Jeff Johnson

Hard work seems to be the trending ethic and epithet of our generation. But what people seldom remember is that work minus brilliance and sacrifice equals… well simply just “work”. Enter Jeff Johnson. On the surface, it seems as if he is only a Mid-West emcee. Moved to Kentucky from St. Croix in 1989 when his father was diagnosed with brain cancer; fell in love with hip-hop in California, started putting out his own rap CD’s while in High School every year of his matriculation, and till this day he hasn’t stop making the music he loves; boasting a catalogue of songs that perhaps will eventually need its own publishing company to nurture and protect them.

But Jeff Johnson aka the “Southpaw Outlaw”, whose voice passionately grabs a listener through his versatile flow and clever lyrics has recognized that nothing comes to you easily or passively. So for several years he has been bringing us the music we love through the virtue of sacrifice; not to mention he has an ingenious way of doing it too.

Fused with a passion to vibe with some of the top creative minds of our era and make original music, Jeff Johnson has worked with such producers as DJ Montay, Joe Traxx, and Los Vegas. In 2009, Jeff released his debut project entitled “Making My Name” and has been literally doing just that ever since. Believing that “hip-hop will die without the real DJ”, Jeff has also teamed up with DJ’s around the world to give us several mixtapes, with 50,000 of them printed and promoted in the southeast. Described as a rapper that can get a crowd going, Jeff has also performed on the same stages as Akon, Lloyd, Mike Jones, Nappy Roots, Paul Wall, 112, and Mannie Fresh. It is easy to see that music is Jeff’s Passion. Starting with what he considers “zero chances” and lack of people believing in him, Jeff is focused on showing the world his sonic art by any means necessary.

But reaching the masses is no easy feat. However, through his marketing prowess and his unique branding ability, Jeff Johnson has managed to be heard on over 40 urban/rhythmic stations around the country with over 1100 MediaBase/BDS Detections. He has graced the covers of magazines and obtained features in such media outlets as Ozone Magazine to Allhiphop.com. If you get on the Internet and visit his Myspace page, you will be counted as one of the millions that have entered his Internet space. What is surprising is that Jeff was able to accomplish most of these things while at the same time studying for a degree at Full Sail University in Florida.

With today’s technology, making music seems to be the easy part of this business, but getting people to hear it has always been the artist’s struggle. Jeff has the uncanny ability to find innovate ways and use savvy business approaches to make sure we all get the chance to hear this “Southpaw Outlaw”. Recently, Jeff decided to move to Los Angeles to continue on his journey of realizing his full potential as a superstar. While in the City of Dreams, he is building a fan base through mixtape distribution, performing, building a street team, and consistently giving us great music and videos that can be viewed on his online publication www.makingmyname.com

Jeff not only works hard. He thinks hard and sacrifices big. And it’s the merger of the three that is allowing him to not only make his name, but make us listen, make us relate, and make us bop our heads in the process.

Myisha Cherry