While R&B vocalist/songwriter Lyfe Jennings serves a 3 ½ year sentence following a dispute with his ex-girlfriend and mother of his children in 2008, his brother, aspiring singer Jay Rush, hopes to use Jenning’s influence to launch his own music career.
Video: Jay Rush, “I Ain’t Even Mad”
“He is my motivation – just doing all that he’s done with music,” Jay Rush told Billboard.com’s The Juice about his brother’s weight on him. “Just to see him launch his career and see him perform live on stage is enough motivation.”
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Rush started singing in church and then started a local group with Jennings and two cousins. But when things didn’t pan out the way they hoped, Rush and his brother turned to the streets, which is when Jennings ended up getting arrested and serving 10 years in jail for arson.
“Once he went, I started pursuing music on my own, but once he got out of jail I stopped everything I was doing to help him do what he eventually did,” recalls Rush, who’s worked with the likes of Styles P, AZ, Foxy Brown, Playaz Circle and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. “Once he was cool I decided to go back to doing me.”
Jay Rush, whose raspy singing voice is almost identical to his brother’s, recently released his single, “I Ain’t Even Mad” produced by Casino. He is hoping to spark the interest of a major label and sign a deal this year. “I would love to be that new voice… My only problem with music is that there’s no real singing these days,” says Rush, who describes his music as street soul.
As per his brother Lyfe Jennings, Rush says he is pretty sure he will return to making music once he is release and believes Jennings is in the predicament he’s in now for a bigger purpose. “You just don’t know what position God is playing in all of it,” he says. “God may be using him in a way you know nothing about. I know a lot of people that rather be serving time in jail than dead. Just sit back, go with the flow and count your blessings.”