Timothy Elpadaro Thedford, better known by his fans as Jay Electronica, is an American rapper born on September 19, 1976. He originates from from the Magnolia Projects in New Orleans, Louisiana. He produced the first track, "Queens Get the Money", on the 2008 Nas album 'Untitled'. The unconventional nature of much of his music, and the lack of conventional release methods for that music, has since 2007 made him the object of much attention. He was perhaps best known for the piece of music Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge) Read Full BioTimothy Elpadaro Thedford, better known by his fans as Jay Electronica, is an American rapper born on September 19, 1976. He originates from from the Magnolia Projects in New Orleans, Louisiana. He produced the first track, "Queens Get the Money", on the 2008 Nas album 'Untitled'. The unconventional nature of much of his music, and the lack of conventional release methods for that music, has since 2007 made him the object of much attention. He was perhaps best known for the piece of music Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge), until the release of the Just Blaze-produced track "Exhibit C" in late 2009. Announced Friday, November 12, 2010, Jay is an official member of Jay-Z's Roc Nation.
Jay Electronica has yet to release a full-length album but has released two official singles to date, "Exhibit A" and "Exhibit C," which won a Sucker Free Summit Award for Instant Classic. 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). Erykah Badu has questioned whether he ever will release, in her words, "actual albums". From New Orleans, LA he has lived in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Denver, and Detroit, where he recorded his Style Wars-era music with several J Dilla beats, meeting the producer subsequently to ask for permission to use the recordings as a demo. Detroit is where Electronica met producer/engineer Mike "Chav" Chavarria, who introduced him to both J Dilla and Mr. Porter, and who is 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 9:13 continuous minutes of 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 Kurdish, Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka). The first segment is 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 interest in Electronica as an enigmatic figure. Songs circulating online as the Style Wars EP gained wider circulation, and other songs, such as the dream-inspired "Dimethyltryptamine", soon appeared. In January 2008, Gilles Peterson's 90-minute Gilles 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.
According to URB, Act II: Patents of Nobility will feature Nas, and will be the second of a putative trilogy. 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)".
According to a Filter TV interview, Jay Electronica has partnered with Decon to release his debut project. It is being described as a multi-media release and footage from the project which was partially shot in Nepal and Dubai has begun to surface online. The first clip to leak is titled "Dear Moleskine" and can be found on YouTube, the track was produced by Just Blaze and the clip was directed by Jason Goldwatch from Decon. In June of 2009, Decon and Jay's "The Dogon Society" released "Exhibit A" digitally. "Exhibit C" was released on iTunes December 16, 2009 and quickly shot to the top 10 of the iTunes Hip-Hop charts. The following week it was chosen by Hot 97's DJ Enuff as the Heavy Hitter pick of the week. On February 9, 2010, it was announced Jay Electronica will appear at the 2010 Bonnaroo Music Festival. Further proof of the continuing buzz about this artist saw On Jay Electronica sell out 2 nights at the Jazz Cafe Jazz Café, London (UK) on Feb 17, 2010.
Jay Electronica continued his scattered release practice, dropping "A Million In The Morning" on April 4, 2010. The song features a weary Electronica trying to keep himself awake to escape his nightmares.
On April 30th, Jay Electronica debuted "The Ghost of Christopher Wallace" via his Twitter. The song features P Diddy and is produced by London beatsmith Quincey Tones, who is known for producing such acts as Young Jeezy and Royce da 5'9".
On 12th November 2010, Jay-Z announced that Jay Electronica was officially the newest member of his own 'Roc Nation' record label/management company, which boasts such acts as J. Cole and Willow Smith.
Jay has been travelling the world and was in London, United Kingdom for an extended period of time completing his debut album 'Act II: Patents of Nobility (The Turn)'.
Jay Electronica and Erykah Badu have a child together, a girl named Mars Merkaba, born on February 1, 2009.
Jay Electronica has yet to release a full-length album but has released two official singles to date, "Exhibit A" and "Exhibit C," which won a Sucker Free Summit Award for Instant Classic. 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). Erykah Badu has questioned whether he ever will release, in her words, "actual albums". From New Orleans, LA he has lived in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Denver, and Detroit, where he recorded his Style Wars-era music with several J Dilla beats, meeting the producer subsequently to ask for permission to use the recordings as a demo. Detroit is where Electronica met producer/engineer Mike "Chav" Chavarria, who introduced him to both J Dilla and Mr. Porter, and who is 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 9:13 continuous minutes of 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 Kurdish, Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka). The first segment is 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 interest in Electronica as an enigmatic figure. Songs circulating online as the Style Wars EP gained wider circulation, and other songs, such as the dream-inspired "Dimethyltryptamine", soon appeared. In January 2008, Gilles Peterson's 90-minute Gilles 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.
According to URB, Act II: Patents of Nobility will feature Nas, and will be the second of a putative trilogy. 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)".
According to a Filter TV interview, Jay Electronica has partnered with Decon to release his debut project. It is being described as a multi-media release and footage from the project which was partially shot in Nepal and Dubai has begun to surface online. The first clip to leak is titled "Dear Moleskine" and can be found on YouTube, the track was produced by Just Blaze and the clip was directed by Jason Goldwatch from Decon. In June of 2009, Decon and Jay's "The Dogon Society" released "Exhibit A" digitally. "Exhibit C" was released on iTunes December 16, 2009 and quickly shot to the top 10 of the iTunes Hip-Hop charts. The following week it was chosen by Hot 97's DJ Enuff as the Heavy Hitter pick of the week. On February 9, 2010, it was announced Jay Electronica will appear at the 2010 Bonnaroo Music Festival. Further proof of the continuing buzz about this artist saw On Jay Electronica sell out 2 nights at the Jazz Cafe Jazz Café, London (UK) on Feb 17, 2010.
Jay Electronica continued his scattered release practice, dropping "A Million In The Morning" on April 4, 2010. The song features a weary Electronica trying to keep himself awake to escape his nightmares.
On April 30th, Jay Electronica debuted "The Ghost of Christopher Wallace" via his Twitter. The song features P Diddy and is produced by London beatsmith Quincey Tones, who is known for producing such acts as Young Jeezy and Royce da 5'9".
On 12th November 2010, Jay-Z announced that Jay Electronica was officially the newest member of his own 'Roc Nation' record label/management company, which boasts such acts as J. Cole and Willow Smith.
Jay has been travelling the world and was in London, United Kingdom for an extended period of time completing his debut album 'Act II: Patents of Nobility (The Turn)'.
Jay Electronica and Erykah Badu have a child together, a girl named Mars Merkaba, born on February 1, 2009.
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Spark It Up
Jay Electronica Lyrics
Fresh out the gate it's the asiatic
Fanatic back at it
Spittin black magic
Create a world outta black fabric
Spark with the light
Spark it with life
God stay visible
My du rag create sound waves I'm jay pivotal
Spun the cipher running with christ plus I'm a sniper one with the dice one with the mics and nobodys nicer
I payed the price-ah
And now I'm heatin up the rostrum
Sucka mcs get struck to they knees playin possum
Rap guys insane
Lyrical messiah, jesus baptize in the flame
Sanitize they brain
What's the origin
Ten thousand sons up in my squadron
We break down and build back up to form a organ
The flows natural
The interglow is celestial
The physical mold that's just the clothes for the astral, extra terrestial
Emceeing supreme bein
All eyes seein
Mastered the scene/seen and unseen
And what year was that when the atom was cracked
In the materials of darkness she laid on her back
Shes knows all about you
Cause the womb of the mind is the one man
That x chromosome came up out you
My rhymes like sperm cells thoughts for tales
Reproduce like sperm whales sharks and snails
Hit your gray matter
Then they excrete the data
And just stay for 9 months above the bladder
This the most mathe-matical
Style that you've heard of
And every verse I spit bitch it kicks murder
And like roberta flack
I'm killin you soft
Drawin you up in the fire midst revealing your thoughts when allah and his christ bust thru the ceilin with hawks
In the face of the earth meet the tip of the drills with a spark
That's the judgement
It's grievous man
This population face to face with this jesus man
Came to his own but they mispercieved the lamb,
400 years of slavin for the seeds of abraham
Contributed by Allison R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
To comment on specific lyrics, highlight them
Jimmy Jamestown Massacre
@XSean K.dot Still digesting it. I've listened to it all the way through once so far.
After one listen I'll say I definitely like it but it wasn't what I expected. His debut was hyped to defcon 5 / Detox levels of ridiculous, so I went in consciously trying to not let that affect how I listened to it, but that's a lot tougher than it sounds as I'm sure you know.
I didn't expect his first full length studio record to be so thematic. I'm a 30 year old white guy from Michigan who writes indie rock/alt country songs, but I've also been a huge rap/hip hop fan since third grade. I say all of that just to sort of illustrate that the whole children of Israel / NOI theme wasn't something I could really connect with or feel on any meaningful level, so it would be completely disingenuous for me to say I loved it.
But just from a technical/musical perspective, I think it's really good. Obviously he's an amazing producer, that goes without saying. There were at least a half dozen different HOLY SHIT moments that blew my mind the same way J Dilla used to.
What about you? You like it so far? Are you liking it more as you keep listening or do you already love it?
IllMatic95
Fresh out the gate its the Asiatic
Fanatic back at it
Spitting black magic
Create a world outta black fabric
Sparkled the life
Spark it with light
God stay visible
My du-rag create sound waves I'm Jay Pivotal
Spun the cypher running with Christ plus I'm a sniper
One with the dice one with the mics and nobody's nicer
I payed the price-ah
And now I'm heating up the rostrum
Sucker emcees get struck to they knees playing possum
Rap gods insane
Lyrical Messiah, Jesus baptized in a flame
Sanitize they brain
What's the origin
Ten thousand sons up in my squadron
We break down then build back up to form an organ
The flows natural
The inner-glow is celestial
The physical mold that's just the clothes for the astral
Extra-terrestrial
Emceeing supreme being
All eyes seeing
Master the seen and unseen
And what year was that when the atom was cracked
In the materials of darkness she laid on her back
She knows all about you
Because the womb of the mind is the wo-man
That x chromosome came up out you
My rhymes like sperm cells thoughts for tales
Reproduce like sperm whales sharks and snails
Hit your gray matter
Then they excrete the data
And gestate for nine months above the bladder
This the most mathematical style that you heard of
And every verse I spit bitch it kicks murder
And like Roberta Flack
I'm killing you soft
Drawing you up in the fire midst revealing your thoughts
When Allah and his Christ bust through the ceiling with hawks
In the face of the earth meet the tip of the drills with a spark
That's the judgement
Its grievous man
This population face to face with this Jesus man
Came to his own but they mis-perceived the lamb
Four-hundred years of slaving for the seeds of Abraham
Edwin Berumen
Everyone: Why ya'll sleeping on Jay Electronica
Jay Electronica: Nah, imma sleep on ya'll's
Dan Moon
why ppl sleeping on this man
Sean Dafny
1Hunna TV ur crazy
Trashvis
Dan Moon
He wasn’t slept on back in ‘08, I wonder why.
kyle eaton
@RON Burgundy Some do it for the art, some do it for the money
Others listen to the art, suckas change it for the honey.
I don't want music for the absurdity
havin' a screwball playing dummy tryin' to dumb me all I see is people tryin' to take this art form from me.
RON Burgundy
Jay is the way. If you dont listen to Jay Electronica your not gonna awaken.
1Hunna TV
Dan Moon he's outdated tbh he's good hiphop but he just has outdated ways like some his bars are old bars cats was saying in the 90s ..
t g
OH GOD HE IS NICE.........
tank6000
Are you listening CLOSELY???? He's spitting pure KNOWLEDGE..... 3RD eye rap....
MAD MAN
And this is just the intro 🔥