Meet Joshua Runnels (J.ARTiz)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joshua Runnels (J.ARTiz) and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joshua, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
The pandemic is what truly helped spark the desire to start my business. After over eight years of understanding what my passion and purpose is, I decided to create an innovative style of being a creative while also contributing to the community. My company’s brand and motto is ART and EDU, (Short for education). Art and culture and education about art and culture are really important aspects to me and it is what sharpens and shapes are communities. 2020, i began my solo artistry career alongside with an art based education initiative, focused on helping inner city youth identify purpose and their roles in community.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Self expression through harmonic vocals, rap and spoken word poetry are the main mediums in which I learned to tell my story.. ​
I’ve had the pleasure of performing multi-facedly from one man, up to 12 people on festival stages blending genres while using versatility in rhyme, poetry and soul vocalism sharing the same stages as world renown artists such as: Chaka Kahn, John Batiste, Tank & the Bangas, Color Me Badd, Tech N9ne, Chance The Rapper, Nelly, Common, jennifer Hudson along with others.

As the Former male vocalist of “FutureSoul” band , “Loose Loose”, and founder of “MO’ Soul Collective”, I seek to continue inspiring a larger movement of cultural art, black liberation, higher consciousness and Afrofuturistic inspiration amongst the population of youth/ young adult communities and beyond.

The journey has been long, some moments were very confusing, tiresome and left me weary and wanting to quite. However, remembering my purpose as to why I do what I do. Remembering my way and how I started .inside the spoken word poetry club classroom in high school or maybe the first time that I wrote a rap being inspired by hip-hop and R&B in middle school. Stages and pens and pages saved my life and if you could do that for me, I believe it can do it for others

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Let’s start on a Wednesday evening. 31st St., Beach. Pierre has live R&B so funk house music.. After that once a month, Nolen entertainment has live music at Reggie’s. Thursday, we take The architectural tour on the Chicago river, Then head to the Maybe art institute. For dinner we have Alla Vita Which is Italian located in West Loop. Then we go to lazy Bird lounge where my favorite band plays every week on Thursdays call Verzatile band. Friday we find a summertime street festival. Take a walk along the Riverwalk. Dinner at RPM seafood right along the Riverwalk. Later that night we could go dancing at the wild hare, Which is the most infamous reggae spot for live music Reggaeton. Saturday, we could either rent jet skis, or rent a boat and have a day party with friends. Or go to lollapalooza music festival And then after party all night until 4 AM at Celeste nightclub. If we still would like to continue afterwards, we will go to the new downtown casino that is 24 hours called Bally’s. Sunday, we could either go to brunch at tribe supper club to see some live music or brunch at the Wit rooftop if not both.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would love to give a shout out to “move me soul, Which is a performance arts organization based in Chicago. THIS COMPANY WAS THE FIRST COMPANY THAT ADOPTED MY SPOKEN WORD, POETRY, CREATIVE, WRITING, AND MUSIC CURRICULUM TO IMPLEMENT to inner city youth on an ANNUAL BASIS. I would like to give a shout out to former band named loose loose. This band helped me find the creative component and style of how I wanted to represent myself moving forward on live music stages and records. Special shout out to Justin Famous who is an amazing recording artist and songwriter Who helped me with some of the best recordings that I’ve created thus far. I would like to give a shout to Shah Brielle, a Recording artist who helped me established a fan base in other regions and whom ive also Collaborated with musically. I’d Like to give a shout out to my family, my community and my other original business team, soul sessions como and the band “the mo’ soul collective”

Website: https://jrunnelsartedu.wixsite.com/mysite

Instagram: Instagram.com/j_art_iz/

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/joshua-runnels-04948288/

Twitter: x.com/j_art_iz

Facebook: facebook.com/jartizpassionpurpose

Youtube: youtube.com/@jartiz

Other: https://linktr.ee/jartiz 

Image Credits
Anthony Jinson (anthonyjinson.com) Brandon Hawkins (@capturingmasterpiece)