J.I the Prince of N.Y

Aided by a knack for navigating social media, charismatic rapper J.I the Prince of N.Y made a name for himself and his music while he was still in his teens. After competing in Jermaine Dupri’s reality competition show The Rap Game, the young emcee brought an effortless confidence and pop-friendly production to his 2019 mixtape releases Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 1 and 2. Vol. 3 of the project arrived in late 2020 and cracked the Billboard 200. In 2022, J.I began a new mixtape series with Young & Restless, Vol. 1 Baby Don. Born Justin Irvin Rivera in 2001, J.I was rapping as early as age 11, often posting his freestyles on various social media platforms. Influenced by East Coast rappers like Nas and Jay-Z, he developed a style that aimed for pop superstardom as much as it did street cred. When he was 15, he was already taking his music seriously, going so far as to compete in the 2016 season of The Rap Game. He didn’t win, but the exposure was enough to kick-start a rap career. In 2016, he released his debut single, “No Static,” and its video was streamed tens of millions of times. The three-song EP Barely Famous followed the next year. In 2019, now backed by an enormous social media following, J.I the Prince of N.Y signed with Interscope Records subsidiary label G*Starr, releasing his mixtape Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 1. The standout single from the project, “Need Me,” broke through in a big way, eventually hitting the Top Ten on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart on its way to gold certification. The popularity of “Need Me” eventually led to Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 1 breaking through on the Billboard charts as well, reaching the number nine position on the Heatseekers chart in 2022. In December of the 2019, the same year as the first volume of the Hood Life Krisis series came to be, he released Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 2. Welcome to GStarr, Vol. 1, an EP featuring the singles “Spanglish” (with Myke Towers) and “Painless” (with Lil Durk), appeared in July 2020. His second release of the year, Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 3, landed in December. Featuring an appearance by A Boogie wit da Hoodie, the EP became his first effort to chart on the Billboard 200. J.I returned the next year with singles like “Morning” and “Taken for Granted,” both of which appeared on his third mixtape, Young & Restless, Vol. 1 Baby Don, in June 2022. ~ Fred Thomas