J.I. Tickets

J.I. was born Justin Irvin Rivera in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to a family of hip-hop lovers. Early on, his parents introduced him to the sounds of DMX, Tupac Shakur, Eminem, and Big Pun. J.I. naturally gravitated to the dexterous flows and tight rhyme schemes of Pun, in part because he was Puerto Rican too. 

Since unloading his breakout single, “Need Me,” which now has over 150 million streams, in 2019, the 20-year-old Brooklyn native has woven together pop sensibilities with relatable lyrics and gleefully nostalgic production on his way to earning legions of fans. He’ll surely continue to forge his connection with these listeners and reach the ears of new ones all together with his Young & Restless EP, a glittering collection of shapeshifting confessionals, braggadocious bars, and infectious hooks that reaffirms him as one of the East Coast’s most versatile songwriters.

After gaining attention from a series of freestyles he posted onto his Instagram account, J.I. was invited to compete on Jermaine Dupri’s Lifetime rap competition series, The Rap Game, at the age of 15. Although he didn’t win, people took notice of his sharp battling abilities, and he only continued building his buzz with a deft Shade 45 freestyle and his 2017 debut EP, Barely Famous. Though he came up trying to rap like his musical heroes, J.I. (then going by J.I. The Prince of New York) showcased a more melodic sound on that three-song set, a fitting canvas for his more inward-looking bars. By the fall of 2019, he consummated his rise with the release of Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 1, a sparkling, soul-baring mixtape that saw him swerve between the worlds of R&B, hip-hop, and reggaeton for a sound that was all his own.

That project produced “Need Me,” a nostalgic tune that sampled Mýa’s esteemed 2000 collaboration with Jay-Z, "Best of Me, Part 2.” Soon, the single racked hundreds of millions of streams, cementing J.I.’s place as a rising star. Building on that momentum, he unloaded projects like Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 2 (2019), Welcome to GStarr Vol. 1 (2020), Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 3 (2020), and singles like “Hood Scars” and the A Boogie wit da Hoodie-assisted “R&B Shit”—securing him more critical attention than ever. “It was a dream come true,” J.I. says of this earlier phase of his career. Now, he’s off to pursue new dreams, and it starts with the Young & Restless EP, where he sings more passionately while writing more openly and feeling more deeply than ever before. “Fans are gonna enjoy it,” J.I. shares, proudly.