Hi-Rez

Jesse Friedman (December 5, 1993) is an American rapper that performs under the name Hi-Rez. Born in the Bronx, New York City, he relocated to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at a very young age. There, he discovered East Coast hip-hop thanks to his older brother and quickly began writing his own material mainly inspired by Kanye West’s The College Dropout, releasing his first batch of songs in 2010. His first mixtape, Early Release, saw the light in 2011 and was followed by his breakthrough album, A Walk to Remember, later that year. In 2013, Hi-Rez delivered his first charting effort with the five-track EP Impatiently Waiting, which placed at Number 65 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Featuring cameos by Riff Raff, Smoke DZA, and Masta Ace, his mixtape Never Say Die arrived in 2016. A year later, Hi-Rez issued his studio debut Missing Pieces and followed up with Humble But Hungry in 2018, an album that included the track “We Want Change,” written in response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. His 2019 full-length Only for the Fans: The Album cracked the Top 10 of Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums chart and set the stage for 2020’s Forgive & Regret. In 2021, Hi-Rez collaborated with singer Jimmy Levy on the single “Welcome to the Revolution,” which peaked at Number 30 on the Hot Rock Songs chart.