Jay Electronica has yet to release a full-length album but has released two official singles to date, "Exhibit A" and "Exhibit C". His music so far has been made available through the internet, either through being leaked to what URB magazine describes as "obscure web forums", or through an appearing and disappearing myspace page (currently two seem to be in existence, at /jayelect and at /jayelectronica). Badu has questioned whether he ever will release, in her words, "actual albums".
Originally from the Magnolia Projects in New Orleans, Louisiana, he has lived in Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Denver, and Detroit, where he recorded his Style Wars-era music with several J Dilla beats, meeting the producer subsequently to ask for permission to use the recordings as a demo. Detroit is where Electronica met producer/engineer Mike "Chav" Chavarria, who introduced him to both J Dilla and Mr. Porter, and who is now a regular collaborator.
Jay Electronica first gained significant attention through Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge), made available on a myspace page in 2007. It is 15 continuous minutes of music, without drums, built from Jon Brion's soundtrack to the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. There are five segments or movements, marked by changes in music and mood, raps by Electronica, and occasional snippets of sampled dialogue (children arguing in Kurdish, Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka). The first segment is spoken word by Just Blaze and Erykah Badu describing the artist over piano music.
The nature of the piece of music, along with the nature of its appearance, led to a slow build-up of interest in Electronica as an enigmatic figure. Style Wars gained wider circulation, and other tracks, such as the dream-inspired "Dimethyltryptamine", appeared. In January 2008, Giles Peterson's 90-minute Giles Peterson Worldwide was devoted to the rapper. Hiphopdx.com in 2008 called him "arguably...the most talked about new emcee last year ... at times...more like a myth or urban legend than an actual rapper", and URB ran a cover story on the artist under the banner "Jay Electronica: A Spotless Mind :: An MC’s mystery revealed", which referred to his wanderings as his being "like some sort of hip-hop Jack Kerouac".
Jeff Weiss' piece for the L.A. Weekly, "Jay Electronica: Much Better Than His Name Would Suggest", acknowledged that the rapper could be fairly described as "one of the most buzzed about rappers of 2008", but attempted to temper the hype somewhat, describing Act 1... as "ambitious, wildly original, if not slightly pretentious", while endorsing only to an extent the comparisons URB had made (referencing an "abstract rhyming style") to rappers like Nas and Pharoahe Monch.
Electronica met Nas during the recording of Nas' Untitled, through Badu's friendship with Nas' wife, Kelis. He gave Nas a CD of his recordings, causing Nas to invite him to produce for the album. Jay Electronica provides the music for the album's opening track, "Queens Get the Money". Nas describes him as having provided "the Jay Electronica sound". He toured North America with Nas, and was part of the Rock The Bells International Festival Series in 2008.
According to URB, Act II: Patents of Nobility will feature Nas, and will be the second of a putative trilogy. URB also reported that digital EPs with both Guilty Simpson and producer 9th Wonder were planned. His most recent music as of November 2008 is the Just Blaze-produced track "Exhibit A (Transformations)".
According to a Filter TV interview, Jay Electronica has partnered with Decon to release his debut project. It is being described as a multi-media release and footage from the project which was partially shot in Nepal and Dubai has begun to surface online. The first clip to leak is titled "Dear Moleskin" and can be found on youtube, the track was produced by Just Blaze and the clip was directed by Jason Goldwatch from Decon. In June of 2009, Decon and Jay's "The Dogon Society" released "Exhibit A" digitally. "Exhibit C" was released on iTunes December 16, 2009 and quickly shot to the top 10 of the itunes Hip-Hop charts. The following week it was chosen by Hot 97's Dj Enuff as the Heavy Hitter pick of the week.
On January 11, 2010, DJ Dub and Furious Styles released a mixtape entitled Victory which featured 27 tracks of Jay Electronica. While it is not known whether this particular work was sanctioned by the artist. GatMan, DGNeo, dope4goldrope, among others from Joe Budden's internet forum, created what is most likely Jay's largest compilation,entitled "The Free At Last Kit",which contains every released Jay Electronica track. This compilation also includes lyrics.
He and Erykah Badu welcomed their first child together, a girl named Mars Merkaba, on February 1, 2009
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