Artist Profile: J.U.S

J.U.S, the rapper from Detroit-based group the Bruiser Brigade, has been an integral piece of the Detroit rap scene for over two decades. A well-regarded producer and recording engineer, J.U.S’s contributions to the genre still remain to be fully explored. Yet, his recent output, in collaboration with the artists he has come to know in that time, has finally showcased the extent of his talent, putting his pure musical skill and knowledge on full display.

In middle school, J.U.S was first fully introduced to hip-hop through a friend of his whose brothers had a large collection of tapes from both East and West Coast rappers. The pair would replay those tapes constantly, attempting to memorize the rhymes contained within.

This ultimately led to the forming of a rap group, originally called Left 4 Death, of which J.U.S was a part. As they began writing their first songs, J.U.S began producing to match the group’s output and, out of necessity, began learning how to engineer a recording session.

“I really had to study it: figure out what I liked about beats and figure out how they were coming up with it. I was just lucky I had a few producer friends that were a little older than me… and they had an MPC at the time, they had an MPC 2000, and I would ask ‘How do you think they made that?’. And we would listen to the beat and find out where the loop started over again, and then we would go try to find the record and loop it up, and then how to chop it up, and how to layer the drums on it… I kind of just, through trial and error, figured it out.”

Once turning 18, J.U.S took classes at The Recording Institute of Detroit, and, after continuing in the Detroit rap scene for a few years, was finally able to open his own studio in the area.

It was at this time that he first met Danny Brown, who was performing in a local rap group called the Rese’vor Dogs, connecting at J.U.S’ studio through their mutual friend Chip$. Him and Danny, over time, grew a mutual respect for each other, and, when Brown decided to form the Bruiser Brigade, J.U.S was all in.

He quickly took over a major part in the group’s output, working as a producer, recording engineer, and mixing artist both within the Bruiser Brigade and in the larger rap scene as a whole. Yet, in the course of his historic and largely unrecognized contributions to the rap music of this century, J.U.S had fallen away from what had originally ignited his passion for music: the art of rapping.

However, this passion was reignited in 2020 when, at a release party for Black Noi$e’s Oblivion, J.U.S half-jokingly asked the host to turn on a beat for him to rap over. While he expected Black Noi$e to shut him down, he surprisingly obliged, leaving J.U.S the opportunity to exercise his long-dormant lryical talents in the company of other artists. From that point, his creative energy took off exponentially; he recorded the first album of this new stage of his career, GOD GOKU JAY-Z, in the span of less than 40 days after that seminal event.

After an already highly successful career in music, J.U.S now had to return to his roots, progressing through trial and error in his craft. However, he now had the added benefit of years of experience working unlocking artists’ potential in the studio.

“Working in a studio that was open to the public, I’ve recorded a nice handful of people, probably over a hundred different rappers, so I always could notice which ones got it and which ones don't got it. In order for me to even believe in myself, I had to make these records, listen to them, and [say to myself], ‘I got it, I got it’. But I want to push the boundaries of how dope I can get, so I'm just trying to get better and better and better, and through the progression of my albums… I could see myself getting better…[I thought that] hopefully I could show the world and everybody would get the chance to enjoy it.”

Now, having released five stellar tapes as the primary rapper, including 3rd Shift, his collaboration with Squadda B, and his most recent tape, Lord of the streams part 2 “Curse in the Castle”, J.U.S is at the top of his game. Loquacious and non-stifling, his flow has the capability to either float over or just plain conquer the instrumentals he chooses to rap on, and, as he locks in his next project, the entire rap world should be excited for the next stages of his career. In the right circles, J.U.S is a rightful legend, and, now, his talents have an opportunity be known across the hip-hop community as a whole.