Jai Tease (Rapper / DJ)

Independence never looked so tempting. Jai Tease, with little to no help from professionals, made her own name which proclaimed her "The Talk Of Da Town." Creating a strong internet buzz helped open the eyes of her now supporting fans.



Jasmine Thurmond was born on the 15th of September of 1987. Her determination, ambition and ability to achieve followed her from infancy to her now young adulthood. Jasmine's high honors and band & choir participation throughout elementary school led her to a scholarship and attendance to a middle school for higher learning. Here is where Jasmine's eyes opened to a different world. Growing up in Orange, NJ, she was enthralled by what this predominantly caucasian school in Short Hills had to offer. This turning point provided the opportunity to discover and bring forth many of the unknown talents she possessed [including acting, dance, art and singing]



As a youngster into her teens, she spent time with her father watching him produce and manage a few unsigned artists and in 2004, she joined the Newark Illustrated street team working closely with CEO Big 7 & Miss Nana. Jasmine learned so much in the two years of working directly with real artists but no longer desired to be behind the scenes and wanted to showcase her talent center stage. After graduating high school in 2005 and attending college in both New York & Los Angeles in 2006, financial difficulties destined her back home to her father's newly donated recording equipment which aided the completion of her first promotional mixtape, entitled "Step Into My Yard: Play By My Rules."



Continuously recording tracks in her home studio started to catch the attention of a lot of new media, fans and other artists who were stunned by her ability to rap. Her first single, recorded and mixed by herself "Doing It" [remix to LL Cool J's original] received rotation and compliments from DJ Antoine Qua at local FM radio station Streetz 96. While working at Shades of Hip Hop, they ensured regular rotation as well. Meeting many new people and networking helped create a strong foundation for the start of her blossoming career.



"Promotion, its all about promotion. I promote everywhere i go. I think being a fan of another artist first and help promoting them played a big part in knowing how to do it for myself. Its funny cuz you never know who knows about you or how powerful your music is to people." Showing a lot of attention to the people who she owes it all to, Jai Tease vows to never leave her fans out of the loop. "I'm always going to keep in touch with my fans. I love them and I learned from being a fan myself it means a lot to them to hear from me."



YouTube played a big part of her growing buzz; gaining 40,000 views in a few weeks on the only female version of Hotstylz "Looking Boy" helped her win the hearts of many and in 2008, she entered and ranked top 5 out of thousands of entries in the Chris Stokes "I want To Be A Star" contest where he verbally acknowledged her as one of his "favorite contestants" multiple times. Under unfair circumstances, she did not officially win but her promised her a spot on his upcoming movie "Boogie Town's" soundtrack. Negativity struck when another female rapper & friends stirred up some drama which turned into rap beef. Here is where, with eyes closed, she created a 6 min long lyrically intriguing diss track which opened the ears of the streets. Youtube ranked this video as one of the top 10 most discussed and viewed of the week. In Late 2008, Luster's (hair products) & BET welcomed Jai Tease to Atlanta [with a free roundtrip airfare, hotel stay and $500] to the BET Hip Hop awards audience courtesy of a last minute entry video submitted by her, where she rapped acapella.



Jai Tease used all of that buzz to start the promo for "The Talk Of The Town" as it was supposed to be released after a short break. Taking a break from the studio, she began to attend parties which brought forth another interest of hers which soon became a newly discovered talent. DJing.



"If i'm going to do somethign, im going to the be boss. So the DJ is the life, the head of the party. Although i'm a bit shy, i still have a good ear for music and wanted to give it a shot. I watch the DJs at parties and wonder How hard is it to mix, how long is it gonna take me to learn to spin on turntables. so i was like, you know what! Fuck (bleep) this! i'm gettin turntables. theres barely any female djs in Jersey. This could be my way in, and i could spin my own records and i dont have to work another 9-5 in my life if i get on!"



Stepping into the DJ scene, she was first introduced to CDJ turntable by Baltimore Club & Jersey Club DJ, DJ Tameil. Shortly after falling in love with his Pioneers, she purchased her own Denon DNS1000s, Mixer & Amp. In 2009, being a big fan of making money & house parties, she decided to team up with friends and throw a house party every chance she could which allowed her to showcase her newly learned DJing skills. Once realizing that she now had learned to DJ, it became easier to network with more local DJs. Jai Tease DJed everything from house parties to bbqs to babyshowers and her first club party in 2010.



As winter 2010 approaches, Jai Tease is back in the studio continuing her unfinished "Talk Of The Town" mixtape set to release in December. In addition to DJ-ing when called upon, she also stepped foot in the party promotion scene.



"SEe, all this stuff goes hand in hand. I DJ parties, i can play my own records, if i ever throw a release party or anything liek that, i am a promoter so i got a club in my handsbut As far as The Talk Of The Town is concerned, my lyrical content definitely got better, my sound got better and i hope that it continues to do that. Im not like other rappers. I don teven considermyself a rapper anymore cuz i do so much stuff. i'm justI thought it would be only right to name it what it is now because this is where i am in my life. Everyone got something say bout Jai Tease."