"I think everyone he knows becomes dependent on him, because he helps us see who we really are."
Jay Electronica was born on September 19th, 1976 in the Magnolia Projects of New Orleans, Louisiana. His history is almost as much of a mystery as he remains today. Always fascinated by stories, coupled by his love for comic books, he says, when he was nine-years-old, LL Cool J's classic "Radio" was his calling to Hip-Hop. After that, he knew what he wanted to do, and he knew he wanted to do it well. He soon became a disciple of the music genre, rapping for his family, where he would stop mid-rhyme to begin telling a story - something that still resonates in his music today. He began combing his way through the catalogs of Gangstarr, Wu-Tang, The Geto Boys, Too Short, and NWA.
He left home at 18 to attend Minister Louis Farrakhan's Million Man March in Washington D.C. in October of 1995, after gaining interest in the religion after he met a member of The Nation of Islam near Xavier University. When he returned home New Orleans wasn't the same, so he decided the world was his oyster and knowledge was his goal, and decided he wanted to pursue his rap career in New York - but he got distracted along the way. He lived in Atlanta where he became familiar with The Nation of Gods and Earths and the120 lessons. He traveled to Denver to reconnect with his mother who moved there. He lived in Detroit and recorded with Shady-affiliated Mr. Porter and the great J Dilla. When he finally made it to New York in the late 1990's, it was hardly the rap mecca he once viewed it as, but it changed everything for Mr. Electronica.
Always charismatic, Electronica befriended many people in his journeys, and those people would come to help him out beyond his wildest beliefs and set him on his path to greatness. Rashad Smith, a Junior Mafia producer, passed Jay's music onto the legendary Just Blaze. A rapper named Supa Nova Slom introduced Jay to the renowned Erykah Badu who, upon hearing Jay's material, was so inspired she launched her label, Control Freaq. Jay and Erykah are now long time significant others, and have one child together.
Jay Electronica gained the attention of the Hip-Hip community in 2007 when he released Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge). This 9:13 minute piece of continuous music contained no drums and samples all it's music from the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The piece has five movements and four verses from Electronica. In between these verses are audio clips relating to his interests, Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, The Prestige, and Turtle's Can Fly, as well as a clip from a speech by Elijah Muhammed are all interpolated into the piece. While the final product is pretentious, overwhelming, and jaw dropping, the strongest aspect of the tape is also the most important. Jay Electronica's rhymes are the shining star.
"I told her that being a mortal is the portal to the true nature of growth, the Christ-like Buddha man / that's why I never spit the traditional garbage of a knife fight, bright lights, white ice to the fans."
"Call me Jay Dogon I'm on some Sirius shit."
His raps touch on many wide raining concepts that are as follows, but not limited to, UFO's, the Kennedy assassination, DMT, The Illuminati, voodoo, sun gods, Groundhog Day, religion, politics, and most importantly, a call to arms to end reestablish the importance of lyrical depth in Hip-Hop. He is a student of the world, trying to bring knowledge back to what has become a stale genre.
After he dropped Act I on his Myspace the rapper was surrounded by swarms of hype. People expecting him to change Hip-Hop and return the genre to a golden age of lyricists. His previously recorded music began leaking online, in mysterious ways, adding to the allure of the reclusive Electronica, who deleted his official Myspace after the rise in popularity of Act I. For the next three years he remained relatively quiet, scarcely releasing songs, until 2009 when he dropped the Just Blaze produced, unexpected hit "Exhibit C." It took everyone by surprise when DJ Enuff of Hot97 made it the Heavy Hitter of the Week. Since then however his next project, Act II: Patents of Nobility (The Turn), has been pushed back since December 2009 and in 2010 he only released twelve songs, with the majority being features. However, in November of 2010, Jay-Z announced Jay Electronica as the newest signee of the already blossoming RocNation, and the hype was back as if it had never left.
Under RocNation, Jay has already dropped four songs, and last week took to Twitter to announce that Act II had in fact been completed during his time in London. He claimed that Jay-Z, Bun B, and a few others had heard it in it's entirety, which Bun B confirmed on his Twitter account, but refused to release any details. As we wait for his debut album, Act II: Patents of Nobility (The Pledge), now is the time to get acquainted with his past if you haven't already. I've compiled a mixtape titled Let There Be Light as a (near) chronological account of Jay Electronica's catalog thus far. I don't wanna hear anybody complaining "Hip-Hop is dead" or "rap is stale, no one is doing anything new," because if I hear you say that, I know you haven't listened to Jay. I hope you all take the time to pay this man the respect he deserves, because if you don't now, your gonna have to when he drops Act II. Download the tape down bottom, and view the official video for the still unreleased "Dear Moleskine."
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