I don’t remember the first time I heard JID (aka J.I.D) but at first listen I saw the talent. His voice and flow reminded me of early Kendrick and I also heard a little Anderson .Paak in there as well. The timing around me finding JID was sometime in late 2018 because I remember he was promoting his upcoming album DiCaprio 2 on Dreamville Records. If you don’t know Dreamville Records, it is J. Cole’s label and if Cole had signed JID, you know he saw the talent as well. JID was a talented athlete just like Cole as well so JID being on Dreamville made sense on many levels. The name JID itself (also spelled J.I.D.) is a nickname based on JID’s jittery behavior as a child growing up in East Atlanta, GA. As somebody who can’t sit still myself, I can relate. To show you what a jittery flow sounds like in a rap song, just listen to JID’s first verse on “Westbrook” from DiCaprio 2. It starts at 1:03… And by the way, this is a top notch flow right here.
JID had a lot of good tracks on that DiCaprio 2 album and it is probably one of my favorite hip hop releases of the past few years. There was a little bit for every time of rap fan on that album. Good features with A$AP Ferg, Method Man, Joey Bada$$, BJ the Chicago Kid, and J. Cole. The album had a great mix of trap type beats, R&B vibes, 90’s golden era bangers, and even a little jazz rap for when you want to slow it down. The album showed JID’s versatility in a major way. Here he is below on “Workin’ Out” which is my favorite song off of DiCaprio 2.
I didn’t truly appreciate of JID until I started going back and listening to some of his older music. The Never Story album was his first on Dreamville and that one had completely different vibes than DiCaprio 2. The artwork on the album is dope too! While listening to the album there was one song that really caught me. As a big fan of music, I like devouring artists’ catalogs so I can begin to see where their ascensions began. And while I admittedly don’t know all of JID’s past work quite yet (first release all the way in 2010!), it’s JID’s song “Somebody” that to me marks his greatness. Maybe it’s the great mellow jazzy type beat that really pulls me in but JID is just so sure of himself on this track. This is my favorite JID song and one that I listen to weekly. Here is “Somebody” for those that haven’t heard it.
JID’s real name is Destin so maybe he was always on his way to greatness this whole time. I’ve never seen JID live but I was scheduled to see him opening for Mac Miller on his Swimming tour until Mac’s untimely passing. I was really excited to see JID perform live because if his live performance was anything like his detail oriented approach to his music, I wouldn’t have been disappointed. I believe that JID is going to blow up with his next album if he plays his cards right. Being aligned with Cole gives me the confidence that he’ll have the guidance to maximize his true potential. I’ll be waiting with headphones in hand for that album but until then I’ll be listening to every guest feature. Shout out to JID! Keep making dope music homie!