J-Kwon
St. Louis rapper signed to So So Def who was 17 when his Trackboyz-produced 2004 single “Tipsy” reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and led the gold album “Hood Hop”.
Origins
J-Kwon was born Jerrell C. Jones on March 28, 1986, in St. Louis, Missouri. He came of age during the years when Nelly, the St. Lunatics and Chingy were bringing national attention to the city’s rap scene. As a teenager he began working with the Trackboyz, a St. Louis production team, who would produce the record that made him known. He was 17 when that record was released.
Breakthrough
J-Kwon signed with Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def Recordings, an imprint of Arista Records. His debut single, “Tipsy”, produced by the Trackboyz, was released in early 2004. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 2004 after 14 weeks on the chart, reached No. 2 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, and was certified platinum in the United States. The song also reached the top ten in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and topped the UK R&B Singles Chart. Its official remix brought in fellow St. Louis rappers Chingy and Murphy Lee of the St. Lunatics, and Jermaine Dupri appeared in the video alongside other So So Def artists.
Key records
His debut album, “Hood Hop”, was released on April 6, 2004, through So So Def and Arista. Produced by the Trackboyz, Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox, it sold 125,000 copies in its first week, peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and No. 4 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and was certified gold by the RIAA. The album featured guest spots from the St. Lunatics and Jermaine Dupri, and its second single was “You & Me” featuring Sadiyyah. Critical reception was mixed: RapReviews praised his earnestness but questioned his staying power, and Rolling Stone called him “an argument against drafting high school rappers straight to the pros”.
Later career and legacy
In 2005 J-Kwon appeared on Bow Wow’s single “Fresh Azimiz” with Mike Jones, and he recorded “Get XXX’d” with Petey Pablo and Ebony Eyez for a film soundtrack. He later released “Hood Hop 2” and “Hood Hop 2.5” in 2009 and a self-titled album, “J-Kwon”, in March 2010. In June 2013 he released the diss track “Pushing the Odds”. “Tipsy” remains his best-known record, and its remix with Chingy and Murphy Lee stands as a meeting point for the city’s mid-2000s hitmakers.
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