Jankrowville: November 2010

Jehst - 1979

I thought it only proper to make my third post dedicated to Jehst, one of the most prolyphic and talented British Emcee's. His style is influenced by mid-90's East Coast Hip-Hop, to which he adds his own rugged English twist. I tracked down his discopraphy for ya'll. But first here's some more info in the guy.

Born in Kent in the summer of '79, Jehst spent his childhood in Sussex before moving to Huddersfield, West Yorkshire as a teenager. Fueled by the bleak reality of smack infested post-industrial North he re-located to London, making his vinyl debut in 1999 with the highly acclaimed "Premonitions" EP, launching the self-financed YNR Productions label from his University halls of residence. From this point on there was no turning back.Jehst began collaborated with other artists on the label, contributing both production and guest vocals to subsequent releases. His profile was further raised when he put in an appearance on Task Force's "Voice of the Great Outdoors" EP released on Low Life records in 2000, before dropping his second solo outing on the same label the following year. Entitled "The High Plains Drifter", this four track (plus skits & instrumentals) EP delivered a range of music moods and lyrical content. Jehst followed this up with a couple of Harry Love produced bangers:"Staircase 2 Stage" which teamed him up with NYC underground hero J-Zone, and the autobiographical "Alcoholic Author" (marking his welcome return to YNR Productions) in 2002. Throughout this time Jehst was a pivotal member of the legendary "Champions of Nature", the 7 man super-group who released 2 EP's and the classic summer jam "Salsa Smurf" on their own C.O.N Artists label before licensing the 12" to Wordplay/Source as the lead single from the "WordLab2" compilation.After a lot of hard graft and hollow promises the crew officially disbanded. Restless as ever, Jehst switched his focus back to solo material, rounding off the year with the club smash "People Under The Weather" (feat. Asaviour) on Low Life, accompanied with a full length CD of his collected works "The Return Of The Drifter". With all of this under his belt, not to mention contributions to the classic albums "Biro Funk" by Braintax and the long-awaited "It's All Happening Now" from Lewis Parker, Jehst has established himself among the lyrical elite.With live performances as strong as his discography Jehst has torn-up shows all over the UK and abroad along side the likes of Non Phixion, Q-Bert, Atmosphere, J-Zone, Mr Lif, De La Soul, More Fire Crew and Big Brovaz. His on-stage A-Team consists of label mate (and long-time bredren) Asaviour and UK under-18's DMC Champion DJ IQ.

What follows is Jehst's Discoraphy, some of my personal favorites from his solo stuff are: Staircase II Stage, Return of the Drifter, China Shop Taurus, Falling Down, Trilogy (Remix), Fist of the North Star, Life Imitating Art, Bluebells, and People Under the Weather.

Premonitions EP (1999)