Jay Ant was born and raised in the Bay Area. He started rapping and making beats on his computer at the age of 14. He grew up listening to R&B artists such as 112, Jodeci, R.Kelly, Aaliyah, Michael Jackson, Usher, and Marvin Gaye. As he grew older he became influenced by contemporary artists such as Kanye West, Jay-Z, Pharrell, Andre 3000, Mos Def, Common, N.E.R.D and Daft Punk.
While in high school he joined a group with 3 other young talented rappers, each with their own distinct personalities and style, called The Diligentz. They were at the forefront of the Bay Area’s Punk Rock (hip hop) Movement. Their single “Punk Rock” became their brand / lifestyle about their dress, talk and walk and created a movement that had fellow teens all over copying their style and rocking out to their music. The "Punk Rock Remix" produced by Jay Ant, and featuring the Pack and Go Day, was featured in Spin Magazine's website as a Top Download for February 2007 and radio stations such as KMEL and KYLD quickly put them in the mix. Their MySpace page grew by the day (over 28,000 friends) and their popularity grew as did the number of live performances they did.
Jay Ant created 90% of the music the Diligentz put out. And he continues to write, record and perform with the group. But it was only natural that he would start creating music for a solo project and in 2008 he dropped his debut album, All About Being Cool. Because of the momentum of the Diligentz and the online presence of Jay Ant, his CD was a viral hit and several singles were picked up by local DJs. The single “So Sexy” got a lot of radio spins in 2009 by KMEL and KYLD.
Jay Ant has worked with numerous local artists like Lil B The Based God, The Pack, E-40, Kreayshawn, Bobby Brackins, Clyde Carson, The Cataracs, Mike-Dash-E, IAMSU to name a few. He continues to perform live with the Diligentz and increasingly as a solo act. His live show is like his music, storytelling- sometimes funny, always relevant to his experiences with the daily stress of school, work, family and LIFE. He is an artist that his audience can relate to, and a breath of fresh air in hip hop, as a rapper from the “burbs” who tells stories about his life. The F.I.S. lifestyle he started encourages people to stop the nonsense and unnecessary drama that the hip hop culture gets caught up in, sometimes being adversarial with one another. He is reminding people to have fun, smile, laugh, and have a good time with music. It is a message that radio, media, brands and fans can get behind.
In Spring 2010, 106.1 KMEL named him in the list of the Top Ten Bay Area Freshman (hip hop acts) to watch on the rise to stardom. This garnered more online traffic to his MySpace page, Twitter and more buzz about his up coming project at the time All About Being Cool 2: F.I.S. Jay Ant is seasoned, despite being so young, and yet fresh and new bringing a new sound and movement to Hip Hop. And he is proof that being yourself is always cool.
