JViZZ

The harsh reality and intricacies of the Boston music scene are strong enough to berate the confidence and determination of countless artists. It is strong enough to weed out the weak and inferior but it also has the unique capability to bolster artists who have the strong desire to succeed at what they love doing. Three elements that are necessary for any Boston artist to rise in this hostile game is versatility, love/passion for the artist, and the desire to keep learning, and growing as an artist. Dominican artist JvizZ (born Joel Valero) exhibit these qualities after being inspired in 8th grade by a simple showing of hustle and flow by his cousin. Music has the unique ability to affect people differently and after recording his first song in 8th grade, JvizZ fostered a love with the art saying “Hip Hop changed my life, I don’t know what I would have done without it”. Born in Jamaica plain in Boston on August 12, 1992, and attending school Wellesley suburb of Boston, JvizZ used garage band to produce primordial beats working hard to find his niche and sound. JvizZ was inspired by a plethora artists but one facet that magnetized him was Hip Hop and R&B collaborations, wherein an added singing hook supplemented by rapped verses added a whole new dimension to the game. This mentality of innovation came long before artists like Drake popularized this style. But JvizZ didn’t fall to conform to this newfound style and throughout high school through various mixtapes strived to find a unique sound of his own, and by senior decided to ‘take a giant leap with music’. His fellow classmate and friend Cam Meekins had similar intentions, diverging to work with Sam Adams people stating “We about to do big things”. This bolster of confidence and motivation propelled JvizZ to work on his mixtape “Before They Clip My Wings” in the summer of 2010. The title materialized JvizZ’s innate dedication to his passion and the game, but also reflected an inner struggle with people around him, one that he felt would escalate to the loss of his life. And thus the title provides an added homage to his mentality, and desire to go big and his potential to “go out with a bang”. On September 16th, JvizZ released this mixtape to the world, and it was co-signed by DJ Money Bags as “hot” but he also added a word of advice: “all you gotta do is find your sound”. The release of this tape was an inner accomplishment that cemented JvizZ’s love and passion while maintaining a humility that did not make him proud or cocky. He gained a realization that he still had a ways to go, and a lot to learn, but at this time he felt like a “young leader in the Boston hip hop community” with fans blowing up his facebook wall and facebook chat. After dropping a sub-par mixtape, JvizZ finally reached a style he was proud of and happy of: “My sound is 90's flow over new style of beats people make nowadays. My whole goal is to being back the ensence of 90's music, not much the clothing or the style. Just the essence of it. Like the times you would hear a new song for the 1st time and couldn't start listening to it over and over. But for now, i gunna drop bullshit that people want to hear.” And thus, JvizZ rises as a catalyst, inserting himself into the mainstream competitive game through the conformist mainstream “bullshit” way, but not losing focus on what he truly wants and what he truly wishes to convey to his audience. Through time, JvizZ wishes that “people will find out in a matter of time” because he considers his “skills have dramatically stepped up”. With 20+ unreleased songs, an album in the works, and learning new things everyday, the Dominican artist JvizZ has a lot to be proud of and in a perfect place to rise as not just an artist, but as a person as well.