He's Got Next (Jnice)

Jnice is a pioneering music producer on the rise (a true Striver)  who's done music from hip-hop to Broadway. We at Strive believe he is a music-man to watch in 2006. Our Ryan Mack took the opportunity to sit down and learn about Jnice's skills in music and in the boardroom.  
Where are you from?
I was born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in South Side Queens (South
Ozone PK), NY.

How did you end up in the production business?
One of the most important things in trying to establish yourself in
any business is creating a lot of contacts; in other words meeting a
lot of people and establishing some kind of bond with them. That's
what my manager, Hate, and I did. We did the networking party thing
and it was somewhat helpful but we felt like we weren't getting
anywhere. One day a manager we knew put down his 2-way pager and fell
asleep. I knew he had a lot of contacts in it but I didn't ask him
for his contacts because he didn't feel I was ready as a music
producer. I then did what any other hungry producer would have done. I
took every contact I could pull up on his 2-way pager while he was
sleeping (laughing). Doing that definitely got me through the doors
to producing records.

Who are some of the artists you have produced for?
I've produced for Grafh, Miri Ben-Ari, Craig Mack, Shalone, Outlawz,
Infa Red and Sean Cross and I also produced a Song for the cast of the
Broadway musical, "Wicked".

Has this always been something that you have wanted to do?
When I was a lot younger, no. I wanted to become a Chef. My parents
lambaste me to this day for not becoming one. I tell them look at it
this way: I am a Chef but instead of food, I cook up beats (laugh).

What is the most important thing in your life besides music?
Trying to establish myself as a role model for anybody. I know it's a
tough thing to do that's why I'm up for the challenge. A strong
element that consists of being a role model is being a leader and not
a follower and a follower is not I.

Now that your name is known in the business, do you feel that you have
made it? What else do you think still needs to be done, and how do
you plan to do it?
I don't think I will ever feel I've made it. My plans are to conquer
my goals. If I ever thought to myself one day that I have made it, its
almost saying that I can relax now. I don't want that. Sure its okay
for another person to say to me, but I don't want to ever say that to
myself. I want to keep moving and conquer the next goal. I got a full
plate that can feed 13 sumo wrestlers and there is nobody to help me
eat it. In other words, I have a lot of work to do.

Do you have big things on the horizon that our readers should know about?
Definitely. I'm working with some artists on their projects such as:
Grafh (BlackHand Ent.) and Shalone (Orbit Ent.). I will l be scoring a
couple of Independent films. Toward the end of 2006 I will be
producing a couple of songs on a movie soundtrack. I am currently
working with Trajic, an Australian producer who is creating a mixtape
market in Australia, which will bring established International and
domestic artist together on mixtapes. My manager, Hate and I are
starting the 3rd installment to "Street Beats" . "Street Beats" is a
cd with tracks that are sold in mom and pop stores in which up and
coming artists (Strivers) can use those beats for their demos. It can also be
purchased on www.Q9Productions.com. I will also be working with Valentine
Whittaker creating the score for his upcoming animations series.

I want to thank Hate, Valentine and Jnyflower for keeping my plate full.

To contact me for music production, you can call or email
Hate: 516 852 4960
Email: Starbusny@aol.com
Website: Q9productions.com
check out my bio below
 

Jamal Pilgrim aka JNICE Biography
Jamal Pilgrim aka J.N.I.C.E was born on September 20, 1978 in Brooklyn, NY. to Oliver and Valerie Piligrim. Oliver, of Grenada decent, was a freelance drafter, working with local New York companies drawing up the pipe lines, while Valerie, of Trinidad decent, worked as a nurse and a babysitter to help support their 6 children while living in Oliver's sister's basement.  Money was tight in the Pilgrim family, to the point when Jamal would out grow his shoes, his mother would cut the front off of it to make room for his feet.  But Oliver and Valerie were determined to give their children a better life.  When Jamal was 8 years old, his parents saved enough money to move their family from Brooklyn to a small house in South Side Queens where Jamal discovered hip hop through his cousin, Keith. Listening to Roxanne Shante, he fell in love with her style and soon found himself consumed with the music. That consumption would turn into a passion and Jamal would adopt the name J-Nice.  J-Nice started to experiment with different artists and looked for inspiration through KRS-1, Rakim, LL Cool J, Nas, Dougie Fresh, and Public Enemy. Escaping life through their lyrics and beats, never looking to hustling as a way to make it to the top-as he saw all those around him did. He was inspired by music and there was nothing greater than that love. And the love he had for music kept his mind focus and J-Nice was now an acronym standing for Jamal.kNows.It.Could End (J.N.I.C.E). 

In 2000 he discovered an act for producing after finding himself deejaying at his brother's block party after the local deejay didn't show up.  From there he went on to purchasing a MPC 2000XL(beat machine) with speakers and turn tables working on his techniques. During that time his brother, Curtis, the oldest, was managing a group called "Hot Sauce" and one of the members was named Dave West (who has now come to produce tracks for Talib Kweli. E-40, Ghostface, Mos Def and many more).  Dave would sit with JNICE and show him all the techniques of his equipment and soon enought JNICE was on his own making the music he's come to love so much.  One day, while at the Ruff Ryders Recording Studio, Power House (where his brother-in-law worked), he would cross paths with Infa Red(Ruff Ryders).  Infa Red asked JNICE to drive him to the store. On the way to the corner store JNICE had his tracks playing in the car and Infa Red picked up on it and immediately found interest in one asking JNICE about it.  Interested in JNICE's style Infa Red asked to work with JNICE and they would collaborate on a tracked called Emergency featuring Sean Cross and co-produced by Devine. Soon after his collaboration with Infa Red and Sean Cross, his hunger for the music industry grew and that hustle would eventually land him with Grafh, Shalone, Miri Ben Ari(Grammy winning hip hop violinist), Craig Mack, Tash (Alkaholics), Rakka (Dilated Peoples) and his most recent work would be producing a track for a broadway musical called "Wicked".  "Wicked" was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and is in the top 10 of the current Broadway musicals, coming second to Lion King. Currently, JNICE and his Q9 Productions team are finishing up recording with Grafh's and Shalone's Mixtape, 4 issues of a comic book called "Fantasm" with his partners Hate and Young Deep, working with Miri Ben-Ari, Shalone's Album, and a soundtrack for a movie called Gym Rats.
 
For more information or booking contact Q9Faculty@aol.com or go to www.Q9Productions.com.