Jay Electronica

Jay Electronica is the stage name of rapper and producer Timothy Elpadaro Thedford (September 19, 1976), who slowly but steadily cultivated a large online following despite his scattered body of work, attaining the status of an underground legend. Born and raised in the Magnolia Projects in New Orleans, Jay Electronica started rapping at the age of 10 and relocated to Atlanta at the age of 19, where he converted to Islam after becoming acquainted with the teachings of Elijah Muhammad. His debut mixtape Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge) arrived in 2007 and quickly went viral, reaching a total of 50,000 downloads on his music streaming channel. He followed up with the 2009 singles “Exhibit A (Transformations)” and “Exhibit C,” which featured production by Just Blaze and reached Number 86 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. This led to a recording contract with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in 2010. Besides a series of features on albums by Mac Miller, Chance the Rapper, and Talib Kweli, nothing was heard of Jay Electronica until 2020, when he finally dropped his highly-anticipated studio debut A Written Testimony. Recorded over a period of 40 days, the LP featured guest spots by Jay-Z, James Blake, and Travis Scott, and peaked at Number 8 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Seven months later, he dropped a "demo" album titled Act II: The Patents of Nobility (The Turn), the second instalment in a trilogy started by his first mixtape. In 2021, A Written Testimony was nominated for Best Rap Album at the Grammy Awards.