G9, formerly J.A.M., was born Jsun Andre Mitchell in Detroit, Michigan. His mother raised him in Southfield after she and his father, a well-known hustler, divorced when Jsun was eight. From that time up through his mid-teens, young Jsun only played with rapping—not taking it too seriously. This changed, however, when he was fifteen, after seeing MCs like Dogg Pound and Snoop Freestyle—leaving him with a feeling of amazement and a sense of determination to learn more.
Around this time, he and his partner, 45 (Mark Brooks), purchased a karaoke system that enabled them to loop beats and create songs off mainstream beats. Their first producer, other than themselves, was T. Bright—the producer of “At The Party” and “Everyday” on album. The two recorded a song a day and by the time they got enough equipment, they noticed even the O.G.s wanted to flow. So the group turned to a posse called D.U.C. (Da Unfortunate Click), which became as big as 40 Deep and since had hooked up with J. Smooth—a Detroiter Jsun met in high school who produced tracks and keyboards. At this point, Jsun was living the life of a hustler with many long stories surrounding him. This lifestyle, however, would come to an end for him with the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls; it made him want to do music in a different way. He entered a “want for the knowledge of God,” which led to him becoming a born-again Christian in 1999. The professional result of nearly three years in the Christian lifestyle was the album Amen—his first solo ever. “I began seeing and feeling truths,” he recalls, “which prevented me from promoting it after only about five months after it was released at the end of 2000.”
Coinciding with this, Jsun (G9) and 45 created a company called Exoduce Publishing. The first album they published was his cousin Dwele’s Rize. Jsun had a hundred tapes duplicated and put together at his 9-to-5, which was Producers Tape Service. After moving all the units in a week, Dwele went and signed with his manager, which led to his signing with Virgin Records. Jsun chose to “stick with the independent role and passed the idea on to him but at the time, he couldn’t feel or see the vision.”
All of Jsun’s family was behind him, yet shocked about Dwele signing and with Amen not being promoted by Jsun because he was out of that life and didn’t want to be what he’d seen so much of—a hypocrite. To this Jsun says, “I just played it through. They put him on hold for two-and-a-half years, which I felt we could have moved units that whole time—but it was all part of growing. After seeing this I knew I wanted to do it on my own and set an example for others trying to make it.”
“Life is full of cycles—it goes in 360’s—represented on the Amen cover with my name, Jsun, spelled with the top of the ‘J’ encircling the name.”
“I always had a problem with the label, ‘Gospel’, on my first album. Yet, I always wanted to teach or say something of substance on the mic, thus you have G9: Genius Never Incomplete Nor Equivalent.”
“Basically, God created what you have here—as street and about the money as it may be.”
“This is who I am with Him—not who I am through compromising with religion or religious efforts.”
--A producer, composer, arranger, businessman, artist and worshiper of facts beyond faith or religious bondage.
“WHAT’S UP WORLD!”
