J. I.
Canberra Act
hiphop
Hiphop artist J.I. has set his sights on the world to deliver the gospel through the hiphop art form.
Since a child J.I. has always had a deep love for music and began rapping in 2003 with one of his nephews in a bedroom with a tape deck, making up rhymes about his favourite rappers and his neighborhood but little did he know at the time he would later follow it with a full hearted passion.
J.I. rapped for two years, just for fun, but when a friend suggested he should make more of a go at it. Thinking he couldn’t ‘make it’ as he was not American, he didn’t think much of it until he came across the Aussie hiphop group Hilltop Hoods. Only then did he think he could do it here in Australia also and decided to take it more seriously. Downloading lyrics from the internet, J.I. began studying the songs and writing rhymes down over beats. It took two years before he felt confident to get behind a mic and record his first song.
This led him to recording the ‘Capital Punishment’ mixtape in 2007 with neighbor hood friends and his nephew. 2008 he signed with Hardrush music then he hit the studio again to do his first ever Label release “Rise Up.” The record had great success overseas being rotated in more that 40 states in the US, as well Europe and Japan. Soon after he dropped his next single, with local MC KG from the Kashboys, “Make Em Rock ” which had over 8000 downloads on soundclick.com.
2010 saw J.I performing on stages alongside Genesiz, D4C, and other Krosswerdz artists. With growing confidence in his craft, J.I began to chase the dream with more hunger. 2011 J.I. Released his next project, ‘The Clean Out,’ which saw him in the top 30 with three songs alongside artists such as Lecrae and Sevin. In 2012 he released his next project ‘Light Of The World’ but due to miscommunication the project was a mess leaving him discouraged and disappointed. Bouncing back in 2013, he dropped his new single “Fire” which was self-produced.
A computer crash, with the loss of everything left him in complete disappointment.
2015 saw J.I. secure a new computer but his next single “Ride” went well under the radar leaving him again discouraged. But failing was not an option and, in 2016, a new track, “The Calling,” began the unfolding of the Nothing to Lose project that he released this May through his new label Rise Faith.
With his new album out, his spirits are high, his vision clear and he is ready for what lies in the future. -adapted from the J.I.facebook page.
single releases
2019.05.30 Road 2 Greatness with The BRB
album releases
J. I. on FaceBook
J. I. website
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