In this episode Durell is joined by singer, rapper, model, and actress Nya-Jolie. Durell and Nya-Jolie begin the episode talking about how they first met in New York City during the Nu-Vybe Records launch party . Durell and Nya-Jolie talk about how she wears a number of different hats as she navigates her career in the entertainment industry. Durell shares the importance of having parents that are all the way in when they have teenagers who want to pursue the industry professionally. Durell asks Nya-Jolie about her earliest memories of music and she shares that she was about 2 years old humming songs because her parents at the time were both pursuing the industry so she was introduced to cadences and melodies and recorded herself singing cover songs.

Durell and Nya-Jolie talk about the importance of having an education if you want to be taken seriously as a professional in the industry. Nya-Jolie shares that she always makes it a point to create positive lyrics because she knows that people are listening. Nya-Jolie shares that she remembers being very young around 4 or 5 years old, starting to write her own music and really getting into what goes on behind the scenes in pursuing a career in music. Durell shares how much he respects Nya-Jolie’s parents for making a constant effort to make sure she keeps and maintains a positive image.

Durell shares how much he likes Nya-Jolie’s song called “Mamba” that she wrote and dedicated to Kobe Bryant. The song embodies everything that he stood for and believed in. Durell and Nya-Jolie talk about the inspiration behind the song. She shares that her whole family are fans of Kobe so she knew that she had to make a song that would reflect what he meant not only to them but many people across the world. Durell and Nya talk about why she wanted to get into acting and modeling. She shares that she started doing pageants and at 5 years old she auditioned for one of Tyler Perry’s films. Once she began auditioning she started to see how acting allowed her to be able to totally portray a whole other person which fascinated her enough to where she started to book commercials which gave her the opportunity to work with QVC and other print ads. She has also done several independent films.

Durell and Nya-Jolie talk about her getting paid as a child actor and how sometimes if parents aren’t careful it can create a warped reality because oftentimes the child can become the main provider for the family. Durell shares that he listened to Jaleel White on a podcast say that his mother did her best to make sure that he lived as normal of a life possible by doing the things that most kids would do when they were done with school or work like washing the dishes. Durell asks Nya-Jolie how she deals with having her mother as her co-manager and she says that her mom does a great job in balancing the roles between mom and manager.

Durell and Nya-Jolie end the episode talking about how she balances school and her entertainment career. She shares that she now does all of her schooling online because going to regular public school just became too much of a hassle to keep up with. Durell shares that as she gets older her experiences will change and she will want to get into more adult things but she’s doing so many great things as a teenage entertainer. Durell shares that he really likes her latest single entitled “Bonafide” and asks her about the inspiration behind the song. Durell asks Nya-Jolie if she plans to go to college or continue on in entertainment after she graduates high school. She shares that there is so much more she wants to do within the industry and she doesn’t plan on taking a break anytime soon. She also quickly teases a little bit about the stage play that she is a part of and what people can expect to see.


For more info on Nya-Jolie, you can follow her on her Instagram:

@official_nyajolie