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Jay Electronica Is About To Drop A New Album: 10 Things To Know About The FOI Artist

Jay Electronica Is About To Drop A New Album: 10 Things To Know About The FOI Artist

Jay Electronica
Rapper and producer Jay Electronica is about to drop a new album. Here are 10 things to know about the FOI artist. Jay Electronica performs at The Budweiser Made In America Festival on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in Philadelphia. (Photo by Michael Zorn/Invision/AP)

Hip-hop artist and record producer Jay Electronica, born Elpadaro F. Electronica Allah, hails from New Orleans, Louisiana. He first gained attention after the release of the musical composition “Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge).”

In late 2009 he released two singles, both produced by Just Blaze, “Exhibit A (Transformations)” and “Exhibit C.” In 2010, he signed to Jay Z’s Roc Nation record label.

Electronica, who has been a longtime member of the Nation of Islam, is about to finally celebrate the release of his debut album, “A Written Testimony.” It is scheduled to drop on March 18.

Jay-Z by his side

It took 13 years, but Jay Electronica’s debut album, “A Written Testimony” is finally set to be released on March 18. Streaming service TIDAL is holding listening sessions in New York, Los Angeles, and Elect’s hometown of New Orleans today, March. 12.“The startling announcement comes after the ‘Exhibit C’ MC declared last month that his elusive album would be out in 40 days. Rather than fumble on his words, Elect looks primed and ready to drop his album with Jay-Z standing by his corner,” Billboard reported.

40 Days

“A Written Testimony” was recorded in 40 days, from December 2019 to February 2020. Its release date, March 18, 2020, is 40 days after the album’s recording was complete.

Cover boy

Jay-Z and Jay Electronica graced the cover of the Nation of Islam’s long-running publication, The Final Call. The cover story focuses on hip-hop artists influenced by the teachings of the NOI and the Five Percent Nation.

“The Final Call piece focuses heavily on the Nation’s presence within hip hop, and how artists have peppered their rhymes with teachings from the ‘Supreme Wisdom’ or lessons that the NOI and Five Percent Nation study,” Hip Hop Wired reported.

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Farrakhan on Electronica

In 2014, there was a Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival in New York and the Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan sent out a special message regarding Jay Electronica’s performance.

“I am very proud of the Fruit of Islam (F.O.I.) and the Believers who stood with Brother Jay Electronica as he delivered what he delivered to the people gathered in Brooklyn at The Hip Hop Festival in New York,” wrote Farrakhan in The Final Call.

He added: “I understand that some criticized Brother Jay Electronica’s use of profanity while wearing the uniform of the Fruit of Islam (F.O.I.) of The Nation of Islam. I humbly and respectfully ask: Has any of us who have accepted Islam and its required high degree of moral excellence and civilization ever said or done anything that is less than representative of what we believe? I am sure that all of us, if we are honest, would have to say that we have…

“Is Brother Jay perfect in his representation?  Of course not. Are we 100 percent in our representation? Of course not. As persons who have accepted righteousness as our standard of intellectual and moral conduct are considered “those who are striving to be upright,” then there is much room in all of us for improvement.”

Farrakhan concluded, “I am grateful to Allah for my young brother and his effort to represent that which he has come into the knowledge of. I am thankful to Allah for his work among the youth! Is it not they whom Allah desires for us to save from the evil intentions of our and their enemy? … So, if someone offered me what Brother Jay Electronica was offered by Brother Jay-Z, I too would accept it with the biggest smile on my face, for I too, as all of us in The Nation of Islam, are The Five Percent: Poor Righteous Teachers who are called to teach the 85 Percent and free them from the chains of slavery and subservience as tools of the 10 Percent.”

Jay Electronica, the Rothschild affair, and the Illuminati

In 2012, Jay Electronica got embroiled in a British scandal when he was accused of breaking up the marriage of music executive Kate Rothschild and British financier Ben Goldsmith. Seems Jay Electronica, who had been living in London, had an affair with Rothschild, a daughter of late billionaire banker Amschel Rothschild and founder of British-based record label Roundtable, The Telegraph reported. The 30-year-old Rothschild was married at the time and had three kids with Goldsmith, who is also worth billions.

It was reported by the Telegraph that Rothschild’s husband of eight years found some “naughty” texts and emails between his wife and Electronica.

“The messages led to a heated altercation between the married couple where cops were called, eventually causing news of the affair to hit the press. Goldsmith apparently slapped his wife over news she was having an affair with Electronica and subsequently said that he would be filing for divorce,” Boom Box reported.

The affair brought up Illuminati rumors. Roundtable Records is a name that resonates with New World Order conspiracy theorists. Rothschild founded Roundtable in 2010 (it folded in 2015). “But whatever truly happened between Electronica and Rothschild … this is one of the more cred-establishing scandals in recent memory. Is there anything realer than infiltrating the inner sanctum of the Rothschild clan and living to tell the tale? He has essentially become the only rapper ever allowed to refer to the Illuminati, the New World Order, or secret societies trying to keep their eyes on him as a legitimate, lived thing. At the very least, there’s a ready-made reason when his album never comes out,” Grantland reported.

Electronica and Erykah Badu

Electronica had a relationship with Erykah Badu. They have a 3-year-old daughter together.

About ‘Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge)’

“Eternal Sunshine” was a breakthrough recording. “It is 15 continuous minutes of music, without drums, built from Jon Brion’s soundtrack to the film ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,'” Wikipedia reported. it contains five segments or movements, rhymes by Electronica, and snippets of sampled dialogue including scenes from the film “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” There is also a spoken word piece by hip-hop producer and DJ Just Blaze and Erykah Badu talking about Electronica.

The recording was made available on a MySpace page in 2007.

Hard-knock life

Electronica, who began rapping after hearing his uncle rhyme, left New Orleans at the age of 19 to pursue his musical career. He found himself homeless, traveling from city to city — New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit, Denver, and Atlanta, Wikipedia reported.

Detroit respect

It wasn’t easy for Jay Electronica at first. People didn’t take to his Southern accent and he was booed off the stage more than once. 

“In my earlier years from when I first left home, I was embarrassed from being from the South,” Electronica said, reported Sony Hall. “Not in general, but as a rapper because of all of the negative things that people in the States put on the South.”

But when he landed in Detroit his career started to take off. There, he hooked up producer/engineer Mike “Chav” Chavarria, who introduced him to 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,” Wikipedia reported.

Recordings roll

Electronica started to release recording after recording. In 2011, he released the song “Call of Duty” featuring Prodigy from Mobb Deep. In 2014, Jay Electronica released the song “Better In Tune With The Infinite” featuring LaTonya Givens. The track features an excerpt of Professor Marvel’s monologue from the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.” Later in 2014, he released a remix to Soulja Boy’s “We Made It,” featuring Jay-Z. Then in 2015, Jay Electronica released “Road to Perdition” featuring Jay-Z. The song samples audio from Ronald Reagan’s 1964 “A Time For Choosing” speech, Wikipedia reported.