Juan Rusty Brito (born May 28, 1985) better known by his stage name J.R. Writer, is an American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

and freestyle champion. He came to prominence in the early 2000s after becoming affiliated with the hip hop group The Diplomats and guest appeared on

Juelz Santana LaRon Louis James Sr. (born February 18, 1982), better known by his stage name Juelz Santana, is an American rapper and member of now-defunct hip-hop group, the Diplomats (also known as Dipset). He is best known for his appearances on group coho ...

's 2003 album '' From Me To U''. JR signed a joint venture deal with

Diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

and Koch Records to release his debut studio album '' History in the Making'' which was released in 2006, which made the top 30 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

Early life

Brito was born in the

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

section of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to parents of Dominican descent, alongside his brother Fred Brito, also known as rapper Fred Money.

Career

At some point in his teens, J.R. started rapping in the streets of New York, battling with other MCs which gained him prominence in Harlem's underground rap scene which led him to appear on local cable access television programs and joining every open mic competition he could. He became a well-known lyricist and freestyle champion throughout Harlem and has listed

Big Pun Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was an American rapper. Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx, he came to prominence upon discover ...

, Big L and

2Pac Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...

as his influences. At one of his rap battles, het met

Cam'ron Cameron Ezike Giles (born February 4, 1976), known Mononym, mononymously as Cam'ron, is an American rapper. Beginning his career in the early 1990s as Killa Cam, Giles signed with Lance Rivera, Lance "Un" Rivera's Lance Rivera, Untertainment, a ...

and

around the time Cam signed to

Roc-A-Fella Roc-A-Fella Records was an American record label and music management company founded in 1994 by record executives and entrepreneurs Jay-Z, Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon Dash, and Kareem Burke, Kareem "Biggs" Burke. Carter issued his debut album, ...

and Juelz was up-and-coming. It was then he went to make his commercial debut on Juelz's studio album '' From Me To U'', appearing on the track "Squalie". This led him to becoming a member of The Diplomats and signing a joint venture deal with

and Koch Records to release his debut album. He has released one studio album and fifteen mixtapes since 2003, having collaborated with Cassidy, Fred Money, Lloyd Banks, Tito Green, Ransom, Drag-On, Sen City, Paul Wall, T.W.O., Duke Da God, A-Money, Vado, Jae Millz, AraabMuzik and more. He released his debut album '' History in the Making'' in 2006, through Koch and Diplomat Records. The album peaked at number 25 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and at number 2 on both the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

and

Top Rap Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

, held from the top spot of both charts by Pimp C's '' Pimpalation''. On February 23, 2014, Writer released a 13-track mixtape titled ''The Return of Greatness'', which includes guest appearances from Styles P, Fat Trel, Vado, Hell Rell and Fred Money as well as production from Track Officialz, SpecX2, Butter Beats DBK, Razah, Myes William, Stat Five Ave, Stoopid On The Beat and Automatik Beatz. On March 18, 2014, Writer began a prison sentence at Ulster Correctional Facility in New York State. On January 26, 2019, Writer released a

diss track A diss track, diss record or diss song (an abbreviation of ''disrespect'' or ''disparage'') is a song whose primary purpose is to verbally attack someone else, usually another artist. Diss tracks are often the result of an existing, escalating feu ...

aimed at

Tory Lanez Daystar Shemuel Shua Peterson (born July 27, 1992), known professionally as Tory Lanez, is a Canadian singer-songwriter and record producer. First discovered by Sean Kingston, he received initial recognition for his mixtape ''Conflicts of My S ...

called "Head Shot". One month later, he released another titled "Run Tory Run".

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

Guest appearances

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Writer, J.R. 1985 births Living people 21st-century American rappers American rappers of Dominican Republic descent East Coast hip-hop musicians MNRK Music Group artists Hispanic and Latino American rappers Rappers from Manhattan The Diplomats members