Jay Electronica

Jay Electronica (Je’Ri Allah) (b. circa 1977) is a rapper and producer known for his rhyming on J Dilla beats, his use of percussionless film soundtracks as a background for raps, his abstract lyrical style, and his associations with Erykah Badu, Just Blaze and Nas. He produced track one, "Queens Get the Money", on the 2008 Nas album Untitled.

Signed to Badu's Control Freaq Records, he is yet to release an album or single. His music so far has been made available through the internet, either through being leaked to what URB magazine describes as "obscure web forums", or through an appearing and disappearing myspace page (currently two seem to be in existence, at /jayelect and at /jayelectronica). Badu has questioned whether he ever will release, in her words, "actual albums".

Originally from the Magnolia Projects in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A., he has lived in Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Denver, and Detroit, where he recorded his Style Wars EP with several J Dilla beats, meeting the producer subsequently to ask for permission to use the recordings as a demo. Detroit is also the home of Mr. Porter, who has produced for Electronica, and is where Electronica met engineer Mike "Chav" Chavarria, now a regular collaborator.

Jay Electronica first gained significant attention through Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge), made available on a myspace page in 2007. It is 15 minutes of continuous music, without drums, built from Jon Brion's soundtrack to the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. There are five segments or movements, marked by changes in music and mood, raps by Electronica, and occasional snippets of sampled dialogue (children arguing in Farsi, Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka). The first segment is comprised of spoken word by Just Blaze and Erykah Badu describing the artist over piano music.

The nature of the piece of music, along with the nature of its appearance, led to a slow build-up of of interest in Electronica as an enigmatic figure. Style Wars gained wider circulation, and other tracks, such as the dream-inspired "Dimethyltriptamine", appeared. In January 2008, Giles Peterson's 90-minute Giles Peterson Worldwide was devoted to the rapper. Hiphopdx.com in 2008 called him "arguably...the most talked about new emcee last year ... at times...more like a myth or urban legend than an actual rapper", and URB ran a cover story on the artist under the banner "Jay Electronica: A Spotless Mind :: An MC’s mystery revealed", which referred to his wanderings as his being "like some sort of hip-hop Jack Kerouac".

Jeff Weiss' piece for the L.A. Weekly, "Jay Electronica: Much Better Than His Name Would Suggest", acknowledged that the rapper could be fairly described as "one of the most buzzed about rappers of 2008", but attempted to temper the hype somewhat, describing Act 1... as "ambitious, wildly original, if not slightly pretentious", while endorsing only to an extent the comparisons URB had made (referencing an "abstract rhyming style") to rappers like Nas and Pharoahe Monch.

Electronica met Nas during the recording of Nas' Untitled, through Badu's friendship with Nas' wife, Kelis. He gave Nas a CD of his recordings, causing Nas to invite him to produce for the album. Jay Electronica provides the music for the album's opening track, "Queens Get the Money". Nas describes him as having provided "the Jay Electronica sound". Jay Electronica toured North America with Nas, and was part of the Rock The Bells International Festival Series in 2008.

According to URB, Act II: Patents of Nobility will feature Nas, and will be the second of a putative trilogy to be completed by a debut album entitled Abracadabra: Let There Be Light. URB also reported that digital EPs with both Guilty Simpson and producer 9th Wonder were planned. His most recent music as of November 2008 is the Just Blaze-produced track "Exhibit A (Transformations)".