J.I the Prince of N.Y

Justin Irvin Rivera (born September 23, 2001), better known by his stage name J.I the Prince of N.Y, or more recently simply J.I., is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for his 2019 breakout single "Need Me", which has over 100 million streams on Spotify.

Early life Rivera grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and is of Puerto Rican descent. At a young age he was introduced by his parents to music like old-school hip hop and reggaeton, and would make rudimentary beats on a miniature keyboard. In school, English was his favorite subject and he would write short stories. He began writing raps and freestyling with his brothers in middle school, influenced by New York City rappers like Biggie, Nas, DMX, Jay-Z and Big Pun.

Career

I got to a point where everything went left, and I had a decision to make: Am I gonna just give up and do nothing for myself? I had already started my career; at the time, I developed a name for myself. Let me try to go hard. I can’t lose anything if I try one more time. So, I tried again.|source= — J.I. explaining his decision to return to music in 2019 after a period of inactivity. In one of the challenges, Rivera placed in first, earning a spot on the cover of Hip Hop Weekly magazine. Although he did not win the overall competition, his impressive performance gained him a substantial following, and he released his debut single "No Static" soon thereafter. By the end of the year he had received more than 500,000 views on his YouTube channel.

He released his first project in 2017, a three-track extended play called Barely Famous. After his clout from the show died down, he went through a period where he admits he lost his motivation and stopped focusing on his music. After getting kicked out of his mom's house he made the decision to give music one last try and connected with his future manager Gabi Acevedo to restart his career.

In October 2019 he released his mixtape Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 1, which included his breakout single "Need Me", a "melodic, punch-line laden" track sampling the 2000 song "Best of Me, Part 2" by Mýa featuring Jay-Z. He also put out his fifth and final music video for the album, this time for "Love Won't Change". Notably, in April, Drake paid him homage by playing and singing along to his songs "Used To" and "On Me" during an Instagram Live session with OVO Mark. A week later he released a new single, "Proud of Me", along with an accompanying music video.

In July 2020 he came out with the single "Spanglish" with Puerto Rican rapper Myke Towers, with both artists mixing English and Spanish in their verses. It served as the lead single to his next EP, Welcome to GStarr Vol. 1, which he released on July 17 and also featured Lil Durk. In the first 20 minutes, it garnered 1.3 million streams on Spotify.

On December 18, 2020, J.I released Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 3, the third installment in his Hood Life Krisis series. The EP includes a sole guest appearance from A Boogie wit da Hoodie on the track "R&B Shit".

Artistry He has been described as having a "penchant for syrupy melodies."

Discography

Mixtapes Title Album details Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 1 Released: September 23, 2019

Format: Digital download, streaming Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 2 Released: December 13, 2019

Format: Digital download, streaming Young & Restless. Vol. 1 Baby Don Released: June 24, 2022

Format: Digital download, streaming One Way or Another Released: February 10, 2023

Format: Digital download, streaming

Extended plays Title EP details Peak chart positions US Barely Famous Released: April 25, 2017 Label: Self-released Format: Digital download Welcome to GStarr Vol. 1 Released: July 17, 2020

Format: Digital download Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 3 Released: December 18, 2020

Format: Digital download, streaming 191

Guest appearances + List of non-single guest appearances, with other performing artists, showing year released and album name Title Year Other artist(s) Album "My City" 2020 Lil Tjay State of Emergency "Love Is..." 2021 Queen Naija missunderstood...still