Biography
Rapper, singer, and record producer, Je’kob Washington was born in San Antonio, Texas, on June 16th, 1981. Je’kob attended several high schools with his brother playing basketball until finally settling and graduating from Grace Christian High in 1999. During the last year of high school, Je’kob’s part-time family music group “Souljahz” got a chance to go overseas to Aachen Germany and record their first full length album with a young producer who they met through a family friend. As soon as they returned to the states their father took the finished album to the ASCAP offices. After a couple meetings they found themselves sitting in the offices of Jimmy Iovine, the CEO of Interscope Records. The group received offers from several powerhouse labels including Interscope, Warner Bros. & Atlantic Records. In 2000, after lengthy negotiations, they ended up inking a deal with Warner Bros.
The troupe performed alongside the lauded and diverse likes of No Doubt, Nelly, Counting Crows, Ja Rule, Ashanti, Garbage, Boyz II Men and Erykah Badu on a cross country tour in support of their major label debut “The Fault Is History.” Television features followed on CNN Headline News, E!, Billboard, The WB, plus a slot on Sessions@AOL beside Christina Aguilera, 50 Cent, Shania Twain, Faith Hill and Red Hot Chili Peppers. But even with the tremendous amount of buzz and overwhelming fanfare, red tape soon wrapped itself around the burgeoning band, putting a long delay on what would’ve been its sophomore CD.
In 2006, the group re-emerged independently as The Washington Projects. They have since released two albums, “Commanders Of The Resistance” in 2007, and “Light Up The Dark” in 2010, of which both garnered critical acclaim and rave reviews. Between 2006 and 2010 they toured nationally and internationally traveling twice to war zones in Iraq to entertain the troops, as well as headlining a tour to Italy alongside The Nappy Roots. Recently, Je’kob signed with Seattle-based Save the City Records to release new material and make new appearances.
There have been as many glorious moments as there have been trials, but Je’kob sums up his experience best in one of his songs entitled “Dreams”:
“ What you fight for is what you die for, & what you try for is what you cry for, but if you really want it, you will try more. ”
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