Jazzy Jay

Jazzy Jay
Jazzy Jay performing at NAMM
Background information
Birth name	John Byas
Also known as	The Original Jazzy Jay, DJ Jazzy Jay
Born	(1961-11-18) November 18, 1961 (age 55) Beaufort, South Carolina, United States
Genres	Hip Hop
Occupation(s)	DJ, Turntablism
Associated acts	Afrika Bambaataa, Universal Zulu Nation, Kool DJ Red Alert, Jazzy Five, Afrika Islam

Jazzy Jay, born on November 18, 1961), also known as The Original Jazzy Jay or DJ Jazzy Jay, is an American hip hop DJ and producer. He has collected roughly 400,000 records.

Jazzy Jay was born into a Gullah family in coastal South Carolina. He moved with his family to New York City at a young age and took up the drums, his first instrument. He began his career in hip hop in the 1970s in The Bronx, New York, the epicenter of hip hop culture during the first decade of its development, at the age of 13. An early member of Afrika Bambaataa's Universal Zulu Nation, he was a protégé of Bambaataa as well as his older cousin, Kool DJ Red Alert. Beginning as a Zulu King dancer in the early 1970s, Jay later became a Universal Zulu Nation DJ and was a member of the Zulu group Jazzy Five, with which he recorded the single "Jazzy Sensation."

Although Jazzy Jay began performing primarily at street parties, in the 1980s he began DJing in New York clubs such as Negril, the Roxy, the Ritz, and Danceteria. He also hosted a hip hop radio program on KISS FM and in 1984 he played himself as The Roxy's DJ in the influential hip hop film Beat Street.

Jazzy Jay and Afrika Islam performed some of the first DJ team routines, and teamed up to battle both Grandmaster Flash (solo) and Grand Wizard Theodore (solo).

Around 1984, Jay met Rick Rubin and assisted him in laying the foundation for what would become Def Jam Recordings. The label's first official single was the single "It's Yours" by T La Rock and Jazzy Jay. Jay later introduced Rubin to Russell Simmons, creating one of the most important partnerships in hip hop production. Jazzy Jay also put out Def Jam's third 12" in 1985, entitled "Def Jam" b/w "Cold Chillin' In The Spot," which featured Russell Simmons on vocals. In 1986, he participated in the recording Planet Rock - The Album, which was certified gold.