Jafarlee

Aaron Jafarlee Pursley was born in Mansura, Louisiana on July 29, 1994. He was raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and moved back to Louisiana at age 8 to live with his grandmother and aunt. In 2008 after seeking more freedom and opportunity, Pursley moved to Florida during high school to better his career in music.

Pursley began creating music as an outlet to express his feelings and emotions since he wasn’t much of a “talker.” He started becoming serious about music in middle school when Soulja Boy debuted his single “Crank That.” Pursley found a multitude of inspiration from Soulja Boy and even drew a CD cover to resemble his. Bow Wow and Lil’ Romeo were also sources of inspiration because they were young but were still doing great things through music.

Pursley’s first real rhyme was entitled “Spit Fire,” and the young artist was “cursing like hell.” He recorded his music with a headset like the one worn by McDonald’s drive-thru employees. Pursley attached a speaker and mic to the headset and “talked” his heart out.

The young artist has transformed a great deal since those days. Pursley’s stage name has gone from “Lil’ A” to “Young Boss” to his current name “Jafarlee,” which is far more unique than the previous two names. Jafarlee was on a mission when he graduated from high school. The young artist wanted to release his first mixtape “LeeMix” during his freshman year of high school but failed to do so after depending on someone else for studio time. Once he got his own job and income, Jafarlee bought his own equipment and released “LeeMix” in June 2013.

J. Cole, Wale, Drake, B. Major, Ryan Leslie, and John Bellion inspire Jafarlee today because they took a dream or hobby and fulfilled it. They own their craft and create art. Jafarlee is inspired by Drake, J. Cole, and Wale in particular because they don’t make music to simply make music and club hits; they tell stories that are relatable to life.

Jafarlee has grown tremendously as an artist as he too strives to be relatable. He avoids cursing in his music as much as possible and has clearly defined his audience to be women, for whom he has a big passion. Jafarlee’s motivation to write comes from his grandmother and aunt. He aspires to buy his aunt a Hummer. His grandmother is now deceased, but his goal was to buy her a new house. As for the rest of the world, Jafarlee wishes to touch as many lives as possible.

Jafarlee is looking forward to becoming worldwide, something like Michael Jackson because he was known everywhere. He broke through language barriers and touched the lives of people who don’t even speak English. Jafarlee is also looking forward to being able to financially support his family and inspire others to follow their dreams and passions. Giving back to the community is also at the top of his list.

“It’s just crazy when you step out in public and people know you.” -Jafarlee