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Die 4 You 2:340:00/2:34
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Money Talk 3:000:00/3:00
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Rich Type 3:070:00/3:07
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Sweat ya 2:430:00/2:43
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Water world pt2 2:260:00/2:26
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Smoke alram 2:080:00/2:08
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No fairy 3:140:00/3:14
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Super duper 3:070:00/3:07
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Choppa pt2 4:030:00/4:03
THE STORY OF ASHTRAY JONNY
Ashtray Jonny’s story doesn’t begin with a record deal, a major studio, or a carefully manufactured image. It begins with a kid from Greensboro, North Carolina, who found music early and slowly built an entire world around it.
He grew up in a two-parent household, but behind the appearance of a normal family was a much more complicated reality. His parents worked extensively, and his childhood was affected by abuse and instability. Later, his parents divorced after he discovered that his father had been unfaithful — an experience that drastically changed the way he viewed his family and his life.
After the divorce, he moved in with his father, grandmother, uncle, and brother. By approximately age 15, however, he was kicked out.
Being forced to figure life out at such a young age pushed him further toward independence. Music became more than something he enjoyed. It became something he could build, something that belonged to him, and eventually something he believed could change his life.
FINDING RAP
Before rap became his primary focus, Ashtray Jonny’s musical world was shaped by artists such as Three 6 Mafia and Eminem. His first major connection with rap, however, came through 2Pac and Eazy-E.
Then he discovered Lil Wayne.
That discovery changed his approach dramatically. Lil Wayne’s flow, wordplay, and freestyle mentality pushed Ashtray Jonny to experiment more aggressively with his own voice and delivery.
At the same time, artists such as Kanye West and André 3000 showed him that hip-hop could be much bigger than simply rapping over a beat. Their creativity helped balance his style and encouraged him to think about music as an entire artistic experience.
His influences continued expanding: Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Clan, Future, Al Green, Luther Vandross, Erykah Badu, Nina Simone, Prince, and countless other artists became part of the musical foundation he was building.
Future in particular had been an influence on him since high school, long before Ashtray Jonny’s move to Georgia.
The result was never going to be ordinary.
BEFORE THE PHONE BECAME THE STUDIO
Ashtray Jonny was experimenting with music through technology long before recording music on a phone became commonplace.
At one point, he was literally putting his phone next to a speaker and rapping into it.
That simple setup became part of the beginning of his journey into recording.
He was also uploading music online and experimenting with YouTube and online content years before the current creator economy existed. He was making YouTube vlogs before vlogging became a normal part of how artists built audiences.
The internet wasn’t simply a place where he eventually promoted his music.
It was part of how he learned to make music.
THE ATLANTA CHAPTER
Around the age of 19, Ashtray Jonny moved to Georgia.
The move opened another chapter in his development. He became heavily involved in networking and began connecting with people throughout the music industry, meeting artists, creatives, producers, and recognizable names while continuing to develop his own sound.
Atlanta also exposed him to a different musical environment and helped expand his understanding of Southern hip-hop.
But Ashtray Jonny wasn’t simply trying to follow what was already happening around him.
He was trying to figure out what came next.
TOO VERSATILE TO FIT IN ONE BOX
One of Ashtray Jonny’s greatest strengths eventually became one of his biggest challenges.
He was too versatile.
His catalog could sound dramatically different from one record to another. He experimented with different styles, sounds, tempos, moods, and genres so heavily that the consistency of his identity could sometimes become difficult for listeners to immediately recognize.
But the experimentation was never completely separate from who he was.
It was all part of his sound.
Eventually, he realized that instead of choosing one version of himself, he could bring all of those influences into the same musical world.
That became the foundation of his current direction:
Hip-hop and rap blended with trap, R&B, soul, jazz, blues, and occasional elements of rock and pop.
Rather than making every song sound the same, Ashtray Jonny wants the listener to recognize the artist while never being completely sure what the next record will sound like.
The goal is a catalog that stays interesting because there is always another side of the artist waiting to appear.
THE RESET
There was a period when Ashtray Jonny felt that his music wasn’t reaching the level he knew it could.
He worked with different engineers and producers, including people with significant industry experience and award-winning backgrounds. Over time, he became increasingly dissatisfied with the way some of his music was being shaped and felt that his own sound was not being represented properly.
Instead of abandoning the music, he took control.
He eventually began producing more of his own material.
That decision became a reset.
Producing his own music gave him greater control over the sound he had been trying to find for years. In many ways, it brought him back to the instincts that had been there from the beginning.
He now wants listeners to hear the entire progression — the experiments, the mistakes, the different eras, the records that worked, the records that didn’t, and everything that eventually led to the artist he is becoming.
The old music isn’t something he wants to erase.
It’s evidence of the journey.
AHEAD OF THE CURVE
Ashtray Jonny has always believed that some of his ideas arrived before people were ready to understand them.
From experimenting with music through a phone, to using the internet and YouTube to build an audience, to developing a sound that refuses to stay inside one genre, his career has repeatedly involved experimenting outside the traditional path.
He compares that experience to the story of Nikola Tesla — not because he believes he is literally equivalent to Tesla, but because he identifies with the idea of having a vision that other people may not immediately understand.
His philosophy is simple:
Sometimes being different looks like being wrong until the world catches up.
THE APPALACHIAN HIATUS
At one point, Ashtray Jonny stepped away from everything.
He spent approximately a year and a half in the Appalachian Mountains, living at the top of the mountains and dedicating that period to himself and his craft.
Away from the noise, expectations, and distractions of the industry, he continued working on his music and refining his vision.
That period became another chapter of the reset.
When he eventually returned to North Carolina, he wasn’t coming back simply to make more music.
He was coming back with something to prove.
THE RETURN HOME
Now, Ashtray Jonny is bringing everything he has learned back to where the story began.
North Carolina. Greensboro. Home.
The goal is bigger than releasing another song.
He is building a catalog, a sound, a visual identity, and an artist brand that can stand on its own.
There are numerous albums, projects, and songs still to come.
And while the earlier chapters will always be part of the story, Ashtray Jonny sees them as preparation for what happens next.
He wants listeners to hear the progression for themselves.
From the kid discovering 2Pac and Eazy-E, to the young artist recording through a phone, to the Atlanta years, the networking, the experimentation, the setbacks, the self-production, the Appalachian Mountains, and finally the return home — every era is part of the same picture.
Ashtray Jonny isn’t trying to become another version of an artist who already exists.
He’s trying to make the entire catalog sound like him.
And now he’s bringing that sound home to Greensboro, North Carolina, with the goal of putting his city and his state on his back and carrying them toward victory.