J-Zone

Westchester-bred, Queens-based rap artist J-Zone (née J. Mumford) began his musical quest when he picked up and mastered a variety of instruments before he even made it out of elementary school. Growing up in suburbia, he specifically dreamed of a career playing bass guitar in a raw urban funk band and would scour record stores for hours to dig up old funk LPs just to mimic the basslines. Surrounded by hip-hop culture and a now-significant vinyl collection, inspired by Yo! MTV Raps, and influenced by the likes of the Bomb Squad, Marley Marl, DJ Premier, and local beatsmith-mad...