J-Bru Live in Halifax, July 4th.

J-Bru live at The Paragon Theatre.

Come catch a great show loaded with local hip hop talent. On July 4th, J-Bru will be performing some old and some new material alongside some of Halifax’s finest.

The Canadian Revolution, billed as one of the hottest shows this summer, also features Ambition, Hellafact Da Akdaviss, 4Plae and Universal Soul.

Get to the Paragon early as tickets cost $7 before midnight, and $10 after.

J-Bru album news:
While album progress has screeched to a halt as of late, J-Bru is back home  and rested after three solid months of touring, and is ready to bring the heat.

Look out soon for some free downloads from his forthcoming album The Jason LP, due out later this year.

Thanks for your continued support.

Are You Ready for a New J-Bru Album?

After months of slacking and procrastination, I have finally gotten back on the horse.

See, I have had 80-percent of a full album done for months now but haven’t been finishing it for some reason.

Well, after a few focused sessions and some decent business meetings, I think it is due time to put out another CD. While it takes months to actually release, my next project should hit stores in February or March 2009.

Titled The Jason EP (formerly The Jason LP), this album will be chalked full of J-Bru-esque tracks I am known for. There are dope story tracks, true gut wrenching tracks and much more. The reason I have decided to put out an EP is because I pretty much have the next album after that mapped out to be my big break, so instead of releasing all my good tracks now, I would like to save some for the future.

I have some big opportunities coming up and instead of waiting months and months, I wanna give my fans some J-Bru material to hold them over until I am ready to divulge these big things.

Thanks to everyone who has emailed me since my last tour wondering when my next album will be dropping.

Here’s a tentative track listing for The Jason EP. (It says “LP” on this cover as this is the unedited version)

1. Intro
2. Y’all Ain’t Fuckin With Jason
3. Christina w/ Chad Hatcher
4. I’ve Been Waiting
5. Open up Your Mind w/ Greydon Square
6. You Ain’t Black Enough Interlude
7. You Ain’t Black Enough
8. This is A Letter
9. Movin On Up

Prayers go out to the original “Hook King”

This blog is supposed to be for J-Bru news, but I would like to extend my thoughts and prayers to the Hale family.

The original hook king, Nate Dogg, was hospitalized after suffering his second stroke in less than a year.

“We’re positive, prayerful, hopeful and patient,” said Rod McGrew, Nate’s manager.

Well, as a long-time Nate Dogg fan I gotta say I hope he will be alright. Get well soon homie.

Stay tuned for J-Bru news to come. For now, if you are a religious person, point your night time prayers toward the recovery of one Nate Dogg!

New J-Bru Video!

Sorry for the long wait people, but my newest video, What R We Doin featuring Eternia, has been released to MuchMusic.

Watch the video here.

This is my last video for Identity Crisis and I am very proud of it. This vid was my fourth with Marc Andre Debruyne. Each video I have done with Marc has looked better and better!

Please do me a favour and request it here:
goingcoastal@muchmusic.com
rapcity@muchmusic.com
muchondemand@muchmusic.com
muchvibe@muchmusic.com

See J-Bru’s other videos here:
Help! I Been Robbed
It’s Rainin
Makin People Say
Thanks for your continued support and look out for new J-Bru news really soon!

J-Bru the Movie Star????

Yes it is true.

After a few short stints as an extra in a few films, most notably The Trailer Park Boys Movie, I have finally landed a role that required me auditioning.

A few weeks ago I got a call from Kelly Clark asking if I wanted to audition for this movie called Mahalia. I jumped at the chance even before I knew what the deal was. Well, turns out I had to go audition for the role of “Bulletproof”, a thug rapper from Toronto who is the star client of a major label trying to sign a local gospel singer named “Mahalia”.

After the audition I got a call saying I killed it and they asked if I wanted to play myself in the film.

“Of course,” I said. “That’s the best promo I can get.”

Well, as of tomorrow I will have shot my first scenes and will close to being a member of ACTRA (actors union).

Playing myself did have it’s perks. I got to record a song with Keshia Chante (playing the role of Mahalia), spit over a beat produced by Oren (Canadian idol band leader) and the world will watch this movie right as my next album, The Jason EP is set to be released.

In the upcoming weeks I will keep you posted on how the film is going as well as new video and touring news.

Not Just a Hype Man

 

Dictionary definition of “hype man”

hype man

n. a hip-hop performer responsible for backup rapping and singing, and increasing an audience’s excitement with call-and-response chants. Subjects: United States, Hip-Hop, Slang

Yes it is true!

After many years of doin this “rap thing”, four albums, four videos. I, J-Bru, still am mostly known for being Classified’s hype man.

I am not complaining at all. See, touring with Class has not only brought my music to a much wider audience, but made me appreciate what an artist has to go through to really be taken seriously in the music business.

Class isn’t famous because he is white, or because he makes dope ass music (well that’s part of it). No, Class is famous because for almost ten years he has been one of the hardest working emcees this country has ever seen, PERIOD!

While I may have squandered away a few opportunities over the years, I will always owe a huge debt to Class for showing me the ropes. These missed opportunities came from nothing but pure laziness on my part.

Well, just like a New Years resolution, I am blogging to the world that I, J-Bru, will work my ass off to bring my fans the music they deserve, will stay true to myself and continue saying real shit (even though critics say I whine too much about losing close friends and such??) and will make sure that those who don’t believe in me hear me one way or another.

I have some exciting things coming up. A new album, a TV Movie starring Keyshia Chante, a college basketball blog (my true passion), tours, videos and more…

I, J-Bru am not just a hype man. I am a diverse personality who uses music to spread a message to the world. I know for a fact I have not reached my peak with my music, so I am not sure what my true message is just yet.

But, one thing I do know is I was put on this earth to spread words. Whether its music, poetry, sports writing or the voice work I have done, the world was meant to hear me speak, and I am gonna speak loud.