about growth. He’s been working with top producers, expanding his creative process, and finding new ways to push his sound forward through new projects.
BOOKMARK 2 is an extension of that evolution. Not just a sequel to 2023’s BOOKMARK, but a timestamp of growth. The original BOOKMARK was a “stopping point” from THE LORDS OF SOUNDS AND LESSER THINGS, the first project Jmack put his “whole effort towards.” Referencing a Zora Neale Hurston quote from “their eyes were watching God,” that album has a literary theme to it. BOOKMARK highlighted songs not based on any sort of literary theme or deeper concept.
BOOKMARK 2 is a sort of stopping point from his debut LP, mynameisnt. But it’s greater than just the more energetic music that got cut from the LP — it’s a glimpse into who he is as a person.
“It's a real representation of where I've been at over the past six months."
Rather than looking for a larger theme in the project, he wants listeners to see the project as a collection of moments that serve as a bookmark in his life. “There’s still a lot of people who don’t know who I am as a person,” he says. “I think that that sometimes gets lost when you're trying to make a larger point... So, with this it's like a way to show people what I've been going through, where I'm at, and what I do.” Each track is deeply personal — a window into Jmack’s day-to-day experiences, struggles, and moments of clarity.
One of his favorites, “Lemon/ginger” almost didn’t make the cut. “It started as a minute and 22-second-long demo and then it sat that way for maybe six months,” he says. When they were finishing the album, he says, “It was like either we need to get a second verse to this song or it’s just not going to be a part of the album.” Personally, I’m grateful it made it. It’s a good one.
The song, like many of his, is littered with references to the things that matter to him.
It references Jmack’s dog, who’s a big part of his life: “Call my dog, we listen to it.” Jmack immediately lit up when I asked about his dog, Azula. She’s named after the character of the same name from Avatar: The Last Airbender. “She’s really into dinosaurs,” Jmack says, grinning as he scrolls through photos of his Alapaha Bulldog. “She only plays with dinosaur toys…Oh, she sleeps like a person… and she’s a big fan of sticks.”
Jmack makes it home to Virginia whenever he can. “cavalier” references his longing for home throughout its verses: “I miss Virginia for real / I miss my mama, my dog.” He asks, “What am I doing this for if not to be back around them?”
Virginia matters. Not just for him. That’s something Jmack wants people to understand. He loves the vibe there. “I like the pace of things,” he says. “Everybody moves a little bit slower.” Although it’s a good thing, maybe it’s that pace that deters artists who skip over the state completely on tour, lumping it in with DC. But within those three hours between DC and places like Norfolk or Virginia Beach, Jmack says there is “so much musical talent… People just need to pay a little bit more attention.”
Long term, he wants to help create the infrastructure in Virginia for up-and-coming artists to have access to more affordable spaces to create their art. He doesn’t just want to return to Virginia; he wants to bring something back with him.
Growth is the throughline. Going back to “02 sonata,” the song reflects Jmack’s growth mindset: “If the story hasn’t ended, I’m the author, can’t falter.” Music has given him a greater purpose. A reason to improve. And Jmack isn’t complacent.
<p>“I don't like me,” he says bluntly. “I want to work harder, and I want to do things better.” </p>
That self-betterment extends beyond music. In college, Jmack was an English major. He read a ton for school assignments, but now, he’s reading as a hobby again. “Writing without reading is like lifting without eating,” Jmack says. “Super ineffective.”
Listening to any of Jmack’s songs, it’s clear to me he’s a reader. His way with words is unmatchable. He also loves video games. He’s collected a bunch of old systems, like the Nintendo 64 up to the Switch and the original PlayStation up to the PS5. “I’m trying to get into media that makes me feel a sense of joy,” he says.
With the Coyote Tour kicking off and BOOKMARK 2 poised to be his most personal project yet, mynameisntjmack is proving something: vulnerability lasts longer than any viral moment. His music resonates with listeners because it’s unfiltered. It doesn’t try to be anything other than what it is — Jmack’s truth. And within those lyrics, listeners find their truth, too.
I left my conversation with Jmack with a sense of anticipation for his next move and maybe just a little extra Virginian pride.
<div><em>BOOKMARK 2 </em>is out everywhere March 26.</div>
Keep an eye out on tmrw's social media over the next few weeks for exclusive live studio performances and behind the scenes footage from mynameisntjmack. An extended version of interview and additional photos will appear in print in tmrw #51. Make sure to follow mynameisntjmack on Instagram here.
