About Jonathan Jackson:
Like the lush green kudzu found clinging to swaths of trees throughout North Carolina, Jonathan“JJ The Genius” Jackson’s music, created in his Greensboro, NC based studio, is literally everywhere.
After starting out writing his own ambient techno inspired by artists and DJs that were a mainstay at the local clubs in a town that sits at the crossroads of I85 and I40, he was approached by friends in high school to produce tracks for them to rap over. After polishing his skills through his teens, he found himself in demand regionally, and decided to go into the music business for real. He spent the next few years Engineering and producing for hundreds or wide ranging artists doing everything from Hip Hop to Folk. His ability to capture any genre or make unheard of sounds earned him the nickname “JJ the Genius” from his clients. Although they claim that “genius” should, in this case, be spelled with a “J”. They are wrong. Especially Ed E. Ruger.
From There, his unique sound, influenced by everything from jazz to hip hop to classical to experimental metal and noise, earned him such diverse gigs as music composer/consultant for Cartoon Network shows like Black Jesus and the Boondocks (for which he composed all original music for seasons three and four with longtime collaborator Jabril Battle), and head composer for a UniverSoul Circus DVD.
JJ has also produced music for other scripted projects, including AMC’s Breaking Bad, Cartoon Network’s Black Dynamite, TBS’s The Last Og, Hulu’s Into The Dark Series of Films, the film Never Back Down 2 and several independent film projects. In addition, JJ’s sat behind the boards for hundreds of artists, all working from his hometown of Greensboro, an area overflowing with talented performers rappers, opera singers, bluegrass bands, gospel choirs, etc.--that JJ can immediately call on for productions. Just some of the artists JJ’s produced for include Sadat X, Stat Quo, Goretex of NonPhixion, and a group he was a part of, Koshface Jackson, whose single “Old Man Strength” garnered spins from hip hop heavies like DJ Premier and Sean Price collaborator DJ PF Cuttin.
Born with a wicked sense of humor, JJ also loves creating satires and parodies. His most scathing satirical songs are so popular, they’re ripped by fans who turn them into Youtube videos, which garnered tens of millions of hits and trended regularly on on Twitter when they aired. One such tune, “I Wanna Do Your Wife,” is a stinging pop culture parody aimed at artists like Chris Brown and R. Kelly who, despite the extreme misogyny in their lyrics and lives are still adored by millions of female fans. Another, “Crank Dat Artichoke,” is a take on anti-lyricism in commercial hip hop (which, at the time the track was made was dominated by Soulja Boy and similar artists). The song “Dickriding Obama” (a song poking fun at fervent Barack Obama supporters who wrote songs for his campaign like Will.I.Am and Bono) was so popular it caught the attention of Will.I.Am, who came out publicly against the tune, and since all three songs were originally made for use in the Boondocks, they were released by Sony on the official Boondocks soundtrack bundled with the full series box set.
Other notable parodies that trended publicly include a series of racist ditties sung from the imaginary perspective of the artist Johnny Rebel (which were not JJ’s Idea to do), and a song where a character very similar to Tyler Perry performs a Rocky Horror Picture Show inspired tune about his need to cross dress to get the message of Jesus to the world. In the wake of its release, industry whispers hinted Perry’s feathers were ruffled by it, resulting in the Boondocks episode featuring the song being aired on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim only once.
Now JJ spends all of his time either in the studio, compulsively churning out music and working on new prjects, or spending time with his family.
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Bio By Cheryl Aldave