Jarred Douglas aka Noveliss is a dream chaser personified. Noveliss grew up a bit of a closet nerd and multi-sport athlete throughout his youth. A big-time social introvert, Noveliss would go to school, get good grades, go to basketball practice and go home and watch Anime and wrestling.
He got introduced to real rap early when he stole a tape from his cousin Jason. The tape he stole was Nas’ “It Was Written” and it changed his life.
Noveliss continued to explore Hip Hop when the “Slim Shady LP” came out. He tried to buy the parental advisory version but the guy at the record store wouldn’t let him because he was too young, so Noveliss stole it and ran off.
In high school, Noveliss really discovered his love for writing. It started as writing poetry, then evolved to creative writing pieces and from there, he began to jot down his own rhymes. At lunch, Noveliss would battle some of his fellow classmates.
He also discovered his love for Anime, rushing home after school to catch Dragonball Z on Toonami. His love for anime expanded and became something more important in his life. He discovered Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop and credits them for sending him down an anime rabbit hole.
He became a high level writer and a good enough basketball player to lead him to further his education. College is where Nov’s life would get a little more complicated but his music career would take off.
In college, Noveliss was a full-time student athlete and soon to be traveling Hip Hop artist. One night, rocking an open mic, he met 3 other emcees whom would later form the legendary Hip Hop group Clear Soul Forces with him. During a studio session, they ran into Detroit Rap Great; Royce Da 5’9. After an all-night session of rhyming to impress Royce, he suggested the 4 become a group, and Clear Soul Forces was born.
Before he knew it, Noveliss was traveling with his basketball team, coming home, going to class and hitting the road again with Clear Soul Forces all while bringing his first child into the world. Though his schedule was tough, Nov managed to graduate with a degree in Mass Communications and Professional Writing.
Soon after Graduating, Clear Soul Forces would secure a deal with notable underground distribution label Fat Beats and hit Europe on multiple tours where they headlined sold out shows in the countries of France, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Switzerland and The United Kingdom.
After accomplishing certain milestones with CSF, Noveliss decided he wanted to give fans a piece of himself that they didn’t get to hear in the group. He would go on to release multiple solo projects and become a figure in the nerdcore fandom community.
Noveliss would travel to different Cons doing panels and performing, these rounds including performing at Detroit’s Youmacon in full on Naruto Sage Mode Cosplay and speaking at a panel at San Diego Comic Con.
Noveliss’ solo adventures would lead him to a place he only dreamed of visiting, Japan. Noveliss traveled to Japan to rock two shows in Tokyo with Mega Ran during a trip that would ultimately inspire him to create the album that changed his life; Cerebral Apex. Noveliss would return home and begin writing his very own Manga that his debut album would be based off of.
Having invested nearly eight years into his craft and career, Noveliss is certainly no novice. Influenced by legendary MC’s such as Black Thought, Eminem, MF Doom, Nas, and Redman, it’s no wonder the anime loving, comic book reading, martial arts and pro wrestling loving emcee is well equipped with rhymes.
He also gives credit to anime’s such as Samurai Champloo; Naruto, Cowboy Bebop, Dragonball Z, Hunter x Hunter, Rurouni Kenshin, Ninja Scroll, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Afro Samurai, Yu Yu Hakusho and even recent titles like My Hero Academia, for inspiring him and changing his life.