James Gregory Scheffer (born June 8, 1970), known professionally as Jim Jonsin, is an American record producer and songwriter from

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

. He has produced for numerous musical artists, including

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

Kelly Rowland Kelendria Trene Rowland (born February 11, 1981) is an American singer, actress, and television personality. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of Destiny's Child, one of the world's List of best-selling girl groups, best-selling gir ...

, Usher,

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

Kid Cudi Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), also known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ; formerly stylized as KiD CuDi), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and fashion designer. Born and raised in Clevelan ...

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

, Pitbull, Yelawolf,

Nelly Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, and actor. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and embarked on his musical career in 1993 as a member of the Midwest hip hop g ...

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Qu ...

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and actor. Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he signed with the local independent label Rostrum Records to re ...

Danity Kane Danity Kane is an American music group whose most recent line-up consisted of Aubrey O'Day, Dawn Richard, and Shannon Bex. The group originally had five members, but D. Woods, Wanita "D. Woods" Woodgett left the group in 2008, and Aundrea Fimbre ...

and

Jamie Foxx Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer. Known for his work in both the screen and music industries, his accolades include an Academy Award, a Grammy Award ...

, among others. He won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for his work on Lil Wayne's 2008 single "

Lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker and sticky-pop. Lollipops are avail ...

," and received a nomination for Best Rap Album for his work on " Whatever You Like" by

T.I. Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (born September 25, 1980), known professionally as T.I. or Tip, is an American rapper and singer raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Harris is credited as a pioneer of the hip hop subgenre trap music, along with fellow Georgi ...

that same year. Furthermore, both songs peaked the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Jonsin's productions have been on other Grammy Award-winning albums such as Beyoncé's '' I Am... Sasha Fierce'' (2010 Best Contemporary R&B album), Lil Wayne's '' Tha Carter III'' (2008 Best Rap Album), Usher's ''

Raymond v. Raymond ''Raymond v. Raymond'' is the sixth studio album by American singer Usher (musician), Usher, released on March 26, 2010, by LaFace Records. Production for the album took place in 2009 and was handled by several producers, including Jermaine Dupri, ...

'' (2011 Best Contemporary R&B album), and Usher's " There Goes My Baby" (2011 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance), and Eminem's '' Recovery'' (2011 Best Rap Album and Album of the Year). Jonsin launched the record label Rebel Rock Entertainment in 2006, through which he signed then-unknown rapper B.o.B that same year. Jonsin's label partnered with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

and later T.I.'s

Grand Hustle Records Grand Hustle Records (formerly Grand Hustle Entertainment), also known as Hustle Gang Music, is an American hip hop record label, founded in 2003, by American rapper and record executive T.I. and his manager Jason Geter. The label was distribut ...

to release B.o.B.'s debut album, '' The Adventures of Bobby Ray'' (2010). The album debuted atop the ''Billboard'' 200, and was followed by '' Strange Clouds'' (2012) and '' Underground Luxury'' (2013). Jonsin signed other acts to the label including singer

Leroy Sanchez Leroy Sanchez (born September 1, 1991, in Abetxuko, Spain) is a Spanish-American singer-songwriter. Early life Leroy Sanchez was born in Abetxuko, Vitoria, Spain, and moved to the USA where he taught himself to play guitar, which is why he ...

, as well as fellow producers

FnZ FNZ (also known as Finatik N Zac) are an Australian record production duo composed of Michael "Finatik" Mulé and Isaac "Zac" De Boni. The group was formed in 2009, signing to fellow producer Jim Jonsin's Rebel Rock Entertainment the following ...

, Danny Morris, and Frank Romano. Outside of music, he entered into the field of professional racing in February 2012 and formed his own motorsports team, Rebel Rock Racing. Jonsin drove a Porsche 911 in the Grand-am Road Racing series with co-driver D.J. Randall that same year.

Music career

In the late 1990s, Jonsin was no longer on tour and returned to Miami to produce more bass records, and ultimately landed a position as an engineer at the locally-based

Slip-N-Slide Records Slip-N-Slide Records is an American record label, founded in 1994 by Ted Lucas. History Ted Lucas founded the label in 1994. Slip-n-Slide signed local rapper Trick Daddy Dollars in its early years; he debuted in 1997 with the locally popular albu ...

. From his tenure, Jonsin produced songs for

Trick Daddy Maurice Samuel Young (born September 27, 1974), better known by his stage name Trick Daddy, is an American rapper from Miami, Florida. He is best known for his 2004 single " Let's Go" (featuring Twista and Lil Jon), which peaked at number seven on ...

and

Trina Katrina Laverne Kearse (née Taylor; born December 3, 1974), is an American rapper. She rose to prominence in the late 1990s for her collaborations with Trick Daddy on the singles " Nann Nigga", " Shut Up", and " Take It to da House". In 2000, ...

. Jonsin wrote and produced the former's 2004 single " Let's Go" (featuring

Lil Jon Jonathan H. Smith (born January 17, 1971), better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, DJ, and record producer. Regarded as a progenitor of the club-oriented hip-hop subgenre crunk, his production and voice presence were inst ...

and

Twista Carl Terrell Mitchell (born November 27, 1973), better known by his stage name Twista (also known as Tung Twista), is an American rapper. He is best known for his Chopper (rap), chopper style of rapping and for once holding the title of fastest ...

). Soon after the success of this song, Jonsin began working with Miami native Pitbull and produced his 2004 single " Dammit Man" from the rapper's debut album '' M.I.A.M.I.'', which received gold certification by the RIAA. The music industry began to take notice of the Miami-based producer, and Jonsin was tapped by

Bad Boy Records Bad Boy Entertainment, doing business as Bad Boy Records, is an American independent record label. The label was founded in 1993 by rapper and record producer Sean Combs. During the mid-1990s, the label signed hip-hop and contemporary R&B, R&B a ...

to produce for the group

, who were made popular from the

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

reality series '' Making the Band''. Jonsin produced their 2006 single " Show Stopper", which peaked at number eight on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Jonsin saw his furthest success for his production on

's 2008 single "

", which peaked the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, received

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

certification by the RIAA, and won a

Grammy Award for Best Rap Song The Grammy Award for Best Rap Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rap music genre. Honors in several c ...

. In that same year, Jonsin found similar success with his work on

's single " Whatever You Like". The song peaked the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for seven non-consecutive weeks, and yielded one of the rapper's furthest commercial successes. "Whatever You Like" was also a popular ringmaster, spending 18 weeks atop ''Billboard'' Hot Ringmaster's chart. In the closing of 2008, his string of success was continued with his production on

Soulja Boy DeAndre Cortez Way (born July 28, 1990), known professionally as Soulja Boy (formerly Soulja Boy Tell 'Em), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to prominence with his self-released 2007 debut single, "Crank That ...

's " Kiss Me Thru The Phone". The song was downloaded over 2 million times and was also a popular ringmaster, spending 11 weeks atop the ''Billboard'' Hot Ringmaster's chart. The song peaked at number three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In 2009, Jonsin co-produced the single " Sweet Dreams" by American singer

. The song was the sixth single from her

-winning album, '' I Am… Sasha Fierce''. The song received platinum certification and peaked at number ten on ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Shortly after its release, Jonsin reunited with Pitbull to produce his 2009 single "

Hotel Room Service "Hotel Room Service" is a song by American rapper Pitbull released as the third single from his fourth album, '' Pitbull Starring in Rebelution''. It was released to both iTunes and mainstream radio on June 16, 2009. The song peaked at number e ...

", which received platinum certification and peaked at number eight on ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The summer of 2010 proved to be another high point for Jonsin's career. On August 16

released " Just a Dream", co-produced by Jonsin. The song received platinum certification and peaked at number three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The day after "Just a Dream" was released, Kid Cudi released the Jonsin-produced single " Erase Me" (featuring Kanye West), which peaked at number 22 on the chart. Released that August, Jonsin wrote and produced ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

'' winner Fantasia's single "Falling In Love Tonight", from her Grammy Award-nominated album '' Back To Me''. In early 2011, Nelly released the single " Gone" (featuring

), which was also co-produced by Jonsin in tandem with singer Rico Love. The song is a follow-up to Nelly's 2002 single, "

Dilemma A dilemma () is a problem offering two possibilities, neither of which is unambiguously acceptable or preferable. The possibilities are termed the ''horns'' of the dilemma, a clichéd usage, but distinguishing the dilemma from other kinds of p ...

". Jonsin produced Eminem's "

Space Bound "Space Bound" is a song by American rapper Eminem. It was released on June 18, 2011, as the fourth and final single from his seventh album, '' Recovery''. The song is produced by American hip-hop producer Jim Jonsin and features samples of " Dr ...

" from his Grammy Award-winning '' Recovery'' album, which was the best selling album of 2010. The Jonsin-produced single " On My Level" (featuring

Too Short Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28, 1966), better known by his stage name Too Short (stylized as Too $hort), is an American rapper. A pioneer of West Coast hip-hop, Shaw was among the first acts to receive recognition in the genre during the late ...

) was released by

on his major label debut, '' Rolling Papers'' on March 29, 2011.

Ventures

Rebel Rock Entertainment

Jonsin founded his record label, Rebel Rock Entertainment, in 2006. He signed

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

-based rapper B.o.B as the label's first artist. B.o.B's 2009 debut single, " Nothin' on You" (featuring

Bruno Mars Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is known for his three-octave tenor vocal range, live performances, R ...

), peaked atop the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and received three

nominations. His 2010 follow-up single, "

Airplanes An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, ...

" (featuring Hayley Williams), peaked at number two on the chart.B.o.B Album & Song Chart History , Billboard.com
His third single, " Magic" (featuring

Rivers Cuomo Rivers Cuomo ( ; born June 13, 1970) is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Weezer. Cuomo was born in New York City and raised in several Buddhist communities in the northeaste ...

), peaked at number ten; all three served as lead singles for his debut studio album, '' The Adventures of Bobby Ray'' (2010), which was executive produced by Jonsin and peaked atop the ''Billboard'' 200. Jonsin also chose "Nothing On You" as the album's lead single. B.o.B. garnered several awards in late 2010 and early 2011. The rapper was nominated for five awards at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. Furthermore, he was nominated for three

American Music Awards The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show produced by Dick Clark Productions since 1974. Nominees are selected on commercial performance such as sales and airplay. Winners are determined by a poll of the public and ...

, three

BET Awards The BET Awards are an American award show that was established in 2001 by the BET, Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate Black person, Black entertainers and other minorities in music, film, sports and philanthropy. The awards, which ...

, 7

BET Hip Hop Awards The BET Hip Hop Awards are an annual awards show, airing on BET, showcasing hip hop performers, producers and music video directors. The awards ceremony began in 2006; it was held on November 12, 2006 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta and was first ...

, four

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category ...

, and a MTV Europe Music Award. B.o.B won the 2010 Soul Train Awards for Best Song "Nothin' On You" and was nominated for Best New Artist. B.o.B won the 2010

Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards were an annual awards show that aired on the Fox television network between 1999 and 2019. The awards, based on a popularity vote that could be overridden by the producerswho reserved the right to choose the winnerscovered ...

Hook Up Song for "Airplanes" and was nominated for five others.

Rebel Rock Productions

Jonsin signed three producers,

—an Australian production duo, and Danny Morris to his production company, Rebel Rock Productions. Danny Morris has worked with Jonsin on several releases including Usher's " There Goes My Baby", and "Making Love (Into the Night)", Fantasia's "Falling In Love Tonight", Kelly Rowland's "Take Everything" and "

Motivation Motivation is an mental state, internal state that propels individuals to engage in goal-directed behavior. It is often understood as a force that explains why people or animals initiate, continue, or terminate a certain behavior at a particul ...

", Tank's "Scream", N Dubz's "Girls" and Wiz Khalifa's " On My Level". Finatik and Zac also have some upcoming releases for the

Def Jam Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

artist Wax ("Two Wheels/DUI") and the Universal Records artist Pac Div ("Loose").

Rebel Made

Jonsin formed Rebel Made Publishing Company in 2009 as a venture with his management team, Made. Writers signed to Rebel Made's roster include Terence Reid, formerly of The Network, along with fellow producers Finatik and Zac and Danny Morris.

Rebel Rock Racing

In 2010, Jonsin formed a racing team named Rebel Rock Racing, composed of him, Bucky Lasek (Pro Skateboarder and ten time

X Games The X Games are a series of action sports events founded by ESPN Inc. and aired on ESPN networks and ABC. In late 2022, ESPN sold the long-running property to MSP Sports Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Jahm Najafi and Jeff Mo ...

gold medalist) and Marius Avemarg (pro driver from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

). The race team is supported by its ambassadors, Pitbull, Kyle Loza, and Yelawolf and sponsors such as Beats by Dre and Oakley.

''American Idol''

Jonsin appeared on the 10th season of ''

'' in 2011. Jonsin was handpicked by Interscope's

Jimmy Iovine James Iovine ( ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, former Music executive, record executive, and media proprietor. He is the co-founder of Interscope Records and became chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscop ...

as one of a handful of producers to serve as mentors to the contestants, working with them to produce and record cover songs for sale on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

Musical influences and techniques

Jonsin has cited

DJ Jazzy Jeff Jeffrey Allen Townes (born January 22, 1965), known professionally as DJ Jazzy Jeff (or simply Jazz), is an American DJ and producer. He was one half of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, along with Will Smith. He is credited, ...

and

Jam Master Jay Jason William Mizell (January 21, 1965 – October 30, 2002), better known by his stage name Jam Master Jay, was an American musician, record producer and DJ. He was the DJ of the influential hip hop group Run-DMC. During the 1980s, Run-DMC becam ...

as strong musical influences on his style and has been known to use an MPC 3000, a Roland TR 808, and an Access Virus TI as his preferred gear.

Personal life

Jim Jonsin was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

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 ...

but was raised in

. Jonsin's first job in the music business was as a scratch DJ. At the age of 14, Jonsin was spinning records at local skating rinks and other venues. By 18 Jonsin had graduated to spinning at

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

and

dance clubs and formed his own record label called Cut It Up Def Records and produced one of its first singles, "Cut It Up Def" which independently sold 40,000 units. Jonsin had become well known in the region by the time he released his next production, the single "Party Time", which he also rapped on. Jonsin's success in South Florida led him to a deal with California-based Heat Wave Records. Going by his new artist moniker, DJ Jealous J, he released a compilation of Miami bass songs titled ''Miami Bass Jams''. The first two singles from the collection were certified Gold. Jonsin went on to tour with some of the most popular acts of the time such as

Cypress Hill Cypress Hill is an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in South Gate, California in 1988. One of the first Latin groups to gain mainstream recognition in hip hop, they have sold over 20 million albums worldwide, and have obtained multi ...

2 Live Crew 2 Live Crew is an American hip hop group from Miami, Florida, formed in 1984. The group was originally composed of DJ Mr. Mixx (David Hobbs), Fresh Kid Ice (Christopher Wong Won), and Amazing Vee (Yuri Vielot), though its most well-known lineup ...

, and Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.

Discography

Singles produced

Awards and nominations

*2006 BMI Urban Songwriter of the Year *2006 BMI Urban Award for " Grind with Me", " Let's Go", and " Your Body" *2006 BMI London Awards – Urban Award for " Here We Go" *2007 BMI Urban Awards for " Girl Tonite", " Here We Go", and " Unpredictable" *2008

– Best Rap Song – "

" *2009 BMI Creative Inspiration Producer Award *2009 BMI Urban Award for "

" *2009 ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' #3 Hot 100 Producer of the Year *2009

nomination Album of the Year –

– I Am… Sasha Fierce *2010 BMI Pop Award for " Whatever You Like" *2010 BMI Urban Awards for "

" and " Kiss Me Thru The Phone" *2010 BMI London Awards – Pop Awards for "

" and " Sweet Dreams" *2010 ''

'' #16 R&B/Hip-Hop Producer of the Year *2010

nomination Album of the Year –

– Recovery

References

External links

Rebel RockRebel Rock — Rebel Rock Racing
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jonsin, Jim Living people American dance musicians American electronic musicians American hip-hop DJs American hip-hop record producers American music industry executives American rhythm and blues keyboardists American pop keyboardists Businesspeople from Florida Businesspeople from New York City People from Brooklyn Songwriters from Florida Songwriters from New York (state) Southern hip-hop musicians 1970 births Grammy Award winners for rap music Record producers from New York (state) 21st-century American keyboardists Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers