Insecure Writer Phil Augusta Jackson Is Ready to "Get It" with New EP (KEXP Premiere + Interview)

Ah, Los Angeles! City of Angels! Tinseltown! La-la Land! Entertainment Capital of the World! “If you can make it here you can make it anywhere!” Oh wait, that’s New York but I feel like the sentiment still rings true. Especially if you’re a multi-hyphenate bubbling over with creativity, passion, and the most LA of all words – hustle.

Growing up in the Northwest, the nonstop hustle required of thriving in Los Angeles eludes me. Which is why I’m especially impressed with and also confounded by LA-by-way-of-Philly artist Phil Augusta Jackson. The overachiever of multi-hyphenates, Jackson buries triple threats with his impressive resume of titles including: writer/producer/actor/director/poet/musician/wine aficionado. Plus I'd imagine probably more that I’m unaware of.

The one most likely to perk your ears is his current main gig as a writer and executive producer for HBO’s critically and culturally acclaimed show Insecure. After spending two years writing for Key & Peele (he's behind the rap confessions skit) and four years at the writing table for Brooklyn Nine-Nine (where he also made a cameo), Jackson joined the Insecure team for the show’s fourth season, which recently was nominated for eight Emmy’s.

You’d think that would be enough to keep his days filled but nope! This is LA baby! Work 'til you DIE! I kid, I kid (sort of). This fall, Jackson will debut a pilot comedy on NBC called Grand Crew, which revolves around a group of black friends, their dating lives and wine. Oh, he’s also making a Christmas movie.

And that doesn’t even touch the reason we’re all here: music. Yes, somehow in the meager 24 hours given each of us every day, Jackson has also recorded an EP titled The Redondo Tape. Out September 4th, the exploratory EP is his first complete body of work, following a string of singles slowly released over the past few years.

Following lead single “Alone,” KEXP is premiering the EP’s opening track “Get It.” Unlike the preceding single which was reflective and hypnotic, “Get It” is a bouncy party anthem that showcases Jackson’s genre-pushing range. Vibing to the glitzy beat made by up-and-coming producer Nick Lee (Demi Lovato, Poo Bear, Dillon Francis), Jackson effortlessly raps with an Aminé-esque carefreeness about self-care and ambition within the “work hard, play hard” attitude of Los Angeles while name-checking the beach the EP derives its name from.

“The Redondo Tape is about life,” explains Jackson. “Ambition, love, heartache, all of the dimensions of life that make living interesting. It’s a reflective project. You could listen to it as the sun sets or while you’re taking a walk and go through a range of emotions.”

Below, listen to “Get It” and read KEXP’s interview with Phil Augusta Jackson on Insecure, the hierarchy of music in his life of many passions, and the lure of Los Angeles.

KEXP: I hear congratulations are in order. Eight Emmy nominations for Insecure!

Phil Augusta Jackson: Yes! Yeah, we had a good season. Season 4 was a good season. I'm super pumped. I totally forgot it was happening and then woke up to a bunch of texts this morning. So, exciting times, for sure.

That's amazing. I absolutely love Insecure. It's so, so good.

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of the show before I got a chance to write on it and writing on season four was a blast and was just also a really great rhythm to work into, which is also really, really nice for the writers.

How long have you been writing for the show?

I just popped on Season Four, and we are writing Season Five right now. So, this is my second season.

That's exciting! I'm not in the film world and don't know a lot about what's currently going on so I'm curious... if you're writing Season Five, what's the current plan for shooting post-Covid?

I mean, it's tricky. It's going to be tricky, to say the least. But, as of right now, the plan, at least for Insecure, is to film at the beginning of 2021. And, then I think by then the thought is that as protocols kind of get situated and hopefully there'll be a vaccine or something like that, but they're pushing filming and the writers are just kind of going on as is. But I also have a pilot over at NBC, too and they want to film in October. So I think we've gotta adjust the scripts and stuff like that so that it's Covid-friendly. And, then I think that they're going to be reduced as far as numbers and stuff like that. That's where it stands right now.

Okay gotcha. It seems like you have so much on your plate. Alongside Insecure, you're also working on the pilot for NBC you mentioned and it sounds like you also have a holiday film in the works? Where does music fit in with all of the film work?

Yeah. I mean, music is my original love. I've been playing music, learning music since I was in fourth grade and it has evolved into somewhat of like a therapeutic release over time. But originally, the plan was like, I want to go to law school and start my own record label and stuff like that.

But, the writing and the acting and that stuff ended up having a little bit more momentum more immediately. And, so I kind of just followed that. And, also, I have a passion for that as well, but I never stopped creating music. So I've been evolving my sound in addition to kind of just making strides in the entertainment industry and the writing side of things.

So, this has got to be a pretty big deal then, that you finally have this complete body of work that you're releasing.

Yeah, a hundred percent! I'm super excited because I feel like every time that I release, the sound gets better. I figure out my voice a little bit more. It's not unlike writing, where every time you write you kind of get a better sense for what you want to say and how you want to say it. And, I think a couple of things happened this time around that made the project feel special to me personally. And, I think the first thing is that I found this producer.

His name is Nick Lee; a really young, super talented guy. Signed to Scooter Braun's publishing agency and stuff like that. And we just had like this immediate chemistry, and I feel like he elevated my sound. Usually, I used to produce all my own stuff but, for the first time, I had someone else produce it, and that was Nick. And it was a really freeing experience having an opportunity to just focus on the lyrics, just focus on performance, and then use my knowledge of production to kind of influence how the sound comes together, but not be the one that's like making the beats, you know what I mean?

Absolutely! More collaborative, and you have some more freedom to focus on and hone in on the lyrics.

A hundred percent! You know, I'm also an improviser, that's kind of how I get started writing. So, improv is all about collaboration and working off of somebody. So, I think that's kind of in my bones. So, I think for this project in particular it felt like, you know, Nick was my partner in this and he definitely elevated, we elevate each other on this project. And, I think we have a pretty cohesive bond on this EP and I'm very excited for everyone to hear.

Like Insecure, The Redondo Tape is said to be inspired quite a bit by Los Angeles. What does the city mean to you as a non-native from Philly and what about it inspires you?

I think it's amazing. And also, symbolically for me, as an artist, I was working a full time job in advertising as the vice president in strategy at an advertising agency, trying to break through into the entertainment industry. I think symbolically, Los Angeles represented the ability to really achieve my dream, you know? So, I was working in advertising and then I got hired to write on Key and Peele, and that was what moved me to Los Angeles. So, the city and people always hold a special place in my heart because it represents the place that I actually got to go for the things that I really wanted to go for. So, love Los Angeles!

Yeah. I feel like there's something about it. My boyfriend lived in Los Angeles for a few years and he's still completely obsessed with it. Like any movie or show or person that references L.A., he loses his mind over. And, honestly, I don't fully understand it. But, clearly there's something about it.

Yeah, there is something about it. I think it takes a little bit of time to acclimate to. But, once you find the spot that you like, you find your footing, I think it's an incredible city. And also, I think a lot of it has to do with as a creative, being able to track down people that you can bounce ideas off of and that inspire you and keep you motivated. So, yeah, I agree with your boyfriend.

[laughs] Okay cool! So, Insecure is known for having an incredible soundtrack. What would it mean to you to have one of your songs featured on an episode?

That would be amazing, obviously. Yeah, that would be so cool.

Yeah, I'm sure you have some sort of relationship with the people in charge of that.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think they know that I'm onto music. I think they heard the track, the first single, and they liked it a lot. I'm not gonna kind of put pressure on anybody to include me. I feel like Issa is a cultural curator in addition to being a performer so, you know, that would be significant, being acknowledged musically by her. That would obviously be cool but I'm not looking to push that agenda. I'm just thankful to be writing for the show.

Absolutely. Do you have any sort of expectations or ideas of where music is going for you or the release of this EP?

Well, no, not really. You know, to be honest with you, when me and my manager Tim started plotting how to roll out this project it felt like we wanted to treat it like an experiment to see how far we could push the sound and also how far we could push it out to get people that aren't necessarily in our circle to hear it. So, our original goal was just to get 10,000 streams for the whole EP. But, the single alone has been out for just a little over a week now, and we already have like 13,000 streams on it so we've already passed our goal line. I'm really thankful that people are responding well to it.

Wow! That's awesome. That's really exciting.

Thank you.

So you're a multi-hyphenate. Where in the writer/producer/actor/director/poet, and probably more that I’m missing, do you consider a musician to be?

Where in the hierarchy?

Yes.

I think music is the foundation of the house, you know, if I had to describe it. Just because it was the first thing that I loved, you know? And I feel like the last project I released was back in 2017. And, it was the type of thing where when the energy feels right I'll start writing music and put it together and release it. But, you know, I always come back to music. It always comes back to music.

And I think I stumbled onto writing, I stumbled onto acting, I kind of stumbled onto poetry. I always had an interest, but in some ways kind of caught me by surprise in those other areas. But, music was just the thing that I had been responding to since I was a child. You know, I grew up playing the saxophone and the piano, playing the saxophone in my church. Learned to play by ear, stuff like that. So, I think music...it's not the thing that's paying my bills right now, but I have a deep, deep love for music and I don't know that I'll ever fall out of love with it.

This interview will be posted alongside the premiere for "Get It." Can you tell me a little bit about that song?

Yeah, for sure! So, the first single, "Alone," was a very introspective tune about reflecting on relationships, love lost, the good and the bad that comes with experiencing someone in a romantic capacity. So, I wanted to release a second single that kind-of had a different energy, with a little bit more fun. That's why we decided to go with "Get It."

I think with "Get It," simply put, it's meant to be a fun self-motivational tune. So, the idea is that a lot of times half of the battle is just having confidence in yourself and confidence in what you want to achieve. That's the point to "Get It." And I think it's my attempt to dabble in the world of trap, with the beat, but also kind-of put a little melodic influence on top of it to kind of make it feel different, and hopefully, fresh. Relative to what's out there.

Yeah, it's a super fun song. I think you're right to do something a little bit more bouncy, more fun.

Like something to dance to.

Yeah, exactly. Do you know much about KEXP?

I've heard of KEXP since I was in college, which was a long time ago. So, I know that you guys deal with a lot of, like, indie bands. Bands was my original thought when I heard KEXP. But I know you guys deal with the kind of music that isn't necessarily super mainstream yet, but also evolving and stuff like that.

Yeah, absolutely. We're definitely about breaking new artists of all genres, for sure. So, one of our mottos is "We're the station where the music matters." So, why does music matter to you?

I think music, to me, represents like a snapshot in time. So, when I release music, personally, I can go back to old classics. And, listening to it puts me back into a time and a place and a mood and an energy. And I think music captures life and experiences. And, I think the world would be fundamentally different, and not for the better, if there wasn't music.

So, I think for me, personally, it's therapeutic. It's so, so meaningful and it's just a way to emote and release in a way that you can't in other art-forms. It's something about using sounds to relate your experiences and your point of view on the world. And, so, that's what music means to me. It means everything. Because, in a lot of ways it keeps me level, keeps me grounded and helps support me through my feelings.