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[0:01] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:09] Sémaj B.: Look, I'm in Detroit, he's Chicago, Midwest in the house. Let's go. He's saying love ain't fair. Let's go. We here.

[0:24] Robert Bannon: Yes, sir. We here. We here. Congratulations. So when did you know you had a voice and you wanted to sing?

[0:32] Sémaj B.: I knew I had a voice in college. I used to go to open mics.

[0:39] Sémaj B.: I was singing in the car just like driving around and people would be like, hey, bro, you can actually sing. You should actually try this out. So I actually tried it out. And everywhere I go, people kind of get captivated by my voice. So I just want to use it for that.

[0:55] Robert Bannon: Was it scary, though, like when you said you're going to make it a career? Like this is not like I'm going to karaoke and I'm going to sing, you know, to win a free drink or to, you know, hit on a girl or something. This is like this is your life. This is your business.

[1:08] Sémaj B.: After a while of hearing the same feedback from different people, just meeting different people and they all get the same reaction, I wanted to turn it into a career because I wanted to reach more people. It's a different type of feeling. When people like your work, it's very nice. But yes, it was very scary at first. And I progressed and just kept trying at it. And I got more confident.

[1:34] Robert Bannon: So "Love Ain't Fair" is the single, everyone. The debut single is out and about. And it's, I don't know, it's a story. It's a story to me. Tell me how the song came to you and what's it about for you?

[1:46] Sémaj B.: The song is about heartbreak. Like in the video, it kind of visualizes heartbreak. Heartbreak is a universal thing. No matter who you are, everybody can experience heartbreak. So I wanted to bring that into a real-life story, into the vocals. I mean, I've dealt with heartbreak myself, so it kind of hit home for me. So it was easy for me to express myself and just really pour out my soul into the song. So I just hope everybody can really feel where I'm coming from. Basically, I love it and I love the style and the whole vibe. If you love R&B, grown people, you know, you love grown R&B, like real music, real storytelling with real instruments and real vocals, then this is the track for you.

[2:37] Robert Bannon: How do you—people ask you? I'm sure they compare you to artists all the time and stuff like that. What do you compare your sound to? How do you describe what is your sound like?

[2:46] Sémaj B.: What do you mean? How I would describe my own sound?

[2:50] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[2:50] Sémaj B.: I would describe my own sound as more bringing—it's like more old R&B, but with a fresh spin on it. So it's not like the old 2000s, but that's where I really pulled a lot of inspiration from. But I want to bring a more modern, fresh sound. So it's kind of both. So it's something new, actually, to me, but it has an old audience and I'm bringing in a new audience as well. So that's how I would describe it.

[3:12] Sémaj B.: He said old R&B is early 2000s. I want to punch him in the face.

[3:18] Sémaj B.: I'm more so—I say 2000s because that's kind of where I reside. But I've also listened to older as well.

[3:23] Robert Bannon: It's okay.

[3:27] Sémaj B.: Then I was born in 1983 and I graduated high school in the early 2000s.

[3:31] Robert Bannon: It's okay. I'm not mad at you. He's growing up his age.

[3:37] Sémaj B.: It's fine. It's fine. It's okay. It's you when you read about you, you know, when you read about, you know, growing up. I teach in Detroit, you know, and I think Detroit, New York, Chicago, Detroit, L.A., New Orleans. Certain cities have a certain reputation for being tough, for being, you know, like you have to have a certain kind of personality, shell, swagger, energy about you to make it. What does Chicago—what is growing up? You grew up mainly with your mom, you know, raising you, keeping you, you know, in school, trying to get you together and all of the things that you raised as young boys grow up with. How do you describe that journey for you and how does that play into your artistry?

[4:18] Sémaj B.: That's a great question, actually. I feel like without my mom, honestly, I don't know where I would be. Well, with a lot of people that I know as well, that's helped me grow up in Chicago because Chicago is very tough. I've seen a lot of people that I know kind of passed away—gang violence, just drugs, and just a lot of things that I've seen around my city as I grew up. It wasn't as bad as when I was growing up, but it's kind of bad now. But I would just say my mom kind of helped stray—she kind of helped me stay away from that path, especially my granddad, who sadly passed away. But they kind of really taught me morals and it kind of helped me shape my artistry because it doesn't matter really where you come from, but you could use where you come from in your artistry to show that you're different, basically.

[5:10] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. Music saves lives, you know, like finding music and finding the love of music changes lives. And look, it's giving you this outlet in this career that now you're going to go change other people's lives. You're going to be inspired by yourself. You write. It says that you write.

[5:25] Sémaj B.: Yes.

[5:25] Robert Bannon: How did you—I can't write for Jack. So how did you discover that you could write? What is your style like? Do you have you singing in the phone? Is it only when you're in the booth? Is it, you know, you're writing it down on a napkin at a restaurant? How does it come to you?

[5:40] Sémaj B.: I would say I could use all of those as ways of writing. More so when I first started, I like to go to the lake. I like to go to the lake and just think about life and what's going on in my life. And if I have a beat in mind, I'll just write along to the beat. Or if I just have an idea in my mind, I'll just try to write down some lyrics and find a beat for that. After I do sing, I do sing sometimes in the booth, just playing around. But more so, I just—I like to go to the lake. It's very peaceful. Not a lot of distractions. And that's my process.

[6:15] Robert Bannon: I'm trying to learn about—look, this is totally not about music, but I come from New Jersey. So we have a beach. So you go to the Jersey Shore and you go to the beach. And then I moved to Detroit, which is, you know, down the road from Chicago. And everyone tells me you got to go to a lake. You got to go to Lake Michigan, Lake Erie. And I'm like, it's not—and then it's like peace, calm. Like there's an element of some kind of special energy about being at the lake.

[6:37] Sémaj B.: So I'm getting that Midwest. I'm trying to learn it. I'm trying to get there.

[6:41] Robert Bannon: You'll get there. I'm going to go to the lake. I'm going to go to the lake.

[6:45] Robert Bannon: So when you wrote this in particular, the production to this song is—firstly, your vocals are fire. Secondly, the production on it, the instrumentation, what's going on, the way the song is written is fire. And you have quite some heavy hitters that helped you out and get this song out and about. When you talk about Guitar Boy and, you know, Chris Brown and Usher hitting the road. They're here in Detroit this weekend, you know, at Trey Songs. All of Guitar Boy has worked with all of them in the studio. So you got him to be on this with you. How did this partnership happen? What was it like to work with him?

[7:16] Sémaj B.: It was pretty fire. Just seeing who he's worked with, it's amazing to see that come to life. He kind of challenged me vocally, like on the song, but it kind of helped shape my vocals. But also it brought out my certain style for me, basically. So it was an interesting experience. I'll say that's what I can say to that question.

[7:46] Robert Bannon: I like that. And for you, the song and you building your audience, like if you go on Spotify right now, hundreds of thousands of listeners a month, hundreds of thousands of streams for the music that's out, building your social media. How was it like to be young and you already have come to this level of success? I'm sure you're going to keep pushing to keep on growing and going. What is your plan? Like what do you do to keep new people to discover your music?

[8:14] Sémaj B.: I just want to be authentic. Being authentic kind of helps you a lot in this.

[8:20] Sémaj: You can just ask a lot of people that are around me. I just like to make music, but music is a universal language. So when people actually relate to you, they'll follow you, they'll try to see your journey because they relate to you a lot. And that's all I really want to do is just be authentic. So I just hope that people can see my authentic self, and we just keep pushing basically. And keep pushing. And when you hear this music, you're going to want to hear something more. We're going to get more singles. Are we going to get an album? Are you allowed to tell me? Well, I'm working on some singles right now, basically.

[9:01] Robert Bannon: Okay. All right. So new singles, more singles coming up. I love your style. When you look at you, I love your style. The Versace glasses. You got the overalls on in the picture. You're tatted. Do you know how many tats you got?

[9:13] Sémaj: That's a great question. A lot? My arms are fully tatted, and I have a tattoo on my neck right here, but I'm planning to get more actually. I have a lot.

[9:18] Robert Bannon: Did it hurt?

[9:19] Sémaj: No. I almost went to sleep. I was just talking to my tattoo artist. We were just having a regular conversation. Tattoos don't really hurt to me. You know, my nephews have tattoos. My sister, she's real tough. She got it right like this, and then I have—

[9:40] Robert Bannon: Right here?

[9:41] Sémaj: Yes. I have zero. No tattoos. I don't even know what tattoos to get.

[9:48] Robert Bannon: Do you remember your first one?

[9:49] Sémaj: Yes. My mom almost beat on me. It was some jinky shop I went to. I was just in high school. I just wanted a tattoo because everybody had a tattoo, and I just got the tattoo, and then she found out, and she was mad at me for a long time.

[10:07] Robert Bannon: What does mom think about your success and about what you're doing?

[10:12] Sémaj: She's very proud of me. When I first told her, like when I really wanted to make music, she supported me all the way, but now just seeing everything come to fruition, she's my number one fan. That's my biggest supporter. I love my mom.

[10:27] Robert Bannon: What is your team like? It's hard out here in this business. You have to find a good team. You can't do everything by yourself. Management, representation, putting out music, people to play on you. Was there a moment that was a break? Did you find someone? Is there someone who guides you and leads you or that you work together with that's really made a big difference in your career?

[10:43] Sémaj: I have a dream team. I have the dream team. That's what I call them. My manager, King, he's the best. He really helped me in shaping me into a great artist to become.

[11:00] Robert Bannon: That's incredible and so needed. That's what it's all about. This new single that we're talking about, everybody, Love Ain't Fair, is available. It's streaming right now. You can be listening to it wherever music is heard. You've got to send it. Who do you hope listens to it? Is somebody that's brokenhearted? Is somebody that's upset? Is it something you could listen to? You're driving home from work. It's Friday. It's got a drive and a beat and a vibe to it. When you wrote this song, when you recorded this song, what do you envision the person listening to it is going through?

[11:27] Sémaj: I'm glad you said that. Actually, all of those boxes you could check. You could just be chilling, riding down the street, just vibing to Love Ain't Fair. We just got your heart broken. Let me put on some Love Ain't Fair. I feel like this song is for everybody. You don't necessarily have to go through heartbreak. I mainly wrote it because I was heartbroken. I feel like everybody can listen to this song. It's a banger. I think it's a banger. It's going to be stuck in your head. You're going to be trying to sing his vocals because he comes out the gate belting and strutting right from the start. He's out there singing.

[12:05] Robert Bannon: I think when you said heartbreak is universal, even if you could be married, you could have kids, you could be grown, you could always go back to that pain you feel when you're heartbroken. It never goes away. You could love somebody and still get heartbroken and still stay together. Some days you're pissed off at that person. You got to listen to some music where you feel that way. You could have the high school heartbreak, listen to it. You could be married, listen to it, divorced. This song is for everybody. It doesn't matter what point of heartbreak you're in. I just feel like it's going to resonate with everybody.

[12:43] Sémaj: Look, I've been divorced. You need good heartbreak music when you get divorced because you're mad as hell.

[12:48] Robert Bannon: Listen, if you're out here getting divorced, this is the song. Is there plans for you to do live? I want to see you on the road. Come on. Come to Detroit. Let's go.

[12:59] Sémaj: You want to see me on the road?

[13:01] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[13:02] Sémaj: I'm still building myself up right now, but honestly, I feel like I'll be on the road soon, honestly.

[13:09] Robert Bannon: All right. When you get those messages from people on social media, they write to you, they give comments to what you're doing, the comments to the music video. The music video is out as well. You can watch it right now. What does it mean to you for people out there that have really connected to you? They feel like your music has spoken to them. There's people out there right now listening to what you did.

[13:29] Sémaj: That's crazy at this current moment. The comments actually make me feel really good because you felt me and my lyrics on a certain level that you connect with me. That's just an unexplainable feeling to me. I can't really explain it. It's the greatest feeling ever, honestly. I love it.

[13:51] Robert Bannon: Make sure you listen to it. Make sure you send a comment. Give a message. Tell him how the song made you feel.

[13:58] Sémaj: It makes me feel the best because you really like it. My product, you like my product. It's just an amazing feeling.

[14:09] Robert Bannon: Send it to somebody. If you know somebody who needs a new song or you're looking for that summer anthem song, then you send it to somebody. Create a playlist. Share it to them. Wherever you listen to music, Spotify, Apple, wherever you're listening to music, make sure you stream it. Send it to a friend.

[14:22] Sémaj: I'm excited for you. I'm excited for it. New singles are coming. You're writing, you're singing. What do you do to stay in vocal shape? Do you have a trick or you just got that natural ... He's just young. He's young. He's just like, put me in there. Let's go.

[14:36] Sémaj: Let me tell you something. A lot of people that I've met, they'll be like, hey, how long have you been singing? I'll be like, bro, I just started singing not that long ago. They'll be like, you're lying. You've been singing for all your life. I'm like, no. I just recently discovered I could sing at one point in time and I just never stopped. I have a vocal coach now, but when I first started, it was just all natural, just pure talent. You can always be better. That's one thing with me. Even though I can't sing, I would like to be better and train myself in any aspect of my artistry.

[15:08] Robert Bannon: Well, it's just the beginning. It's only the beginning. There's a lot more music, a lot more hits, a lot more messages and things you've got to all check out. If you are looking for something to listen to, make sure you listen to this. Then we can follow you on all social media and you're active there as well. You can listen to and watch the music video. I miss music, but you're too young. Music videos used to be the thing. You go home, you put on MTV, BET, VH1, you watch the music. Now it's on YouTube and that's fine, but I miss the video. Thank you for the video.

[15:37] Sémaj: No problem. Just wait to this next single. I love that song. When that drops, I'll be ready. I'll be following. Follow him. More videos, more videos, more singles and more music to come. Congratulations. When you're on the road and you come to Detroit, I'm there. I'm ready. Let's go. I need to speak to you in person.

[16:00] Sémaj: All right. That's it. This is it. Remember this name, everybody. He's going to be a big giant star and we got to make sure you follow and support the next generation of great R&B grown people, real singing music out here. Sémaj, thank you so much for being here. Congratulations.

[16:18] Sémaj: No problem. I really appreciate it. This was amazing.

[16:21] Robert Bannon: Back at you.