Jay Electronica

Jay Electronica
Jay Electronica in 2010.
Background information
Birth name	Timothy Elpadaro Thedford
Born	(1976-09-19) September 19, 1976 (age 40) New Orleans, Louisiana, US
Origin	Magnolia Projects, New Orleans, Louisiana, US
Genres	Hip hop
Occupation(s)	Rapper, record producer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1997 – Present
Labels	The Dogon Society, Roc Nation
Associated acts	JAY Z, Puff Daddy, J Dilla, Just Blaze, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, The Bullitts, Nas, Drake, Emeli Sandé

Timothy Elpadaro Thedford, (born September 19, 1976), better known by his stage name Jay Electronica, is a former American hip hop recording artist and record producer from New Orleans. Electronica first gained significant attention after the release of the musical composition Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge), which was made available on a MySpace page in 2007. It is fifteen continuous minutes of music, without drums, built from Jon Brion's soundtrack to the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In late 2009 he released two singles, both produced by Just Blaze, "Exhibit A (Transformations)" and "Exhibit C", the latter of which won a Sucker Free Summit Award for Instant Classic. In November 2010, it was announced Jay Electronica had signed to Jay Z's Roc Nation record label.

Thedford was born on September 19, 1976, in the Magnolia Projects of New Orleans, renowned for having some of the highest crime rates in the country before being flooded during Hurricane Katrina. Thedford began rapping after hearing his uncle rhyme. By the age of 19 Jay Electronica left New Orleans to pursue his musical career. Living a mostly nomadic lifestyle, he found refuge in cities such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit, New York, and briefly in Atlanta. From club to club, and stage to stage, Electronica had gotten booed off and denied because of his Southern accent and slang. "In my earlier years from when I first left home, I was embarrassed from being from the South," Thedford stated. "Not in general, but as a rapper because all of the negative things that people in the States put on the South." Electronica’s career really took off in the city of Detroit when he linked up with Detroit native Johnnie Last. In Detroit, Electronica met producer/engineer Mike "Chav" Chavarria, now a regular collaborator, who introduced him to both J. Dilla and Mr. Porter. It is here that he recorded his Style Wars-era music with several J. Dilla beats, meeting the producer subsequently to ask for permission to use the recordings as a demo.