jopippins

Jopippins is a 20 year old rap guitarist. His hi fi, melodically focused songs put together an interesting mix of hip hop, alternative, and R&B. With genuine lyrical content that ranges from personal stories and relationships to his perspectives on social issues and upward mobility, jo strives to create a positive image through an otherwise dark & colorful aesthetic. He focuses this through the lens of Raleigh, North Carolina, making every song a day in the life.

Originally from the Charlotte area of North Carolina, he began playing guitar in elementary school, but started taking music seriously in high school.

During his senior year in 2016 he put out his mixtape, Kent Danger, which was lead by the single “Bel Air”.

After graduating high school he moved to Raleigh to attend North Carolina State University, and in 2017 released his debut album Vacation Never Ends, featuring the songs Nightwing, Lovesick, and Comme Des Garcons.

The following year he released JOSUBURBN with Renzo Suburbn, a collaborative project that took 18 months for the artists to complete, featuring the singles “Know You Don’t” and “1-800-Find-My-Girl” as well as album cuts like “Black Rainbow” and “Nickelodeon Orange”, with a cameo from bandmate Mike Moon in the official music video.

The summer after the release of JOSUBURBN, jo & Renzo moved to LA for some time to work on music and meet creatives with a similar vision. There they met producer/ guitarist Wil Lupien and decided to start a band after working together nearly every day. They named the group dotWAV, to represent the file type they work in, as well as the sound, light, and electromagnetic “waves” needed to create their art.

Still keeping in contact with Wil, jo and Renzo moved back to Raleigh after the summer to live with singer/ drummer Sonny Miles, who was also added to dotWAV along with Mike Moon and their DJ/ keyboardist, Gonz.

In December of 2018, jopippins released his EP “cc”, which features “Check on Your Friends” and “Drive”. With dotWAV he released “PCH”, their first single.