J.Y.

Let’s cut to the chase. Most rappers generally have nothing to say in their music. Every song is a party, they miraculously have money out of nowhere, and then tend to have no respect for those who have paved the way for them to get here. Enter J.Y., a 23 year old, Jersey raised MC with intentions of going places his peers have not.

“Dudes my age, they never last in the industry past what 22? Nah that’s not gonna work for me, I’m a work hard for that longevity,” J.Y. states.

J.Y.’s musical influence stems from having a father who began working with Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth as well as Eddie F. His mother also instilled music from the New Jack Swing era into his life.

“When I was young, New Jack (Swing) was poppin’. I was heavily influenced by that. That’s why I love R&B. New Jack is exactly that, R&B over hip-hop beats and my chick songs is hip-hop over R&B beats.”

But luckily, that’s not all that J.Y offers. His wide range of topics include teenage pregnancy, the stresses of being a provider, relationship problems, the theory of college, his incarcerated brother and friends, and his most emotional topic, the suicidal death of his father.

“Everybody has problems that irk them. I just choose to let all of my frustrations out instead of hold them in. Personal songs are always my favorites.”

J.Y.’s experience with writing music is unusual for somebody his age. Well it should be, he’s been writing music since he was seven. In the Summer of 2010, J.Y. released his highly anticipated mixtape “The Hiring Process” which featured production by Nard-N-B, Bink!, Buckwild, The Klasix, and Boola with appearances by Joe Budden, Cory Gunz, Jim Jones, Red Cafe, Killer Mike, Joell Ortiz, Avery Storm, and more.

He followed up with a continuation of “The Hiring Process” in January 2011 called “The Slave Shift: Waking Down”, a two-part mixtape, with the second due in mid-March. “Waking Down” features artists Young Scolla, Nipsey Hu$$le, Michael Charles, and Fortunate Ones.