Angels Rising Above: An Interview with Jaylaflame

Jaylaflame is setting up to be a formidable force in the blossoming furry rap scene. They and their clique, M.A.J.I.C Records, are on the threshold of sleek, fun hip hop that carries a distinctive aura. ONLY US, NEVER THEM is a shining example of the M.A.J.I.C sound, with infectious hooks and breezy beats by the dozen. To learn more about Jayla and their album, I sat down with them over the course of a couple days for an interview to discuss it, as well as the wider furry music movement.

Melissa Thyme Monroe: How was your Christmas?

My Christmas went well. Spent it with my partner and family.

MTM: Good! How'd you find the furry fandom?

I always knew about anthros, but my first introduction to the space was through Blackmajic and Fly To The Night back in 2019. They were the first people I knew actively getting involved in the space/communities on Twitter. Then they started inviting me to different group-chats then the rest was history.

MTM: So Blackmajic is really your furry OG, huh?

I wouldn’t say OG 'cause we really started getting active in it together, he was just was in space few months before me. Majic and I come from the 2016-2019 underground era on SoundCloud. A lot of my musical influences definitely come from anime rap. Outside of Majic, I was working with people that were inspiration to me as well such as Knives56k, Cochise, Braxton Knight, GF Retro and more. You can find a lot of those tracks still floating around on SoundCloud.

MTM: Did anything besides M.A.J.I.C propel you to be more overt with your furry fandom, or was it kind of a case of "where he goes, I go"?

I would say it was when we created our Discord server. For me, it was never really the art aspect, it was more of community lifestyle aspect. When COVID hit and the world shut down, people went their separate ways from the underground. People I just happened to stay in touch with were in the fandom. It got to the point where everyone I was dealing with was a furry or furry-adjacent.

MTM: You do seem to display a lot of (as the kids call it) "multi-fandom" interests, what with your partner being a cosplayer and what you've just told me—do you find yourself feeling best when you're in a group of people?

Yeah, I would say so. Despite all my friends now being in the fandom, we hardly talk about furry related things. Majority of conversations are about music, anime, and event curation.

MTM: Moving on to your album: Where did you get the title of ONLY US, NEVER THEM from? Does it mean anything in particular?

This was motto I started with my group at the beginning of 2023. The "Only Us" part means that we have to protect each other. "Never Them" means [to] protect our energy from forces that move in bad faith. We faced a lot adversity throughout these last two years, and now it’s back to music and we’re not looking back. We're going to make a statement.

MTM: Would you mind elaborating?

For last few years we dealt with an individual who used queer and BIPOC community to gain status in this space. We looked at them as a brother but he was actively speaking ill about individuals or specific kinks. We trusted them but we would meet these individuals and they were speaking on people in bad faith. We’re a kink positive space, and they'd try to put down individuals who practice their specific kinks, like the leather and babyfur community.

They even would try to speak bad to me specifically on our own group members who were discovering their sexuality and openness with kinks, trying to demonize them. They would speak bad about our BIPOC leaders and peers and try to get us to speak bad about them as well. They would use their party to sell merch, but wouldn’t pay the BIPOC artist they used. Even myself, once I discovered I was nonbinary, they started to treat me different. The reason you haven’t seen a lot music [in 2024 is because] I was getting over the fact someone I trusted wasn’t who they said were and turned out to be a snake.

It gave "Only Us, Never Them" another meaning.

MTM: You do have a lot of angelic imagery on Only Us, Never Them–do you think of yourself as a guardian angel or some form of protective figure?

I embodied Michael, the angel of war. That’s why my name is Jaylaflame. "Jayla" means "God will protect" and also "hope". "Flame" is to show his presence. I’m more spiritual than religious and this resonated with me.

MTM: How do you feel about your contemporaries in the wider scene like lulamoon, pawb and such?

I think the people I’ve interacted with are pretty dope. Pawb, she’s a genuine individual. I like how we truly support each other in this space. It’s melting pot of different queer artists and I enjoy what I’m seeing.

MTM: Do you feel that the furry fandom is intrinsically queer?

Yes, wholeheartedly. But we need to differentiate what "furry" and "furry fandom" is. Sy Sable, a queer individual, is attributed to being a founder of the fandom alongside their partners. The aspect of furry art [being] your expression through an anthropomorphic lens–the founder of that is attributed to Ken Cougr. I bring that up because fandom is a gathering of people. The majority of the people who gather are queer.

MTM: That's interesting, I've never thought of it in terms of the separation between the fandom and the sorta broader idea of 'furry-ness' but it's a really good one. Do you think you embody that anthropomorphic lens?

I think I do. I’ve always had anthropomorphic lens in what I bring to my music. I have this whole kind of dreamy pop project I made back in 2020 where I embodied spirit of a wolf that’s on journey to find love and acceptance. This was before I’d even considered myself fully in the fandom.

ONLY US, NEVER THEM is out now on streaming services and Bandcamp.