JYAGER
Bio​
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North London Artist, Rapper, Record Producer, Songwriter, Entrepreneur and MME label CEO Jyager.
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Originally from Cape Verde and a decent of a west african Angolan family, Jyager was raised in Lisbon, Portugal until the age of 6 when he moved to England in 1993 with his mother and sister in search of a better life .
Jyager went to Alyward Secondary School in North London, Edmonton
where he first recognised his passion for music and began writing poetry to express his thoughts and feelings about life from day to day.
During his time at Alyward Jyager became close friends and brothers with the late great Dean "Anthony" West, formally know as Rapper, Marijuana Activist, Musician and CEO of BME/DankOfEngland BlackTheRipper.
In the beginning Jyager joined forces with Extortion Camp, a garage based group of MCs where he got his first taste of blessing mics at local clubs and neighbourhood gatherings. Before long the crew had obtained a regular set on pirate radio station Heat Fm and later, Axe FM. The dominance of MCs in the Garage scene began to give birth to a new London sound known as Grime. But while Extortion Camp maintained their Garage vibe, Jyagers growing love for Hip Hop was giving the young MC a fresh new outlook and direction.
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After parting ways with Extortion Camp, Jyager set his focus to the Hip Hop scene and spent many hours perfecting his flow before meeting Hip Hop producer/YNR co-founder Cee Why who, recognising Jyagers star-quality and infinite potential, quickly took him under his wing. In 2005 they began work on a catalogue of recordings that would go on to form the basis of Jyagers debut album. Entirely produced by Cee Why and boasting cameos from the likes of Foreign Beggars, Kyza and Kashmere among others, the resulting album 'Encrypted Scriptures' finally dropped in 2009, laying a concrete foundation for the future of the young talent.
Jyager hit the road supporting the YNR founder Jehst & ITF DJ Champion DJ Jazz T at live shows all around the country to promote the highly acclaimed debate release "Encrypted Scriptures". Spending a lot of time traveling back and forth, visiting family and friends abroad Jyager kept up his relentless rapping, and without knowing it found himself establishing a following throughout parts of Europe. Jyager got straight back to work executively producing a follow album for that year, with an eclectic collection of beats and rhymes reflecting their diverse musical influences entitled "Released from Captivity".
Just like superheroes, jazz musicians and rappers are fond of teaming up. Whether it’s Batman and Superman joining forces to defend the DC universe or Busta Rhymes dropping in for show-stealing cameo on someone else’s record, the individual histories often intertwine to intoxicating effect. But what happens when the distances that separate the individuals are greater than those between Metropolis and Gotham? On the face of it, there’s an unbridgeable chasm separating the innovative jazz maven Sebastian Rochford and London-based, rapper Jyager; but as anyone familiar with either artist’s work will appreciate, these are artists for whom categorisations have little meaning.
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With the endorsement of Brit-rap heavyweight Jehst (his Encrypted Scriptures debut was released on YNR, the label Jehst co-founded, in 2009) he set about establishing his formidable rep. Whether rapping in French and Portuguese or rhyming about fairytales over Al Green samples, he’s every inch Rochford’s equal as a genre-defying iconoclast. Yet the pair still had to find some common ground: they arrived at it in this concise, 25-minute mini album, where music almost entirely derived from samples of Peepers collides with Jyager’s intuitive word-pictures. All but two of the Common Ground project’s nine tracks are based on manipulations of a vinyl copy of the original album (the exceptions are the opening track, ‘Recording In Secret’, which is built out of an improvisation by Polar Bear member Leafcutter John, and ‘Dont Think I Wont’ [sic], Jyager and Polar Bear later went on a UK & European tour appearing at all the Jazz Festivals with a live performance of "Common Ground" that came out in 2010 on TheLeafLabel.
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Upon arriving back to the UK Jyager quickly got back to working on a new record that he would engineer and self produce all the beats for which would set the mark for where Jyager stand musically. These session would later see Jyager
producing records for and collaborating with artist like fellow BME Label Founder BlackTheRipper, Foreign Beggars, Kyza, Verb T, Jehst,, ConfuciousMC, Genesis Elijah, Kashmere (of "Strange Universe"), Rita Ora, Dan Kamit, ReemRemi, EJay, DJ Jazz T, SonnyJim, Prince Paslow, Sharlene Klarice, Tasha Micheals, Kobane, Jokerstarr, M-Phazes, Doubledge, PheonixTheIceFire, Telemachus, Brotherman and many more.
Over the next few years Jyager continued doing live performances around the country appearing at festivals and venues such as Jazz Cafe, Kokos, Matter(The 02), Concrete, XOYO, 02 Academy, Jamm, Birthdays, BoomBap Festival,
Shamballa Festival, Faversham, Lakota, Rhythm Factory and many more to name a few,
while still working closely with YNR doing songwriting, production, recording and engineering sessions for various records with some mentionable placements on Jehsts' "The Dragon of An Ordinary Family" & "Billy Green Is Dead" with the hard hitting, prog-rock influenced, hiphop-trap banger "Household Name" that features and is produced by Jyager with co-production from multiplatinum, Grammy Award winning producer Beat Butcher, Boarder Crossings' "ThankYouMachine", Sonny Jims' "At The Bonanza EP" and the highly rated, self produced hiphop album by UK Rapper and Producer Micall Parknsun, "Me, Myself and Akai".
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While spending some time on tour supporting acts like Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Lord Finesse, DJ BoogieBlind {from The X-Ecutioners}, MasterAce, EdoG, Redman, Method man & GZA [from the legendary Wu Tang Clan] Jyager began setting his sights on a bigger goal sitting across the waters from the UK to the west. Truly authentic and inspiring, Jyagers hunger is irrepressible both in the booth and on the stage. A charismatic and passionate performer whose stage presence and energy translates effortlessly to record, catch Jyager live on stage and you'll soon see what all the fuss is about!
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In 2015 Jyager and Black The Ripper locked away in the MME & BME studios and starting working on a new project. A collection of High end, organic-soul infused songs that would take the UK scene by storm in 2016 entitled "Married2Marijuana" which was released independently on BME. The Project features tracks like"Weed Lover", "You Will Never Know" and the timeless classic "The Remedy" produced by UK HipHop Heavyweight producer Harry Love, "Married2Marijuana" went Number one on the iTunes hiphop charts with no endorsements, no major label backing or radio placements. The duo continued recording more songs which would later form the back to back banger "Motivated Stoner" with songs like "Wavey" ft L Skins & Jerome Thomas, "Truss Me" ft Micc righteous, "OG" ft Jyager Produced by Knite and the lead single anthem "Weed is My Best Friend" featuring dancehall artist Popcaan, Chip, Shorty and Frisco from BBK.
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Jyager then began working on a new solo project which would later become the 11 track no-skipping, head nodding, soul booming, lyrical display of mastery full of wordplay, themes, concepts and introspective songs which is entitled "WhereYouBeen" and was released on MystaMusicEnt in 2018. A must listen for those who enjoy the art and craft wth production from The Martianz on the opening smash "WhereYouBeen", Metro Booming,TM88, LER and Jyager with a laid-back midnight vibe song for the ladies called "Work Sum Magic".
Jyager is currently in the studio recording and getting ready for the release of the highly anticipated album "WhereYouBeen2" which is set to be released in 2021 along with all new singles, music videos, merch and much more.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
“12 mostly dope tracks- slinging emcee,”.
— HipHopConnection