Jay Electronica swept onto the hip hop scene in a wave of enigma late last decade. The effect of his quirky, emotional sound was compounded by the erratic methods of their release, drifting out unannounced via the internet – the Myspace leak of Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge), a fifteen minute opus laced with movie samples and beatless film soundtracks, represented the beginning of an astounding surge of interest in both the man and his music, back in 2007. Since then, the New Orleans-born MC and producer has garnered heavy support from everybody from Nas to Gilles Peterson, and has worked heavily with soulslinger Just Blaze, dropping two instant neo-backpack classics, Exhibit A and Exhibit C. Only recently he partnered with New York-based “idea studio” Decon, working on his debut album as well as a video project with label founder Jason Goldwatch. With more anticipation around his Act II track than the rest of hip hop’s class of ’10 combined, and another project with fellow supa emcees Mos Def and Curren$y in the making, the future couldn’t look brighter for Jay. To paraphrase his recent collaboration with Talib Kweli und Hi-Tek: he’s only just begun.
Thanks to Red Bull Music Academy
