Biography
J-Zone, born J. Mumford and raised in Westchester before settling in Queens, launched his musical path by learning and perfecting several instruments well before finishing elementary school. In his suburban surroundings he fixated on one goal: performing bass in a gritty, city-rooted funk ensemble, which sent him on lengthy searches through record shops for vintage funk albums whose bass lines he could copy. Even as hip-hop surrounded him and his vinyl holdings grew substantial, and even as Yo! MTV Raps, the Bomb Squad, Marley Marl, DJ Premier, and the locally successful Pete Rock shaped his tastes, he shelved those funk ambitions once high school began. There he acquired his stage name from the same eccentric, detached demeanor that later surfaced in his recordings, shifting focus instead to his budding work as a rap producer and DJ while only occasionally trying his hand as an MC. Momentum arrived when an acquaintance connected him to Vance Wright, the veteran DJ and producer for Slick Rick; after hearing J-Zone’s home recordings, Wright offered him an internship at the local studio he operated, and the teenager advanced to chief engineer. Once he had command of the facility, he enrolled at SUNY Purchase in New York City as a Music major. His senior thesis unexpectedly became his first release, the extended EP Music for Tu Madre, which appeared in 1999 on his own fledgling imprint Old Maid Entertainment in vinyl and cassette formats only. Though he continued to view himself chiefly as a producer rather than an MC, the project introduced the Old Maid Billionaires, the crew of rappers led by Al-Shid and Huggy Bear whom he would feature on every later album and in numerous live shows. The EP generated strong underground attention, thanks in large part to Bobbito Garcia’s early airplay of the initial singles on his radio show. The next year brought the follow-up EP A Bottle of Whup Ass, which drew near-universal praise. Early in 2002 he arranged a distribution agreement with Fat Beats Records for the third Old Maid Billionaires release—his first proper full-length—Pimps Don't Pay Taxes, after which he stepped back from rapping for an open-ended period to concentrate on production. During that stretch he crafted 12-inch records for Al-Shid and Huggy Bear and supplied beats for Biz Markie, Celph Titled, Louis Logic of the Demigodz, Cage, and High & Mighty, among others. By year’s end he resumed his own output with the single “S.L.A.P.”/“Ho Kung Fu” and readied a fourth album for summer 2003, while also forming the supergroup Go-Rilla Pimp$ alongside Dick $tallion. A Job Ain't Nuthin' But Work appeared in 2004.
Albums