J-Zone

After a series of studio internships throughout high school and college, childhood bassist-turned-hip-hop-producer/artist J-Zone made his recording debut with 1998's Music For Tu Madre on his own Old Maid Entertainment label. His output continued with an album per year through the early aughts before slowing down and eventually coming to a halt in 2008. His production credits and collaborations included Biz Markie, Lonely Island, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Devin The Dude, King T and others.

After an extended hiatus due to artistic burnout, J-Zone wrote and published a memoir (Root for the Villain) in 2011, began studying drums shortly after and returned to music with Peter Pan Syndrome in 2013. After the release of his final hip-hop album (Fish-N-Grits) in 2016, J-Zone pursued a new path as a session drummer and launched The Du-Rites, a funk band with longtime mastering engineer, Pablo Martin. J-Zone has played drums on releases from Karen O, Lord Finesse, Michael Kiwanuka, Soul Supreme and others, as well as being sampled by the likes of Madlib ("Road of the Lonely Ones") and Broken Bells ("Shelter").