BlocBoy JB is an American rapper and songwriter. He became known for his song “Look Alive”, which featured rapper Drake. In 2018, the song reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He is also known for his shooting dance moves, which was nominated for a 2018 Kid’s Choice Award in the Favorite Dance Trend category.

Born name

James Baker

nickname

Bloc, BlocBoy JB

Sun sign

Trails

Place of birth

Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Residence

• Memphis, Tennessee, USA
• At some point he wants to move to California with his whole family

nationality

training

James rarely attended school and often skipped his classes to play.

His teachers frequently kicked him out of class and warned him against failure. However, the rapper always felt he was too smart for conventional education.

When he was in 10th grade, he was expelled from his public school.

The rapper didn’t want to continue his education after that.

occupation

Rapper

family

• Father – James Baker (Convicted felon serving a 25-year sentence)
• Mother – Unknown (Formerly worked at a Nike factory)
• Siblings – Has 6 other siblings, James is the 3rd youngest of 7 children

Manager

Jason Smith, JS Management

Genre

HipHop

instruments

Life

labels

Block Nation

Build

Slim

Height

6ft or 183cm

weight

67 kg or 148 lbs

girlfriend/spouse

At the age of 19 he had a son with a woman of unknown identity. The rapper is no longer in a relationship with his child’s mother.

race/ethnicity

Schwarz

He is African American.

hair colour

Schwarz

eye color

dark brown

sexual orientation

Just

distinguishing features

• Wears gold tooth grills
• Pierced Ears
• Very thin and lanky
• Tattooed chest, biceps and forearms
• He is known to have shaved the initials “JB” on the back of his head

brand promotion

He didn’t endorse any brand.

Religion

His religious beliefs are not confirmed.

Known for

• His singles, Shoot (2017) and Rover (2018), which went viral on YouTube
• These songs caught the interest of rapper Drake and he approached James about collaborating with him. BlocBoy JB Looking Alive Drake ranked No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2018.
• Thus, James became the first rapper in two decades to debut directly in the top 10 without first being discussed on the Hot 100.

As a singer

BlocBoy JB independently released a mixtape called Who Am I in June 2016 available as a digital download.

first movie

BlocBoy has never been cast in a feature film before.

First TV show

BlocBoy JB hasn’t starred in any TV shows yet.

Personal trainer

• In his early teens, James was extremely chubby, so everyone called him Fat Boy instead of addressing him by his name.
• A hyperactive and troubled adolescence, characterized by constant fighting and running from the police, saw James lose all his excess fat and by the time he hit his 20s, he became extremely thin.

BlocBoy JB favorite things

Not available

BlocBoy JB Facts

1. James is very close to his music producer Tay Keith. He met him at age 14 when he and his family moved to Raleigh, a North Memphis neighborhood.
2. One day, as James walked past Tay’s around the corner, he saw that his shed was open, where he had studio gear to work on. James immediately came in to look around and do some research. The rapper added that he was so young that everyone was kind to him and didn’t take his curiosity as an intrusion.
3. He christened himself BlocBoy JB because the block in the neighborhood was his eternal hangout. He added his father’s initials (JB) to his rapper identity to make him proud when he got out of prison.
4. When James was 12, his father broke out of prison to visit him and the rest of the family for a few days, only to be arrested again. After the second escape attempt, JB’s father’s prison security was increased to the maximum and James was not allowed to meet him.
5. From the ages of 14 to 19, James was a member of the local Peda Roll Mafia Other members of the Los Angeles-based gang Grape Street Watts Crips .
6. In 2012, the rapper spent a month in prison followed by a period of house arrest for a home invasion. James felt he had been wrongly convicted by the police.
7. The rapper gradually began retiring from a life of crime when he began borrowing music from Tay to record his rap on. Although his first songs were very raw, he sat in the closet of his house to rap and record himself as much as possible.
8. Before James tried his best, he tried different jobs. He worked at fast food joints like McDonalds and Popeyes and an Apple warehouse called Flextronik but could never hold a job for more than a month.
9. In the meantime, he learned all about audio engineering from YouTube tutorials.
10. Tay Keith has long enjoyed great success as a music producer. Bloc Boy JB emerged in the hip-hop industry, which motivated James to do whatever it took to keep up with him.
11. JB’s schoolmates often criticized him, repeatedly telling him that he was nowhere near good enough to be a professional rapper.
12. His signature Shoot Dance was an impromptu move James created while listening to his song at home. He liked it so much looking at himself in the mirror that he asked his videographer to record it for the Shoot music video. As soon as he put it online, the dance went viral. James was surprised when the dance’s popularity spread beyond the Memphis community and was picked up by football players and other sports teams.
13. JB’s Shooting dance was also nominated for a 2018 Kid’s Choice Award in the Favorite Dance Trend category.
14. He named his 7th mixtape, SIMI , in honor of a friend who was shot dead outside JB’s house on Mother’s Day 2016.
15. BlocBoy JB’s name was included in the prestigious 2018 XXL Annual Freshman List.
16. To learn more about the rapper, follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.