Justin Irvin Rivera (born September 23, 2001), better known by his stage name J.I the Prince of N.Y or more recently simply J.I., is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for his 2019 breakout single "Need Me", which has over 100 million streams on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

Early life

Rivera grew up in

Crown Heights, Brooklyn Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Ralph Avenue to the east, and Empire Boulevard/East New Yo ...

and is of Puerto Rican descent. At a young age he was introduced by his parents to music like

old-school hip hop Old-school hip hop (also spelled old skool) is the earliest commercially recorded hip hop music and original style of the genre. It typically refers to the music created around 1979 to 1983, as well as any hip hop that does not adhere to contem ...

and

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ), also known as reggaetón and reguetón (), is a music style that originated in Panama during the late 1980s. It was later popularized in Puerto Rico. It has evolved from dancehall and has been influenced by American Hip hop m ...

, and would make rudimentary beats on a miniature keyboard. In school, English was his favorite subject and he would write short stories. He began writing raps and freestyling with his brothers in middle school, influenced by New York City rappers like

Biggie Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

DMX Earl Simmons (December 18, 1970 – April 9, 2021), known professionally as DMX, was an American rapper and actor. He began rapping in the early 1990s and released his debut album ''It's Dark and Hell Is Hot'' in 1998, to both critical acclaim ...

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

and

Big Pun Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was an American rapper. Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx borough of New York City in the ea ...

Career

In 2016 he appeared on the second season of ''

The Rap Game ''The Rap Game'' is an American reality television series. The series premiered on January 1, 2016, on Lifetime. The winners of seasons 1-5 respectively, were Miss Mulatto, Mani, Nova, Street Bud and Tyeler Reign. Other notable contestants that ...

'', a reality show competition hosted by

Jermaine Dupri Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, entrepreneur, and DJ. Early life Jermaine Dupri Mauldin was born on September 23, 1972, the son of Tina (Mosley) and Michael ...

Lifetime Lifetime may refer to: * Life expectancy, the length of time a person is expected to remain alive Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Lifetime (band), a rock band from New Jersey * ''Life Time'' (Rollins Band album), by Rollins Band * ...

. The then fifteen-year-old secured his place on the show after Dupri found his freestyles on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

. In one of the challenges, Rivera placed in first, earning a spot on the cover of ''Hip Hop Weekly'' magazine. Although he did not win the overall competition, his impressive performance gained him a substantial following, and he released his debut single "No Static" soon thereafter. By the end of the year he had received more than 500,000 views on his YouTube channel. He released his first project in 2017, a three-track

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

called ''Barely Famous''. After his clout from the show died down, he went through a period where he admits he lost his motivation and stopped focusing on his music. He blew all of his money from ''The Rap Game'' on

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

and was considering a job in construction. After getting kicked out of his mom's house he made the decision to give music one last try and connected with his future manager Gabi Acevedo to restart his career. In October 2019 he released his mixtape ''Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 1'', which included his breakout single "Need Me", a "melodic, punch-line laden" track sampling the 2000 song " Best of Me, Part 2" by

Mýa Mya Marie Harrison (; born October 10, 1979), (stylized as Mýa), is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. Born into a musical family, she studied ballet, jazz, and tap dance as a child. Initially, Mýa began her career as a VJ ...

featuring

. In November, with the song at over 3 million streams on

, it was announced he had signed a deal with

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

via G*Starr Entertainment. He also put out his fifth and final music video for the album, this time for "Love Won't Change". As of 2022, "Need Me" remains his most-viewed with over 115 million YouTube views. He released ''Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 2'' that December and embarked on his first headlining national tour the following month. Holding the final shows in his hometown of New York, he became the first artist in history to sell out the legendary

SOB's SOB's is a live world music venue and restaurant in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manhattan. S.O.B.’s is an abbreviation of Sounds of Brazil. Larry Gold started SOBs in June 1982, and he currently still owns the space. Gold opened the ven ...

venue on three consecutive nights. Notably, in April,

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

paid him homage by playing and singing along to his songs "Used To" and "On Me" during an

Instagram Live Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be ...

session with OVO Mark. A week later he released a new single, "Proud of Me", along with an accompanying music video. After appearing on

Lil Tjay Tione Jayden Merritt (born April 30, 2001), known professionally as Lil Tjay, is an American rapper and singer-songwriter. He rose to prominence in 2017 with his song "Resume", and then the release of his breakthrough song "Brothers" which led h ...

's ''

State of Emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

'' EP, he further collaborated with him in June on the single "Hood Scars 2", which served as a followup to J.I.'s original song which had by then amassed 15 million streams across all platforms. In July 2020 he came out with the single "Spanglish" with Puerto Rican rapper

Myke Towers Michael Anthony Torres Monge (born January 15, 1994), known by his stage name Myke Towers, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer and songwriter. Career His mixtape ''El Final del Principio'' (2016) peaked at 12 on Latin Rhythm Albums. Towers collab ...

, with both artists mixing English and Spanish in their verses. It served as the lead single to his next EP, ''Welcome to GStarr Vol. 1'', which he released on July 17 and also featured

Lil Durk Durk Derrick Banks (born October 19, 1992), known professionally as Lil Durk, is an American rapper and singer. He is the lead member and founder of the collective and record label Only the Family (OTF). Durk garnered a cult following with the ...

. In the first 20 minutes, it garnered 1.3 million streams on Spotify. A few days prior, Spotify announced a partnership with J.I. as a part of its recently launched RADAR program meant to promote "world-class talent through

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

global marketing and editorial teams" with placement in their official playlists, a mini-documentary, third-party partnerships, a Spotify Singles recording and support on the EP release. On November 30, 2020, his single "Need Me" was certified gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

, his first career plaque. On December 18, 2020, J.I released ''Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 3'', the third installment in his ''Hood Life Krisis'' series. The EP includes a sole guest appearance from A Boogie wit da Hoodie on the track "R&B Shit".

Artistry

He has been described as having a "penchant for syrupy melodies." His melodic rap-sung style and distinctive

New York accent The sound system of New York City English is popularly known as a New York accent. The New York metropolitan accent is one of the most recognizable accents of the United States, largely due to its popular stereotypes and portrayal in radio, ...

have resulted in comparisons to A Boogie wit da Hoodie and

Discography

Mixtapes

Extended plays

Guest appearances

References

External links

* {{Authority control Living people 2001 births 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American singers American male rappers Rappers from Brooklyn Singers from New York City Interscope Records artists American musicians of Puerto Rican descent 21st-century American male singers East Coast hip hop musicians Participants in American reality television series