Casey Veggies (né Casey Jones) may be young but he definitely knows the value of prioritizing. Although this ’90s baby (born July 18, 1993) entered high school with hoop dreams, playing shooting guard for the varsity squad of Inglewood High School’s Sentinels, the Los Angeles native’s interest in rapping soon eclipsed his passion for basketball.
Back in ninth grade, the young MC had been recording songs and posting them on his MySpace page just for fun. But after receiving positive feedback on a few of his early tracks, Casey Veggies began to re-evaluate his relationship with music. “I was just writing and writing but then when I began recording things just started to fall into place,” says the emerging breakout star. “The response I got made me take it more seriously.”
While Casey Veggies originally started out as one of the founding members of the hip-hop supergroup Odd Future (OFWGKTA), he decided to strike out on his own following the release of his first mixtape, 2007’s Customized Greatly Vol. 1, which he dropped at the age of 14. “I just had a different vision for my own rap career,” Veggies says, explaining his decision to go solo. “I wanted to do my own thing.”
With the release of 2009’s Customized Greatly Vol. 2, Veggies not only proved that he had the potential to be more than just another MySpace star, but he also began to work closely with friends Joshton Peas and Anwar Carrots to establish a merchandise and artist management company called PNCINTL, better known as Peas & Carrots International. In an interview with The Madbury Club, the remarkably entrepreneurial teenager demonstrated a strong head for business as he discussed how “strategic sponsorships, limited merchandise, organic partnerships, social presence and influence ability have proved fundamental in the success of Peas & Carrots and thus, Casey Veggies.”
Indeed, Casey Veggies’ grassroots approach to marketing and promotion has not only garnered him more than 75,000 Twitter followers and over a million views on YouTube, but also scored favorable press coverage from a multitude of influential blogs and magazines, including complex.com, missinfo.tv, RapRadar.com, vibe.com, xxlmag.com, thesource.com, worldstarhiphop, and MTV’s RapFix blog.
Shortly after graduating high school in the spring of 2011, Casey Veggies joined Mac Miller as an opening act on his Blue Slide Park tour. Since then, he has performed with West Coast heavy hitters such as Nipsey Hussle, Dom Kennedy, Kendrick Lamar, and Hodgy Beats of MellowHype, as well as his friends from Odd Future, Tyler, the Creator and Domo Genesis, plus pop star Rita Ora, in addition to collaborating with artists such as YG, Rich Hil, Chip Tha Ripper and Raheem Devaughn.
In 2011, Delicious Vinyl helped with digital distribution of Casey Veggies’ independently released full-length debut album, Sleeping In Class, which he followed up a year later with his latest mixtape, Customized Greatly Vol. 3, released on April 9, 2012. Next, the prolific young rapper who supported Big K.R.I.T. on summer 2012’s Live From the Underground Tour has a new mixtape called Life Changes in the works. “I’m moving a little away from the volumes,” says Veggies. “I want to prove to people that I can put together a full package.” As with all of his releases, Veggies’ forthcoming projects are sure to be ripened to perfection.
Veggies are good for you and so is his music. Live and grow.
