Jesse Boykins III (born February 20, 1985) is a Jamaican-American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Chicago, Illinois.

Jesse Boykins III
Jesse Boykins III performing in May 2009
Jesse Boykins III performing in May 2009
Background information
Birth nameJesse Boykins III
Also known as
  • JBIII
  • JB3
Born (1985-02-20) February 20, 1985 (age 39)
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • record producer
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
Years active1994–present
Labels

Career

edit

Boykins is a world soul artist originally from Jamaica, later relocating to Miami and finally Brooklyn. His first EP, Dopamine: My Life On My Back EP was released February 14, 2008 and his follow up The Beauty Created LP was released November 25, 2008 through NomaDic MuSic.

His career in music began at the age of nine when he joined his school choir. He soon began auditioning around Miami and found himself recording with various local Miami artists. In high school Boykins was invited to perform in the Grammy Jazz Ensemble and recorded an album with them.

After high school he was recruited to The New School University in New York City. At The New School, he perfected his skills as a writer, performer, arranger and producer and as a vocalist. He also studied with classical trainer Kamal Scott and Universal recording artist Bilal.

In November 2017, Boykins revealed that he was signed to Def Jam Recordings. His first album under his major label deal was a physical release of his mixtape Bartholomew, which was previously released for streaming on SoundCloud in 2016.[1] Jesse received his first Grammy nomination for co-writing Steve Lacy's lead single Playground from his ApolloXXI album.[2][3]

Discography

edit
 
Boykins in 2014

Studio albums

edit
  • The Beauty Created (2008)
  • Zulu Guru (2012)
  • Love Apparatus (2014)
  • Bartholomew (2017)
  • New Growth (2023)

Extended plays

edit

Writing credits

edit
  • Apollo XXI: Playground - Steve Lacy

Guest appearances

edit
List of non-single guest appearances, with other performing artists, showing year released and album name
Title Year Other artist(s) Album
"Make Me a Fool" 2010 The Foreign Exchange, Median Authenticity
"A Place Where Lovers Go" 2013 The Jet Age of Tomorrow JellyFish Mentality
"Higher Times" The Internet Feel Good
"Magic" Vic Mensa Innanetape
"Tribe" 2014 Theophilus London Vibes
"Heartbreak in Motion" 2015 Anna Lunoe
"Go" Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment, Mike Golden, Joey Purp Surf
"Paradise" Logic The Incredible True Story
"Just a Dose" Little Simz, Tiffany Goucheé, SiR, Isaiah Rashad, Kent Jamz Age 101: Drop X
"Celestial Levels" 2016 Machinedrum Human Energy
"Purple Tuesday" 2017 Rejjie Snow, Joey Bada$$ The Moon & You
"Annie" 2018 Rejjie Snow Dear Annie
"Twogether" Sango In The Comfort Of
"You're Gonna Need It" 2019 Lophiile To Forgive
"Wait 4 U" 2020 Machinedrum A View of U
"INTELLIGENT DESIGN" 2022 Kilo Kish AMERICAN GURL

References

edit
  1. ^ Penrose, Nerisha. "Jesse Boykins III Talks New Album 'Bartholomew' & Signing With Def Jam Records". billboard.com. Billboard. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
  2. ^ "Find Out Who's Nominated For Best Urban Contemporary Album | 2020 GRAMMY Awards". Recording Academy Grammy Awards. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  3. ^ "Steve Lacy Debuts Prince-Influenced 'Apollo XXI' Single "Playground"". Hypebeast. 2019-05-21. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
edit