“Don’t you think it’s time we think about the future? Whether our children are gonna be winners or losers?” – excerpt from The Mind by KRS-One
It really is bigger than Hip-Hop for Jacksonville, Florida’s aspiring emcee, songwriter and recording artist, Jasonplusone, who is out all of the hats that he wears a child of God, father and educator, first. The Florida Memorial University graduate’s aim is to combine his passion for educating today’s youth with his love for music and Hip-Hop culture, to create a sonic explosion that reaches far beyond the inner-city high school classroom that he teaches in every day. This desire was evident in his release of the Ghost of Trayvon Martin, in memory of Trayvon Martin, the 17 year old African-American teen, who was gunned down by a neighborhood watch vigilante in Jasonplusone’s home state of Florida. As an African-American man, with a young son, the emcee was especially affected by the murder and has been vocal in his call for justice. Jasonplusone’s ultimate goal is to use music and education to build a network of academies that would allow minority and inner-city youths to discover and hone their artistic skills, utilizing primary academics, while correlating it to Hip-Hop culture. He also envisions entering the political realm to advocate on behalf of said youths to effect change for generations to come. Jasonplusone’s passion and dedication to educating future generations stems from his upbringing in Jacksonville, Florida, having been educated at an HBCU, where he received a Bachelor’s in Education and the social ills and inequities that he has been exposed to growing up and as a math teacher at a inner city high school.
Fittingly, the words he lives by is, “Do the math, add it up. Everything happens for a reason.” Which is not only pertinent to his profession, but to life. As an emcee, Jasonplusone mixes raw, witty and thought provoking rhymes over beats from some of Southeast Florida’s dopest producers and beat makers. He is inspired by a wide range of Hip-Hop emcee’s and artists and counts Stalley, Big KRIT, Jay-Z, Mos Def, Paten Locke and Stillwater as some of his favorite artists. He is also a proud member of The Black Chain Gang (BCG) collective of artists which includes, Alias, Jay Kai and Mr. Al Pete, just to name a few. In 2011, he released the critically acclaimed single Dazed & Perks with producer, Absalom. And he is currently working on his debut album, First Coast Flights as well as BCG collaborative efforts, The Same Old Different Mixtape and Born Better. Jasonplusone has graced the stages of some of Jacksonville’s premier venues like Poppy Love Smoke and Lomax Lodge and is set to make his first appearance at the Savannah Urban Arts Festival in Savannah, Georgia in April of 2012.
In this day and age, true to heart Hip-Hop artists are far and few between, and Mr. Al Pete is definitely one of those artists. One part Emcee, one part DJ, and one part Musical Entrepreneur, makes up just some of the ingredients in the recipe for this hip-hop elitist in Jacksonville, FL.
With influence from his Uncle and mentor Tru.Ski, Mr. Al Pete entered into the world of writing rhymes at the young age of 9. Perfecting his craft during his journey into a full grown emcee, Al Pete decided to make moves towards his goal of being one of the top entertainers in Hip-Hop. One of his initial steps involved coming together with his long time friend and musical partner Shirl Dee Capital, to create GrownFolk Entertainment in 2004. GrownFolk would be an entity that provides an umbrella for many different entertainment aspects of Shirl Dee and Al Pete, including Mr. Al Pete’s emcee, DJ, Modeling, and Acting careers.
With his hand stirring so many pots, Mr. Al Pete was still working diligently to keep his own music flowing and to keep up with performances in and out of town. In the spring of 2006, Al Pete and Shirl Dee decided to put together the first mixtape to come from GrownFolk Entertainment; “Exhibit A” which received an overwhelming response from the masses. That year momentum continued pushing forward and in the winter of 2006 Al Pete joined alongside with The Elevated Hip-Hop Experience for a special live recorded album. Drive still pushing on in 2007, the spring brought another compilation album release “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” which included two of Al Pete’s close companions and fellow artists Tough Junkie and Picasso.
On February 2009, Al Pete released his debut album “Talk About It”, which includes his popular singles “Something more”, “All is Good” and “The Truth”. The album received 4 out of 5 with Reax Magazine’s review. With this feed back Mr. Al Pete jumped back in the kitchen and mixed up his next project which was released December of 2009, “G3.0” a compilation album with producer Notsucal which received a rave review on The Lavilla Project website that states [G3.0] is a rare listening experience, where each track hits just as hard as the last and takes the listener on a lyrical and sonic journey that they’d be hard pressed to return from.
In 2010 Mr. Al Pete expanded his entertainment interests and began filming as one of the lead characters, Marco Lewis in the indie film “Treacherous”. The movie released in July of 2010 and is currently in rotations at film festivals nationally, with “Something More” also on the movie’s soundtrack. At the close of 2010 Mr. Al Pete released two compilation projects in October. The first being “H.N.I.C.” a Mixtape project with Swurv Radio DJ and Sniper Squad East Coast Mixtape Director K.G.B. The second project “A.A.A” was a compilation album with Producer Average Jo and fellow emcee Alias. Both projects have been receiving a dazzling response from the masses for these predominantly internet releases.
As of 2011 Mr. Al Pete began stepping back from the features and compilations to work on the individuality of his musical art. Putting all focus into the next project “Fish in the Forrest”, the album currently on track for a 2012 release, will be getting back to the essence of Mr. Al Pete as the solo emcee. “Fish in the Forrest” will be an interesting look into his growth over the past few years. In the mean time Mr. Al Pete has been receiving overwhelming requests for music from his fans which has inspired the release of “Evelyn Flow” a compact hard hitting 11 minute sampler which provides a quick look into the next level of artistry that we can expect in the future. Also helping to calm the riots is Mr. Al Pete’s “32 Bar Take Off” for which numbers have been sky rocketing since its release in March of 2012. While keeping up appearances through out the region in Orlando, Tampa, Savannah, and Atlanta, Mr. Al Pete has his eyes solely on his music, and nothing will slow down this artist from rising to the top!
In this day and age, true to heart Hip-Hop artists are far and few between, and Mr. Al Pete is definitely one of those artists. One part Emcee, one part DJ, and one part Musical Entrepreneur, makes up just some of the ingredients in the recipe for this hip-hop elitist in Jacksonville, FL.
Entering into the world of writing rhymes at the young age of 9, Al Pete has been perfecting his craft for some time now. Once he began his journey into adulthood, Al Pete decided to make moves towards his goal of being one of the top entertainers in Hip-Hop. One of his initial steps involved coming together with his long time friend and musical peer Shirl Dee Capital, to create GrownFolk Entertainment in 2004. Providing an umbrella for many different entertainment aspects of Shirl Dee and Al Pete, GrownFolk was just the beginning of many avenues to come.
In 2005 under the advisory of his Uncle, role model, and mentor Tru.ski, Al Pete decided to take his love for the genre, and enjoyment of creating musical sets for friends and family, to another level by learning the art of turntablism which is housed under the G.F.E. label as well. Al Pete began spinning for parties, poetry events, social gatherings, venues, and fashion shows. Along with all of this Al Pete was still working diligently to keep his own music flowing and to keep up with performances in and out of town.
In the spring of 2006, Al Pete and Shirl Dee decided to put together the first mixtape to come from GrownFolk Entertainment; “Exhibit A” which received an overwhelming response from the masses. That year momentum kept pushing forward, and in the winter of 2006 Al Pete joined alongside with The Elevated Hip-Hop Experience for a special live recorded album. Drive still pushing on in 2007, the spring brought another compilation album release “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” which included two of Al Pete’s close companions and fellow artists Tough Junkie and Picasso.
On February 10th 2009, Al Pete released his debut album “Talk About It”, which includes his popular singles “Somethin’ More”, “All is Good” and “The Truth”. Creating videos for “All Is Good” and “The Truth” has only continued to keep the buzz for the album going. Receiving 4 out of 5 with Reax Magazine’s review and also a write up in Jacksonville’s own Folio Weekly. Mr. Al Pete has been spreading through out the region with shows in various cities in Florida and Georgia.
Mr. Al Pete continues moving at full force with performances, features on various Hip-Hop albums, and mixtapes, and still offers DJ services with events such as Nokturnal Escape and Fashion Forward Inc. With his new album G3.0 being released in December of 2009 and the buzz for his acting debut in Be Dynamik’s upcoming film “Treacherous” to be release in 2010, nothing will dull Mr. Al Pete’s shine.
