Marquis Jackson (born September 27, 1996), better known as his stage name Ace Beretta is a American-born rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and entrepreneur from Wichita, Kansas. Jackson founded Field Music Entertainment with his brothers in Wichita. He released his first mixtape Field Music at the age of 17 changing the game with his J. Cole and Nas-type lyricism and story telling and his Pac-type deliverance. Ace received great reviews and recognition in his city after dropping Field Music and has risen ever since. We wanted to know more.
1inmusic: Hi Ace, and thank you for telling us more about you. Let’s start with what you think is unique about your music…
Ace Beretta (AB): What’s unique about me is that I am telling a story that nobody is telling. I am telling the Marquis Jackson story under the name Ace Beretta. I’m also from Kansas so that alone stands out. Everywhere I go, people ask about Kansas and say they’ve never been. I tell them to listen to my music and check out Kansas from my perspective”
1inMusic: What shaped your music and who supports you?
AB: “Really J. Cole is one of my biggest influences, but I have to give a lot of credit to my older brother. I remember when the Xbox 360 first came out and was poppin’, I was in the 4th grade. My brother had some friends who had gave him a hard drive with nothing but instrumentals on it and we wrote to all of them. But I didn’t take music seriously until my senior year of High School.
I have a whole city who supports me. I’m from a small town where everyone knows everybody and it’s pretty basic. Everyone either plays sports, gang bang, or either just go to school to go to school. So when I decide to do something different, it kind of set a tone in the city, but I moved to Orlando after I graduated High School to pursue music and that’s when things changed for me.
1inmusic: Is that when you realised that you wanted to make music professionally?
AB: Well I started rapping like a year ago. I posted my first song up and my High School and city were going crazy. Once I told myself this is what I want to do I prayed about it then started making moves.
1inmusic: What type of music do you listen to?
AB: Right now I’m writing my project and building my catalog so I’m not listening to too many artists at the moment, well main stream at least. If I do venture off and listen to music, I’m studying song writers.
1inmusic: It is interesting that song writers are an example. What ignites your own song writing?
AB: Memories and energy. I feel like when the right energy, whether its because the beat is speaking or because I got my bandits in the back spiting freestyles, thats when Im ready to get everything out.
1inmusic: What about your performances? Is it the same and how do you prepare for them?
I usually turn my notifications off and focus, make sure my stage presence is on point, go over lines and get into character. Being a Rapper and being an Entertainer are two different things.
1inmusic: Who, to you, is the most undervalued music artist?
AB: Man, that’s a hard one. I cant really give that to any main stream artist right now because I’m around underground artist who are starving for this every day, who are, if not doper, just as dope as a lot of mainstream artists but may do not have the funds or the network to play this game so they never get the shine. But if I had to choose up, it would definitely be Wale or Big Sean.
1inmusic: What do you do when you don’t do music (creative or otherwise) and that you are passionate about?
AB: Nothing really. I mean I’m an artist I feel like when people start paying you for your music, you should devote most of your time to perfecting your craft. I have so many things I want to learn like I’m playing the piano now, I want to learn how to play the guitar, learn how to sing, make beats and more. When I’m not doing anything music-related I’m most likely catching up with friends and family. Letting everyone know that I’m still human and alive.
1inmusic: Success to you is?
AB: … Something that is unattainable because if that’s what you are reaching for, you can never get enough of it or be satisfied. You’ll always want more!
1inmusic: What do you wish you have been told when you started out and that you think would help anyone who starts out?
AB: That the world is a cold place. Im still young like I knew the world was crazy because I grew up in the hood. I have seen the world at its lowest but I also seen the world at its highest and its just as bad if not 10 times worse because everything up here is fake from the women to the friendships”.
1inmusic: Thank you for meeting with us. Do you want to share any upcoming projects and where to find more information?
AB: My EP, JOMG (Jordan Of My Generation) will be dropping this year. Be on the lookout, I have something with music producer Kountdown as well. Also, my single ‘in available on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/pretty-penny-feat.-roko-da/id1058866133. You can follow me on Twitter, Soundcloud: Instagram. I’m working on a lot right now expending my range so expect to see a lot.
