WHERE'S JOOG? - THE DEBUT ALBUM FROM PRODUCER JOOGSZN
ABOUT THE ALBUM
“Where’s Joog?” That’s the question Joog’s family and friends were asking when he disappeared in 2016. At the time, Joog was known on the LA rap scene for his work w/ artists like FrostyDaSnowmann and the late Ketchy the Great so his absence didn’t go unnoticed. Friends and fans took to Twitter with the hashtag #wheresjoog.. Little did they know that Joog was sitting in Federal lockup, barred from using the phone, and facing a ten year sentence.
This wasn’t the first time Joog’s life was in jeopardy. In 2012, while at a party in Hollywood, he was shot twice. During his 9 month recovery, he picked up a keyboard and a Maschine Mikro and began making beats, often incorporating his training in musical theory and classical piano to create unique melodies and complex arrangements.
As someone who had already beaten the odds, he couldn’t imagine he’d be so lucky this time. He made a pact with himself then and there that if he beat his case, he’d stop hustling and focus entirely on music. And, that’s exactly what happened.
Within a few years, Joog had produced records for E-40, Too $hort, Shoreline Mafia and 03 Greedo. He also started working on Drakeo the Ruler’s 6th studio album, but the project came to a halt when Drakeo went to jail. With a little ingenuity, Joog devised a way to record Drakeo’s verses over the phone — which they did; for 13 straight hours, working through interruptions from the prison’s phone service, Global Tel Link. The album, aptly titled, Thank You For Using GTL, garnered critical acclaim from Pitchfork to NPR and catapulted Drakeo’s career to new heights.
Unfortunately, that success came with heightened visibility and in a cruel twist of fate, Drakeo was murdered in December of 2021, only a few months after his release from jail. Joog witnessed the whole thing and the experience reinforced his own sense of mortality. Despite the grief and tumult caused by Drakeo’s death, Joog felt compelled to finish his own album, a project he had been working on for nearly 3 years. Featuring artists like Gunna, Earl Sweatshirt, E-40, Drakeo and Mozzy, Where’s Joog? tells the story of street life — the good, the bad and the ugly.
CONTACT
All inquiries: biz4joog@gmail.com
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