J. ROB ///

Born Justen Robinson, J. Rob hails from Cincinnati, Oh. He was born September 24, 1985. He
started playing piano at a very early age and later transitioned to drums and percussion. He
graduated from the Cincinnati School for Performing Arts and from there went on to The Chicago
College of Performing Arts majoring in Jazz studies. While on break from school J. Rob credits his
best friend Deizel for introducing him to the music production game. “I came home from school one
summer and he was in this new rap group. So I wanted to get involved. Producing was the obvious
choice.” From there he went to Guitar Center and bought an mpc 1000 and pro tools. “I had no idea
what I was doing, I was working off of a IBM laptop , It was terrible lol” But this turned out to be one
of the best decisions he could make. From there he transferred to Berklee College of Music. Upon
arriving at Berklee J. Rob received a Powerbook laptop. “I got real heavy into garage band at first
and then I discovered logic. That was the day everything changed.” He spent a semester there
before moving to Atlanta to attend SAE Institute. Engineering and production go hand in hand so
“After graduating my goal was to really focus on the engineering side of my career, build up a good
reputation in Atlanta and eventually transition into production.” This strategy worked for him. “I spent
a couple of years on the intern circuit just paying my dues and from there landed an assistant
engineer position with Mix Engineer Kevin “KD” Davis.” J. Rob’s career started to take off on the
engineering side. “I became producer Shekspere’s personal engineer and even got involved with
some production duties for him.” Another highlight for J. Rob was being personally offered a job to
be super producer Rodney Jerkins engineer at his LA studio. “I went to LA for a week and it was a
lot of fun and intense, The timing wasn’t right for a move like that but Im gratefull for the opportunity”
J. Rob has worked with artists and producers such as Rodney Jerkins, Bangladesh, Shekspere,
Music Soulchild, Ma$e, K Michelle, Bobby Valentino, J Lack, Chrisette Michelle, Dru Hill, Ludacris,
Pusha T, and many more. “I spent a lot of time as an engineer just studying the producers, artists
and songwriters I was working with. I really wanted to learn and grow as a producer so engineering
provided me with the opportunity to be in the studio with some of the best and gain knowledge about
the industry and how things really worked.” 2012 is when J. Rob officially found himself as a
producer. He landed 4 songs on Chrisette Michele’s Audrey Hepburne project. Including two
singles “Rich Hipster” and “Your Fair Lady.” “I think my overall sound and my musical background
makes my music what it is. I’ve been doing music from a very young age. I’m classically trained and
I’ve been around a lot of different types of music. So I really try to combine elements from all
different genres and styles and bring them together in a modern way. I’m also not tied down to one
genre. I make rap, rnb, pop, dance, soul, jazz, gospel. Pretty much all styles. I have the utmost
respect for people like Rico Love and Rodney Jerkins because they can hop from genre to genre
and still keep the essence of that particular style of music while also infusing their personal style.
That’s really something I take pride in is being able to maneuver through all types of music. Also I
think a signature of mine is really making my tracks sound as big as possible. My sound is very
dramatic. I’m a big fan of movie scores and Orchestra’s and just Live shows in general. So no matter
what genre I am producing in I always have to have that build up and moment of suspense to try and
capture the listener and connect emotionally with them. Because That’s what music is all about,
Emotion, bringing people together and serving as sort of outlet from regular life.
2013 is shaping up to be a breakout year for J. Rob. He is currently working on a number of projects.
“I want to be one of the best to ever do it, I believe its all about how much work you put in everyday,
always remaining humble, treating everyone with respect and also keeping God first.”