JPlus (Jessie J. Andrews) taps into the heart and soul of hip-hop as a versatile MC, lyricist, and producer. His refreshingly silver-tongued creativity flows from a turbulent past, and serves as a call to change the social and economic inequity that saturates society. "The JPlus EP” explores the three personas J has created to survive. ‘Jessie’ is a hopeful, intelligent young man who wants to have the same opportunity to succeed, regardless of color, creed or culture. ‘JPlus’ is entrepreneurial and confident—the “Urban King”—whose street-smarts allow him to escape the toils of the ghetto. ‘Muzzle Off’ is the third, the darkest, the most ruthless, the metabolite of societal churning: he is a hateful monster who stews in blame—blame towards a world that stole his humanity and forced a personal choice between poverty or violent crime. But can you blame him? Growing up poor, Jessie had to visit homeless shelters, watch his mother get beat, and try to make sense of his father’s abusive tendencies and repeated incarcerations. Jessie started using music to break free, because death, both figurative and literal, was the only alternative. At the young age of 8, J began his grueling upward climb, memorizing Eminem verses and spitting rhymes with his childhood friend Sin-City. In high school, the rhyming progressed to freestyling and J was now writing his own verses daily. Soon, he realized that rap music was more important than the hypocrisies preached in school and college, and he dropped out. JPlus then started to gain local buzz, began dominating MC battles in upstate New York, and has since been developing his own vision for the future of hip-hop. At 26, JPlus has released seven albums, many self-produced. Starting with “Wasted Talent,” spoken from the depths of poverty, each album captures a snapshot of J’s life, and features a different style. “Force of Habit” expresses his distaste for the new ‘dance hip-hop,’ a genre which dilutes the pain of the ghetto. In “New Time Sake,” JPlus balances old hip-hop styles with new commercial attributes, releasing a music video for “Never Gonna’ Stop.” J returns to witty, cerebral linguistics in “L.Y.R.I.C.S.,” no doubt earning himself a future honorary doctorate in English Composition. With a good set of ears, you’ll have no problem groovin’ to every track’s unique instrumentals, whether based in jazz, hardcore, R&B, or rock.