From New York To The World: The Rise Of J.I.
"That’s the thing, it’s all about patience and timing..."
There’s not many who have had the same come-up as *J.I The Prince of NY*. At the age of 14, Justin Irvin was thrusted into the spotlight, featuring on The Rap Game, a TV show hosted by Jermane Dupri which looked to find the next big rapper.
Even though *J.I.* didn’t win the show, he definitely became its most successful star. Five years later and the road hasn’t always been smooth, but the hard work eventually started to pay off in 2019 when his breakout hit, ‘Need Me’, was the anthem of New York; you couldn’t go outside the house without hearing the track. Now, it sits on 95 million Spotify streams.
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J.I.’s newest mixtape 'Hood Life Krisis Volume 3' is a bold statement, showing how the rapper is constantly evolving and pushing his artistry to the next level. Overall, J.I says he’s happy with the reception the record has received: “Usually I'm nervous before dropping a project because I'm very anxious to see what the response will be. Then we made like 10 million streams the first day on Spotify alone which is dope for me. I don’t drop music all the time, but when I do, I’ve got to make sure I don't disappoint my fans”.
The number of streams won’t please the rapper completely though, as J.I.’s harshest judge is himself. “I’m a hard critiquer of myself. My last tape wasn’t up to expectations, so for me I’ve got to push myself to do good.”.
Being his toughest fan makes J.I.'s journey a much longer process when making a record. He confessed “It’s a long ass process at times and it’s about trying to get out of my own head, because I’m somebody who constantly pushes themselves to be great, I'm obsessed with trying to elevate and to be better than I was yesterday. That’s the main goal. So when it comes to critiquing myself, I just do it so fucking harshly”.
The hard work has been paying off and the rapper has turned a weakness into his strength. “I push myself to be great because i don't want to be the same or hit a brick wall where I’m not elevating or enhancing what I’ve got. I feel like if i want to be around 10 years from now, I’ve got to be better everyday. It’s a long process but, I’m here because of it so I don’t knock it”.
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For J.I, everyday is about building and staying out of the comfort zone. On the track ‘Suficiente’ from the new mixtape, he taps into his Puerto Rican heritage making a Spanish speaking track with a bouncy latin vibe. J.I.’s Spanish speaking songs are reaching new fans and keeping older ones engaged. He isn’t just stopping there, however. “I also did a remix of a Bad Bunny track too which is the number one record right now. That record is fire. Don't get me wrong the feedback at the start was a bit iffy because the record is so huge and they didn’t want me to ruin it”.
The track referenced is Bad Bunny’s ‘Dákiti’, which currently sits on 500 million Spotify streams. J.I. isn’t even able to speak the language fluently, but it goes to show how those willing to take risks can reap the rewards.
Comparisons aside, one important factor for J.I is to show fans that he’s his own artist. Over the years contrasts have been made to the artist A Boogie Wit Da hoodie, with both having their own space in the melodic rap scene. The two connected on J.I’s tape for the track ‘R&B Shit’, a standout on the record. He mentioned “I’m a big A Boogie fan, he’s a pioneer of the New York melodic wave that came out, and a lot of people copied him for it. So for me, when I came out I just wanted to make sure that it was my main priority to be different. Because I’m going to get my comparisons to the likes of A Boogie, but I’m not the same artist”.
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Being in the music industry since the age of 14 means that J.I had to grow up quickly, but more importantly, it gave him the experience to be ready once the success started to come. The rapper explains: “It prepped me. It was a different situation back then. This was five years ago. So I thought that when i started that this was my time. So just to see that it really wasn’t my time at the start and it took me five more years to get there is just crazy”.
J.I. proves that sticking out can lead to future success. “That’s why I don’t knock it. I try to stay patient. That’s the thing, it’s all about patience and timing, y'know. When the timing is right, it’s all going to work out”.
Furthermore, being in the limelight from such a young age means experiences are made much quicker. For J.I, he’s shown through recent music a more personal side to his story. Although, opening up wasn’t so easy in the beginning. “At first I shielded my personal life, because I felt that people aren’t sensitive to things that are personal to me. So with me, little pieces of my life have been thrown out there before and I see how people react to it”.
It seems like J.I has learnt lessons along the way and figured the only way to take control of the stories and his emotions is to lay them all out through his music. He says: “I thought that I’m a rapper, my job is to express myself and I’m not even doing that. So with this tape, I made it my own priority to really express how I feel. There’s records on this project where you hear me own up to what I did. Because usually, on my last projects I’m over here playing the victim. So if you listen to tracks ‘Excuse My Pain’ and ‘Everything’ you kinda hear the other side of the story. You hear what I did and it flips the narrative”.
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Growing up and currently residing in Brooklyn, J.I sits in a melting pot of music creativity, which the rapper is more than happy to see. Brooklyn drill in particular has taken over in the past couple of years. “It’s dope because you have two different lanes. You’ve got the melodic lane and you’ve got the drill lane both in Brooklyn”.
He continues: “With the Drill lane, I love it. I grew up in the hood so that’s the type of music to be played. I haven’t tapped into that lane yet myself. I have a drill record I made and my friends are asking me to drop it. But I’m gonna take my time with that”. - Last year, J.I had a tour cancelled in the UK due to COVID. “I haven’t even stepped foot in the UK yet. But It’s made me build on my music, so when I debut out there the show will be bigger. I’m ready, I can’t wait. It’s coming soon”.
The rapper has New York at his feet, at the rate he’s going next it will be the world.
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'Hood Life Krisis Volume 3' is out now.
Words: *Joe Hale* // *@Jalewrites*
Photography: *Louis Brown*
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