Growing up in Houston, Texas, I've always had a passion for sports because of the competitive atmosphere and teamwork. I grew up as the youngest child with two brothers in an area within Houston called Alief.
My mother and dad did a great job raising us and my mom also happened to be a stand up comedian. I'm pretty sure that's where I get my witty side from. Throughout my childhood I really excelled in sports, but in my spare time I always found myself listening to music and being intrigued by it.
My parents exposed me to a diverse array of subjects and taught me how to express them creatively, which was expected in our household. When Nas's album Illmatic dropped in 1994, something moved me to start writing rhymes.
In high-school, basketball was going pretty good and I excelled in it. After graduating from Alief Hastings in 2004, I attended a junior college to continue pursuing basketball. While at East-field Junior College my passion for music was still there. After hearing Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor that made me continue writing rhymes.
One day after basketball practice I overheard my coach bring up a school called John Jay and that's where the light bulb went off. From there was I decided to call myself John Jay and take music more seriously.
After attending junior college, I enrolled at Prairie View A&M University to continue playing basketball. Upon enrolling at Prairie View I was told that I would have to take 2-3 classes in order to become eligible to play. With me being already exhausted with basketball, I decided to be done with basketball and become a full time student.
In 2009 a friend of mine by the name of James Motton II became very cool friends based on each others liking for the same type of music.
From there we started hanging out more and decided to take this music avenue seriously.
In 2010 I received my Bachelor's from Prairie View with a degree in Mass Communications, which was something I was very proud of. After graduating I moved to Atlanta to pursue television production and broadcasting at CNN.
While in Atlanta James and I continued to keep in touch with this music venture. At times it felt like I was in a standstill, but I still persevered towards my dreams.
In 2016 I released my first official project called Sunday Music, it was a project I was definitely proud of and felt like I was coming into my own.
With it being 2019, I'm looking for this year to be a big step within my journey. The next project I plan to release is called Monday Music. I feel great about how the project is coming along and I really see so much growth within myself. I'm excited for people to receive this next project so it can be an inspiration in their journey.
Links to John Jay
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnJay713
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/rapperjohnjay
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnjay832/
Similar Artists To John Jay
